Remember our Veterans

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Junie

Re- posting of Farm Story !

Re-posting of Farm Story here!

Reunion ~ Post #8

OK

This will , finally, conclude the reunion/Alabama pictures! These will be , mainly, of interest to our family, but you're all welcome to look! :)

We gathered both Friday evening and Saturday , lunch time /afternoon! Everyone had fun catching up with each other's families.

The food was very good, with every family contributing something. Lots of good southern cooking on that serving table! I didn't get pictures of the food- but- trust me- there's nothing better than true southern dishes! :)


Here we all are:
(pics from both days)














































This is Charles with 3 0f his sisters and his brother.
(One sister was unable to be there this time.)










Here are the 2 family groups from Milton/Pensacola, Fl areas)


(Sister Lou and family)









(Sister Betty and family)











And these are the Alabama folks:

(Brother Odell and his family)










(Sister Eva and her family)










( Sister Marie's family) ~deceased~










(Brother Gene's family) ~deceased~









Charles and me!!










See you folks next August! :)





Love,
Junie

A ride in the country and the Reunion! ~ Post #6 ~

On Friday we left my brother's house pretty early and headed north to Athens.

Here are a few shots of the old town square of Athens. You still get a feel of the past here and I like that. This is where my husband and his family would come on Saturdays and later, in his teens, where C. would come with friends to hang out!


Note on some of the pics:

That old brick wall is fabulous! It's the exterior wall of one building and will be the interior wall of a little courtyard entrance to another shop - or restaurant, maybe! I just love old brick!!

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The UG White Hardware is where Charles' bike came from. (the story of Jake, in several posts, starts -here!)

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This whole town and all of this part of Alabama are BIG Alabama football fans, and you can see the evidence of it painted on most of the storefronts in town! Also on most North Alabama walls you will see pictures of Bear Bryant, the beloved , former Alabama coach!
( My brother's house has "Bear" on the wall!!)

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That statue on the courthouse lawn is a civil war soldier!

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I can imagine the men folk sitting on benches in front of the courthouse, whittling, as all men seemed to do in the past!
(Do men whittle these days? I don't think so!)

Charles says his dad, Mr. Boyd, referred to the gathering of whittling old men in front of the courthouse (of which he was one) as...the Dead Pecker Corner!!

LOL! I know- kinda off color...but I just report... you decide here! :)

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We wanted to have time to ride out in the country to see some of the places of my husband's youth; not that there is much left except the old barns-and the memories! I love that the barns are left ...but I can see a decline in their conditions, from one year to the next!

For instance...this one!

This is the one Charles remembers as the Maples barn and was/is on the place of the over-seer of the farm that my husband's family rented, as well as several other farms in Mud Bottom!
















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Tomorrow I will conclude with a few more country scenes and the reunion pics!


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We're having all the kids here tomorrow- so I have stuff to do to prepare! :) Looking forward to a busy but happy day tomorrow!

Have a great Saturday!


Junie Rose

Ruby Tuesday ~ July 29, 2008

It's Ruby Tuesday time!








This is my Ruby Tuesday post for this week!



This is a small corn crib (the rent crib) that still stands on the old home place where my husband lived in his youth! This crib was used to store the 1/3 of the corn crop, which went to the landlord for rent of the farm.

This is in Limestone Co, Alabama in the farming area known as Mud Bottom, near the banks of Elk River.


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For viewing other Ruby Tuesday posts visit Mary,The Teach, at Work of the Poet.


I'm off for a few days! See you all about next Sunday, if all goes as planned! :)


Junie Rose

New farm post...and poem post

New post at Poem site!

New post at 'Farm Life of the Past.'

New Blog~ Old Content!

I have opened a new blog for the Farm Stories of my husband's growing up years in Alabama.

I will be re-posting some/most/ all of them at the new site as I'm able to manage it!

These were mainly popular with some of our family and I thought it would be nice to have them all in one place and easy to find!

Hopefully, Charles will add to his stories, from time to time! :)

Here's what we have moved there ~ so far! :)

'Farm Life of the Past'

Check out the farm stories of the past!


Love,

Junie

Relics (Post #2 of today)....a repeat

5-13-'10


Tonight I have been looking through some of my old posts and came across this one. I thought I would post it again as it fits my melancholy mood of tonight!

Look at the date of this...almost 2 years ago...
(and I'm still often feeling 'blue!') I guess some things never change.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Relics: |ˈrelik|
noun
an object surviving from an earlier time, esp. one of historical or sentimental interest.


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I have a lot of those around this old place. Mostly, they are of the sentimental variety.


Even though my grandkids are grown-up and the days of them being here and playing their games and carrying out their adventures are long gone, I still, occasionally, unearth a
toy car or a super hero guy; sometimes just a leg or a wheel! ;) These little things I can never bear to just toss aside, so most end up in a box or jar to join other little found objects saved through the years. Sometimes I go through these things that are tucked, here and there, in my cluttered house. Sometimes I'm tempted to make a clean sweep and do some serious de-cluttering, but I never quite make it! I don't think I ever could.

Oh! Many things were saved, outright, of the growing up years of my 4 grands- and also of my 3 kids! I have stuff neatly packed away of all of the kids. I have always been a sentimental person and it was just a part of me to hold on to bits and pieces of our past.

Also- you must understand -our grands practically grew up on this ole farm. Our 3 locals were 'under our care' most of the time and our grandson who didn't live in our town was here as much as was possible; summers, school holidays etc.

Those were the best of times for me!

The memories make me happy and sad at the same time!











...But these things of which I speak today are the leftovers! These are things that remained, in spite of the years passing and the lack of any effort to keep them! I'm glad they are still here.

