The Aunts

My mom and dad have a farm/camp that is about 2 hours north of here. It was actually my grandparents’ old home place, though the house is gone and mom and dad put a mobile home up there 8 years ago. When I was a kid, I loved more than anything else to spend summers with Pop and Nannie. They had chickens, cows, pigs, sometimes a horse and they had Butch and Blondie, their cocker spaniels. There were no tv’s, no air conditioners, no telephones at all, no indoor bathroom either. I loved to go there though! I never had much use for the horses and I hated the milk they got from the cows but I loved spending time with the chickens. Kinda crazy, huh? My grandparents went to bed at dark and got up before sunrise. Sundays were mostly spent at the Beulah Baptist Church, where my grandma played the piano, my aunt was (and still is) the music director. Every Saturday night we’d drive over into Texas to the closest little grocery store and we’d get some kind of ice cream on a stick. That was our treat for the entire week. Some days I think I’d like to go back to that time .. a slower way of life, families and friends seemed closer back then. But, we can never go back, right?

Well, kinda! This morning I was up at 6 a.m., packed my little bag, including some knitting and my English paper piecing project and off we went. We were going to the camp and we were going to spend the night.

The dog, Tyson, always goes along on road trips. He likes me a lot because even though mom and dad take good care of him, I get down and love on him and I think he knows I’m a dog lover where they just tolerate him. He’s my nephew’s dog but Craig lives in an apartment and can’t have him so mom and dad have had him for several years.

We got there, dad got the grass cut, family visited, we went to eat a seafood buffet at their favorite local restaurant and then . . hey, let’s go home. Part of me wanted to spend the night but I knew dad would be up way before daylight and when dad gets up in that mobile home, everyone gets up. Before anyone had time to discuss it, the truck was loaded and we were back on the road to Lake Charles.

While we were there, I did get to see my aunts that live up there. This is mom and my grandpa’s sister (mom’s dad’s sister). Johnnie is almost 77, is a widow and still takes care of her own cows, chickens, house, etc. She’s an amazing lady.

Not long after Johnnie left, my dad’s two sisters came over. The first picture is my Aunt Ruby. She’s almost 90 and I think I look more like her than anyone else in our family. No one else seems to think that’s true though. I can only hope that I look half this good and get around like she does when I’m 90. She still drives, live alone and takes care of all her business without help from her children.

This is Dad and my Aunt Gail, another of dad’s sister. It was Gail’s daughter who recently passed away (Robin). Gail had been laying in the floor watching TV and just sat up for this picture. She’d make me take it off if she saw what a mess her hair is! 🙂

That’s the family shots for tonight!