Setting The Table

Family "get-togethers" where a special event.  It was one of those times that the best cooks in Eastern Kentucky would gather to demonstrate their culinary skills.  Setting the table at these events would take a special kind of organization and cooperation.   The picture below shows such a "get-together".

The year was 1957.  The table was the back of a hay wagon. [A wheel can be seen in the lower left.]  Picnic baskets, Mason Jar boxes; all kinds of bowls, plates, pans, and lots of growling stomachs are shown.  Care was always taken to get things just right, and the desserts were my first plan of attack.  [All the other folks started at the other end.]  The oldest of the family were always placed first in line.

Women were in charge.  They set the table, arranged the order, placed all the dishes, and kept the kids at bay that were circling the tables.  Trying to grab a fried chicken leg in advance was always a challenge.  The men would sit around in their hats and talk, or play horseshoes while the women got the table just right. [The men can be seen in narrow gap between the standing women.]  Setting the table in 1957...how would it be done today...setting the table in 2013.

Front Porches

Facing the world around us comes from all sorts of opportunities.  Sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and touches give us all types of input.  A little here, a little there...and off we go into this thing called life.  How we learn and grow is often a result.

My Dad is shown in one of his opportunities.

It would be around the year 1926 - 1927, and he would have been less then one year of age.   There is this look of deep thought which must have been from seeing a passing bug, or perhaps caused by one of those diaper filling events that parents get to enjoy on many occasions.

A front porch it would seem to be.  He has been placed in one of those wheelie things that give you a chance to move around once you have figured out how to navigate the contraption.  There is a small chair placed to the side, but I bet Dad would not sit still to occupy this space for very long.  Let's get rolling!  Got to take advantage of this opportunity to explore this front porch.  Where did that bug go anyway?   Life, and the front porches...let's get going...opportunities await.