Lemons

Taylor and I drove up to my Aunt June's house last night. Aunt June lives at Lake Allatoona in Canton, GA - or Woodstock? I've always said Canton but MapQuest said differently... for that matter, Aunt June isn't actually my aunt, she's my cousin... so maybe I should say that I drove to Woodstock to see my Cousin June but that just doesn't sound right. Taylor and I drove to see Aunt June in Canton, where my mom and Aunt Janny were meeting up for a visit. I hadn't been up to Canton in a really long time and Taylor had never made the trip. It's only an hour away from my home (50 minutes?) and it was such a great opportunity to see AuntCousin June and Uncle Rudy.

My mom warned me that I wouldn't recognize anything on my way there and to make sure to read the directions. She was wrong. I definitely remembered it all - the tall white wooden fence along Bells Ferry Road, the gas station at the turnoff and all the boats lined up along Victoria Street. Then of course I turned left at the stop sign with the church at the intersection and headed down a one-lane (yet two-way trafficked) road. Mama Vivian's house was on the corner with the wrap around porch that I think Uncle Rudy built. I drove just passed it and left into the driveway, walked down the familiar staircase and knocked on the same door I remember running in and out of on my way to and from the water.

Mom used to take the boys and I to and from AuntCousin June's at least once a year around Christmas. I don't remember if it was the weekend before or just sometime in December but we always used to go. Dad came too sometimes. We'd usually stay at Aunt Janny's house for a night or two (she lived in "Atlanta" back then too... Atlanta was what we called everything within a 2 hour radius of downtown - not understanding that Six Flags, The Varsity, and Canton, GA weren't exactly in the same zip code). So we'd travel to "Atlanta" to visit Mom's family. Mom would complain that the crew didn't come to Augusta enough. We'd eat a delicious meal (deviled eggs -yummy!), run back and forth from the water up to the house and across the street to Mama Vivian's. There was always a gift exchange and inevitably two or more people would end up with the same gift, like candles or coupon books, or the annual pop-culture-snuggie- type-item.

Pictured here is Taylor in Aunt June's lap and the T-monster with a lemon picked from Uncle Rudy's lemon tree. I used the lemon tonight to make an apple pie and am about to enjoy a slice... happy memories...