My little home town. Do you ever try to go back in your mind and picture your world through your child's eyes? I find it to be a fascinating exercise.
The Town Hall ....this is where my Dad worked ... as a policeman. I remember walking in the side door that was the entrance to the police station. And, there were cells! And a desk .. or two .... and my Dad in his blue uniform ....
Just down the street from the Police Station was St Bernard's School .... my elementary school. I can still picture the classrooms and the green railing leading down to the cafeteria ... and the smell in the cafeteria. I remember in one classroom there was a long cloak room where we all hung our coats and put our boots. Our desks had tops that opened up and we had little clear plastic bags for our pencils and rulers.
This was the view on my walk home from school. My house sat on the lake across from Friary (building you see on the hill). I remember standing on our dock on Sunday mornings and listening to the chants of the friars.
Here is my street - we lived at the end. I loved walking down this street.... talking to the dogs, playing in the little running water paths along the side, building up sand dunes to channel the water in a swerve path. My best friends lived in the house at the end of the driveway on the right. My grandmother lived about half way up the street on the left in a little bungalow. And, there was a "huge" green apple tree across the street from her house that I use to climb up and pick a little green apple to eat.
I don't think there is a child in Saranac Lake that doesn't have memories of the Custard Stand. A vanilla ice cream cone with hard cherry topping or sprinkles and the ice cream running down your hand because you couldn't lick it fast enough.
It all seemed so big back them. Maybe it's not really so big .... but, it sure is important. That little girl's eye has happy memories.
