|
CabinCreek-Kentucky
True Blue Farmgirl
8529 Posts
Frannie
Green County
Kentucky
USA
8529 Posts |
 Posted - Oct 15 2008 : 9:04:04 PM
|
wanted to share this sweet story from Tilda (Pat Byers of High Button Shoe) who was a precious friend at our Gurlfren Gathering this past weekend in Kentucky:
October 15, 2008
HighButtonShoe
The Farm Update/ The Journey to Kentucky
....occasionally, not often, we are given a gift, that we didn't expect, that can change us, better us, and one that we will reflect upon for time to come. Beu and me made the decision months ago to make the journey to Kentucky, with an invitation from Frannie of Freedom Farm (formerly Cabin Creek Farm) to come for a 'gurlfrenz' weekend. Knowing it would be a great trip, as we had been to Frannie's cabins a couple years ago and toured her house, in her absence, as she had run north to witness the birth of her granddaughter, this time we had the promise that we would actually meet Frannie. A trip like this is not always an easy feat. Obligations at home often deter our thinking and we let go of a plan, even though we dearly want to do it. My often Plan A to Plan Q, in the blink of an eye, you know. Fall, is always a busy time, with farm chores that must be done before the dreaded first snows, which in Michigan often do come in October. Never the less, we convinced Beu's father we must go. Frannie, may be the one person who can merely invite others to travel great distances for a weekend in Kentucky, and we come. Coming from Maryland, Texas, Michigan, Georgia, Florida, Wis-CON-sin, Ohio and Kentucky, we came.
The common denominator for us all, was Frannie herself. A free spirit, possibly eccentric (a quality I find most appealing in people, as I tend to have that trait myself, I would think...) I do believe there is no other human being quite like Frannie. A bit of description of her... she is a tiny waif of a thing, with a charm that immediately draws people to her. Perhaps her outward appearance to begin with would draw first attention. Frannie does not dress like most women. Hardly! Partial to hats and not common jewelry, she wears both, atop dresses in layers of fabrics that most would find suffocating, but she just adds layer upon layer, generally over colored tights and ankle or knee boots. If not tights, she wears brightly colored striped knee socks with sandals. Even I, who, can dress pretty odd at times, don't own striped knee socks! But then, I am wearing my old hunting grey socks at the moment, and will for the next several months, so I guess I can't comment on that.
Easily, aside from the layers of dresses and the hat, noticeable from even a distance is Frannie's signature hairdo. Long or short, it remains the same. Untamed, and this past weekend in rich colors of auburn, bleached streaks of almost white, and golds. At one time, she mentioned after removing her hat for a moment, to 'comb' her hair, she merely bent her head down, shook her hair with her hands, and content with that, put her hat back on. Indeed I believe that is her general method of combing her hair. It fits her nicely. The whole finished 'package' of Frannie fits her nicely. To know Frannie is to love her.
We left Michigan at 8AM with frost on the ground and 34 degrees. We arrived 10 hours later, with only coffee, gas, and toilet breaks. Gas was a pleasant surprise of $2.99.9 after leaving Michigan. And we found it as low as $2.76.9 before we left Kentucky.
Frannie, having gone up to Louisville airport, to pick up the fly ins, was later than we were getting there. Not surprising, apparently, as she herself describes herself as not always punctual. An understatement, and forgiven always. Her driveway is long and paved, as we found all roads in KY were. We did not see any dirt roads. The roads that would be dirt here, although paved were very narrow, all winding, and had only about 12 inches of shoulder. You definitely pay attention to your driving. At least those of us from "off" do. The locals drive much faster! If you aren't from KY, you are from "off". Only one of the local sayings that made our hearts smile over the course of the next few days. Once you drive the narrow driveway back into what we 'from the nawth' would call a section ( a fairly long drive in..) you pop over a hill, and look way down into the valley where the freedom farm is. It is quite indescribable to do it justice. Suffice to say, it about takes your breath away, in its simplicity, old buildings all painted red, tucked along with the very old log cabins that are part of the house. It is many buildings put together to form their house. Decked out for fall, with corn stalks, pumpkins, gourds, dried sunflowers and mums, the season had temporarily forgotten it was mid October and it was in the high 80's, the entire time we were there. We had brought clothes for cooler weather, so sometimes were quite frazzled in the warmth. But hairdo's were completely disregarded for a few days.
