tula

Tula Bellamy was my mammaw on Nana Jane's side of the family. I remember many things about the times I spent at Mammaw & Pappaw's house. During most of my younger years, they lived in a section of a dairy farm's large main house. My pappaw ran the farm for a doctor who lived in another town. Their living room and the bathroom were on the main floor of the house (complete with a stairwell down to the cellar, where my cousin Carolyn and I were sure there were boogers hiding); at the end of a long hallway, stairs led to the second story where the large eat-in kitchen and two bedrooms were found. Another little side room and a funky, big side hall were up there as well . . . but today, it was the kitchen I was remembering. My pappaw got up really early every day; and I can remember the time of morning when he came in from his work for breakfast. There was no cereal with milk set on the table in Mammaw's kitchen. Oh no, only full course meals for breakfast . . . fried tenderloin, gravy & biscuits, eggs, homemade biscuits, fresh butter, homemade jellies, fried apples, fresh milk, etc.

Yesterday, when I got out of the car in Cheraw, Granddaddy Bob greeted me and told me I was in for a surprise. Mary & Doug had come for a visit! This morning I woke up and did a quick grocery-list run to WalMart for Granddaddy Bob, and when I returned . . . another surprise . . . Aunt Bob & Uncle Dan had come for a visit! My cousin, Doug, and his wife Nancy were on their way to Myrtle Beach for Doug to run in a half marathon tomorrow; and so, Nana Jane's two sisters planned a surprise visit to Cheraw! Stand back . . . because there was a whirlwind in the kitchen! Those ladies hit the road running; and before you could blink your eyes twice, a "Tula Bellamy" breakfast was gracing Nana Jane's table . . . mmm, it smelled so good! Sausage gravy & homemade biscuits, cooked apples, sausage patties, honey, applebutter . . . just like the olden' days.

I was busy doing my regular Saturday-morning-in-Cheraw routine . . . complete with giggles as I watched and listened. It's been a little over three years since Nana Jane, Mary, and Bob have all three been together. Mary & Bob talked and laughed as they snapped a "mess" of beans in preparation for lunch. When I left around noon, they were busy discussing the condition of the pie crusts that were coming out of the oven for the butterscotch pies. Two sisters busy in the kitchen, calling back and forth to Nana Jane in the living room. I think a meatloaf was being baked; and there was rumor that some peanut butter-caramel candy was going to be made. Tula would've been proud!

sisters snappin' a "mess" of beans

not long until PT, now!

As I drove home, I continued to stroll down memory lane . . . thinking back to that farm house and of how we cousins played . . .

• the stone top table in the lower front yard, down by the tractor shed. That's where I'd sit with my cousins with salt in our hands, waiting for the birds to hop close by; 'cause Mammaw told us if we could get close enough to put the salt on the birds' tails, we could catch them. I always wondered if the salt would weigh down the bird so much that it couldn't fly away. I never got close enough. (When I first read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, in my mind, the stone table where Aslan was slain looked like this table.)
• climbing the two huge pine trees by the front sidewalk . . . eewww . . . the sappiest trees in the world!
• (one of my favorites!) swinging really high in the big porch swing . . . and I even remember having to help snap beans while swinging so that a "mess" could be cooked!
• peeping into the "other side" of the house when Dr. Jones was not there. Come to think of it, was Dr. Jones EVER there?
• walking down to the pond, and crossing over the little foot bridge at the place where the road ran through a creek.
• listening to Aunt Evelyn's Elvis 45's.

It's amazing how just that little bit of time together this morning could bring back so many memories . . . thanks, Bellamy girls~