What do the Phillipse Grant, the Howes' Circus, condensed milk, iron mines, the Great Depression and life during World War II have in common? The answer is contained in this book about life in the small New York State village of Brewster in the Town of Southeast and the County of Putnam. It is where the circus started, where hoboes found sustenance and where the New York Central Railroad built its roundhouse, the place where trains are turned around to head back to New York City, fifty-two miles to the south. The story is of a most memorable childhood for the author, the love of her mother who playfully called her little one "punkie diddle," her loving father who went off to war at the age of forty-five, and her younger brother and two sisters, one who joined the WAVES. The author spent time ice skating, fishing, dancing, swimming and sun-burning at Tonetta Lake two miles from the village. She shares her memories of World War II that consumed the every day life of those around her, when the American populace pulled together for the sake of liberating Japanese and Nazi occupied countries after our own Pearl Harbor was attacked. Dolores (Dodie) Beal Stephens, who volunteers at the Wright Museum (WWII) in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, also speaks to various groups including many veterans' organizations. It is her way of saying "thank you."