This is my entry for Challenge 10 of the race. This challenge was a road block that only one of us had to do and it was my turn. We had to do a 1 or 2 page layout about our favorite place to go or visit, why it was our favorite, how it made us feel, and what we did there. It also had to include the word 'satisfaction' somewhere on the page. My journaling reads:
I love Texas, more specifically Pineland, Texas, just a little speck on a map, population 1,014...my birthplace. Pineland became my “summer home” once my dad was transferred to Georgia. It’s those times I remember more than the short time I actually lived there. At the beginning of every summer, mom and dad loaded up the car with us four kids and all our luggage and we started the 14 hour drive from Marietta, Georgia to Pineland, Texas. Oh! The joy and excitement I felt when I saw that green sign that read “Pineland City Limits”! 5 minutes to Mamaw and Papaw’s house!! Once we pulled into the driveway we would scramble out of the car as fast as we could. Ah...The satisfaction of getting that first hug from Mamaw!
We normally spent at least a week, sometimes two, in Pineland before heading home. Those were the best two weeks in my life. Why? Family was all around. What was there to do in Pineland? Not much, actually. There wasn’t a mall or a movie theatre. There was a dry goods store which we thought was pretty cool. There was a cafe that my maternal grandmother owned and ran. Pineland also had a drug store up on the town square that had an old fashioned soda fountain. That was a real treat to go up there, climb on that stool and order a chocolate soda. Sadly, the drug store didn’t last too many years. Once it was gone we got a Dairy Bar. That was the closest to fast food Pineland had. Yum...a cherry coke, a hamburger and double order of fries!
We spent literally HOURS sitting in the swing on Mamaw’s front porch waving at the cute boys that drove by. Sometimes they even stopped and hung out with us for a while. You can bet when they did, one of our dads’ would come out there to question them...find out who their parents were. Now, if all us cousins were really good, one of our moms would talk the men into talking us to Mill Creek to swim. I think they did it so our moms could sneak off to Jasper and go shopping without taking any of us kids with them.
Nettiebeth lived just a couple of miles from Mamaw and sometimes she’d take some of us kids home with her to check on the animals. She lived on a farm and we’d all beg to go to her house. We loved it there. She had chickens, and pigs and cows. It was a city kid’s Disneyland! We could chase the chickens around the yard and get dirty. If we were lucky enough to spend the night we got to sleep in the summer bedroom, which was really nothing more than a screened-in porch. The biggest treat was getting to help Truitt milk the cows the next morning and then, that afternoon, Nettiebeth would let us churn butter!
What did we do at night? Well, Mamaw and Papaw did have a TV, but I honestly don’t remember it ever being turned on while we were there. Mamaw saved her mayonnaise jars for us to use to catch fireflies. After it got really dark, Papaw would come out on the front porch, gather us all around and tell us stories about the ghosts that haunted their house. I don’t know if these stories were true or not, but I can tell you that I never slept a single night in the front bedroom of their house!
Sadly, Mamaw and Papaw are no longer with us nor are most of the relatives on these pages. Their house has just recently been sold to a stranger who plans on retiring in Pineland. That’s ok, though. I have the satisfaction of knowing their memories and stories are still alive and well in my heart.
What a wonderful layout! It will be so nice to have all this written with the photos for your memories. Beautiful colors and placement. Love the subtle photos under the text and title.
------------------------------ Jean
lorenehill Designer & Moderator
Registered: February 2007 Location: Sequin TX USA Posts: 1500
Sat August 18, 2007 11:28pm
WOW! love all this journalin'
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mom2triplets04 Deco-Pages Creative Team Member
Registered: March 2007 Posts: 5029
Sun August 19, 2007 9:47am
Your journaling is fantastic. As I was reading it I felt like I was there holding your hand. Really neat. What is a chocolate soda? Never heard of that before. Must have been fun to visit the farm when you were younger. I can't really remember anything that fun when I was little. Sorry to hear your relatives are no longer with you but they are in your heart and memory. Great tribute page to them as well. Awesome job on this and bet your children will love to read it.
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