Sunday, August 29, 2010

You Can and Can't Go Home Again

The goal for the whirlwind Minnesota trip was a visit to the town I grew up in, but hadn't seen in more than ten years. We were able to visit with some family and old friends still in the area, which was lovely. And we walked a bit around the parts of town most familiar to me as a child. This was both happy and disconcerting, because things do change.


The house I lived in until I was 16 looks much the same.





The smaller house to the left is the one my Mom grew up in. My Grandma lived there until her death. Most of the neighborhood looks much the same. The old elms died off years ago, but new street trees are growing. Just the other side of Grandma's house, the bank parking lot has expanded to eat up two more lots.

The little downtown is still vital, though now more of a tourist destination for day trips from the Twin Cities than commercial center for a self contained community. Many buildings have gone (replaced by newer ones or parking lots), a number were still very familiar, at least externally. A few were almost unchanged, including this one.




I had my first real job here, working after school as a Dental Assistant, age 15, trained on the job. (obviously the dental professions have changed, too, undoubtedly for the better).

It's a reminder to me that childhood memories are just snapshots of the process of change that has been going on all along. Clearly this building had replaced another that would have been familiar to Mom from her childhood.

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One most welcome change was a yarn store right next to the dental office. I popped into The Sheepy Shop while the others were browsing Scandinavian imports. I picked up some bamboo dpns in a size I had been lacking, and a ball of sock yarn, which I don't really need, but it was Opal 6 ply, which I love and which you don't run across every day.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Would that have been WBLake? I have been in that Sheepy Yarn Shoppe myself.

YarnThrower said...

I always find it weird that after I've left a place, it continues right along changing without me and looks so different when I later visit... Disconcerting a bit...though I suppose everything is going to continue changing...

Carolyn's Corner said...

Cindy, I went home once after fifty years. The house was just as I remembered only it was so-o-o-o much smaller. I live in Missouri halfway between Hannibal and St. Louis, my birth city, and it's in the country, and I love it. By the way, which is why I got on here in the first place. Where in the world do you find sets of 5 (5-inch) metal double-pointed knitting needles? I've been all over the internet and cannot find them.

Cindy G said...

The only 5" metal douple points that I'm familiar with are from Signature Needle Arts. They are wonderful, but out of my price range, so I don't actually own any.

Carolyn's Corner said...

Thank you for the information. Goodness, I wonder how much they are1 If you didn't use metal needles for your book, what five-inch double-pointed needles did you use? Thanks.

Cindy G said...

Actually, for socks I generally use 6" needles. Because I'm a fairly loose knitter I prefer bamboo or plastic. My very favorites are Crystal Palace bamboo but I also often use Pony Pearls plastic.