Recollections & Reflections
**~~ 1945 SUMMER ADVENTURES ~~**
CONT.
FREEDOM!! Once my chores were done, Grandma cut me loose! Woo Whee. Santa Monica and Venice beaches beckoned me. Lots of good looking guys frequented there which made it all the more interesting... (grin)... "Muscle Beach" at Venice was a going concern. Young buff men flexing their muscles and developing aerobatic routines.
I was "drafted" to participate in some of the aerial throws and pyramids. My tanned, toned body was very flexible and the fellas were great showing off our moves. Such fun.
I did have one scary afternoon at Santa Monica Beach tho. While swimming toward shore I got caught in an undertow and had to scramble for my life. I always wore a 2 piece bathing suit and the britches were so full of sand, they hung to my knees. Talk about exposing your "dignity"..oh my. The bra top was full of sand also and fell down to my waist which left nothing to the imagination...lemme tell ya. My long hair had become undone from the braids and my head was full of sand. I even had sand in my teeth. It is an understatement to say the whole entire episode scared the puddin' outta me.
I never told my Grandma about it because I'd have never seen that beach again.
My freedom came to a screeching halt when I started taking care of my Aunt's 3 kids. Manuelito was about 9 years old and a hellion. Bobby was 2 and 1/2 and Junior 6 months. Those two were charmers and such a delight to care for.....most of the time. One time, I was opening a can of baby food..(yes, in those days baby food came in little cans) and cut my left thumb real bad. Grandma washed the cut out with some strong soap that burned like the dickens. Then she went to the closet and came back with some cobwebs wound around her forefinger. She laid those webs in the cut and wrapped up my thumb. The bleeding stopped right away. Read in later years where cobwebs contain a substance similar to vitamin K which coagulates the blood. My Grandma knew this all along apparently.
I saw Bobby at a get together at my Cousin Genny's house in 1981 and he laughed when I told him about the diaper caper. I had hand scrubbed a couple buckets of diapers for Junior and was ready to hang them on the line. The baby started fussing so I ran into the house real quick. During my short absence, Bobby got all those clean diapers and dragged them in the mud. How he did it so fast is beyond me, but I was so mad I coulda hung him by his toes. There was nothing I could do but haul more water out, re-light the fires under those tubs and re-wash the diapers..No fun! Ugh.
Mama was due back from Texas but before she arrived I did a real dumb thing..not intentionally however.
I ate green figs along with a whole bunch of Spanish peanuts, got sicker than a dog and pert near died.
Will tell you that story and how my Grandma pulled me through, next time.
