That was a waste of time!

You may have noticed that the last post I did just nine short hours ago is gone.  I don't delete posts lightly; in fact, except for a purge I did in 2012 for a more narrow focus, I have only eliminated some drafts that got posted accidentally.

This time, I did so because I felt I had to put up something, but had no reason to.  First, a brief look at the week past:

• In my Photoshop class, I composed a picture imagining B.W.'s brother Bobby Ray, his wife Jennifer, and their daughter Belinda leaving their comfortable suburban house in Pineville, NC for the family farm some 200 miles away.  I had planned to post it in the usual Friday/Saturday overnight slot, except for one thing: I forgot to create the JPEG version of the project and save it to my USB drive while I was at school!  Therefore, it sits in the "documents area" folder in the computer I use and I cannot access it again until Monday.
• I started a second project that took place at the "Handy Jam" with 11 people representing various branches of the family spun off from the patriarch (Handy Barefoot, Sr.) of seven generations ago.  But I was unable to finish it by the end of class on Friday; I plan to finish it once class resumes and bring it to you next week.

So what to do?  I then thought of the Long Branch Disciple Church.  Located just two blocks from where B.W. lives and owns his farm, it is affiliated with the Disciples of Christ, one of the religious sects popular in the American South.  This led to the idea of Ralph "buying" the church property and moving all the family's three services there, and maybe inviting other branches of the clan as well.  At 2:22 this morning (Pacific time), I posted the entry, based on four photographs, two of which were changed via Photoshop.

But soon as I went into bed and finally went to sleep, I realized something: I implied in this post in 2012 that all services are on the farm and that only the residents (and maybe a few guests from time to time) attend.  What I didn't write back then was that church is an all-day affair among the Barefoots, with a buffet meal (lunch/dinner) and additional fellowship between services, a traditional hallmark of Southern worship.  Therefore, using Long Branch regularly wouldn't make sense.

So here's what I say now: The only uses for Long Branch would be for special services on Christmas and Easter, or perhaps for historic "homecoming" events.  The latter is another sign of the Southern religious experience; it takes place once a year and consists of two or three days of worship, guest preachers, concerts, and sometimes other events.  The rest of the time, it could serve as a museum that people can visit and remember the religious culture of the South (I have been to the old Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta and the first Church of God in Christ sanctuary in Memphis, TN; both are used in this way).

As a reminder, an aerial view of Long Branch is on the left and a ground view is on the right.  Both are courtesy of Google Maps.

So how do I make up for it?  How about posting directions to my favorite fake family's farm?  (Please note the last part of that sentence, auctioneers!)  That's what I'll do next time.