June 15, 2013

Daddy and Me!


"Daddy's Little Girl"!
 When I was four I decided I needed a little house all my own. I used to go over to my neighbor Ginny's to play in her playhouse. I took my Daddy by the hand to see Ginny's playhouse. My Daddy soon set about the task of making me a playhouse. In the above picture I have made ready a lunch for my guest of honor, my Daddy!


 Daddy when he was in grade school.

My father was born at home in the family's ancestral Towne-Standish house.

Some of the photographs and some of the writings on this post are from previous Corgyncombe Courant posts that can be found here on the Corgyncombe Courant and from our web site and our previous postings elsewhere on the internet.

 Before World War II my father helped his parents on their farm "Lug Tug Hollow" and he also worked for the elderly widow lady next door, where he did the farm work with horses.


 My father in his Army uniform.


 My Father and Mum on their wedding day.


They set up housekeeping in a cottage in the country where Daddy loved gardening.

"Sunbonnet Baby" Me on wheels liked to be anywhere Daddy was. Here I am looking over a tulip. That's my dog Snooks in the background.


 Eating home grown corn with Daddy.


Waiting for Daddy to come home was the highlight of Teddy's and my day. I watched out the window and was ready to take off to greet him the minute he came!

 Easter and Christmas were always special times at our cottage.




Me on the tractor that my Daddy built, which in the winter was used for plowing and driving the sled.

 What fun it is to take an afternoon sleigh ride! My father gave my neighborhood friends and me a winter drive with his green tractor. I am on the left. What a lovely view of the hills!


Me supervising the construction of my playhouse.
That's my Grandmum's sweet dog Blondie inside.


Me on Daddy's lap in front of our little house that he made for me. Up top you can see the chimney that I insisted my little house needed! Later I added little window boxes on top of the porch rail.


In the above picture I have made ready a lunch for my guest of honor, my Daddy!

For the occasion I wore the prettiest little yellow frock (my favorite) with an eyelet trimmed collar. Hung on the arm rest of the chair is my diaper bag with a place for a bottle and diapers for changing Baby. It was a pretty shade of coral and it went everywhere with Baby and me. My Baby Doll is sleeping in the crib.

Inside my playhouse I had a kitchen, nursery, and a parlour.


Daddy made me a table, chairs and a cupboard and I also had my Grandfather's high chair and a little stove in the kitchen. In the cupboard I stored my dishes, pots and pans and it is where I kept my iron when I wasn't using it with my folding ironing board.

 In the nursery I had a crib for my Baby Doll, a bathinette to give Baby a bath, and a doll cradle that was my Grandmum's that her Grandfather had made for her.

In the parlour I had my Grandfather's rocking chair he had as a little boy.

As you can see I have always loved dolls and playing house!


In the photograph above, I was  pretending I was a bride. As you can see in the photograph, there is already a wash hanging on the line! I delighted in all the flowers that were around and about my little cottage. The view from the kitchen window looked up the hill where there was a white picket fence with pink and red climbing roses. Behind the playhouse there was another picket fence with an arbor that also had climbing roses. Pink and white peonies grew going down the hill past my Mum's clothes line. My Daddy picked me a bouquet of the peonies and I told him that I would someday use this bouquet when I married him. The sunflowers were on the edge of my Daddy's huge vegetable garden. When I  was growing up my family had goats, sheep, chickens, ducks, and rabbits. The barn for the animals was across the lawn and through the lilac hedge.



How I loved honking the ooga horn on Daddy's green tractor!
I still do! Ooga is the sound it makes.


In the driver's seat on Daddy's green tractor.
Daddy planted red and pink climbing roses by the arbor and picket fence. This was down near my playhouse.

 
Daddy had a big garden. All the work in it was done with the little green tractor. The tractor is set for cultivating between the rows to keep down the weeds. In the photograph above my brother and I are sharing the tractor seat and I am almost falling off, hence my strange expression!


My father's family's Doodlebug. A Doodlebug was a homemade tractor made from car parts. In the background one can see the corn crib to the left and the pig house. Up near the woods you can see a beehive.


Me in front of the big new mailbox by our country lane. The big new mailbox replaced the little old one that resembled an old metal candle keeper. I always loved getting the mail and I did it with much enthusiasm! My father refused to put the mailbox on the "proper" side of the road as he did not want his kids crossing the road to get the mail.

My little brother always thought I was Hayley Mills!



Me on the hill above my playhouse.
How we children loved to roll down the hill in a giggling, dizzy manner!

Happy Father's Day!



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atthecottagegate@yahoo.com
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