World Wide Sketch Crawl Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the big 23rd World Wide Sketch Crawl. Go to http://www.sketchcrawl.com/ for more information.

Locally, in Bryan, meet at the LaSalle Hotel in downtown Bryan at about 8:30 a.m. Saturday morning. From there, we can decided where to work. We will probably need to find a cool spot, near restrooms, as the day warms up.

After 10:00 a.m., you can register at the Frame Gallery, 216 N. Bryan Ave. That will give us some idea of how many people are participating. Contact Greta Watkins at the Frame Gallery for more information.

If we have a group, some may choose to work together. Or people may choose to work alone. Possibly, we could meet later to share experiences and work. At the end of the day, experiences and work can be posted on the Sketch Crawl website, on individual websites, or places like Flickr, Picassa, Facebook, etc.

Just bring yourself, your materials that you want to use, and any personal items you may need. You might want to include a folding chair or stool, depending on where you want to sit. So far, I have been able to find a bench or chair to use, but I have a lawn chair in the car, in case I need a place to sit.

This is a FREE event, open to all ages, all skill levels, all media, groups, families, or individuals. You can journal, draw, sketch, paint, or even doodle. You can work all day, or for a few minutes-at home, in a group, or solo. There are no rules.

In Calvert, meet beginning about 8:30 a.m. at Mud Creek Pottery, 407 Main St. Contact Sonny Moss for more information.

People in other communties can work there, perhaps forming their own groups, or they may join in another group such as in Calvert or Bryan.

Let's Draw The Brazos Valley!

*******************

Speaking of art, Greta Watkins is having some classes at the Frame Gallery in downtown Bryan. Tomorrow, she is hosting a workshop on linocut printmaking.

On Wednesdays, there is a group that meets there focusing on painting portraits in oils.

See her website or contact her at the Frame Gallery in Bryan for more information.

*************

Remember sunbathing?

I've been avoiding the sun for a long time because I get sunburned and blistered, instead of getting a nice tan. The light bothers my eyes, too. But, now, my doctor told me to to go out and get at least 15 minutes of sun a day. So, I'm going out on the deck in the mornings, sitting in the sun with my hat and sunglasses, sketching and listening to the birdies sing.

Kind of a nice place to be.

***

Calvert Trojan

8.5" x 11"

ink

I drew a lot of these as a student at Calvert High School, years ago. I thought I would try it again when I set up a group on Facebook and another on Yahoo for former students of CHS.

I noticed that the official logos drawn by other students and companies do not show a chin piece on the armor. However, I distinctly remember drawing that piece to cover the chin and connecting to another piece over the ear.

The bottom drawing is my first one done last week. I thought it came out looking too feminine, so I drew it again. This time, I tried to be more conscious of giving him stronger features and making the lines more bold. I used a Pitt pen on both drawings, but went over the lines with a Sharpie marker on the top drawing. It shows up much better that way. Maybe I will do it again and add some color.

I looked back at my two old yearbooks for 1953 and 1954 to see if I had one of my Trojan drawings in there. But, the Trojan drawing was a stock logo, in one; and, in the one where I was art editor, Jimmy M. did the drawing of the Trojan. I did a Trojan horse with the football team, and the end piece with two graduates on it.

I guess I have a male and a female Trojan in my drawings above!

These are on 8.5" x 11" paper.

If you went to Calvert High School, you might check out joining CHS_Trojans on Yahoo or Calvert High School Trojans Alumni on Facebook. Click on the buttons in my sidebar to join.

You can share your pictures, stories, and memories on those sites, as a member.

*************

I read an interesting blog entry today on Journeys in Art. One of my favorite movies is "Lust For Life", the story of artist Vincent Van Gogh. I have watched that over and over for years, along with "The Agony and the Ecstacy".

This blog talked about the latest research that points to Gaugin cutting off Van Gogh's ear lobe with a sword during an argument.

Check out http://journeysinart.blogspot.com/2009/05/what-really-happened-to-van-goghs-ear.html

*************

Greta Watkins is preparing her portraits of people in downtown Bryan to show June 5 at Art 979. This is a part of Art Step, the downtown Art Walk. The address is Art 979/Village Cafe, 210 W. 26th Street in downtown Bryan. Village Cafe features organic food from locally grown produce for breakfast and lunch.

Greta is the owner of The Frame Gallery in downtown Bryan.

**************

Also coming up in June is the Texas Scottish Festival in Arlington June 5-7. Click on the logo in my sidebar and that will take you to their webpage with schedules and more.

