Just Another Day

Life at Granny Ewen's house was always fun.  At any one time, you would have a number of first cousins ready to join in the day's activities.  Such is the picture shown.

Let's see now...on this day there was Stella Ewen to my left who was a couple of years older.  Then my older bother [Henry] is almost directly behind and above my glowing face.  Next is Evelyn Jean who was about two years older, and was the only "girl" who could keep up with me on most of these days. She would wear jeans instead of the usual dress expected.  And finally David Ray, who was just one year older.  [We became best of friends.]  He only had one finger in his mouth, but I had both fingers in mine!

The black and white TV set is above us all.  They were just coming out, and I am not sure if this picture was taken to show this phenomena and we just happened to be in the picture.  The youngest among this group of first cousins I am. [Probably why I had both fingers in facial derangement mode.]

At any rate, here we are.  Our shirts checkered and colorful, the girls in white blouses and dresses...oops except Evelyn, and maybe we were just getting ready to watch this amazing square box called "TV".  At Granny Ewen's, it was just another day.

Row, Row, Row Your Boat

A family reunion was always a big deal in my growing up years. This was especially true on the Ewen-Morton side of the family tree. We would often gather at Natural Bridge State Park which was just a hop, skip, and a jump up the road from Slade and Nada where Mom had spent most of her growing up years. This natural wonder had a trail to the top which had "fat man's squeeze". This of course was one of my favorites since I was small and skinny and well, many on my Ewen-Morton side were a littler larger than I.

The picture shows a boat load of cousins. The autos in the background suggest this was taken around 1956 and my brother Henry is sitting high in the stern. [That's the back of the boat.] I am the one leaning over the side with my hand in the water, feeling the coolness, wanting to jump right into the clear stream. [On the most part, this was pre-pollution days.] Water was to play an important part in my life yet to come, being a swimming instructor for many years. [I taught most of Winchester how to swim.] At any rate, on this summer day, my cousins and I shared an adventure on the waters of time...row, row, row your boat.