Her Auntie Rita was going to have a baby, and Sue asked her, if it was a girl, would she please name her June? Rita thought June was a pretty name, so when the wee girl was born, her middle name was June.

Sue pushed June all around the cookhouse floor in a wooden apple box with a pad on the bottom. She helped her learn to walk. She encouraged her to talk. When June got stuck in the huge playpen in the door yard (because she kept eating sand) Sue brought her buckets of sand to eat. She was the best big sister anyone ever had.

She grew up to be the best Aunt, Grandma, big sister and friend there ever was. I never once heard her whine or complain, no matter how tough life got.. and she went through some very tough times! Nothing ever got her down, nothing ever beat her.

Except the cancer and the brain tumour. Yesterday, they won.
But here I am, Barbara June (Behind the Chicken House) and my wee Grand daughter, Kaytlin Flora June.. and I remember her and her laughter and her stories. She will never be gone, not really.

I learned to read when I was about 4 years old. I read this book when I was around 6, so I really didn’t have a handle on the difference between fact and fiction.

The hero invented what he called a “Hired Girl”.. this was a robot type of machine that did housework.. washed dishes, windows, floor; minded the baby; cooked.. in fact did all the work that a hired girl had once done. I wanted to buy one for my Ma. (We had no running water, and she had to do all the housework, haul the water, do the garden where she grew all our vegetables)

I saved every penny for 2 years. I saved so well that everyone thought I had a talent for handling money! I didn’t, but it said in the book that a Hired Girl cost about the same as a family car. I figured I could get a used one.

Finally, when I was about 8, I asked my Pop how much money I would need. I was absolutely devastated to discover that there was no such machine! Pop took a long time with me, and when the discussion was done, I had the fact and fiction thing nailed down. But you know, I’ve never really gotten over the disappointment of not being able to buy one of these for my Ma.