Two posts in one day! Surely this is a sign of the EndTime!
I'm finally able to access my pictures from our Ohio trip of two weeks ago, so I thought I'd share. We went home to be there for the sale of my grandparents' possessions and a small family reunion the next day.
My grandparents moved into assisted living in the spring, and sold their property to their neighbor, who will farm it. This past summer my mom and her siblings have been going through everything in the house and outbuildings and dividing up the heirlooms and getting everything else ready for a big yard/estate sale. Since my grandparents have lived in the house ever since they were married in 1943, you can imagine how much stuff there was to go through.
Here are all the tables set up in the yard. We grandkids used to swing on that big weeping willow all the time, back before it was pruned. Just grab a handful of branches and take off!
All the kids and grandkids who could be there worked the sale. This is my mom with my uncle Ron (her brother) and my cousin Melanie (Ron's daughter.)
My dad talking with my mom's cousin's husband. (How's that for complicated?)
My aunt Charlotte and my grandma. My uncle picked up my grandparents and brought them over for the sale, but it was hard on my grandpa, and he left after a short time. Grandma hung in there all day, though.
My aunts Molly and Doris:
This is the orchard, which back in the day was a big grove of plum, peach, apricot and I'm sure other fruit trees that I've forgotten. Cherry, I think, and apple too, probably.This is all that's left. There was a huge blueberry patch to the right as well, and every summer Grandma would beg everyone to come pick the blueberries!
Here's a picture I took in the morning of the view just to the left of the orchard. People don't seem to think Ohio is pretty, but farms and fields are plenty pretty to me.
Morning glories blooming on the summerhouse, which was a summer kitchen way back in the day, and which sits right outside the front door.
I was running the cashbox at one point and had to take a picture of this wagon when someone brought it up to buy...it's one of several red wagons around the place that we used to fill up with little grandkids and ride down the hill beside the house. The "hill" seemed like Everest when we were little...now of course it's just a gentle slope. Funny how that happens!
Here are my cousins Alan and Krista who came up from Charlottesville and Atlanta, respectively, for the sale.
My aunts Carol and Kathy, who are my mom's sisters:
My sister Jenita and me:
Todd directed traffic in and out of the long driveway...here he is at a lull:
My uncles Bill and Lowell, Krista and Grandma taking a break:
My niece Kylie (with school spirit day face paint) was very fascinated with helping me count the money:
And my nephew Tanner decided to price himself (one sticker says "$10" and the other says "Make Offer.")
And a last shot of the mailbox. This used to be way down at the end of the driveay, several hundred yards down the hill by the road, but when Grandpa and Grandma started getting "up there" it was moved closer. I remember walking down the driveway with Grandma to get the mail, though.
Well, it was a bittersweet kind of a day, that's for sure. Lots of emotions and lots of laughs and a few tears here and there. This house has been "home" to a very large family for 65 years, and that's a lot of memories to say good-bye to. I was so grateful that I got to be there for one last day.
