Pondering with a Purpose

Thursday is here again and it's time to do a little "pondering" with Brenda from Fiction With a Purpose.

Her rules are really easy:

1. Grab the Pondering with a Purpose Badge (in her sidebar)
2. Look at the week's prompt
3. Post something on your blog that relates to the prompt - it can be a story, a poem, a picture -- anything you want it to be.
4. Go back here and add the URL from your post to the linky list on Brenda's.
5. Go check out the other bloggers who have added their links to the list.
6. AND most of all.... Have fun!

This Week's prompt is:                             Home?

Home to me has always been in the hills of TN/VA. My parent's house sits on the side of Powell Mountain in VA - just 6 miles from the border of TN. My Grandma's house is about 7 miles away (in TN) and was my childhood "home" - the house now sits empty with the yard all grown up - it's really sad.

My parent's house in VA

Granny's house as it stands now - this was taken last summer.

Granny - in front of the house - probably in the 1960's

 But as you know, I sort of got stuck here in IL when I married and had kids.Those were days before digital cameras and I don't have any pictures handy. This picture was of my daughter's Junior Prom and  was taken in front of the house I lived in right after I got divorced. It was in town and was located halfway between the grade school and the high school. It was perfect and was our home for 8 years.

Shortly after that picture was taken, I found the "perfect" spot out in the country! I loved that place and it was "home."

My kids said it was in "BFE"-they hated it at first but grew to love it as much as I did.

It was in the middle of nowhere

It was beautiful

No neighbors - wonderful views - but a lot of work for a single woman without any help once the kids grew up and left.

Sadly, I had to leave it due to circumstances beyond my control and in August of 2010, I bought my little house here. It's the same distance to work and 40 miles closer to my daughter but it is in town (if you can call 400 people a town). The longer I'm here, the more I love this place - the more it becomes "home."

I miss my truck but I really don't need the 4 wheel drive any more - and I don't miss trying to keep the gas tank full!

Just a little house - but it's plenty for me.

I have a great garden spot!

And a fenced in back yard for Kimmy!

So now this is home and I'm working on making it the way I want it. I do have a little help now from the Biz but the place is MINE and only mine and I LOVE it! So I guess, for me at least, "home" is wherever you choose to make it - although I have to admit that 9 times out of 10, when I say "home", I'm usually still referring to my granny's house in TN!