Saturday, June 27, 2015

OUR OLD GREEN-STAMP BLANKET



OUR OLD GREEN STAMP BLANKET
PICNIC BY THE PECOS RIVER
******************************
We weren't even married yet, that day in 1956.
as we lolled there on the cool shady lawn along
the Pecos River...on our new Green Stamp
blanket.

One of our mamas had given up several
prized stamp books to make our blanket
possible.

It was our first blanket.

We were at the beach in Carlsbad, having
a picnic of egg salad sandwiches, potato
chips, and cokes. (We'd never heard of
the marvelous Diet Dr. Pepper yet...but
it didn't matter---we were both skinny.)

It was one of the happiest days of our
lives---we lived at Artesia and were down
at Carlsbad, the county seat of Eddy County,
getting our marriage license!

The Pecos River, not a big full river most
of the time, was flowing along, very slowly
and peacefully, in no hurry, and wrens and
chickadees were singing and flitting about
in the trees, over the beautiful lawn which
sloped down to the river.

The sun was shining and the whole world
was young--including "us." We were making
a "day of it!"

We spread our new blanket and sat on it,
and ate, and rested and watched the fluffy N.M.
clouds sail lazily over.

I guess you could say, we were "breaking in"
that blanket for a lifetime of use.

Today, not counting our long love, it may be
the oldest thing we have.

Oh sure, it doesn't look like much now---it is
torn, faded, much of the nap is gone...but...
though the years, good times and bad, it
has been a much-used, faithful companion.

----It has been a "picnic blanket" many times.
----It has been a "lawn blanket" from the earlier
      years when the men at family reunions
      played mumbledy-peg on the front lawn
      after supper...
----It has been a ball game blanket...
----It has been a cushion on hard bleachers...
----BE has worn it around her shoulders, oft...
----It has often been a camping blanket ...
----It has even surrounded frozen steaks, in
      transit...
-----It has been a friend...and servant...

Okay, so I'm an old softy when it comes to
blankets; I can't help it. There's a nice homey
feeling of security connected with them.

Actually, being an old-timer, I have a nicer-
looking, heavier blanket in the den for my
Lazy Boy and winter TV watching---but the
old GS blanket of 1956 is still our "GO-TO"
utility blanket.

Instructions at the house here are: if a hobo
ever knocks at the door on a cold night,
looking for a blanket, give him twenty bucks
for a new Walmart blanket--but don't give
away our early-marriage Green Stamp
blanket, now going on 59 years old.

It is almost like a member of the family.
**************
BY MIL
April 21, 2015




Thursday, June 25, 2015

FIVE LITTLE ROCKS FROM WHERE?



AH,  I GOT IT! THEY'RE....
*************************

Little rocks from space...
   once planets,  from deep
       in the cosmos....

No.

Once giant asteroids,
    eroded by the
        atmosphere...
and now mere shadows
     of their former 
         glory!

No.

They are kidney stones,
    once causing more 
        pain than one 
could ever imagine!

No.

Gall stones, then?

No

Okay...um...rocks found in 
    a dead robin's craw,
       mistakenly ingested?

No

I got it! Rocks bugging a hiker
    in the Rocky Mountains---
        found in his boots!

No

From a bicycle tire, rubbed a hole
    in the tube!

No

Well then, someone went a long 
    time, without shampooing!
       One of those guitarists
          you know, on stage!

No

Your pants cuffs were rolled up,
    the day you gardened.

No.

The washing machine filter was
    stopped up again!?

No

Oh no, not five tooth-fillings
     jarred loose somehow,?

No

Found 'em in your duck-hunting
    coat pocket after a long 
     early morning crawl on 
         the Rio Grande!?

No.

Well shucks, I give up.

Where'd the rocks come from?

Today, I sorted pinto beans 
    for BE, for tonight's
      "corn bread and 
           red beans!"

I found 'em while sortin'.

But I left the half-beans, to eat.

Once, when a kid, I asked my 
mama, "why do you throw away 
the half-beans...they look okay 
to me?"

She said: "Hmm, I don't know.
MY MAMA ALWAYS DID!"

******************
BY MIL
5/22/15




Tuesday, June 23, 2015

THE BIG BLUE TRUCK HONKED...



The BIG BLUE TRUCK
              stopped
in front....of our house
               every Tuesday
morning...early...

And tooted its big horn
                 loudly,
once....

Yes, every week
                 almost
without fail...

I wondered about it
                  and
got up at the crack
                   of dawn
one Tuesday,
          took my coffee
and slunk unseen
           behind a bush...

It was the house across 
                     the street...
Our little five-year-old neighbor
                      boy
Dressed iIn OSH-KOSH blue
                      bib overalls...
Hair slicked and combed,
                       his mama
with him...

