The Matherly Farm
Saturday 07/12/2008 9:46 AM
On Wednesday, we had a relatively short drive to the Matherly farm in Butler, TN. Though Desi has been on a prestigious fellowship at Univ. of Chicago for the last few years, she's been pining to get back home the entire time. This year, she's made the decision to buy a house in Tennessee and commute to Chicago to teach. Sounds a bit nutty, but once I saw the beauty of this place and how many relatives stopped by the farm to share a meal, maintain the garden, or just say hi, I started to understand why she's willing to deal with airports twice a week to live there (though she's buying a house in Johnson City, not out there at the farm).
Desi met us in the driveway and introduced us to Mamaw, who immediately charmed me by calling everyone "Sugarfoot," and Papaw Matherly, who later told me about their two roadtrips to Alaska and explained the nature of double-yolk eggs (yes, I'd asked). Unfortunately, I realized just this morning that I didn't take any pictures of these two, and I really regret it, but here is the house (with Freya escorting Desi down the walk and her son, Sullivan, on the porch):
Desi wanted to take us for a walk in the woods, but storms were moving through, and it didn't seem like the smartest place to be with kids, so later on, we hiked up "One Tree Hill," which offers a spectacular view of the surrounding area. Not surprisingly, the boys beat us to the top of it:
And yes, that would be the one tree on One Tree Hill. Sidenote: I had Freya on a tieout when we first arrived because I was worried she'd wander away, but she was miserable so I let her off. And then she had an absolute blast, literally romping through fields and creeks all day ... and she came everytime I called her!
Here's Alex and a glimpse of what he saw up there:
Desi happy at home on one tree hill, and Alex striking one of the gangsta poses Uncle Peter taught him:
Afterwards, we took the rowboat out on the pond:
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We played in the creek, saw jets refueling overhead, and the boys swam in the pool:
And Freya eventually convinced Sassafras that they could be friends:
We set up the tents to camp outside that night, but the rain came again and the boys decided it would be better to sleep inside. The next morning, Desi led us back to the highway (she's in the right lane).
I'm so glad we had the chance to visit the farm. It was invigorating for all three of us, and I get it now, Desi. I really do. Can't wait to visit again.
The trek back to Ohio was longer than we thought -- we'd planned on 6-7 hours and made it back in about 10 (to be fair, we did stop for a long dinner once we realized how long the drive was going to be). But it was a beautiful drive through northeast Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. We even went literally through a couple of mountains on the way:
So I think that concludes our big journey of Summer '08. On our errands yesterday, we picked up a season pass for the local pools and registered Alex in daycamp for next week (he'd been on the waitlist until Thursday). I start teaching a summer class a week from Tuesday, and Alex starts school as soon as I finish that class. But we're planning some long weekend mini-trips ... to Blackfork River in Ohio, maybe to a yet-to-be-determined state park in West Virginia. So I'll try to update this blog sporadically throughout the summer.
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