*************

And the Texas Reds Festival is another big event in downtown Bryan in June. See my sidebar for more events and dates.

*************

Save the Calvert City Hall!!!!!!!!

Homes Tour Memories

Model A built by Alfred Conitz

E. Conitz Sr. home from the back

Hulda Conitz Keeling and Asta Viemann Hawkins

Wall Detail of House I've Never Been In
carved wooden knot

Bedroom of House I've Never Been In

Alfred & Ellen Conitz's washpot

Today is the big spring homes tour in Calvert. I worried about the event when big storms hit in the wee hours of the morning. But, it looks like it turned out to be a nice, warm, spring day.

Hope they have a good attendance this year. Lots of music and events going on, besides the home tour.

I couldn't go but I thought I would share some of my "Pilgrimage" memories with you. (That's what they started out calling it when they first started having the homes tour. This year it is called "Showcase Calvert 2009")

People were excited about sharing their history and showing off their posessions and homeplaces when the tour of homes and interest in antiques first started. There was lots of painting and cleaning and getting ready for the influx of tourists that everyone hoped would come to discover Calvert. At that time, we lived in the little house near the school, which wasn't very antique. But Mama urged Daddy to mow and clean up the yard, anyway, thinking of what the neighbors and visitors might think. Daddy finally bowed to Mama's wishes, while going about his usual business and not really wanting to get into the spirit of the event.

Just before the event, Daddy said that he had some antiques too and he was going to display them . Mama had a fit and told him not to do that. The neighbors weren't too happy about it either. But that made Daddy just that much more determined to show his antiques .

He put the old iron wash pot from the back yard, on the front lawn. And pulled the old truck that he had built out of the shed out by the horse pen, and put it in the front yard. He also pulled the old baggage wagon that he had rescued from when they tore down the Calvert train station, from under the carport and out where tourists could see it.

Mama and the neighbors were not amused!

But Daddy was proud that he was participating by showing his antiques.

The rest of us tried to act like we couldn't see the items in our yard, since he wouldn't move them.

During the Pilgrimage, Daddy enjoyed visiting with all the people downtown. And Mama helped with the open house at the Methodist Church. I don't remember when they started the art show at Reba's Calvert Arts & Crafts, but, when they started that, she was involved with the art show and helping at Conitz Dry Goods Store, as we all were, when we were in town.

The red and black Model A truck at the top of the page, is the truck that Daddy built. He took part of Mrs. Peterson's old car that was cut in half by a train, and old parts from various cars, including one that had a rumble seat, to build a truck. When he built a shed in back and started hauling old cars home, he announced that he was going to build his own car. Everyone told him to quit that foolishness-he couldn't build a car. But, he spent a few years doing it and eventually had a truck that looked like the one on the Walton's tv series. It was black, as were most cars.

Daddy announced that he was through, started the car, asked us to ride to town. We all refused in fear the thing would wreck or blow up! But, Daddy drove the truck to town to show it off, then drove it back home, just to prove that it would run. He tinkered with it a bit, put it in the shed, up on blocks, and never drove it again. He just had to prove that he could do it.

When the Pilgrimages started, each year, Daddy would drag out his antiques. Even when they moved to the new house. And it did pay off.

One year, during the Pilgrimage, a man visiting town, saw the truck and bought it. He fixed it up, painted it red and black and drove it in parades.

Daddy was grinning from ear to ear, every time the man came to Calvert and took him for a ride in the truck. The photo of the truck was taken on one of those visits. Daddy is beside the truck, Mama and her sister are also in the picture, and the owner and his friend are behind them. The man belonged to a Model A Club and owned several old Fords. I think the name of the club is the Brazos Valley As.

The picture of the E. Conitz Sr. home is the house where I started life. We lived there until I was almost 4 years old-in the upstairs part. Great-grandpa, E. Conitz Sr., and his son, Gus, lived downstairs, that is until Emil died when I was 1. Gus continued to live there unitl he died about 10 years later. Mr. and Mrs. Burns rented the downstairs part while Gus had his special places in the house, like his basment room and the attic.

The Victorian houses in town were not all that unusual to me since I had grown up around them. Now, of course, they are very interesting.

In the picture is Hulda Conitz Keeling and her cousin, Asta Vieman Hawkins of Houston and Galveston. Hulda did grow up in this house, with all of her brothers and her parents.

