Adventures With Ruba

Author's Notes

Ruba's adventures take place in Seattle between 1950 and 1952, a time when the world was still recovering from World War II. These stories are inspired by my own childhood, though I've added a little magic and imagination to make them even more fun.

Life for children was very different back then. We had more freedom than kids often do today. There were no cell phones or computers, and television was just starting to appear in homes-only for a few hours in the afternoon and evening. So, we found our own adventures: reading books, listening to records, playing outside, and letting our imaginations run wild.

The neighborhoods were full of hidden treasures, abandoned homesteads to explore, trees to climb, and winding paths to discover. Children roamed freely, with very little worry about strangers. I lived right next to my grade school, separated only by a chain-link fence, which meant the schoolyard was practically our backyard.

Seattle was a medium-sized city with a population of about 550,000. It was a place full of possibilities-a very different city than the one you see today.