Vera's Corner

The drugstore library was a hit!

Down at the drugstore, around 1941, they had a rental library. It was a little, old corner of the drugstore where they had books--just paperback books.

Actually, it didn't cost anything; you could check them out for free. You just had to go down and sign them out. It was not a very big place, but they were busy all the time. It was such a convenience. The drugstore was close while the regular library was a mile away--too far to walk, and of course it was cheaper than buying the books.

The books were mostly novelty books or mysteries. I remember Perry Mason books were popular. They were books for adults, not kids.

I remember my brother Gene would go down and pick me out some books. He would pick out some good ones. The drugstore was a couple of blocks from our house, and the theater where he worked was about three blocks away.

He would always go down at the last minute to get me some books; and as a result, he would sometimes be late for work. Once he brought the books home, I would stay up late reading them. At midnight, I might still be reading!

"Mom, look how orange our house is!"

I remember when I was about 4 or 5 years old. My mom and my younger sister Rosa, and myself were going to the pasture to tell my older brother Roland to bring the cows in to be milked. He was on horse back, old cowboy style...ha!

I looked back at our house and said, "Mom, look how orange our house is!" Of course, it was on fire; it was just before all the flames broke out. I can still see the bright orange color.

The only thing saved was my mom's sewing machine. Luckily, she had all her important papers in the six drawers in that sewing machine.

After the house burned down, they fixed up an apartment in the loft of the big milk barn. All I can remember of that was the outside stair steps leading up to it. We lived there until the new house was built. Can you imagine what people would say now if I told them I had lived in a barn!

The new house was where I had scarlet fever. The old house probably wouldn't have had the accomodations for my cousin to slip around to read my funny books.

My younger sister Rosa and myself at about that time.

We used to go crawfishing

Did you ever go crawfishing? I did, our neighbors had this small tank (which is a pond or something similar). We took a stick, tied a twine on it, took a cornmeal ball or a piece of fat pork, and tied it on as bait!

Believe me, we would catch those old crawdads like crazy- that is me and my two older brothers. After we caught a big mess of them, my brothers would cut the tails off, and mom would give us a skillet. We built a campfire, rolled those granddads in cornmeal and fried them.

Believe me, if you haven't had them, it is a treat. I think that must have been the beginning of my love of lobster.

I'm planning to go to New Orleans with my daughters Sandy and Anne and son-in-law John. The first meal I'm going to look the menu over to find is crawfish.

Years later, Jacob--Stormy and Frank's boy--is
not sure that this crawdad is a treat!

My great fish story - A true one!

A true fish story--circa 1966

Speaking of fishing, I have to tell you about my great experience. It was quite different from crawfishing. Lee and I went to a convention in Hollywood, Florida. He had a free day so we went fishing. To this day, it is hard to understand why a husband would take his wife on the kind of fishing day we had, but it was great.

We went to Fort Lauderdale and rented a boat--just the two of us. The boat had two bucket seats in the back. We were out in the Atlantic Ocean, when all at once, there was a catch on my line.

Now my experience fishing with a rod and reel was nil. I started making such a beautiful circle; and in the meantime, the skipper always kept that fish behind the boat. Of course with all the turns he made, we were drenched with all the water splashing on us.

The skipper was on ship-to-shore radio, keeping other boats out of his way. I must have been on that reel for half an hour or so, giving that fish leeway, then reeling him in. Anyway, I was getting tired and not making those beautiful circles anymore. It was like push-pull!

Lee took over for me. I don't know how long he was working that fish! He told the deckhand he thought the line was too tight. Well, the deckhand must have misunderstood for he tightened up on it, and lo, there went that fish!

The skipper was so mad at that young man. He said the fish was an albacore tuna and would say it was about 300 pounds. Quite a thrill and a big disappointment at the same time. When we got back to the dock, people were lined up, even camera men. It's a shame I couldn't get my picture made. No FISH!