During one early Pilgrimage, the house was not open as part of the tour, and was basically abandoned. My mother and her sister wanted to see what the house looked like, now. My grandfather still owned the house, but had not rented it out since the last people left a big mess. At this time, the yard was all grown up in weeds, so we waded through, hoping to look inside. The door was open and the screen door was just hanging. So we went inside.

They were horrified to find that fluroescent lights now replaced the hanging light fixtures and chandeliers. Hardwood floors had been covered with bright turquoise shag carpet. The wood paneling had been torn out and replaced with turquoise and green sheetrock. The staircase had been painted with white paint that was now peeling and turning yellow.

We learned that the nest to the last renters didn't have utilities, so they used the wood paneling to build fires in the middle of the music room floor. Wires were hung across the house for hanging clothes and for dripping blood from chickens they killed. The floor also became a bathroom. When my grandfather discovered it, he made them leave. The next renters cleaned it up and put in the "modern touches", but they didn't stay long, either. After that, my grandfather didn't want anymore renters. He offered to sell it to me, cheap, but I didn't have a job there, or money, or a way to take care of all that needed to be done to the house. Besides, I had a little bit of a fear of the place, as I do of all old places, especially if there is no one else around.

My daughter begged to stay when we got ready to leave after looking around the abandoned house, saying that this was her house! I had a creepy feeling and just wanted to run out of there. My mother and her sister just shook their heads and looked like they were going to cry. "What happened to all that beautiful wood paneling!" They asked, over and over.

Fortunately, the house was bought by someone who was able to do a lot of work on it. It was changed, somewhat, but, at least, it was preserved and was liveable again.

It has been sold again a couple of times, and each owner has made their own changes. But the house lives on as it was, in my memory and pictures.

At the time that the house was built, prior to 1900, Emil Conitz Sr. was partners in a lumber yard, among his other interests including his grocery store. So the house was built using the finest materials available.

It would be nice, now, if we had kept the old places, and could have kept them as they were in their better days. The ladies in the family always wanted a new house, or new things, wanting to get rid of the old things. It was the men who wanted to stay in their comfortable old homes, but finally would give in to the women, and move on to new places with them.

We didn't usually go on the homes tours, since we were in the houses at times, anyway. Better to stay out of the way and let the tourists have plenty of space. Occasionally, we would be asked to help out in one of the houses, and that was always nice.

I really liked dressing up in the Victorian attire, and even had a lady in Calvert, Dot, make several dresses that I designed. And, of course, it was nice that we had the dry goods store so that I could get my material and patterns there. Just made changes to make those clothes look like the Victorians might have worn.

More on fashions another time.

After we moved away from Calvert, I had this dream about going back and looking around the town. New people had moved in and changes had been to the homes (which has actually happened, of course.)

Someone, in the dream, asked me if I had seen the inside of the home that they had just fixed up. I can tell you where it was, but there is no house there! I think it was the back of the Foster house, beside where their barn used to be. I can see the house across the street, too.

I went in through the kitchen and they invited me upstairs to see the bedrooms. We had to walk through the bedroom in the drawing above, to get to the other bedrooms and bathrooms. This bedroom has really stuck in my mind, so I drew it.

There were windows across the east wall, covered in sheer white ruffled panels. A writing desk or dresser was the only furniture on that side of the room. There was a low wall to divide the room, pale yellow, topped with white wood. At the opening, there was a white carved wood feature, like a knot. That is the detail that I have added below the drawing of the room.

A hardwood floor was exposed as a sort of hallway through the room. The opposite side of the room had a row of closets, painted soft green, and a matching floral rug covered the floor on that side of the room. The bed was there, covered with a chintz type of floral spread.

I don't know why that room has stuck with me so much. I could see the house across the street through the sheer curtains, and that is very familiar to me.

I guess I went on my own homes tour, in my sleep!

At one time, I thought about going block by block, and telling about each house on the block, maybe taking a picture to go with it. It would have been introducing people to, not just a place, but a way of life-Calvert. I never got around to doing that, and, now, I find that I have forgotten a lot. Should have done that some years ago. I didn't think that I knew as much as my relatives knew. But, now that they are gone, what they knew is also gone.

*********************

Since I can't go to the event in Calvert, today, I can still remember. Hope you enjoyed my little walk down memory lane.

********************

It was on this day, April 25, when Calvert was getting ready for tourists, 34 years ago. We laid Jamey to rest on this day. There was to be a big art show in town at the newly refurbished utility building on the weekend. I took Jamey's drawings, and displayed them on Daddy's baggage wagon. I couldn't be concerned with my own things. I was still wondering "What happened? Is this real?"

