Going home is always complex on many levels...but no matter, it holds the fondest memories of my childhood and I am thankful for those and choose to focus on that...
I grew up next door to my grandmother (you can read more about her in my post dated June 14, 2011...Inspired By). When Sandy and I arrived at our house for the first time this visit, I immediately noticed the Pin Oak tree in my grandmother's back yard. This tree was very small and quite sickly looking during my growing up years, but all these years later it stands all grown up and I marveled at its size...and how small my own backyard and my grandmother's look. We use to ride sleds down those hills...and I remember them being much bigger! Why is it everything seemed bigger, grander, further in our childhood?
My dad is 80 years old and now often uses a cane for stability when walking around. I quickly snapped this pic of him as we arrived one day. He was out surveying his pride and joy...the new fence he recently installed by himself. He has always been able to do whatever he wanted...with his own two hands. He has built furniture, boats, and houses. I remember lots of radios and other electronic stuff in various stages of being dismantled...he could fix anything (hence the nickname Marconi after the Italian Inventor of the radio). To say that he prefers doing something himself is an understatement. While in the front yard admiring the neighbor's fun and feisty dog and cat (scampering about in grass that hasn't been mowed since...well just ask my dad, he knows the date)...dad told us the story of recently attempting to trim the shrubs that are on the very steep front hillside of our yard. He fell a few feet over the hill but obviously didn't learn his lesson as he attempted a reenactment for my sister and I of where he was standing and what he was doing when it happened... When I suggested that he might not want to do that anymore he said "That's why I have a rope tied to the tree over there..." Okay then...problem solved! I am not certain he can be stopped from doing what he wants... Some people have their car keys taken from them when they get to a certain age...my dad needs his ladders to disappear...he climbs up on those things...and ties himself to the ladder and does whatever he thinks needs done. Now I am thinking that maybe he needs to have rope taken away too!
Back to the cute dog and cat next door...they remind me of the movie Homeward Bound...the cat apparently is always looking out for the dog, who is tied up on a very long line in the yard and manages to get wrapped around stuff and at times pulls the stake out of the ground and attempts to check out the rest of the world. So the cat comes to the dog's aid whenever she begins her "help me" barking...it's true. In this picture Lexie (dog) has pulled up the stake and has wrapped her line around a tree house and abandoned lawn mower (not pictured) in her attempt to come check us out. She started her frantic barking and...the cat showed up!
Our neighborhood is situated between two cemeteries...I had to walk by one everyday going to elementary school (yes, I walked both ways most of the time...but it was only uphill on the way home...and not nearly as far away as it seemed back in the day). The other cemetery was the one we went sledding in and where I learned to drive a car...my dad's idea!
It is also where my dear grandparents are buried and so yes I go and pay my respects when I am home...it's what we do in West Virginia. Of course, I should have taken flowers...
It is actually a very beautiful and peaceful place...and wait a minute... home to deer...lots of deer...so many deer that it is actually legal to hunt them...in the city limits...talk about a scary thought!!
Three days passed. I sewed with my sister in the evenings (she makes beautiful quilts...I am trying to stitch a Swedish blanket), visited my dad and step mom Judie daily, caught up with my two nephews...Chris and Brian, and my great niece, Tara, and my Uncle Charley, and, oh yes...how could I forget...I went to my brother-in-law Bob's dress rehearsal for a western musical he is performing in with his men's choral group. It was a busy few days and I was happy to get home...but going was a good thing...on many levels.
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