Winter Robins

Winter Robins with Leaf

9" x 12"

Acrylic on Paper

We used to read about people up north, looking for a Robin Redbreast, the first sign of spring. That was hard to understand because we had robins, sparrows, and other birds, in our yards in Calvert all winter long. I thought about that as I watched Robins, playing around in the yard one winter afternoon.

The grass was brown and gold after winter freezes. We had saved a maroon leaf that had been covered with ice and I added that into my picture.

One large, fat Robin strutted back and forth in the yard and, at one point, nestled down in the dirt in the driveway to splash sand over him with his wings. Another bird appeared and watched the sky over the field across the street. Three fat Robins seemed to compact their bodies and whiz low over the road. They looked a bit like jets going past.

My scanner doesn't take 9" x 12" paper without cutting off part of the image, so this is a detail of the painting.

I used a limited palette of Gamboge, purple, and a bit of Indian Red for this picture. The paper is 65 # Canson acid free paper.

I'm sure that there are places that are ready to see the return of the Robins.

Here, we would be happy if we could get some gentle rain, along with the cloudy, windy, cold days. Snow would be nice, too, but I guess it may be too late in the winter for that. Sometimes February is cold, but, in recent years, the pear and other trees have started blooming in February.

I wonder when we will see Bluebonnets this year. They may not be so large this year, since we are behind on rainfall.

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Here is an interesting article to read about Virginia Vaughan, who will be coming to Calvert Feb. 21. This appeared in "Country Lifestyle". http://www.countrylifestyle.net/node/227.

Don't forget to reserve your place in the class. You can contact me, or Sonny Moss in Calvert, for more information. We would like to have reservations in by Feb. 1. If you are interested, let me know.

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Are you up on your shots or vaccinations? Who would have thought that, those of us who had all the childhood diseases, on schedule, and had the right immunizations when we were growing up, would now need shots! Although you may have had Chicken Pox and thought that was behind you, now we find out that, your immunization is probably no longer any good, and you need a shot to prevent a form of Chicken Pox-Shingles.

Ask Barbara. She will tell you to get up to date on your shots!

As I was flipping through tv channels last night, I saw part of a discussion about this.

On our local tv, and on the panel discussion, they said that older people also need to get the Whooping Cough shot and a Pneumonia shot, as well as a Flu shot each year.

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If you are in this area and are interested in family history and preservation, look for an announcement with more information about a program on "Archiving History". Susie Cox, Curator at the George Bush Library, will be the presenter. The date is Feb. 12. There should be more information about this sometime this week, according to Cindy Peaslee of the Downtown Bryan Association.

Watch for their events announcements about what is going on in Bryan.

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Look in my sidebar for information about upcoming events of the Brazos Valley Art League. Spring is always a busy time of year for artists. You can also look on their website. You can Google it, or you can click on the links in my sidebar under Events, and Organizations.

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It was sad to hear that we lost another schoolmate from Calvert High School last week. I had just wished Walter a speedy recovery on my blog, when I learned that he had died. I know that he will be missed terribly.

Walter made the lives of so many people richer. He was a strong supporter of the Trojans and Calvert High, and was the force behind the Calvert School Reunion, for one thing.

Of course, I remember him most from the days when we were students at Calvert High.

The family has been hit especially hard since Walter's younger brother, Charles, died only months ago.

Our deepest sympathies go out to this family.

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Cedar Fever, upper respiratory problems, sinus trouble, viruses, all seem to be going around. I've been sneezing with runny eyes, can't get my breath, dizzy, etc. The OTC allergy medicine didn't do anything, so I resorted to taking some Benadryl, which knocks me out, or makes me so sleepy I could just fall over! That stops most of the sneezing. I was going to paint some, but I think I may have to take a nap, instead. I hate to do that since it may keep me up tonight.

Did you ever see anyone sleep on the keyboard of their computer? I think I could do that, now.

I have dozed off and jumped up before my nose hit the keyboard, in the past.

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Warming Up

Warming Up

8.5" x 11"

colored pencil

It finally feels like winter here. No snow, ice, or extreme temperatures. But, it has drizzled a bit and, at night, has reached freezing, leaving the trees bare and the grass dead.

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In Conitz Dry Goods Store, there was a large, black, double sided metal gas heater in the center of the store, near the cash register. Another large gas heater, popped and hummed in the office area in the back of the store. This was all the heat in the building.

The stoves were stored in the summer, until more recent years, when they were left up all year, and just checked for leaks before they were turned on. That meant turning the gas on, striking a match near the hoses and the stove to see if there were leaks. Sometimes, in the closed building, there would be a bit of a smell of gas, but those old stoves served the store and its customers well. On a really cold day, frost might soon form on the big plate glass show windows in the front.

