All of these images were taken in the mountains of western North Carolina last weekend.
The last image of the decaying moss covered roof is my aunt and uncle's house. They have been dead for quite a long time. It saddens me no end that not one of their many children{they had 14 kids} or grandchildren could save the house.
Do I feel more tied to that place than they do?
Maybe so.
Do you feel tied to places from your past?
Tell me in the comments.
In Olive Out news I have been up to a lot lately and have some good news for y'all.
I will be posting about all that next week. As a result I have not been able to party like a rock star or visit like the friend I ought to be.
joy and peace
Olive
Oh Olive, you know me and nostalgia... I am so sad that not one of your relatives saved the house... I can see why you are tied to it... and yes, I am tied to my family home where I grew up and spent many a carefree day as a little girl... I am sure that's why I post about it so often... my family is all gone now except for my little sister and me, and I told tight to those memories... your photos are beautiful... can't wait for your exciting news!... xoxo Julie Marie
ReplyDeleteThat was supposed to say "hold tight".. sorry, I had surgery on my hand and it still hurts to type
ReplyDeleteThe moss covered roof is actually quite pretty. It seems nature is taking care of the house. :)
ReplyDeletei am very close to my roots ... right now i feel i am flapping in the breeze. ready for some new roots. ( :
ReplyDeletecan't wait to hear what the news is ... something exciting i hope!! fingers crossed.
Well, you we're right up in my neck of the woods! You know how I feel about our place, and I am definitely very tied to it but others in my family are not. Just glad I am here to take care of it:-) lovely photos!
ReplyDeleteOlive, every time I leave the NC mountains I leave a piece of me behind. I still wonder what in the world my parents were thinking about to move from there! At least we try to make it back every couple of years in the fall. We hope that some day our kids will feel the way you do about our house and valley and try to all purchase it together. They talk about it and would love to keep it as a place for them to all gather.
ReplyDeleteThere is something so nostalgic about your photo of the mailboxes. True Americana.
I do feel tied to several places....my mom's home, my grandparents home, my uncle's cottage.....the memories of those homes are just so many and sometimes a bit emotionally overwhelming. I often dream that I am back at those places.
ReplyDeleteMy connection stopped for a moment, I hope this isn't a duplicate comment. Just wanted to say that the roof is probably ALL moss by now, and that sometimes change is sad but it does keep a happening.
ReplyDeleteWhen my parents both passed away, all four of us girls owned our homes. Mom and Dad's house was old and needed a lot of work. This is the home I grew up in - 20 North Ora - where the name of my blog and Etsy shop came from. So, on the first day of our Estate sale, a lady walked in and offered us cash for the house. We sold it and the first time I saw it after that, they had painted it blue and done a lot of work on it. It looked nice, but my Mom didn't like blue! When I came home, I was crying and told John that they had painted Mom's house blue. He said it wasn't their house anymore, but I knew it would always be my folks house.
ReplyDeleteSo, we drive by every time we go to that town. I've accepted the blue, but it will still always be my folk's house.
Judy
I know the feeling of being tied to place - all Southerners for some reason relate. Remember Gerald O'Hara telling Scarlett that land is all that matters?
ReplyDeleteAs for the moss on the roof, perhaps your cousins feel too much loss or pain to go back. And often, when there are so many children, no one can emerge as the decision maker because of fussin'. We know about that in the South too!
Beautiful photos!
Nature is taking back what is hers slowly. Sometimes it is best to have time gradually take something away instead of snatching it. I love the fact that my granny's house is called Lowery House after her even though none of the family lives there. I have pieces of my grandparents in the plants in the yard.
ReplyDeleteBoth proably, I think I feel loyal to places in my past and people from my past . . . Looking forward to hearing your news!
ReplyDeleteOh, I am from NC and the western part of the state beckons me and my soul. I grew up on the ocean but yearn for the mountains. My grandparents farmhome was the same. Oh how I wish I could have saved it. But my %$^& uncle sold the house and the farm, and now the home is no more and the farm is covered with new construction homes. Break my heart! :( LOVED these pics.
ReplyDeleteI think that our roots become more and more important the older we get. I don't know why that should be - it is rather like an umbilical cord pulling us back.
ReplyDeleteAlthough your aunt and uncle's house stands neglected, nature is doing her best to move in, and she is making an interesting job of it.
I live in WNC and this scene is all too common here. So often family members move away, etc. and really don't have the desire to maintain the "old home places" as my mother would say. My mother's generation had a much stronger connection to "the land" than I do and I probably do more than my kids.
ReplyDeleteOlive. Wow 14 kids and not one saved the home. That sure is rare. I do the the moss on the roof shot. I drive by my childhood home and see it is getting run down and wonder why they new owners don't keep up such a beautiful home:(. I had to learn the memories in that house. Are still with me the rest is just boards and things. The home is only the shell, memories follow where ever I am.
