Jan 3 – my town [FMS Photo a Day]
this one is from the archives because i am not ‘home’ right now I have lived all across the US, but the little town that this rural post office shed serves will always be My Town.. Reynolds, Mo. I have no idea what the actual population is but i know i rode a bus 12 miles each way to school in the next ‘town’ which in 2012 had a population of 408 so it is my small, very small town.![1521731_10152179286798653_314301854_n[1]](http://craftytara.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/1521731_10152179286798653_314301854_n1.jpg)
My GUIDE to great television this weekend.
![The%20Peach%20Keeper[1]](http://craftytara.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/the20peach20keeper1.jpg)
Welcome to Walls of Water, North Carolina
From the second paragraph of this book, i was hooked.
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This is a story about a small town, lifelong friendships and the secrets that both of these can help keep and expose.
As Paxton Osgood is bringing new life back to a centuries old home the secrets of those who lived there are unable to remain secret.
Family history uncovers enlightening and at times troublesome information, that will forge new friendships and open the way for major changes in the lives of Paxton and Willa Jackson.
i was quickly dragged into Walls of Water and didn’t want to leave when i turned the last page.
The mysteries were solved, but i was left wanting to know more about the people and the town. It made me question what it means when i make my coffee every morning since i rarely take it the same way twice in a row and why the birds sometimes gather in my backyard. i will always think of this story and especially Grandma Georgie when i eat a peach. I hope you will love the town and its people as much as I did
i will definitely be picking up some more of Sarah’s books soon
you can find out more about Sarah and her books at her website: http://www.sarahaddisonallen.com/the_peach_keeper.html
Everywhere i turn lately there is someone talking about vacation bible school. either their kids or grandkids are going, or they are helping run it at their church.
i am not a religious person. if i had to label myself i would probably go with agnostic (agnostic vs. atheist). but i do fondly remember those wonderful fun filled weeks of VBS as a kid. the one i went to most often was at Ohlman Church about 4 miles or so down the road from where i lived (according to Google Maps). the couple that ran our local gas station and store were parishioners there and were more than happy to take me along with them to attend VBS even though i didn’t actually go to church there. There was an entire process involved. my family lived down a mile long dirt road so to make it easier for Mr & Mrs Fields, i would hop on my trusty motorcycle and head up to their house so they didn’t have to go out of their way to pick me up.
My Honda, a main source of transportation from age 8 – 12, i got a bigger motorcycle at 12 🙂
it was just over a mile to their house, just a little past their little store , which is where my other favorite summer activity occured, the BOOK MOBILE 🙂
Fields’ Store
i didn’t have to cross the highway and would get to their house with plenty time to spare to change into my church dress from the t-shirt and jeans i wore to ride the motorcycle and there was often some tangles to get out of my hair. then we would hop into their big old car and head off to bible school. usually after we got back to their house, i would just tuck my dress up under me and head home, i just didn’t want it to get dirty before church 🙂
Mr & Mrs Fields’ house
I can still remember some of the things i made there, one year i made a thing for my dad to hang on the wall, it was a circle cut from a tree trunk and then we used Mod Podge to put a picture on, for my dad i put a picture of a big tom turkey. i wonder i they still have that thing.. i will have to ask.
Mr and Mrs Fields are gone now, and it has been a very long time since i went to church, but i drive by their old store
Mr and Mrs Fields tending the store. remember when someone came out to fill your car for you? he even filled my motorcycle tank, and took all the pennies i had scraped up to pay with.
and that church every time i go home to visit, and oh, the memories…. and let me tell you, thinking about VBS actually makes me ponder going 🙂 but i am pretty sure they wouldn’t let me have near as much fun now that i am a grown up.
I went to VBS (and services) at my aunt’s church many times as well, but that wasn’t as much as an adventure since they lived right next door and it didn’t involve a motorcycle ride through the woods on a dark dirt road 🙂
standing in the kitchen looking confused, trying to figure out what to have for lunch. tomato soup was an option as was some chef Boyardee something in a can. (it doesn’t matter which variety, they all taste pretty much the same). and then as I peeked into the fridge one more time I realized I had all the fixings for the perfect meal. it doesn’t matter if you are making breakfast, lunch or dinner, all you need is an egg and slice of white bread and maybe some butter (bacon grease is better, but we don’t really have that on hand on a regular basis).. and then the masterpiece is born, just take a circle shaped object and use it to cut out a circle from the center of the bread, melt a little butter and toss the bread in the skillet. crack your egg and throw it in the little circle and a few minutes later flip it all over and wait a little longer and BOOM you’ve got a TOAD IN THE HOLE, bitches!
(i definitely forgot to take a before picture 🙂 )
i can’t begin to imagine the number of these delightful little bits of food perfection i have eaten over the years, but most memorable are the ones my Grandma fixed me as a child, mine never seem to be quite as good, but once again, those memories get me every time i make one, if i close my eyes as i eat it, i am sitting on the swing in the trees, or sitting on a stool at the table, listening to the radio and my grandparents and cousins chattering away. time has a way of pushing those memories to the side, or even the back of your mind, so it is always a pleasure when i find something that brings those memories rushing to the front.
clearly my posts lately are on a full on nostalgia kick, i hope that if you aren’t one of my cousins or sisters so these posts don’t bring back a shared memory, that they at least bring you back to a place when you knew that fun and happiness were just a quick ride to Grama’s house away.
here is a picture (and recipe) from Allrecipes.com ![34393[1]](http://craftytara.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/343931.jpg)
So i got this great new game for my laptop, Magic Puzzles, it basically allows me to turn my touch screen into a giant jigsaw puzzle. from 70 pieces to 630, and you can get multiple puzzle packs, from free to $1.49 (that one had 20 puzzles in it)
So anyway! long story a little bit shorter, I was sitting here on the couch doing a puzzle and suddenly had the strongest memory of sitting at my Grandma’s house and doing puzzles on their big hardwood bar. it seems there was always a puzzle on the bar in some state of completion, as soon as one was done another would be ready to come out of the box.
evenings doing puzzles with the accompaniment of a bowl of ice cream or popcorn, depending on the season and the whim of my grandfather’s snack requirements for the evening, some koolaid to drink, and as often as not some cousins to chat with as we worked on the puzzle. i feel like we did a lot of puzzles that were well above our ‘age range’ 1000 piece puzzles for small children you say? of course we learned quickly to sort the edges, and then the colors and next thing you know we were putting them in the right places, i don’t recall anyone ever eating a puzzle piece, but there were a few times one was set aside so the coveted ‘last piece placement’ could be won by a smaller cousin (or sometimes by the one who hid the last piece 🙂 )
anyway, it struck me as funny how a simple video game could pull me back in time like that.
you never know what little thing will trigger a memory, a sight, a sound, a smell. good memories and bad, they are all stored in your mind just awaiting the chance to pop out when you least expect it.
after dark
Join the fun!
June 3 – on my table
some personalized glasses i ordered when my family was here with me at my favorite watering hole, but they didn’t get delivered before they all went back home.. now they will start the months long waiting process for me to actually get them in the mail 🙂
Join the fun!
A moment, to appreciate nature’s wonders
Join the fun!
