A Short Outing

I managed to get out of the house for a few minutes on saturday. The annual craft show was up at the elementary school. There were about 20 booths full of primitive crafts as well as others. I found a picture I simply had to have. It's by folk artist Billy Jacobs, called "Grandma's House".

It looked just like the "old home place". That's what my grandfather called his parent's farm. He bought it after his mother died and we used to have family reunions and Easter egg hunts there.

The huge oak with the tire swing was just about in the same spot too. "Pappaw" used to push me in that swing for, what seemed like, hours. When you're five years old everything looks a lot bigger and time seems to move a lot slower too.

I remember one instance when pappaw was hitching up a huge, white work horse to a wagon. That horse looked as big as that two-story farm house. I was half scared out of my wits at first sight of that horse. I remember running around to the back of the house and into the kitchen where granny was making sandwiches. She gave me a big hug and told me I had nothing to worry about. Turns out she was right.

My dad and uncles on both sides of the family had gathered to help pappaw cut tobacco that year. I begged to get a ride on the wagon as they chopped and placed those huge leaves in the back. I got to ride one row before I was lifted off and was told to go help granny.

As I look at that painting, the memories keep flooding back. Now you can understand why it means so much. :)