In l872 our Williamson great-grandparents and their family homesteaded in Saunders County. There were no trees. Nebraska's land was virgin prairie with grasses six feet tall. Children got lost in it. Pioneers who buried their treasures overnight, couldn't always find them in the morning, but they persevered carving out homes and lives. Great Grandmother, Charity Williamson, was a mid-wife. In the only picture we have of them, she and her husband, George Washington Williamson, looked jolly. One story was passed down about her. Some kid had his ear almost cut off. She held it in place until it healed with the lining in an eggshell.
The land was harsh, unforgiving. Grandma Mae Simmons Williamson was from Lynn, Kansas. She remembered being frightened by Indians coming to their home. She and her brothers hid under the bed. Her mother gave the Indians bread and whatever else she had.
As a grown woman, Grandma had a fear of iron bridges. If we didn't put her in the middle seat, she'd get out and walk across the Platte River bridge.
Both sides of our father's Swedish ancestors homesteaded in Saunders County, too. His mother, Ann, is my namesake, and I look like her. She died when he was eighteen months old.
I moved to Mississippi with the pioneering spirits of my grandmother's Mae and Ann. When my sister moves to Virginia, it will end our family's 150 years presence in Saunders County. It makes me sad. I miss the cemetery. I can call and talk to everybody else. My Nebraska friends are my anchors to my roots.
2012 Red Convertible Travel Series
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Flower Lake Cyprus Knees
I love the knees weird shapes.
A group of them will bind together
A group of them will bind together
and become a tree.
2012 Red Convertible Travel Series
The Unusual Electrician
In my younger days, I was painfully shy. With time and travel, I learned to pick and choose who to talk to, and it has been fascinating. Recently, I met an electrician for a mine. My only point of reference was kerosene lamps in old Western movies. I asked "How deep do they have to go for the ore?"
He replied, "Until they find it!"
2012 Red Convertible Travel Series
He replied, "Until they find it!"
2012 Red Convertible Travel Series
Sunday, July 15, 2012
An Arizona baby gift
I met a young woman from Arizona whose mother bought her a pet when she was born. I expected a cat or a dog. No, it was a little lime green iguana - probably from the neighborhood. Sleeping with it made her very happy, she said.
Indoor Iguanas need a hot rock to lay on. They put theirs in the window with a heat lamp for his daily dose of heat. (If you've ever been in AZ, you KNOW it gets extremely hot. "Just let him out!" I say, but that's not how they do it.)
It could have taken on campoflauge colors at times, but it didn't feel threatened.
Their happy arrangement lasted for the first eight years of her life, and he had grown to five feet long.
2012 Red Convertible Travel Series
Indoor Iguanas need a hot rock to lay on. They put theirs in the window with a heat lamp for his daily dose of heat. (If you've ever been in AZ, you KNOW it gets extremely hot. "Just let him out!" I say, but that's not how they do it.)
It could have taken on campoflauge colors at times, but it didn't feel threatened.
Their happy arrangement lasted for the first eight years of her life, and he had grown to five feet long.
2012 Red Convertible Travel Series
Friday, July 06, 2012
The other Rico's
On Highway 1 at Rena Lara, MS, we stop at Rico's for fresh sandwiches, chips, cold drinks and the occasional household item needed now! It's over ten miles to town, and we're either too cold or too hot.
In Ketchum, Idaho, the air is dry and hot in the daytime and deliciously cool at night: blanket weather. Perusing the city, we found the other Rico's. We could have eaten out under an umbrella but chose to eat inside. Corrie and I shared a paper thin pan pizza covered with a light layer of cheese and sauteed fresh onions, peppers and mushrooms. Yummmy!!!! My salad included fresh pear pieces and carmeled walnuts - a wonderful combinations. Corrie inhaled hot peach cobbler smothered in ice cream. I had the above tiarimusu. Both were outstanding! And the coffee was unusually good, smooth without acidity.
2012 Red Convertible Travel Series
Bidyadanga Artists of Western Australia
The following information is from the back of this card:
The Harvey Art Projects USA proudly presents in conujunction with Short Street Gallery Broome Western Australia
LUMINESCENCE
The Color of Bidyadanga Artists of Western Australia
Bidyadanga artists are the Yulparija elders who have spent most of their lives in the Great Sandy Desert of Western Australia living in the traditional bush way. Much of their work reflects this and depicts the country on the Canning Stock Route around well 33. Their paintings shimmer with vibrant colors that capture their landscapes in the most luminescence of ways. Exhibit runs until July 31st 2012.
Gallery walk Opening July 6th 2012 5-8 pm
391 1st Ave North
Ketchum ID 83340
info@harveyartprojects.com
I photo
The photo on the reverse of this card says: Weaver Jack, Acrylic on Belgian linen 2008.
It is a map of the area the artist grew up in. She signs her work with a cross.
2012 Red Convertible Travel Series
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