Vacations (8) - the Lewis Side

Dad's Parents

I have already blogged about my dad being a goof-ball, but he didn't fall far from the family tree. My Lewis Grandparent's were a kick, and a lot of fun to be around. While we stayed at Grandma & Grandpa Smith's in Provo, for most of our vacation. Our family would always stay a night or two at my Grandparent's in Lehi, Utah, too. Now mom preferred to stay in Provo with her family, but would acquiesce to a night at the Lewis'. Dad always spent more time at his folk's place, and when he would head to Lehi, I'd go with him.

Commonalities

I loved to play with my cousins in Provo, but I couldn't wait to spend a few days with Grandma & Grandpa Lewis. Grandma and I had a lot in common. She sewed, I sewed. She crocheted, I crocheted. She danced, I danced. She sparkled. . .I hope I do, too. I truly believed that if we had been the same age, and lived near one-another, we would have been best friends. (I think I wrote and told her that when I was in college.)

Crafts and Puzzles

When my sister and I were about 10 & 5, Grandma and Grandpa Lewis made furniture for our Barbies for Christmas. They made each of us a chair, a couch, an afghan, and an oval rug. I thought they were the best! About the time I was 12 or 13, Grandma gave me all her yarn when I went to see her. I was ecstatic! She couldn't crochet anymore, because of arthritis - but she knew I loved to make things. I felt so privileged that she would give her stuff to me! She even showed me how to wrap the yarn so that it would feed from the middle, like purchased yarn. That way it didn't roll all over the place when you used it.

Grandma Lewis let me play the top 40 tunes when I stayed at their place, and she told me that used to teach dance when she was younger. She taught the Fox-trot and the Charleston. I later learned how to Fox-trot, and a wee bit of Charleston. I must get my moves from her. . .
While Grandma and I sat in the kitchen talking and listening to the radio, Dad and Grandpa would be sitting in the living room playing Cribbage. If they weren't playing Cribbage or Casino or some other card game, Grandpa would be playing solitaire. I think I got my love for games from that side of the family, too. Grandma taught me several solitaire games, so I wouldn't get bored with my small repertoire.

Grandma & Grandpa Lewis always had puzzles to play. They had 3-D store-bought puzzles, like wooden cubes or spheres that came apart and you had to put them together. They had puzzles made out of small twisted metal rods that came apart and went back together, but only if you figured out how to do it. They also had some homemade puzzles-games, like the one Grandpa made from a piece of wood, three nails and some circular disks. He had pounded the nails across the board at intervals, so the nail points stuck up. Then he made the circular disks out of thin wood and put holes in their centers, so they stacked small on top to large on bottom on the first nail. The object of the game or puzzle was to move the disks across the middle nail to the far nail one at a time. You could move them backwards, but you weren't to place a larger disk on top of a smaller disk in the process. The game ended successfully when you had all disks restacked on the third nail exactly like they were on the first nail when you started. It took me a while to master that one!

Grandpa Lewis was a rock hound, and picked up agates and all kinds of rocks here and there. He tumbled the rocks when I was younger. It seems like he had a tie clasp for a "Western" style tie -(String with two metal tips that the clasp moved up and down) that he had made out of a brown specked rock. I have always loved rocks, and wanted a tumbler at one time, so I could make them smooth, like semi-precious stones for jewelry. I wonder if I got the idea from him? Grandpa Lewis also liked to whittle. He carved me a bunch of different sized crochet hooks from various kinds of wood. I used one to make a rug from old jeans when I was in my teens. I still have them, and my daughters and I use them on occasion still.

He also made my sister and I "quarter rings." Now these rings were fashioned from actual quarter dollars, minted in the years we were born. The quarters back then were primarily silver and highly malleable. He measured our finger size with steel rings (like they have at a jewelers) then found a button that easily fit inside the steel ring that corresponded to our size. Then he took a hammer and began to tap the edge of the quarter turning it as he went. This caused the silver rim to spread out to each side and become smooth. It also made the writing inside the quarter lay over to the inside of the ring - on each side. When the quarter's new rim fit around the button, he cut out the center and polished it smooth. We still have our rings.

