Photos from our friends at Wikipedia.

As a child, when we visited kin in Pt. Arthur, TX, for reasons I don't recall we had occasion to cross the Orange Bridge, as it was called back then. My place during these crossings was hiding in the back floorboard of our family's 1949 two-door Chevy Coupe. What many have described as the scariest bridge in Texas--I think it remains the tallest bridge in Texas--allows State Highway 87 and State Highway 73 to connect Port Arthur in Jefferson County on the southwest bank of the Neches River with Bridge City in Orange County on the northeast bank. The bridge, completed on September 8, 1938, is a through truss bridge, just upstream from Sabine Lake. It received its official name, Rainbow Bridge, in 1957 and was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.

Acadian Louisiana brown cotton homespun blanket

Blankets typically comprised of two-panels sewn together.

Louisiana brown cotton homespun, woven in lengths which are cut and sewn together to make blankets and floor coverings. The Acadian presence in Louisiana dates to around 1764. Known as Cajuns in southwest Louisiana, they are descendants of the French colonizers who settled an area of far northeastern North America—Quebec, Nova Scotia, and parts of present-day Maine. Like all rural folk of the pre-industrialized world, they practiced crafts and arts that sustained daily life, and in some instances, have become important reflections of a period of history, valued by those who document material culture and those who collect. The textiles produced by Louisiana Acadians, generally termed Louisiana homespun, are mostly woven from a brown cotton that was very popular because it already had a natural color and didn’t require dyeing. This “coton jaune” probably originated in Mexico, and in south Louisiana the seed was handed down from one generation to another for planting each year. Today, very little brown cotton is grown, although it is experiencing a resurgence.

Look for the light

Rainbow over Shiprock NM, earthsky dot org

The Holiday Edition of Vanity Fair magazine has a special section featuring photographs by Annie Leibovitz, titled The Vanity Fair 2018 Hall of Fame. Included are photographs of Stephanie Gregory Clifford (known to most of us as Stormy Daniels) and Hannah Gadsby, an Australian comedian. The photographs of Clifford and Gadsby, along with those of the others featured, are accompanied by a brief comment, written by someone of note. Gadsby is openly lesbian and refers to her sexuality in her stand-up routines. She also recounts experiences, which cannot be described by any other word than “brutality”, she had as an adolescent and young woman, primarily because of her sexuality. Monica Lewinsky, who wrote the comments for Gadsby's photograph, and whose name is in no way obscure to most of us, quoted Gadsby: "There is nothing stronger than a broken woman who has rebuilt herself.” Hear! hear!

We can do better.

“...and it is love that will echo through eternity.” (spoken by nurse Jenny Lee in the BBC period drama "Call the Midwife,"although it has been spoken by countless others throughout time).

Navajo cross, turn of the 20th century

Pueblo double-barred, or dragonfly, cross, turn of the 20th century

So this needs to be said, again and again. If the book of moral imperatives—the Christian faith calls this the Holy Bible—and the church whose doors we frequent teaches anything other than the truth that we are here on this earth for one reason—to care for and look after one another, blood kin or other—then we need to give a closer look at the book and at the church.

These photos arrived in the mail several months ago, from an old friend from the days that we taught at the McKinney (TX) Job Corps Center for Women in the early 1970s. They were taken on a weekend visit (probably summer/fall 1973) to the Hollis place near Normangee (Leon County) TX. The barn developed into my home in 1999. Virginia Perez took the 1970s photos. I took the photo of the west end of the barn--the room with the wood stove I called it--in 2009.

That's Russell Hollis, my dad, wearing a summer straw. 

John Calkin, scratching his head, no doubt amused or bemused by something.

The young guy must be James Warneke, my nephew, who's going on 10.

Me, dancing a jig, for no good reason, I'm sure.

Shirtless John Calkin fiddling with the gate that leads to the ground storage area.

Looks like Daddy is pointing to the sky, I'm lost in my thoughts, and Marisela  takes it all in.

A view of the the west end of the barn, with a room I added in 2002, after I had converted much of the barn to a  home.

I turned six around the time the Sears at 4000 North Shepherd in Houston opened in September of 1949. I have lots of memories of being at Sears, even into adulthood, ranging from buying clothes for school, shopping for Christmas presents, a Sears Kemtone brand record player, and admiring the Cub Scout and Boy Scout paraphernalia (even though I never became a scout). As a teenage with a drivers license, I made at least a few trips taking our Craftsman lawn mower to be repaired. Looking online for something about the status of the Sears at 4000 North Shepherd, I came across a recent story in The Leader, a local paper serving The Heights:Garden Oaks:Oak Forest:North Houston. There I read about the experience of someone named Jeff, where he has essentially taken the words right out of my mouth. "When I was five or six, or maybe a little earlier, I remember stopping to get a drink from a water fountain near the entry door,” said Jeff Kirk. “It was the first time I saw a sign designating a water fountain for ‘White’ and ‘Colored’ people.” (End of an Era? October 24, 2018, by Betsy Denson) The black and white image in my mind goes a little farther. I think my middle sister was with Mother and me. What’s not clear is if I went to drink from the Colored fountain and was stopped by Mother, or if I asked why there was a Colored fountain and received a slight yank of my hand and told to “Hush!” Probably one led to the other. My questioning of how things are began fairly young, as I recall. Photo: arch-ive dot org

Japanese tree lilac (Syringa reticulata)

 Blooming in my Albuquerque garden. Early morning, May 15, 2018.