I remember Danielle bathing Sophie in the kitchen sink on Veil Of Tears during our Thanksgiving visit of 2004.

I remember we would usually buy a bushel of apples or pick them from neighbors to can or have raw for the winter -- getting one from under Mom and Daddy’s bed was always a treat.

I remember cucumbers were delicious but also fun for us kids to use as pigs with stick legs after they were overripe and turning yellow orange.

I remember some green beans we grew were called pole beans because Mom grew them on long poles we boys cut from the woods and placed teepee fashion in the garden for them to vine up on.

I remember going to a "beatnik" coffeehouse on the OCU campus with my friend Nena sometime in my teens. (I looked it up, and I think it was The Black Brick.)

I remember cracking dried peanuts brought on the competition of finding the one with the most gubers inside -- three was very common, and four was special, with five very rare. 

I remember playing Four Square once at South School and getting a perfect bounce where all I had to do to get my neighbor out was gently tap the ball as it passed by, but the judge incorrectly ruled that I didn't make contact, probably because I'd pretended like I was going to slam the ball hard but instead just grazed it with my hand and it ended up looking like I'd missed the ball by mistake.

I remember on the Mulberry farm planting potatoes, onions, peas, lettuce, beans, corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, okra, beets, peanuts, popcorn, carrots, watermelon, cantaloupe, sweet potatoes, spinach, cabbage, and turnips.

I remember we kids were assigned the disgusting but fascinating job of pulling potato bugs off the potato leaves and putting them in a small can of kerosene to die.

I remember Daddy would buy a hundred pound bag of seed potatoes in the spring and we would help Mom cut the eyes off them, which we would plant, usually 3 or 4 from each potato.

I remember at the Mulberry Hollow farm we had a huge 2 or 3 acre garden right out by the road in front of our property, and Daddy would till the ground with horse/mule and plow as early as possible in the spring.

I remember that Jane Buchanan Geiler (to whom I lost a Student Council seat) was in later life disbarred from being a commissioner in St. Louis because she used the word "niggardly".

I remember in 2014 Danielle showing Sophie and Henry my housewarming gift for DP, a framed photo of Grandpa sitting on a brick wall in his Air Force uniform, and the kids thought it was Uncle DP in the picture.

I remember a very weird Jewish girl in 6th grade named Greta Horowitz who arbitrarily changed her name to Mona because she liked it better.

I remember when a teenage Danielle asked me for a Heinlein recommendation I chose Podkayne Of Mars just because it had a girl protagonist, and then when she didn't love it I gave her my favorite Heinlein, The Number Of The Beast, and she seemed to enjoy that more.

I remember Mom kept a pan of roasted peanuts around that we could help ourselves to and fill our overall pockets if we were going off to cut wood, which we did a lot of over Christmas break.

I remember for Christmas Mom always made popcorn balls using our homegrown popcorn and peanuts, and also delicious peanut brittle.

I remember gathering and cracking walnuts, hickory nuts, pecans, and hazel nuts which were eaten raw or used in Christmas candy or cookies.

I remember one Christmas Eve a brush fire descended slowly down the hill in front of our farm and it was a beautiful sight after dark.

I remember at school we had a Christmas program with plays, singing Christmas carols, and passing out gifts that were bought with pie supper money, along with a sack of candy, gum, fruit, and nuts which we treasured for several days.

I remember being worried in 6th grade because a medical test I had taken came out negative.

I remember Mom kept presents hidden until Christmas Eve day and we opened them Christma Eve, and we usually got an article of clothing from Mom and a toy truck or coloring book from school. 

I remember at Christmas we put up a small cedar tree in our front window about a week before Christmas with bubbly lights, bright balls, and shiny silver icicles, and you could see it after dark from the road.

I remember my first semester at college reading the Des Moines Register each morning in a quiet nook with newspapers hanging in a rack, each one attached at the spine to a wooden pole with lengthwise slits.