Second Avenue homes

I love this picture. My dad's arm is around me and I know he was holding me tight so I wouldn't move. His arm is also around Mark, who is so proud of his train engine. Carl and his dimples. He had the best dimples in the world. We all had dimples, but his were deepest of all us children.

Did you notice the toy on the ground just behind us? It's a crane. I remember that toy so well.

What I really love about this picture is that it shows the homes of my friends. First house on the left if Janette and Butchy Britain's house, the next house on the left is the Strike's home (Betty and her mom). Everyday Betty would run down the block to catch the bus to her job at NJ Bell Tel, and every evening she would run back up the block to her home so she could feed her mom. You could set your watch to her comings and goings.

On the right, the first house you see is the Dunne's. In house lived Betty Anne. She was my sister's age, but I loved going to that tiny house and playing there. It was so unique, and Mrs. Dunne and I always talked about her decorating and how did she think the living room would look if we moved a piece of furniture to a different place. What fun for me.

After that on the right is Wallace's house. Linda (my age) and David (my sister's age) lived in that house, along with their mom and dad (Aunt Peg and Uncle Ben). They weren't really our Aunt and Uncle, but we called them that.

It was a TRIPLE house. Two homes downstairs, and one home upstairs. It was a converted school house. Mr. Wallace (Uncle Ben) did a lot of renovating in that place. That was another house I loved to visit. Uncle Ben's mother lived in the other downstairs unit, and Mrs. Dunne's sister whose name escapes me, lived upstairs. That was also unique because it was the only home I'd ever been in that had a sun porch. A real sun porch. Not like our enclosed porch. I can't describe it, except I remember there being a lot of plants in there.

So, that's why I like this picture -- because it evokes so many memories for me.

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