Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Summer Fruit, Summer Memories

This photograph takes me right back to summers spent as a little girl at my grandparents' ( you know them by now, Nanny and Big Daddy) home on Water Street in North Little Rock, Arkansas.  On summer afternoons, Nanny would spread newspapers on the kitchen table, take out a butcher knife as long as my arm and carve us up big slices of cold watermelon.  She always made me take my shirt off,  and I can still remember that cold juice running down my tummy.  Ahhh, sweet memories.  

21 comments:

TheChieftess said...

Love the photo...love the memories shared even more!!!

Olivier said...

Hummmm c'est bon, j'en prends au petit-déjeuner, j'adore ça
Hummmm it is good, I take it in breakfast, I love this

Diederick Wijmans said...

Wonderful cold watermelons!! I started to eat these since I live in Italy and I haven't stopped.

Babzy.B said...

Watermelons are so good , nice memories ;)

Lagean Ellis said...

I love really cold watermelon, the heart in particular.
Do you still have family in Little Rock? I am about 2 1/2 hours north of there, near the boothill.

Lori Skoog said...

During the summer I always keep a mix of watermelon, cantaloupe and green grapes in the frig.
No better snack, dessert, breakfast etc.
Nice photo!

Thérèse said...

Sweet!

Kate said...

Looks like we're both "foodies" today. Your watermelon looks as good and as succulent as the strawberries I posted. Of course, the taste is divine, but do you think we're attracted to colour, too. Me thinks so!

Halcyon said...

Yumm! I just looked at the strawberries from Minnesota and now here's watermelon. I bought one of those sweet baby ones a couple of days ago. Hope it lives up to its name.

Virginia said...

Gena,
None of my family lives in Arkansas any longer but I have many wonderful memories from my childhood.

FireLight said...

Gena, is that that near Greer's Ferry? Pretty area!

V, my daddy just took us a outside having told us "Put on your swimsuits! Then he cut the melon in long wedges, and we walked around the back yard enjoying the sweetness of summer and spitting out the seeds! He hooked up the "hose pipe" while we cut the rinds in bite sizes for our pony Jiggs who was allowed in our back yard the way some people bring out their dogs! He loved this family time and munched away! Afterwards, my sister Sue and I would play with the water, hosing each other down! Messy? Yes, but--Priceless!

Anonymous said...

That just drips of the charming south. I could picture the whole thing.

Did people tell you that if you swallowed the seeds a watermelon would grow in your tummy? That explained pregnant women until my mom came home with my brother instead.

Virginia said...

AH, That's hilarious.

Firelight,
A watermelon eating pony. Reminds me of Alatadenahiker's post today about her horse. Check it out, you'll die laughing.

Lori,
That sounds delicious.

Kate,
Your berries were wonderful . GReat shots.

BTW, this watermelon was photographed at the same booth that featured the "Manure for a buck" on an earlier post !!!!

Mademoiselle Gramophone said...

I am in love with this color and all of your photos. Your world is a good one to be in.

Have you ever grown a watermelon? it can't be too hard, right?

Virginia said...

MG,
Well no I haven't but I do know this, you've got to have a LOT of space for them to run around in . Well not run but , you know. I saw one carved like a jack o lantern in someone's yard yesterday. Guess what? I had left my camera at home for once. Darn!

Jane Hards Photography said...

I can't hear Big Daddy without going into my Liz Taylor Big Daddy and Brick Cat on a Hot Tin Roof voice. We had melon today, but alas not a mint julep.

Ken Mac said...

cold red goodness!

Lowell said...

One summer I worked in California picking these things...it was soooo hot and we'd stop and break them open, eat the hearts and toss the rest...backbreaking work 'cause we had to throw them up on a truck and some of them weighed 30-35 pounds!

Anonymous said...

watermelon is definitely a sweet summer memory for me!

Kcalpesh said...

It's monsoon here....l but this picture looks yummy.... Watermelon's my favorite... Nice shot!

Jilly said...

There's nothing in the world like watermelon straight from the refrigerator. And I've none at the moment! Apologies for lack of comments, Virginia. I've been really sick with bronchitis but as of today have feeling slightly more human.