A Color I Remember

I bought this orange art glass piece for my parents in the sixties.

A writing companion and I meet monthly. We assign exercises and come prepared the next month to share our work. One recent exercise was to write about a color, specifically it was: Blank is the color I remember.

I am posting my essay below…with photos. I went back to look for evidence of what I remembered….so I’ve included some pictures that I found.

The slide viewfinder surrounded by a few slides.

There were a couple of slides in the mix and I wondered how I could post them…then I thought to put them in our slide viewfinder and try taking a photo of the image inside the viewer. Much to my surprise it worked fairly well. So here goes…

Blank is the color I remember…

I have always loved color. And I enjoy collecting colored glass. There is evidence I liked it when I was younger too…In our living room I display an orange glass art piece I remember buying for my parent’s anniversary when I was a teenager…at the JCPenney store in Apache Plaza. It was on a glass shelf in the back corner of the store, by an outside door. It’s interesting to think I remember those few details so vividly.

However, what came to mind when I read the assignment “ Blank is the color I remember” I thought of the house I grew up in on McKinley Street in Northeast Minneapolis. My dad built the house and we moved into it in 1953 when I was six-months old.  Of course, I don’t remember moving into it, but from when I can remember our house was painted a rose-pink color. How that color was decided I’ll never know, and unfortunately I can’t ask my parents anymore. I do know my mom always loved reds and pinks so I’m sure she had a lot of influence as to the color choice. I remember telling friends, when giving them directions to my house, “it’s the rose color one.”

Our rose colored house in the background. This is a picture from my confirmation. I am standing between my two grandfathers.

The color of our house never bothered me, and I really didn’t take notice if the color was out of place in the neighborhood but I think it must have been, especially when I remember the houses surrounding us in the new neighborhood. I would not choose to paint my house that color today.

Thinking of my rose colored house prompts a memory of the house directly across the street from that house; next door to our good friends the Soderman’s. It belonged to an old man and, as children, we thought is was kind of a scary place. There were tall bushes that lined both sides of his property and he lived alone in this shack; an old, scary, unpainted, one-room house (as I remember it).

The old one-room house in the background. It doesn’t look so scary in the photo. It must be getting ready to be demolished. The bushes on each side of the property have been taken down in this photo. That is me and my childhood friend…apparently going somewhere with large suitcases! This is a photo from the slide viewfinder.

The one-room house was off to one side of the property and a ways back from the street. I think we always subconsciously picked up speed when we walked by it. At one point in time the bushes were removed and the shack was torn down and a new house was built in its place. I wonder what happened to that man? Did he die? Did he move away? I don’t even know his name.

Which prompts me to remember the old play shack my dad and brother built for a playhouse in our own back yard. It was much smaller than our neighbor’s house across the street. It had a big open window (no glass) in front (and one on the side?) and a front door. The roof was slanted and it had a built-in ladder on the back where we could climb to the roof and sit and watch the neighborhood. I don’t remember the color of the shack but it wasn’t refined. I wonder if it was even painted? I wonder if there is a picture of it somewhere?

I found this slide showing the shack in our backyard. It was painted to match the house. This photo was taken from the slide viewfinder. In the foreground is my childhood friend and I sharing a rain coat!

The house of my childhood eventually got re-painted but I don’t know what year. My parents changed the color to gold. That was a little more conventional. With that gold color they also painted the wooden crank-up camper, my dad made…which matched the new 1965 Ford Galaxy my parents owned. It was a big deal getting a brand new car. 

Me in the back of our house, painted gold.

The ’65 Ford Galaxy is the car we took (pulling the heavy wooden camper) on a road trip in to Yellowstone National Park. I remember feeding the bears (legit to do back then I guess) and one stood up on the car door with its paws inside the window nearest me (!) and left a scratch mark on the black, interior fabric…hmmm…

The bear through the window at Yellowstone National Park.
The bear in my window at Yellowstone National Park. I can’t believe I took a picture…well maybe I can. HA!

So the phrase “blank is the color I remember” took me on a fun, crazy path down memory lane and I found a few pictures to go along with the story.

12 thoughts on “A Color I Remember”

  1. This was so much fun to read. I feel like I learned a lot more about you. Those photos, what a gift, as are your memories. That prompt certainly led to much delving back in time. Well done, Valerie.

  2. My colors are in the pink family, but even the dark shades have NO orange. I collected various stained glass items, and had other large 15”x 28” ones made .
    My gardens for about 7 months of the year are very colorful, too. For MANY YEARS I planted 600 impatiens and several years I shared their beauty on the Northfield Garden Tour. If you want, you could text me and I would send you my favorite colorful garden photo of perennials and annuals. Kay Costa

    1. Kay, I have seen your beautiful gardens in person and can attest that they are colorful and spectacular.
      I have shown them off on occasion to others. 😉

  3. Valerie, I grew up in a rose-colored house also. At the time I didn’t think it odd, but over the years I realized the pink siding must have been the least expensive option for re-siding the old farmhouse. It didn’t matter. I loved that old house.

    1. Diane, That is so interesting. Maybe it wasn’t such an unusual color then as it is today.
      I loved our house on McKinley Street too.

  5. Oh, Valerie, this was delightful to read again. I love the photos you shared. I think anyone in our age group would see those photos as a walk down memory lane. And, my house had pink on the front as well. The sides and back were white siding, but the front had brick on the lower half and pink on the upper half. Who knows why. I didn’t find it unusual then, but I sure wouldn’t choose it now either. 😉 What fun!

    1. Thanks Sheri. I was happy to find photos to go along with the story.
      It’s interesting you had a rose color on your childhood home too…

  6. I love the photos and seeing photos of you as a youngster, I can see Mike and Tim in you!

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