Laughing With Friends -- A Treasure

My grandfather was known for climbing the 

water tower in Crowell (Texas).  

His best friend's mother called his mother one afternoon 

and said, "Dwight's up on that tower again."

That's the friend in this story from my youngest Uncle:

I came to the hospital to visit dad during the last few months, 

and the nurses were kind of chuckling and talking.

I asked what was going on, and they said,

 “We saw this elderly man come in with a walker 

and go to your dad’s room. 

He opened the door and rolled his walker in, 

then went in and shut the door.  

And then in a few minutes we heard two teenagers in there.”

Who are the friends that can still make you laugh like a teenager?

What a treasure they are!

More treasures:

Family memories

Watercolors by your mother (in her young eighties)

Vintage photographs saved by relatives

Flying High 2: Cast Your Vote!

Which do you like better?

There are so many options when playing with

photoshop layers ... it's often hard to choose.

So you get to vote!

Which do you like better?

This one with wings?

Or Friday's post?

Flying High

Today I finished altering this photo of mom.

That afternoon mom and her friends were goofing off,

hanging around in front of Crowell High School.

One of the young men picked her up and 

set her in this niche to the side of the front doors.

I've always loved this picture and

decided to play with it. 

Austin is just below mom's feet and

she holds the Yellow Rose of Texas.

Austin is where mom and dad got married,

and we celebrated that symbolic yellow rose on

their 50th anniversary family reunion cruise.

Perched high on a telephone pole (mom, do you 

remember your first telephone? would you write in the
comments any stories you remember?) mom is 

surrounded by hummingbirds that she

loves to paint with her water colors.

As I finish this post one of my favorite shows,

Who Do You Think You Are?

has just finished tracing the ancestry of

someone who explored census records, country

cemeteries, and marriage certificates.

We are fortunate to have some of our
family history recorded in an autobiography
mom wrote during her high school years.

Click below to read how three families in heavily ladened
prairie schooners left the hills of Tennessee for Texas in 1851:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/36534720/Autobio-DCB

...somewhere in the rear came Squire Campbell's
iron grey hunter and his fox hounds, for he
hoped in the new country to continue the chase of the fox ...

I love hearing family stories, looking at photos,
and then letting my imagination wander freely
as I think about who I am ... and who I might be.

Look Upward and Outward: Cheyenne Flying Thunderbirds Air Show

During Cheyenne Days there are moments
when much of the town pauses to look beyond itself.

As we prepared for the Flying Thunderbirds air show
vehicles filled every parking space near the
community college -- and then lined up and down
the highway.  On a weekday! In the middle of the day!
(?Is this craziness or is this wisdom?)

Children stared up at the sky
as the six jets turned, swooped, and dove in perfect sync.
Smoke streamed behind as some broke off
for a solo dive-spin, duet, or quartet.

Amazing! And mesmerizing.
Young parents relaxed while teens, children,
and even toddlers gazed above.

It reminds me of how Plato describes the power of
looking above and beyond our own selves

in astronomy and other outward-looking activities:

Astronomy compels the soul to look upwards

and leads us from this world to another.

This is true for the children and youth,
some at-risk, who attend camp at the new-ish 

Comanche Springs Astronomy Campus 

near our family ranch in Crowell, Texas.

I asked my brother, why astronomy?

He described how gazing into the universe takes 

us beyond ourselves so that we might

gain a different kind of perspective

and move on to find new meaning in life.

It was later that I realized he had quoted Plato.

How I Love That!

The creative and yet practical

ways Plato addresses struggles!!!

How do you look upward and outward?

The night sky? Cloud gazing?

Civic Park or Cherry Creek at sunset

as homeless unroll sleeping bags?

Click below to leave a comment
so that we might brainstorm together about how
to look beyond ... and expand our souls.