I hope, when you're grown one day, that you'll smell something that will take you back to your childhood. Smell, you know, is a very powerful sense!
The smell of . . .
- Old Spice cologne reminds me of my daddy . . . I was 3 . . . he was shipping out for duty
- Salty air takes me to Key West . . . I was 4 . . . we lived at the beach
- Jordan Almonds remind me of my mom . . . I was 6 . . . they were her favorite candy
- Leather takes me to Spain . . . I was 7 . . . playing softball with a blue leather catcher's mitt
- Red, Georgia clay reminds me of my grandfather . . . I was 12 . . . he was a farmer
- Flour reminds me of my Grandma C . . . I was 13 . . . she was making chicken and dumplings
- Azaleas remind me of my Grandmother H . . . I was 14 . . . she grew them in her back yard
But Georgia . . . that Southern Georgia Pine . . . when we cross into those tree farms heading south, I'm always reminded of summers in farm country . . . where my mom's folk lived!
Life really seemed simpler down there, but I'm not really sure why. We moved there in 1974 . . . just after Dad got out of the Navy. Lived in a trailer on a dirt road. Played softball and basketball. Halfway participated in the 4H club. Weekends were generally spent visitin' (you can't add the "g" to that word when you're country). Sundays were spent at church. Supper on Sundays was a huge deal . . . fried chicken and fresh vegetables.
There was a single movie theatre in town, and the same movie played for weeks . . . sometimes months. Trips to town were always special since it might mean a trip to the DQ for a dipped cone or a Blizzard! We collected Coke bottles to trade in for dimes so we would have money to spend at the Village Pantry (I think that was the name of the convenience store in town) on Slurpees and Bottle Caps or Razzles.
And we had cousins all over the place down there, so we never ran out of playmates.
Swimming was one of my favorite pastimes down there. We had one relative that had a pool and visiting them was always a big treat, but we mostly swam in the rivers and creeks!
Cobb Creek.
Growing up on the ocean, I never knew the wonder of fresh water swimming (except in pools which are filled with chemicals anyway). Ocean water leaves a layer of salt on your skin after it evaporates away . . . combined with the sand, it just makes you feel "grainy!" Fresh creek water is soft and salt free . . .
. . . but, depending on the surrounding flora, can be filled with tannin . . . a rusty colored acid that comes from trees and plants . . .
. . . this tannin will stain your skin.
We didn't care, but it did make the water look a little dirty.
Of course, in the South, you had to keep your eyes open for gators and water moccasins too! We never really saw snakes or gators in Cobb Creek, but they were in the Altamaha and Ohoopee Rivers!! I'm relatively sure that I stepped on a gator one time while swimming in the Altamaha . . . it was either a gator or a tree trunk . . . but it moved!! If it were a tree trunk, there was no visible sign above the water . . . like a fallen tree or anything!
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| We swam in areas that looked like this . . . you can see how brown the water is from the "tannins" |
I'm claiming gator!
It took a long time for me to get back into the water down there!
While I was Googling the Altamaha River for pictures, I came across this . . . Georgia's own version of Nessie, Scotland's Loch Ness Monster:
Pretty sure we need to take a road trip now!
"Oh the old swimmin' hole her cool waters ran deep
Felt good to a boy with mud on his feet
And I'm wishing these days I could strip to my soul
And go for a dip in the old swimmin' hole" ~ Bobby Bare, They Covered Up the Old Swimming Hole
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