We took a drive.
As a child growing up, our family often enjoyed the pleasure of the leisurely cruise to nowhere, following where the road led on a Sunday afternoon. Then the economy and the energy crisis of the 70’s interrupted our fun, and the Sunday afternoon drive seemed to go the way of the Amana radar range.
The other evening, however, the empty nesters decided to throw caution to the wind and enjoy a little aimless driving before the sun went down.
Now, this is one pleasure that I could never enjoy solo. Not only is it more fun to share the delights along the way, but I’m also directionally challenged. While a motor meander might be fun, finding myself lost in an adjacent county with no possible idea as to how I got there…
is not.
Fortunately, I married a homing pigeon. No matter where the path takes us, he can always find the way home. So off we went, the silent chauffeur and the yakking pointer.
Dirt roads are my favorite, and living in rural Georgia, we have an abundance of them. It was on one of those dirt roads, that we stumbled on this place.
I. Was. Delighted.
If there is anything more fun than the motor meander, it is being the adult in the car when you’re doing it. Adults, you see, can stop the car and take a gander if they have a mind to.
I had a mind to.
So the husband pulled to the side of the road,
and I hopped out of the car
and across the ditch
and through the weeds
to the abandoned old house...
with my shiny red Kodak .
with my shiny red Kodak .
I walked around it a few times
and then figured out a way to get up on that porch.
I peeked in the windows.
I even tried to turn the knob.
The husband gave a little toot on the horn.
“Don’t forget to take a picture of that sign,” he said.
Sign?
Oh, that one.
Phooey.
So Bonnie snapped the picture while Clyde idled the getaway car. Then I walked back through the weeds and across the ditch and into the car to join the party pooping smirker.
Which way now?
As if he had to ask.
And off we went to find more treasures
beyond the bend in the road.
beyond the bend in the road.
A leisurely evening drive is this week's simple pleasure.
*****
I'm so happy to be joining Dayle
at A Collection of This and That.
Please visit and enjoy the other simple pleasures.
You'll be very glad that you did.
at A Collection of This and That.
Please visit and enjoy the other simple pleasures.
You'll be very glad that you did.
38 comments:
I love it!!! You are too much Bonnie!!! LOL
Glad you and hubby had fun.
Blessings,
Bren
Used to love those rides when we were kids! Now the cowboy and I just ride and look at cows. Me exclaiming over what those gals might be thinking and him laughing at me! (He thinks they don't think.)
I was so tickled as I read, wondering where the no trespassing sign HAD to be. And, as usual you read my thoughts. I died laughing picturing the whole ordeal. Thanks for the laugh today dear sister. A simple pleasure to be sure.
Dad has always been great with directions!
However, I think you may have passed your lack thereof to ME...
Doesn't matter to me at all, we just get lost together :)
Love,
Best daughter ever (who plans on calling very soon today, since she has 6 hours between classes)
What a find! I'm just glad you didn't fall through the porch, Bonnie....
Debbie, I am literally crying, laughing so hard. Shaking, too, so pardon any typos. This post is simply delightful, and so are YOU! Love, love this account of Bonnie and Clyde's meanderings through the backroads. Driving aimlessley really is a great simple pleasure in life, but I'm with you... without my man "navigator" or the GPS (and my man navigator is becoming more and more dependant upon that GPS), I may end up in another county, as you put it, lost as a goose in an east wind.
This post made my day, and it's only 11:00 CST.
Looks like a lot of fun! Always amazes me how a house can just be abandoned like that!
I love days like that and those exploring type drives!! Would love to have seen more inside that house : ) Thank you so much for stopping by its nice to meet you : )
I have been on so many of these drives, mostly as an unwilling backseat participant. I can feel as the time passes why it is so appealing to just wander about on unknown roads. It's like we're on an expedition. And you TRULY exlored! Ha! I love how brave you are. Sam would make fun of me because the No Trespassing sign would have stopped me dead in my tracks. (I'm a rule-follower to a fault.)
This is awesome, and I love that you are literally exploring new territory in your new season of life! Such a fun post (as usual)!
Thanks for making me laugh out loud! I felt like I was right there with you in the back seat :)
A simple pleasure for me would be to take a ride along with you and your hubby. I bet ya'll have a blast anything you do together.
Hubby and I love to do that. Sadly, we usually have four kids in the back hollaring to go home or watch a movie on the DVD player. Not quite the same kind of fun as we would have alone, dreaming of the house we would build on that hilltop over there and watching the sunset over across that pasture, etc. The kids just think that's "boring"! Kids!
Love that old house. I would've done the same thing you did - only I would've probably checked the windows too!
Oh I love those kind of drives! My dad was always taking us off the beaten path on family road-trips and my hubby likes to do the same. We don't often get to be alone in the car in this season of life but when we are it is just pure bliss! Like, "oh, I remember how funny you are and how much I really like you!". That house you found was a wonderful surprise! Thanks for sharing it with us!
Vanessa
http://southerninmyheart.blogspot.com
P.S. Would you consider linking this post up to my Inspiration Friday party? :-)
Oh Debbie, yes I can see how you would be a great creative writing teacher--this is so funny and sounds so much like Arkansas--"a mind to"--I love it. So glad to meet you and looking forward to knowing you better.
Blessings to you,
Dianne
We used to take these drives also. That was our Sunday afternoon entertainment (and pleasure).
I love the old house. If walls could talk. :)
But, be careful out there Bonnie! LOL
Blessings,
Joan
Hi Debbie,
The flatware I used for my Super Market table setting is Mikasa and it says Romancing on the box.
Hope you find it somewhere!
Jenny
As usual, you've got me laughing in the floor. You and Clyde sound like the perfect duo.
