the smell of dirt and dust

this is granny's house







this is the main barn on the property. it sits right next to what is now a busy road. there are a total of about seven shacks/barns. i don't know what they were used for but they all all about to completely collapse.





when i was little i went to an in-home day care for a couple of years. the lady that kept me was named joann harper. her husband's name was george harper. there were a couple other kids there but i don't remember them, i just remember their granddaughter, sherrie. she was my age and she cut my hair once because i told her that my mom wouldn't mind, "i need a trim anyway". i once bit a kid on the arm there. to teach me a lesson, joann bit the crap out of my arm. it hurt and i cried a lot but lesson learned, i never did it again. they had an old barn out in the back where we would fiddle with really old tools and gadgets and play dress up with really old smelly clothes. i remember granddaddy long legs in that barn. they still give me the creeps. we played outside a lot, i don't ever remember watching television over there. i took naps in the back room and was forced to eat spaghetti-os and we played in the carport for a good bit of it all. sometimes i hated going because i just didn't want to go. mostly though, i loved it. i was treated almost like one of her grandbaby's and i knew it, she really took good care of me.

joann and george used to grow pumpkins in the field next to their house. they would sell them every year for halloween. we got our pumpkin from them every year, said hello and caught up a bit, then one year we just stopped going. i went back once with my boyfriend but i don't remember if i told her who i was. they are really old now (they were kind of old when they took care of me) and no longer sell pumpkins. i drive by the house all the time, it's right around the corner from my parent's house. the harpers are old lilburn. they are rooted in this town by at least six generations.

that whole family used to own all of the land in that area. sisters and brothers and mom and dad all lived (and still do) next door and across the street from each other. joann's mom lived next door in a house that was ancient. they had lived there forever. joann grew up in that house. i guess joann's dad had died because i never heard anything about him. i did know her mother though. we called her "granny" and granny was as old as dirt. i was never scared of her even though everything about her and that place probably seemed spooky to a five year old. once we were in her kitchen and i asked her to take down her bun and show me her hair. she took it down and it almost touched the floor. that's about the only thing i can remember about her. i was really young. i rarely recall words but the pictures are in my head. granny's house stirs so much inside of me though. it stirs emotions, memories and my imagination. my mom and i were driving by the house today and we stopped. i got out and took a few pictures. i had always wanted to and knew that if i didn't do it then one day the place would collapse and i would regret it. now there is so much growth (new neighborhoods, shopping centers) around something that used to be surrounded by nothing but fields and dirt road. the property now sticks out like a sore thumb but it also feels so natural. like it cries out to be taken back a century ago, when it actually felt like home.

i'll probably go back one day soon and take more pictures. i'd really like to go talk to george and joann but i know i probably won't.