Thursday, April 28, 2016

Remembering Life in a Small Town

Thank you dear readers for all your kind comments you left me from my last  blog post.  It does feel good to have the ability to write something down and then get feedback so that I know I'm not the only one who feels this way.

I wanted to share some pics from my flower garden but I thought it would be boring; I needed to spice it up a bit.  It got me thinking of living in a large city environment and how different that is from living in a small town...

My little grandchildren were born here in south Orange County and are growing up here.  The schools are excellent here and there's so much for them to do with the beach at their backdoor, but it's much different from how I and their dear Mother grew up.  I was raised in Ellensburg, WA, a college/farming town in central Washington.  The population from the 2010 census showed 18,174 inhabitants but it was smaller during the 60's and 70's.  It was an old town with some wonderful old, historical buildings along with a proper main street.  The college campus was and is a beautiful campus with a mix of old and new buildings. (Oops, it's actually a "university" but in my mind it will always be a college)...Have you ever watched "It's a Wonderful Life" at Christmas time?  Ellensburg is very much like the town of Bedford Falls projected in that film. 

There was a good chance that you knew your neighbors and they knew you.  My Grandfather could walk into the bank and he was greeted.  My grandparents had immigrated to America in the early teens of the 20th century.  Coming from Denmark, they found lots of Danish immigrants in the Kittitas Valley as it was rich in farm land.  My grandfather ended up owning three farms; one for himself, one for my father and one for my uncle.

Reading a blog this week, the writer mentioned "going into town".  This was a common saying as the farms were located out on the old Vantage Highway and it was a couple of miles into town (compared to California driving, it would be a breeze).  Later when I was in high school, we moved to the other side of the valley to Thorp, WA.  It was about 8 miles "into town". There were a total of 12 students in my graduating class!

But, during the winter months, those few miles could be treacherous with ice, snow and blowing winds.  Ellensburg is known for being windy as it sits in a valley surrounded by mountains.  And, you don't have to go far to see the beautiful fields of corn, timothy hay (which they are known for), and other crops.  It's also a big area for dairy farms.  Seeing cows, horses and other livestock was a common sight.  My little grandson has to go to the "petting zoo" to see such things.

As for shopping and other facilities, we had all the necessary stores that were needed. There was a hospital, too.  But, other than JC Penneys (which later closed), there was a high end dress store and one other department store.  It was common to order from the Sears catalog and pick up your order at the Sears catalog store.  This practice continued into the 1980's.  Or, if we had the time, my dear Mom and I would drive over the hill to Yakima where there were proper shopping centers.  I have great memories of these trips with my Mom.

When I got married in 1975, I moved to Moses Lake WA which is 70 east of my hometown.  But, my oh my, those 70 miles made a huge difference.  Moses Lake was not an "old town" by any means.  It was incorporated in the late 1940's and didn't have anything of an historical nature.  But, as far the the workings of a town, it was the same as Ellensburg.  Today it has a population of over 20,000; it's grown immensely from the 22 years that I lived there.  My children were born and raised in Moses Lake until we moved in 1997 to the west side of the state near a "big city". 

My children tell me they are happy that they were able to experience life in a small town with a slower pace.  Although now, they do like the big city and all that it has to offer.  As I've gotten a bit older (notice I said "a bit older" haha), I appreciate the medical services that are just around the corner if I or my husband need them.  These specialized medical services are not available in a small town.  You have to travel to the bigger city and sometimes that can be quite agonizing (especially in the winter months).

I'm so grateful for all that life has given me.  And, I love being here in California next to my family.  At the same time, it's nice to reflect back on childhood memories and remember where I came from.  I always tell my children to never forgot who they are and where they came from.  It's never pleasant to meet someone who has become successful but forgotten their roots.  I'll always be a small town girl and proud of it, too!

Oh, I almost forgot, the photos from my flower garden as shown above are (1) delphinium, which I found on clearance for $3.00, (2)  foxglove, which I also found on clearance for $3.00, (3) digiplexis, which is a hybrid; a cross between  foxglove and isoplexis, (4) purple aeonium arboreum and, (5) a sweet purple violet.  My soil is so poor but at least they are growing.

Thanks for visiting and I'd leave to hear from you if you have the time.

Wish my best wishes,

Pat   
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25 comments:

  1. Hello Pat, lovely flowers and lovely memories!
    I'm a country girl, and many of your childhood experiences sound very familiar to me. Ellensburg being windy sounds interesting. We too have snow and ice, but probably our winter weather is usually less harsh than in those areas. The Washington state does have a great state flower. :)
    Thank you for sharing. Have a lovely weekend!

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  2. What a lovely post, so interesting to hear about the different places you've lived. We moved to a small town as well, which I much prefer to a big city. Gorgeous flower and plant photos, and thank you for identifying the aeonium for me, I'd been trying to remember what that was called. It's lovely, something I'd love to try and grow here as I saw a beautiful one in a garden a while back.

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  3. PAt, I.m the total opposite, I grew up on the edge of a big town but has the sanctuary of spending all mu childhood holidays in rural Norway, so I think I had the best of both worlds. As I've grown older and married, we have kept moving further away from big towns and now live in a village surrounded by fields with luckily all services and amenities within half an hour away. I feel blessed x

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  4. What a lovely post Pat your memories of childhood were fascinating, its always nice to have an insight into life in other parts of the world. The photos of the flowers were a real delight. Have a wonderful weekend.

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  5. Good morning Pat, what a beautiful little town. Yes, it's a nice life and I could not imagine to live in a big city... but it can be a problem to reach out all the needed things or docs or cultural events. That I often miss...
    Beautiful plants you've bought.

