Fun in 'The Village'

Updated a lot! Used to have flat roofs, red brick, no porches

I had a good childhood, all in all.  Mama, my brother, two sisters and I lived in Baton Rouge for much of my childhood.  We lived in a place we all called 'The Village'.  It was government subsidized housing, all duplexes.  Each section had a long sidewalk with six sets of duplexes, three sets on each side of the long sidewalk...then shorter sidewalks to each set of duplexes.  My friend, Little Judy, lived in the duplex next to ours.  She was called Little Judy because my sister was also named Judy and was older than the other Judy.  Little Judy didn't have a very good home life from what I can remember, but she was a really good friend.

I am the youngest of four children so while my brother and sisters were off playing softball at the playground or chasing members of the opposite sex, I was playing with my babydolls and paper dolls.  One year for Christmas I got little boxes of real, dry baby cereal to feed to my dolly!  Little Judy and I sat in the shade of the duplex(it's HOT in Louisiana in the summertime..and sometimes at Christmas time, too!) mixed up that cereal with water and made a grand attempt to feed our dollies.  We had a wonderful, messy time!

Our duplex was right next to a wooded area so some of us younger kids would go out under the cool trees and make houses out of the leaves.  We'd push together the leaves in thick lines that would be the outline of the walls of our various rooms of the house.  No leaves meant that was a doorway. :)  We had so much fun doing that!  Right next to our little shady play area, our neighbor's brother, kind of a strange, skinny guy who never talked to anybody, had a peanut roaster.  It was a round, barrel like gadget with holes all in it and a handle on the side.  It was over a fire or burner of some kind(I don't remember) and he would turn the handle so the peanuts wouldn't burn. Now that was one yummy aroma - fresh roasted peanuts! Makes my stomach growl thinking about it.  I think he charged 5 cents a bag, but I'm not sure that's right. We bought a bag or two through the years.

There was a tether ball pole set up on the long side walk and we spent hours there trying to beat each other.  My brother and sisters liked playing that with me because they could hit it over my head. :/   Jackwagons.  One of my most favorite activities was playing on the swingset!  Our duplex backed up to the playground and these swingsets were awesome!  They were super tall metal sets with the best swings in the world!  The chains were strong and long and the seats seemed so wide to me then....not so much now, I'm sure!   In Louisiana the grass grows thick and green, no need for fertilizer.  It's everywhere!  Except under our swings.  If I were a painter, I'd paint that little oval patch of dirt under my feet when I sat on my swing.  If I/we hadn't swung on it so much, the grass would have just grown right over it and covered it up!  But, we used that swing everyday as often as possible.  So peaceful, going back and forth as high as I could go, with the wind brushing my blonde curls off my face.  I felt so free in that swing!  Loved it.  Still love to swing if I can find one with a big enough seat!

Another fond memory I have of my rascally siblings is when I received a new bicycle for Christmas.  This one was a big one with no training wheels on it.  I felt so afraid up there!  I was probably seven years old, my sibs were probably 14, 15, and 17 years old.  So they were "kind" enough to teach me how to ride the bike.  They propped me up on it and told me to pedal as they pushed me.  Once I got pedaling good, they let go.  I did pretty well, pedaling around in circles in the grass.  But, after about 15 circles, I was done, ready to get off the big bike.  So, I said, "How do I stop?"  To which they replied....oh, that's right, they didn't reply!  They just giggled and laughed.  They laughed.  I'm going round and round in circles, feeling like my legs are gonna fall off and they laugh!  Not one of them would tell me how to stop that stupid bicycle!  But, I did figure it out for myself....all you have to do is fall over. :/  Yep, jackwagons.  I'm so glad I gave them so much joy that day. NOT.  LOL

They were rotten, but they were also good to me and loved their baby sister...for the most part.  They read my books to me so often that I had them memorized.  I'd just turn the pages and say the words.  They taught me to put on plays for our mama.  Cheap entertainment and so much fun.  We had shaving cream fights and water melon rind fights and water hose fights and gum ball fights.  Not the gum you chew, but the seed pods that grew off what we called gum ball trees....they are round, bumpy, and stickery.  Ouch! They hurt when thrown at you!

We would always tell the story of how Mr. Fluff, Phyllis's persian cat, went through the window fan when it was running and didn't even get hurt!!  We'd also all get scared at night if we watched an episode of Twilight Zone, I think I was about 11 when we got our first TV, black and white!  Before that we'd all go down to Ms. Stevie's house and watch her TV.   Back to the Twilight Zone,  First Judy would start screaming, then Phyllis, then me! I didn't know what we were screaming about, but it was scary!  Mama finally put a stop to the Twilight Zone, she couldn't take the midnight excitement!

I have to tell you about another funny time with our mother.  Actually, all of the older ones had grown and moved out.  Mama and I had moved out of the Village by then and lived in a one bedroom cement block house.  Mama was getting ready for work one morning and was really tired.  She got dressed, fixed her face and brushed her hair.  Then she closed her eyes for the hairspray she always used.  When she opened her eyes, she was shocked and appalled to find that her entire hairdo was covered in a thick layer of white foam!! HAHA!! When she closed her eyes, she had picked up the can of Dow bathroom cleaner instead of hairspray!!! HAHA!! I'll never, ever forget that!  Bless her heart, she had to rinse it out the best she could and get a run on to catch the bus! She came out of there with stringy, wet hair and I KNOW she didn't like that!  Mama never left the house without looking her best.   That was a day she laughed about often, too.  :)  The good old days.

What fun it is to visit those days, good memories are a blessing! Thank you, Lord.