My brother and I played outside a lot in the summer and winter. We both got bicycles when we were about five and six years old from the Western Auto Store.
My bicycle was a blue girl's bike which I rode until I was too old to ride one. My brother got a red boy's bicycle which he rode until he got his paper route when he was about eleven. He then he got one that had gears and brakes on it.
When we first got the bikes, we rode them in the vacant lot a couple of doors down from our house. The Allreds lived there.
They were an elderly couple who had a crippled adult son , Claude,who lived with them. We visited with them often and thought it was so cool that they had an 'ice box;' not a refrigerator.
An ice man would bring blocks of ice to them to keep their milk and food cold.
I loved being in the garden with 'Mama Bay' brushing and braiding her black and gray hair. I can still remember talking to her husband Charlie.
They walked us to the Rosen Heights Church of Christ Sunday nights because they didn't have a car. I still remember the acapella singing of Trust and Obey.
To this day when I play that song, it brings back memories of that church. Afterwards, they would take us to the Dairy King which was across the street from the church for a vanilla ice cream cone. It sounds silly, but I can also remember the smell of the wrappers around the cones.
This article was more about memories. The next one will involve my brother again and his antics.