Smelterville Snippets (1)

Ceramics & Crochet

I learned to crochet when I was about 6, and taught my friend PJ to crochet also - even though she was left handed, and I was not. My mom and E. Jerome used to crochet together. At one point, they were working on crochet bedspreads at the same time. Both bedspreads were white with roses on them. Mom's had pink roses and E's had various colored roses. My mom gave her bedspread to R, my sister many years ago. When I inquired about it, almost 15 yrs ago., R said she had it in her shed. She wasn't fond of it, so she gave it to me. It holds a lot of sentimental value for me.

Mom also did a lot of ceramics in Smelterville. She made a lot of ashtrays (some R-rated), and advanced to vases, cookie jars, fruit bowls, and lamps. I couldn't wait until I was old enough to "do ceramics." Mom gave most of her stuff away, and many of her friends used their cookie jars, etc. for years to come.

Debates & True Confessions

I vaguely remember the 1960 Presidential Debates on television - between J. F. Kennedy & R. M. Nixon. The neighbors had the debates on at their house when I went over to visit, and I thought it was the most boring thing I had ever seen on television. (Worse than Beanie & Cecil).

One summer when I was at L. Jerome's place, we went outside to play. She had two older sisters, and the oldest J. was lying on a blanket in the yard, reading True Confessions magazines. I was probably between second and third grade, because I was able to easily read the magazines. I remember reading a story about a teen girl who went to babysit at a home, and discovered there was not wife nor children at the home. The man kept telling her they'd be there soon and if she'd just like to sit on the couch and wait. She felt creepy, and excused herself to the rest room. Once inside, she crawled out of the window and ran home. It wasn't the kind of stuff a girl my age needed to be reading.

Tar Bubbles & Maple Leaves

L. J. and I did a lot of fun stuff together. I remember one of my favorites was picking tar bubbles in the road on Washington St. We weren't supposed to play in the street, but the tar was so cool. When we picked the top off of the bubbles, the inside was a smooth and shiny dip. I don't know why it fascinated me, but it did.

We also used to go to someone's house on the street and jump in their gigantic maple leaf pile in the fall. I'm not sure if I even knew the people, or if we had permission, but I do remember the smell of the leaves and the fun we had.

One time, I was playing with L and her siblings in their garage. The floor was made of dirt, as many garages in those days were and the walls were wooden. I wanted to reach something in the rafters, so I grabbed an old tin can and turned it upside down so I could step on it. Now the can was a bit squished at the top, and it didn't occur to me that it would be unstable. As I climbed up onto the can, it flipped over, and where the top was compressed together into a point - I landed with the back of my thigh. Mom had to take me to the doctor for stitches and a tetnus shot. I used to be able to see the scar, but I can't twist that far now.

Tire Swing & Junk clubhouses

Dad made a tire swing for me at Smelterville. He cut off about 2 thirds of the tire, leaving a rim of rubber around the openings, then he turned the tire inside out and hung it up by the "handles" (parts around the openings). I could sit comfortably inside the tire (on the tracks) and swing to my heart's content. I don't know if he had such a swing when he was young - or if he made up the "pattern," but I have never seen another one like it.

During the time I lived in Smelterville and spent some of my weekend time in Pinehurst, the Carver kids and I used to build "cabins" out of short pieces of 2x4s that the Caldwells had piled out back for their wood stove. (Pieces were probably 2 or 3' long.) We would stack them up Lincoln Log style - but without the notches. When they were finished, we would climb up the outside and over the walls to get inside. One day we made a structure two boards long and one board wide and about 3 and a half feet high. All of us who worked on it climbed inside and pretended we were sardines. Our creativity was cut short, when the older boys built a structure so large it blocked a driveway, and we were told we couldn't build any more.

During the same time, I decided to make my own cabin / clubhouse in Smelterville. Unfortunately, I didn't have access to regular sized lumber, so I improvised. We lived behind a wood working place, and there were differing sizes of scraps and old greyed out boards a tire or two, and maybe a door. I used the menagerie to build several hideouts. One of my favorites utlilized the tire as the entrance around a hole on top of the structure. I loved to climb inside to read or think. I'm not sure who dismantled them, but I think my parents may have been concerned for my safety, and put an end to my creativity.