It is kind of a cliche that this time of year can be hard on people…the trying to find the right gift (or hurry to make the right gift) …the shorter daylight hours…missing those who are no longer in our lives…those both living and passed. I was doing fine until the morning of the 24th of December. I was stressed with the cleaning I wanted to have done before company came on the 25th. I took it out on my husband and daughter and one of them then said something that triggered my meltdown. Lots of crying and isolating for an hour or two. I think I needed the cathartic release of the crying…getting rid of some pent up feelings. Then a few good hugs and kind words pulled me back into being present in the moment. The house got cleaned with help from family and I got to watch my favorite holiday movie: Dolly Parton’s Coat Of Many Colors
It also has been a time for calmness and quiet and pretty lights.
A time for Nature’s colors…
The subtle change in color of native poinsettias…
And A Red Bud Leaf’s Boldness
A time for bareness…
And a time for fullness…
Our yard full of Red Oak leaves from neighbor’s tree
A time to light up the darkness…from the neighbor’s lighted blue and white inflatable Llama for Hanukkah to…
“Illuminations” at The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
Tis the season for expressions of love and peace like the one I saw on a child’s sweatshirt at the Wildflower Center. It read: “Make smores, not wars”
And the Monks Walking for Peace …
This is a screen shot from You Tube…
As I write this on December 30th, the monks are on Day 66 of their Walk For Peace. They set out from Ft. Worth, Texas and are heading through the southern U. S. towards Washington, D. C. Their saffron robes walking down rural highways have created quite a following. People are following their progress on Facebook and Instagram. Even Aloka, the little dog traveling with them, now has his own Facebook page.
In towns large and small, people greet them and feed them and put them up for the night. And the crowds of the curious and hopeful are growing. The monks try to walk about 25 miles a day, even in the cold and wet.
I have been following them via You Tube videos since they were in East Texas. I am in awe of them and of the people turning out to greet them. They have helped me come back to center in my own life in many ways:
Tis the season to be grateful for life, family and friends and
to carry forgiveness into the new year ahead.
Tis the season to keep moving on towards peace and love.
“Love and accept each other, and always be kind”-quote from another holiday movie: Dolly Parton’s Circle of Love
I had the October 18th No Kings Rally on my radar and calendar for weeks and planned to attend. I had not shown up at a political rally since January 21st 2017 when my daughter and I attended the Women’s March Against Trump at the Texas State Capitol. At that time I attended a volunteer session put on by the organizers and helped pass out signs (I forget what they said). I carried my own sign which read “To gather strength and give support”). I grew up in Austin and I remember my dad taking me, my brother, my 3 stepsisters, and my stepmother to see the Klan march at the State Capitol in 1965. I was 11. I remember my dad saying that if there was trouble, we should meet back at the car. I also remember being appalled that there were little children in klan garb. Over the years I have attended many rallys and protests at the Capitol, mostly to take photos.
This time I felt compelled to show up because I have been sitting on the sidelines doing nothing as our country needs help. I have sent a few letters to Congresspeople supporting the ones doing the good work, but other than keep track of what is going on, I have done nothing. It was forecast to be very hot that day and I kept going back and forth. Am I going or not? Finally I made my decision and planned to meet up with a friend there. My family members opted out for heat and other reasons. I would represent our family.
Well, folks, it was horribly hot! The temperature was 95 and it was humid and I don’t tolerate heat as well as in my earlier years. But, I brought water and wore a hat. I also wore my bluebonnet t-shirt (our state flower) and my monarch butterfly earrings. My husband and daughter dropped me off on the northwest side of the capitol and I joined others the few blocks to the grounds.
Our bags were checked for weapons before we were allowed on the grounds.
I wandered around looking at all the colorful costumes and signs and listened a bit to the speakers. I mostly gravitated to the shade of the old oaks on the grounds. My friend texted she was running late (we never did meet up). The Austin police were there and I spotted our police chief standing under a tree while one of her fellow officers spoke to a reporter. Our police chief and other officers did join the march.
I walked south hoping to get a shot of the march coming down Congress avenue. I had to dodge people on scooters and bicycles (including some cops riding on the sidewalk) as I waited. Chatted with some friendly folks. The energy was joyful and strong.
The March Begins at 11th st. and Congress Ave.
“Humanity Over Greed”
“World Without Caesars”
Guy In Banana Suit “Bananas For Democracy”
The costumes were fun, but I imagine very hot!
