Less than a quarter mile from my backdoor was a place called soakhide. I was told it was a place the Indians, and yes they were Indians to me, not Native Americans, soaked their hides during the tanning process. It was thought this was the job of the squaws. While I lived there I never gave it much thought. Not far from the banks of that dreen, that is what the full name for the place was soakhide dreen, dreen being an old English word for drain, I would gather running pine and princess pine for holiday decorating. I would also ride my bicycle up the center of that dreen. The bottom was hard in the center, a sandy color and my wheels didn't sink in much. The water was a bit brackish. In all the years I lived there I never did follow that dreen back to its' source. There were other dreens around as well, although I wasn't familiar with them. On the opposite side of the road from soakhide dreen there was what I called a trench. It was obviously manmade. About a foot wide and two foot deep it ran through the woods to where I don't know. Followed it some when I was a kid but never to its' end either. Mysterious things but I felt no compulsion to explore them or learn much more about either of those dreens. Now that I am older and don't live there anymore I am curious. Isn't that how it always works ?
Now soakhide was also the name of the road it could be found on. In fact the dreen went under that road and entered three mile harbor at that point. I seldom explored the three mile harbor side as the water was much deeper there. Where that water ran out it had hollowed out the bank quite a bit making a deep hole. I spent quite a bit of time on soakhide. My aunt and uncle lived on that road, a friend of mine lived on that road, a man named Charlie Fanning lived there and then there were the summer folks too. On the far corner of soakhide was Mary's store. That is what we called it anyway. It was owned by Mary Damark and as far as I know that is the only name I remember it being called. Mary's sister, Margaret had a bar just down the road from there. Maggies' we called that although the name was really Ambrose's. It was at Maggie's I drank my first legal beer. It was on the house, as I recall as Maggie knew my father from his younger, shall we say, wilder days. By the time I was 18 that place was on the decline, as all bars eventually become old, replaced by the next generation hot spot ! No fun drinking with your parents and grandparents ! I would see Ambrose's change hands and become popular again. But, I hear all that has changed yet again. Things seem to change a lot faster these days, even the watering holes. I'm guessing they will soon be replaced by dens. The Chinese had opium dens, guess we will have marijuana dens. Hang out and smoke. Well, they say it is progress, a cure for alcoholism. Well, I won't go into any of that.
I'm not sure what made me think of all that this morning. Maybe it is just because I'm trying to distract myself. I can't completely ignore what is going on but I can try to minimize its' effect on me. I do need a break from all the nonsense I keep hearing in the news. So I'll think about soakhide dreen and the old stomping grounds instead. Things were good back then. I was blissfully unaware of what was going on around me. Isn't it nice to be young ? Problem is you do have to grow up. I'm a little nervous right now because it seems a lot of folks are refusing to do that. Well, it'll happen one day, just hope it isn't too late.
Now soakhide was also the name of the road it could be found on. In fact the dreen went under that road and entered three mile harbor at that point. I seldom explored the three mile harbor side as the water was much deeper there. Where that water ran out it had hollowed out the bank quite a bit making a deep hole. I spent quite a bit of time on soakhide. My aunt and uncle lived on that road, a friend of mine lived on that road, a man named Charlie Fanning lived there and then there were the summer folks too. On the far corner of soakhide was Mary's store. That is what we called it anyway. It was owned by Mary Damark and as far as I know that is the only name I remember it being called. Mary's sister, Margaret had a bar just down the road from there. Maggies' we called that although the name was really Ambrose's. It was at Maggie's I drank my first legal beer. It was on the house, as I recall as Maggie knew my father from his younger, shall we say, wilder days. By the time I was 18 that place was on the decline, as all bars eventually become old, replaced by the next generation hot spot ! No fun drinking with your parents and grandparents ! I would see Ambrose's change hands and become popular again. But, I hear all that has changed yet again. Things seem to change a lot faster these days, even the watering holes. I'm guessing they will soon be replaced by dens. The Chinese had opium dens, guess we will have marijuana dens. Hang out and smoke. Well, they say it is progress, a cure for alcoholism. Well, I won't go into any of that.
I'm not sure what made me think of all that this morning. Maybe it is just because I'm trying to distract myself. I can't completely ignore what is going on but I can try to minimize its' effect on me. I do need a break from all the nonsense I keep hearing in the news. So I'll think about soakhide dreen and the old stomping grounds instead. Things were good back then. I was blissfully unaware of what was going on around me. Isn't it nice to be young ? Problem is you do have to grow up. I'm a little nervous right now because it seems a lot of folks are refusing to do that. Well, it'll happen one day, just hope it isn't too late.
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