Flexible Flyer!

Last autumn, we had a big, early snowfall, and for a couple of days we lived in a winter wonderland. The schools were closed, and outside the window we saw children sledding on the hill.  I asked Jean if he sledded when he was a boy. He told me that yes, he did, when they lived in Minnesota.

"When we lived in Duluth, Minnesota, we lived on a hill, four blocks from Lake Superior. I still have the address, and I've been back to see it. It was a steep hill. We had a lot of snow in Duluth."

"One day when my mother wasn't home, I was sledding down the hill with my flexible flyer sled. I was really going, too! There were cross streets, but I missed any cars. At the bottom, I did not turn sharply enough to the left, and ran into the corner of a building."

"It knocked me out. People carried me home up the hill. So I woke up with a headache, and I was home. I think I still have a scar on my head. I was really small - three or four years old. "

"We brought the sled to California when we moved there the following year. One year when I was a little older, I carried the sled to to the top of Mt. Wilson, above Alhambra, and sledded down. We did have snow in Alhambra once or twice."