My grandparents on my dad’s side (known as Grandma and Grandpa) lived out in East Texas for most of my life on property my grandmother inherited from her father. Previously they lived in a house in Fort Worth. I was about 8 I think when they started staying on “the farm” (though it had a few acres of fruits and vegetables, no farm animals!) more and more until “the house on Provine”* was just a place to stay when they were in town, and eventually they never stayed there at all. So, I have plenty of memories of them at the farm. Still, I do have a few specific memories of being very young over at the house on Provine, both of which are associated with holidays.

We often went over on Easter to do an Easter egg hunt with the other children in the family. The house was on a huge piece of property for a house in the city. I wish they still sold lots that big, though I’m sure they would cost a fortune. I’m guessing an acre though someone in my family who reads my blog can correct me. The back yard went on and on. I loved ‘exploring’ it. So, the egg hunt was held in the back yard. What I remember most about the back yard though, was a small garden off the back porch with iris. Amongst the iris were these small pieces of beautiful quartz. Either they had the bed covered with them years ago as ground cover or they were from my grandparent’s rock hound days (beautiful rock specimens, geodes, etc. were all over both of their houses). I loved finding the pieces. My overactive imagination which has always slanted towards science fiction and fantasy imagined them as the powerful crystals of a sorceror. (Recall that DragonSlayer and Dark Crystal both came out around that time as well).

Second was Christmas. We’d come over I think on Christmas day for a meal and gift exchange. What I remember fondly are these ornaments my grandmother had on her tree. So old-fashioned and kitschy, they were little birds on perches. The birds had some sort of feather or fabric covering to make them feel soft and were on porcelain or real wood branches. Cardinals, and several other types though the red cardinal stands out in my mind. I wish I knew where they’d ended up, as I’d love to have one in her memory to pass on down in my family. It’s weird the things that stand out in your mind. But if you were to ask me about my childhood Christmas memories, standing with my grandmother near the Christmas tree either putting up, admiring, or taking down her ornaments including the little birds would be one of the first things I’d recall.

I can’t quite tell if this is at Provine, the farm, or elsewhere. Don’t you love my blue suit? Grandma’s holding a picture she or grandpa painted of me. They both did a lot of oil painitngs, mainly rural, natural settings.

*Don’t you love how every family names things? Traditions, houses, trips, they each have a special name for the family.