We called my dad’s mother Mama Sims. She was not just a grandmother, she was the grand matriarch of the family. Certain things about the house she called home are forever embedded in my mind– there are things about a house that little kids never forget. My ten first cousins and two siblings who share memories of Mama Sims’ house will certainly remember them all, but it’s time to share them with the world. Let’s take a tour of Mama Sims’ house through the eyes of me as a child. Continue reading MAMA SIMS’ HOUSE
Tag Archives: Mama Sims
STORM PIT APOCALYPSE
“I would hurry to my place of shelter, far from the tempest and storm.” Psalm 55:8”
Does anyone remember the heyday of the storm pit? Yes, in “tornado alley” (a swath stretching from Oklahoma to Georgia) the storm pit was a common sight, especially between the mid-1930’s and the mid-1960’s. Around here they were normally dug into the side of a small hill, usually consisting of about six steps descending down into a 8′ x 8′ cinderblock-walled room. Around the edge of the room were wooden benches, or sometimes a collection of ladder back chairs with cane-woven seats. All storm pits had plenty of candles, matches, and perhaps a kerosene lamp. Moms and Dads everywhere kept their eyes to the sky during stormy seasons of the year– storm pits needed to be used, and used often.
BIRTHDAYS AND BIG DAYS AT MAMA SIMS’ HOUSE
I always rolled my eyes when I heard my parents and grandparents talk about the “good ole days.” They talked fondly about having to use outhouses in the freezing cold, and walking three miles to school every morning. What’s up with that? It’s like the grass was always greener during the Great Depression. Whew! That was way before air conditioning. No, thank you. But now that I am a parent and grandparent, I find myself doing the same thing, especially when I get together with my siblings and cousins. How we idolize those magical days of our past! Maybe the reason the good ole days are so nostalgic to us is because we are only able to touch them again in our memories.
I say I miss those days, but when I think about it, they weren’t all so wonderful– at least not when I lived them the first time. Good ole days are always better re-lived that first lived. When nostalgia hits me, my mind especially takes me back to those birthdays and big days we spent at Mama Sims’ house. There were two birthdays that were more important to us than those belonging to Washington or Lincoln– Mama Sims’ birthday, and Little Grandmaw’s birthday.
THE “CRUB” MARKET
For YEARS, at the southeast corner of 2nd Avenue South and the Mellow Valley Highway stood the Ashland Crub Market. Yes, you read it correctly– “crub” market. A ten foot, homemade sign emblazoned with black letters on a plain white background greeted travelers headed south from town, just one block from the court house square. Almost all Ashlanders will remember it.
Obviously, it was supposed to say “curb market,” which is an open air fresh fruit and vegetable stand, common throughout the South. At curb markets, we could buy fresh produce by the box or by the item, cash only. It was a quick, happy way to usher those fresh grown veggies into the kitchen– especially for Ashlanders who didn’t have time to work their own gardens.