A couple of days later, a tornado hit the town and demolished that building and others. I was going to wait out the rain in the car, that day, since I was sitting in the cemetery at his grave, when the rain started. We didn't have things like tornado warnings. When it started to lightning, I rode around north of town. When I got back into town and the rain let up, there were tractors and farm equipment all in the highway, and their building was gone. I drove past the cemetery and a piece of tin had scooped the ground and crumpled against a fence, just where I had been sitting.

When storms blew up last night, I watched the weather channel, remembering this time all those years ago, and hoping that there would not be another tornado. For a while, it looked like a hook was forming on radar, so I didn't attempt to sleep until it had all moved on. I hoped that there would not be storms or damage in Calvert, before their big event today.

*******************

Greta Watkins of the Frame Gallery in downtown Bryan, reminds me that next Friday is the big First Friday in downtown Bryan. There is always lots to do there. Entertainment, food, art, music, carriage rides. You can see more on the Downtown Bryan Association website.

******************

Get Well Wishes go out to all those on the sick list! Hope everyone recovers quickly!

***

Be sure to see the Face Book group, Calvert, Texas.

Also, click on the link at the top of my page, to join BrazosValley_Sketchers.

You can also subscribe to my blog and join my Followers.

***

National Youth Art Month- My Chick

Loose Rooster

8" x 10"

oil

Another painting from the workshop. I added a few touches to my rooster and am calling it finished. This was done during the "Chicken Clinic" portion of the plein aire painting workshop in Calvert with Virginia Vaughan in February.

The "Chicken Clinic" is an exercise, designed to "loosen up". So this rooster, and the others in the group, were painted fast and loose.

Scroll down and you can see the earlier posts that show us painting during the "Chicken Clinic" and the results displayed in the show window of Mud Creek Pottery in Calvert.

*************

Nancy Standlee has two watercolors of a couple of roosters, done in a workshop in Granbury, Texas, on her blog today. You can find a link to her blog by clicking on her name in my sidebar.

Nice watercolors, Nancy!

****************

Greta Watkins has been working on a series of portraits of people she knows in downtown Bryan. These are going to be part of a show at Art 979 and the Village Cafe in downtown Bryan opening June 5. This is going to be part of the Art Step/Art Walk. Art 979 and the Village Cafe are online and are located at 210 W. 26th Street in Bryan. You can see some of Greta's portraits online and on her FaceBook page.

Another little tidbit about Art 979 and the Village Cafe. I've read that they have Swing Dancing on Wednesday evenings. Now that sounds like a lot of fun! Something to watch, now, although it used to be a lot of fun in my younger days!

********************

The Brazos Valley Art League spring judged show at the Art Center in College Station is ending. Next up there is the Art Teachers show. See my sidebar for more information.

*********************

Join my list of Followers, subscribe to my blog, sign my Guest Book, and pass this on to others who might be interested. Thank you for reading!

**

March is National Youth Art Month

***

For those of you on my e-mail, I apologize if you happened to get this twice. It didn't seem to send, so I pressed Send again, and it looks like it went to some addresses twice. I apologize. Computer mysteries!

***

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.

************

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

**********

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.

************

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.

************

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.

***************

If you haven't subscribed to my blog, you can do that in the subscription box. Also, you can sign my Guest Book at the bottom of the page, or add yourself as a Follower in the sidebar.

Thank you for reading and sharing with others.

