Our tour bus parked on a side street. We got off the bus and headed up the hill, The Lorraine Motel sign as our beacon.
Side of Lorraine MotelMotel Sign With Words “I Have A Dream”
I got to the top of the slope and looked to my right. The sudden view of the hotel balcony was like a gentle gut punch. In my mind’s eye I could see the iconic image of Reverend Martin Luther King lying dead on the balcony, one man kneeling at his side and others pointing across the street.
Balcony of the Lorraine Motel-White Wreath in Front of Area MLK Was Murdered
I began to sob. I don’t like people seeing me cry and moved away a bit from our group and guide, my husband comforting me. I put my camera between me and the scene before me. I recorded the building and the bricks below my feet.
The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. was murdered April 4th, 1968.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. was murdered two months later on June 6th, 1968.
Elvis Presley was preparing to film his Comeback Special for NBC in June of 1968. Since it would air in December of that year there was some suggestion of the special being a Christmas special and that the final song would be a Christmas song. Elvis was upset enough about the murders of MLK and RFK that he asked one of his writers, Walter Earl Brown to write a song. He patterned it on MLK’s I Have A Dream speech and it was titled If I Can Dream. It was the last song in the Comeback Special. Over 40 million people watched the special.
Background for Comeback Special (aired December 1968)
Link to You Tube video of Elvis singing “If I Can Dream”:
“There’s some part of me wants to see Graceland”-line from Paul Simon’s Graceland.
Graceland has not been on my bucket list, nor has Memphis, Tennessee. Not that I had anything against the city or the home. I always enjoyed Elvis as a singer and entertainer, but did not really appreciate him until I was an adult. I remember as a kid looking for something to watch on t.v. and when one of the few channels we got was showing an Elvis movie, we were not too happy. We did watch them, but I remember most of them being not very good, if mildly entertaining.
But, when my husband and I found ourselves in Memphis for a few days in early March, we saw the sights. And there must have been a little part of me that had always wanted to go to Graceland, because I enjoyed the whole Elvis experience.
First we toured the large museum devoted to all things Elvis. One room had his cars. One room had info on his Army years. Other rooms covered his first records, his movie career, his outfits, and the other singers that influenced him and those that he influenced.
Elvis CarElvis Outfits
Then we visited Graceland across the street from the museum. The furnishings in each room were amazing. He seemed to have a t.v. in every room.
Livingroom at Graceland
And we walked the grounds. There are 3 horses there (said to be rescue horses). It had been raining earlier and we didn’t see the horses at first. But, then they must have been released from the barn and we got to see them (all with braided manes).
Horse on Grounds at GracelandVisitors Have Left Their Mark On Wall In Front Of Graceland
Almost a month later I still hear snippets of Elvis songs in my head.
The next day we took a bus tour of Memphis with several stops: Sun Recording studio where Elvis and others recorded their early records; The Memphis Welcome Center that has statues of both B. B. King (the King of the Blues) and Elvis (the King of Rock and Roll) and exhibits on other entertainers with a Memphis connection; the Peabody Hotel where live ducks parade in and swim in the lobby pond twice a day; and the Lorraine Motel where the Reverend Martin Luther King was murdered. It is 7. 6 miles from Graceland.
Statue of B. B. KingExhibit In Memphis Welcome Center
During the Covid lockdown I longed for a trip to the Texas coast. But, we didn’t go anywhere and I felt beach deprived. I am making up for it now. Our first post lockdown trip to the coast was described in my January blog post, where I wrote about our visit to the Rockport area and the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. Our second trip was this past week.
It is almost 252 miles from Austin to Port Aransas and usually takes us at least 4 -5 hours, depending on stops. We took our usual route from Austin down hi-way 183. But, instead of our usual bypassing of Gonzales, we decided to check out the Gonzales memorial Museum.
Gonzales Memorial Museum
It is a small museum with stories on the early and later pioneers of this area. But, the main attraction is a small cannon. This cannon was given to the settlers of Gonzales by the Mexican government for protection in case of attack by the indigenous people of the area. A few years later, in 1835, the Mexican government wanted it back. The people of Gonzales refused to give it back and voiced one of our iconic Texas slogans, “Come and take it.” In the Fall of that year, the little cannon fired the first shot of the Texas Revolution. I had never visited this museum before and was surprised how small the cannon is.
