Last weekend, after spending time listening to Miss Pookie's colorful and animated stories, I ventured outside to take
It was this tractor.
This handsome tractor rests comfortably behind Miss Pookie's garage right near the stand of pine trees her son Mathews Mountain Man planted as part of a 4-H project a long time ago.
She could not understand my enthusiasm for the tractor and became even less enthralled when I mentioned how this was the very same model I used to drive up and down my grandfather's daffodil fields in the spring, hauling a wagon loaded down with baskets of daffodils. "Daffodils! Don't even get me started," she said. I resisted the urge to ask any follow-up questions, because it felt like the right thing to do based on her tone in the delivery of that statement, but rest assured I'll get to the bottom of the daffodil dilemma during my next visit.
There's a hedge surrounding her yard, and her 99-year-old father still attempts to maintain it. Below, she tells us how originally the hedge formed an archway over the two parts of the yard which allow access in from the road.
During one of her tales, Miss Pookie made a statement which is now my new favorite saying. Although I've completely forgotten the particular story, she spoke of walking down to the dock during a time of trouble, because, "The water is my tranquilizer."
Living on an island, she doesn't have far to go for that tranquility.Thanks again to Miss Pookie and Mathews Mark for letting me legally trespass and take pictures, and for reminding me that this county is brimming with remarkable people.
10 comments:
you know how sometimes in life you can hear things in your head like outloud like there is someone standing there saying it in your ear??
OH.. you don't.. crap that is just me?
Oh ok I see.. I understand.. but that is of no relevance here.
When I read this.. I HEARD Miss Pookie say "Daffodils! Don't even get me started!"Not just the words but her voice in her tone.. I knew exactly what you heard.
Dang it crying again..
You really need to write a book.. seriously.. every page of it..
For my part I will read it when it is done.
Hugs my very talented very well written very beautiful FRIEND!
(that is if you want to be friends with someone who hears voices in their head)
WV tiffluce... Some is going to come along and try to tiffluce my brain if I keep mentioning I hear voices.
I'm with Ann Marie - I could HEAR Miss Pookie daffodilling. Replace 'daffoldils' with 'sprouts', and move 3000 miles to the east, and I think she might be a family clone.
Job for today? Start the passport hunt!
wv: pantsupy ...oh, wait, I must adjust my clothes, my trousers have gone a little pantsup-y.
Glad to hear Mrs F is focusing on her most important task at hand today!
Great story and I love the tranquilizer quote. I don't live all that close to water, but I do experience that feeling whenever I'm near or on water. And this makes me long for warm weather even more than I already was. Stupid February.
WV is flatevi. My kids would rather have a flatevi than the old tube one to which they've been forced to connect their video games.
There is a book here .. seriously .. The Fascinating People of Mathews County .. we must talk about cards and books and sailing ships .. and sealing wax ..
WV: Slityp .. Its what the lisping cowpoke says to his horse .. slityp, old paint
A quick daffodil story. Back in the day one of the main Jobs a teenager could get around Mathews was picking daffodils. This was really back breaking work And at 2 cents a bunch it took all day to get enough money to go out at night. Me and some of my enterprising friends decide this was entirely to much work, their had to be a better way! After some thought (1 minute) we notice a lot of people stopping on side of the road and taking pictures. Well a light bulb went off! I bet these folks would like to have a bunch of freshly picked daffodils. The gang (4 of us) posted a saleman on side of the road a watch man (so the owner 0f the field would not catch us selling his stock ) and 2 of us picked rotating every hour. Well buy lunch time we had enough money to stay out for several nights!Well this went on for a few days until someone ratted us out. We were band from the daffodil fields for life. Which wasn't a bad thing, trust me, anyone that pick daffodils knows what I am talking about. I guess that is one of the reasons my mom went to visit the water so much that summer, wishing She was holding my head under the water for a few hours! love ya MOM. MMM I no you picked a few in your day! love ya brother.MM
Darly, FYI I took 100's and 100's of boxes of daffodils to a wholesaler in New York city near Time Square.. Mahtews daffodils in the big city, its a small world. MM
Love her...she must be an Aquarius...we have the same valium.
I'm not an Aquarius but there's something about being near the water. It soothes my troubled soul. Although my soul is only troubled on infrequent occasions . . .
I learned to drive on a very similar tractor! Great post!
Kat :)
That tractor looks like the grandfather to ours!
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