The annual Griner reunion was Oct 16th. It is always strange to see how few of Dad's relatives actually left their hometown. Grandma's house has not physically changed much since I was a kid, but it is definitely odder. Other houses used to surround my grandmother's house, but a large church bought all of them so now it is surrounded by a parking lot. My uncle cares for my grandmother and his son (30) lives there with them as well. My uncle was always very quiet when we were growing up so he is quite hard to get to know. I know he likes Conan novels, music and can't hear very well. That's about it. When we went to visit this time I was impressed with
1) The decor. My uncle enjoys watching HGTV. I'm not sure which show caught his interest but his interpretation of good design is, uh, interesting, to say the least. Four shades of green decorate the walls (where you can see walls). What's that you ask? Why can't you see the walls? I'm glad you asked. There are logs and bows covering them up. No not fabric bows although there is some of that too. I mean bow and arrow bows.
2) The lifestyle. The kitchen and living room are now separated by plywood. You might wonder why. Well, it's so they only have to run one air unit to cool the house. Makes sense you think. Until you find out a bit more. It's not just an unairconditioned kitchen. It's an unused kitchen. My uncle spends his day shooting his bow outside and then cooks outside before retiring in for the evening. I wonder what the churchgoers think of that as they walk to and from their cars? Well, he can live however he wants if he takes care of my grandmother.
The house has always been a bit weird (sorry Dad). My dad and grandfather built it over the course of seven years. My grandmother got so fed up with waiting for the new house, she moved the family one day while Papa was asleep. There were only two problems with her plan. First of all, the house wasn't finished so there was a large pit walled with cement blocks we always had to avoid as kids. (That is still there, but they put a wood platform over 1/5th of it and my uncle cooks there now.) The second problem was that my dad was away at college and no one notified him of the move. This must be a common occurance in the late 60s since the same thing happened to my mother. Thanks for not moving without telling me mom and dad!
Well, I love my dad's colorful family. The family farm is always interesting to me. My grandfather's story is that his great grandfather (or some such, I'm sure my dad has the details) was migrating south (a really long story as to why) and the wagon broke down. Obviously, it was ideal place to settle. Forget the fact that they decided to farm....and it was sandy land... Well, hardship can make the most of some people. I'm very proud of my dad for growing up immersed in all this and deciding to throw it all behind him and go to college and major in Physics. It certainly took no thinking outside the box for me to decide to go to college and I never had to worry about paying for it.
Another thing we learned. How do you entertain a large group if kids for awhile? Two bales of hay and some candy. Other activities included beach time. Ruby seemed ambivilant about her first beach experience. The red tide was bad and actually made us all cough. I didn't realize it could do that.
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