Then we headed on down the road to our usual stop in Goliad for lunch. We picked up burgers and fries at Whataburger and headed down the road to Goliad State Park. This is always a nice break to eat, stretch our legs, and do a little nature viewing. There are also several historic sites to visit. This trip we just ate and sat in the park.
Butterfly on Bloom, Goliad State Park
Continuing on, we arrived in Aransas pass and boarded the ferry to Port Aransas.
We picked up supplies of food and drink at the local grocery and headed a few miles down the road to our vacation rental. We spent three nights there. Here are several views from our balcony.
We walked on the beach, but the water was a bit cool. We didn’t go in past our calves.
I love the sound of the Gulf surf and the cry of the laughing gulls. I love the feel of moist, salt spray on my face, the soft grit of sand between my toes, and the rush of waves over my ankles.
Sea FoamOyster Shell My Husband Found…Looks Like A Fish Head
We took a dolphin watching cruise of the channel on The Scarlet Lady.
Dolphin Pod
Along our route was the oldest working lighthouse in Texas. It is privately owned.
Lydia Ann Lighthouse
I highly recommend this dolphin watching cruise. We saw lots of dolphins, birds, ships, and history.
Another highlight of our trip was visiting the various nature trails and birdwatching spots in Port Aransas. A particular favorite is the boardwalk at the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center. On our last visit it was closed due to being destroyed during a hurricane. They have rebuilt and it is better than ever. Besides birds, one critter we look for is a large alligator. We don’t always spot it, but we were lucky this trip.
American Alligator
We decided to return to Austin via a slightly different route. We headed down the island to Corpus Christi. I wanted to visit the Selena Memorial at the Corpus Christi Bayfront Seawall.
Texas Historic Plaque honoring the 1966 Farmworkers March. The farmworkers were pressing for better wages and working conditions. They left Rio Grande City, Texas on July 5th and marched 380 miles to the state capitol in Austin. They passed through Corpus Christi on the way and arrived in Austin on Labor day where possibly 10,000 people rallied for the cause.
The memorial to Selena Quintanilla-Perez is not far from the farmworker plaque. There is a statue of her that is made of bronze and a plaque with words honoring her and a sculpture of a white rose, which was her favorite flower. The words “Mirador de la Flor” (Overlook of the Flower) are on the memorial.
This was our final goal and we headed north out of Corpus Christi, exited east and went through Beeville, Kenedy* and Nixon before rejoining hi-way 183 in Luling. We got back to Austin about one hour before a major thunderstorm hit. Good timing.
I am so grateful for a wonderful trip to my beloved Texas coast and for a wonderful traveling companion.
Gulf Morning
Photos taken by B. McCreary
*We stopped for lunch on the way back at a wonderful city park in Kenedy, Texas. Picnic tables, shade, playscape, clean restrooms. Saw an Eastern Bluebird there, mirroring my happiness.
I love trees and love to write about trees, but I have not written about one tree that I have spent years learning about…my Family Tree. My ancestors lives were filled with triumph and tragedy, joy and sorrow. They were products of genetics and of the times they were born into. I take no pride in their accomplishments nor do I apologize for their faults.
Trees (oil on cardboard by Barbara Block Downes, my mother)
My paternal grandmother, Mary, loved me and I loved her. She was born into a large family and had lots of funny stories about her siblings and other relations. Sometimes a story would be told about her grandfather and others that related to Civil War days. My brother and I would ask her if her family had owned slaves back then. My memory is that she would change the subject, that she didn’t want to discuss this. But, I just took it for granted that these landowning farmers in rural Louisiana were slave owners.
Relatives on both sides of my family have researched our genealogical lines and I have lots of information. My tree is full of names and dates, with a few short sketchy details of their lives. But, I wanted to learn more about who all these names were as people. This became especially important to me after my parents died. The more I researched my family history, the more I felt connected to all those that came before.
My grandmother Mary and some of her other female relatives documented the ancestors back to Revolutionary War times. She was a proud DAR member and gave my brother and I copies of her DAR documents and brief histories of her family. There were gaps in the information about some of the people and I set about filling in the gaps. Besides a few trips to places my ancestors lived, I have mostly done online research. I have learned much from old newspapers and other documents. The census records are interesting and easily accessible online. They have given me a clearer picture of the people I came from.
In the 1860 U. S. Census for Franklin County, Louisiana (taken in August 1860), her grandfather (my great great grandfather), William Buie, is shown to be 39 years old and living with his wife and 3 children and 3 unrelated people. One of his children was 7 year old Henry H. Buie, my great grandfather. William’s occupation is farmer. His real estate was listed as worth $15,400 and his personal property being worth $1,715.
