Williamsville, 1955

Mom loved gardening and we always had beautiful flowers in summer:

June, 1955

And in the fall:

October, 1955

We also had a small vegetable garden on the side of the yard.  Pop planted cantaloupes once and we actually got one, but mostly we grew lettuce, beans and tomatoes. I got to plant radishes and morning glories.  One year, I picked some radishes and cleaned them in the bathroom sink, intending to produce them as a nice surprise. I stuffed the leaves down the drain of the sink, thinking that they would wash away.  Somehow, this did not work like I expected.  I pushed harder and harder, but no matter how hard I shoved, they did not wash away and pretty soon the sink was overflowing all over the floor.   This was, indeed a surprise for me as well as the parents but not a nice surprise at all. Nor was the spanking that followed!

In 1955, we got a television! The case was made from two very beautiful shades of blue-green plastic and it had a rabbit-ear antenna on top that could be moved to improve the picture when it went bad, as it frequently did. 

Sometimes all the TV showed was a test pattern, but once a week, it showed the Mickey Mouse club featuring Annette Funicello as the lead Musketeer. The Mousketeers were so VERY cool! I could hardly wait to see them each week and I was sad when they sang

“Now it’s time to say good-bye to all our companeeeeee.
M – I – C – (See you soon!)
K – E - Y (Why? Because we LIKE you!)
M - O - U - S - EEEEEEEE”.

Television brought other new things into my life besides the Mousketeers.  Once a week we watched “Lassie” (people would get lost and Lassie had to find them, but it was often doubtful that she would get there in time) and Roy Rogers.  At Christmas I was lucky enough to get a pair of holsters and cowboy guns.   My guns were made of pot-metal of some sort and plated to be shiny.   The triggers really moved and when they did, the magazine rotated, the hammer pulled back and released with a satisfying clicking sound.   Dale Evans and Roy Rogers had nothing on me!  I wore my guns and imagined myself riding on the Western range.