Tartan Day

Ashton's Weaving

Today, my lads and lasses, is officially Tartan Day in America. President Bush issued a proclamation to that effect. You can see the official proclamation at
http://www.pr-inside.com/proclamation-by-the-president-national-tartan-day-r520985.htm
This came from the president of the Council of Scottish Clans & Associations (COSCA) by way of the Texas Scottish Festival group.

I hope that you are wearing your tartan today.

Don't have one? Not to worry! Just look what I whipped up today, using my trusty loom. (That's a joke! I can weave, but I don't. I can also sew, but my temper doesn't allow it! ) The above tartan designs were created by me in just a few minutes using an online tartan design site. I just selected some colors that I like, then put them in order, selected a thread count, then the computer instantly wove my tartan design. (Love that purple that is almost like a Cobalt Violet!)

You can also look up your Scottish, and Irish, surnames and find if they have a tartan, if you don't know already. You can have your design woven and made into kilts, scarves, or whatever. Or just save it to your computer, if you like the way it turns out.

These days, there are tartans for states, including the Bluebonnet design for Texas (which is very pretty), for the military, and other groups.

If you already have a tartan, and items made from it, I hope that you are proudly wearing them today.
There are various activities going on today to recognize Tartan Day. There are events in Austin at the Capitol, and celebrations in places like Houston, that I have heard of.

I put some links in my sidebar under Art Helpers for sites that you can use to find out more about your tartan and create your own. It is kind of fun and much easier on the blood pressure, if you are at all like me! You can just make another one really easily. No angst over tangled threads, crooked lines, threads that are too loose or too tight, or out of order, or something that comes unraveled, or that you just plain wish would hurry up and get finished! (For me, with about the second tangled thread or mistake, the sewing machine and the object I was working on, go stratight out to the garbage can!) Maybe I can print off a bunch of my tartan designs and tape them together to wear, or, better still, just paint something on paper to wear! (Items with the actual tartan, woven, are a bit more than I can afford!)

I haven't found tartans for my Scottish ancestors, yet. I think that the Arnetts could have been Arnot, which isn't a clan anymore because they have no chief. But, they became a sept of something else after the last chief died. The Vanns said that they wear the Munroe tartan. Robertson would also be Scottish, but I haven't done much research on them. (I sure would like to find out more about Mourning Robertson! I guess it is her name that is fascinating to me.)
My closest family was Prussian, Swedish, Bavarian, and English. The Scottish and Irish were several generations back and I haven't gotten that far in my research. Miles was English, Davis was Irish. There are many, many more families and individuals to find out about, still.

My grandson did actually do a weaving, with threads, in his art class. It took them a long time to finish since skill and craftsmanship, along with creativity, was important to the project. I'm adding a scan of his weaving. At first glance, it seemed to remind me of a mask. But, as I examined it a little closer, I am amazed at his patience with all the evenly spaced threads and even tiny little knots.

If you haven't been able to celebrate today, maybe you can take a little time to look up your tartan, or create your own, for future reference. There are times when there are other Scottish and Irish events throughout the year when you could use your tartan, your kilt and other attire.

Have fun playing around with the tartan designers. Here are some that I found, and added to my sidebar.

House of Tartans
http://www.house-of-tartan.scotland.net/interactive/weaver/index.html

Dezine Design
http://www.dezinedesign.com/design-tartan

Tartan Designer
http://www.tartandesigner.co.uk/

Scottish Tartans Authority
http://www.tartansauthority.com/Web/Site/Search/onlinedesignerpage.asp

There are more, and a lot of places, even here in Texas, that carry Scottish products and make things like kilts. There is also a group on Yahoo called Texas Scottish Festival that is active and involved in things Scottish. Oh, and for food and other items, there is a place called Caledonian Kitchens online that you should enjoy.

Now, can you hear the pipers playing and the drums drumming, bringing dreams of Scotland.

Happy Tartan Day!

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Thank you for reading. Let me know if you see something of interest to you.

Mechanicsville, Tennessee

(picture courtesy of the author)

Mechanicsville by Melanie Garrett Nistad

Cannon County, Tennessee

This is the cover of a book that I had mentioned in a previous post. If you enjoy reading about life in the United States, families, small towns, history, or whatever interests you might have, you will enjoy this book.

I've never been to that area, but I could relate to the stories. We had some of the same things in my home area of Texas, when I was growing up.

The book includes articles about places like the Short Mountain Methodist Church, the Switchboard House (we had one of those at home, but we called it the telephone office) various stores, events, and families. There are lots of pictures and even maps to tell the history of the area.

"Miss Mary's Column", from the local newspaper there, sprinkled through the book, helped to tell the story. Miss Mary Reams wrote of her hometown for the local newspaper, recording much about life and people of that area.

