SUMMERTIME MEMORIES OF AGO/ OUR FRONT YARD!

      A wide poured concrete sidewalk divided the huge,  mostly flat, all bluegrass front yard that lay between the gravel road and our large farm home where I grew up. That sidewalk continued to wrap around the south side of my house all the way to the west side and a rear door entrance. 

       The north half of the front yard was perfect for croquet, a game that my mother loved to play and was extremely good at and never would "just" let you win! That yard provided hours of enjoyment by cousins, classmates, and playmates alike. 

      My earliest memories are ones of riding my tricycle down to the end of the sidewalk at the ditch that divided the yard and the road going by. Then I would turn around and go all the way back to the west side where a narrow sidewalk went by the entrance to a "cave" as we called it or which was actually a basement from a home that used to sit there and then was capped with concrete. 

       I would ride on past and to my sand pile where I played and sometimes included my imaginary friend. Then back again! I was just like a teenager scooping the loop. It was my turf!  Also,in the summer and as I got older, it was my job to mow my "turf" with a self-propelled lawn mower. It usually took a few hours to mow around our entire yard, but, it was well worth it!