Penny Loafers & Bobby Pins by Susan Sanvidge

Author:Susan Sanvidge
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wisconsin Historical Society Press
Published: 2013-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

Julie playing dress-up with Mom’s bridesmaid hat, just like her sisters did. There’s an “autograph hound” on the top of the piano-that-Uncle-Keith-gave-us behind her.

Pressing a pretty autumn leaf or spring flower in a heavy book, and the happy surprise of discovering it a few months later. Picking violets in the deep spring grass on the north side of the house. Rubbing dandelions on your cheeks to make them glow with yellow. Playing house in the woods, using a different rock for each room of your imaginary house.

Plucking peas in the pod from Dad’s garden and eating them right there for a snack. Drinking water from Grandma and Grandpa’s pump on a hot day. Playing in the sandy spot in the cottage driveway. Setting up a sand pie bakery amid the creeping phlox flowerbed behind the cottage.

Making Kool-Aid in the battered old aluminum pitcher. Freezing some in ice cube trays, using toothpicks for popsicle sticks. Chocolate pudding! Homemade ice cream. Tasting a buttercream rose from your birthday cake. Watching Mom make them. Dad’s popcorn. Caramel corn. Thanksgiving stuffing. Campbell’s tomato soup with a dab of melting butter on top and a grilled cheese sandwich on the side.

Getting to sleep with Mom when Dad was out of town. Getting Mom to open her mouth so we could look at her teeth. Reading chapters of a good book with her at bedtime. “Now I lay me down to sleep …”

Watching Mom get dolled up for a Saturday night date with Dad. Fashion shows with the Peters girls, using the cottage walkway as our runway.

Shining Dad’s shoes, and cleaning his pipes with pipe cleaners and putting in new filters. Making sculptures out of the pipe cleaners. Looking through the jewelry box that included his ribbons from World War II.

“Helping” Dad at his work bench. Taking apart his ballpoint pens to see what was inside. (And I always got blamed for that!—Jean) Trying to fill his fountain pen with Shaeffer ink in the glass bottle with the little ledge inside. Tagging along with Dad to Grandpa’s boathouse or squirrel hunting.

Playing school with our authentic school desks (from Uncle Jim) and old readers (from Grandma Noffke). Rearranging our bedrooms to make them seem new again.

Dressing our baby dolls with our own old baby clothes. Giving our dolls a bath in our play “bathinette.” Washing our doll clothes.

Paper dolls and coloring books. Collecting pretty rocks. Making potholders. Using pennies for tiddlywinks. Unwrapping crayons and using them to make a rubbing of something textured. Putting a blanket over a card table to make a hidey place.

Wearing our spring clothes on the first nice day. (This was way after most of the other kids got to wear theirs!) Being fitted for a homemade dress, and the pins pricking us as we carefully removed it. Getting dolled up for Easter with a hat, gloves, and spring coat. A new holiday dress and tights for Christmas.

Getting new shoes and school supplies every fall. Getting our favorite loafers resoled and putting shiny new pennies in them.

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