World War II -

 So many things were rationed during the war.  There were War Ration Books distributed to the people of the United States.  Some of the things rationed were gasoline, meat, leather shoes and on and on.  My mom had a wonderful Victory Garden in the back yard, so we had lots of fresh vegetables.  Also in our back yard was a huge cherry tree.  Mom would ask if we wanted cherry pie.  Then, when we said YES she would say, "okay then get up in that tree and pick enough cherries".  Actually I think we ate more cherries than we picked for the delicious pies.  Which reminds me of a story about the day my very best friend, Judy Liston, and I were playing tag in the top branches of the tree.  Cherry tree tag consisted of eating a cherry and trying to hit the other person by spitting the seed at them and succeeding.  Well, just as I spit a seed at Judy from the tip top of the tree the branch gave way and down I flew.  First I hit our wire clothesline and bounced off right into the middle of a thorned rose bush.  Judy went running into the house and got Mom.  I was bloody from top to bottom from hitting all those painful thorns.  Mom looked at me and said, "Oh my God, just look at your clothes".  How's that for sympathy? 

If anyone is interested, I have one of the ration books issued to my Dad with three ration stamps still attached.  It's stamped from the Office of Price Administration and could be used to purchase a certain amount of sugar.  Inside was stamped "Purchase Certificate for sugar only, from KANSAS CITY SUGAR RATIONING BOARD.  My Mother worked miracles with those ration books.  Her best friend for life was Mary Nash.  The Nashes lived straight across the street from us and had five kids.  Their dad was Fran and his brother, Lester, lived with them in their big old two story house.  Fran and Uncle Les owned an auto repair shop and thus received more gas ration stamps so they could test drive the cars they repaired.  Hot summer days Mary would call Mom and say, "Maxine, Fran gave me some gas stamps this morning.  I'll put gas in your car and we can load up all the kids and go to Kernodles (popular swimming lake) today.  We all piled into our 1935 Ford, Mary and Mom, five Nash kids and three Warren kids and headed for this favorite lake.  Just before getting to the gate about four of the bigger kids would pile into the trunk of the car and Mom and Mary would put an innocent look on their faces and only pay admission for themselves and four half-price little kids.  Those two saintly ladies always loved it when they could pull this off.  Inside in the parking lot they opened the trunk and out popped the rest of the kids.  Unforgettable memories.  There's so much more to tell you about those wonderful years on Cypress Avenue.  Will close for now and try not to wait so long to post again.  Will tell you more about meeting trains at Union Station to greet Dad's friends returning from overseas duty.