Peanuts

The other night Hubby and I ate a late supper at a hamburger joint that has peanuts available to munch on while waiting for the burgers. I told my hubby that eating peanuts out of the shell like that reminded me of three things from my childhood. And lucky you! I thought I'd write about it here.

1. I remember one of the the first times I ate them. I must have been 7 or 8 and we were visiting my aunt and uncle in eastern Tennessee. Uncle farmed tobacco and they lived in a house that pre-dated the Civil War. It had a building that I was told was for the slaves and there was a place on the front porch in the brick that a cannon ball smacked into. I remember sitting the the front yard in metal lawn chairs that looked something like this:

My aunt and uncle had some friends over and I remember an older man teaching me how to crack open the peanuts by finding the seam and pressing it until it popped. It was a bonus if I found three peanuts inside.

2. When I turned 10 we spent the day at a friend of the family's house. Our friends gave me a bag of peanuts in the shell for my birthday. A whole bag! All for me! I was number 4 in the family and it was rare I got something just my own. I remember savoring those peanuts. I would pull out our toy record player and put on my record of The Three Little Pigs to listen to while I ate my yummy peanuts. I believe I got that record for my birthday as well.

3. I used to walk around singing a song about peanuts I probably learned at camp. I remember being able to play with our cassette tape recorder/player sometimes and I would take it to my room and just talk or sing. I'd talk about what I was doing (like putting my laundry away) or I would sing songs. (I wonder whatever happened to those cassette tapes....) I remember singing a song into that tape recorder that went something like::

Found a peanut, found a peanut, found a peanut just now. 

Just now I found a peanut, found a peanut just know.

(Catchy, huh?)

Believe it or not I found several YouTube videos of this lovely song. I will post the least cheesy one::

You've now been given a glance into the way my mind works in seemingly normal activities like eating peanuts at a hamburger joint. :)  Funny the way memories can come flooding back of random moments of my childhood.