Others began to filter in and we enjoyed pizza baked in Frannie's old stove. While looking like an ancient black 100 year old wood burning cook stove, I think it was modern. We sat out on the back porch which overlooks yet another steep hillside, into the woods which surrounds the open spaces. I stayed vigil all weekend for Jake the resident 5' black cow snake, but he apparently did not make himself visible with 30 women roaming around the grounds. Smart snake. The table is probably 10-12' long and has old chairs around it. The outside sounds of the fall in the evening were almost deafening when we stopped talking long enough to listen. The evening of Kentucky sounds like the evening of Michigan.
We followed Mary and Jeanne to our cabin we had rented on the Green River, for 3 nights. Much to our surprise, our accommodations were BUNK beds. Beu took the upper, me the lower. I have not slept in bunk beds in decades! But we were comfortable. 9AM Saturday morning Eastern time, as Greensburg is Central time, (we stayed on Eastern time as most of us are EST..) Beu and me had already made our way to breakfast and COFFEE, and drove to Glovers Station, the antique building of our destination to meet the others. We sat in the sun, on the benches outside and shortly along came Miss Kledith, who without a doubt, is the epitome of southern gracious hospitality woman, and surely an asset to that store.
She had come in early to open and let us in right along with her. After hugs and reviews of our trip down, others started filtering in. Strangers to us, and each other, but we were all there for the same purpose. Friends of Frannie's. Numbering probably 20-25 women, we shopped some time (the first of many times we messed up our scheduled hours of the days activities) and all found treasures to bring back home. Next, we crossed the street, with Frannie in the lead, ahead of us, talking and gesturing to what we were going to see, as I was totally amazed that she simply walked into the street and the oncoming cars STOPPED. In Greensburg, people have the right of way, cars stop. Amazed, I thought she would get run over! The cars remained stopped on both sides until we all got across. In Michigan, we would have been run over flat! Probably with much horn honking and cursing. We went to the Greensburg Old Green County Court House, the oldest known court house west of the Alleghenies, and sitting on the old pews on the original brick floors, we were given local background of the building and the county by Nan Montgomery, a woman of great knowledge and beauty. We had met her on our last visit and I was impressed again with her as I was the first time. Like Kledith, Nan is a great asset to the community.
Leaving the court house, we walked down to a small park, where a local artist has painted murals on the building walls. Frannie instructed us to find a stone sometime in our walking to be used later. Only later did I find out the significance of the stone. One I will never forget. From there, we had a welcoming meeting with the mayor, and walked from there to a grand old house atop a hill, that Abraham Lincoln's teacher/mentor had lived in. Beautiful old stately home. Time to eat. We got take out, and drove back to Frannie's to unload gear, and car pool to SugarBucket Antiques (about 45 miles or minutes away...I forget which..but a lengthy drive of several cars trying to keep up with the lead car, as NONE of us knew where we were going, IF we lost the lead car!) Beu kept an eye on the car ahead of us, and I paid attention to the curves, and no shoulder end of the driving. At SugarBucket, we again, went thru her shop and she taught a class of fall garland, while others rested on her wrap around porch. And of course, we ate! Again! It was sweat running down your hair and back hot! The game of that stop, was cast iron frying pan toss. Easy you might think. Not!