Here is the playhouse that Charles built for the grandkids. It has a slide off one side of the porch. (shown in a pic below)



The Radio Flyer Wagon was Zach's -a Christmas gift when he was very little. I remember him being pulled through the house in that wagon on Christmas morning by his 2 older cousins, Dan and Brian.

And the pink bike , of course, was Alli's; probably her first bike!

The others were probably what my big boys learned to ride with!

I remember how proud each kid was to master riding a bike!

That's a special time for kids, isn't it!











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This is a picture of Charles and his bike when he was about 11 or 12 years old!

The story of JAKE and this bike (in 7 parts) can be found here!
After clicking , scroll down to find the Jake stories.

('Farm Life of the Past '- some stories of my husband's growing up years in Alabama)





I never had a bike as a child.

But that's ok -I was more of a paper dolls kind of little girl! :)



Junie

At 2:06 PM , Anvilcloud said...

Those are wonderful and picturesque relics.

At 2:39 PM , JunieRose2005 said...

Thanks, AC,


I think you might enjoy the old farm stories if you have time to search them out! :)

I appreciate your visiting. :)


Junie

At 3:44 PM , Jamie Dawn said...

I'm very sentimental too. My kids think it's silly that I gather things and keep them to put in scrapbooks, but they sure enjoy going back and looking at all the scrapbooks and photos.
I know that feeling you write of that is between happy and sad. You really miss those times when your kids and grandkids were little. I miss having little ones around too.

At 4:58 PM , Fred said...

The playhouse (or fort for a guy) is priceless. I built one for my girls when they were younger, but it was more of a sterile swing set. Yours has character.

The Missus loves to save things. When the girls start college, she plans on giving most of the stuff to them.

I'm looking forward to the days when I have grandchildren at my house.

At 6:22 PM , Dianne said...

a really touching post :)

I love the rusted yet proud bikes -I love old stuff.

At 7:22 PM , Joy Des Jardins said...

Oh my gosh....what a great, great playhouse. That is the ideal place for kids to spend their days. I would have loved it as a child. The bikes and the wagon...wow...you really do have some wonderful relics at your place Junie. I do as well... but mostly toys and games. I love that picture of you....

At 7:57 PM , JunieRose2005 said...

Jamie Dawn,


But your kids don't yet have kids! :) Things change when you have kids and then grandkids...

Well, I guess ALL people are not that way.

I sometimes wish I wasn't so sentimental...but I guess there's no changing things at this late date !

At 8:03 PM , JunieRose2005 said...

Hi Fred,

Yes- it is a pretty neat little house! :) I was proud of the job my husband did with this.

Fred, you have some fun times ahead with Grandkids! :) I can tell from reading your blog that you are a very devoted dad...Being a grandparent is even better - in some ways! I think it's because you're not totally responsible for them! :) Tho there have been times when we felt like we were! :)


Junie

At 8:10 PM , JunieRose2005 said...

Hi Joy,

Yep, the playhouse is special...Well, it WAS special, but hasn't been in use for a long time now.

And I like having reminders of the kids childhoods still around. 9these are not things that I saved but that just survived in spite of all! :) I DO have a lot of things, packed away, too.


HAHA-That picture is ok....unless you enlarge it! I needed to resize it-

Oh well- I thought it fit with my post so I used it!

Thanks for coming over, Joy.


Junie

At 8:11 PM , JunieRose2005 said...

Hi Dianne,

Thanks for coming and reading my post today. I appreciate it.

Junie

At 8:58 PM , Donna said...

.....I almost didn't make it through this post Miz Junie...It made me cry...because it's SO TRUE!!!...bits and pieces...Sentimental and Proud of it..LOL...night, little love...hughugs

At 10:06 PM , Rachel said...

All those wonderful memories! I love the playhouse!! I never had one so fancy, but that would have been a blast!!

At 10:58 AM , JunieRose2005 said...

Dear Donna,


Well, I would have guessed your feelings would be similar to mine, about your kids and Grands!

:) But I am sorry I almost made you cry, Dear Donna.

Hope you're having a great day !

Hugs))


Junie

At 10:59 AM , JunieRose2005 said...

Dear Rachel,


:) Yah- I would have loved that as a kid.

Thanks for coming over, Rachel.


Junie

At 11:01 AM , Donna said...

LOLHahaha...not ALMOST...DID!!! Like a Big Baby!!!LOLOL....I Needed It!!! Love You!!hughugs

At 11:05 AM , Lilli & Nevada said...

would love to have that playhouse,always good to remember things back when with loving thoughts.

At 11:19 AM , JunieRose2005 said...

L &N,

:) Yah - a cool playhouse!

I have lots of good memories although I'm sure there were some trying times taking care of 2 (and often 3) rough little boys-and on up until they got to be pretty big boys- Plus our infant granddaughter until she was school age!...but - it's funny with kids and grands- it's the good times you hold on to. The rest (if there actually WERE any stressful times)just fades away! :)

Thanks for coming over.


Junie

At 2:21 PM , PEA said...

Oh Junie, I'm so loving it that you still have those bikes, wagons, even the playhouse!! I can imagine the memories each one of them brings back:-) Makes you realize, though, just how fast the years are going by!! Look at Charles as a young boy...what a precious picture!! xoxo

At 10:25 PM , Sally said...

Oh my, this really is a sweet, sweet post, Junie girl!! Some things are just too special to let go. Love the pictures!!

I can't remember having a bike either. The only real memory was a doll; her name was Sparkle Plenty and she travelled all over the U.S. with us when Dad was in the Navy. Awww, I wish I still had her!!