My 1st Birthday - 1959

This is a picture of me and my Papa. The back of the picture says Ginger's birthday, with her presents. My papa is sitting behind me, smoking his pipe. I remember so well the smell of his pipe; even now if I pass by a tobacco store, and smell his tobacco it makes me feel like he's still here.

My papa was a very important part of my life, and hopefully the feeling was mutual. He was what they called a "good ol Swede", I don't remember him angry only once or twice. He played the harmonica, and the accordion. The polka music reminds me of him as well, when it is played by someone with an accordion. He was always whistling, or strumming his fingers on something, or humming a tune.

After my Grandma died, he would take my Aunt Ruthie and I to Titusville. This is where his sister Hilda and her family lived. They would play cards into the wee hours of the night. When we got up, we had Aunt Hilda's Swedish pancakes. I remember we'd get the money from their game Penney's from Heaven and walk down to the corner store and get penney candy (I don't think there is such a thing anymore). We'd fish in the creek by their house with a stick and string. Then we'd listen to them tell stories about when they were little and living in the Pennsylvania hills, and my Papa worked in the coal mines.

I miss them a lot, and those times.......