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Childhood Memories -- Birdy

© Marna D.E. Gatlin

Birdy was this very odd, but wonderful older woman who lived catty corner from us, across our alley. She was married to Erwin, who used to be a cameraman on a local television show called, "The JP Patches" Show on Kiro, Channel 7. He was also "Erwin the bus driver" and he used to pick up Asmaredla every morning for school. (She was a stuffed Raggedy Anne; they said was JP's little girl).

Anyhow, Birdy was the most incredibly patient human being I have ever met. She had a huge garden, full of herbs, flowers, vegetables, and fruit. All the children in the neighborhood gravitated to her home. I remember she had no door bell, just this crank type thing on her door, and you would crank it and it would ring a bell. If I close my eyes, I can almost hear her high heels clickity clack on the wooden entry way in her home, as she would come to answer the door.

Some days, she would just let us in, other days she would have the chain on the door, and tell us very lovingly that it wasn’t a good time to receive visitors. Looking back on this time, I think Erwin was ill a lot of the time, and he slept a lot.

I remember she had a lot of glass in her home. Her doors were all French and glass. The windows in the front room were all glass, and leaded. The floors were this exquisite hard wood, and always shiney. For fun, she would allow us to skate up and down the hall in just our socks! She said it shined her floors, and gave her less work to do.

Their home always had their blinds closed or at half mast. Our neighborhood baby-sitter, thought that was too weird. She also told my mom, we shouldn’t go to their house. Bah, I said, she was a nice nice lady.

She taught me how to play jacks, and how to have real tea, as they do in England. She taught me how to set a table properly. She always spoke in a calm, happy voice. She never said people had problems, she referred to problems as “challenges”.

Her house always smelled of ginger and cloves, and it was always cozy and warm, even though there was never a fire lit in the fire place. Her kitchen was largish, yet where she washed dishes was like that of a galley aboard a ship, long and narrow. We always offered to help wash dishes, but she wouldn’t ever hear of it. She also had a pantry and a root cellar, with real roots. We were allowed down in her basement only when she was with us. It was kind of spooky and cold down there.

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