This led to me checking the U. S. Slave Schedules of 1850 and 1860. My people were well represented in these records and were not hard to find. This validated my suspicions that many on my grandmother Mary’s side were slave owners. But, I also was unprepared for my emotional reaction as I read through the records for the first time. It is one thing to have an abstract idea that “Yes, my ancestors probably owned slaves.” I did the search in the records for William Buie and a record popped up on my computer screen…Yay! I found him! Then I read on…a long list of humans with no names, only sex and age listed. I cried. There were 17 souls listed as enslaved ranging in age from 35 years down to a 1 year old (including twin 6 year old boys).
Partial list of the 17 enslaved people listed as owned by my great great grandfather
Now, imagine you are a descendant of these nameless people and you want to know who they were. This is an almost impossible task. However, some documents (wills, bills of sale, runaway slave ads) contain the names of the enslaved. There is a collaborative project called Beyond Kin, where family historians can upload and share documents. So, if I find a document about my White ancestors that has the names of the enslaved, I can share this with Black and Mixed race people doing their own genealogical research.
Soapbox: The more I hear people putting down “Woke” culture, the angrier I get. The opposite of woke is asleep. Being asleep can be a great escape from the nastiness that humans inflict on one another…but, living in a dream world does not make the world better and it doesn’t make us better as people.
I am a bit more awake after seeing these records of my family and I see with different eyes. I don’t feel guilty coming from these people. I do not apologize for them. I have gotten more interested in History.
Some people are upset about our children learning some parts of our history. I say we should let kids look at these records (and other documents) and then challenge them to think about what they are reading. The way history was taught to me in school was boring. Names of presidents and dates of battles and yada, yada, yada…If I had been taught in a different way…learning about the people as real people I could relate to, I would have learned so much more. White kids looking at Slave Schedules does not have to lead to them feeling guilt because they are White. But, perhaps it could lead them to a better understanding of why their Black peers can not “Just get over it.”
“The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”- William Faulkner
“No matter how difficult and painful it may be, nothing sounds as good to the soul as the truth.”- Martha Beck
*According to one historical source William was against secession because he did not think the South would win. He did not serve as a soldier. (From “Boeuf Prairie Methodist Church- A History -The Church- The People- The Community-1833-2008”)
Plop! The sound of a Burr oak nut hitting the ground.
Plop! Klunk! The sound of another Burr oak nut hitting the ground and bouncing three feet in the air and then landing on our wooden deck. I imagine getting bonked in the head by one of these nuts. It would hurt. That is why I am sitting on our porch and not under the tree the way I often did during the summer heat. We have a bumper crop of the nuts this year, probably several hundred from just this one tree. I can’t even walk barefoot in our yard because every few inches I step on a big nut.
Leaves, nut case, and nut of Burr Oak (Quercus macrocarpa)
And more nuts….
The tree is either the life giving Mother Tree or a cause of concern, depending on my mood. I love looking at it, which is good because it is too large to ignore. The tree has been speaking to me a lot lately. It speaks with the loud klunk! of it’s seeds dropping and it speaks to me as it’s leaves rustle in the wind. It speaks to me by just dominating the back yard. It is about 40 feet tall and the crown is about 30 feet wide (covering at least half of our yard). Whenever I turn into our driveway out front, I see it over our roof top. It was just a couple of years old when we planted it 24 years ago. Now, I sometimes worry about it falling on our house…or falling on our neighbor’s house.
When I was about 7, I remember collecting acorns from Live oak trees and storing them in a secret cubby in my bedroom closet. They were to be ammunition in some future imagined “war” with neighborhood kids. I think about gathering all the burr oak nuts for a similar stash. These are so big, that they would be quite the deterrent to some attacker. Instead, I gather a few dozen and give them to a friend who will use them in some decorative craft work.
Trees. Trees were here first and have witnessed so much of our history. A Tree of Life is a part of more than one religion and trees as symbols are imbedded in so many cultures world wide. Where would the story of Noah and the Ark be without trees? Or the Buddha and the bodhi tree? Or the angry apple trees throwing apples at Dorothy and the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz?
A woman walks on a forest path with a wooden walking stick…perhaps whittled from the same kind of trees she walks through.
A judge brings a court to order with a wooden gavel.
