Cousins,Dream with me of a little old farm somewhere in Kentucky, maybe Tennessee - just to satisfy my bride. It's not real big, maybe 50 or 60 acres, mostly. There, see it there...a house tucked into the head of a holler.
Don't think I am putting on airs over the house. It ain't anything big. Just make sure it has a porch full of rockin' chairs. For Oh My Darlin's sake wrap that porch around the house. She would like that real good. At the end of the porch put a porch swing for me to sit in and study the hills across a creek. That would be a good location to watch the occasional car heading up the holler. Good place to sit and wave to neighbors.
Inside I ain't fussy about, make it warm and comfortable, put a wood stove in the parlor to keep me warm as I grow old. I reckon a big old kitchen would be nice with windows facing a branch running out the holler to the creek.
Land the barn back up the holler a bit. Room for a mule I can ride through the hills of home. A place to putter and make brooms. A cool place for my old dog to lay in the heat of the day. Scatter a couple of sheds and smokehouses around full of mountain treasures...canned goods, crocks of kraut and country hams hanging, full of sweet smoky smells.
On the hillside find me some sourwood so the air will be filled with the heavy sweet scent and the bees will work the hillside all through the sweet spring. Lay in some dogwood, redbud and deeper in rhododendron to bloom in the hidden damp crannies of the slopes.
Make sure the summer grass is full of lightening bugs ready to dance in the twilight and entertain the youngin's. A right smart bunch of crickets to sing me to sleep and some of them treefrogs to remind us all is well with the world.
Find me some good hearted neighbors. Honest, hard working to stop and visit now and again. A preacher to come to Sunday dinner. A little white church on a hill with stained glass sending God's light in dozens of colors on those who worship inside.
Make it close to my hometown of Beloved, if you will. My heart is there already, in love with the odd and quirky folks who fill my life and my heart.