I found one of her clippings, which is also in the book, among things that had belonged to my grandmother. That gave me a lot of information to start out with in searching for family history. I only knew that my grandmother's last name was Arnett, and she had told me that her father was "a hillbilly doctor in Tennessee". And that's all I knew-until I found that clipping of "Miss Mary's Column" a few years ago. The column described him, told where he lived, gave his children, told how he came to the area, etc. It gave almost everything, except his name, when he died and where he is buried!

Through the internet, I got some genealogical information, and Melanie, the author of the book, contacted me with pictures of Dr. Arnett's home (which her family owns), a deed that gave the disposition of his property and named his children, and information on his church membership-Short Mountain Methodist Church. In her book, the news column is dated in 1950, something that I had not known, or the name of the newspaper. She has been a big help to me in finding out more about my family.

We still haven't found his death and burial information. Wouldn't you know that, the year that the deed was made with his property information on it, 1913, is the year that Tennessee didn't keep death records! Possibly, his tombstone is missing, as it hasn't been found, either.

Of course, the book was extra special to me as it contains information and pictures of my families, the Arnetts and the Meltons. There is a picture of the house and part of Dr. Arnett's family on the cover. The house turned out to be a log cabin beneath board additions. There are lots of pictures of it and the restoration work, in the book.

Many other families are included besides those who are related to me.

If you would like a copy of this book, send me an e-mail and I will forward it to the author.

She advised me that the book is about sold out, but she can order more. You can pre-order for a waiting list , if you would like a copy. So, let me know if you want one. Just click on the Contact link in my sidebar .

The book, in the first printing, was $25 plus shipping.

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Primary elections are over in Texas. News cameras and anchors packed up and left for the next big event. Candidates have gone their way and are making news in other places.

In our house, we decided that we must have cancelled each other out! We all voted for different people. My daughter and grandson went back at night for the "Texas Two Step", the Democratic caucus. I didn't hear of anything in the evening for the Republicans. While the news is reporting long lines and big turnouts, my daughter said there were only 20-25 people who showed up where she was. She and her side were outnumbered. Looks like Obama won here, with all the college kids, but not by much, while Hillary won the state. McCain also won here, but Huckabee was close. There were a good many votes for people who are no longer running, which probably didn't help those who were still in the race.

I hated to see Huckabee's speech last night, where he pulled out of the race for president. I didn't support him, but, like most of the candidates, each one did have some good things to offer. And the rest of the primaries on the Republican side, are going to be less exciting, without the competition. We sat up late to watch the returns on tv. It was fascinating as it was so close. It was even tied, exactly, in one county.

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Congratulations to Calvert native, Mary Helen Bonilla Berlanga, now of Corpus Christi, who won her race for the State Board of Education.

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Take a look at Virginia Vaughan's blog. There is a link to her in my sidebar. She has some of the layout for her book, "Last Year On The Farm", on her blog today.

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Please sign my Guest Book at the bottom of the page, if you haven't already done so. Thanks for reading and sharing! Please let me know if you see something of interest.

Author! Author!

Photo Courtesy of V....Vaughan

LAST YEAR ON THE FARM:

A STORY OF CHANGE

by

V....Vaughan

I'm so excited about Virginia Vaughan's new book! It would seem to be a really nice book, and very personal, too. It's always so thrilling to see a new book by someone that I know, or know of.

Open land seems to be disappearing all too rapidly-everywhere. This book is an important record of one place in Texas. Many of her scenes are so familiar. Some days, I would paint something that I was watching and she was painting the same thing, only from her farm 100 miles away. I would find out when I read her blog that day. Or, some nights, we were watching the moon, and she was painting it! Pictures would be on her blog the next morning.

My family had cattle, too, so the animals are really familiar. The landscape is so much like the area that I visited or drove through very often in the past.

My sister has been taking workshops from Virginia for quite a while and told me about her blog. Since Virginia and I both taught art, we started sharing. She encouraged me to get back to some painting and to start this blog. She's always a really helpful lady. And so talented!

Virginia documented the last year that she and her family would spend on their farm near Austin before it was to be sold. She chose to do paintings of that time and built a collection of her work. That collection of paintings is being shown in various places around the country. Check out her blog or website for some of the pictures and a list of where the paintings will be shown.

I have a link to her site under Artists and Authors in my sidebar, or you can click on http://www.vvaughan.blogspot.com/ or http://www.v-vaughan.com/ .

Virginia noted that there are 80 pages in the book , her field notes, and about 150 pictures. That leaves about 200 more pictures that aren't in the book, but are in the collection to be seen while it is on tour.

