Friday Favorites

My favorite place in all the world for many years was the farm I grew up on.  The house in the photo above was my very first home.  This house burned down when I was 9 years old.  In this photo, you're really looking at the back of the house.  The little house you see to the right of the photo was a guest house.  When my parents owned this farm, the guest house was used for storage.  The yard was filled with jonquils and peonies and lilac bushes blooming in the spring.  In summer, there were roses and hollyhocks.   

A couple of years after the house burned my parents had a modest ranch-style home built.  My dad, who loved the Ozarks and the rock that many used for siding in that area, had rock delivered to side our house with.  I didn't like it, but he didn't ask for my opinion!  You can see a closer look at the house in this post.   It was always referred to as The Rock House.

Here is an aerial view of part of the farm.  It covered over 550 acres and had 5 nice ponds, one of which isn't seen in this photo.  A creek ran through part of the acreage.  I posted a photo of an old barn that was on this farm a few weeks ago.  A metal building, which you can see behind the pond nearest the house, was put up very near where the old barn had stood.  The building to the right of the house is a long machine shed where tractors and such were parked.  The bare looking spot in front of the house is where a large garden was.  I don't remember what year this photo was taken, I believe I was in high school at the time.

See the trees in front of a pond below the back of the house near the middle of the photo?  That is where the house in the first photo that burned used to stand.  You can still see the guest house between the garage and some grain bins.  Those buildings weren't as close together as it appears to be in this photo.

I have so many wonderful memories of living on this farm, although it could be a bit lonely at times during summers when I rarely saw any other kids except my 2 brothers.  My brothers were helping on the farm as soon as they were old enough, so after my chores were done I was often left to my own devices.  A lot of time was spent horseback riding and fishing or playing with the pets.  When the boys weren't busy in the summer, we would go swimming in one of the ponds...usually the one nearest the house.    

Very often, I could be found looking through the Sears or Montgomery Ward catalogs daydreaming and many hours were whiled away playing on the piano I talked about last Friday.  I loved music and reading, but I also loved the great outdoors and enjoyed each of the 4 seasons.  It was during those years on the farm that I became a birdwatcher.

We had a utility pole with a transformer just behind the house at the end of the white plank fence.  I don't think you can see it in the photo above.  Anyway, we had a mockingbird that just loved to sit atop the pole and sing his little heart out.  I loved to watch him because while he was singing, he would fly straight up in the air and turn a few flip flops before landing back on top of the pole.  He was quite entertaining!   He also was a bit of a nuisance and tripped a loop several times on the pole which knocked out our power.  It seemed to happen 2 or 3 times every summer!

I have so many stories I could tell about growing up on the farm, but I'll save some of those for another time.  When my dad eventually sold this farm, it was a sad day for me.  Even though I was married and had my own home by then, I left a piece of my heart behind there on the farm.  It will always remain a favorite and cherished memory.

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful Friday!

Until next time...