I had to change my header picture to this one--it is the same barn as in the previous picture, just a little different view. And the one in the post is actually part of our yard--the creek had flooded and was running through it a little bit...It is hard to describe the feeling that washes over me when I see these pictures. It goes to the very core of my being...a million feelings come tumbling in. The happiness we found at this, at the little shack that we lived in is almost too good to be true.

My husband and I moved to Tennessee and lived on the property this barn belongs to for a little over a year. We only had a wood burner--a Buck Stove to be exact--to heat with. We cut our own firewood. I learned to use a chainsaw then.

We had three channels on our TV: PBS, NBC, and CBS. In that time there we became hooked on Masterpiece Theater, though the main show I remember watching was I, Claudius. I don't remember the show as much as I remember the anticipation of seeing the next episode.

We had a huge garden there--I canned enough green beans that year to last us two or three years. Plus I sold enough to more than pay for all the fertilize, plants and seeds that I had to buy. We didn't have to pay for the garden to be plowed--we used my brother's tractor and plow.

I raised both half-runner and cornfield beans (they are very similar to pole beans), okra, tomatoes, potatoes, okra, pepper, and onions I know. I cannot remember if I raised anything else or not. Oh, I know I had cabbage...I remember making kraut with it.

My husband could shoot from the front yard over to the ridge behind the barn pictured above--I think he could place the target 500 yards. He could shoot his bow and arrows in the front yard. Just an idyllic sort of life for us at that time.

We still miss this place--I dream of it fairly often. In my dreams it is always so good to be there. I was only a mile from my mom and half a mile from my best friend..I visited with both almost daily. If not actual visit, then talked on the phone. That seems a lifetime ago.

I guess Christmas is a time of remembering...seeing these pictures and some others really have me in mood. Kind of sad and happy all at once--just thinking and remembering.