Visiting Granny's

See that family? That's me in the front row on the left. Every family vacation that we spent at my grandmother's ended with the obligatory family picture in the yard in front of her house. The old house is gone now, but not the memories.

Row 1: Karen, Jim, Dave, Donna

Row 2: Margaret, Cora, JD, Kay

It wasn't always an easy drive down 75 and the Mountain Parkway to get to southeast Kentucky. I remember weekends when mom would have us all packed and as soon as Dad got home from work we would load into the car and head "home" via old 25 and Route 7. We had a Chrysler station wagon. The boys and the luggage went into the back. We usually slept part of the way. I got the floor behind Dad's seat. I think Donna was on the other side. Kay and Margaret got the back seat. Those trips were so long. It was twisty, car sickening ride. When we got to Grannny's it would be in the night.

At first their house was heated by a single fireplace in the center room which served as Granny and Poppy's bedroom. After greetings and hugs, the youngest would be put to bed and everyone settled around the fireplace to talk. In winter you roasted facing the fire and froze at your back. Around that fireplace is where I first heard my family history. I liked hearing them talk, and many times it would lull me to sleep, but sometimes I would hear something pretty interesting. If I asked a question, I would be put to bed under a mound of quilts. I soon learned not to ask, but just to listen and ask my questions later of my mother.

Usually, I slept in the purple room (which was really more lavender) by the picture window which looked out to the barn. I would be under those covers thinking I would never go to sleep. I could still hear them talking, but it was at a distance and I couldn't quite make out what they were saying. And then it would be morning. I would hear talking again and smell breakfast. The women in the family would be cooking and still talking. I often wondered if they had just talked all night because they never seemed to be tired and the talk still seemed to be the same.

We had the best meals there. There was an apple tree by the front porch. We had fried apples at breakfast. And fried chicken. It was the only time in my life that I ever had fried chicken for breakfast. I can remember Granny killing the chickens out back and how sometimes she hung them from the clothes line and other times she cut their heads off and they would run around for a bit. I stayed away from that mostly, but I remember them being plucked and singed.

I can't say I drank a lot, but I know I at least tasted the cow's milk, but I loved the butter. I still remember the churning. You could look out at the garden from the kitchen window. It was between the house and the barn. Oh those white half runners. That says Kentucky to me. Give me half runners and corn bread.

We didn't have running water at first, so, yes, there was the outhouse. But in the kitchen on a white enamel table top edged in black sat a tub with water which came from the mountain across the street from the house. When it was time to get new water they would carry the tub over and empty the water from another tub kept to catch water and bring it back to the house. There was always a dipper kept by the tub so you could get a drink. The water was cold when it came from the mountain. I always thought it tasted good.

Off the dining room there was a porch where the freezer and wringer washer were kept.

In the dining room was a china cabinet where Granny kept her salt and pepper shakers. She had them from everywhere. We used to stand in front of the glass door and look to see what new ones she might have acquired since our last visit. Remember those Currier and Ives dishes? I loved them. I went to flea markets and did a lot of buying on ebay to get myself those dishes. Kris gave me his mother's collection. I treasure them, but I use them everyday.

There were so many good meals in that home. I remember after church on Sundays it seemed like the whole congregation came in to eat. They ate in waves like the old times, men first, then children and the women last. I remember thinking how old my aunts and great aunts were and know that now I am at least twenty years older than they were then. We kids would fill up a plate and sit out on the porch. We would sit in the swings and sing and chatter. Poppy would sit in his rocker. There were straight backed chairs which many times got leaned back on two legs.

The porch was a gathering place. In summer it was usually cooler than the house. On one end in the wooden swing and in chairs my mother and aunts and Granny would be stringing beans or doing some kind of work as they talked among themselves. Poppy would be sitting in his rocker usually smoking and talking to other men in the chairs around him. We kids would be in the metal swing talking and singing and laughing about something. We waved at people walking by and at the occasional car that passed.

In the front yard we would play tag, red light and down below the bank there were horseshoes. We used old canning lids to play house under Granny's rose bush. We tied June bugs on a string. At night we played hide-n-go seek.

Granny had a standing joke. When it happened that there were a number of us visiting at the same time, the grownups got the beds and we kids slept on the floor. We would be worried that there wouldn't be enough room for everyone and Granny would laugh and say not to worry, when she ran out of floor space she would just hang us from a nail on the wall.

..

.

.

..

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

..

.

.

.

.

.

.

Sometimes the boys would leave the house and go sleep in the barn loft. Once when some family from Greenup visited they had a big time staying all night there. Bobby Joe was doing his radio show -- rock-n-roll tunes. He stayed with the group and the next morning they drove into Neon and had breakfast at the restaurant there. Then the boys went with him while he did his show. They were all so happy to be together.

The barn was a fun place. We went up into the loft and swung down from a rope attached to the ceiling. We had corn cob flights. We played hide and seek.

Across from the barn was a small chicken house. It hadn't had any chickens in it for years. One summer Aunt Lake gave Margaret a projecter and one little film. We begged to use the chicken house as our movie house since it had a single light bulb hanging from the ceiling and what else did we need besides electricity?

We washed and scrubbed and painted that old chickenhouse. When it was all done we had popcorn and koolaid and watched Hop Along Cassidy over and over and over. And we were thrilled! Tom Sawyer didn't have anything over on Granny.

Looking from the barn back toward the house there was the clothesline where the wash was hung.

.

Who says real men don't do diapers? That's Can hanging diapers when Candy was a baby. Ernestene is supervising.

This gives you a view from the barn toward the house.

I remember the old garage, but I never really remember it being used for anything but storage.

Of course, you had to cross a bridge over the creek to get to the house. Not he concrete one that exists today, but an old wooden bridge. It was a favorite place for playing. I remember a lot of times siting with our legs dangling off the bridge and talking about the future.

It was also a good spot for more pictures.