My Trip Home

As my followers know I’m retired Air Force and left my home town in my early twenties. I went home once around 20 years ago, albeit I haven’t been home since. *BTW this is a little glass related, I gave all of them some glass pieces and if you look close Laurie, Teresa, and Chris (Freddie’s wife) are wearing them! I also gave them all magnets.

As you will see in the DYK section of the August Newsletter, I took a glass class at AAE Glass in Cape Coral, so I contacted my brothers and sisters and told them I was going to my hometown and asked them if they could meet me. And they did, what a blast we had visiting our old haunts, here are some of my favorite spots and pictures of us. The first section is of my old swimming holes; of course now you can’t swim there and one they even put in a boat ramp. Our favorite fishing spot was completely blocked off I couldn’t even get close to it. I couldn’t even take pictures of the neighborhood because there were so many more houses it didn’t look the same. Our old woods were full of houses. It made me so sad, and almost made me cry.

My little brother could tell how sad I was so he took us out to the Lake Lizzie conservation area. This is right behind our old house and these are the woods I grew up in – oak trees, palmetto bushes, pine trees, all kinds of moss, white dirt, and of course lake lizzie (which that’s right you can’t swim in). This made me so happy, thank you little brother for showing me what hasn’t changed. I loved it and was one of the highlights of my trip home. I hope they never develop it.

My brother owns the house I grew up in and he has done a magnificent job improving it and yet keeping the most important parts. It’s a little oasis in the sea of houses surrounding him. He had the most delicious mango’s growing that I’ve ever had. Below are some of the pictures of my sisters Laurie & Teresa and brothers Ron & Freddie. I hope he never sells it, it’s so important to go home and get grounded and reminded to enjoy the little pleasures of life.

Laurie, Teresa, and I stayed at this small hotel close by with the best views. I loved it and took more pictures of me and my sisters! I would so stay there again. BTW back in the day there were no hotels close to our home.

We also drove down town (BTW the main road through town was unrecognizable), some changes but somethings remained. The lake front looks great – they did a wonderful job with it. Here are some pictures from the lakefront and some of my favorite spots. BTW the 2 pictures at the bottom is the gator hole, when I lived there it was a place we’d all go and swim and have a blast. How it’s surrounded by houses and made into a pond that you can’t swim in! *newer isn’t always better!

BTW I love small town America, I never get tired of seeing our American Flag and small town America respects it!

I’ve always loved the song “you can’t go home again”, but I’m glad I did. It hurt to see how my hometown changed but it was something I had to do. Plus seeing my brothers and sisters was fabulous, we sat around talking and joking and drinking and really enjoyed our time together. I love you all and cant tell you how much I appreciated you coming to see me.

Thank you for letting me indulge in sharing my trip home with you. It’s important to have a touchstone and my family is mine.

If you would like to see more of my fused glass work, please refer to my website Elegant Fused Glass by Karen. If you get a chance, check out all my sites; my Art fire Store, and my Elegant Fused Glass by Karen YouTube. If you would like to stay abreast of what I’m up-to and learn a little more about jewelry, check out our newsletter. It is published the last day of each month

Keeping my kiln warm,

Karen