Catherine Sevenau's Blog: Writings~Rambles~Rhymes, page 52

1.27 Brusha, brusha, brusha …

1946 • Sonora ~ Lorna Harrington, Betty’s best friend since kindergarten, was unusually shy. My sister took her under her wing from the beginning, and as birds-of-a-feather they flew everywhere together. Betty saw no reason why she and Lorna shouldn’t participate in all camp activities and school events. Even in their fifth grade production about famous people […]

1.26 Might as Well Be Hung for a Sheep

1940s • Sonora ~ No Sunday or Holy Day passed without Dad taking the children to Mass. Some Sundays they attended St. Anne’s in Columbia, other Sundays they went to Mass in Jamestown, sometimes they drove to Tuolumne, during summer camping trips they heard Mass sitting on the hard benches at the outdoor theatre in Pinecrest, but most often they went […]

1.25 Brandis and Bingo

1946 • Sonora ~ Sundays were family days that were spent reading the colored newspaper comics, going to church, and calling on relatives. The adults played canasta and bridge; the kids, Monopoly and Chinese checkers. They went for drives and had picnics in the country with Aunt Verda’s family. Our other cousins, Joanne and Shirley Fouch […]

1.24 Itty-Bitty Balls of Tuft

1946 • Sonora ~ One Saturday Mom brought home six dozen chicks from the feed store and enclosed them in the safety of the chicken coop. The next day, Carleen, Betty and Claudia gently carried them from the pen to the front yard, cradling the soft chicks inside their tops, smelling their soft down, and one by one […]

1.23 The War Years

September 1940 • Watsonville and Vallejo ~ Our family moved back and forth between the Vallejo and Watsonville. In 1940, Dad was working for Union Ice, and he occasionally took Larry with him on deliveries. My brother was impressed with the tons of ice in the huge vending machines, especially the ice machine located by the […]

1.22 Letter from My Mother

From my mother (age 26) to my father’s sister, Amelia Conway (age 39), living in Byron, Minnesota: Watsonville, Cal. Nov. 22, 1941. Dear Amelia & all:         The last letter I had from you was dated July 11, whether I have written since then I don’t know but I probably haven’t. Not much to write […]

1.21 Where Babies Come From

1939 • Watsonville, California ~ Our house was right on her way home from the grammar school and Marceline (Uncle George and Aunt Verda’s daughter) loved to stop off and visit mom. Marceline held Babe in high esteem, elevating her to a kindred spirit and favorite aunt. She thought our mother a much better mother […]

1.20 Sketches of Clemens Family

Their parents were not openly affectionate to the children, or to one another; they took it for granted that their parents loved them. It’s not that Grandpa and Grandma didn’t care; they had work to do: cows to milk, corn to husk, bread to bake, mouths to feed. As soon as the kids were old enough […]

1.19 The Clemens Farm (part 3)

The Clemens and Nigon families did well, all successful farmers of German heritage. Not one family lost their farm in the Great Depression, like so many farmers who had strapped their land with bank loans. They worked, paid cash for what they needed, then drank beer and danced… but not until work was done. The […]

1.18 The Clemens Farm (part 2)

The Clemens children went to the county school just down the hill, and then to St. John’s Grade School in the former St. Mary’s Hall, a big, two-story brick building a mile away. The three oldest girls were so close in age that Grandma held Mary back a year so she and Elizabeth could start school […]