Coconut Trees

Trees were a part of my growing up years.  Many days were spent climbing them, eating cherries, apples, pears, and walnuts from them.  Sitting under the shade of them on hot summer days with a little breeze making its way through the branches and leaves.  Now there were plenty of them around my neighborhood, but a palm tree was not one of them.

The picture above shows my Mom [to the right], her sister Faye [to the left], and a first cousin they called "Sissy". [In the middle of course.]  Sissy appears somewhat larger in statue than both Faye and my Mom, but Faye and Sissy seem to share the same facial features, including the red lip stick.   Mom may be about 14, and Faye about 16, and Sissy...well not sure, but would guess she is several years older.  Mom tells me that she usually did not wear lipstick or makeup.  Together, they are pausing for this picture in time.

The picture is taken in front of a back drop that contains a palm tree.  Now I didn't see my first "real" palm tree until our family took a trip to this new place called "Disneyland".  No branches, no real leaves, a lot of funny looking bark, and only a large black fruit called a coconut that you had to use a sledge hammer to get into.  Humm...a coconut tree in Winchester, Kentucky used as a back drop to take pictures.  I imagine that not many folks growing up in Kentucky during WWII would ever see a real palm tree.  That is unless you were in the military and got to that part of the world that had many of them. 

The back drops to our life.  We stand in front of many to get that picture just right.  On this day Mom, Faye, and Sissy shared this back drop.