The big black metal box of the center heater held two sheets of a material that looked like cotton, one one each side of the stove. Round holes in rows, on both sides, top and bottom, allowed the heat to escape, and it also provided a place where you could watch the cotton-like material "burn". Only, it never really burned. It might singe or scorch, and seem like it was going to ignite, but it never did. I guess that was asbestos inside the stove.

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The stove in the back was a one sided, open front stove, with wire across the front so you couldn't reach in. It had a cotton-like backing behind the burners like the black stove.

It was hypnotic in the quiet of the buidling, to hear the noises from the stoves, and to feel the warmth that they radiated. Sometimes it was extremely hard to stay awake while the heaters were going.

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As people came into the store, on a cold day, they first headed for the stove, where they held their hands for a few minutes, then turned themselves to warm up on their front and back, then back again until they felt comfortable enough to shop or do business.

Not too many ladies or girls were wearing slacks or jeans in those days. So ladies came in with their dresses, sweaters, jackets, coats, scarves, and wearing stockings held up with garter belts or girdles, and sometimes socks on top of the stockings, their shoes, and maybe galoshes, if it was wet outside. Older ladies might wear knit underwear and cotton stockings, but the younger ladies had stockings and thin underwear. Stockings with a seam in back were the vogue and, when stockings were hard to get during the war, ladies might use an eyebrow pencil to draw that line directly on their leg. Sunbathing was also popular and the tan made it look like the ladies were wearing stockings with that line up their leg.

Ladies, with their bare legs, tended to back up to the stove. For best results, the skirt was lifted up a bit in back, so that they could get the warmth on cold bodies. Of course, they had to be sure there were no other customers, or that the men were occupied elsewhere while they took advantage of the stove.

Sometimes, my great-aunts, grandmother, aunt, mother, sister, and I , and any company we might have, would line up in front of the stove, dresses hiked up in the back, warming away. There might be too many to get full benefit from the stove, so we were glad when a man or customer came in, and someone had to move to go wait on that person. Gave the rest of us more exposure to the heat.

At times, we would have to warn someone who was enjoying the stove too much, to move away from the stove, or to put their skirt down some. Men were in the store and about to come to that area.

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I don't remember that anyone ever got burned on the stove, but, at certain ages, we had to warn children of a certain height to be careful so that they didn't hit their head on the corner of the stove if they should not be watching. Fortunately, the stove was not on when children of that height were being a bit rambunctious.

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We've heard the old stories of stores with pot-bellied wood stoves, and the cracker barrel, with men sitting around telling stories and playing checkers.

Well, we had "the stove", where people gathered around and visited and talked. Some people made their daily rounds, to visit in the stores on Main Street, stop in for coffee somewhere, or piece of pie, then visit some more on their way to and from the Post Office, or to pay a bill or buy some needed item. People could walk all over town, but most did drive their car, or even a tractor, or pick up, to town. And, as they visited, news and stories were spread through town quickly. People came from all over to visit with Grandpa, to interview him, and to hear his stories, especially in his later years. Grandpa started that store in 1901 and worked in it even on the day he died at age 96. After he died, friends came by to visit with his son and daughter.

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The two foot stools used for measuring feet from the shoe department, were placed near the stove. There was a rocking chair, a folding chair, a couple of lawn chairs, and a leather and chrome chair, that stayed around the stove. A couple of worn wooden benches were placed near the stove. These pieces of furniture remained in the warm weather when the stoves were taken across the street to a building Grandpa rented for a warehouse.

Grandpa would work, but, when he was finished with his customer and the books, he would sit in the leather and chrome chair between the counter that held baby things and gift items, and another counter that held towels, tablecloths, bath sets, and cup towels. Here he would sit silently, share a story, listen to the problems that people brought to him, or discuss politics and the news.

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Central heating, now, is nice. But it sure would be nice to be able to hike my dress up and warm myself by a real heater in this cold weather. I just can't get that close to the vents in the ceiling to get nice and toasty warm!

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I used Derwent Colored pencils in the drawing above. Pictured are "the stove", with someone's hands reaching over it from the right side of the page. Between the stove and the counter with the cash register, a woman with a green jacket and a black plaid dress is hiking up her skirt to get warm. One of the footstools from the shoe department is in front of the counter. On the next counter, on the left, there are some sweaters, folded. On the counter to the right, is the cash register, done in a fucshia color. You can see the glow from the fire inside the stove through the double row of holes near the top. There were more holes in the bottom of the stove.

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Thank you for reading, and for your interest.

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Don't forget to sign my Guest Book at the bottom of the page.

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