We have destroyed trees for things that benefit humans: firewood for warmth or cooking or just enjoying a campfire; boats; houses and fences to go around the houses; picture frames; toys; wagons; furniture; cradles; coffins; tools; guitars and drums; We eat their nuts and fruit and make medicine from their bark. We climb them and attach swings to them for fun. We carve our names in them and tie yellow ribbons around their trunks. And Christmas Trees! Their smell and color adorn our homes.
And trees have witnessed and unwittingly been used for the bad things humans do. They have been made into weapons like battering rams, guns, arrows and spears, and catapults. We have used their limbs to lynch in fear and hate. They have seen us destroy our own kind. Maybe they are trying to get our attention. Maybe the oak is wanting to warn us that destroying them destroys us?
I write this first as a rough draft on paper made from trees with a wooden pencil while leaning on a wooden desk in a partly wooden house. I notice so many things in my life made from wood and I see many trees as individuals now. I sort of took them for granted before, unless they had pretty leaves or were hosting the birds I love to watch.
They give us life by purifying the air and enrich our soil and on and on…I should probably have written this for Arbor day, but the giant Burr oak is speaking to me now. I don’t know all she is saying, but I will continue to listen.
Websites to check out:
For information on some famous Texas trees: tfsweb.tamu.edu/Websites/FamoustreesofTexas/Explore_our_Trees/
Visit new trees propagated from famous Texas trees at the Ladybird Johnson Research Center arboreteum. Info at: Wildflower.org
Lately I hear media pundits talk about a possible time of civil unrest or even civil war in the United States. I try to put this idea aside as an exaggeration…because this is almost too scary to contemplate. But, my anxiety for the future of our country lingers…it resides at the back of my thoughts and no matter how hard I try to ignore it, it creeps in and colors my life. Are our people so divided and fearful of each other that we would destroy one another?
Walk in another man’s shoes for awhile if you want to understand where they are coming from…I have heard variations on this quote for most of my life and have tried to put myself in the shoes of others to try and learn about them…the “other.” I don’t think we can ever truly understand another person, but this exercise, the trying on of shoes and walking their path, is a start. It helps to have imagination and compassion.
I am really struggling with this concept. I keep coming back to the penny. If you look at one side of the penny you see the profile of our 16th president, Abraham Lincoln:
No matter how different we are, we can agree that this is the image on the face of the penny. * This is our reality. But, what if I am looking at Lincoln’s face and you are looking at the other side of the penny. You will see:
You will be seeing the Lincoln Memorial. We can both be looking at the same penny and we can see totally different images. And we can argue about this and both be right.
What if we put the coin on it’s edge. Then we would both see the same image of the penny and could agree. But, are we willing to look closely at the other side of things, the differing opinions of others. This is hard to do and I think most people don’t even try. It is easier to hold fast to our own perceptions. We so want to be right. Lately, I often feel like I am looking at a spinning penny…I can’t make out any images and so don’t know what to think.
When I thought about exploring this penny metaphor, I dug into my meager coin purse (I don’t use coins these days) and dug out some pennies. I was surprised to find a new back to the penny:
In my mind I had been so sure of the Lincoln Memorial being on the back side of the penny! How did this new back not get my attention before this? Why get rid of the old image? What does the shield mean?
So, a little online research tells me that the face of Lincoln first appeared on a penny in 1909 to celebrate 100 years since Lincoln’s birth. The wheat on the back represented prosperity. In 1959 the wheat image was taken off and the Lincoln Memorial appeared on the back to celebrate the sesquicentennial of Lincoln’s birth. Then starting in 2009 there were 4 other designs to appear on the back of the Lincoln penny:
Log cabin- to represent his early years
Lincoln reading a book
Lincoln in front of Illinois statehouse to celebrate his time as a lawyer and statesman
Unfinished Capitol Dome – to symbolize our struggle during the civil war
Then in 2010 they minted the image of the shield on the back in honor of the sesquicentennial of his election win. The shield symbolizes our national unity. Learning what the designs represent gives me a bit of hope that we will not come apart, but will come out of this current strife a stronger country.
I am told that there is talk of doing away with pennies altogether. Maybe we can use the old pennies as part of our school children’s education…?
The image that has not changed all these years are the words “E Pluribus Unum”, Out of Many, One…we can have different ideas and listen and learn from each other and work with each other…Let this be our future.
Info from:
Lincolncottage.org
usmint.gov
en.wikipedia.org
Photos by B. McCreary
*The words “In God We Trust” and “Liberty” on the face of the penny speak for themselves
This morning I saw a You Tube video entitled “Ukraine President Zelensky welcomes Spring in Kyiv.” It is 18 seconds long and was posted on March 8th. He is outside with his cell phone doing a selfie, showing sandbags and snow in the background. I don’t understand the language, but the subtitles say:
“It is snowing.
