On the Porch
Onisha Ellis
Have you taken pictures at a festival or of people then within a few days forgotten about them? Life happens. This happened to me with pictures from a local Spring festival in May. Traditionally the town holds an Airing of the Quilts festival Mother’s Day weekend. Due to Covid, the festival was moved to May and combined with a Spring festival. I was slightly disappointed with the number of quilts on display. I am not a quilter, but I have heard friends talking about it and my impression was that quilters enjoy gathering and comparing their projects. Covid restrictions would have put quashed that.
My favorite quilt was done in an old style, with a knotted thread either in each square or as in the one below, in the border. I don’t remember seeing this quilt at previous festivals.
I love this small mountain town. It was life affirming to see smiling faces, hear children laugh. The canine population of Franklin was was out in force, strolling Main street with their human family, patiently stopping to be admired.
There were several jewelry vendors and I chose two fun pairs of silver earrings, flip flops and sand dollars. I still have Florida sand in my shoes and my heart even as I adore the mountains.
Our daughter was visiting from Florida for a combination vacation & work. Unfortunately, the festival was a work day. A local bakery I had seen recommended on Facebook (And Facebook is always right<wink>) displayed a tempting array of treats but I resisted them. I did purchase for our daughter’s lunch, a chicken salad croissant. Who can resist a freshly made croissant?
Returning to our car which was parked in a church parking lot, I took this picture.
The trailer is part of the Baptist Disaster Relief program and with Spring storms and Hurricane season approaching it appeared to be ready to roll.
I spied another gem in my pictures. The back of our house butts up to a steep hill that required being weed whacked a couple of times a year. I snapped this picture of my husband taking a rest break. I was so proud of him for thinking to place the stool on the hill.
Shortly after I snapped this picture, he came inside and told me I needed to go and see a tree. Ok… He directed me to the hill at the side of our house where a small tree had fallen.
After his rest break, he lost his balance and began to slide down the hill, grabbing onto the tree. He said the tree slowly pulled over, supporting him as he slid. I am thankful for the tree! On a side note, during his childhood, my husband and brothers would climb to the top of a tree while the others chopped away at the base. They called it riding the tree down. Thankful this was a gentle ride.
One more picture. We enjoyed visiting with my husband’s cousin and wife last week. It was almost like a vacation for me. We enjoyed sharing our mountains with them and we dined out every day. No cooking. No dishes. We went on a back roads adventure to Whitewater Falls, the highest waterfall east of the Rocky Mountains.
I’m glad I looked back over my pictures, I believe I felt my muscles relax as I remembered. They were definitely worth a second look.
After my retirement, I decided to re-learn the canning and preserving skills I learned from my mother but hadn’t practiced for twenty years. I titled the blog Old Things R New to chronicle my experience. Since then I have been blessed to have six other bloggers join me, DiVoran Lites, Bill Lites, Judy Wills, Louise Gibson, Janet Perez Eckles and Melody Hendrix
In addition to blogging, I work as the publicist/marketer/ amateur editor and general “mom Friday” for my author daughter, Rebekah Lyn. I also manage her website, Rebekah Lyn Books
My 2021 goal is continue touse my love of photographs and words to be an encourager on social media. You can visit Real Life Books and Media You Tube Channel if you would like to view some of the mini-videos I have created for our church, Gateway Community in Titusville, Fl.
Old Things R New 