The above is a picture of our family in front of our house in Witmarsum. From left to right starting with the back is my sister Reintje, and my brother Wietze. Then second row is my sister Trijntje,Me (the cute one ..lol), my mother Hittje, grandmother Reintje, and my dad Berend. The front row is my brother Gerrit (laying in the grass), and my brother Libbe..who is also standing next to my mother with a ball in his hand. The three youngest of us were born in this house during the 2nd World War. Believe it or not I still have a lot of memories living in that house..and some of the things we went through during the war even though I was very young....which I will talk about later.
This house was at the time we lived there in two sections..there was a widow lady living on the other side of the house by herself..her name was Maaike. In the back of the house was a shed for tools and garden equipment that my dad used in his work..right next to the shed on the leftside was our outhouse ..we did not have bathroom facilities inside the house. We entered the house though the backdoor..there was no other door to get inside..and immediately entered the kitchen area...on the left side was the sink and water faucet..there were a few cabinets around it. Farther on the left side was my mother's cook stove..which was heated by burning wood inside, or turfs..many times during the war times and also after the war we were sent out to look for pieces of wood to start the fire with. On the right side of the kitchen was a door that led to the basement..where there was also a food pantry..and a place where my mother kept her jars of canned food. The basement was the only place to keep our food cool...as we did not have a refigerator.
The kitchen was not large enough for us to place table and chairs in..so we had our dining room furniture in the same room as our living room furniture. But the table was the most important and enjoyable place to sit by...here we played many games, drew lots of pictures and colored them too. Besides reading books was mostly done by the dining room table...in the living room. Except for my brother Wietze..he always sat in a comfortable chair and leaned his head up against the wall and read his books. We had one lounge chair in the living room that you could sit on and stretch your legs on ..and sometimes if we were sick..we got to lay there..so our mother could keep an eye on us better. We also had a wood burning stove in the living room to help keep that room and the downstairs warm in the winter time. My mother also kepts many plants in the window sills..both winter and summer..she had a very green tumb..and did well with her plants. Then my parents bedroom was downstairs..straight back on the right side looking through the above picture right window.
The kids bedrooms were upstairs..we had to go back into the kitchen and next to the outside door on the left side facing the back door from the inside. We had to climb the stairs..which were a bit on the steep side..and first entered my oldest two brother's bedroom..and then through a door was the girl's bedroom..but we had a baby bed in that room for my little brother also. Behind the baby bed was a door that led to the attic..were my oldest brother spent many nights..when he was in hiding during the 2nd World War.
More to Come
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