Time to Walk Away

Today, I have had the old Kenny Rogers song running through my mind, something to the effect that you gotta know when to hold 'em, gotta know when to fold 'em, and know when to walk away. 

What a great two, almost three years it has been.  I have accomplished the two goals I had so long ago (it seems) in that I have learned how to blog and with the help of a lot of other people we have reconnected with many of our classmates from Childress High School.  This was a real blessing and a rewarding time with the excitement of first hunting for as many of our classmates as possible and actually making contact with friends of the past.  It was never the original intent to actually have a reunion, however, the small 45th reunion in Childress was an added bonus!

Now it is time for me and others to move on to new challenges and new adventures without the responsibility of the blog.  We have opened the door for getting reacquainted with old friends and it is my wish that that door won't close.  Thankfully the All School Reunions in Childress are continuing and hopefully that will be a future venue for reuniting in person with one another.  

Facebook has become a meeting place for not only our former classmates who are interested, but for our families, and friends from all walks of our lives.  I hope to see more and more of you there if only to look at the photos of your sweet grandchildren and to read the small bits and pieces that you  choose to share in your own "voices". 

One last word regarding blogs--I truly believe that our original "Reflections" blog is a true testament and history to each person in the Childress High School Class of 1963.  For those of you who missed reading the posts in that first blog, I hope you will take time to visit some of these as I think you will be surprised and pleased to have the opportunity to once again have the chance to relive times and memories with people with whom you shared a special time in your life--that you will have the opportunity to remember some of the good times and good friends.

Today I walk away from the blogs, but I will hold the memories of each of you in my heart as will Jim, and I hope with time we will bump into one another on the paths that we have chosen to walk.

Nicki Sooter Wilcoxson

Another Voice of '63

When Nicki began the "Voices" blog, her really great idea was to showcase different people from our class and other Childress High School alumnus. Several people bared their stories at first, which was interesting to hear what our former classmates had been doing for the last 47 years.

I happened to run across one of our classmates on Facebook. When I read her information page I noticed she was interested in portrait painting. Anything from the art world piques my interest. I emailed her to ask about her painting. She sent me a photo via email of a portrait she had painted. I was, and still am, in awe. So I want to share this with you.

Ta da!          Charlene Bierschmitt Clouse-------portrait painter extraordinaire!

Charlene was 27 years old, living in Mineral Wells. She had a 7 year old daughter and a 2 year old son. She didn't know anyone, apparently feeling like a fish out of water. She took a walk downtown and saw a woman in a shop painting a strawberry. She was amazed at how realistic this strawberry looked----like you could pick it up and eat it.

Her mom had painted and sketched all her life. The next time Charlene visited with her in Childress, she asked her mom how you could make something look so real. Her mom told her to begin with circles, practice blending the paint until the circles became three dimensional and looked like balls. (This brought back memories of 25 years of Art I students with ebony pencils struggling to turn circles into balls.) SO-----Charlene says she painted a LOT of circles. She was very interested in realism. All I can say is----it definitely paid off.

The painting shown below is that of a cowboy named Furr Standrich. He was working at the Harrell Ranch just outside Claude, TX. Charlene worked from a photo she took herself as he posed in Palo Duro Canyon. He wanted to wear his hat for the painting, due to the onset of baldness. She thought she had run out of film and asked him to rest for a minute while she reloaded the camera. He took his hat off and said to Charlene as he relaxed, "Anyone who can look out across this canyon and not believe in God has to be crazy." That's when she snapped the pose that became the painting.

I am enclosing the photo she took. You can see that she left out the rocky background to give emphasis to her subject.

Charlene has not painted in the last four years. I truly hope she picks up those brushes. There's some serious talent that needs to be shared.

Please note that the portrait and photo were shared with us by Charlene and have been published with her permission.  Charlene maintains ownership and requests that any copies must be done with her permission.  We are very grateful that Charlene has allowed us to publish these items on our blog.

A Snowy Kind of Day

On January 28 the snow fell and fell, and fell.  I think we have about 10 inches.  Thankfully we did not have a blizzard since the winds didn't blow hard enough!