O, he was waving at the driver
                       of 
the CITY TRASH TRUCK
                        a big blue one!

And the driver was smiling and
                         waving back!

It happens every week, just the 
                          same way...

For you see, my little neighbor
                          HOPES to be
A "TRASH MAN"
                           when 
he grows up!

The big blue trash truck HONKED
                            loudly
as it pulled away from
                             the curb.
--------------
BY MIL
6/23/15

Thursday, June 11, 2015

THE EMPTY MAN….IS HE US?



They walk the earth
         and are gone

"Their only monument
          the asphalt road and
   a thousand lost golf
balls," said T.S. Eliot

and maybe the greenback
           dollar

Their thoughts are not of
           others, but
   of getting ahead...
way ahead

Did they come out of the sea
             or were they
   borned

Is that an unfilled God-shaped
              blank
    we see there

Is this image a symbol
            for....us?

Ah, but there is good news,
            to be heard
    on that lonely shore

Remember, the old hymn says
           "Chords that are
     broken will vibrate
once more!"
************
BY MIL
5/31/15

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

SAND



 "SAND"
 "O HOW I. LOVE THEE..."
************************

Sand...

"As sands thru the hour glass....
     So are the days of our lives"
An old TV show had it.

It's true.

Sand has always fascinated man...
     for he can't control it.

Except for some people...like maybe
     desert nomads. and the 
        Dust Bowl Folks.

They're not...and weren't fascinated.

To men, dirt looks dirty---but sand
    seems clean.

At the sandy places of the earth,
    you may want to visit...
You can...roll in the sand, downhill...
    walk in it, barefoot, build castles,
bury yourself in it, have a picnic. and
    then go home...

Things which do not interest desert
   wanderers.

SAND...

I've seen it flying about, in high winds...
    Covering highways, burying 
         gardens, and fences,
             muddying stock 
                   tanks...

I've seen it darken the sun.

But O how delightful and beautiful it 
     can be...
         Reddish tan, light tan, white....
smooth, uniform texture; smooth
     and almost silky....

With the sand, it's the "little things..."
     A hunter back in the hills, warm
November day...miles from anywhere...
     quiet and a bit lonely, walkng
an old toad, weeds in the middle...

But friendly ruts in that soft sand!
    I am not alone...someone came by,
and my! Those ruts feel good to my boots!

Photographing "WINDOW ROCK..."--- a 
     fine picture, but I notice the 
sand in the foreground....such incredible ruts
     in the sand...artistry of its own!

At "WHITE SANDS"---the most fascinating
     sand of all, it's the ripple-like waves
in the sand, and the shadows cast by 
     the ripples...and the half-dead yuccas
and scrubby plants, casting theirs shadows,
     and the sand...and the sun...all things
seem eternal...with the sand.

Ah, THE SAND! How oft have I begun poems
     about thee? Thrice? Never finished them.

That's what a great subject SAND is....it's
   like writing about "forever."

My sand poems turn out to be books...that's how
    sand is ---to me!

My roots are Dawson County, Texas. Oh yes!
      Wonderful sand...there!
**************


PHOTO BY MIL

BY MIL
6/03/15







THE TURQUOISE GATE



"THE TURQUOISE GATE"

The Gate...
    The Turquoise Gate
to my neighbor's backyard
     was really My Gate.

It might have been
    could have been
         ought to have been
              almost was
                   a Red Gate!

How do you like that?

Because you see,
     our beloved neighbors
          went off to their home state
               of Florida

For five weeks, and asked me to water
     and mow their back lawn (and front,)

"Sure," I said.
     Nicer neighbors, we never had!
          Off they went, twelve hundred
                miles---for five weeks!

That became a long time, when I had to
     deal ev'ry day, with a more-or-less
          three-piece gate!

Yes, it was rickety! To say the least....

One day, I said: "That's it, my friend Mr. Gate!"
     "I've had it with you!"

Went to TRU-Value, bought 1 X 8's, bolts,
      heavy-duty hinges, and paint.
           Cut the pieces, matching the
                 old gate....angled the top
                      down from a point.

Drilled holes with my new drill, bolted it
    together...and painted it...two coats...

Almost painted it red, but had bought turquoise.
    
My neighbor, on returning, was thrilled!
     But he went back to Fla. in '95
          to stay.

Ah, but my new neighbor, said one day:
     "Someone knew how to build gates!
           Is that a sturdy one, or what?!"

And he added: "I like the color!"

I, myself, look at it often, and admire it.

"MY GATE."
***************
MIL'S PLACE
BY MIL
6/02/15