Going home is always a little bittersweet, isn’t it… We love to revisit memories of family times together and places we have lived. We enjoy seeing how places have stayed the same and how they have been updated, how neighborhoods have changed. Coming home this time involved a lot of remembrances of times with my father-in-love, a whole bunch of cleaning and organizing, as well as trashing out things which needed to go.
One of my favorite things from this trip, after spending my first morning there sweeping cobwebs off the house and its eves ~ here in the Sacramento area ~ was playing with Great-Gramma Kate’s vintage tricycle…
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| Overblown lighting but still fun! Will have to pull into Lightroom and edit… 😉 |
Mr. Ethereal was busy cutting back several oleander bushes hanging over from the neighbors’ yard. Vintage wood ready for projects, cut out pattern pieces for a rocking horse and two donkey carts, antique woodworking tools and steamer trunks were part of the detritus dragged out from the large backyard shed. Many of the tools in that shed ~ the wood staves for shaving logs and different size hand-drills and planers ~ were over 100 years old and belonged originally to Raymond Fudge, Pete’s father-in-law.
The oleander cuttings had been dragged out onto the lawn to prep for the garden recycle bins and that’s where I found them…
And this amazing vintage tricycle was among those treasures
found near that big metal shed!
Thinking of other friends who have photographed bicycles
popped into my mind and the fun began!
I love the sweetness of this old tricycle and I remember Kate and how kind she was. She was a track runner in her high school days and the girls on her track team competed against other local school girls during a short season of track and field during the 1920’s. There were no state meets during those days.
Kate was a long-jumper and triple-jumper and I think she also played basketball. She had long legs and was tall at 5’10”. I am sorry I can’t download a photograph of Kate but my computer is being finicky.
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| Gramma Gini’s roses bloom in the background and the old cherry tree stands to the left. |
I can imagine Kate tooling around town with this tricycle along Rancho Cordova’s city sidewalks heading to the library or the grocery store or out to rides with friends along the American River back in the 1980’s. Kate could get there by the old tressle bridge which spans the river in Fair Oaks, which she lived right near.
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| A favorite! |
I think she would have enjoyed seeing her bicycle basket
filled with bright pink and white flowers!!!
A bit of silliness made all the cleaning worthwhile…
All edited… Hope this post was fun for you, too! 💝
Thanks for visiting today,
Very cute idea! I love it!
Wonderful in every way — i looks just perfect with the pink!
Wow this turned out very pretty, will pin it to my recycle garden board.
Oh my what a beautiful find Barb, and I can almost picture your Great Grandma Kate cycling through town too. We used to have a white oleander in our garden but sadly had to rip in out after it was declared an invasive species here in South Africa. It think their flowers are so pretty and they look gorgeous in the carrier.
Hi Barb and a magical gift to find. I love the piece itself and imagining Kate riding around. I believe she would love seeing this treasure filled with such beauty.Thanks for sharing!Cindy
What a treasure to have! My family group birthday gift this year is a high end bike — but there's a least a month wait for it to arrive. If I had that bike I'd have it painted a pretty pink or Tiffany Blue and head out for a ride in style!
Painting it would be a fun idea, Debbee! Maybe next visit… :)Thanks,Barb 🙂