cottage bread

does anyone else remember cottage bread?  it was a big round loaf with a thick brown crust, white bread dusted with flour.  mother used to buy it at helpie-selfie, a grocery store in the early 50's on berry street about where king's liquors is today.  the produce manager was a man named ernie who later opened a malt shop in the westcliff shopping center to cater to the mclean junior high crowd.  i think there was also a blalckburn's grocery on the other side of the street.  i can remember peaches and other fruit in purple tissue wrappers.  could never forget mr. mehl and mehl's shoe store on berry and the book department at cox's department store.  one day mrs. wiggins (louise), the principal of bluebonnet elementary called me out of class to go with her to cox's to pick out a book for the library. i chose "who's who in oz" a reference book.  i remember certain books from that library, one about a bunch of kids who lived in an abandoned railroad car on the edge of  town, and one about a flying dragon that liked and ate skunk cabbages, whatever those were.  then there was the berry street walker, a whole other subject.  not too many years ago i wrote a poem entitled ":bury me on berry street".  it's largely changed now. my brother pat and i used to deliver the southside sun to  businesses up and down on berry.  mr. john langley was our circulation manager.  he was also my accordion teacher.  you could go to the tcu theater for nine cents at one time, or a quarter for the kids show on saturday morning.  record town was already there on university and you could go in and try out an album in the listening booths before you bought it.  life was good in tcu in the early days.  not only was there already a 7-11 there, but there was one on the circle also.  now they are talking about redoing bluebonnet circle.   i hope theydon't ruin it.  in recent years i hung out at the donut shop there waiting to go to service at trinity episcopal where i would meet mother.  i grew up going to matthew's memorial methodist church (now university united) also on berry.  paschal high is just around the corner, but i can remember when that was the old mclean.  the new paschal is built around the old mclean.   and bluebonnet is no longer an elementary school; it's the mclean sixth grade.  i would catch the bus up there when mother and i lived on dryden road just a few years ago.  now mother is gone and i live at the grove home on east lancaster.  it's nice here, buti still miss the old southside.  i was born living on hemphill, and hasn't that changed.  enough with nostalgia.  good evening.