Project 365 - Day 22

Thanksgiving...I have mixed feelings about this holiday, since it's essentially a celebration of the birth of the country, but hides a most ugly truth as to the machinations thereof...but that's for a different blog, really.

Thanksgiving has become a time to gather with family and friends to reminisce and be thankful for all those things that connect us: the people, memories, places, aromas, etc.  Today, my wife and I went to meet other family members at my long-lost grandparents' longtime home, a place my mind associates with the smells of my grandma's cooking, the scruff of my grandpa's 5 o'clock shadow and smell of his cigarettes, and the distinct feel of my grandma's cheek as I kissed her goodbye, though the last time was more than two decades ago.  The objects of the place - simple as ever.  Lighting, for a second day in a row, was horrific.  Still, I captured a few images of objects that have been part of that place since well before I was born.

Details...Memory Details

This is part of the kitchen vent, a room in which my grandmother made coffee, perfect fried chicken, and the kind of homemade gravy that would make your whole family stand up and yell, "YUMMY!"  When installed, I'm sure the brand name was a mash-up of "Home" and "Art," but it has a decidedly different connotation today, one which would make my indelicate grandma cackle.

Ran the Joint

Yeah, it's just a fuse box, but it was and is an integral part of my grandpa's garage.  The old electric grinder which had sharpened more chisels, knives, and the like than could be imagined is long gone, but this relic remains and runs the house.

Untitled

This pencil sharpener is mounted in the same garage.  My grandpa was an inveterate tinkerer, never without a pencil as I recall, so this implement was essential.  I remember the feeling I got the first time I was able to reach this on my own the first time.

I also captured several good shots of family, but won't share those here...at least not yet.  For now, I'm just gonna post the images that bring back that time and place in so visceral a way.  I hope for better light the next time I'm there....