Guest Blog Entry

My Mom is in a memoir writing class that she takes in her Winter home of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. Below is her latest work. I thought it was really good and wanted to share it.

"My Childhood Adventures"
By Artyce Homan

When I was in the 5th grade, about 1947, my folks moved to the mountain Community of Wrightwood, Calif. It was in the San Gabriel Mountains. The population was about 350 people , and the elevation was 6200 feet.

For school, there was a one room school house, which later became a two room school. Usually, when the teacher, Mrs. Lewis, worked with the younger children, the older children did their assigned work.

If it snowed we always played in the snow, which often was over 5 feet deep. From the first snow of Winter until the snow was all gone, we only wore warm clothes and snow boots. There were only one or two roads that went into the town, and those roads were off of an two lane highway that went up to the ski lifts, and state parks. The whole town was built in the canyon between to mountains. From the highway, the town went straight up. When you first got in the main part, there was a lodge, a grocery store, a cafe,gas station, and several little stores with clothes,and ski supplies.There were always a lot of tourists in the town in both Summer and Winter.

There were three small lakes in the town. two were called twin lakes. They were side by side. One of the twin lakes , we all would swim in. The water was ice cold, and we would stay in it until our lips turned blue, then lay in the sun awhile, and then back into the ice cold water again.The other was called Wright lake, and it was on the other side of town. What I remember about Wright lake is visiting a family there. I heard he was a famous man. His name was Aldous Huxley. I learned in later years, he really was famous.

Every day was an adventure there...not always safe or good, but we were up for anything. We would leave after breakfast in the morning,, and hike all over the mountains and hills during the day. I often wonder, in retrospect, why my parents were so trusting. It was often a wild bunch of kids that lived there, and Summer or Winter, we were all over town. Sometimes we made scooters out of roller skates, and wood, and roared down the steep hills. At the first snow we would we would bring all the makings for snow ice cream, and have it for lunch at school. We made snow angels, used our toboggans and sleds and whatever else we could find to go down the hills with.

In the Summer, we would fish sometimes, or other times we would hike way up in the hills and then run for our life when we thought we heard the cry of a mountain lion. The town had a volunteer fire department, and when the siren blew, all of the men went to the fire. There were forest fires often, and the men didn't have any special clothes. They wore what they had when the siren blew. They would stay until the fire was out or until the forestry department sent other helpers. While the men were fighting fires, the women were making meals to take to the fire fighters.

For heat we had wood fires, and my Mom would hang clothes on the line, even in the winter. Sometimes the clothes would freeze on the line, and then she would bring them in and hang them around the house. It was a fun time for a kid. Our teacher was very creative, and had been in Hollywood, so she did a lot of musical stuff with us.

There were two little churches in the town, one Community church and one Catholic church. My family went to the community church, but my friend's family went to the Catholic church.

Still we had great fun...I look back on those years with fond recollections. It was a few years of great adventures for young kids. I am just thankful that the Lord protected me through all those dare devil activities that we were involved in.It was an unforgettable childhood...and I learned a lot, both good and bad, but I survived, as did most of my friends at the time.