Learning to ride a bike

When Maria was about 6 years old, she wanted to learn to ride a bike. Her older sisters and brother had 10 speed bikes that summer and were always riding around the rural roads. Maria and her little brother had to stay home.

There were only two bikes left behind. One was large black bike with no brakes - not even manual. It was also way to big for Maria or Tomas to ride. The other was a smaller green bike the color of a John Deer tractor. While it was still a little big, Maria and Tomas were determined to learn how to ride it.

The hardest part was figuring out how to start it. Neither Maria nor Tomas could sit on the seat and touch the ground. The driveway and road were made of loose gravel and not easy to get a push start. Maria and Tomas surveyed the farm to see what they could do.

The driveway was very long and straight next to the house. There was a pear tree, an apple tree and a sand box on the other side of the drive. then there was a hill sloping down to an open yard. Maria remembered that her father would drive his truck around that way sometimes. The ground there was pretty firm under the springy grass.

Maria got an idea. She took the bike to an open space at the end of the driveway where the hill began to slope downwards. She straddled the bike and ran a few steps, then jumped on the seat. She rode down the hill! But she could not get her feet on the peddles in time to pump them around. She lost her balance and fell down.

Tomas thought this was a great idea and tried it next. They took turns trying to jump on the bike, gain their balance and begin peddling. They spent a long time on this and would get back up every time they fell down. That is until Tomas missed the seat and landed right on the bar of the bike. Ouch! He was done for the day.

Maria kept trying and trying, day after day. Each day she would make a little farther down the hill balanced on the bike. Soon she could peddle all the way up the other side of the hill back to the driveway. She was very determined. Soon she could even ride the bike down the gravel driveway and she helped Tomas do the same.

Their brother and sister did not think it was that big of a deal. But Maria and Tomas were so excited to show their parents. Their mother and father were impressed and very proud!

P.S. Maria and Tomas got new bikes a few years later too - with banana seats and big handle bars!

First day of Kindergarten

Maria was so excited - she was going to school for the very first time. She was going to be a big kid!

Maria and her mother picked out a dress and a sweater for her first day at school. She received a clear plastic bag with yellow flowers on it and a long handle to carry all of her papers and supplies - two pencils, big crayons and manila paper. Maria did not have a lunch box as Kindergarten was only half a day.

That morning, Maria dressed quickly and ate breakfast. Her mother wrote her name, address and telephone number as well as her teacher's name on a piece of paper and pinned it to Maria's sweater.

Maria walked with her mother to the end of the driveway with her bag and they waited for the bus. It was a very big bus and Maria felt like she was the smallest person there.

When the bus arrived at the school, Maria got off with all of the other children. There were several other buses with exiting children as well. There were so many children, Maria just saw blurs of color moving around her. She felt a little lost.

Finally she saw an adult who looked like she was directing the chaos. Maria went to her and tugged on her jacket. The woman looked down and asked what she could do for Maria. Maria felt very shy and just pointed to the note pinned to her sweater. The woman read the note, kindly took Maria's hand and walked Maria to her classroom.

Maria was very relieved when the Kindergarten teacher smiled at her and welcomed her to her classroom. Then she saw all of the children and was very happy to be in the bright sunny room. Her socializing days had just begun!

The new baby

When Maria was 8 years old, her mother told her she was going to have another baby. Maria was very excited! To prepare for the new family member, the family moved to a larger home close to the town. Maria was given a yellow room and the baby would sleep in her room when it arrived. This made Maria even more excited!

In October, Maria's baby sister, Teresa was born. She was the sweetest baby and everyone said so. Maria quite agreed and loved to feed her and hold her and even change her diaper. She loved hearing the baby softly breathing as she slept each night.

As the baby grew, Teresa began to take on her own personality. She was loving and sweet and loved to laugh. She was a little sassy too - always ready to boss the big kids around if she felt the need. Maria and all of her brothers and sisters adored Teresa.

When Maria was in junior high and high school, she still shared a room with Teresa and Teresa was her best friend. Maria shared all of her secrets with Teresa.

As she grew up, Teresa became a fun-loving, caring and confident woman. She got married and had beautiful children and always loved her family. She and Maria always stayed close and shared the special bonds of sisterhood and friendship.

Today is Teresa's birthday. Happy Birthday - from Maria and me!

Dive in or take it slow?

When Maria was around eleven years old, she lived with her family in a big house in a nice lakeside neighborhood. In the summer, Maria's family spent a good amount of time at the lake. They had a pontoon boat for leisure rides around the lake at evening time. The also had a small speed boat for skiing and fishing. These were kept at the gated neighborhood dock.

Now, this lake was in Michigan and as you may be aware, the water never gets truly warm in lakes such as this one. But still, the family would often go swimming off the docks. Maria's father liked to take the kids down after dinner on summer nights to cool off after a long day. All of the kids loved this. They would quickly don their bathing suits and gladly ride their bikes down to the dock.

