Copacabana

The tenacity of genes

Okay, first off, I have been totally vindicated. I recently interviewed at a print newspaper and kinda rankled the editors that interviewed me by daring to suggest that the future of journalism may lay in the direction of electronic media (as someone who's been working in the realm of computers for the last 5 years I see so many harbingers of this truth and, really, I was just trying to sell myself to these people as being somewhat ahead of the curve. It didn't really work...). This article seems to prove my point a little. So maybe signing on with people who reticently refuse to acknowledge the future isn't really something I want to be doing. Or maybe I'm just making myself feel better by being all "I told you so!" Either way, thtppppppt!

I have to give up my loaner car today and I'm really going to miss that XM radio. XM47 Ethel kicks. As I was traveling Saturday to Clayton, Ga. in beautiful Rabun County for a family reunion they played this song, this song and this song in a row. Nice.

As for the family reunion, I've included some pics. The land used to have the house my Pop and his siblings grew up in until it became too ramshackle to stand so Pops had it torn down. He left the fireplace and the apple barn, which are just kinda cool. It also has a pond we fished for catfish in, a pure, natural mountain stream running through it and the most amazing blueberry/blackberry patch in the state. All provided by my Paw Paw who I barely knew even though I knew him my whole life till I was about 25 when he passed away. My Pops said he doesn't think anyone really knew him at all. But the stories of him leaving baskets of food for poorer families than his -- which was hard to achieve -- on front porches and riding back into town from World War II on the back of a mule only to be shot by the brother of some girl he'd been seeing before he left are too fantastic to do justice with my words. You'd have to hear my dad and his siblings tell it with far away looks to really feel the legend of the man. I try to collect the stories when I can and I'd better start writing them down before I get too damn old to remember them.

So first up, just by way of trying to tell myself to remember, is the story of Great Grandma Teague who was "a mean ol cuss of a woman." My pops said she used to say to them as children, "I'll get an old hickory and cut the blood out of ya."

Pops has always said he grew up hard...

Enjoy these photos which include, but are not limited to, my cousin Justin and his kids, my cousin Van's daughter Carmen in the blueberry patch, my nephew James in the blackberry patch, the awesome rope swing my Dad made that is very nearly addictive, and my Aunt Lanie (who I'm named after) and my niece Katie. Some of the best people I know.

posted by Lola @ 2:35 PM