P.S. Thanks for missing me in Blog Land. No, I've not been dating. Ha! Between my tetanus shot last week and my ear pains, and jaw pains and throat pains, and overall old age pains, I've not felt like blogging. Ugh.
Feeling a tad bit better.
Hugs.
Oh you sound like me! I have gone for a drive, ended up in another county and had no idea how I got there! What a wonderful drive-er ride- you had, and how fun to find that great old abandoned house. laurie
This is so funny ~ and poignant at the same time! I've a hunch you and your hubby could make a good time out of an IRS audit :) ...
I just returned from my hour-long commute, but this makes me want to take a drive!!!
One of my fondest memories as a child was going for rides with my parents. My father was a truck driver and I guess it is in my blood. My husband humors me and takes me for a ride but since the price of gas has gone up and I have been unemployed, a ride isn't a pleasure that I get to enjoy very often. Thank you so much for sharing because it is just what I would have done if I was there!!! Love the abandoned houses! They tell a tale if only their walls could talk!
Oh how I love aimlessly driving as you put it. :) That is one of my favorite things to do, and I'm blessed because I have a hubby that loves it too, he likes to see what he can get into. Although, I'm not sure you too would make a good team, because you two would definitely get into some kind of trouble. He is the female version of your "Bonnie". I'm more like your hubby, I would be more like "Clyde".
Anyway, I love your post and LOVED the old "shack" if you can call it that. That is what we would call it at home in Kentucky.
Thanks for sharing.
Hugs,
Cindy
I married a "homing pigeon" too! That's my kinda evening!! Growing up, our family always took rides on Sundays just for fun with no particular destination in mind. Oh, how I miss those days!!
Good job - that was a Good memory. sandie
I just found your blog, while commenting on mssharlottessouthernreflections.blogspot.com .
I started reading, and immediately was right there with you, enjoying the abandoned old house!
....I added {maybe too much!} more to this comment, and decided to send it as a personal email to you.... So, if you want, it's in your email to read!
Thank you for sharing your beautiful pix of this gorgeous old house and your "simple pleasure"!
Bonnie -
You are a girl after my own heart. One of the favorite things my husband and I like to explore is old ghost towns. This house reminded me of some of them. And I, too, seem to have a penchant for going where I'm not supposed to - it's especially bad when I see old mine entrances - I want to go in and see where the tunnels lead. Fortunately, husband has a clearer head and holds me back!
Glad you guys had a lovely drive - give my best to Clyde!!
p.s. You know, with a little TLC (and some decoupage) that house could be pretty cute! I'm just sayin'...
Hi Debbie. Sounds like it was a perfectly wonderful afternoon. I love driving the open roads, especially in the States, where they can go on forever. Here, in either direction, a little more than an hour will get you to the border of another country, passport and visa required. Happy exploring!
Hope you have a fabulous Friday! :) Tammy
I think of all the memories that must be stored in those walls. Sure wish we could run our fingers across the boards and the walls would speak to us of days gone by. Someone made it a home so why is it left behind - no farewell note - just empty. Sad in some ways and yet we have to believe that the home really was someones comfort spot.
Thanks Debbie for taking us along on your ride.
LOL ! the only thing missing are the pack of dogs chasing you back to the car like they did me :)) My Sweetie also sits in the get away car, we are sooo lucky to have our Clydes!
(())
Francie
How fun was that!! I am crazy for places like that! I can just imagine who lived there and how they lived. I tend to always want to go in and look around too!
Hi, Debbie! You and I would get into BIG trouble, I'm convinced. I love old buildings, and I love to spy out new, fascinating places. I always want to know the history of a house.
Thank you so much for dropping by to visit. Lots going on here as I have had a sick husband in addition to the house things that occurred. He has surgery on the 7th of September, and then I will be a nurse for several weeks. I thought I would be blogging again for sure in September, but life has a way of shifting our plans sometimes. Miss you much. Hope the girls are all settled in school and that the dorm rooms worked out well. While I'm here I will try and check back through some of your recent posts and see.
Love to you...
XOXOXO,
Sheila :-)
Bonnie-you sneaky!
I would have done the same thing!!
AND ignored my beefcake when he referenced the No Trespassing sign.
Why? Because I wasn't hunting OR fishing!
You go girl!
Hugs,
~me
I love going for drives! I always make my husband take the local routes instead of the highway. I would have also stopped at the house and taken pictures!
Manuela
Oh boy... what a fun drive! I love your special find, even in it's run down condition I can see that it is truly beautiful!
When I was younger I would try and get lost with a dear friend of mine, we would end up at the same covered bridge evert time! What sweet memories!
deedee
Debbie,
Thank you so much for the good laugh! My girls still talk about the drives we used to take - just "following our noses." My father and mother always took my two sisters and I on Sunday afternoon drives. I guess it's pretty universal!
~Jean
Now that would be fun! We haven't done a wandering drive in some time. I would have wanted to do the same as you and my DH would have been laying on the horn as well! LOL! He's always saying.."this is private property dear, you can't just"..you get the picture right? Loved your photos and post it was almost like being there myself. Thanks!
I love little adventures like this. And the questions that come along -- like "Who lives/lived here?", "What's their story?". And I find myself imagining and inventing identities for them all. If walls could talk...
I just better not come home to find my new bedroom inside...
Don't worry dear MD, I walked all around, and I saw neither pines nor knoll.
Oh I love to discover places like that. Even as a kid I would find old abondoned houses and dream of who lived there and how I would fix it up. I would have probably gone inside if at all possible. Hate those no trespassing signs. They take all the fun away.
Thanks also for your sweet comments you always leave. I really appreciate your visits. Hugs, Marty
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