    Thanks for your comment, maybe such remedies could be helpful for me too, although it isn't my problem to thinking the whole night about this and that. It seems more a klimakterium problem with me, but who can find the exact reason? This doc didn't!
    And I've tried so many natural things...

    Have a great weekend

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  6. I love your memories of small town life. I guess what you call a small town is what I would call a village. In a UK small town you maybe know your neighbours but not many more people. In a village people greet you in the street and the local shop keepers know you by name.
    I grew up in one such, and I'm lucky enough to live in one again, after many years of city living. I know which I prefer.

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  7. I loved reading your post and how your family arrived in America. I'm definitely a small town girl, cities are best enjoyed a few days at a time. Lovely flowers. B x

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  8. Thanks for your interesting post, there have been so many changes over that time period, people don't live in the same way these days. Life's in the fast lane, rush, rush, rush. I haven't seen the plant in your fourth picture flowering before. x

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  9. Happy springtime to you, regardless of the snow. The Pacific Northwest is such a beautiful part of our U. S.

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  10. Great post. I've lived all over, but when we were ready to retire we knew we wanted to live in a smaller town with fewer people than the town we were living in Southern California. So we do indeed have to "hitch" up the horses and head into town when we need anything.

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  11. Lovely flowers. Thanks for sharing your memories too. Our winter weather here in Michigan is pretty rough but we live in a medium sized town. Coming from England it took me a long while to get used to the winters (still don't like them!).

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  12. Lovely to see your beautiful plants and flowers and to hear more about where you live! Thank you for joining Five On Friday, I hope you have a fun weekend! xx p.s please can you add a link to the link up in your post. Thank you.

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  13. Another small town girl here. In my childhood city there were appr 30.000 inhabitants. Then I moved to study in Helsinki and lived there quite in the center for many years. Missed a garden, had to move out... Small town or big, both have their pros and contras.

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  14. Your life experience reflects my own in many respects although we lived in different parts of the USA. I am grateful for my small town rural upbringing and am glad our children had that as well. We were always within easy driving distance from city services and as you noted, that is a blessing as well! I loved seeing your not boring to me at all flowers :) Happy Weekend! xx

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  15. I have never lived in a small town although I think I would really love it. I really hate all the traffic and busyness where I live. I would like to have a slower, calmer place to live.
    Hugs,
    Meredith

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  16. That is a really interesting post. I have lived in so many places I have almost lost count, but my clearest memories are of the first two homes I had in Caterham, Surrey and then Poole in Dorset. Little things like the bluebell in Virginia's post, take me straight back to the bluebell woods we used to walk through in Caterham.
    I love all the flower photos. I now have the aeonium arboreum in my garden, and I was quite excited when they bloomed for the first time, but there were no flowers again this year. They seem to like very specific conditions. Here they flower in November! One of my favourites are the foxgloves. I used to have a long border of them in my last garden, but sadly I had to remove them when I became a registered childminder as they are considered a poisonous plant for children. They are great for encouraging the bees to visit the garden. Kate x

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  17. I really enjoyed reading your post and your musings about where you grew up. I'm 65 and grew up in Holland in the suburbs of a big city. When I married I ended up in a village in rural Italy and really got to appreciate a society where people know you. After a brief stint back in Holland I lived in Bristol, England for 22 years (again a big city). Since 2012 we are living in southern Spain, again in a large village where everybody knows everybody. I really enjoy living here and fortunately we have found a church that we feel comfortable in. The Lord has been good to us.
    I loved seeing your beautiful plants. You say the soil is poor. Is there any way you can improve that? Manure?
    Greetings from Spain,
    Lisca

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  18. Such an interesting post. I grew up in small cities, bigger than towns, but not huge, all in British Columbia. We always spent a lot of time outdoors - roaming the hills and forests, and camping as a family. The best of both worlds. I like visiting large cities like Vancouver, but I prefer smaller ones like where I live now. Beautiful flowers blooming out your way!

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  19. Beautiful photos and wonderful memories. It is fascinating to hear about life on another continent, the similarities and diffences to my childhood in England.

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  20. Loved wandering back to your roots with you. Much the same for me in a small town in northern California. Your post took me back.

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  21. Lovely memories and beautiful flowers, thank you so much for sharing!

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  22. I've enjoyed reading about your memories of living in a small town when you were young. I know you have experienced different environments like my husband and I have and can appreciate the pros and cons of life wherever you have lived. I now enjoy living on the edge of a big city after being brought up in a small market town, but also find Italian rural life very interesting where folk know one another and on the whole support one another in times of need. I was interested to see the flowers on your purple aeonium. I've only seen a specimen in our city botanical greenhouse, but without any flowers.

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  23. I loved hearing about Ellensburg! What a lovely little town if it is similar to Bedford Falls! It sounds like the most perfect place to grow up. The town where you raised your children also sounded so nice, and I am glad they have wonderful memories of it. I am so excited to be moving back to a small town! I really hate living in cities (even Tucson, which is small, is too big for me! :-) ) Maybe if you get to go back to Ellensburg some time for a visit, you can stop in and see us after we move! We'll be right on the way! Loved your beautiful flower photos also. Such a nice post!

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  24. I enjoyed your post very much. I loved your stories about the towns you remember and grew up in. I was born in a city but when I was six we moved to a small village and the school I attended had only 35 pupil. I've lived in towns and am now back in a city. Your flowers were lovely, too:)

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  25. That is so fun that you had the same sheets that I used in the knitting case for my sister!!!

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