Home again!

Keller Bay, Olivia, Texas

We've just driven in from my husband's family reunion and too late for me to make much of a posting. I just had to share this one picture with you though. I took this last evening from the banks of the bay where my husband's father grew up. It's the Mabel and Otto Peterson homestead. This young Swedish couple (pictured below in front of their home) brought up two boys who spent many hours enjoying the waters of Keller Bay. Fishing was a way of life and my father-in-law could construct a cast net at a young age.

Swedish was their first language until they went to school where the boys learned English quickly.

A Swedish newspaper was still read at home and the blessing for all meals was recited in Swedish.

Oysters were harvested from this bay for many years and enjoyed by all who mastered the art of shucking them. Armed with a gig and a lantern they were experts at gigging flounder.

Sitting on the pier, listening to the water hit up against the pilings I could almost hear the voices of family long-gone and from a different time. I knew they would have been pleased that the homestead is still being enjoyed by their descendents.