Harry & Gladys: Silver Dollar

Meet Harry and Gladys

Harry & Gladys: Silver Dollar

Can a silver dollar really buy you happiness?  I remember the days when it did.  Harry always seemed to have plenty of silver dollars jingling about in his pockets and he was always willing to hand them out to what ever grandchild might be visiting that day.

It was a great day when Grandpa would give us each a silver dollar and send us on our way to Smitty's to buy candy.  Smitty's was a little family owned grocery in Montrose.  They had an amazing assortment of "penny" candy.  I remember we would place our silver dollars on the counter with the cashier and then we would carefully select our candy piece by piece. The candy would then be placed in little brown paper bags and then we would be off and on our way.

The walk back to Grandma and Grandpa's always took a bit longer since we would have to stop several times to stuff candy in our mouths.  Once we arrived back at the house Grandpa would be at the picnic table waiting to see our sweet selections.  I think he really just enjoyed seeing our excited and extremely "sticky" faces.

Thanks for reading!

Fun Fact : Gladys had one of the prettiest and most fragrant yards in the neighborhood.  She had a long row of pink and white peony bushes that lined one side of her yard.  You can see them in the background of the "Silver Dollar" illustration.

Meet Harry and Gladys

Harry & Gladys Scrapbook Page

 

My grandparents, Harry and Gladys Mitchell,  lived in the small sleepy town of Montrose, Iowa just a few miles away from my Powdertown home.  For the first twelve years of my life, I don't think a single week ever passed with out seeing them.  In the pecking order, I am number thirteen of nineteen grandchildren.  Harry and Gladys were taken away from us the year I turned twelve.  Even though they have both been gone from my life for thirty-seven years, I have never stopped loving or thinking about them.


I will be telling their story, not just for me, but for all of us who loved them and called them Grandma and Grandpa.  I hope you will stick with me for the next several weeks as I tell the sweet "love story"
of grandparent and grandchild.
 

Thanks for reading!

Powdertown: The Road Home

Powdertown: The Road Home

The end of this road leads to home, just as this illustration leads to the completetion of this series on Powdertown.  It sounds so poetic and orchestrated.  I wish I could say I planned it, but it is kind of cool how it worked out just the same.

There was one road that went straight through the settlement. It was lined with houses and ended with beautiful Chatfield Park.  There was no "through way" traffic so the road was perfectly quiet except for the hum of the everyday comings and goings of the neighborhood. Here we are heading home from the direction of the lake, passing by the apple tree and garden on the left with our house just beyond it.

My favorite part of this painting would have to be our cute little yellow tabby cat named "Mr. Chips." Mr. Chips was given to us as a little kitten and I'm not sure who came up with the name, put I am sure we all agreed to it.  I think it came from us all owning a "chip" of him, meaning he belonged to all of us equally.  That being said I think someone in our family took to him a bit more and treated him like her own special "furry" baby.  I don't think he minded being carried around as much as he minded being dressed in doll clothes!

Thanks so much for visiting.  See you back here in a couple weeks for my new series titled "Harry & Gladys."