A friend sent me the article below by Lee Pitts and it reminded me of days spent at my grand-parents' home. Another friend was kind enough to create the beautiful background to bring it all together. When I was a child, we spent many weekends at my grand-parents' home which was on a dirt road. It had its little house with the crescent moon down the hill, the party line telephone that hung on the wall and you cranked the little handle to ring the person you were calling, and a big wood burning cooking stove. My grand-mother was stricken with arthritis which left her bedridden when I was about six years old. Her youngest daughter and her family stayed with my grandparents to help them. The other daughters and their families would go over on weekends to give Aunt Hazel and her family a break and help with whatever they could. We never had all the modern conviences that we have today nor all the toys and games that there are now, BUT we were never bored. We always found interesting and fun things to do - sliding down haystacks, picking blackberries, swimming in the creeks, churning butter, WALKING up the road to Powell's Country Store for a soda and maybe some candy, picking and/or stringing tobacco, and staying over night at the tobacco barn with our grandfather and Uncle Morgan while the tobacco was being cured. There were also apples, black walnuts and chestnuts to be gathered, and eggs to collect from the hen houses. We even enjoyed listening to our parents and grand-parents talk about the way things were when they were children. My grand-father could tell about the trip by wagon from Virginia to West Virginia to work for the railroad, every place they stopped to overnight and the names of all the wonderful people that they met on the way who gladly shared their meals with unknown weary travellers. Marilyn DIRT ROADS By ~ Lee Pitts (Click Lee's name to visit his site) What's mainly wrong with society today is that too many dirt roads have been paved. There's not a problem in society today - crime,drugs, education, divorce and deliquency- that wouldn't be remedied if we just had more dirt roads, BECAUSE.....dirt roads give character. People that live at the end of dirt roads learn early on that life is a bumpy ride. That it can jar you right down to your teeth sometimes; but it's worth it if at the end is home, a loving spouse, happy kids, a dog and a few cats. We wouldn't have near the problem with our education system if kids got their exercise walking a dirt road with other kids, from whom they learn how to get along. There was less crime in our streets before they were paved. Criminals didn't walk two dusty miles to rob or rape, if the knew they'd be welcomed by five barking dogs and a double barrel shotgun. And there were no drive-by shootings. Our values were better when our roads were worse! People did not worship their cars more than they did their kids; and motorists were more courteous...they didn't tailgate by riding the bumper, or the guy in front would choke you with dust and bust your windshield with rocks. Dirt roads taught patience. Dirt roads were environmentally friendly. You didn't hop in your car for a quart of milk; you walked to the barn for your milk. For your mail, you walked to the mailbox. What if it rained and the dirt road got washed out? That was the best part! Then you stayed at home and had some family time - roasted marshmallows, popped popcorn and had a pony ride on Daddy's shoulders, and learned to make prettier quilts than anybody. At the end of dirt roads you soon learned that bad words tasted like soap. Most paved roads lead to trouble. Dirt roads more likely lead to a fishing creek or a swimming hole. At the end of a dirt road the only time we ever locked our car was in August, because if we didn't, some neighbor would fill it with too much Zucchini. At the end of a dirt road, there was always extra springtime income when city dudes would get stuck and you'd have to hitch up a team and pull them out. Usually you got a dollar...always you got a new friend... at the end of a Dirt Road.     Marilyn's Hideaway ~ Cancer Site ~ Children ~ Computers Critters ~ Domestic Violence ~ Good Old Days ~ Holidays Humor ~ Inspirationals ~ Katrina ~ Miscellaneous Patriotic ~ Poetry ~ Women ~ Norma Marek's Poetry   Web Set Created by: Image 'Country Lane' used with permission Made with love January 16, 2004.