What Happened?

Chloe knew I was going to be gone for more than the afternoon when I got out my luggage to pack…

Suess knew, too…

You’d think that I was gonna be gone forever.  I told them I’d be back in just a few days but they don’t understand about birthdays.I came south to Fort Worth to visit with my family and do an early birthday celebration since my baby brother that shares my birthday has to work on Saturday.  I got up this morning and it was like deja vu all over again…

That’s my little pickup…  at 12:30 a.m.   I looked outside and it was so light and beautiful I grabbed my camera and went out in my jeans and a tee shirt to get “just a few” pictures.

I saw the street light shining on the snowy trees and I had to get my camera and see if I could capture the look of it to share with you all.  Then I would look and see something else…

And then look over here…

And how about over there?

The mail box and then with my hand in the shot for comparison…

Well, Bennett decided he couldn’t stand it for me to be out taking pictures without him getting in on the fun.

(photo by B. T. Gardner) Gotta give credit where credit is due.

We took pictures in the front, then the back…

The bird feeders…

The chiminea and the patio peach tree…

How about gathering around the patio table for a visit?

There are also lounge chairs around the pool…

And the bird bath that earlier in the day was being used by a morning dove to get a drink.  I didn’t have my camera at hand when my s.i.l. Diane yelled at Ben and me to come look… you’d see the dove looking around, then it would put it’s head down for a drink and you could barely see it’s back.

Snow on the back fence… note the tiki torch on the left side of the picture.  When we decided to go back out front I grabbed my coat and put it on and out we went and what did we find but an elephant frog…

This yard art frog that my middle Bro and I got for Ben for a birthday… there was so much snow that Diane and I decided that it looked like a green elephant. 

Ben got out his tripod to set up some timed pictures because there was no wind to deal with and the lightness of the night was too beautiful to pass up…

This was about a 20 second exposure.  I stood as still as I could.  This tree in their front yard is absolutely beautiful and we are praying that the limbs don’t break under the weight of the snow.  (photo by B.T. Gardner)

Another timed shot, about 30 seconds.  (photo by B.T. Gardner) This was taken about 12:45 a.m.

This is another one 30 second picture of the trees and the street light taken from up towards the front of the front yard…

              (courtesy again, B.T.Gardner)

Ben setting up for a timed photo… note the flannel lounge pants and an overcoat.  We know how to dress for the weather…

Another of Ben that I shot.  He would set up his shot and then hold his hands over his camera to try to protect it a bit from the snow.

For the really big finish to this extra long post… one more that Ben took with me on a timed shot…  I’m still 64 in this photo.

On Saturday I won’t be able to claim 64 any more but that’s okay since I don’t feel it or most times don’t act like it… and, like I told my baby brother, what a gift we were given to be able to share this night a day before our birthday. (Photo courtesy of B.T. Gardner)

Amen.

This One's For You, Cuz...

These three sisters... these three friends...

The relationships between them was probably the closest relationships I ever saw growing up. Aunt Pauline, Aunt Mack (Maxine) and mom, Mary Lou, (in that order in the first photo), were so very close. I don't ever recall anything but laughter and lots of talking when these three got together.

It didn't happen nearly as often as they would have liked, because Aunt Paul and her husband and two children lived in Santa Monica, California. Aunt Mack and her family lived in Okla. City like our family.

So many times when we were growing up we were out in the 'country' (south OKC on a small acreage) at Aunt Mack and Uncle Bud's place, playing with our cousins and learning about 'country' ways.

Slopping the hogs was just that. I don't know what all was in those buckets, but it looked like slop and in the deep summer time it smelled like slop. I learned how you milked a cow. I always loved to watch my uncle milk because they had barn cats around and he could squirt that milk right into those cat's mouths.

I helped pick corn and tomatoes, snap and hull black-eyed peas and green beans. And if mom and Aunt Mack were tired of us they'd shoo us outside to play. When Aunt Pauline would come to visit, mostly it was just that... visiting. Time shared was so precious to all the sisters that they would talk for hours on end, all help in fixing up whatever meal it was time for, all help in cleaning up after the meal, then it was more visiting time.

My family would go to California every two or three years to visit Aunt Pauline and Uncle Benny and our cousins Bonnie and Mike. I always looked forward to those trips because seeing new places and going to the beach.

On those trips we saw the Grand Canyon, the Painted Desert, Yosemite, Yellowstone National Park, Glacier National Park and other places I've forgotten.

But the best part was the family getting together to re-connect, to talk and catch up on what was going on in our various lives.

This photo is the only one I know of that has all the children of the three sisters together. You've seen my cousin Bonnie, she of the beautiful curls, my baby brother Bennett, being held in place by my sister Sue, and me on the right. Our cousin Carol is next to Sue, my middle brother Walter, cousin Ray Lynn and Cousin Mike. On the back row from the left, is our cousin Nancy Gale, my oldest brother Bill and my oldest sister Lou Ann. This photo was taken approximately in the summer of 1951.

I get to see my cousin Carol mostly, because she lives the closest, but every 10 or 15 years I get to see Bonnie when she comes to visit in Oklahoma and just last week I got to visit with both Carol and Nancy Gale when I met with them for dinner and to watch Nancy's granddaughter play in a basketball game in Shawnee.

And the reason that this one is for my Cuz... We were talking about the old photos and I promised her when I found the one of all of us kids, I'd post it so she could see it and print it off if she wanted.

What better thing is there to do but share with family.... and with friends.