Aunt Cleo sent me these two pictures. Here’s what she wrote:
I have 2 pictures here that were taken of Mary Jane Sommerer Piazza. These were taken about a month before Julie was born.
This was Grandma & Grandpa Sommerer’s back porch before it was converted into a living room and a bathroom. Picture #2 shows where we piled the wood for the stoves when we carried it in from the wood pile. It also shows a square washtub hanging on the wall. The door & window go into the kitchen. On the lift of the kitchen door is a weight that was used to press the tobacco together for shipping. I don’t know what else it was used for, but it was very heavy. The part of the porch you can’t see had a swing and the washing machine was stored there.
She was a little doll! I always worried that we would fall through that bad part of the porch. In the winter we would have it piled up to the celing with wood for the fire.
Does anyone know what happened to our porch swing? We kids spent many a happy hour in that swing. I can remember swinging and trying to throw salt on the sparrows. There was some kind of saying about catching a bird by throwing salt on its tail. Why wouldn’t a kid believe that????
These pictures remind me of a story Vernon told me about when he, Florence and Mary Jane (she was about age 2 or 3) visited Mother and Daddy, and when they walked toward the porch, Mary Jane spied a tiny, white kitten curled up on the porch. She ran toward it ziggidy-split, before Vernon could stop her. Vernon and Florence were terrorized! The kitten arched its back like it was going to slash out. Mary Jane put her nose right up to the kitten’s nose. The kitten put its paw on Mary Jane’s nose and held it there a long time…tame as can be. Mary Jane is really a cat whisperer!
Mary Jane – do you (6 months shy of being 60) remember when this pic was taken?
Julie was born oct 1957, Lolly was married when Julie was 10 months old.Somewhere between Julie being born and Lolly getting married in Aug the next year the remodeling of the back porch was done. Lolly payed for something I think it was the bathroom. Elizabeth and others may have helped for the remodeling. This picture was taken before the remodeling job. Remember Mary Jane always looked a couple years older then she was.
By the way, how was your 60eth, Pete? Yep, it was embarassing being a head and a half taller than you, but you topped me at most all else.
Yup, I remember this — and I was what? 2 or 3?? Yikes, I think I was the cat whisperer before there was a name for it–and I realized my talent on that porch! Whether it was that cat or another one, I remember it was raining, and a cat was outside. I felt sorry for it and managed to open that big heavy kitchen window facing out to the porch, and get the cat inside. Grandma told me liked white cats best (I guess she didn’t wear dark clothes or have them in the house much)–and fuzzy ones preferably. Each summer, Grandma would always save one or two for me, Kathy and Julie (not you, Pete, sorry, or your sisters either). I won’t say what she told me she did with the rest. I wonder if there are more white and fuzzy cats in Cole County than other places…
I also remember the boards on that porch, and how you’d step on one end and the other would fly up–like in a cartoon. I remember being cautiously excited about the “new bathroom,” but it was moldy smelling and the toilet made weird noises, and honestly, I preferred obeying Grandma when she said it was the “girls’ turn,” and dutifully going out to the outhouse, even in the dark — the night noises, the smell of the old wood and what all else. It also made me not afraid of spiders. And to this day, still I have the best and loudest “HeeereKittyKittyKittyKittyKittyKit-EEE!” you’ve ever heard.