Kindergarten in Novato and some neighbors

I started school in SF, but back in the olden days they called it low and high grade...like low 1st grade, high 1st grade.  None of it makes any sense to me now... but I know I only completed LOW Kindgergarten in SF, so in Novato they started me all over again in Kindergarten.  Not that I minded.  Back in 1955 kindergarden was FUN!!   I do remember laying on our mats and taking naps.  I also remember eating graham crackers and drinking milk out of little cartons.  I remember we had blocks to play with...I loved blocks as a kid.  I do not remember EVER being taught the ABC's or 123's in Kindergarten.  It was just FUN!!  
In the first grade I had to start learning stuff...like my ABC's and 123's.  Like real education!!   and...we had to go to school all day.  As I said, this totally cut into my play time!!  
When we moved into our house in Monte Maria there were also other families moving into their brand new homes.  Neighbors got to know each other while building fences and landscaping.  Mom had a friend named... Mrs Lawry (Evelyn - I think).  The Lawry's were obviously richer than us..cause they had a TELEPHONE!!!   So when mom needed to make a call she went across the road to the Lawry's house and made the call.  
Now...right next door to us were the Pratt's.  RONNIE PRATT--- the worst kid I ever, ever knew!!  He was just a total brat.  The biggest memory I have of him...was going to his house to watch TV one afternoon.  Mind you...we did NOT have a TV.  While at Ronnie's house we noticed his mom was canning tomatoes.  I'd never seen home canned tomatoes before that to my knowldge.  Anyway, there were a LOT of them on the counters.  Mr Pratt came home, upset about something and the parents got into a real SPAT!!  they started by just yelling at each other  (now I need to let you know, my parents NEVER, EVER, not even ONCE yelled at each other)   Anyway, the yelling escalated into both of them throwing jars of canned tomatoes at each other.  WHAT a mess!!  broken glass all over the place (cause those Monte Maria houses did not have carpet and they had cement floors).  We decided we better get the heck out of there -- QUICK!!!   I do remember we thought the whole fight was rather entertaining though. 
Across the street were the King's.  He was SHORT and she was tall.  He had a typical short man complex and ruled the "roost".  I remember when he came home from work everything stopped... the wife had to pour him a glass of wine and sit and talk with him about his day (he worked at Chevron in Richmond).  Emily was friends with Sharon King, none of us were close to Collette.  Sharon King grew up into a strange person and eventially committed suicide because her mom wouldn't buy her a Toyota 4 Runner.  I heard that Sharon became a lesbian and a prostitute.  I'm not really surprised..she was weird in my opinion. 

But..the best person in Monte Maria was Susie Willis.  My very best friend.  We had so much in common...we  both loved dogs, loved climbing, exploring, building things...anything but school!!!   I remember Susie and I each had a stuffed dog...and we'd play "dogs" for hours.  We both wanted a real dog so bad.   She got her's first... Pepper.  A decent mid size mixed breed dog.  She walked tha dog everywhere.  Then I got Priss--- a rather stupid white mixed breed dog.  I had read every dog training book I could check out of the Linwood School Library... but I'll tell you, NONE of it worked on that dog.  She would never come when called, never sat, never nothing!!  But I loved her just the same.  Dad made her sleep outside..and I didn't like that.  But I could bring her inside during the day.  Susie and I had so much fun with our real dogs!! 

When the area south of us was being built Susie and I had so much fun climbing through all the homes and wood and stuff.  We could walk all the way around the top 2x4 of the frame (before they put the roof rafters on).  Susie and I could also walk on any fence... never fell off, no matter how thin the boards.  When the constuction men put the stucco on the outside walls of one house we wrote our names all over the house!!  YEP...our NAMES!!!   guess who's parents got visited the next day?  The construction guys were pretty upset with us cause they had to redo the whole stucco job.  I remember Susie and I really didn't like one sissy little girl in our class...so one day she came over to the construction site.. (where she didn't belong--it was OUR territory)  Susie and I decided to teach her a lesson about coming into our space and we made her walk the top of the house with us...she cried the whole time.  We were really mean little girls when we were together!!!

Susie and I walked up the hill behind our houses when the bulldozers showed up to start excavating that area... we wanted to ride on a bulldozer so bad... we just sit and watch the workers for hours.  Finally one day one guy offered us a ride... that was SO GREAT!!   We were thrilled to just climb on the bulldozer after the guys left...but to be able to ride on it!!!!   WAY COOL!!!  

When other survey workers came and put sticks in the ground behind our homes...Susie and I went along after they went home and pulled all of the up...yep, ALL of them!!  Another visit to our parents was in order!! How did they know it was us????   We just really liked the thin sticks with the little flag on it....

Susie Willis moved away when I was in the 6th grade.  That was HORRIBLE!!   She was my only friend and I knew they'd never be another friend like her.  (she moved to Petaluma).  I didn't know what to do with myself after she left...so I decided to start reading...I read the most books of any 6th grader that year. 

I still miss Susie Willis!!