This is what Spring looks like.
The Spring is similar to the war we experience.
Spring is harsh.
But everything will be fine. We will win.”
The date March 8th is interesting. That is also International Women’s Day.
It is a beautiful Spring day here in Texas. Our red bud tree is blooming and sprouting it’s heart shaped leaves. There is lots of color in the yard with many purple spiderwort flowers and lovely yellow butterflies. But, my mind keeps drifting to the war in Ukraine. I tune in to the news only once a day now. I look at the images: injured children and bombed buildings and scared dogs running in the streets. Sadness and anger well up in me. I can only watch a bit of this.
In late February I thought about writing about nature in Ukraine, of which I knew nothing. So, I googled “Flora and Fauna of Ukraine” and was awed by what I found. According to A-Zanimals.com, Ukraine has almost 50 national parks and many other protected areas. Depending on which part of the country you visit, you might find deer, wolves, hedgehogs, otters, elk, lizards, snakes, owls, white storks (Ukraine’s national bird) and many other animals.
The national animal of Ukraine is the common nightingale. It is a migratory bird, spending winters in Sub Saharan Africa. The nightingale is a sign of Spring in Ukraine. It is also a sign of joy because of it’s pleasant song. Only the unpaired males sing. This makes me think of the separation of women and children from men because of the war.
Back to March 8th. In late February, when I was googling “Flora and Fauna of Ukraine”, I discovered a website for floral delivery (Ukrainedelivery.com). They were advertising sending the women in your life a bouquet in honor of International Women’s Day. They also said “Ukraine is now in the state of war.” They go on to say that you can get a full refund or put your order on hold. Yesterday I revisited the website and it now shows a photo of bomb damage with the words:
“WAR in UKRAINE”
“Russia is killing people in Ukraine”
Note their motto: “Official supplier of LOVE”
I click on “More Information” (dated March 11th,2022) and get these words:
“It is a real war in Ukraine! Thousands of people are being killed by Russia. Women and children are dying because of bombs in the middle of Europe, in the 21st century!
Kiev delivery stops all its operations and services until further notice. We cannot provide any information about anything in Ukraine. We are just closed.
If you want to help- please ask your government to close the sky upon Ukraine! Please help via regular humanitarian channels.”
I have seen stories about women refugees from Ukraine being handed flowers as they crossed into Poland and Romania on International Women’s day. Something to ponder: One origin of International Women’s day was a 1917 Peace Protest by Russian women.
So much I wonder about…have the nightingales returned to Ukraine yet? Are they singing? Are the flowers blooming there now? Will there be peace soon?
Sources:
A-Z-animals.com
Ukrainedelivery.com
Aol.com, msn.com, Youtube.com, Barrons.com, Wikipedia
I wanted to write this month’s blog about Black History month and planned on focusing on Harriet Tubman. I had read a wonderful biography about her entitled Harriet Tubman- The Road to Freedom by Catherine Clinton. I wanted to share more about her life beyond her work with the Underground Railroad. But, I have gotten distracted by news coverage of the Russian invasion of the country of Ukraine. So, I will not write about Harriet Tubman this month, but will still celebrate Black History month.
On February 23rd, I discovered live television coverage of a United Nations Security Council meeting about the Russian threat to Ukraine. This was on CSPAN. I sat before the t.v. with my husband and daughter and watched as most of the ambassadors condemned Russia’s actions. There were ambassadors of different races and cultures of course, but also a good number of women representing their countries. Particularly interesting to me was our United States Ambassador, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who has held the position for about a year. She was one of the people speaking in condemnation of the Russian president. Here is a photo of her that evening:
As I have watched coverage of the crisis on t.v., I have noticed quite a few black experts on Ukraine being interviewed by the news anchors. One person who has appeared several times over the past few days is a black man hunkered down in Kyiv. His name is Terrell Jermaine Starr and the following video is from MSNBC (if the link does not work, please search for him on the internet):
As a proud American, I believe we need to not turn a blind eye to our history. We need to continually examine our past and how it continues to shape us. But, I also believe we need to pay close attention to the history that is being made right now. And these two people are both witnesses to history and are growing history.
Sunflower- the National Flower of Ukraine
*A link to another piece about Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield:
Natural Musings 