**

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween!
Staircase at Night
22" x 30"
watercolor
This wasn't actually on Halloween, but I thought it was appropriate for today.
At night, as we drove around town on streets lined with spooky old Victorian homes, if the night was warm, front doors and windows would be open. We could see interiors and, sometimes, the occupants of the homes if they happened to be in those rooms or at the door. There was one home that had been a funeral home for a short while. I remember going to a funeral for a great uncle there about 1960.
Each time we passed by, I was a little startled by the post at the end of the stairs and the decorative ball that topped that end post. At just a glance, it always looked like someone standing there. It was even worse if one of the ladies happened to leave her gardening hat on top of that post! I knew what it was, though, and went on.
My daughter visited there a lot and always returned with stories of strange happenings. Sightings of the original owner of the home, furniture that moved, record players that started playing or turned off without human assistance. She wasn't scared, but was interested.
I thought that doorway with the view of the stairs, the corner of the room with a heavy table behind it, the light dropped from a cord from the upstairs ceiling, would make an interesting picture. I did a pencil drawing in my sketchbook.
Strangely, as I drew the stairs, there was a spot that almost had a glow in it, and a figure took shape in the center of it. It was as if a ghost was walking on the stairs. I didn't plan this at all. It just happened.
Later, I was working on a series of watercolors using only one primary color and a neutral. Blue was my color and brown was the neutral that I selected. I decided to use the staircase sketch for a painting on a full sheet of 300 # watercolor paper. I liked the heavier weight best. I intended to just do the open door with the staircase and entry, with the light bulb haniging.
As I painted, though, the same halo of light happened on the staircase, and the same figure took shape in the center of the light area. I decided that I might as well just go with it, and leave it as the light area would not cover up. I hadn't planned to do a ghost picture or a Halloween picture! It just happened.
Watercolors often have a way of doing things on their own, and that is one of the interesting things about working with them. You put water on the paper, drop in color, and see what happens. This one certainly had a way of working on its own.
About this time of day, each year, as the sun made long shadows on the ground, we would be in high anticipation and a bit of apprehension about Halloween night. We had a fertile place for imaginations in my hometown, with old homes and buildings, and cemeteries, old churches, and an old park, all close to my house. And we had some traditional Halloween parties that would seem like they were straight from one of those old movies set in a quaint town, with kids that were always doing something.
One boy threatened to catch my beloved cats outside and run them up the school flagpole! Thankfully, they only ran someone's underwear up the pole, but I was upset. I begged my dad to let the cats and the dog inside, but he wanted them outdoors. So, I got my great-aunt across the street to keep them on her screened back porch. Some boys did manage to get a car taken apart and put up on top of the school! They also got outhouses up there, when they could find one.
One year, my dad had foot surgery and was on crutches. The high school boys moved the park benches out in the streets, and they rolled our large doghouse down by the school. The worst part was that they let our horse, Flicka, out of her pen and, as she ran through the gate, they poured motor oil on her back. Daddy didn't find Flicka until the next day, about noon. He was boiling mad! The oil and hot sun blistered Flicka's back and we couldn't ride her until that healed. Daddy was in the process of breaking her, so that prolonged our getting to ride her. It ended up that Daddy finally just sold her to someone else. He rode her one time, saying that he could break her for us to ride. The horse took off and ran all the way to town. Daddy walked her back home, when he finally got her to stop, and sold her. But the man next door brought his horse into town and kept her in our pen. We got to ride that horse for a while.
I thought that it was bad that Daddy was on crutches and then had to find the horse and roll things back into place. But, a part of me thought that maybe this was him on the receiving end of the things that he gave out when he was a high school kid!
He had an evil laugh when he would tell of a group of high school boys catching younger kids, alone, trick or treating, tying them to a tombstone in the cemetery, and leaving them there all night. (I don't know if that was real, or if it was just a big tale to scare us into staying together when we went out trick or treating.)
Sometimes, for Halloween, the Methodist Church, in its big, castle-looking building, would have a Halloween party for the kids, complete with bobbing for apples in big tubs. We went out in the street for the messy things like that.
The school always had a Halloween carnival. The spookiest ones would be in the basement, with each room fixed up as some kind of booth. There would be a program upstairs in the auditorium with little dancers and music. Bobbie, a new elementary school teacher, was asked to be the fortune teller one year. She dressed up, sat in the bookroom that was fixed up like a fortune tellers booth. Later, she said that she would never do that again! She just made things up, of course. She told one man that something was going to happen to him. Pretty general, right? The man had a heart attack and died later that night! After that, the Halloween Carnival moved to the gym. There were booths, that were open, refreshments, and games and, of course, a cake walk where people marched around squares to music. When the music stopped, they could win a cake that ladies in town made. Sometimes, there would be a dance using our record players and our collection of 45s or 78s. That didn't happen often, though. Some people tried to tell us that dancing was wicked, along with drinking, playing cards, and smoking. But the grownup 42 and domino games, canasta, bridge, and a bottle of "cough medicine" in the desk drawer or kitchen cabinet, didn't count.
