I do my best blog-writing in my head during the middle of the night. Or, so it seems to me. Some nights I remember something from my childhood and try to trace back all memories and "walk through" the place in my head. Amazing how many memories there can be stored in that brain up there.
The other night I got to thinking about our trips to Aunt Lou and Uncle Roy's house in Kenosha and started getting a bit "homesick" for being on the beach or in a house on the beach. So, I thought I'd just try to put together some memories here.
We were always so excited when we heard that we would be going to Kenosha. I remember a time when things were slow in the plumbing business and Mom and Dad decided that we would go to Kenosha and stay overnight. The call was made, things were packed up, and off we went. Of course, there were the planned trips when we went up for the Fourth of July - a highlight of the summer.
The trips seemed so long. I'm thinking now that it probably took an hour or so to get there. It was a drive that took us through towns on a small roads. When we gave directions once to someone else, we told them we turned at the cow because there was a big cow at a cheese store at one of the final points where we would turn. The best part of the drive was turning and seeing the lake/sky horizon up ahead. The water looked so high up on the skyline. It looked then like we would drive right to the edge of the world. We would get to the end of the that road and turn left. Now we just watched the beach, the water, and the lakefront homes pass by.
Aunt Lou and Uncle Roy's house was beautiful. The flowers around the house and yard were so pretty and very well cared for. There was a flagstone path that led to the front porch but hardly anyone ever used the front door. One of my favorite pictures of Gramma and Grampa Kolenburg was taken on that front porch. Aunt Lou had a cast iron bench that sat on that porch and lots of flowers around there.
We also went through the garage entrance. We would pull into the driveway. On warm days they had the garage door up and a screen insert put into the garage door opening. I think Grampa Kolenburg made that. It made for some lovely breezes when we ate at tables in the garage! I don't know that they used the garage for cars; I never remember seeing a car in there. There were cabinets for serving meals on the right against the house, a door into the house, a door out back to the back yard/beach, a half-bath to the left in the back (to use when you were out on the beach and sandy), and a work area on the outside wall. I remember the big tables set up in there with all the relatives sitting around eating together on the 4th of July.
Pam and I usually headed right through the back door and out to the beach - as soon as we said sufficient greetings to the adults. The walkway went past Uncle Roy's work shed and down some stairs to the beach. The beach when we were kids was deep. You walked quite a ways out to where the water was. The beach was filled with sharp burrs and pieces of shells, bottle pieces worn down smooth, dead fish and bones, and lots of rocks worn smooth by the waves. The water was cold and the bottom of the lake was rocky. I remember one time when we walked out with shoes on our feet and ended up on a sand bar quite a ways out. We had walked through water that was up to our shoulders/neck but when we got to that sand bar, we were just about hip-deep in the water! We loved to go out and let the waves push us back in - always a little farther down the beach. I don't remember the water being dirty - but I'm sure that it was. I do remember it being sandy. I loved the sound of the waves as it pushed the sandy water up on the shore. We loved to make tracks and watch them wash away.
We also enjoyed walking down the beach - usually south. We could walk for quite aways down before coming to fences that we didn't want to cross. We would collect pieces of colored glass mostly. Not many shells that I remember. We didn't walk far to the north and I'm not sure why.
There came a time when the water shift and the beach got shorter and shorter. They always said it would shift again and the beach would be long again but I'm not sure if it ever did. In fact, we saw houses that fell into the lake as the water shifted to the west in the lake. Aunt Lou's yard got smaller, too, as the lawn fell into the encroaching beach. The little gardening shed was removed (or did it fall in) and the flag pole and Purple Martin house became a thing of the past. I think Uncle Roy's shed was spared but the water was up and around it. That was after the put down a whole lot of huge pieces of cement to protect the property.
The back yard was beautiful. Uncle Roy built a pond when we were young. It was so exciting to flip the switch and see the water start moving and going up on the rock and then fall down the waterfall. They had fish in the pond but they never seemed to last since the birds would swoop down and eat them.
Grampa Kolenburg had built a Purple Martin house and it was fascinating to me. All those miniature apartments - looked like a little dollhouse.
Uncle Roy's shed was truly a man's place, although it looked like a little playhouse to me. I loved to go in there and see the tools and wood. It was where Uncle Roy smoked his cigars and so it had a special odor of it's own. Outside the shed was a huge tree! That tree was hit by lightning several times. It provided shade around the shed.
There was a wood fence on the north side of the property with a gate. We loved to go through the gate since there was just sand dunes on the other side. I loved to walk in that soft sand or to lay down behind a dune where I couldn't even hear the sound of the waves even though they were so close. On the south property line there was a fence with posts and rails. Aunt Lou's flower beds were beautiful along that side of the property.
Uncle Roy built a breakfast room onto the back of the house in the 60's. It went out from the galley kitchen and provided a room with windows on 3 sides where we could eat or sit at night and watch a thunderstorm across the lake. With the windows open on all sides, there was always a breeze.
Inside the house? I remember the huge staircase. I loved walking up and down that staircase since we didn't have an upstairs at our house. I remember the grandfather clock and the big fireplace. And I remember the breezes that would come in the living room off the beach and make it so cool. Aunt Lou had an organ in there and I loved to sit and play it with the breezes blowing and the sound of the waves. The dining area was big but, as a child, I would rather eat quick and run back out to the beach. I also remember how pretty and cool the front bathroom was. Upstairs there were 2 (?) bedrooms on the back of the house. From those windows you could watch ships on the horizon, or hear the waves when you fell asleep or woke up. The sunrises were beautiful to watch from up there. Uncle Roy had a telescope in the masculine room and it was a fun place to be since we were used to girls' rooms. The other room was a beautiful, frilly feminine bedroom and I remember feeling like a princess when we got to sleep up there. There was even a dressing table and that made us feel so grown up.
We liked walking down the road - north this time - as far as the house on stilts. The sun was warm, the sound of the waves muted, and there was always sand on the road.
Driving home at the end of a day was always calming. After a day or so at the beach, we were warm and content and going back to the city was not a problem. The stars were bright and on the 4th of July we could see several towns' fireworks to the east on the drive home.
Days at the beach were a special part of growing up that I miss. My idea of a very peaceful and relaxing vacation still brings back ideas of laying on the sand listening to the waves. (Maybe I should get one of those waterfall things... or a recording of the waves...)
That was fun, thanks! :-)
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