Pot-Bellied Stove (Photo credit: Jenn Lewald)

Prompt:  Describe 3 Significant Memories from your Childhood

1. 

   Census Bureau map of Sea Isle City, New Jersey (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

   Summer Vacations with Godparents in Sea Isle City, New Jersey – My mom was a single parent and she, my younger and sister and I were fortunate that my aunt/godmother and my uncle/godfather would rent a house at the beach every summer and take us for a nice vacation for a week.  During the week we’d hit the little seashore shops including the Christmas shops, go out for dinner, cook a big lobster feast for ourselves at home, collect shells, play catch in the surf, and spend hours sunning ourselves and reading on the beach.

2. Spending Weekends with my Godparents and learning how to bake – At times my sister and I, or sometimes just I would spend a weekend or just a Saturday night with at my godparents house.  They had no kids of their own so it was a different experience in and of itself to be in a child-free home.  One of the things we’d do to amuse ourselves is explore the big walk in under the eaves storage closet and all the treasures it contained like my uncle’s old wool navy uniform (the original sailor suit - he’s a plank owner for the USS Forrestal, an aircraft carrier), my aunt’s long, black witch cape (we’re a Halloween-loving family!), and lots more.  My aunt taught me to bake chocolate chip cookies and after a time she’d put out the ingredients and I’d mix them and bake them up all by myself.  Another cool aspect was the big black old pot bellied stove they had in their den and the old fashioned wooden telephone displayed in the dining room. They’re still living in that same house and I consider it a home away from home.     Note:  Aunt Dee and Uncle Ed are both into antiques – antique furniture and household items, tools, etc.  After posting and seeing the picture of the old phone show up in the Facebook link I realized people might think I’m old enough for that to have been my phone or to live in a house where the old pot-bellied stove was used for heat and cooking so I’m adding this note, LOL)
3. Being part of a group of kids in the neighborhood who would hang out together and play tag, skate, ride bikes, explore along the creek, take ourselves out for pizza, wait for the water ice man to come……that says it all….sweating in the summer, bundled up and throwing snowballs and sledding in the winter.  Can’t beat it!
   

   ice cream van (Photo credit: Yersinia)

   

   Antique wooden wall telephone with hand crank (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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