The book is $29 plus shipping. You can order through her website or send an e-mail to vvaughan8@yahoo.com .

And, no, I don't have any financial interest, in case you might wonder. I just wanted to spread the word about this new book on Texas, by someone that I know. Hope that it is a big success!

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Dr. James E. Arnett, Rhoda Carolyn Melton Arnett

Unknown Arnett, Sam, Kate, and Emma Arnett

Mechanicsville, Tennessee

(One of my family pictures)

I've finished reading another book, thanks to a fellow family history researcher in Tennessee. I am so excited for her, about her wonderful book, too! I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of her book. If you have an interest in history, or Tennessee, or life as it was, you should enjoy this book, "Mechanicsville", by Melanie Nistad. Of course, I was particularly interested in the parts that had to do with my grandmother's family and where she lived. But the stories were wonderful and I could relate many of them to my hometown in Texas as well. The book contains factual information and maps, but also many wonderful old pictures, stories from people who remembered them, and wonderful writings by Miss Mary Reams in her newspaper column.

I can really relate to that since, at one time, I also wrote a column of happenings for local newspapers. I wish I had read Miss Mary's columns before I wrote mine. I would have looked for different things than I wrote about back then.

I hope that this very important book is a big success, too! I'm so proud of her for doing all this work. It turned out really well!

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As for me, I've been doing some watercolors that aren't finished yet. Looking forward to the Brazos Valley Art League show with entries due at the P. David Romei Center in College Station on the 29th. Judging and opening will be on Saturday. There is a link to their website under Organizations on my sidebar.

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Don't forget to sign my guest book if you haven't already. It's all the way at the bottom of this page.

Thanks for your comments and your support!

After Sunday Dinner

After Sunday Dinner 8.5" x 11 " Pencil

Miles Farm Navarro County, Texas

The unpainted farmhouse, with two front doors, in the middle of fields of black dirt that turned sticky when it rained, was the home of my mother, Ellen's, parents, Emma and J.D. Miles. The farm had belonged to his father before him, but, as a child, that wasn't so important or interesting to me.

J.D. Miles Sr. was a Captain in the Confederate Infantry during the Civil War. He and his wife, Ellen Day, came to East Texas from Alabama prior to the Civil War.

I would have preferred to be at my house in Calvert, or with the grandparents, great-aunts and great-uncles, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends and my parents back there, who I was around every day. I didn't get to see my Miles grandparents that often, so they were not that familar to me. They did come for extended visits, but only one came at a time. I missed life in town with the drugstore, the movies, the swimming pool, church, playground at school, and being very spoiled. I couldn't find a lot to do on the farm. Just sit and look out the window, sometimes sing, or chase cats or chickens outside. Not much fun by myself.

Grandma Miles was tall and thin. She had hair so long that she could sit on it, but wore it in braids crossed over her head. Her dresses were always long sleeved and high necked. She was a bit stern and a strong disciplinarian. As a child, I didn't see that she also had a sense of humor, but, as I look back, she was probably full of fun and mischief, as well as being a lady. Now, I can see in photos of her when she was young, that she was really beuatiful. She had come to Navarro county from Tennessee with her mother, Rhoda, after her father, Dr. Arnett, died in Tennessee. Rhoda died a little over a year after moving to Texas.

J.D. was a big man, and nice looking too, with clear blue eyes, and light brown hair. He walked with his knees bent as a result of a boyhood accident with an axe while he was chopping wood. He was kind and soft spoken, was a good cook, and was constantly working on something. He had lost his wife and two little daughters before he married Emma. He and Emma had two daughters, my mother and her older sister, Emma Dee.

Both girls were started in piano lessons at age 3 and Emma steered them into music as a career. Ellen got married before she graduated from high school, Emma Dee became a teacher and musician. Ellen, too, continued her music as a private teacher, and in her church. She also excelled at art, and most anything she tried.

Sometimes Daddy would drive us to the Miles farm for a visit, especially on a Sunday, when he was off work from my great-uncle's grocery store in Calvert. Sometimes we went in the little Ford coupe with the rumble seat, with you-know-who in the back-me! Other times, he would take the '30 something Ford sedan. I remember the road that approached the farm, and the smaller winding road that became almost impossible to drive on once the rains made everything so sticky. Grandpa had to meet us at the main road with his wagon when they thought the car might get stuck.

Sunday dinner with my Calvert family was a big affair after church, with all the family and friends they could bring in. I'll write about that another time. But, on the farm, there would only be my grandparents, my mother, my father, my aunt, and, possibly a visitor or someone helping on the farm.

