It was some time in the mid 1980s, maybe '83 or '84. Ken and I drove from DC down to North Carolina (his home state). Except to ride through with my parents when I was a toddler, I had never been there. We stopped and toured a cigarette factory along the way (Phillip Morris in Virginia?). In NC we passed a field of cotton. Since I had never seen cotton growing, I had to stop the car and go pick some. I didn't take many pictures back in those days.
When I was a little bitty baby my mamma would rock me in the cradle...
I've kept these cotton bolls in a ziploc bag ever since, hidden away in a drawer or a box. They look a little worse for wear, as it were. I mean, they are nearly thirty-five years old. I don't have any cotton clothes close to that age. I might as well immortalize them here on the blog.
Fortunately, "them cotton balls didn't get rotten." I would guess you passed the Philip Morris factory in Richmond. You can see it from I-95 now. I guess it says something that you would hold onto this memory for so long and bring them along with you to France.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful memories, Walt; it's worth keeping them in a ziploc:-)!
ReplyDeleteHmmmmm.....now they are digitally immortalised, are you keeping them?
ReplyDeleteCool!
ReplyDeleteI understand your being intrigued--the first time I saw a field of cotton, wasn't quite sure what it was. Then I thought about how hard it would be to pick the stuff under a blazing sun.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe you kept those all this time... especially with the move to France! I could understand it more if you had moved just about a mile from Alabama (down in Louisiana somewhere).
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