25 Vine Street

The house at 25 Vine street was nothing special. Two bedrooms, one bath, living room, kitchen, and dining room all squeezed into 900 square feet. There was a full basement that must have been built over a spring of some sort, for every time it rained there was a constant flow of water from the back side to the front side which exited a small drain at the front of the basement wall. We would get quite a bit of water at heavy rains. It was always a fun place to play during a heavy rain for the back wall had a few places which poured out like a facet and would provide a rapid river for my toy boats. You had to keep your boxes off the ground most of the time for it frequently rain in Kentucky.

The upstairs was of course dry. The living room face the street, and a large picture window stood proudly facing west where the afternoon sun would beam through. Here we placed our Christmas tree year after year. It was always one of those Kentucky cedar trees that smelled like Christmas was supposed to smell. A chimney stood at the south wall with a mantel shelf that held pictures and vases and things untill Christmas time, when it became a winter wounder land of cotton snow, reindeer, green trees, and of course Santa Clause and his sled. Mom loved to decorate for Christmas.

My brother and I shared a bed room and the bathroom stood between our bedroom and Mother and Dad's bedroom. How we managed to share a bathroom for almost 18 years with out killing one another is a miracle in itself. I don't ever remember fighting anyone for access, but being the baby of the family I must have been willing to wait my turn.

The kitchen was always a fun place to play, for cabinets lined the south wall where all kinds of adventures awaited. I would spend time arranging cans, boxes, potatoes sacks, and other food stuffs making forts and places for my army men to fight. Mammouth Cave had nothing over on me.

The dinning room was special, especially on Sundays after church. Mother would cook our Sunday meal and we would share this time as a family. Not that mother would not cook some other meals, but she worked outside the home during the week nights and Dad, my brother, and I had to cook for ourselves during the week nights. After eating a week of our meals, it was so good to get some of that Ewen cooking!

Like I say,there was nothing special about the house at 25 Vine Street except we lived there.