Looking back

86 yrs ago... in a one room school house

Sometimes I kind of wish I  had the experience of a one room school house (minus wearing a dress).

I see a lot of similarities in the faces of these children,

 no smiles but maybe a smirk if you look closely.

 The boys in overall, the girls in dresses.

 Short hair must have been the style in 1927. 

Notice the girls are clasping their hand, but not the boys.  

Then there's the teacher,

My Grandma,  Gertrude Madsen (Thomas) 

yep, she was the teacher.

I have the tuner she used to help the children sing in the right pitch for music time.

 Her name sketched in the care-worn wood

The back side, notes stamped in the metal.

I believe this was before she was married to my Grandpa Lee who I never got to know. He died before I was born, I know I would have loved him. He probably would have given me my first tractor ride. 

This is "the Grandma" who lived on a farm, the farm we loved to go to as children, there was always things to do on the farm, exploring, climbing trees, chasing chickens and hanging out with cousins that we never saw otherwise.

What's left of Grandma's farm in Rural West Concord

The old farm house has been torn down and rebuilt. I remember the kitchen floor that had a slight slant to it, grandma's very cool pantry, the big wooden doors outside that led under the the house where grandma had the jars of canned goods. Oh, then there was the phone on the wall that you had to crank...remember those, only my grandma had that :)  The porch with the freezer that housed Grandma's home made donuts, and cookies. 

Oh how I wish I could go back...with my camera!