The house they lived in had a coal stove in the living room only. And yes, the bathroom was out back behind the tobacco field. My cousin Kaye and I always did the team bathroom trips. The kitchen had a wood stove for cooking and no in house pump for water so we always had to go and "pull up" some water for drinking and dishes when there.

     Grandpa grew tobacco. I still remember the smell of it when he had it hanging in the barn to dry. We were not suppose to go in there when it was hanging because of snakes that would get up in there. But we always did. Hide and seek was lots of fun in that barn. Us city kids thought it was a good time to haul in the coal for the stove. Roger and Donald were happy when we came cause we did for fun what they had to do daily to live. But then we would get into trouble for bringing in too much. Dad and his brothers would help when there by chopping some wood to help out the younger boys. Thinking of how and what we played with when visiting, it is amazing how times have changed. Now a kid would be having a fit if there was not an electronic toy in their hands to entertain them.

     O man the meals when we were there. I wish I could cook that good. Breakfast, grandma would be up long before anyone and start making biscuits from scratch (yep I still cant do that unless you need hockey pucks) Plates full of bacon and eggs piled up for everyone. Big bowl of the best gravy on the planet. I never understood why grandma made everyone wait till the "men folk" got their food. I do now but back then, just didn't seem fair. I was always afraid they would eat up all the biscuits and gravy before I got some ! Lunch was usually what ever our parents had brought from home for us. Supper, yep grandma cooking enough for an army. Usually fried chicken and mashed taters, with of course, another kind of gravy that didn't exist  in the city and a few jars of some kind of vegetable that was in the canning closet. You never left hungry.

     The first funeral I went to was at my grandparents house. Dad's brother Cecil passed when he was about 33 years old. I was 7 years old at the time. I remember going to the church for services, but he was laid out at the house. It never occurred to me until many years later that that isn't how all funerals go. He was there for a whole day then the next they had the burial. It seemed weird to be "trying" to sleep in the next room when you knew there was a dead person in the other room.

     As I sit here and try to put into words the memories of my younger years I remember little things that still make me laugh.. grandpa and grandma on the porch in their rocking chairs, having tobacco spitting contests to entertain the kids. Grandma said she could spit farther cause she had no teeth and grandpa had those "store bought' ones that got in the way. And yes, we would all run and look around in the grass for spit.. what were we thinking. The trips to there were an adventure also. Dad drove a Lincoln Continental.. huge car. Very curvy roads, dark, and all you can see are the tree TOPS over the edge of the road. Dad knew the roads so it seemed he was driving really fast around the curves.

     I truly miss those days.....

     I  grew up in Pineville, Ky and because I came along so late in everyone's life, my kinfolk were a lot older.

     My Pappy James Andrew France and I use to sit on his front porch and he'd swat the flies with an old handmade swatter he had made out of a piece of thin wood and a piece of flat rubber, maybe from a inter tube of some sort.

     He'd get to tellin me stories of his childhood and comin to Ky from Va. in a horse and wagon. He'd talk about his dad Cisco  France and how Cisco worked in the mines and he'd go with him and work, cause he was afraid his father would get hurt.

     He once told me that Cisco had lost a fortune at the bank. He had put his money in and the bank went under and he lost everything. After that none of the family trusted banks.

   Pappy lived in a big house and they burned coal to keep warm and cook on. Mammie Eliza use to make us sweet coffee. She put water and coffee into the little perk-o-later that sat on top of the stove and just as it  started to boil she'd add sugar, sometimes she'd make us sassafras tea that way.

  They had no TV, just a radio. And they'd go to bed at dark and get up at daylight.

   Pappy was a tall, thin man and mammy wasn't 5 ft tall. Clyde their son  lived with them.

  Daddy Guy would carry water for them and help bring in coal and wood. He'd help Mammie in the summer to grow a garden and can.

   She was a sweet lady with a heart of gold. She was  so petite that she use to wear a costume at Halloween and take me trick or treating.

   We lived 2 houses down and it was great. My mommy Ada was like Kathy's grandma kind of gravy went unnoticed. There was Redeye, Coffee, Cocoa,Meal gravy for the fish, just to name a few.

   We'd raise our own hog, and kill it in the fall, to get through the winters. We had the Cumberland River about 150 yds behind our house, so daddy did a lot of trot line fishing.

    Mommy was a seamstress. The best in the County, she died in 1973 and people who are still around today to tell you about her, will swear she was the best. She made most of our cloths.

    We didn't have a lot, but we survived and what we did have we got through love.

    We too had an outhouse. And you'd think I'd known better, but oneday instead of sitting on the seat, I squatted. When I was done I jumped down and went through the floor. Fast reflexes, and good lungs probably saved my life. I extended my elbows out and held myself up, until they could get the door open to get to me. It wasn't long after that we had indoor plumbing.

    I always tell everyone if I could go back in time I'd go back to being a kid. They were great days. Playing with neighborhood kids until dusk. Kick the can, tag,hide and go seek, playing baseball, leap frog, or duck, duck, goose.

   No cares in the world, no responsibilities, and all the love you could get from all your family members, because they were still here with you.