Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Can you spell that?...


This railroad crossing sign reminds me of childhood. It reminds me of the times when Grandma would stop at a railroad crossing with a sign like this, and would present the following question...
"Railroad crossing, watch out for the cars, can you spell that without any R's?"
Being young children and not processing the question exactly as it was asked, we would strain our brains trying to spell what she had said without any Rs. And, then finally after we'd been stumped a while, and the train had passed, she would spell that for us - "T H A T". After all the question was can you spell THAT without any R's?
And, then we'd all wave to the man in the caboose and he'd wave back.
Oh to be young again, to the times when such simple things brought pleasure and excitement.
Now, as a stuffy old adult, I just want the train to hurry up and pass, so I can go on my way. Unless, of course, grandkids are with me, to whom I can ask Grandma's brain straining question.
By the way, the sign in this photo no longer warns of train crossings,
it now decorates the wall of a local restaurant.

6 comments:

Annie said...

She never asked me that. Are you talking about my grandmother?

Moonshadow said...

It's been a while since I thought about that riddle myself. Most trains don't have caboose on them anymore either. There was talk about trying to get passenger service back in Wichita, but I don't know that it's gone anywhere.
http://blogs.kansas.com/weblog/2007/02/rail_service_fo/

Wanda said...

Oh I remember that little riddle!!

Jim Klenke said...

I love the story, reminds me of my grandma. I remember seeing the old guy in the caboose hanging out the window. They no longer have them in Texas too.

photowannabe said...

I remember that riddle from my youth too. It sounds like something my Husband would say to our Grandkids. He's always got something like that to challenge them.

George Townboy said...

OMG, I was the guy in the caboose! j/k Cute story.