I tried to download this picture on the last post but I couldn't get it to work. After I decided to try again I realized what I had done wrong. Oh well, at least I learned what to do next. i also realized today after I took pictures of the deer that my camera is also a video camera. I guess I should read the directions now, LOL My motto is, "If all else fails, read directions". I guess that is really a bad habit. I usually try first and keep trying to figure it out when it is probably easier to just read the directions first and learn that way.

A few posts back I thought I was through writing about growing up in Hinsdale but the more I think about Hinsdale the more things I remember.

We had a large field across the street then. Now the field is filled with houses. In the beginning of the field nearest to the street were gardens that alot of the neighbors planted vegetables in the summer. The rest of the field was filled with daisies and Black Eyed Susans. I would love going there to pick a bouquet of flowers but was always afraid of snakes. I HATE snakes and still do. In about a block was a little swamp with tree trunks you could walk on to get to the other part of the swampy part. It was a nice place to play.

My Godmother Teta' (not sure if that is spelled right)which means aunt in Czech lived in a beautiful house that they build off of Ogden Avenue in Hinsdale. It was called "The Pines". The house is still standing and has been in the newspapers many times because the house is so unique. You would go down a long street to the house and once you got near it there was a circle driveway. The sidewalk was cobble stone. You walked into a kitchen through the back door and by todays standards it was a small kitchen. It had green cabinets and there was a table in it. I remember making cookies or baking and helping Teta make something. The kitchen also had a spot on the floor by the cabinet to sweep the floor into and it would go in the furnace and burn up. There was also a paper shoot in the kitchen which also went into the furnace. Off of the kitchen was a very large dining room. I wonder if it was ever used. The dining room led into a huge living room. The walls were hand scupted with grecian figurines. The room hand a two story bay window that looked like a large spider web. The living room also had a balcony which was off of the master bedroom. Off of the living room was a greenhouse where some of the outside plants were kept in the winter. She also had a parrot that would sing "Let me call you Sweetheart" and "You are my Sunshine". He also would call "Ma" all day long. He was kept in the greenhouse.

Next to the living room was the front door which was rarely used. Off of the front door was a stairway to the basement and also one to the upstairs. The staircase was spiral up and down. The basement had a very large kitchen where the canning and a lot of the big cooking was done. Off of that kitchen was a large knotty pine room, like a family room. Hidden in the wall was a safe but you had to look really close to be able to see the safe.

When you went up the staircase off the front entrance you came to a bedroom. It was a really large room with build in seats by the windows. The room also had a full bath and it was a really large one. I think it was in green tile but not sure I remember. I do remember playing in that room alot. This room, I believe, was Frankie's room whom had passed away.

Up another level was two bedrooms and the master bedroom. I don't remember much about the bedrooms. I do know that the furniture in most of the house was hand carved and I believe some of it was done by my godfather. The master bedroom is the room with the balcony over the living room. There was always a shawl that hung on the railing of the balcony.

In the middle of the hallway of the upstairs level was a trap door in the ceiling. When you pulled the chain a stairway would come down. When you went up the stairs into the room there it was filled with stuffed animals. I don't know if my godfather had killed them or where they all came from but there was fox, birds, deer heads, etc.

There was a sprial stairway even up in that area and the stairway lead to a tower that when you went up to the tower which was outside you could see all the way into Chicago. I believe now you would not have that view because of all the building that are now built. To me the tower was scary as there was only a short wall up there and I never like heights and still don't.

The gardens in the yard were beautiful. The had a live in gardener who had his own small house down the hill from the big house. There was also chickens raised there and woods behind the house where we went mushroom hunting. There was a large swimming pool and also a large cabana but I never saw water in the pool. There was also a gazebo in the yard which was always fun to play in.

The front yard was beautiful with flowers everywhere and the beds were immaculate. There was a flagstone walkway to the front door and there was also a pond with goldfish in it. In the middle of the pond was a large statue of a boy and girl under an umbrella. In the summer Teta used to let me walk in the pond with my bare feet.

On one side of the front yard there was a grassy area that went between pine trees all the way to Ogden Avenue about 1 1/2 blocks from the house and on the other side of the front yard there was a garden for vegetables and a vineyard with grapes everywhere. I loved eating the grapes in season. I also loved the springtime as I could pick Lilies of the Valley, Peonies, Tulips and Daffodils and Lilacs. It was wonderful going home with large bouquets of flowers.

As I have said the house was magnificant and very impressive to a young girl to remember all the details of the house and gardens. It would be wonderful to go back to those days just to go there.

Teta was always good to me. She always either slipped me some money, or bought me clothes or just plain let me bake with her. She was a great Godmother. I know that she was always good to my Mom too as she kind of adopted her as a young girl.

When my Mom was young and living in the city, Teta had a milk store across the street from where my mom lived. Teta took a liking to my mom. They would do many things together as I was growing up. The used to clothes shop on 22nd Street in Berwyn and go to Madame Slavka. Not sure of the spelling but she was a dress designer and she would custom make my Mom's clothes and also Teta's clothes.



Then you went up some