Well, another Homecoming come and gone, and boy am I tired. I spent the time before planting my butterfly garden, weedeating and mowing the graveyard (NOT a "cemetery"), fixing the sprinkler system and setting up the fellowship hall and cooking 7 dishes to take. Peach/blueberry cobbler, sweet potato pie, best beets, spinach lasagna, goat cheese, ranch style beans, and my patented colored deviled eggs.
I spent the day of, setting up tables and chairs on the grounds, filling the baptismal bowl (my third cousin, Carmie was baptized), taking pictures, ordering the pot luck dishes, directing the "help", counting the offering, making sure that the dinner on the grounds went smoothly, making iced tea, washing dishes, taking more pictures, removing tables and chairs from the grounds, emptying trash cans, and etc. I estimate about 125-150 people and about 75 different dishes and desserts. I did not eat a single bite. AND I missed Harry Hamilton, again.
FLASHBACK
When I was growing up and visited my Granny of a summer, on hot days we used to ride down past Yonder Store to Harry Hamilton's store. There you could get a cold 6 ounce coke in a bottle, ice cream, candy, and a look at Harry Hamilton's arm. Harry Hamilton (he will never be just Harry to me but always Harry Hamilton) was a big man, or at least he seemed so to me at the time. He had a florid complexion, which got redder when he laughed. And he was always laughing at something. He had been in WWII and had lost his left arm. He wore a prosthetic arm with the fingers halfway curled, and it fascinated us kids. You wanted to stare at it, but knew that was horribly impolite, so you kinda peeked at it out of the corner of your eye. I don't remember a lot about those visits, but I have always remembered Harry Hamilton. The store is still there, but Harry Hamilton sold out a while back and left. It has been Applewhite's and is now Rowan store, but to me it will always be Harry Hamilton's store.
Two years ago, at homecoming, Jim mentioned the day after that he had met and talked to a man named Harry Hamilton. I was devastated. I never saw him. I was determined to see him the next year, if he came. One year ago, I again missed him, probably because I didn't recognize him. This year, I saw him! He was sitting across from us in the church. He looked so old. And there was the arm. It had not aged a whit. I was determined to talk to him yesterday, but by the time I got out on the grounds, he had left! So now I'm thinking that this is some kind of cosmic ritual that we are destined never to talk. But maybe not. At least I actually saw him this year. Next year may be the charm.
Anyhoo, everything went almost smoothly and I can get back to my normal list, which is even longer now.
Here are some pics from Homecoming.
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| flower garden ( you can see my bench way in the background) |
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| butterfly garden (This is my garden) |
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| The grand old lady |
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| The church banner and Jim's feet and arm |
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| The piper (and yes, he WAS paid) |
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| Close up of the banner |
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| Rev John Goodman plays the dulcimer |
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| The baptism. The water was from Black River |
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| Rev. Paul Layton |
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| Rev. Dr. Troy Lewis (he married Jim and I in this church 29 years ago) |
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| Lunch on the grounds |
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| Paul and his family |
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| Diners |
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| Diners |
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| diners, and John playing the dulcimer |
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| diners |
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| diners |
bak bak
Could almost taste the ham biscuits and sweet tea.Yum.
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