Red Clay Mud

Surinam Cherries--what I grow now & what would fascinate my Grandfather

What we left behind,

What we thought we left behind,

What we never leave behind. 

Pineapple tops & slips...because WV is about making more from what you are

given, about nothing wasted. My Grandpa rooted pineapple tops in water & planted them in the planter boxes around the farmhouse. 

'Waspers', rippled glass window panes, the scent of Palmolive dish soap when boiling water is poured on it from a beat-up kettle, the scent of rust flakes in pump water, unfastened red galoshes flopping full of creek water as I stomped along, the burst of juice from a fat, warm Concord grape pressed against the roof of my mouth, the faux pile scrubbed off heavy traffic areas on the linoleum (inexplicably printed to look like carpet), and red clay mud...EVERYWHERE in the spring.

All are things I thought I left behind when my Grandpa died & Mom sold the Roane County, West Virginia farm, many years ago.  I've never tasted a grape like the ones grown on the farm fence, & with luck I'll never have to smell or taste rust left to settle to the bottom of an old Taster's Choice jar so the hand-pumped water would be drinkable.  All the rest never leaves you. I think of the anxiety of trying to avoid wasps in the outhouse after the long drive there.  I think of it with a little rush of satisfaction when I knock down a Jack Spaniard (our tropical version of 'Waspers') nest.  One of our local restaurants must buy in bulk because they always have that distinctly emerald Palmolive dish soap in the hand soap dispenser.  Washing hands in warm water always transports me to the farm kitchen.  

Fresh pineapple from my yard, because the 'pineapple doesn't fall far from the...?'

Yesterday FEMA pulled into West Virginia & started taking assistance applications from the vast number of people affected by the floods. My friend Natalie works for FEMA, is exceedingly kind & upbeat, & I couldn't wish anyone better on the people she may meet.  I also wish them the strength to rebuild, but even more that they retain their strongest parts--the things no water can sweep away & no silt can destroy--the DNA-deep, permanently inscribed memories of a place.