What a beautiful, cold morning! I was going to do this blog on the porch with my morning coffee, but I didn’t make it 😊 A little too cold 🥶 … Yesterday was our Annual Fall Fest, and it was a Great one! Lots of family’s came out to take part in the festivities & Eat lunch with us. Kids fell in love with the animals, all the pumpkins were carved, the piñata was busted by a determined group of kids 😊 And Adam led a great class on seasonal pond maintenance.
I made a collage out of the 200 pictures I had to choose from 😊 Lots of Fun yesterday!
This was the last event of the season for the Nursery, which is always bittersweet… We have had some really high notes this year at our events & as always, I can’t wait till next year! ❤️
Halloween, Thanksgiving & Christmas are coming fast now. I hope we can all enjoy every minute!
Have a Great Sunday!
~ Mark Carter
I spent the evening rigging this little wall hanging display of history in my living room. My fathers side of the family goes back to the beginning with the old company town of Bemis. LOTS of history here. My dads side of the family processed and spun the cotton into thread. My mother’s side grew, chopped and picked the cotton.
This is an old Bemis cotton sack and an old scale. My grandma & great grandma we’re both original Bemis Cotton Mill families. Something about seeing the name gives me a feeling of history.
Now machines do everything that was once done by hand… Prep, plant, spray, pick, gin, spin, sew & go – All by machine now. We have come a long way in a short time! 🙏🏻
“When I was a little bitty baby
My mama would rock me in the cradle,
In them old cotton fields back home;
It was down in Louisiana,
Just about a mile from Texarkana,
In them old cotton fields back home.
Oh, when them cotton bolls get rotten
You can’t pick very much cotton,
In them old cotton fields back home.”
~ Credence Clearwater Revival
Have a Great Sunday!
~ Mark Carter
On a recent trip to the ‘Chicago Land’ area I went by one of our favorite old places with my son. We have been going up there for 20+ years for training events and for many years the dates fell on our wedding anniversary. So by accident we found this old joint and just fell in Love with it!
This is the way it was at Capone’s Hideaway & Steakhouse. It goes way way back to old AL’s time in the roaring 20’s & 30’s. He literally used this as a Hideout from the law back in the day…
Jo & I looked forward to having dinner here for many years. We loved the atmosphere & the stories of its heyday when it was a ‘speakeasy’ during prohibition times. They used to make beer and liquor in a chicken coop behind the place and pipe it in through copper pipes underground… The pipes are still buried there by the way 😎
This is what the place looks like today… The building has been condemned and at this point, is just a memory.
It was very disappointing to see what has happened to this place… For several years now there have been rumors that it was being remodeled and would be open again. But, the city condemned the structure & apparently it will soon be a thing of the past. I took my son by to see what was happening to the place and as you see, nothing good😞 The only nice thing left is the view of the beautiful Fox River…
Capone’s is right on the Fox River. It’s about 40 miles outside Chicago. Imagine how far out in the country this place would have been back in the 20’s… No wonder he hid out here. It would have been impossible to find this joint.
This is just a rambling memory of a place and time that’s long gone… But still fresh in my memory 😊
Have a GREAT Tuesday!
Mark Carter
Carters Nursery, Pond & Patio
2846 Old Medina Rd.
Jackson, TN 38305
731-424-2206
https://www.cartercountry.com
Is there something that you can think of that the smell or taste of it would make you sick? I have to confess, I do! When I was a kid, health was a big deal in my family! Eating right, wearing comfortable shoes, getting the proper sleep, brushing your teeth & being “regular” in the bathroom were all stressed! If you weren’t up to snuff on any of these daily rituals, there was a cure waiting for ya’ with my Grandad! He would say, “I got just the thang to sweeten you up and make you feel good”! His remedy – Sal Hepatica!
In a way I guess this stuff made me stronger? At least it made me act stronger 😂 If you said you felt bad in front of my Grandad, he would make you take a dose of this stuff 🤢 So if he ever asked, “How ya’ feeling boy?” My response was always – “I’m feeling great, Grandad!”
Now I don’t know if any of you remember this stuff, but if you do, you will remember it well! It’s a phizzy, bubbly, salty Laxative that you drink… #1 you gotta Choke it down! It tastes HORRIBLE! #2 you better be near a toilet! Cause as soon as you drink it, “This is Happening” takes on a whole new meaning!!! 😵
I hated this stuff so bad, I always faked incredible health around grandad even if I felt like crap 😂 💩 He would strait up make you drink some Sal Hepatica! They finally stopped making it, which was a Great day in our family!
Tomorrow is my 26th wedding anniversary! This bottle was one of my presents from my wife! My “Sal Hepatica Stories” inspired my wife to buy me this old bottle for my collection 😊 You don’t know how much that makes me smile! She’s too cool! 😎
IF, any of you have a Sal Hepatica story of your own, please share it here on my blog or on my Facebook page. I’d love to hear it!
Thanks for reading to the end of this random story… Have a great day!
Mark Carter
Carter’s Nursery, Pond & Patio
2846 Old Medina Rd.
Jackson, Tn. 38305
Ph.# 731-424-2206
http://www.cartercountry.com
YouTube pg. –
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6dPkQiE04jcr385SOL0gkw
Facebook pg. – https://www.facebook.com/mark.carter.775
Pinterest pg. – https://www.pinterest.com/cartersnursery/
Nothing fancy today! Just a collage of photos from days gone by with family and friends. YES, I’ve been sappy about going into a New Year… Excited, reflective, full of memories & dreams of the future 😊
#throwbackthursday!
This started as a single “#throwbackthursday photo… It turned into a bit of fun, at least for me 😊
Happy New Year!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6dPkQiE04jcr385SOL0gkw
Facebook pg. – https://www.facebook.com/mark.carter.775
Pinterest pg. – https://www.pinterest.com/cartersnursery/
I got up early this morning, watched the sunrise and bumed around the gardens a bit. It’s funny how plants and flowers can bring back memories. Strong memories of family. Good times & blessed memories. Living, blooming, perennial reminders.
“If you want to be reminded of the love of the Lord, just watch the sunrise.”
~ Jeannette Walls
“Gardeners , like everyone else, live second by second and minute by minute. What we see at one particular moment is then and there before us. But there is a second way of seeing. Seeing with the eye of memory, not the eye of our anatomy, calls up days and seasons past and years gone by.”
~ Allen Lacy, The Gardener’s Eye
Have a blessed day!
~ Mark
I’ve been up since before the sun rise thinking about the significance of Fathers Day… I have been so blessed as a son AND as a father myself. My best memories of childhood are linked to my dad – fishing, hunting, learning how to work and do things, you name it! The love of animals and taking care of my first pet all goes back to my experiences with my Dad too!
That’s me with my dad & my first dog Heidi – He let me pick out my very 1st. dog on my own 😊 In this picture I’m wearing his uniform hat and his coat… of course. He was & still is the BEST dad in the world! Fathers Day is today! We are going to lunch & I’m looking forward to it 😊
My dad was a professional firefighter. Growing up I loved visiting the station and hanging out with him and the other firemen. They were family. I found this old picture a few years back, it goes way back and is a favorite of mine now. Dad was proud to have me at the station even when I was so little…
I was a toddler in this picture. Around 1 year old. This one was at Station #2 down on Westwood. I literally grew up there 🙂 GREAT memories of that place and the time we all spent there.
I’m so lucky to have so much more than a “Father”, I have a Dad!
