First, the Best part of the Day: The Marino family arrived last night and all the cousins are together once more! Now the fun can truly begin!!
Onto the Bizarre:
We are all trying, without much success, to explain our experience visiting Hillbilly Gardens. Creative chaos? Westerworld meets the post-apocalyptic meets the Twilight Zone?
(History: The owner and creator is a second cousin of my dad’s and his last living connection to western Kentucky. Keith has created a “Toyland” on the property he inherited from his grandmother, my dad’s aunt, that we used to visit every time we were in KY. This Toyland attracts guests and visitors from across the country (including some celebrities).
Being there is jarring.
It assaults your senses. Sights. Sounds. Smells. Mildew and animal feces and forest and decay.
It is fascinating and twisted and somehow unsettling.
From the roosters, pigs, goats and chickens that greet you as you pull into the driveway.
“Thronehenge”
The moss-covered shoes strategically placed in trees.
The dogs, chained and caged and hacking.
The squirrel in a cage.
Vacant-eyed dolls slowly moving their heads back and forth.
Clown faces staring down at you.
Junk art in its extreme.
There’s an artistry and a definite plan to each exhibit, centered around bad puns. I don’t think I understood a lot of what I was seeing.
The fact that this was Aunt Myrtle’s house was unsettling as well.
We spent the rest of the day, all of us, trying desperately to find the words to explain what we sensed today
The line between the shtick and the real is very, very blurred.
The underlying poverty is very sad.
In the words of the children when asked what bizarre thing they saw today:
- Collette: circle of old toilets; chipmunk in cage
- Jonah: dolls moved heads really creepy; the porcelain that just stared at you
- Liam: the dog who had marbles in his back; the paintings of the clowns
- Eliot: the dolls moving; the gift shop with air conditioning
- Isabella: the toy land ; the gift shop
- Ellie: toy land and the toilet circle
- Alex: toy land; when Fifi and I saw a person picking his nose in the car
- Fiona: the turkey trying to bite me; the squirrel in the cage
THE BITTERSWEET
Driving through the Kentucky we remember from childhood was a bit disconcerting. We saw Aunt Lona’s and Uncle James’ house from the side, but couldn’t walk the property. It was instantly recognizable but also … different. So many wonderful memories: talking with Uncle James on the back porch, magnets on the fridge, eating watermelon slabs, catching fireflies, eating bbq for six meals straight. There is something about being at the place where those enshrined childhood memories were created that is both beautiful and bittersweet. My dad had wanted to take us to the back fields of Hillbilly Gardens to share some of his memories and stories of that land, but, unfortunately, that never materialized. We visited cemeteries, learned family history, and enjoyed using the lottery system for which children rode in whose cars!
OH, THE BBQ: We had a truly delightful dining experience at Hutchen’s Drive-In, a place that deserves a spot on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. The experience was sheer perfection – from the authentic Kentucky bbq, to the diner ambience, to our amazing waitress, Miss Charlotte. We really felt like we had a taste of Kentucky …
AND THE BEAUTIFUL
- Kids playing poker and shrieking with laughter
- Kids playing Trivial Pursuit with their grandparents … and shrieking with laughter
- Drinking Mello Yellow
- The new memories created
- Watching the Fourth of July fireworks over the lake from our very own porch.
After the visit to Hillbilly Gardens, we asked the kids what they thought the word Hillbilly means:
- Collette: an old person who walks and breathes with God
- Jonah: a rough person, not prim
- Alex: a buff cowboy from a biker gang
- Ellie: someone out of the ordinary
- Liam: the opposite of what we think is normal: the reverse of us. He wants to be unique.
- Eliot: old guy or old person that has very weird imagination
- Fiona: a guy or girl on a hill that has a lot of stuff and they have a kid named Bill.
- Isabella: person who collects weird, interesting and spooky stuff and tries to sell it for money.
reydarambles 