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Friday, April 10, 2009

Tennessee--Oh How Lovely

I have two new followers--ooooh how happy I am. This could be too much fun. So a Brit in Tennessee alerted me to the series on Appalachia on PBS and I watched the first one last nite. There was a lot of geological, rock stuff and I thought of my childhood in TN and what it meant to me. There were rocks, of course, on my uncle's farm where I would walk his fields and watch his cows and horses. The rocks were large flat expanses and were level with the ground. I wonder how far down they went. We spent most summers in Jamestown in eastern Tennessee "on top of the mountain" which I never quite understood until I was married and with my pilot husband in a small fabric covered plane actually flew over Jamestown and it is literally on top of the mountain. No wonder we could not see any mountains when we were there.

Isn't it interesting the things a child remembers about a beloved place...of course it is mostly about people and they way they relate to the child. But it is also about places--small vignettes of places--certainly not a full picture with everything connected together. We were allowed to walk to the post office which still had those lovely little pigeonholes of brass doors with a little lock, not plain but with wonderful designs and curlicues on them, not at all like the big black mailbox on a post out in the country where we lived in Ohio. And there was a drugstore with a soda fountain, although we did not have many cokes for because that would be a waste of money. And there were grownups who said "howdy" as we walked along the street to the PO. I thought that was soooo friendly until after I had grown up and realized that these people knew who we were....our Grandparents were well known in town. I still like to think that people in Jamestown say howdy to small children on the street, known or unknown.

2 comments:

  1. Wasn't if fascinating the Appalachia series, I watched with awe the first and second, and this week will be the third.
    Such breathtaking beauty, yet so rugged and isolated.
    Those things you remeber about your childhood, well a lot of that is still true here in the smaller towns.
    It's one of the traits I love about the South.
    Despite being a tranplant from another Country, the older folks always ask..."Who's your daddy ?"...it's how they judge whether your local or worth your salt...lol

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  2. Love this post. Yes, children do remember interesting things, and not always people. I can remember my walk to school as being full of magic - I would notice the tiniest things - a spider's web in the hedge, or a particular stone. I love the US and have visited many times but never made it to Tennessee sadly...you make me want to take the trip!

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