reminiscing

When I took Grandma shopping on Monday, we stopped for lunch, and then took the "scenic" route home. We drove along the dyke by the river. Grandma and Grandpa used to be commercial fishermen, so Grandma loves being by the river. We stopped at the net house. It's only a short walk from the house, but I get the feeling that she doesn't get up here much any more.

Grandma and Grandpa used to have their boat tied up here, and the nets for the boat stored in the net house. Now, someone else has the lease, and it looks like they are trying to replace the walkway, and doing work on the deck. But, basically it looks the same as when I grew up.

This place brings back all kinds of memories for me from when I was growing up. Countless hours spent in the net house when I was a kid, waiting for the "adults" to pull the nets off the boat, and rack them so that they could dry and then be stored for the winter. Or spending time playing in the loft and on the piles of nets, while Grandpa puttered around the shed or on the boat fixing something. I remember that the wharf was rotten in spots, and there were no railings. We always got the warning when we were walking down to the net house...."If you fall in the river, we are not jumping in after you. So, you better be careful and not fall in!"

I remember the smell of the place....nets, diesel, river, and oil. I remember the blackberry bushes that grew in the front, and in the summer, you could reach over and pick some as you walked down the walkway. I remember the ladder going down to the bottom deck, and the boat. In low tide it was a long climb down! I remember the net racks...basically one large pole between 2 supports. As kids, we used to "ride" them and pretend we were riding horses. I remember the year we went to the net house, and I had grown so much that when I sat on the "horse" my feet touched the ground, and how disappointed I was that I couldn't swing my feet anymore.