Sentimental Sunday- Leona and Bert

 The House On Saucier Lane with Leona and Bertha Saucier

There were two maiden cousins who had raised my grandfather and he loved them like they were his parents. My father always considered them his grandmothers, and I guess I did too.

My grandfather's mother died shortly after giving birth to him. He was the seventh child born into the family, and his father remarried again, and they had four sons. My cousins had always said that Grandfather was left out of the picture by the new wife because she had her own babies to tend to, so he came to them.

They lived in an old two bedroom home, with big antique spring beds, a claw foot bath tub, and  a large open front porch with a swing. There was a chicken coop out back, and we would get to bring the corn down to feed the chickens. The back porch was screened in and there was always a bird cage full of finches. Leona loved those birds!

In the summer we kept the screened doors and windows open to let in a breeze, and in the winter everything was shut up tight with the furnace burning in the living room.  On summer nights we burned out an old stump and roasted hot dogs on willow branches. Then later in bed, you could hear the sounds of the night as you lay there with the windows open. Sometimes you would hear the dogs underneath the house scratching, and digging. Then there would be the bugs creaking and zipping their wings, the frogs croaking and the wild things howling from the woods. Then that old rooster would always be on time to wake you in the mornings.

Bert and I would often sit outside on the swing where she would brush my hair and braid it, while my brother would be busy with her bbgun  shooting a tin can. There was always someone visiting. The whole family lived nearby. We kids rode bikes, walked in the woods, made tree houses and forts. We scared each other to pieces with silly scary tales. These were the days that I took for granted. The slow lazy days spent with people you loved, doing things that didn't cost anything.