The pink costume is an Axohotl …Sorry the shot is not better…there were more Axohotl costumes there and many dinosaurs and a bee and a chicken…
I heard people singing Bye Bye Mrs. American Pie and drummers and there was a woman leading an aerobics dance group in the middle of the march (her face was very red!). I saw a banner that read “Raging Grannies” and yes, there were frog costumes.
One complaint I have is that there were people with dogs on leashes and one guy had a live chicken in a plastic box…it was way too hot to drag these little critters along.
On a positive note, there were multiple people working the crowd offering water and a woman handing out small American flags (I took one). And the age range covered the old and the young. There were people of all colors, some with rainbow flags, some with American flags, and some with an interesting hybrid Mexican and American flag. I saw people in wheelchairs and blind people with canes.
It was wonderful being there with all these beautiful people standing up for our country!
(full disclosure…it was hot and I only went as far as 5th street where I peeled off and walked west to hitch a ride back home with my husband and daughter)
I wrestle with what to write about. So many ideas. Do I post more pictures of critters from my yard? Do I write about more important to the world sorts of things, like the dismantling of our government? Ideas come and go and I jot down notes on a variety of topics. I write 3 legal pages of notes about my family’s relationship to music, from me to ancestors I’ve never met. I have been hearing more bird song lately and think maybe I should write about that. Or, I should finally write up my words about Harriet Tubman that I have been meaning to write up for about a year. It is Black History month. My mind keeps churning out subjects.
Serendipity strikes. Many things have entered my life in the past few months that seem connected.
Have you ever heard of the Rosenwald Colored schools? Neither had I until the past year. I had first run across them in a legal document among some old family papers.
The document reads in part:
“Be it known and remembered, that on this the 10th day of March A. D. 1926, I, Mrs. Ellen J. Buie, widow of H. H. Buie, deceased, have granted, bragined and donated, and by these presents, grant, bargain, donate, set over and deliver unto the Franklin Parish School Board, of Franklin Parish, La. herein represented by H. W. Gilbert, President, accepting this donation in all its parts and clauses, the following described property, towit:” A description of the property’s boundaries follows, and then this:
“To Have And To Hold the said property unto the said Franklin Parish School Board for the use and benefit only of the Rosenwald Colored School.”
My great grandmother was born in 1856 into a family that owned slaves. In the 1860 U. S. Slave Census her father owned 32 slaves aged 50 years old down to 6 months old. 66 years later she gave something back to the descendants of the people her family had enslaved. 2 acres for a school. When she was 14 she had been sent away to a convent school in St. James Parish. Maybe it was this experience that made her value education? And her daughter, my grandmother Mary, became a school teacher.
Here is a photo of my great grandmother Ellen Julia Copeland Buie (1856-1935):
But, the name Rosenwald meant nothing to me at the time I first looked at the document. Some months later, I happened to read a genealogy blog post about the Rosenwald schools. (there is a link to the blog at the end of this post). Then I happened to be showing the family document to my brother and I realized the importance of the name Rosenwald Colored School.
And then…I saw an advertisement for a special exhibit at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum that was about the Rosenwald schools in Texas. And they would be showing a film about Rosenwald on February 8th, with a panel discussion afterwards. I felt compelled to go. The film, by Aiva Kempner, was about 90 minutes long and told the story of Julius Rosenwald who was a rich philanthropist. Descended from Jewish immigrants who instilled quite the work ethic in him, he eventually bought Sears and Roebuck. He believed in giving back to the community. One of his projects was building schools for colored children in the southern states. He partnered with Booker T. Washington to do this. He built these schools during the Jim Crow era. “Separate but equal” was not equal at all. His generosity led to the building of thousands of schools to educate black children. He had three parts to these projects. One, he put up some money. Two, the community also raised funds, and Three, the community did the labor to build the schools.
This exhibit at the Bob Bullock museum only runs through February 23rd, so I urge all my Austin friends to go before it ends. There is also a former Rosenwald school near Bastrop that has been renovated. The panel discussion after the film talked about this. It is called the Hopewell school and we plan to visit it soon. (American Youthwork’s Youth Build Program put in some labor on this renovation).
Here is where the serendipity keeps on giving…
The film has interviews and photos of many African American celebrities from politicians to those in the arts…actors, singers, poets, composers, business people…people who either went to Rosenwald schools or benefited from Rosenwald’s other philanthropic projects: Rita Dove (poet), Maya Angelou (author, poet), Gordon Parks (photographer, filmmaker), John Lewis (politician, activist), Marian Anderson (singer)……
On the way home from the museum we stopped to pick up our mail. There was only one piece. The envelope’s stamp was a picture of John Lewis!