There was a long room across the back of the house, with a door that was not far from the well. I remember that this room was like a screened porch, with screen all along the west side. I don't know what they did in bad weather. I think there may have been large wooden flaps that they closed when it was cold or if it rained. The north wall and the south wall by the door were made of wood. The east wall had windows in it, behind the table. There was a door that led to a room that had a bed in it, but also was used for storage. Sometimes, when we stayed longer, we slept in that room by the windows to the kitchen/porch.

There was a fairly long table with benches on one side, old fashioned chairs with what I called beadwork and carved flowers on the other side and at one end. An oil cloth tablecloth, with its pungent smell, covered the table.

On the wall behind the table, there was a cabinet covered with cloth curtains, where there were dishes, canned goods, and pots and pans at the bottom.

I don't remember a sink in the room, but, rather, a dishpan on a shelf or table under a window on the north wall. After washing dishes, the water was thrown out in the dirt in the yard, where chickens rushed to peck in it.

Beside the back door, there was a small shelf or table with a dishpan and a bucket of water for drinking. A ladle hung on a nail on the wall beside the door. There was a small towel for hand and face washing. Of course, there was the well near that door, where a wooden bucket hung. As I walked with my grandparents to get water, we would sing " The Old Oaken Bucket".

I'm sure that there was electricity, as they had a radio. It seems that there were electric lights, with bare bulbs hanging from the ceiling by a wire. But, I remember them using kerosene lamps, more.

There was a stove between the "sink" (dishpan) and the table. I don't recall a lot of details about it, but I believe they had a wood stove. Grandma and Grandpa, and Daddy, too, said that food was so much better cooked on a wood stove. I know they had wood stoves for heating in the sitting room toward the front of the house.

Emma Dee would usually come from where ever she might be working at the time, and join my parents for a visit with my grandparents. Sometimes, Daddy would leave us there for a week or a few days, but most often, we just went for a few hours on Sunday, came back home after supper.

In Texas, we have breakfast, dinner, afternoon lunch about 4 o'clock, (or a teaparty if there is something fancy going on, otherwise, they go for coffee), supper, and refreshments in the evening.

In this drawing, I remembered one visit when, after Sunday dinner, Grandpa and Daddy had gone out to look at the crops or something in the barn. The women lingered at the table, while trying to get me to eat. I had to be 3 years old, or younger, as my sister had not been born. I was a picky eater and only would eat cereal, fruit, and milk. And, I didn't want to eat strange things at houses that I wasn't familiar with, either.

Grandma Miles is sitting, facing us, at the table. The cabinet behind her.

Emma Dee is at the far side, on the bench, back to us, toying with a biscuit on her plate.

Ellen, is closest to us, seated on the bench, talking with my grandmother.

I have left the bench again, wanting to go outside, rather than have to eat. My little plate is empty, on the corner of the table, and my glass of fresh milk is still full. They would coax me and I would finally just drink my milk. But, I wasn't so sure about this milk that didn't come from a bottle, with cream floating on the top, from the grocery store.

Grandma had wrung a chicken's neck and fixed fried chicken for us. Maybe she used two or more chickens because the plate was piled high with chicken, with some left over. They also had canned corn and canned tomatoes, mashed potatoes, cream gravy, biscuits, syrup, and a pie. The grownups had iced tea and Daddy had "skyjuice", as he called it, or water to the rest of us. (That came from his days as an Aggie. ) The coffee pot was on the stove so that Daddy could have coffee to keep him awake as he drove us home at night.

In this picture, it was probably a time before the crops came in since we didn't have a lot of fresh things. Canned goods were even running sort of low. When the crops came in, there would be all sorts of fresh food to eat, with cornbread, or fried cornbread.

Daddy was a big eater. But, he didn't really like chicken. When he was a child and had Rheumatic Fever, his mother kept him in bed for the year that the doctor ordered, by bringing in chickens! He was terrified of them, as were the other children, so he wouldn't get out of bed. He didn't know why he was scared of them. He thought it had something to do with them flapping their feathers around, or their sharp beaks and claws. But, at any rate, there was seldom ever chicken in that house for those children, even when they were grown.

He did love Grandpa Miles' baking, especially the bisbuits.

As we sat at the table during this visit, I don't know what the grownups talked about. But I do remember that the bowl of canned tomatoes was getting low. Both Emma Dee and Ellen wanted the last of the tomatoes, the part with the little seeds in it. So, Grandma reached behind her, behind the curtains, and pulled out another can of tomatoes. She grinned as she placed it on the table. Emma Dee got a can opener and they ate the rest of the tomatoes, relishing the part with the little seeds in a small saucer.

I still think of that every time I open a can of tomatoes.

This drawing was done with a Sanford #314 draughting pencil.

I thought that, since it is Sunday, I would add something about Sunday, and memories, and take a little break from my vision experiences.