THE CABIN

 Christmas was on North Avenue and July 4th was at North Georgia.

When I was about 10 years old  Daddy bought a cabin along the

Chattahoochee River near Clarkesville Georgia.  He started with 

  20 acres and  ended up with around 100 acres.  We spent summers

  there, but the week of  the July 4th was reserved for Mama's side

 of the family.  It was a small cabin so everyone had to be creative

 with their sleeping arrangements.  Tents, sleeping bags, and even

 a green and white VW camper belonging to the Browns were used.

It was like summer camp.  We swam, canoed, and tubed,  a couple 

of  times dodging snakes.  We barbecued, ate watermelon chilled 

in the river and made our own ice-cream.  We had horse shoes, 

archery, and rode mini bikes on the dirt roads through the forrest.    

The evenings were spent under the pavilion  at the picnic tables,

where we had cake and ice-cream,  the grownups played cards,

then we ran around with our sparklers and firecrackers, until 

each one of us slowly drifted off to our beds until morning,

 when it would start all over again.

Daddy sold the cabin in the 80's.

I went to visit the cabin a few years after that.

Not much had changed.  It felt as if I was the first to 

arrive and the rest of the family would be there shortly. 

I don't have a lot of photos of those days but my

memories could fill a 100 albums.

Daddy's jeep from the Korean War. 

We used it for everything, from hauling trash,

to picking us up down river after tubing.

The dirt road down to the cabin.

The cabin.

Stairs to the front door.

Me and Jay with cousins Randolyn and Jimmy.

The log cabin behind the cabin with bunk beds.

It had a tin roof and was great on rainy nights.

The pavilion

My Dad

The river

Tubing...

More tubing...

The launch point

My last visit

My son Nicholas, 3 years old

Evening on the river.

I wonder if some other family is off to

bed to waken to their next day at the cabin.

 The 4th of July

2013