The Summer of Old San Jose

When we first moved out to California from Colorado, Dad had to go back to school to complete some units. We moved to a house off of Bascom Avenue in San Jose. It was 1955. The family enjoyed living in San Jose. It has a great public transportation system.

I was 5 and ready to go to kindergarten. Summer school in the demonstration kindergarten was my fare. The teacher colleges had a summer school on campus so that aspiring teachers could see what was going on at the various grade levels. It was fun. We did not own a TV or a video game box then.

We went on a field trip to the science lab at San Jose State. While we were there with our mouths hanging open, the students took out some tree frogs to show the little kids. When we were about to go, the students gathered up their frogs and one was missing. They searched high and low. It had to be in the lab somewhere. The little bugger had escaped and crawled up my leg to my back. It was rescued and we went on to see something else. Despite the panic that ensued, it was pretty fun.

That summer was my first experience with movies. Mom took me on the bus to see 20,000 leagues Under the Sea. This was one of Disney's first journey into the world of Sci Fi. What a wonderful movie.. the colors.. the sound.... The story was somewhat over my head.

San Jose had a wonderful fragrance in the summer then. There were blooming shrubs of all sorts. There were citrus trees always in bloom.

In the back of our rented house was a wonderful caster tree. It was made for climbing. Mom and Dad cautioned us against ever eating the fruit of this tree. They are very deadly. They also attract bees. It was here that I discovered that I had a severe reaction to bee sting. I got stung all summer. Everywhere I got strung my body rejected it and I became seriously swollen. I am very careful around bees today.

Love Pat