Time Away in Huntsville...Memory Making with My Farmboy

    After our trip to the Hospitality House, the farmboy and I slipped down the street for a little stroll through the square. Downtown Huntsville is know for its wide variety of historic landmarks (such as the homes of Sam Houston) and for its antique shops. Having been to the Sam Houston Museum several times, we decided to stroll the square and visit the shops.
   I love to look at old things; pieces of history are windows to our past. So many items I recognize from my childhood for my grandmothers and great-grandmothers were avid antique collectors. While the china patterns and dishware are warm and familiar (I can identify most of the major collector patterns), my heart is more drawn to vintage homestead items; old canning goods, sewing implements, iron ware and stone ware..farm stuff like tools and machinery used by my prairie ancestors.
   Unsure of how he might take to such a trip, my farmboy and I just parked and started walking. I was amazed at his interest and knowledge of old tools, farm wares, and weapons. He just kept exclaiming, "Wow, this is so much fun...this is so interesting...I love this." The first shop we found was owned by a history professor and his wife; that professor and my farmboy had a lengthy share and show session- delightful! This was only one of many instances he got to experience that day.

    Another was the local guitar and motorcycle shop- farmboy heaven! This little beauty was admired for some time- you know he wanted to take it home. We stayed around this shop discussing the various instruments, the bikes and their qualities. He even played some music for us...drawing a nice little crowd.

  The farmboy and I are finding ourselves alone together more and more these days as his sisters start to grow more independent. Our trip gave us a time to get to know each other in a new way and to learn about our common interests and desires. We talked over lunch about his desire to teach survival skills and to learn about hunting and homesteading the "old way". An old soda shop brought us to stories from my memory about root beer floats and an incident with those tricky straw dispensers (he absolutely rolled all over laughing).
   Chores called us home and we took the drive together- reviewing our day's finds and singing familiar songs on the radio; plans were discussed for another day sometime ahead. I had a wonderful time away making memories with my farmboy.

Maybe next week we'll share some of our finds!


simplychele and the farmboy
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