Every time I make it home, I always seem to have a long list of things to do that never quite get done. One of them was riding around (a Southern thing?) and looking at how things have changed. Now, Roanoke in and of itself has to change to keep up with the times, but the more rural areas around the "big city" haven't moved at such a fast pace. However, the most obvious advance of time was evident in mother nature. I noticed trees that have grown taller or disappeared along the drive, creeks and rivers that were higher or lower than remembered and unkempt bottoms that were lush with weed flowers and hay grass. It was a trip that was long overdue and one that made me feel much older than my 33 1/2 years. Where has the time gone? You can barely see my grandparents' house from the road anymore and the biggest sleigh riding hill known to man has become almost obscured as well. It was amazing how the memories flooded back into my mind. This was the farm where I spent my summers fishing for crawdads, riding in the trailer on papa's tractor when he hauled hay to the cows, learning to drive his tractor, shelling peas, butterbeans and octobers and pretending to be darth vader using the fan in grandma's kitchen because without a/c you pulled down the shades and ran the box fan when the sun got hot. If I close my eyes, I can almost see us sitting on the front porch, snapping green beans and watching the road. If we sat there long enough, we might see a pig (not a farm animal) or a polecat across the creek (anybody know what animals they are?). Too bad life isn't like that now.
The house where my mom was born (in the front bedroom).
The house where mom lived from the time she was 13 until she left home. Also the house where I spent my summers. It had four rooms and an enclosed porch on the side. It had no a/c and a woodstove that heated the house with the help of a oil burning unit if it got really cold.
The same house today. The family that bought it from my grandmother decided four rooms were not enough. I was happy to see that the same family still owned the farm and didn't succumb to the desire to make a buck and subdivide the 200 +/- acres.
The house where my mom was born (in the front bedroom).
The house where mom lived from the time she was 13 until she left home. Also the house where I spent my summers. It had four rooms and an enclosed porch on the side. It had no a/c and a woodstove that heated the house with the help of a oil burning unit if it got really cold.
1 comments:
Oh, I'm sad that your family doesn't still own that. Maybe the current owners will be willing to "make a buck" to sell 20-30 acres to you and Larry when he retires?
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