mama mondays: you know you’re in north dakota if…

A few days ago, a friend from my hometown started a page on Facebook, “You know you’re from (our hometown) if…” Within a matter of 48 hours, 327 people had joined the page and hundreds of comments and threads had appeared. I hope to blog more about this little “experiment” that has exploded into a rush down memory lane soon. But for now, I’m in a different place with visuals from the here and now to share.

This time, it’s not my hometown, but the city that served as something of a second residence (or at least an occasional stopping-in point) during the whole of my childhood years. When my parents retired, they returned to this place; the corner of the world where I spent every summer and holiday as a youngster.

There’s just something about the places where we spent our first years of life. Such evocative memories, such richness in the recollections of the towns where we discovered who we are and began dreaming the dreams that led us out into the wider world in search of more of ourselves.

This weekend I took two strolls down memory lane; a virtual one, and a real one when my mother, sister and three of our children took in a crafts fair at the North Dakota state capitol grounds. Everything about our little tour spoke of the North Dakota that is so dear to my heart.

At least one booth at the craft fair looks like a sunflower field…

Another contains a “grain elevator…”

The dogs are big and wear bandanas around their necks…

You and your cousin break open your new ocarinas the minute you get them, knowing they’re exotic and nearly as fun as trying to whistle through a blade of grass…

 You see lots of butterflies…

You watch artists camped out at the base of the capitol doing sidewalk chalk art…

 

 The kettle corn tastes twice as good as anywhere else…

Your daughter sneaks away to talk to her friend on the cell phone in front of the North Dakota State Library steps…

The cousins get the giggles when placing an I-pod into the hands of a statue near the North Dakota Heritage Center, knowing the copper man is none the wiser…

During a photo shoot of the three old ladies, a horse gallops into view…

The American flag seems to fly more majestically against the prairie sky…

The weather is cloudy but not rainy (you’re even a little regretful you forgot your jacket and feel guilty knowing much of the country, sadly, is suffering heat waves…).

The crowds are good-sized but very manageable (very few lines!).

And, if you’re really lucky, you leave home just before naptime looking like a rainbow ballerina…

Q4U: What’s your “You Know You’re From…When…” phrase from your neck of the woods?