Skip to main content

Small Town Life

In this episode, Small Town Life . . .

With this Bonus segment, I want to address a recent comment, from a listener, posted on my Blog - On The Fly. It was this, 

"Please tell of your favorite moments growing up in Cuba, Illinois.”

That’s a great question. Hmmm, maybe we could make this a series . . .

First, let me say this, it was 1985 when I moved to California to pursue a completely transformed life as a gemologist, and educator. My blog posts over the years have focused on memories from my youth growing up in that small Midwestern town.

A few examples are:

Those documented memories are the synthesis of many years of listening to motivational tapes, Podcasts and reading books that trigger these special memories and allow me to embellish them as a writer.

So, let’s just jump right into a couple of my favorite moments not documented.

During my Jr. High years, one of my most treasured experiences was time spent with my little red beagle Pixy. What a special pup!

Every afternoon she was there to enthusiastically greet me when I came home from school. Her tail wagged so vigorously her hind end would leave the ground. She loved to run rabbits. So, I would grab my Daisy BB gun and take her to the woods.

Now we didn’t have to go very far, (about 3/4 of a mile) just cross the tracks, down the street, and into the woods. All those trips with Pixy I don’t think we ever killed a rabbit. It was simply the joy of watching her work the tracks, listening to her animated barking as she circled the woods. That image of only her tail visible, wagging above the brush, makes me smile to this day.

Another treasured memory was my regular trips to our local Post Office. Every other Saturday, with pride, I would present the money collected on my paper route to pay my monthly bill. In hindsight, this was a valuable lesson in respect and basic business practices.


Our Postmaster (Arnie Pederson) taught many of us young boys a valuable lesson during those visits. How to count money. Yes, I know that sounds trivial. You see, he would not accept a pile of money for the postal money order needed to settle our bill.


We were required to have all denominations in order. All bills face-up and facing the same way. And all the change in order from the smallest to largest value. We would wrap the pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters if there was enough to warrant that.


Once we paid the bill, he would prepare our money order. It was our job to address the envelope to The Daily Ledger office, purchase the stamp, then present it to him for mailing, the money left over was our earnings for the week.


My listening friends, when you hear someone speak of Small Town Midwestern values the following comes to mind; family first, neighborly, friendly, honest folks, dedicated to hard work, integrity, and faith.


These are just two of my “favorite moments growing up in Cuba, Illinois.”  Stay tuned . . . 


This is Patrick Ball, thanks for listening, see you in the next episode.

Comments

Kevin said…
I remember going to the Robertson's Standard gas station to buy a cold soda. You'd put a coin in the machine and then open the rectangular glass door to pull out your favorite soda. I would stand with my face in the open glass door to feel the cold air..no A/C back then. I'd then select my favorite beverage. But mostly I'd enjoy the cold air on my face. A/C is common place now...but not back then. Cox Corner was one of the few buildings with A/C back then and I'd be in there for hours looking at the comic books..but mostly enjoying the A/C.
Sandy said…
I remember the mechanical horse in front of the Ben Franklin store..
Patrick Ball said…
Kevin and Sandy, thanks for sharing. Yes, I remember both. In the summer I mowed yards for people around town. Would go to the Skelly Station and buy gas for $0.25 a gallon. yes, just a quarter. Also, do you remember the Green River drink you could get at Cox's Corner?
Roberta Sherman White said…
Small town -Cuba had an armed robbery last pm ! Hope this finds you well . Dec 1st went for yearly mammogram & got news go on the 7th to OSF Peoria . Yes I had the c word -Cancer . I wanted you to know . Couldn t ask Michelle to let you know . I just finished radiation this past week. I should be cancer free - only time will tell .. on cancer pill . It s terrible side effects !! But I m still alive & for that I m grateful ! It s been a difficult 6 months but one finds out what’s really important in life . I went to Pekin daily for 21 days . Thought of Michelle & Harold every day ...remember your health is your wealth ... it s everything !

Most Popular of All Time

Chasing the Magic

In this episode, Chasing the Magic: How the Summer of ’98 Inspired the 'Ball Boys' . . .  Do you remember that feeling? The late-summer air was thick with humidity, radios crackling on porches, the smell of fresh-cut grass and barbecue smoke in the backyard. Every evening carried a new kind of suspense—the country holding its collective breath after every pitch. “Did he hit one today?” became more than a question; it sparked a nationwide conversation.   For me, and millions of others, the summer of 1998 wasn’t just another baseball season. It was theater, a movement, a time when the game recaptured something sacred. As sportswriter Mike Lupica said so perfectly,   “No matter how old you are or how much you’ve seen, sports is still about memory and imagination. Never more than during the summer of ’98, when baseball made everyone feel like a kid again, when it felt important again.”    Just four years earlier, the 1994 players’ strike had left the sport bruised...

Beyond Facts

✨ In this episode, Beyond Facts: Reimagining School–in the Age of AI . . .   This week's podcast is a bit different; it's another example of how Artificial Intelligence (AI) can offer tools to creatively enhance your analytical presentation of information. We took this week's blog and copied it into Gemini with the question, “If a story is to work, it must, on some level, create an illusion of escape and also achieve a goal simultaneously. Does this apply to my blog post that follows?” What's created is not just an analysis of the writing, but an AI-generated discussion produced “On the Fly” - Enjoy! Did you know that the word "school" comes from the ancient Greek word scholÄ“ , which originally meant "leisure"? Not a rigid schedule or droning lectures filled with "facts," but free time for thinking and conversation. To the Greeks, learning happened best when life slowed down—when you had room to reflect, to ask questions, and to wrestle ...

Retirement Talk

In this episode, Patrick & Huck: Retirement Talk . . .   We all get caught daydreaming sometimes, don’t we? Just like Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn might’ve done, lazyin’ by the river with a fishing pole in hand and the BIG wide world spinn’ in their heads. This morning, with coffee steaming and plans bubbling, I found myself driftin’ into a chat with none other than my imaginary friend–Huck Finn himself. Patrick: “Mornin’, Huck. Say, I’m mighty curious what you’d make of this retirement business.” Huck: “Well now, sit tight, ‘cause I’ve been thinkin’ on that too. Only thirty-one days 'til you're sixty-nine — whew! You're talkin’ ‘bout quittin’, hangin’ up your spurs, Givin’ the workin’ life its final good slurs. Ain’t got no debts, no mortgage, no fuss, Just clean livin’ and freedom waitin’ on the bus. Most folks’d throw hats in the air, cheerin’ loud and proud, But you? You’re starin’ out yonder, lost in some cloud. You're dreamin’ of cyclin' and books and guitar...

Drifting with Purpose

In this episode,  Drifting with Purpose: What Huck Finn Teaches Us About Finding Your ‘Why’ . . .  Have you ever re-read a book and felt like it had changed while you weren’t looking? That’s exactly how it feels diving back into Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn . I’ll admit, I didn’t expect to be swept away again . It had been decades since I first met Huck and Jim. But here I am – older, hopefully wiser – and finding their journey down the Mississippi more powerful and more relevant than ever. This isn’t just another dusty classic. Twain's masterpiece is a living, breathing story – one that speaks through laughter, danger, awkward truth, and uncomfortable beauty. It’s a book that dares you to ask: “What kind of person am I willing to be?” Right now, I’m deep into Huck and Jim’s incredible journey, and what’s striking me the most isn’t just the plot or the river—it’s the voice. Twain’s masterful use of local dialect pulls you straight into the 19th-century Amer...