Current Photo Friday theme: Rustic
Prickly pear cactus and echinacea purpurea (purple cornflower), shot in June 2011, at Green Acres. Lucky that I had this photo, and of course Lynne had purple flowers so I could stick with the week’s purple theme.
When Lynne confirmed for me the names of the plants, I texted her a memory I had about today’s theme word:
And I know this memory won’t surprise you because it’s my weird brain, but the first time I ever heard the word “rustic” spoken aloud was from your mother. I’d only ever read it and in my head mispronounced it, so that’s when I learned how it was pronounced. Furthermore, I remember what she was speaking of—the natural environment of your father’s country club where we used to swim.
This was truly a “country” club where her father and sister played golf, owned and operated by a couple in a rural area in foothills outside our small town. Most of the time, Lynne and I had the pool to ourselves, and the woman made the most delicious sandwiches from her home-baked hams.
The image of a country club halfway to being a summer camp is fantastic. And now I want a ham sandwich made with home-baked ham.
Those sandwiches would melt in our mouths–slivers of ham on white bread with mayonnaise. Just what we wanted after swimming for hours, which we could do because the pool had a canopy, so we didn’t have to worry about the sun. There was a raised concrete square outside that area where we could lie on our towels in the sun. The second year we went there, they’d installed a slide.
Very rarely, they had a little snack bar open next to the pool where we could get chips, candy bars, or soft drinks. The weekends might have been busier, but we always went on weekdays because that’s when Lynne’s father and his cronies played golf.
It was a fun place. I wonder what my daddy thought of our bill? He never mentioned it
Ha ha, I thought about that, too. Although back then, a couple of sandwiches and a couple of Cokes couldn’t have run him much. I think when they had the little snack bar open, we might have even paid for our junk food. Regardless, he took care of us. ♥️