This bustling intersection is located on Gwynn's Island. There are times when a left turn at this stop sign can take all of this amount of time: YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE TO STOP. Or look to the right. Or left.
'Cause there ain't nothin' comin' in either direction, perhaps for hours....OR DAYS.
When I was four years old (Please don't fall asleep yet), my Mumma and Daddy and I rented a house on Gwynn's Island whilst (an old Mathews term which means "during" lest you couldn't figure that out) our other house was being built. And when I say "Mumma and Daddy and I rented" I really mean they. Our house was located just behind this stop sign about a quarter-mile.
What I remember about our house on Gwynn's Island is as follows:
- The water in the bath was so bad (How bad was it?), the tub was permanently stained orangish-red and there was no amount of bleach or nuclear bombing that restored it to white again.
- We lived next door to a wonderful family. The Mother of Wonderful Family was an incredible cook. I remember sitting at her kitchen table, usually not invited, eating hamburgers with applesauce on top. And it wasn't just any applesauce it was homemade applesauce. I've never heard of nor seen applesauce on a hamburger other than in this house. I'm just reporting it as it happened.
- The one toy I remember playing with was a plastic riding lawn mower that I could actually sit on and push with my feet. This was a HARBINGER OF THINGS TO COME. In hindsight I cannot believe my parents actually had the wisdom and foresight, not to mention cleverness, to buy me this thing. And get me to love it.
Because from March through forever, there is one thing that everyone in Mathews must know how to do (like it or lump it, take it down the road and dump it): Sit on a tractor for hours on end .
I loved living on Gwynn's Island. I loved our house and I loved our neighbors. And gosh darn it, I loved that plastic riding lawn mower.
Have I mentioned that in addition to spending a lifetime cutting my own grass, I also still cut my parents' yard sometimes?
Clever parents.
7 comments:
Okay, it's settled: I have to move to Mathews. If every vista looks like these I just need to pack, right now. Of course humidity is hard on me, and I wouldn't know what to do to prepare for a hurricane, or a Nor'Easter, or any kind of storm other than wind. And I'm afraid of poisonous snakes -- do you have those there? And I wouldn't know which team to support come football season. I may need a lot of help.
Especially mowing the lawn.
Great post, CBW! Why I come back every day, and why I left you a little Foolery award on my site. :)
-- Laurie
Thank you, Foolery, so much for the award and for your daily visits. You would definitely like it here, except for the water moccasins (poisonous snakes) and the KILLER MOSQUITOES. There is nothing you can do to prepare for the inevitable storms except say a prayer, so you're covered there. Football, hmmmm. Redskins? I don't really have a team, but they're probably the closest to us.
THANK YOU AGAIN - you're too kind.
I'm visiting via Foolery...beautiful place. And I am so glad you learned how to upload your photos!
I know this stop sign very well. I never stop at it because there is no need to. My husband's Great Uncle Clarence used to live down that road you said you lived on. I wonder if you lived by them when you were little. He and his wife are both dead now. Her name was Helen.
cats - the family I'm speaking of had one daughter we graduated with. And an older daughter, too. Last name begins with a "c." I'll e-mail ya.
I may well have romped in Clarence's yard. I pretty much went wherever I wanted with no regard to people's property or privacy....or dinner tables. When I heard the dinner bell ringin', I came running.
when u make a right there and go all the way to the end, there (at least used to be) a dirt road on your right. at the end is where our camper used to be. u wouldn't happen to know if that campground is still there would ya? i've been dying to take the wife and kids to see my "paradise" as i've come to call it. i call it that cause whenever i have a dream, and it's a really great one that i never forget after i wake up, it always takes place there.
Donny - The campground is still there. I think you should come back and bring your family and show them what heaven looks like.
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