At Christmas I was gifted a book that I had never heard of and now am currently about 3/4 of the way through this novel. It is based on the friendship between Eleanor Roosevelt and Mary McLeod Bethune. It follows their friendship and how they worked together to advance the rights of black people in this country. Two women with different skin colors working together. The authors of the book are two women, one white and one black. One episode in the book is about securing a public appearance for the singer Marian Anderson when the DAR refuses to let her sing in Constitution Hall in Washington, D. C. She ends up singing for a huge crowd at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The book is entitled The First Ladies and the authors are Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray.
Flipping through t.v. channels earlier this month I came across a film on PBS about the poet Paul Laurence Dunbar. I had heard the name but was not familiar with his work. I learned that Maya Angelou’s title “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings” is based on a line from one of Mr. Dunbar’s poems (“Sympathy”).
See what I mean? ….birds,singers, arts, education, history of our country and the struggles of blacks in this country…
There is a threat to dismantle and destroy the U. S. Department of Education right now…and any kind of diversity initiatives. What can we do? We can all take positive actions to lift up our values, be it contacting our representatives, to showing up in solidarity, to giving money to those organizations that lift up our sisters and brothers, neighbors and friends. No matter your political sympathies, the current destruction of our government will affect us all.
Take action with Love in your heart and as John Lewis is quoted:
“Get in good trouble, necessary trouble, and help redeem the Soul of America.”
*”Lift Every Voice and Sing” is the title of what is called The Black National Anthem and was written by James Weldon Johnson.
*I don’t know whether or not a Rosenwald School ever got built in Franklin Parish, Louisiana on the land my great grandmother donated.
Links:
donorschoose.org Donate directly to individual teacher’s projects
Salem, Massachusetts is northeast of Boston on the coast. The highlight of our trip there was the Peabody Essex Museum (pem.org). The museum has something for everyone, from Asian contemporary art to native American art to a natural history exhibit (with live bats). There is a snack bar and we took a museum tour break there to fortify ourselves. Our small family group only had time to sample some of the museum’s treasures. Here are a few photos:
Yin Yu Tang Home Outer Wall
This house was the familial home of the Huang family in Huang Cun, Anhui Province. It was built in the 1790s and was the home to eight generations. The name Yin Yu Tang means “The Hall of Plentiful Shelter.” It was last occupied in 1982. The whole house was dismantled and shipped to the U. S. as part of a “cultural exchange agreement.” About 40% of the objects inside belonged to the Huang family.
Kitchen Outside Courtyard
Image On Courtyard Wall
Interior Room
View Of Upstairs From Courtyard
Visitors can go upstairs and visit the rooms in the upper floor.
Interesting Chinese Statue In Hall Adjacent To The Old House
“Magic Crow” by Rick Bartow (2014) In The Native American Art Exhibit
“All The Flowers Are For Me”
Art projected on walls of museum room by artist Anila Quayyum Agha
Although I only took “mind photos”, one exhibit keeps coming back to me. A small room showing many examples of illustrations from the book Moby Dick. From early editions to comic books. One was a book of t-shirts, each illustrated with single lines from the novel. The exhibit is called: Draw Me Ishmael: The Book Arts of Moby Dick.
The creativity of artists never ceases to amuse me and fill me with hope.
Within walking distance of the Peabody Essex Museum is the historic Charter Street Cemetery. The oldest burying ground in the U. S. is what the brochure says, but that ignores the burying grounds of the Indigenous People….just saying…. There is the grave of a person who came over on the Mayflower and other early townspeople. Nearby are monument memorials to the victims of the 1692 Witch Trials.
All of these victim memorials had offerings of flowers, fruit, coins and other tokens. The victims are honored and remembered.
If you ask people what they think of when you mention Salem, Massachusetts, they are likely to say “The Salem Witch Trials.” There is a whole museum dedicated to this history and if I get back up there I will check it out. So many things to see, so little time.
This is a fitting place to end for today. Happy Halloween!
In July, my husband and I flew north 1,963 miles to Boston, Massachusetts to visit family. We have been there before and seen most of the historical sights related to the birth of our nation. This trip would be a little bit different. Here are a few highlights:
One of our resident family members suggested going to the Paul S. Russell, MD Museum of Medical History and Innovation in Boston (russellmuseum.org) at 2N. Grove St. We saw all sorts of interesting things such as an iron lung and early medical instruments.
Mosher Coin and Button Tube (for removal of foreign objects)
Foreign Objects Removed After Accidental Swallowing
Fascinating and disgusting!
