Growing up in the 1940s

 Another memory of the 1940s.

I hiked a mountain at age 6. Tried to reach the top. never made it. Was ordered by mom to eat my packed lunch when the sun was overhead and then head back home. So I did, usually on a large rock in a sheep pasture. That was in the Appalachian mountains of PA, so the mountains  were grassy or wooded all the way up. No impossible cliff faces like in the western mountains. Yes, we all ran around a lot and only came home when the streetlights came on. (twilight)

This was before my youngest sister was born. Don was the baby and taking up all of Mom's time. Sandy a preschooler. We lived in Monroeton, PA and kids just roamed because parents were busy with other things or other children. They trusted us to have good sense and an instinct for danger and we usually proved them right. (I bugged her for some time before she let me go hike the mountain. And then it became something that I did, by myself, in the summertime. )

A few years before that when we lived in Towanda, she let me walk home by myself from kindergarten, so a friend and I took a shortcut that was an hour longer than our regular walk. We hiked through alleys and people's back yards. We collected empty pop bottles and turned them into the corner store for two cents each. (considering that recycling plastic bottles these days only earns us a dime, that sort of income stream hasn't risen much.) Yes, mom did panic when we didn't show up on time and forbade us to ever take THAT shortcut again. 🙂

Rain on the West Coast compared to the East Coast

 Oh no! It's pouring rain, the people of Southern California say.  

I look out my window. There's a slight sprinkle. That's a rainstorm?  

(When a normal rain comes, They call it an Atmospheric River and people who bought houses near a stream or river are totally surprised when it overflows its banks. Or when it tumbles down a hillside, gathering stuff as it flows down.

Really? You thought that was a good place to build a house. -or buy one already build?) 

People's attitude about water falling from the sky is so different here, where one-tenth of an inch is normal with a total of 7 - maybe 10 inches in a year. (I have never worn my raincoat here - didn't need it)  

Compared to the 40-50+ inches a year on the east coast of the USA. So different.

Author is unrecognized by fan

My day job was being a children's librarian at a public library. 

I was amused when a boy and his mother brought one of my books to the Information Desk and asked ME if the book was any good. (It was one of my biographies.)  

I told them that it was well researched and it was a good read and that I knew the author, hoping that they would notice my name tag and make the connection, but no.