Saturday, October 12, 2013

Fall, recalling It!

So happy to have the skies changing along with all of Mother Nature, the trees, the sounds of hay being cut.  Being brought up in the city until I was 24, this season of Fall was not like that. Mainly, there were pumpkins on porches for Halloween and Walnut trees dropping their fruit and sometimes a large oak tree here and there lining city streets.  Don't get me wrong, I loved growing up in the City.
 
Now, as an elder I enjoy the cool, not cold, weather of Fall. Around me the mountains are turning from greens and browns to reds, oranges, golden yellows and yes, browns.  I can see more of what is behind those trees now driving down a country road. Old barns and  run down buildings unattended appear through trees that were in another season solid green.


I love hearing from others in letters or on their blogs of their childhood, growing up in the country.
My life was of simple chores like waking up and making my bed.  I am amazed at what country children did especially in the 1930's, having to work in fields, helping Mom because Dad had to work in the city after his farming duties, to make a few more dollars.
My husband was a country boy and did just those things.  The only "farming" I ever did was to help my Dad with a Victory Garden during the war and to me it was fun, fun, fun.

I am reading a book by another Diane Yates called Clella.  It is a story about country people and the depression.  Mainly about the authoress's mothers life.  So interesting, I could hardly put the book down. I grew up during some of those years and it amazes me how they survive.  Me,  I was spoiled.

There is  a lot to be said about each, country living verses city life.  In the South I feel more homey things are taught, or at least were.  Things like quilting, wood working, baking bread.  No, I don't mean like Abraham Lincoln reading by candlelight.
I, being a City girl grew up with houses one after another, no acreage.  A church on every corner which was the place to go for activities.  All kinds of grocery stores, department stores and buses to take you there.  New York City was just a train ride of 20 minutes and there the Museums drew my attention. The pace was faster, still is.

I am not putting down an type of division here. Now, due to highways, accesses, people are moving and there is a mixture of both country and city people living throughout our nation. A true Melting Pot. I love being in the country now, laid back and enjoying the seasons as they change. My own mixture of the city girl and the country girl.  Isn't there a song? "I'm a little bit country, a little bit Rock and Roll".  Well, at my age not too much of the "Rock and Roll".
Now this is just My Opinion.

3 comments:

  1. I don't remember the '30s but certainly the '40s were very different both in the city and the country than they are now. And, of course, they were different from one another then as they are not now because television had not yet brought city life to the country. Most people along the populous coasts (east and west) are unaware that a LOT of country still exists in the middle of the US, lots of small towns, lots of farms. Life is different there now, very different, they not only have TV, they have cell phones, computers and fast cars on straight highways. Still, it's a very different life.

    But autumn comes everywhere. Sooner, of course, in the northern states, and slower in the southern ones. The whole country is in that transition called "autumn". Here in New England we are enjoying an incredibly beautiful autumn and fearing what lies ahead for the winter. It's human nature to think ahead to the possible changes, be they weather of social or mechanical. We've learned to look ahead with some trepidation, and a sense of mystery, knowing we cannot predict and that we cannot control what will be.

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  2. Diane -- How well I remember my "leave it to beaver' childhood. Along with you I began my gardening passion from my father's garden. My father was the outdoors person while my mother was the strict German housekeeper. I learned some from each mostly from my father. Our childhood shapes our adult life and hopefully we have had good parents to learn from. I feel I did. it sounds as if you did too.

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  3. Thank u Barbara indeed I did also. Good German parents!

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