Glass Eyes
It is a small museum with a nice roof top garden with a city view. And admission to the museum is free!
Our family member guide had been wanting to try a Uyghur (pronounced weegur) restaurant in Cambridge (west side of Boston). Neither my husband or I had ever tried Uyghur food or even knew what kind of food it might be. It turned out to be pretty good. All of us ordered noodle dishes.
The menu has lots of noodle dishes. The meats range from lamb to chicken to shrimp.
Check out Silk Road Uyghur Cuisine at 645 Cambridge st., Cambridge, MA.
Silk Road Restaurant Window Curtains
Hopeful Graffiti Spotted In Cambridge
We chose to stay in Somerville, Mass. (northwest of Boston) in an area called Assembly Row. An old Ford factory used to be at that location. Now it is a mixed use area with hotels, shops, restaurants, and sports grounds. One tourist highlight is the LEGO Discovery Center (legodiscoverycenter.com/boston/). Lots of Lego displays and kid friendly activities. And, of course, you can buy Legos there. We didn’t actually go in, but I shot this Lego giraffe outside the place.
And last, but not least, we visited the New England Aquarium (https://www.neaq.org.We) had been here before, but this time our family member guide happened to volunteer there and gave us a personalized tour. The aquarium is a must see. Only draw back to me was how crowded it was.
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
Last month I was expecting Spring and actively looking for signs of the early anemones. I looked for them everyday in my front yard. On February 18th I saw the first ones!
AnemonesA Host of Anemones At The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center (February 2024)Purple Anemone At The Wildflower Center
The first day of Spring is celebrated in North America on the Spring Equinox, I am celebrating Spring now because so much fresh life is emerging all around. Green shoots are coming up from the ground and sprouting from tree branches. And there is the blooming of flowers…from the pinky purple buds on my redbud tree to the purple spiderwort blossoms popping out every day. The days are getting longer and warmer. Birds are becoming more vocal and active. Some will soon leave to breed farther North (white throated sparrow seen below), while we welcome other species home from their wintering grounds in the South. I am guessing some of you have already seen some purple martins (early Spring arrivals). Other critters are emerging on sunny days (lizards, snakes, insects)
White Throated Sparrow At Wildflower Center (ready to fly North to spend the warmer months)Carolina Wren Wondering What Their Significant Other Is Up ToSignificant Other Taking A Dust Bath In Potting Soil In Our Raised Garden BedAnole Sunning On My Porch Glider
I am embracing them all in my heart and soul, these little joys of Spring.
And, No, I didn’t forget! The Blue bonnets are starting to bloom!
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center (February 2024)
I am getting old. I have seen many Springs, but these days I often wonder how many more I will see before I pass from this life and dissolve into the great mystery. I push these thoughts away before I move into despair and fear. I am determined to concentrate on the joy to be found every day…especially the abundant little joys found in the Spring. Some of these little joys are the early flowers. Specifically, I am talking about the little anemone flowers that bloom before most other flowers. I have looked in my front yard and in the nearby greenbelt, but no luck so far.
Here is what I am searching for:
They can be white, pink, purple, or blue. The flower heads are on a tall, slender stalk up to a foot high. Anemones are perennials and are in the family Ranunculaceae (Buttercup). They occur in prairies and woodlands from January through April.
Flower Fly On Anemone
We have at least 4 species in Texas and I don’t know if the ones I have seen in past years are the Carolina Anemone (Anemone caroliniana) or the Ten-Petal Anemone (Anemone berlandieri).
Fun Facts:
What look like the petals are actually sepals…don’t ask…I need to learn more.
The “petals” close up at night or during low light days.
Although Indigenous peoples used parts of the plant as medicine in healing wounds and others made a tea from it, the plant is considered toxic (neurotoxin).
The word anemone is from a Greek word meaning wind. Some say the spring breezes cause the flowers to open. Others noticed them swaying in the wind.
There are about 150 species of related anemones in the world in both the southern and northern hemispheres.
Folklore associated with the plants range from those who say anemones are the “lilies of the field” in the New Testament to them representing blood in Greek mythology. In China there is an anemone that is associated with death. My favorite story is that when it rains, fairies sleep in the closed up petals.
I will keep looking every day and when I see my first anemone, I will smile and welcome another Spring.
Sources-
Wildflowers of Texas by Geyata Ajilvsgi
Legends of Texas Wildflowers by Elizabeth Silverthorne
Wildflowers of the Texas Hill Country by Marshall Enquist
Natural Musings 