Another good place for Halloween carnivals was upstairs in the City Hall. There are old photos of Halloween Carnivals there. They probably had dancing too. In one picture, they seem to be dressed in formal wear. There was a stage for programs, too. Sadly, there was a fire at City Hall not so long ago. I hope that they were able to restore the building as it was. Kind of spooky, but with great, huge windows that let in lots of light.
We had some great Halloween parties with kids in private homes, too. My friend and classmate, Kathryn's birthday was just before Halloween. She lived out in the country and sometimes we celebrated her birthday and Halloween with a party in someone's home in town. We always had to have refreshments that included cake and punch, and played some games. But the big thing was going out to trick or treat, in the dark, and hoped that the grownups would let us go as a group, by ourselves. I remember one year when we had a large group that went out trick or treating. The grownups hung back from us, and finally went on home when they saw that we were behaving ourselves.
Some houses stayed dark and we knew people didn't want to give a treat. At one, big, old, unpainted Victorian house, that had no lights on, the boys said it wouldn't be fun if we didn't do some tricks. We knew that an old lady lived there. We all hollored "Trick or Treat", and the boys added, "Smell my feet! Give us something good to eat!" and they giggled. A few of us decided that we didn't want any part of any trouble and so we wandered to the back of the group, and went home as the boys took the first floor window screens down and rubbed a bar of soap on them. I guess they went on to do other things that night, I don't know. Those things seem to grow like mob mentality. I couldn't stay out that late, anyway.
Whatever our group did, though, none of it was nearly as bad as the older generations had done! Or said they did.
After trick or treating, if the weather allowed and it wasn't too dark, our party group tried to be sure to have a walk through the beautiful old cemetery near my house. What a treat it was if the night was clear, and, especially, if there was a big moon out, and to hold onto the arms of several friends as we entered a side gate, and walked through to the east gate of the cemetery. All the while, we tried to act fearless, but, inside, we wondered what might jump out at us and grab us, taking us to unknown terrors; or if something terrible would happen to us if we happened to step on a grave ; or what would happen to us in the future for daring to enter the cemetery on Halloween night. We didn't think of what might happen if we ran into some of those high school boys who just had to make mischief in town. We never ran into any of those, though, and, when our group got to high school age, we seemed to favor dates over Halloween parties. We couldn't be so wasteful in those days, to toilet paper someone's house or trees or throw eggs, or water balloons. We thought we were being really extravagant to "borrow" a bar of soap from someone's mother's washing supplies, the year that the boys decided to soap some window screens.
There weren't so many memorable Halloweens after growing up. One year, my son was about 8 or 9, my daughter was in kindegarten and I was taking classes for a Masters degree. My son said he was old enough to go trick or treating around the apartment complex on his own, like other kids were doing. He had a Superman costume and went off to knock on apartment doors. I had warned him not to eat anything or go into any homes, but to bring me his candy to check. I took my daughter walking around where I thought that he might go, following, I thought. It started getting a little dark and I turned a corner on the sidewalk. My breath just left me and my knees nearly gave way when I saw someone with a dirty, torn white t-shirt on, tight jeans, a black face, and dirty looking hair coming toward me. I thought I would just pass by him on the sidewalk, not speak, walk on, bravely, and hope he didn't attack me! I was shaking I was so scared!
"Do you want to check some of my candy now or do you want me to wait until I get home?" He asked.
It was my son! I didn't even recognize him!
"Boy, you scared me to death!" I breathed a sigh of relief, but was puzzled at his look.
"I went around to all the apartments, then I went home and made my own costume and went back again." He explained.
Little rascal! I could have saved money on that Superman costume and just let him make his own to begin with! I'm sure he enjoyed that one more. Sure had me fooled!
Hope you have a good (and safe) time, out spookin' and trick or treating, tonight. Wish we had the full moon still. We just missed it.
We don't have trick or treating where we are. The kids all have to go into town, or to the mall, or to a party somewhere. One grandson is working, the other longs to live in a neighborhood where he can do those traditional things. Going to stores in the mall for trick or treating just isn't the same as the adventures we had, mild as they were. I hope that his mother will take him somewhere, but, most likely, he will have to do homework, then watch a ghost program with his mother, eat popcorn, and play with the new puppy.
As for me, I put on a black outfit today, and slapped on a purple wig, and left off my makeup. That's pretty scarey!
Hope you have some pleasant Halloween memories of your own! And that you will have some good ones from this year. Happy Haunting!
If you are in this area, be sure to go to the First FridayArt Step and Art Auction in downtown Bryan on Friday. Sonny Moss will be there demonstrating his pottery, along with others. Mary Saslow will also be there with a group. I know that Laura Brittain and I, among others, have some pieces in the Art Auction at the Frame Gallery. I just got a list of events and it looks like a lot going on in the evening. You can contact Greta Watkins at the Frame Gallery for more information. There will be lots of things going on from demonstrations, exhibits, live music, readings, a movie in the outdoor theatre, and carriage rides.
Please share with others who might be interested, and let me know if you see something that appeals to you!