Greetings, Ripplemakers

Bob
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My Grandmother was born in 1904 and lived to be 91. I was amazed at the education I received just from listening to her share special accounts of her life. They often became "Bedtime Stories" something I treasured dearly. Her name was Irene and her oldest sister was Pearl.

Irene lived on a farm with her two older sisters and her parents. There was a tall windmill that stood next to the machine shed near the barn. As a little girl she watched the men climb to the top of the windmill to oil the wheel.

One fall morning Irene waved "good-bye" to her parents, who had hitched old Jip to the buggy to attend an auction sale a few miles away. Her sister Pearl was in charge of the girls and decided to teach Irene how to tie her shoelaces that morning outside on the leaves. After a bit of practice Irene decided to tie a ribbon on her rag doll. She took the doll out to a bench in front of the machine shed and worked at tying the ribbon around the doll's neck.

After accomplishing that task she looked around for something else to do. She saw fall leaves that had gathered on the ground beneath the oak trees, and then she spotted the old windmill and remembered watching the men climb it. That seemed like something she would enjoy doing. So with her rag doll under her arm she started to climb the small galvanized rungs which formed the ladder to reach the top. He legs were short and the rungs were far apart but she managed to get to the top. She placed her doll on the platform and somehow pulled herself up next to her. She could see for miles, and pointed out neighboring farms and the many fall colors to her doll.

Across the road lived her Uncle John and his wife Bertha, and when she saw Irene climbing she called her husband in from the barn to go quickly over to rescue her. After talking it over, however, they decided that might frighten her to see Uncle John coming, so they telephoned across the road to the house and told Pearl where she was and how to get her down.

Pearl came out to the windmill alone and told Irene to stay seated where she was. She said she would climb up and help her come down. The first thing she did when she reached the top was throw the rag doll down to the ground. Pearl was able to get Irene off the platform and her feet on the rung and slowly they came down together.

When the girls were safely on the ground, Uncle John was there to praise Pearl for bringing Irene down safely. Irene didn't recall what he said to her, but she was afraid it wasn't good. And she got a scolding for disobeying and climbing the old windmill.

Irene said the good thing that came from climbing was being able to see all around the country side and the colorful leaves that fall while sitting on the top of the windmill, and not falling off. And she also learned to tie a bow that day!

For years that old windmill stood near the farm, and when visiting Grandma we often drove out to the country just to see the farmhouse where she was born and lived as a child. Often it was fall, and the leaves were colorful and the apple trees continued to produce, so we'd pick a few and Grandma would tell us about living on the farm. But nobody would climb that windmill, it was still standing, but we just enjoyed looking at it, knowing it was part of Grandma's past.
?© Copyright, Diane Dean White 2003
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Diane is a former newspaper reporter and writer for fundraising organizations and historical research projects. Her new book BEACH WALKS is a compilation of short stories and can be reviewed on Amazon and other websites. She also has an outreach for women called Seeds of Encouragement at www.heartwarmers4u.com/members?thelamb212

Diane and her husband Stephen reside on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina
where she continues her love for writing. They are the parents of three grown children and two grand-gals. You may contact Diane at: ? thelamb212 @ aol.com

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