Here I am at 4 months of age, held by my dear momma. Since I was born November 30th, I'd say this picture was taken either on March 30th or 31st, or else sometime in April, of 1959. My dad still lives in that house today; the house where I grew up, as did my mom before me. Both trees are gone now, and the wooden-shingled roof is now covered with tin. Note the lightning rod along the edge of the roof (left side). There was something scary about that tree in the front of the house...a knocking sound could be heard, coming from inside the tree. Both trees were mulberry's, and NOT the fruitless type of today. The ripe berries would cover the sidewalk, and, since we kids were always barefooted, our feet would turn purple from walking on the berries. The mulberries attracted lots of butterflies, which I loved, but also attracted houseflies, which my parents hated. Daddy eventually cut down both trees, to get rid of all the aggravations that accompanied them. There was a third mulberry tree, just out of the picture, at the bottom, left-hand corner (where the sidewalk bends); it was the last one to go, and I hated it when it was cut down, as it was my favorite tree to climb. Today we celebrated our Savior's birth during Mass at 9:00 A.M., then partied at Grandma Hess's. In the afternoon, Sarah and I went to the farm. She walked up to Felderhoff's, caught Lucky, and rode him home, through the snow that was still in the barditch--riding bareback, and guiding him only by his halter and lead-rope. She turned him loose with our other 3 horses, out in the Top Pasture, and they all sniffed, and snuffled, and got to know each other, and then took off galloping across the way. The sorrel gelding was one of Sarah's Christmas presents--surprise! Oh, and Sarah put snow down my pants, then I layed down to make a snow angel, and got all wet, since the snow is kinda slushy by now. Even though it was a beautiful, sunny day, I'd call this one a white Christmas, because there was still snow around.
