A Store Full of Memories
When I was young, my paternal Grandparents lived in this little, unincorporated town called Corvuso. In this little town there was, of course, a bar, a creamery and a little country store with a residence in the back. That store and home belonged to my Grandparents and oh the memories that were made there bring the widest smile to my face!
We used to head to see the Grandparents quite often as they lived just minutes from my Mom's mom so we'd kill 2 birds with 1 stone on every weekend visit. Sundays were made for dinner with Grandma Ann and Grandpa Bud. And they were also made for 5 cousins to hang out together in the store or the yard. That store...the best place a kid could play. Back then, both the house and store seemed so large but they really weren't. The store had these rough wood floors so that when the farmers would come in with cow crap on their boots, it didn't really matter. You walked in and to the right was the counter with the old, antique cash register that my brother has to this day. In front of the counter were two bins and one held nails and one held in the shell peanuts. I'm surprised I'm not one of those peanuts as I ate so damn many! Beyond the counter and bins was the small deli counter where Grandma would slice off the best salami for us to take home. To the left were shelves for grocery items. Sticking out in my head are those pink Hostess snowballs, Quisp cereal and King Vitaman cereal:
There was a curtained doorway to the left that led to the dusty store room that held a treasure: a pump organ. You had to pump the pedals to get that sucker to work. My Auntie Jo eventually took that thing home and restored it to its original glory and it was beautiful!
In the middle of the store was an old school soda pop machine similar to this:
That machine was the bane of my existence. Being the youngest of us 5 cousins hanging out, it always fell on me to ask Grandma if we could have a pop and I hated it. I don't know why I was scared to ask because, if I remember right, she never denied us. Guess it helps when you're the favorite!
We'd play for hours in that store making up commercials and just hanging out. And when customers would come in while Grandma was in the kitchen making the Sunday dinner, we'd yell out, "Grandma! CUSTOMER!"
If the weather was nice, we'd head outside. They had this huge tree by the garage that we would climb on sometimes but the backyard was our main hang out spot. They had this little "fence" of chains that we'd all try to balance on and the four older kids would play "jarts". Know what "jarts" are?
Yeah; arrows of EVIL that you threw in the air towards a circle and the ends are pointy and sharp and your hope was for them to stick straight out of the ground in said circle. I never got to play since I was the youngest and I think they thought I'd probably maim myself which, in hindsight, was probably what would've happened. I was a klutz.
Beyond the yard was the place we were forbidden to play: THE CREAMERY. Not because it was scary or anything; we were just told not to play there. Yeah, sure! You tell a kid not to do something and you know what's gonna happen: they're gonna do it! We were no exception.
The creamery had these rollers outside where, I think, they'd roll the crates of milk down to the truck. Take a guess what we liked to do. You're damn right we'd roll our young butts down those rollers! How could you not????
My Grandparents sold the store many moons ago and moved into town. It was torn down almost two years ago which was heartbreaking. You don't realize how lucky you are to have gotten the chance to grow up hanging out in such a special place until it's gone. What I wouldn't give for one more Sunday dinner gathered around Grandma and Grandpa's dining table, too full on peanuts to eat Grandma's fried chicken or roast beef, but never too full to ask for a pop. We were damn lucky kids.
We used to head to see the Grandparents quite often as they lived just minutes from my Mom's mom so we'd kill 2 birds with 1 stone on every weekend visit. Sundays were made for dinner with Grandma Ann and Grandpa Bud. And they were also made for 5 cousins to hang out together in the store or the yard. That store...the best place a kid could play. Back then, both the house and store seemed so large but they really weren't. The store had these rough wood floors so that when the farmers would come in with cow crap on their boots, it didn't really matter. You walked in and to the right was the counter with the old, antique cash register that my brother has to this day. In front of the counter were two bins and one held nails and one held in the shell peanuts. I'm surprised I'm not one of those peanuts as I ate so damn many! Beyond the counter and bins was the small deli counter where Grandma would slice off the best salami for us to take home. To the left were shelves for grocery items. Sticking out in my head are those pink Hostess snowballs, Quisp cereal and King Vitaman cereal:
In the middle of the store was an old school soda pop machine similar to this:
That machine was the bane of my existence. Being the youngest of us 5 cousins hanging out, it always fell on me to ask Grandma if we could have a pop and I hated it. I don't know why I was scared to ask because, if I remember right, she never denied us. Guess it helps when you're the favorite!
We'd play for hours in that store making up commercials and just hanging out. And when customers would come in while Grandma was in the kitchen making the Sunday dinner, we'd yell out, "Grandma! CUSTOMER!"
If the weather was nice, we'd head outside. They had this huge tree by the garage that we would climb on sometimes but the backyard was our main hang out spot. They had this little "fence" of chains that we'd all try to balance on and the four older kids would play "jarts". Know what "jarts" are?
Beyond the yard was the place we were forbidden to play: THE CREAMERY. Not because it was scary or anything; we were just told not to play there. Yeah, sure! You tell a kid not to do something and you know what's gonna happen: they're gonna do it! We were no exception.
The creamery had these rollers outside where, I think, they'd roll the crates of milk down to the truck. Take a guess what we liked to do. You're damn right we'd roll our young butts down those rollers! How could you not????
My Grandparents sold the store many moons ago and moved into town. It was torn down almost two years ago which was heartbreaking. You don't realize how lucky you are to have gotten the chance to grow up hanging out in such a special place until it's gone. What I wouldn't give for one more Sunday dinner gathered around Grandma and Grandpa's dining table, too full on peanuts to eat Grandma's fried chicken or roast beef, but never too full to ask for a pop. We were damn lucky kids.
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