Ribbons -n- Rags

This may seem like just an ordinary watermelon to you but when I bought it last night from a local produce stand, I was flooded with memories of my G-Daddy Froggett. When I pulled up to the produce stand, the owner excitedly met me at the trailer that contained four large cartons full of watermelons that he had just hauled from Indiana. It was his excitement that triggered the memories of my grandfather and watermelons. G-Daddy raised watermelons solely for the purpose of selling them at the "Third Sunday in August" celebration at Sulphur Well, Kentucky. He was renown for the melons in a multi county radius. As a grandchild, I remember watching every stage of the process of raising the melons and many conversations that included the watermelon patch. He spent many hours making sure the melons flourished. He tended the patch, picked the melons and placed them on straw in the bed of his pick-up truck which, mind you, was never fancy or new. At the celebration, he stood beside his truck in order to talk with anyone and everyone that came by to purchase a melon or just visit. He would also offer advice on which melon was best at each time of purchase. The method involved "thumping", a technique that I never quite fully understood since the thumps all sounded the same to me. Another fond memory that I have of watermelons is how all the Froggetts would gather at Bigmama and G-Daddy's house in the summer to eat them. Keep in mind that all the Froggetts lived within a 5 mile radius--and most still do. I was the first one to "move off" when I went to college in Louisville (I'm surprised that I wasn't disowned) LOL. We would get a phone call that the gathering was going to occur and we literally ran to their house in order not to miss any detail. The watermelons were always good, but the family time together was better. Maybe the excitement that arises within me each summer when I see watermelons growing or for sale is not just about the taste of the melon!!