Nanny

She occupies a very special place in my heart.  We were very close.  My strongest memories are when I was maybe 7 or 8 years old, waking up early in the mornings about 6 a.m. (during summer) and peaking into Mom and Dad's bedroom, and asking if I could go over to Nanny's.  I would sit by the wood stove with her, as she had coffee and toasted knickerbrod with butter and B.E.  She had an aviary full of canaries right off her main room.  She had set up a bed in the main room I guess mainly because the back bedroom was so cold - and then did she convert that to an aviary ? Or the other way around?

For many years I would do chores for her in her garden like pulling weeds, transplanting rose bushes, cleaning the duck's pond, raking up pine needles. 

I played with her black Labrador, Ring.  I threw the ball or pine cones for him to chase and bring back.  Then later she got another black Lab, Kim, and I did the same with him.  He was terrific - tireless ... he would continue chasing the pine cones and bringing them back even after panting and foaming at the mouth for lack of water.   

However, I never forgave her for taking me to see an absolutely horrifying movie which caused nightmares for weeks.  She and one of the elder ladies in town (Pearl? Aunt Esther?) would go to the movies every Sunday afternoon.  One day when I was particularly bored, as she was getting ready to go, she asked if I would like to come along.  She said it was the type of movie I would enjoy.  Yeah, right - here I was seven years old!!! She took me to see the Attack of the Giant Praying Mantis!!! The thing that was soooo scary about that movie, and the lingering thing was the sound that the creature made when approaching a city it was going to devour.  It made this awful droning, humming sound that increased in volume as it neared the city.  Then of course its giant claws would sweep up several people at a time, and it would chew them up.  Agghhhh!!!  Thanks, Nanny.

But on the lighter side - she told me stories of her days growing up in Worcester, MA.  She told me how she played piano for the silent movies in Santa Maria when she first came out West.

And there is much more to tell ......