Cast Iron is hard to fling. It is heavy, and the handle messes you up. We laughed ourselves silly. By now, 3 hours off schedule, we again got in the line of cars to our next stop of the day. Luna's sheep farm, where a class would be taught with wool to make a felted pumpkin. We watched as she did a technique of which I have forgotten the name, that separates and stretches the wool by some machine. Then it was carded. That technique I knew. It was late afternoon, still hot. Luna has tables set up in the yard by the sheep pasture. Her sheep are beautiful, and came up to the fence to greet us. Old farm tables were set with burlap cloths, and candelabras. She demonstrated spinning the wool and some tried it. Mary from Maryland was experienced with wool and very knowledgeable. Probably the rest of us..weren't. But still fascinated. The class was to make a felted wool pumpkin with dyed orange wool. (Not fabric, but wool.) I didn't take the class. Just as well, I suspect, as I know my non talents would have been most evident immediately! I sat at our smaller table and watched the others, who struggled some with the felting process. I laughed at Mary's pumpkin, which I told her resembled more an orange troll. Our table seemed to be off by itself as the darkness took over and the candles were lit. Luna has a table set with a delicious stew and homemade bread that we all got self serve and went back to our table to eat. In the darkness, lit only with the candles and lights on the fence, our table just talked. It was then, that we came to know each other. Friendships formed that will not soon be forgotten. We left about 10PM perhaps, our caravan of cars, resembling a funeral procession, back into the darkness of narrow roads and the unknown, as Frannie led us back to her drive. Beu and me opted to carry on and go to the cabin, as it was now 11PM, and did I mention HOT. In doing so, we missed the late night rendition of Frannie dancing at the tree house in a lizard mask and hands to the music sounds of Mama Mia. I am sorry we missed that!
Up again for coffee and a McDonald breakfast, we were off for Frannie's. While we had fattening McDonalds, the others were feasting on great food cooked on that old stove and served on the porch. We ate again! We ate on old gray enamelware plates. Her enamelware plate collections rivals my own in size. This day was supposed to be spent at Frannie's with 2 classes scheduled. Beu and me were signed up for the crow making class. I loved it.
And as we had brought things from home, each of us, to trade or sell, we spread our wares out on the lawns. Frannies' house was open for all. Extremely primitive, this is where I first saw the 2 doors for the same door frame, and why I have 2 doors on the opening to the bedroom off my dining room. I still don't know the reason for that custom, as I purely forgot to ask.
After classes, again off schedule, we had a pumpkin bowling event. Sending a pumpkin hurdling down her back slope to hit another pumpkin placed there. You know, something I would be good at. NOT! But after misunderstanding that we were playing BOWLING, not flinging like the fry pan, and I had flung my pumpkin way past the pumpkin and never even came remotely close...I whined and was pathetic and given another chance. Where upon, I hit the pumpkin. But so did 2 others. One time hit, is not to be believed. To do it TWO more times, impossible. But I graciously conceded my loss. (Oh, by the way, politics and stock market were taboo subjects for the weekend...) Except for my concede speech to my cheer on crowd...)
Then came the most powerful emotional part of the weekend. Told to bring a poem or writing that we would read while sitting on the ground in a circle, if we didn't bring one we had to sing and dance for our supper. We had eaten non stop for 2 days, but still the threat of that was enough for each to have a reading. Thinking sitting on the ground, would force me to have to crawl over to a tree to get back up, I sat in the circle. I had brought 2-3 readings with me, including one I didn't really intend to share, and in the end, that is the one I read. With each woman reading what they brought, we all cried. Some silent tears merely falling, others of us catching our breath and barely able to breathe, some openly sobbing. One by one, we read our paper. At the end of the readings , we each took our stone we had found, that had been a hot drag in our pockets for 2 days, and in getting up one by one we were to place our stone in what would become a heart, and say one thing that we were grateful for. The answers were as varied as we are. But all had great depth to them, and we all understood. Then we all stood,encircling her, each put a hand on Frannie, who is having cancer surgery in a few days, and Chris offered a moving, sincere prayer for Frannie's healing and the doctors skills, and also for friend Deena of www.theprimitivegathering.com who is battling cancer on a much more aggressive level. And we all cried. While this weekend gathering was not intended to be a spiritual retreat weekend, and indeed was not like ones I have been to, it was no doubt one of the most moving, personal experiences I have had. We came from different backgrounds, different states, different lives, and in the end, we were all as sisters. We hugged long, before each one was leaving to go back home. As Beu and me weren't leaving until Monday to come home, we joined Frannie and her Maryland friends, along with Betty Jo from Wis-CON-sin who had flown in also, to Campbellsville for a Mexican supper. We parted in the parking lot amid many hugs and for me and Beu, the utmost gratitude to be a part of this incredible weekend.
