Dr. Parker's Office

Dr. Parker's Office

8" x 10"

pencil

During WWII, Dr. Taylor was called to serve in the U.S. Navy. Elderly Dr. Parker reopened his office on the second floor of the bank to take care of Calvert patients while Dr. Taylor was gone.

Dr. Wade had an office over what is now Larry's Place, next to Zamykal Gourmet Kolaches.

I always felt sorry for Dr. Wade's patients, in bad weather, having to climb outside stairs on the north side of the building, while Dr. Taylor, Dr. Parker, and the dentist, Dr. Cain, all shared an entrance on the south side of the bank building, with stairs inside the building. And, boy, did I dread climging those stairs!

Most of the time, we went to the doctors in Marlin, but, if we needed immediate care, we went to the doctor in Calvert. And, if we were really sick, of course, the doctor came to our house. (I remember when the doctors went up from $1 a visit, to $2. People just shook their heads and wondered how they would be able to afford those high prices!)

I remember that Dr. Parker's office was very old fashioned, with overstuffed, brown, leather furniture, like in the cowboy shows, in his waiting room. There was a big leather chair by the door to the examining room. A huge leather couch was on the opposite side of the entrance. I can't remember what was on the wall to the left. Maybe some straight chairs? (I was too scared to look around very much, and probably looked at my shoes or the floor, or my mother, more than noticing my surroundings.)The south windows were on the wall opposite the couch. To the left of the door to the examining room, there was a white enameled table with a sterilizer on top. A little fold out tray on one side of the top made extra space for the instruments. Closer to the windows, there was a dark wooden desk and chair. I believe it was a roll top desk, but I'm not sure about that.

Through the door beside the sterilizer, was the examining room, all white and glass. An eye chart was on one wall along with some framed diplomas. Perhaps there was a calendar on the wall, just inside the door.

I hated going to Dr. Parker, and all doctors, actually. But Dr. Parker's needles were old and bent, and looked a bit rusty, to me. They were sterilized and reused, in those days. The old needles were thick, as well as long. And they sure did hurt! Frequently, I was given injections of penicillan for sinus trouble, with those old fashioned syringes. I would faint when I saw one of those needles, after a few shots with those bent needles. Maybe that is why I hate shots so much, still!

I don't remember where Dr. Parker lived, or anything about him. He just seemed very old.

One of the Parker's, Denny, wrote a book about Calvert which has been reprinted.

There was a Parker who lived on the corner across from the entrance to the parking lot at the school. I don't know if this was the doctor, or maybe his son. I do remember this man wore khaki pants around home, and his cow was always getting loose and breaking down newly planted trees around the neighborhood. Mr. Parker would walk around, with a rope, find the cow, and take her home. But, it wasn't long before the cow found a way out of the fence, and another little tree or two to walk over.

Those offices, upstairs, seemed so "citified", to me.

Calvert was once a busy place, with about everything that a person would need. It was nice that way. Of course, some of us always wanted to go somewhere else, have more to choose from, more specialized doctors and services, so people saved up their ration books and stamps to travel, shop, and entertain.

The merchants didn't like for people to buy out of town, of course, but their wives, daughters, and neighbors looked forward to the outings. Something different.

I posted a painting of the bank, previously. This little sketch is part of what was upstairs. This was done with an HB pencil on white paper.

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Greta Watkins of the Frame Gallery in downtown Bryan is working on portraits for a show in downtown Bryan in June. More details later.

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I was so shocked this afternoon. The cable guy came to fix our cable which was making our new tv sets go off unexpectedly, or the remotes would not do anything. He fixed some things outside and inside. But, he replaced the cable boxes that we haven't had for very long. One overheatedand we thought it was about to catch on fire over the weekend.

But the thing that put me into shock was that, in replacing the boxes, I lost all the tv programs that I have been recording. Things I was saving to watch on a day when nothing else is on. All my cowboy shows, old movies, British comedies, and, worst of all, the painting programs from Houston PBS. I have trouble staying awake during the programs that start at 4 a.m., so I thought I was being so smart by recording them.

I should have watched those programs, because, now, they are gone! Oh, well. I guess I will start over.

And, a kind of funny thing happened tonight. I didn't notice, but the cable man must have replaced the remote in the den. I was watching tv, changing channels, and hit a wrong button. I didn't want to activate whatever it was that it told me to activate by pushing OK. So, to get out of it, I was going to hit Exit. To my distress, there was no longer an Exit button on the remote! I thought it must be my eyes and I just couldn't see it-a black button on a black remote, with tiny little white letters! I had to take the remote to my daughter, who was not happy that she had to come-again-to fix the tv for me!

But, it wasn't my eyes, after all. We had a different remote, that doesn't say Exit on it!

About the time that I figure these things out, they change!

I did learn about the changes that we have been hearing about over and over on tv. I wondered if all the channel numbers are going to change. I was happy to learn that the changes have already been made here! Yea! I hate when I can't find my station or programs that I normally watch! The tv guides are too small, and there is just too much there. So, I either have to look for new stations on a card, or just use the remote to flip through channels until I see something that I want to watch.

They need to make technology simpler instead of more complicated, with each new thing! I guess it's okay for kids and left brained people, but, the older I get, the more right brained I become.

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I guess it is about time to start looking for someone to do a rain dance. I heard on the news tonight about some local cattlemen starting to sell off some of their cattle because it is too dry. Grass they planted hasn't had enough rain to grow right, so they are having to feed, and that isn't working very well. I hope we are not in for another big drought.

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I went back into this and added a different image. The first one was done before I darkened some areas, so this one shows better. But, when I added the picture, my lines of text spread out! I did backspacing to tighten it up, but, now, I'm sure that I'll have a big space at the end, again. I still don't know how to fix that. So, just scroll on down.

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