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| ~Backyard fun at Grandma and Grandad's circa 1961...the same backyard our Mom played in when she was a little girl |
Anyone who grew up without a backyard missed out on a piece of Americana. I do have some memories of things that took place in the frontyard, but the backyard seems to be the place where most of the fun took place, at least as it relates to yard fun. I don't ever remember barbecuing or making homemade ice-cream in the front yard; those activities always took place in the backyard. When we ate watermelon, it was almost always in the backyard and the backyard was also where our treehouse was. The garden was in the backyard along with the doghouse and our dogs most of the time. Our basketball goal was in the backyard, so of course that's where I spent most of my time shooting baskets. I don't remember having a horseshoe pit, but if we would have, I'm pretty sure the backyard is where Mom would have told Dad to put it. We had a little swimming pool one summer until Dad accidentally hammered the bottom out of it while putting it up the next summer; but for that one summer we had a pool and it was in the backyard. Our Grandma Robby's old shed was in her backyard along with a big Ol' pear tree. My two brothers and I routinely had rotten pear fights back there. I'd usually lose to my older brother Ace and win with my younger brother Mick. We used to play hide and go seek in that backyard; the same backyard our Dad played in when he was a kid.
Our Great-Grandma (Maw Maw to our Mom and her sisters) had an old shed in her backyard too that Paw Paw built before my Mom was even born. We used to play in it and thought it was cool. It had two rooms and as I recall an old ball-pen hammer lying on the floor that we'd whack things with. As an apparent bonus there was a smattering of old green bottles scattered here and there inside the shed. Grandma also had a brick fireplace in her backyard that was either formerly a BBQ pit or a place to burn trash.
Grandma and Granddad had a really old shed in their backyard, a garden, and a detached garage. My brother's and I along with our Aunt Dee spent a lot of time playing in that backyard, until Aunt Dee got too old to play with us and then she mostly just gave us dirty backyard looks.
This picture was taken in the summer of 1961, in my Grandma and Grandad's backyard. The picture was likely taken by our maternal Grandma, since she wasn't in the picture. Aunt Dee and Aunt Monie were probably around somewhere. They might have been in the front yard, but I have no idea what they possibly could have been doing all the way out there, since everyone else was in the backyard.
If you didn't grow up with a backyard, I feel sorry for you. It might not be too late, however: if you still don't have a backyard, wait until late one night this week when everyone's asleep, sneak into your neighbor's backyard and try playing a game of hide and go seek, chase, or maybe toss a handful of rotten pears around. With any luck at all....your neighbor might not even mind!
NOTE: When this picture was taken, I'm guessing Aunt Karen was somewhere over in Booneville chasing our future Uncle Wilbur all over town--she eventually caught him.
