Saturday, November 15, 2008

Tales from Water Street

Long ago & far away, we lived in a magical old house on Water Street. It was in south eastern Alaska. In the island town of Ketchican.
We had no front yard, just a few steps leading down to the side walk, which took you down Water Street to a small market, where we would walk to pick up a loaf of bread or gallon of milk. There was always a wolf dog laying out side the store. You didn't dare get near this dog. He would growl if you got to close.
The back of the house had a huge picture window looking out on the ocean.
We had a parakeet named Davey, who sat by the window & helped us look for pirate ships.
One of the ships we kept an eye out for was "The Flying Dutchman" a notorious ghost ship. Legend has it, the captain made a deal with the devil & the vessel is doomed to sail the oceans forever.
Looking out the window and down to the rocky beach, one day we saw a terrifying sight.
My older sister Susan and cousin Jenny where crawling out on a rock to get a quarter. The tide was coming in and waves where pounding against the rock. They did get a good spanking for that adventure!
My cousin vernon and I had great times exploring the caves and searching for treasures in tide pools.
I had a pair of little, red, canvas tennis shoes. The kind that the rubber comes up over the toes. I thought I was to old for shoes like that, so one morning, before school, I hid them under my bed. Mom searched frantically for them while all along I knew just where they where. At the last minute realizing I had no other shoes to wear I crawled under my bed to get them.
Across the street and up the road a bit lived a very nice lady. She had long grey hair, kept in a braid. She had wooden steps leading up thru her yard to the house, with trees & bushes all around. She had birds and squirrels that she could feed by hand.
May first she invited all the neighborhood kids over to do a May day dance. She had a pole with ribbons attached to the top. We each took a ribbon and with her instructions weaved in and out around the pole to create a beautifully decorated May pole.

What are your childhood memories of special places you lived?

1 comment:

Paula said...

I was just a little one when we lived there and went to the Mayday dance but I do still remember it. I kept going the wrong way and getting my streamer tangled, so had to have help from an adult.
My favorite childhood memories are of roaming the woods and fishing in the pond at Scott's house on Cricket Flat.