This is their home and is forever etched in my mind. Every summer we spent two weeks "up north". Part of that time my bedroom was in the upper left hand corner. It is such a wonderful, huge house. Many wonderful meals were shared there. I loved going up and down the stairs as they were "open" and "winding". At the bottom of the stairs was a cuckoo clock that fascinated me as a child. I am still fascinated by cuckoo clocks.
Another memory etched in my mind is Gruener's Bakery. It was located on "Main Street" quite close to their house. If you walk out of their house, turned right, crossed the street you'd see a very steep stairway going to "downtown" main street. These stairs were called the "angel flight". As you reached the bottom immediately to your left was the bakery. The most wonderful smells in the world came from the back of that building. Six days a week my uncle would arrive in the middle of the night to begin baking. He'd be back home in the early afternoon. My cousin was a baker's assistant. My aunt would arrive prior to the bakery opening and would wait on customers and do the books. I'm pretty sure they employed one or two others, but during my vacation I would be a "helper". I sliced buns, breads, sugared doughnuts, dusted shelves, waited on customers, and ate my share of the wonderful baked goods. Two items were specialties of "Gruener's Bakery": "Barrel bread", which was baked in a coffee can like device; and "Pretzel" which was a filled Kringle. I believe the recipe actually came through a distant relative from Racine.
This is the Gruener Bakery building. Just to the left, is where you would come out from the "angel stairs". When I saw the new business sign I just had to take a photo. Someday I hope to learn the story about the DAMM financial tax service.
I sure do miss that Barrel Bread and Pretzel!