ReplyDeleteYou KNOW I was tied enough to my Grandparents home I went and bought it for a weekend home (1515)
ReplyDeleteThat is why I have trouble understanding when people don't have ties..where their memories not happy ones there. Sometimes I think maybe I live too much in the past but buying 1515 has made my present day so happy with new memories with my cousins I would of never had it if I had not bought it.
Thanks for evoking our thoughts!
I'm tied to NE Ohio--the hills, the trees. I know people who are bound to their roots; especially a friend in the extreme NE corner of Tennessee, in your mountains that are in North Carolina. I love those mountains. All the mailboxes look like that.
ReplyDeleteI'm always saddened a bit by a house going to waste. Yes, you would think someone in the family could have saved it, but sometimes their lives take them elsewhere I suppose. It's just a pile of wood to them.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the house has been let go, I love that picture - it conveys your sadness a bit, I think. At this point I'm not tied to anything such as a house. I still think nostalgically about our house back in Orlando, but I look forward to seeing where we will go next. I thrive on routines, ties and familiar so I have been out of my comfort zone for almost a year now. I hope I can establish new routines, familiar and most importantly some ties to our next place. Can't wait to hear what you have been up to! Ann
ReplyDeleteMy goodness, Its been awhile since I have been able to pop in on my blogs I like to look at and I see I have some catchin' up to do. We have been doing the house hunting and finally the move so now that I am settled in its good to be able to sit and relax. We are no longer in stone mt but out in the country. Probably nearer to you now.
ReplyDeleteYour capture of the moss covered roof is outstanding, That would be a photographers dream shoot. It is sad that none of the children could take care of it. I guess gone are the days when kids took over the old homestead. Times have changed and they no longer want to live in a home filled with character. They all want valted ceiling, granite counter tops and full decked out kitches. Also the cost to fix up these old places is through the roof. Its a shame...
Olive, your photos are absolutely stunning!!! Am I tied to a place? Probably not, and maybe that's due to moving a number of times throughout my life.
ReplyDeleteAlways love hearing new news from my blogger friends!
Mary Alice
I love my current house even though it's far from perfect! Look forward to getting home every time I'm gone. Thanks for sharing, Olive.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous photos. It's too bad your aunt and uncle's house was just left to "rot". Fourteen kids?! Can you even imagine? I'm tied to my maternal grandparent's house. They lived there "forever" and I spent so much of my childhood at their house. It also helped that my youngest aunt was only 3-1/2 years older than me and so was like my big sister whenever I was at their house. My grandparents divorced when they were in their 50's, but my grandma still lived in the house until she went into a nursing home about 10 years ago. And then she passed away a few years ago. My grandpa is still living, but he now lives out of state.
ReplyDeleteOlive, I am tied to the house I had in town. I lived there 35 years. I raised my daughters there. One of my best memories...sitting in a chair near a window of my diningroom with the windows open and the fragrance of lilacs blowing through the sheer curtains, while I drank a cup of coffee..early on every Saturday morning..while my daughters were still sleeping..just knowing they were safe.. I can always see this when I smell lilacs. I love that house and wish I were back there.
ReplyDeleteSorry your cousins let their parents house just go to ruin. Some people don't have the connections to things, I guess. You are a rock star in my book:):) xoxo,Susie
As always, your photography speaks volumes. And the last picture made me say "ohhhhh...." and then I read about that roof. And it made me nostalgic for sure. I'm not sure you could say that I am tied to one place although I pine for the ocean, not to far from where I used to live. Perhaps if there IS anyplace I am tied to, it is the ocean of the Florida coast. If I could go back to anyplace at all even for a short vacation, it would be there.
ReplyDeleteHugs,
"her"
Olive, I think I must be opposite to you. All the houses ( I say 'all' when actually the grand total of houses I've lived in since I was born has only been five) - For each one of them, when it's been time to leave, it's felt like the end of a chapter and I have had no nostalgia about ever going back. Looking forward to your exciting news.
ReplyDeleteOH how I wish that I could have afforded to purchase my grandparents place one they had both passed.
ReplyDeleteI visited my hometown on Friday and went to the cemetery to check out my parents and sister's graves. I about had a nervous breakdown. My mother always was very particular about the grave sites and always took pride in the summer flowers she planted up there. There was NOTHING planted on the graves, a concrete angel was knocked over and laying the bushes and the bush was hacked to within an inch of its life. It looked horrible and made me want to strangle my family that lives in that town and drives past the cemetery often. I just don't understand how they don't care about family and history.
ReplyDeleteSorry that your Aunt's house in in disrepair. As you can tell, I am very much tied to my past and hometown. That trait doesn't run in my family.