We lived on one side of the creek on the hill and Grandma Lue lived on the other side and she had a barn where we played in the loft when it was raining. When it was nice we used the big rock you see at the corner for our 'Grand Old Opry' stage. The Grand Old Opry was one thing we could listen to on the battery powered radio on Saturday nights. The radio had a wire antena that attached to the back of the radio and run out the window for reception. Mom would not even start doing the wash unless she listened to C. C. Wiliford for the weather out of Springfield, Missouri. At about one o'clock every day everything stopped so we could listen to Judy and Jane for fifteen minutes. Lum and Abner came on late in the afternoon from their Jot-em-down Store.

We learned enough about the Grand Old Opry to know that the 'Solemn Old Judge' would say, 'This is the Solemn Old Judge from the Grand Old Opry, Let er go boys.' My brother was the judge and I was Minnie Pearl and also a singer. I could be Ernest Tubb or any number of singers. I used a board for a guitar and the imaginary music I made was much better than what I can do now with my flat top Gibson guitar. Oh, the memories that come flooding back when I go through my old pictures. That was the simple life.

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