My days were spent fishing for hours on a little bridge that crossed over the canal and out into the mouth of the Lake. I was there for hours on end. The bridge was on the way to the Pavilion, and so anyone who had a bungalow on Peaches side mostly had to cross the bridge to get to the Pavilion. I would stand on the bridge for hours a day with my pole hanging over. When I became tired of standing, I would sit down in the center an dangle my feet off the edge. I just could not get the courage to put those yucky worms on the hook or to hold the fish just right and not get stuck with their fins to take it off the hook, so I waited for someone to come by to do it for me!! Talk about a high maintenance diva ... LOL. That normally didn't take too long as the bridge had people going back and forth all the time, but sometimes I had to revert to rubber worms or bread. I had a little box of bobbers, sinkers and hooks that I carried with me back and forth to the bungalow. I got so excited when I would see that red and white bobber start to move, meaning I had a bite on the line.
Some people liked decorating with the tall cat of nine tails that grew tall and wild in the marshy area. I could pull it out by the roots if I could get my boat that I borrowed close enough. I thought they were pretty cool looking plants. My father would take me to find the huge night crawlers in the rich soil near the pond at night. I hated the sticky and slimy feeling, but I needed them for fishing. It was such an EWWEY thing to have to do. My mother would forever be chastising me when she would find dead worms in my pocket! My poor mother! From the time I was a little girl, I felt a desire to mother everything, even my worms... ha ha ha! I even had a little box with holes for them with a grass bed. But, while fishing I sometimes would put them in my pocket and then forget I had them tucked away.
There was always something on the lake to keep my interest. I was intrigued by the rings I could see in the water where the fish were swimming, and loved seeing them congregate under the bridge to cool off, and I was tickled to see the fish jump for low flying insects. I always wondered how the tiny minnows knew how to all swim together when there was no one to tell them. I wanted to know what it would feel like to be able to swim under the water and not have to come up for air. While snorkling years later, I was able to experience the joy of seeing fish in their natural habitat up close and personal. I loved to take my friend’s boat out on the lake all alone with just a drink and some cheese crackers and my fishing pole too. I would just bask in the sun waiting for a bite. One time I caught the biggest Sunny fish in the lake from the bridge! I was quite the celebrity for about an hour and they took pictures, but I decided to throw the fish back at my father’s suggestion. I thought this was a good idea, as my father said he had survived so many people trying to catch him for years, he needed to be rewarded. For real he had as that fish had so many scars that I could see on his body. I was most captivated in the sport and thrill of catching the fish.
My mother did not like even the smell of fish, so it was hard to have them around her. But, a few times I caught some and brought them home and Dad gutted them and Mom cooked them for me. They were small Sunny's and I barely got a bite out of them, but they sure were good what little I had. My Father instilled good principles in me. He told me about fishing being a sport and that if I did compete in life and did not win, be sure to congratulate the person who won with a smile. My Father truly did act like a gentlemen. He even tipped his hat when I was with him and he would pass someone on the street. He was what you would call a "man's man". However, he was not a John Wayne type at all. He worked hard, and played hard. He was up early in the morning and I never heard him complain although he ran a business with his brother. He enjoyed golfing, but he was not a fanatic. He volunteered as a fireman for years and showed us the value of giving of yourself in life. He had a great time being down at the Firehouse with the guys too, and a friend told my husband that he was the first one to grab a hose to wash down the firetruck after a fire and to give a helping hand. I do believe that as there was not a lazy bone in the man's body.
Riverside Hose in Tarrytown, NY where my father belonged and put out many fires
Dad in his Fireman's uniform this was soon after his marriage to Mom
One of the firetrucks.. I used to love to hear the siren, and sat in the front seat as a treat and blew the horn!
Gwen and me at the Fire House after a parade
he also had the most uncanny gift of being able to find four leaf clovers. I was always amazed at how he could do this!
