The Home Place, August 9 - August 15

Monday, August 9 - My reflection on the loss of the family home

The Home Place

Sunday, August 8, 2021, the Taylor’s historic family home, my brother and sister-in-law, Park and Cindy Taylor’s home, burned to the ground. Park and Cindy moved in there to live with and care for our father when their girls, Rand and Elizabeth, were in elementary school. The house was built by our grandfather John W. Taylor in the early 1920s. It has housed, in various stages of life, five generations of our family.

Fire has taken all the “stuff” but it cannot take our memories. The house welcomed family reunions, family gatherings at Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Fourth of July, birthdays, weddings and funeral wakes. It has welcomed newborns and brought comfort to the elderly. Sadly, no new memories will be created.

Our home place was the repository of family history that was greater than the sum of the individual items or memories. Today we are grieving the loss of things material, the loss of the past and the loss of the future of our home place. The cross remaining on the mantle reminds us that there is always hope and renewal, even from ashes.

The fire consumed everything. Park and Cindy’s personal belongings, family antiques, pictures including paintings by our grandmother and Cindy’s mother. Park and Cindy rent a house on Wolfe lake during the summer, so they have the clothing and personal things there and a place to live temporarily but that is all. They had been to the house earlier in the day, but were not home when the fire started. By the time the fire was discovered it was too far gone for anything to be saved.

Jan 3, 2013

Aug 9, 2021

Photo of an aerial photo of the home place circa 1960-65

This was a day of mourning for a loss that feels like a death in the family.  I grieve for Park and Cindy who have lost so much.

Amanda started school for real today and I started my routine of driving her or picking her up.  Today I drove her to school.  She doesn't have to arrive at the high school until 9:30.  Her first period class will be English at Roane State which won't begin until Aug 18 and will only meet on Mon and Wed.  She gets her license on Aug 20 and my Uber driving will end.

Brenda arrived late afternoon for an overnight on her way back home to Jackson, Mississippi. I served her roasted chicken with some garden vegetables.

Tuesday,  August 9

After dropping Amanda off at school, I went to church to take some pictures of the pool table in the youth room that we hope to give away on Facebook marketplace.  The girls scout troop is coming back to Trinity and we have offered the youth room.  They do not want to use the pool table and we would like to get rid of it.

Wednesday, August 10

This morning I posted on Facebook Marketplace an ad for the pool table that we would like to have removed from the 3rd floor youth room at Trinity.  I was immediately overwhelmed with responses.  The first response was from a woman who said she would come immediately.  That turned out to be about 3 pm.  Walter, Pastor Linda and I were there when she and her crew (family) of 2 men and 3 women managed to haul to table down the stairs and out to their car.  Good riddance for us and something that we hope will bring pleasure to her family.  She also purchased the ping-pong table for $28 and they hauled it away, too.  Win-Win!

My day actually started in the garden.  I seem to have a Wednesday pattern going.  I got a pretty good harvest today.

Enough to eat and share

Thursday, August 12

The only solution for so many hot peppers is to pickle them  Fortunately, I found a box of a dozen pint jars in the attic.  I sliced and put the peppers in a brine yesterday and finished the processing today.  I also pickled one pint of okra.  That will be a treat one day!

Good vegetable meal and enough extra breaded okra to freeze a pint.

Friday, August 13

Today is the day!  We put the boat in the lake to test the new trolling motor.  There were also maneuvers we had to do to calibrate the GPS settings.  The motor will hold the boat in place without the need for an anchor.  I hope we enjoy fishing more with this new tool.

Ready to use - remote control and all!

Storage mode

Plugged in to recharge the batteries

The day wasn't done yet.  After supper, we went to the Matzek's to celebrate Amanda's 16th birthday with cookies and ice-cream and a few rounds of ping-pong.  We washed her car and will give her an interior car-detailing for her gift.

Saturday, August 14

I spent most of my time today working on the Park Springs History.  I took time out to make a focaccia pizza with eggplant, fresh tomatoes, anchovies and fresh mozzarella.

Maybe a little too crisp, but delicious none-the-less.

Sunday, August 15

The Meet and Greet dinner after church was cancelled because of Covid concerns.  The administrative council last Monday decided to reinstate mask requirements whenever the church is open to the public, such as worship service and the sale, and to not hold dinners at this time.