You read that right, peach pit monkeys. It is fun to say out loud. Try it. No really. You can't help but smile a little when it pops out of the mouth. OKay okay on with the story.
My Pappaw was a little man. Tiny frame, might have weighed at his very heaviest soaking wet 95 pounds. He was not a man of many words. He lost most of his hearing in World War II. He would carry on very small conversations mainly by "listening" and agreeing. When he did this it also meant that he was done with whatever you were talking about OR he didn't hear what you said, that part was up to you to figure out. He loved taking things apart and putting them back together. It was not unusual to walk into his house and find a clock taken apart.....all the gears and springs and thingamabobs strewn across the table. He would later put it back together like new or with a little adjustment. The little man could grow ANYTHING. He had the greenest thumb and it bothered him that his daughter, my mother, couldn't get anything to stay alive. Didn't stop him from trying to help her though.
NOw that you know a little bit about the man let me tell you how I recalled this memory. I was peeling and slicing peaches the other night, for an after dinner snack. The peach was juicy and the perfect ripeness. When you cut down to the pit it broke clean and the pit popped right out. Yummy. Then it hit me.
My Pappaw used to carve little monkeys out of peach pits. They were the neatest little things. It was never the same pose. They would be lined up on his kitchen window sill waiting for my brother and I to find them. He would say" I didn't let the my other monkeys take those. I saved those for you two little monkeys." The monkeys in this case were his other grandkids, our cousins. "Besides, they are too old to be monkeying around anyhow." I always thought that was sooooo funny. My brother and are the children of the two babies of each family. Which makes us the baby grandchildren. On Pappaws side we were quite a bit younger than our cousins, we were almost playthings to them.
I called my Mom and asked if she still had any of them. She does! I hope to get a pic of one to post here. They were the neatest little things. She said she also had a pair of wooden pliars that he carved out of one piece of wood. The move and everything. I remeber those too. I just didn't realize Pappaw had done it.
So there it is. My memory of Pappaw and the peach pit monkeys. I have decided to pull all of this off of the web and print it out so that theses stories aren't lost. I want my kids to know about my childhood as well as theirs. I also want my future nieces or nephews to know it too and I am not sure if my brother will think to tell them the small things. Good idea huh? Have a great weekend everyone!