In a previous post, I talked about how much fun it was to play in the snow, but not this time. We have been in the house for two days now, but warm and cozy and well fed since I made the obligatory rush to the grocery store to make sure we had plenty of groceries and then off to Pet Smart to get bird seed and cat food.  We can't wait to get out of the house hopefully tomorrow!  Enough is enough.  I need to work out; I need to go to a restaurant!  We need a 4X4!! 

 

White out from the front yard

Looking down the street today.

 After a couple of hours of shoveling and with the help of a friend, we managed to clear the snow off of the driveway, but a layer of ice remains.    At least we can escape the house if we want to.  Jim is holding the shovel!

 

We are so grateful that the ice spared our trees and that the Austrian Pine and all the rest are standing tall and snowy.

I had to clear a path to all the bird feeders.  I can see one tiny bird in the snow and a cardinal in the tree.  They love me!

The birds love the deck because there is cat food there and they love that, too.

They also love the rest from the weather from time to time.  This little fellow is sitting on the metal pumpkin frame from autumn.

 

I couldn't bear to knock the snow off of the back porch.  I love the puffy tops because they look like snow cones or icing on cupcakes.

The happiest one to see the snow go will be our cat Chloe.  She sits at the windows or doors looking very sad, because she loves it outside and she hates the snow and cold on her paws.

Is there life beyond our house and the backyard????  Did I not write this same post at the beginning of January???  This is really sad!  We need a vacation-a change of scenery-new topics for the blog........

FISH DINNER

Before

After

I find this truly strange on so many levels.  Truly something to ponder.

Further thought on these photos leads me to the conclusion that there must be some symbolism here.


 A.  Is this representing the before and after the fall of the stock market earlier??
                                                                      
B.  Could this before and after be symbolic of the fortune of Tiger Woods after his wife gets through with him???

C.  Perhaps these photos are symbolic of the dangers we see lurking in our environment and ecosytem unless we take steps to correct what we humans are doing???


D.  or  perhaps I am over analyzing this before and after and they are simply representative of a really good fish dinner that someone enjoyed???


Thanks, Clara, for sharing this with us.

Nicki

A Smiling Kind of Day

Some days are just meant to make us smile!  So far this is one of them.

First of all the sun is out and shining.  Yea!  There is still a layer or two of snow strategically lying in the yard, but I am betting it will be melted soon.

As usual, I have been a bad bird mom and I knew I had to go out and feed the little critters.  I cleared a path to the feeders and hauled the seed out to them, all the while imagining a line of huffy little bodies and faces giving me dirty looks as I finally took care of them.  The Blue Jays and Cardinals and some other bigger birds have been visiting our deck to steal cat food from the bowls I put out for the stray kitties who pass through.  Apparently birds love the cat food as much as the cats.

After finishing my job, I was overcome with a desire to spend a little time in the snow.  Since I knew better than to throw myself down to make a snow angel because I had visions of not being able to get up, I decided to take my snow shovel and just clear a place or two to help the melting process.  I used the blade to break it up in different patterns.  Who says "older" people can't play in the snow, too!


As I did all of this, I noticed my cat Chloe was very busy trying to clear the snow from the spot in a flower bed that she has chosen as her own special poo spot.  She worked and worked, but just as she tried to do her "business" snow fell back into the spot.  Finally she gave up ran to the open door to the house, ran to the closet where the litter box is located and quickly, with a sigh of relief.....well you get the idea.  Now that made me smile too.

Last night I did make it until the new year and said hello 2010.  Normally I don't do this but as I surfed through the channels, I landed on the CNN channel.  Much to my surprised and joy, there was Anderson Cooper!  Anderson Cooper in Times Square!  I really do like AC and it made me happy, happy to see in the new year with him "by my side."  The only flaw in my little fantasy was that Kathy Griffin was standing in "my spot".  Don't much care for her, but she did make AC cringe and smile on a few occasions and I do love those dimples!  Just for the record Jim was having his own perfect fantasy watching some football or basketball game on the other television!



Several people in the crowds mentioned that spending New Years Eve in Times Square was on their bucket list.  Sounds great to me, too!  In person instead of just watching on television!

I hope you,too, are having a smiling kind of day!