Four leaf Clover
He really adored my mother although there were times she did drive him crazy!! Many times I thought he had the patience of Job, but they seemed to undertand each other and together it worked. He admired my Mother and told me several times that she saw in him potential. She was right, as he built a business from barely nothing. My Father was a well respected man in town and he had integrity. He only swatted me twice. A fact I think scared him and shook him as much as it did me! I don't ever remember him spanking my sister Gwen either.. he left my Mother to do that. LOL!
A great man .. He was a volunteer fireman, Vestryman and Usher in our church and blessed many people in his day.. things that are tucked in my heart like providing Thanksgiving turkeys to his employees and helping his employess when they had used up their money.. He loved to sing, but had a voice like a frog. hahaha!! He would sing so loud in church and my poor sister, who was shy would just cringe!! And he sincerely loved the Lord. My Father was a good man to me and to his family. He loved his girls each in their own way, a fact I have come to understand and appreciate more and more as yers go by and I remember the special times I had with him alone. I so loved it when he would read the Sunday comics like Beetle Bailey and it would hit his funny bone. His laugh was so deep and real, it made my mother and sister and I laugh too! There is so much more to tell about my Dad, but that will have to wait for another time.
FISH FOUND AT PEACH LAKE
I loved the lily pads on the lake, with such beautiful and colorful flowers of purple and white with bright yellow centers, and I just loved it when I would find a frog sitting on one of the lily pads. I would try to get close enough so I could see their throats swell up like a bubble which always fascinated me, and hearing them “rib bit” was music to my ears. My mother had told me the story of the Frog Prince, and I wondered if I would ever be able to kiss a frog even if it was a Prince.
My mother was quite a story teller,and she had an imaginary big barrel that she would either reach in and stir or have me do it to find a good story with my name on it.. "Just for Donsie, as she would say, or sometimes Donsiedoodle"! She would make many of them up and as I loook back I am amazed at how she always mezmerized me with tales of fairy princesses who's wings had been cinged in a forest fire while she was saving the talking mushrooms and such. The little fairy was taken in by a kind little girl named "Donna" who nursed her back to health, so she could go back and join her family. She lived in a little matchbox and I can remember making my own little fiary bed out of a box of wooden matches we used to light the stove at the bungalow or maybe the bar b que. I put cotton on the inside and decorated it with tiny satin ribbon flowers my mothere gave me. I lifted it up on a taller box and glued pretty dressy material around the pedestal for a bedskirt.
I used two pieces of wood sliced popscicle sticks and made a Princess topper for the bed and hung white organdy type material. I had tiny hanging thin ribbons of powder blue. I made a little pillow by cutting one of my Ginny doll's purses in half and filling it with cotton. I cut up one of my old doll dresses as a coverlet that had lace on it. I thought it was "spiffy"! But, lo.. my Forest fairy never came to use it. But, of course as any fairy tale this one had a good ending. Her Prince came to find her to lead her back to the woods! I don't know how my mother kept finding stories in the big barrel, but there were even enough left over for my children and my sister's when we got too old to hear them! Pictured below is a gorgeous tiny fairy bed handcrafted by an artisan on ebay selling for $139! It is what I would have liked to have envisioned my poor interpretation when I was younger!
Maybe some day, I should try to make a REAL super Fairy Bed
On the far end of the canal there was a large rock where many times I would find painted turtles sunning themselves. I would always stop and have a moment to observe them and felt so close to nature. I liked how they were so slow and yet so sure of themselves, and I thought the bright orange and yellow colorations on them were so cool.
One time I caught a snapping turtle and the hook went down its throat. I couldn’t get the hook out, and the poor thing was bleeding, and so brought it home. My mother was like “no way is this snapping turtle coming into the cottage”! Mom and I made a cage for it and we waited until my Dad came home to release the turtle from its misery. I threw it back in the canal, and tried not to think about the fact that it probably died from its trauma. Peach Lake was indeed an enchanting and magical world for me as a youngster.
It was a place of relaxation, day dreaming of my prince who would whisk me away someday and so many other things.
Peach Lake Memories is a 15 Chapter book with vignettes about my childhood memories. It is copyrighted. Please ask for permission before using any information in my book. Thank you .. donnatrex@yahoo.com
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