Friday, August 30, 2013

Georgia on My Mind and Reflections

There is nothing like going home. I was born in Philadelphia but spent lots of time in Georgia and it feels like home. Where ever my mother is represents home. Her house is always warm and welcoming with every gesture to make her children and family welcome. From the way she decorates her home to being in the kitchen with her as she cooks how I did when I was a child and still do when I am at her house. I learned to cook by being in the kitchen with her and watching what she did and still does.

The south it is part of my origins and where my mother, grandmother, great grandmother, and great great grandmother came from. I can research my genealogy back to my great great grandmother. On ancestry.com I was able to go back to slave records from plantations in Georgia with slave holdings. My mother and uncle often talk of my great great grandfather sitting in his home around the fire discussing with other neighbors who gathered of "slavery times." How amazing. I wish family members back then put information in writing, if they could write but information was pass on from "word of mouth". My mother told me that my father's mother did have a family bible and documented family genealogy in it but she has long since passed and to whom did the family bible go? I get sentimental when I think of memories of my childhood and creating new memories since my mother moved back o Georgia after she retired years ago.

There are two houses in her neighborhood for sale. One directly across the street from her house. I can say I have thought of what it would feel like to live there close to her and other family who still live in Georgia. How would it be? I'm used to a lot of light at night. There is little light in neighborhoods or surrounding homes that I have seen during the road trip during the night while I watched as we drove. It's pitch dark on some roads. How would I adjust to this? Crime is universal but some people only think that the city has crime. Would I feel secure on acres of land possibly in a house alone? I would have to adjust to the weather and never having snow, the gnats, extreme temperature or adjusting to a different climate. I think of so many things. I am such a "city girl." I love urban life with it's noise, lots of people, shops, farmers markets, the ability to walk almost anywhere, block parties, good health care, and New York, the Christmas show at Radio City Music Hall. My favorite, snow, although I don't like to be snowed in and having to dig the car out, or catching the bus to work because there is so much snow that cars can't be moved. But I am drawn to all things rural, to nature, trees, the sound of birds, the blue sky with puffy clouds. I could go on and on but I won't. As I grow older in years I think of the possible years ahead. What will life be like years from now for me? As my parents age and I help participate in their care it has brought a new perspective on life. It would nice to know the future but that's not possible. I'm glad there is "some light along the path". So do I "bloom where I'm planted or what?


Mom's Pound Cake greeted us when we arrived. It was delicious as always.
Pears from my Uncle's Tree. He lives across the street from my mother.
My Uncle's House. The Brick home on the left with the car in the drive.
More Pears

No day is complete without yard work.
Raked pine straw. Pine straw is wonderful for mulch but endless to rake even off the roof.
Sandy soil of Georgia.
Canning jars. I was to take the pears home but they started to get over ripe so my mother canned them. She had already canned cases of figs and pears for us to take home.
Canning in progress in the canning pot. Boiled peanuts on the counter. Have you ever eaten boiled peanuts, a southern thing.
I brought the fig cuttings home. There are three. One is for me.
I also brought some of these home.
No trip is complete without visiting the meat market for sausage, bacon, bologna, butt rub (a rub for meat), and other items to take home to Philly. Can't leave without taking a part of the South. The store is in Climax Georgia
The entrance to the building. I would love my fern to live, kill one every year. When will I learn that my house does not have the right requirements for them?

The front porch. Come sit a while!
Till next year!

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