All day yesterday I had the feeling of deja vu. The weather was overcast and humid, but it was very mild outside.It reminded me of being on the lake, on rainy weekends.
When I was a kid, we spent a lot of time at a little cabin on Douglas Lake. It was not heated so we didn't go up there in winter, but we spent most weekends there in the summer, and often a week or two in July, with Dad commuting to Knoxville to work.
Douglas Lake has an interesting history. It was built in the early 1940's when the dam was constructed to provide extra electricity. This article on Douglas Dam tells more about it. The lake was essentially flooded farmland. The Tennessee Valley Authority flooded a lot of places in the 1930's and 40's, in an effort to modernize rural areas.
I didn't know all that as a kid. I just liked going to the lake.
The cabin had 3 bedrooms, a full bathroom and a half bath, a main room that combined the living room, kitchen, and a dinette set, and a big porch. Below, some photos. Yes, the bottom photo shows me wearing shorts. I was about 11 years old but I looked older.
It was very..... rustic.
The important thing was my dad was able to go there and relax. There was no phone there, and that was a blessing. I never went on vacation as a kid that Dad didn't spend a good bit of time on the phone, talking to his officers at the bank. He was a workaholic. If cell phones or smartphones had existed back then, it would've been worse.
Dad's favorite thing was to invite folks to come for the weekend, and not tell Mother until Friday. Then she would spend the weekend cleaning and cooking and it wasn't too relaxing.
If it rained or someone couldn't come, there was no way to notify us, since there was no phone.
There was a tiny general store a couple of miles away, and Dad was buddies with the man who owned the store, June. [that was his name; I couldn't make that up] June knew where our cabin was and I think had a spare key. He was a salt of the earth type person
June was a typical mountain man. He didn't like strangers. One time, one of Dad's employees stopped to ask June directions to the house, and June said he didn't know anybody named Tony Thompson. He told Dad later, "Didn't know that feller. Warn't gon' tell him nuthin." Of course the man was wearing a business suit, and a tie. Mountain folks didn't view those clothes well - the banker, the law enforcement guys - all those folks were not welcome. Dad thought it was a very funny story, and was pleased that June protected our privacy.
The cabin was down a narrow, twisty road, and the last part of it was a gravel road. It was pretty far back there.
We had a lot of good times there. I spent a lot of time there reading books, fishing, swimming, water skiing - in other words, it was a great place to be a kid. If there had been air conditioning it would've been perfect.
Dad liked to fish, and we ate many meals of fried fish and hushpuppies.
One time, we had a campfire in the backyard and a fox came around.
Dad was out in the tiny fishing boat once, with our big dog Fred, and Dad fell out of the boat. Fred stayed there in the boat, going round in circles, for about an hour until the gas ran out.
I once spent a good deal of time getting scratched by thorns and bitter by bugs, all to gather up enough wild growing blackberries so Mother could make a blackberry pie.
The Bush's beans cannery was nearby and we used to go up and buy dented cans of beans at deep discounts.
Dad used to sit and play poker with me and Bruce on rainy days. We played for matchsticks.
Today we're having more thunderstorms, and it's raining. Great for my gardens.
I just wish I could look out and see the mountains.
