Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Aunt Esther's Farm - Magpie #39

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Connections

A few special summers at aunt Esther's Oklahoma farm. Real butter and cream for breakfast. The crowing of the rooster at daybreak. Waking in the little white bedroom up the steep stairs and looking down into the yard from the old wood-framed windows. A green Hoosier cabinet in the kitchen. A bathroom that used to be a porch. An unused formal parlor with carpet, a wood-trimmed velvet sofa and an old piano. A rose garden. Learning to sew. Searching through the hay bales in the old barn for eggs and trying to catch the wild kittens. My aunt cracking fresh eggs at the stove and tossing the shells over her shoulder into the sink. Eating fried chicken that had just been walking around a little while ago. Feeding a calf from a bucket with a large rubber nipple. Riding on a tractor. The sweet smell of cutting into a ripe, red watermelon right out of the field. Oh, and getting trapped in an outhouse by a mean rooster. (There was a ripe smell in that outhouse, too!) A few old photographs and some family stories. Some old phonograph records. I was a modern girl from the 60's. These are the only fragile connections I have to a simpler life style that is older than time. I treasure them now.

13 comments:

  1. Nice!! A simpler time, a bathroom that used to be a porch, but there's still an outhouse. Too bad about the rooster outside it.


    Kay, Alberta, Canada
    An Unfittie's Guide to Adventurous Travel

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  2. Great memories! Nice job with this Magpie. I think that old rooster needed to be dinner!

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  3. Beautiful connections to that simpler life, though fragile they may be. Nice write.

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  4. Aw, that was wonderful! I think all roosters are mean!

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  5. wasn't this a beautiful trip down memory lane...don't you wish you could just go back for a day :)

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  6. This reminds me so much of my grandmother's house in rural Indiana, the Hoosier cabinett, the steep stairs.

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  7. That was just like going home 50 years ago. Thank you so much.

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  8. Sweet memories of a simpler life, as you say.
    Why is it so hard to simplify our own lives? Is it hindsight that makes the past desirable or could we do this for ourselves too?

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  9. smiles. having spent time in those outhouses i understand...

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  10. ahhhh....that was a sweet trip back. I love the sound of wild kittens.

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  11. What lovely memories you have Shari...this is wonderful! :-)

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  12. oh and they sound like such sweet treasuring moments...thanks for sharing.

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