Once they arrived at the lake, someone would yell, "Last one in is a rotten egg!" Off they would run down the dock to the end. All of the kids would stop short at the edge and look in wondering how cold it was.

Then Maria's father would dive in. He would swim to the surface and say, "Come on in! It's not cold at all."

Then one by one, the kids would jump in and, one by one, they would come to the surface and shiver.

Maria, on the other hand, always took a different approach. She would walk to the ladder leading into the lake off the side of the dock. Then she would dip her toes in. Then she would place her feet on the first rung of the ladder. Then she would slowly, slowly, slowly lower her body into the water a little at a time, pausing to let each section adjust to the water temperature.

Usually during this process, her father would have been out of the water a couple times for a running jump or dive back into the lake. He would always say to Maria, "If you just jump in, your body will adjust more quickly and you can have more time having fun."

Maria still eased herself into the lake every time. However, I can say that she does now appreciate the advise.

Tomatoes

When Maria was about 10 years old, she and her family had two dogs named Chipper and Frisky. These were outdoor dogs and not allowed inside the house. The dogs each had their own area outside and each had their own dog house.

Maria and her brothers and sisters would feed and water the dogs everyday. They fed the dogs table scraps along with their dog food. One summer, the family ate a lot of tomatoes and a few tomato scraps made it into Frisky's food dish.

Now do not worry, Frisky never became ill and it was not common knowledge at the time that tomatoes were bad for dogs. Anyway, back to the story -

Summer came and went, as did fall and winter. As the snow thawed and melted away, Frisky's area and dog house looked just as it always had. As May came around, some plants began to grow around the edge of Frisky's dog run. By June, there were big juicy tomatoes ripening on the vines of the plants.

Now I know you're questioning if the family ate the tomatoes. I would be lying if I said they did not. I am pretty sure though that Maria's mother refrained from telling the family whether she was using "home grown" (Frisky grown) or "store bought" tomatoes in the salad each day.

Maria and Snoopy

When Maria was about 5, her family bought a baby goat. he was white with a black spot and was very curious. He was quickly named Snoopy and given a large pen all to himself. Maria instantly fell in love with Snoopy.

Maria often could be found in Snoopy's pen playing with the goat, feeding him or just petting him. She often dragged her brothers and sisters to visit Snoopy with her. Once they all had cupcakes. Maria gave little pieces of hers to Snoopy as she often shared her snacks with the goat. When it was all gone and just a paper wrapper left, Maria told Snoopy, "I am sorry it is all gone." Then snoopy snatched the wrapper from her hand and promptly ate it. Maria gasped, "Snoopy just ate paper!" and all the children laughed.

A few months later, Snoopy became very ill with pneumonia and passed away. Maria was very very sad, but she always had fond and happy memories of her goat, Snoopy.

Maria and the chickens

Maria had an interesting relationship with the poultry on the farm. There were chicken, ducks and geese - and sometimes even guinea hens.

Maria often had to gather the eggs from the chicken coop - a job she really liked. She would enter the hut and look for eggs in each little nest - sometimes they would still be warm.. She would add them to a basket and bring them to the house. If she did not have a basket, she would gather them in her shirt or dress and hope she didn't fall on the way back to the house.

Maria and her brother Tomas were often asked to feed and water the ducks and chickens. They would enter the large area fenced in with chicken wire with a bucket of feed. They would spread the feed and the birds would surround them pecking at the ground by their feet. They would then fill the water trough. This was a big old sink in the ground and the ducks would sometimes swim in it. If they let the water overflow, it would create rivers in the dirt yard of the pen. Maria and Tomas would build cities around the rivers and play with their toy cars and trucks. All the while the ducks and chickens would wander around looking at the kids playing in their space.

The geese were always mean and aggressive - honking as loud as possible should anyone get near them. Maria was pretty good at avoiding the geese - but Tomas was pecked more than a few times by their sharp beaks.

In the autumn, Maria's father would slaughter the chickens for food. Maria understood this and was always there to watch. Every time a chicken had it's head cut off, the body would still be alive and would run around the yard in unpredictable frenzy. Maria would run away and scream - always sure the headless chickens were chasing her - which of course they were not. She did this every time...

Maria loved to watch the guinea hens. She thought they were so exotic looking. Here is what they look like:

Maria's favorite thing though was when the baby ducks and chicks would hatch in the spring. The eggs were kept in an incubator and the family would watch them hatch. It was so amazing to watch the little beaks peck a hole in the eggshell and watch them slowly emerge from the shell, damp and shaky. Maria loved the sound of the peeps and chirps and holding the fuzzy yellow chicks and the soft brown and yellow baby ducks.