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Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Uncle Clifford & The Girls

This Irish looking gentleman below is
My Uncle Clifford.
He was my father's younger brother
And they were connected by a deep, unspoken bond.
Clifford inherited the old family homestead
Where he proudly raised 3 daughters
that he adored.
A son, Stephen, came
late in his life.
He was well into his 50's
when Stephen was born.


Sadly, I don't have any pictures of Blanche (his wife)
or of Stephen.
Uncle Clifford,
Being an Irishman
Had the Irish temper that went with it.
And you never knew quite WHAT was going to
Set him off.
Smash his jeep up in the woods
While driving around?
No problem!
Drop a bottle of pop on the floor &
Let it smash & spill?
Holy Mary, Mother of God...
Pray for your life because you are going to
Get a tongue lashing like none you have ever heard.
I was privy to enjoy several of those
Verbal outbursts
For various offenses.
Some needless.
Most called for~
The difference between an outright accident
and a spill? Ah...One HAPPENS
And ONE is just pure goldurned foolishness...
Yep! You guessed it -
The spilled pop was an avoidable occurrence!


But one of the joys of my life
Was visiting their farm.
That's Judy in the back,
Glenda (left) & Phyllis.
They were allowed to do so many things
That I couldn't do.
They could make mud pies,
(I think we ate some)-ugh :<(
They shared a room.
They could change their bedrooms around
With other rooms in the house.
They were allowed to bake
Whenever & whatever
They wanted.
Oh Yes!
I loved going there!When we got a bit older we were allowed to go
All by ourselves,
To the Falls.
Sorry this is the only picture I have.
The Falls were on the very edge of
Clifford's farm.
It was cool there on the hottest summer day.
There was a series of 3 Falls.
The first one (shown here)
Was about 60' high.
We were warned to NEVER climb
the face of it.
We climbed it too many times
to count.
One time..
when I was being particularly naughty
I threw a shoe over that
belonged to
my cousin, Phyllis.

I also rolled under a fence one time
On the way to the Falls
In one of Aunt Blanche's good coats.
I was NEVER allowed to borrow anyone's coat
after that day.
I never understood that...
hmmmm...
You DO remember that I was
The Naughty One
Right?
Well, the final straw for all involved
Came one day during
Sheep Shearing!
Yep! That's the day I REALLY got in trouble!

Did you ever hear of
Sneezing Powder?
Uh-huh!
Do you know what happens
when you sprinkle
Sneezing Powder
on a sheep...
On a sheep that's being sheared?

Uh-huh!
Let's just say that the sheep doesn't sneeze.

Let's just say that the shearer does.

Let's just say that the perpetrator

Has to walk home

3 miles on long,
lonesome,
country
roads.

Yeah...let's just say that.....
Let's just say

My cousins missed me

for quite a while

that time!

1 comment:

  1. You, The Naughty One? Surely not. I'm reading over all the funny kid posts, in case you haven't realized. So good.

    Cheers,
    Lisa x

    ReplyDelete

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