Alderwood Manor,,,,,,,my earliest memories

My family left North Seattle about the time I turned 3. I have vague memories of life in "the Old neighborhood, but they are scant. I guess they helped shape the young person I was going to be, but I left the ballet classes and visits to the Tradewell grocery store quite easily and settled into our new home in Alderwood Manor.

My dad bought a chunk of land, about 20 minutes down Highway 99 from Seattle. A retired Navy Luetenent, he started building houses. Ours was the first, in a cul de sac in a rural neighborhood, surrounded by horse pastures and farms. He planted some poplar trees near our new home and throughout the development which was intersected by "Swamp Creek" -a tributary to meandor it's way towards Lake Washington. My father decided it was a "brook" and not a swamp and the poplars lended their charm and affirmation to "Willowbrook Lane." No more swamp,,,,,

I had a wonderful childhood there. The homes that he built in this rurual communtiy created the most fantastic of childhood memories. This, then, is a tale of the wonderus place appropriated as Willowbrook lane,,,,,and all the characters and activities that comprises......