Tudy and Me

This is Tudy (Doreena) and me at our Grandma and Grandpa Smith's house on Rd 198 in Poplar, Ca.  I was about 7 or 8 here and Tudy was 5 or 6.  We were born almost exactly two years a part.

The house was still two rooms at this time.  The front room served as a living room/bedroom combination and the back room served as the kitchen/dining/bedroom combination.  Our Grandpa built the house himself.

Tudy and I spent more time here than we did at our own house since Grandma took care of us while our parents worked.  I thought it was the most wonderful place in the world and felt very safe and secure there.

As you can see, our skin was tanned from playing outside so much.  Tudy would always get much darker than me since she inherited the skin tone of our Father.  I would burn first and then get a little tan.  In the summertime, it would get so hot we wouldn't stay outside for too long unless we were in the shade.  We would run around in the  sun a bit, back in the shade, and back into the house to cool off.

Grandpa only had a swamp cooler in the front room that had to be sprayed down with water from the outside periodically, but it did a pretty good job of keeping us cooled down.

I don't know how my parents, Grandpa, and other family members stood the heat to work in the fields to support us.  Thinking about it now, I have a whole new respect for them and what they had to endure.