Monday morning we arose early and walked down from the cabin to the Green River to see Millie's River.
True southern accents melt your heart. One of the purest and most pleasing was from Miss Millie, who I believe is one of the most beautiful women I have ever met. We had to see her Green River. The fog was rising over the water, 4 deer were down to the waters edge drinking and in the other direction, with the sun just breaking thru the trees and fog was a crane standing guard in shallow water for his breakfast. We walked back up the hill, and picked up 2 bags of walnuts from the yard of our cabin to bring home for Rufus, the resident farm black squirrel who won't have walnuts from our trees due to the late frosts in June. We got coffee, and leaving road 61 one last time, we stopped on the hill outside town and trespassed in a field to take pictures of tobacco drying in an open barn. And headed home.
You had to be there, to experience the weekend. In spite of non stop eating of some of the very best food ever, I came home 'lighter', freer of some troublesome thoughts, free of stress that everyday life seems to bring some times. I will forever be grateful for this journey to Kentucky. I LOVE Kentucky. Frannie, THANK YOU FOR MAKING THIS HAPPEN!!! And to all of you who were there with Beu and me, I will remember you. I have come to believe we all had a purpose to be there.
Back home, I faced unpacking which you KNOW I hate doing! And haven't fully gotten the truck unpacked yet. This week, the chores include moving all the antiques from the sale in Sept to the other barn. Where I am sure, Fritz the Anaconda, resident barn snake still is lurking, but I will be ready with my hoe to whomp him given the chance.
It is cold and wet. I have the fireplace on, along with my long underwear and hunting socks. So today hasn't been very productive. Ron will be sure to notice. But perhaps a pot of fresh coffee will offset my lack of ambition in his eyes. Or not.
PrimitiveGathering, the 15th of the month was released today. Our links are below. And the 15th of the month for LemonPoppySeeds was too. I have new things on PG, but show on the first for LPS. However, please check out the new listings for both.
And for those of you in this area, I will be helping at a shop in Cadillac Michigan having a Fall Open House.
Primitives in Thyme, October 25th 10-4. Located across from Wendy's down on the north end. Phone
(231) 392-2713. Great primitive antiques and folk art.
Okay, that's probably long enough reading for even my most favored readers!
Thanks for asking to be a part of our farm and life.
Should you decide not to, merely reply with remove.
in fond regard,
Tilda, with renewed spirit
probably cookies and great food applied directly to my butt,
a whole barn of stuff to move
lover of gourds
long underwear til May
content and happy
http://www.highbuttonshoe.net
http://www.lemonpoppyseeds.com/shoppes/pshighbuttonshoe/
http://www.123websiteservices.com/~craftsho/craftbooth502/index.php?x=96&y=16
http://www.theprimitivegathering.com/highbuttonshoe.htm
http://www.simplyprimitives.com/artisans/highbutton.html
True Friends * KENTUCKY FRANNIE
adopt a 'rag-chile'
http://sistermercysfoundlinhome.blogspot.com
treasures .. new and olde .. http://mudpiemanormercantile.blogspot.com
|
|
High Button Shoe ... Gurlfren Gathering in Kentuck
