city park

Carpe Diem #1255 City Park



City Park (photo by Chèvrefeuille)
Fall weather and the thoughts of city parks take me back to the years of my childhood and youth.  Every year for many decades my father's extended family gathered for the Rogers' reunion.  The concrete picnic tables of Finch Park would be ladened with all the wonderful fresh garden foods of the rural families.  Fresh blackeyed peas and fried okra, platters of sliced tomatoes, home made pickles and relishes brimmed over the edges of the dishes.  Some of the women had killed chickens the day before and so the fried chicken was better than anything I taste today.  Pies, cakes and cookies were on the dessert tables.  The old 20 gallon coolers used to hold water in the cotton fields were filled with tea and lemonade cooled by the blocks of ice from the ice store.  These foods were eaten with the plates, flatware and glasses brought from home.

September in Texas was still hot and dusty as the usual fall rains would not arrive till in October.  Playing with cousins on the swings, slides and merry go rounds was such great fun.  Being a bit of a tomboy I worried little about sliding 'like a little lady' even though I would be attired in a newly made dress for the occasion.  The reunion would end in time for the farmers to go home, milk the cows and attend evening church services.


crinolines
covered
in dusty fun

sleepy eyes droop
to the pastor's voice


©  petra domina

Thanks to Chèvrefeuille for daily prompts on 

CARPE DIEM HAIKU KAI

1962 one of the last of the Rogers' reunions.  Kids could wear shorts by now.

Comments

  1. Ah, I like this story, your haibun inspired by the memory of reunions. Nice tanka.

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    1. Glad you enjoyed and hope it brought back good memories.

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  2. I love an autobiographical haibun with a bit of history, especially in what is for me a faraway place!

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    1. So pleased you enjoyed my bit of memory. It was time before concrete consumed so many of the beautiful, fertile farms.

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  3. A lovely walk down memory lane. I really enjoyed this.

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    1. So glad you came along for the walk. It makes it more pleasurable even for me.

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  4. You are at your endearing best when you dwelve into haibun. Fits you like a glove somehow and is eminently readable. I really took part in this, with all senses, and it has a lingering effect like good tea, coffee, or rum.

    Interesting about shorts - in Scotland it was the reverse, and my uncle was frequently sent home for wearing long trousers to school in the snow, and told to wear shorts...only the Scots are capable of such logic!

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    1. The shorts made me laugh. I would love to visit Scotland. My familial roots supposedly trace to Scotch Irish homelands.

      I enjoy sharing the little bits of memories from the times of my youth. I certainly do not want to go back to the hate and discrimination of those times though at times it appears about 35% of my nation does. Thank you, again, for your encouraging words.

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  5. I love those sweet memories ... your haibun is really beautiful.

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  6. Hari OM
    Fondness! Love the bloggy makeover too.... YAM xx

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  7. Well, it felt like time for some fall colors. Namaste, Janice xx

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  8. Nice memory, nice life, nice family. I really enjoyed your tanka prose. Thanks for sharing it with us.

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    1. It was a nice life. Not perfect but mostly good. Glad you liked the tanka.

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  9. this is a classic haibun ! the old stories of cotton fields lingers like a ghost !it's going to be a part of history !

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    1. Yes, they do. There are still a few cotton fields in the area. Thanks for stopping by and commentins.

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