Vicki, over at Simply Hue asked in her August 4 blog post, "What are a few (or even just one) of your favorite Summertime Memories growing up?" Which inspired me to look at photos I've taken on summer vacations to the places where I grew up ... North Carolina and Virginia.
Vollis Simpson's been making whirly gigs a very long time. I remember one he made that sat next to his machine shop when I was about 12-years-old. My brother and I would hound our dad to drive by it! Little did I know it was the beginning of something. When I took my darling husband "home" to Lucama, NC, for a family reunion in 2007, I asked if it was still there and one of my cousins said, "Yes. And, a whole lot more!" So, we found Vollis Shop Road and Wiggins Mill Road and, Oh! My! Goodness! What a feast for the senses! We spent a couple of hours visiting and I shot a couple hundred pictures, and, when Vollis himself arrived, we negotiated for one of his smaller whirly gigs to take home to remind me of my childhood.
I was born in Hopewell, VA, a little mill town located along the James River, and in the summertime, my dad would take me and my brother out along Highway 10 to this place to find relief from the heat. In 2009, I took my darling husband to Hopewell for the first time, and I couldn't stop babbling about this place, as it remains one of my favorite, summertime memories of my dad when I was a child. The shade of the trees, the stream fed by an artesian well, cool and clear ... these were the real treasures of childhood. We'd share baloney sandwiches and just hang out together, oblivious to the rest of the world. To my amazement, we found it is still a beautiful place (probably because it's hidden away) and seems untouched by time. Lucky me, huh?
