Faye's Memories

The Memories are many......a family united spending summers together. The drive was long, filled with chaos and never enough room....we were many....but knew we were headed for fun. The Clermont house, for me, stood as a stilted giant and yet humbly quaint, but always ready to embrace us all. I knew that it had been tossed around before, so so long ago, and I always worried for its safety - so close to calm waters that could grow fierce - so fragile did it seem.

I remember falling....from the Clermont front door straight down to the mud puddle that awaited me on the ground. It was painless - as if I had been caught - and to this day I recall being gently placed in that puddle. It was a holy place with St. Francis always standing in the wings. The wild life was always lingering in the night lit by the porch light..... mosquitoes! But in order to get the flounders you has to get through the light ....Dr. T. to the rescue - although the night was still always frantic with scratching!

My personal favorite activity was crabbing - not loading the nets with fish heads or chicken necks mind you, but pulling them up to the surprise of any sized blue crab - I'll take it!

And who can forget the snowcones - never being able to decide on a flavor, but always satisfied with the finely shaved texture of the ice - and knowing THIS is the only place that they make them like this...and being able to experience these somehow made us special.

A race to the hammocks...only two of them...and remember....we were many! It was always so quiet in the backyard with the giant gentle pines looking down on you....so skinny and soooo tall and so quiet. My love of hammocks stems from those sticky yet somehow comfortable summer afternoons.

Water is theme that runs the gamut...Taking showers was gritty and weird- the soft water was so....interesting....Drink the water only if it was ice cold from the fridge - otherwise it tasted.....interesting....Swimming in the neighbor pools - the water was green...I found that interesting - and swimming in the gulf was always warm, and mushy and shallow, unless you went out 5 miles and as a young kid I found that interesting - if not just plain scary! But the water always called to me and thus a swimmer was born- literally with Memere encouraging me to her side.

Memories of eating shrimp and learning how to peel crabs "the right way"....the smell of white bread in the toaster - we only got white bread on vacation - smothered in jam.....trying soft shell crabs not sure if that was my favorite - it just didn't seem right.....stuffed flounder and the gumbo - which I must say I appreciate much more with mature adult palette....french bread and shrimp poor-boys...and of course the candies we would purchase from the two little corner stores by the railroad tracks.

The death of a Pope watched on the little white T.V. ...I didn't really understand the significance until the death of St. John Paul the Great...and those memories came rushing back.

The walk to the local church on Sunday mornings - wearing the nicest shorts and tank top that you managed to pack.

Lining up cousins to see how we've grown.....aunts and uncles and grandparents too - the fashions forever captured to haunt some of us!

"Trouble" the dog - perched on the rough black couch under the airconditioner...trying to jockey for position in front of that airconditioner for a quick blast in your face....but I think Trouble always had the best seat in the house.

Spinning on the kitchen chairs - faster and faster....it was something to do so we did it often.

The smells the sights and the sounds are all still there as if it were all yesterday - and yet I've been married for 13 years and have 4 children of my own ....and still I can touch those days in my mind....

Clermont Harbor will forever remain the same in my childhood memories - standing - and for that I am grateful, but for those who have been greatly affected by the power of Katrina, my prayers are with you all.

As for the memories they can never be erased.

God Bless,
Faye (LeBlanc) Wilkinson
Chester, CA