The Home Place in Camden

Good morning and come on in for a cup of coffee and a visit.  We are having wonderful weather in South Georgia for it has been in the 60s and 70s this week and feels like Spring.  I know it is going to turn colder this weekend but we are enjoying it while we can for we are surely saving money on the heating bill.  Raising the windows and enjoying the fresh air is so refreshing.

We went home to Camden, AL a couple of weekends ago to our family's home where we grew up.  Since Mama and Daddy died it has become the home place or where we can gather or grandchildren stay in for short periods of time. Our grandson is living there now for a few months and we visit when we can. 

Our nephew, Jason, came down and joined us and our son and his wife for a very good visit.  It was fun and quite interesting since I am now the oldest and supposed to remember who, what and when of our family.  This is a stretch for my "remembering" is not as good as it used to be and it never was great.  Those of us who are ADD tend to not listen carefully all the time and therefore don't remember a lot of information.  

The boys, actually young men Jason and Jimmy, were looking in every nook and cranny, behind the furniture, in the attic, up at the barn and traipsing through the woods exploring and seeing what they could find.  Now you can find most anything in one or more of these places for daddy was a pack rat and never threw anything away and mama was almost as bad.  The saying among the family is that if it ever came on that 40 acres, it never left and that is almost the truth. 

They found a couple of old pictures, and I mean old, behind the piano and wanted to know who they were.  I knew they were from the Polk side of the family and figured out they had to be our great grandparents, but which ones are still a mystery.  Of course there was nothing written on the back of the pictures and they are in bad condition but trying to place facial expressions and features with the current generation was a challenge.  I made a pretty good guess but that is what it is going to be for I don't think mama has a cell phone in heaven so I can call her.  I think they are just going to be great grandparents on the Polk side which I plan to restore and hang in our "rogues gallery" at the house.

Now these boys, or young men, are always making fun of daddy and mama for not throwing anything away but Jason carried some of this "stuff" home with him and the choices were rather eclectic.  From the attic he took an old Army blanket that I can't remember where it came from, a veg-a-matic like  that mama had in the 70s, some coffee mugs, and a box of Mason jars.  He said his mama used to have one of those choppers and he sure could use it even though it was in that horrible green of that era.  The jars are to be used for drinking glasses and I am afraid his daddy and brother may get a mug with a "P" on it for Christmas or birthday. 

As they tromped through the woods, down to the creek to look at the beaver damn, they were scouting for some wood to take his daddy to make "something" on his lathe.  Several small logs were found and a piece of beaver chewed wood for a walking cane were loaded in his truck.  Then off to the barn to locate a piece of the old barn and half a door was added to the pile.  Jason is coming back in a couple of weeks to get some slices off trunks of trees for a project and maybe some more jars. 

It is amazing what treasures they found as they explored and it did my heart good to see them "treasuring" some of the old things  that have been kept through the years.  They retrieved the old rocking chair that our great granddaddy Sam used to sit in on his front porch and not sure where it is going but hopefully someone will sit in it, rock, and play checkers like granddaddy.  I am sure there are other wonderful treasures in that house and on the place and I hope other grandchildren will discover their value, take them to their homes and use them.  Those which stay will be treasured by our son and his wife when they retire back there in several years. 

There are lots of memories there to remember and treasure.  I told Delaine that we had lots of good and bad memories but revised it to lots of happy and sad memories for even the sad memories were not "bad" just unhappy ones.  That is life - happy and unhappy for "stuff" happens as a family lives and loves together but you keep on loving and living and get through it as a family. 

Thanks for stopping by and come back to see me.

Nuff said,

The Georgia Peach

The Kitchen Table

Good morning and come on in for the coffee is hot and the air conditioning is on. We are experiencing summer in the the South and it is hot even in the early morning but I am not complaining. I love the summer, heat, humidity and all, so come on in for a visit.

It was interesting last week when I heard an interview on how to encourage positive interaction between family members, some of the suggestions which were given by the "experts." In other words, they were suggesting ways to get family members to talk to each other and one of the suggestions was to have family meals at least once a day. Well, hello, we've been knowing that for years for the kitchen table was and is the center of our family for generations.

As we were growing up, the kitchen table was the place where most communication between the family and visitors took place. The kitchen is on the front of the house and one of the two main entrances was into the kitchen and everything began there. The table was where we dumped everything as we came in and then we looked for food. I can hear mama saying now, "Put your books, coats, toys, and various other objects in your room" for our table quickly became covered with everything but food. It was the place we put everything in our hands so we get something that mama had cooked.

It was the place where our days began and ended for we always had 3 hot meals together. Breakfast, dinner and supper were prepared by mama every day and it was all served at the kitchen table with all of the family and anyone else in the house present. It was not optional and it was eaten with great enjoyment for it was always good. The only added element was the radio playing softly in the background sometimes but not always and we would talk and talk.

In the mornings, we would discuss what we were going to be doing during the day. If it was during the school year we had to assure mama that homework was completed, review spelling words, and make sure we had our lunch money if it was on Monday. The day would be planned as we ate the delicious, hot, breakfast mama had prepared and Daddy always said we had to eat our grits for they are "brain food" and we did.

Dinner was our big meal of the day even if we were in school for mama cooked her main meal for noon. Whoever was at the house at noon time would have a big meal of great food and much conversation. Daddy would bring home whoever was in his office and mama never seemed to mind for we didn't have a phone and daddy would just show up with another person or 2. As I look back, I bet mama would grit her teeth, count to ten, and smile but want to kill him sometimes for she would think it wasn't good enough for company. I can tell you from experience that whatever she had cooked was good and plentiful. The food would be delicious and conversation would flow and it would be difficult to leave the table and if we were not pressed for time, we would sit there for and hour or more just eating and talking and talking and eating and talking some more.

Supper would be leftovers but that was OK for the leftovers were as good as the "first overs." It was just the dinner meal reheated and added to and plentiful and delicious as always. Occasionally we would have something special but whatever it was it would be accompanied by conversation. The day was reviewed and we would share with each other all the event of the day and eat, talk and eat, and sit there for a couple of hours sometimes. Communication flowed freely and then the table was cleared, coffee or another glass of tea of milk was poured and we would listen to the radio or play games, read, put puzzles together or a million other activities. The kitchen table was the center of our activities together for didn't have TV or other mind grabbing electronics to steal our family time.

The last activity of the day would be our daily Bible reading and prayer time and it was often be done at this table too. Daddy would read the daily Bible reading and the comments from the Open Window, we would each pray and off to bed. Often mama and daddy would stay at the table and mama would sew while daddy read the paper or they listened to the radio.

That table was the center of our family and as we married and would bring our families home, it stayed the center of the family and still is when we all get together. We can still sense mama and daddy sitting at that table and I know they are looking down and smiling at the togetherness which still flows around the same table.

From experience with my family I would urge that you have at least one meal a day sitting around a table with TV and other electronic toys shut off, ear plugs out, cell phones shut off and in another room and eat and talk. It is amazing how much you can share with each other when not distracted by "electronic" mind grabbers and sharing your thoughts, joys, tears, laughter and dreams will help a family stay connected and healthy. The meal doesn't have to be fancy, can be deli bought, sandwich or take out or heaven's forbid, actually cooked by a family member but eat together and see what happens. As my brothers used to say, "I double-dog dare you" and let me know what happens.

It is special place and I hope you have a "kitchen table" at your house, we do.

Nuff said,

The Georgia Peach