SNUB SCISSORS...PAPER CLIPS....A BARLOW....MEMORIES

700th SERIES...."SCHOOL DAYS"

"School days, school days

Dear old golden rule days

Reading and writing and 'rithmetic

Taught to the tune of the hickory stick

You were my queen in calico

I was your bashful barefoot beau

And you wrote in my slate

     'I love you Joe,'

When we were a couple if kids."

.........credit Hal Leonard Corp.

                and Lyric Find

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

This morning, while working on the 

"wrapping up" of this proud 

accomplishment (to us) that B.E.

and I have achieved with 700 POSTS

on MIL'S PLACE---and thinking on

a nice story about Clovis classmates

and friends who have supported and 

written for MIL'S...I needed to trim 

some plastic off a sack and reached

for a small pair of scissors in my junk

cup.

After the cutting job I laid them down---

but my eye was taken by them. They 

were snub-scissors, like first, second,

third grade...at old La Casita, '39-'41.

Suddenly, as is often the case, early

mornings when my mind is somewhat

fresh (and empty),  old school times

from a long-ago mid-century 

flooded my mind...inspired by the

scissors...I let my thoughts roam...

   LA CASITA SCHOOL...low rock fence....

    ---incredibly hard play-ground...

---a little bit of Bermuda grass

   ---little tough Jerry Crook running

   with beat-up football, at recess...

---licorice, Black Cows, Walnetto's

       "plumgranites" at noon...

---winding the Maypole...

        ----Art, Albin, Jimmy Blair, Sue,

     Miss Ballou, Miss Holloway

---Story-time, Miss H., fourth grade...

         ---scary Doc Gattis...Principal

---sack lunches on the bleachers...

   ---"REDDY'S  MAMMOTH SHOW,"

              sixth grade, musical and

      MIL'S big snow biz breakthrough...

---Miss Dodie, music teacher...

     ---Mr. Ward, janitor's quaint stories...

----awful lines down the hall, waiting

          for the school nurse exam...

----free movie, fourth grade at STATE:

          and Frank Sinatra crooned...

       ----penmanship and spelling bees,

                    fifth grade, Mrs. Davis

-----free milk, third grade

        ---I kissed Lucy Jane, she cried....

----Alexander's Market, W. Seventh...

     ----Halloween Carnivals, spook room...

---Walking to school...haunted houses...

    ---"The Little White Church On 

               the Corner," 4th and Thornton...

---Getting to be a "Patrol Boy" at

         Seventh and Thornton light...

    ---That marvelous Blurbly Water 

Fountain, out front...frozen in winter...

----Geraldine, Ramona, Christine, Frank,

      all little bitty people, then...

----Future CHS '51 kids were all over, 

         Eugene Field, Claud, Ranchvale...

----Radiator heat, cozy rooms,  polished

         floors, school smells...

     ----Dark-wood office, SE corner, big

           clock, Doc Gattis---serious man,

and scary, Albin said so, Art said so...

----Pearl Harbor, third grade...

---Graduation...CHS '51

Another century...

La Casita gone...many kids gone.

    Twentieth Century also...

"La Casita was our true Alma Mater,"

     said one girl...and so maybe

         was Eugene Field.

Oh the memories  bro't on

       by a pair of snub-nose

            scissors....

school days...dear old school days

------------

BY MIL

700 SERIES

31 MARCH 2018

THE 700TH POST....MIL'S PLACE

RULE ONE...."Never fall in love with your own writing..."

B.E. and I have til Saturday, March 31, 2018

to get "700 Posts" on MIL'S Place. Seven years...

I don't call them "blogs." My ears

and senses and mind, are all tuned

to the beauties, sights, miracles,

melodies, and poetry of life---(after all, I 

am a singer)  and these tell me that "blog" 

is an ugly, unfortunate word---that 

should be dumped.

I have been putting off doing this 700th

post, trying to decide if it should be

some big production or just a modest

little piece, with a lot of appreciation

for a couple dozen lifetime friends

who have written for MIL'S and have

been boosters all along the way.

Many of these dear people date back 

sixty or seventy years to old Clovis

and also days at HSU.

When we started MIL'S I was seventy-

seven and B.E. was quite a bit younger.

She will always be young, with her soul,

and loveliness. Without her, there would 

have been no MIL'S.

A funny thing has happened on the way

to 700. My mind seems sharper yet, but

I do get tired sometimes.

And I worry about some six hundred or 

so poems, stories, and jottings that were

deemed charitably "not ready" to see

the light of day...and thus may never 

exist.

After several long discussions and tossing

ideas back and forth---and there being

a number of important factors to  think

about on this SPECIAL OCCASION---

(at least to us, anyway), we have tho't

to go informal, chit-chat, and sort of

"wing it" with our approach.

After all, we don't forget the two dozen

or so friends  who contributed writings,

and the "closer-knit-bunch " that 

were constantly encouraging Mil and

reading and offering kind words...

All their writings were so enjoyed and

appreciated...more happy memories of 

those long-ago days in Clovis in the 

 30's and 40's---from a century now

 gone...into the mists of time.

 So, in posts 701 to 706 or so,

 B.E. and I will be having a fun time,

 re-reading the friends---the writers 

 who grew up with Mil, in those days...

  I tho't in this  piece to list Twenty-Five

  of my own favorite stories and

  poems  that were penned over the     

  past seven years. I came out with

  ninety-two, with more to  come.

      

  Folks don't sit and read ninety-two

  story titles...so they will be dribbled

  out a few at a time, over 701-706.

  These grabbed me. Maybe stories 

   and poems DO age, and mellow, 

   and develop more  character and

   taste...and improve, as they say of

   fine wines..

      

      (1) THE DAY I KISSED LUCY JANE

      (2)  THERE'S GRAPE JELLY ON MY 

                "SURE FIRE"

      (3) THE WIND SYMPHONY IN THE

                 ATTIC

      (4) MAGIC STEAM LAUNDRY # 1.  

     (5) THE OLD GRUBBIN' HOE

      (6) MY OLD SHOE STOOL IS HOME

      (7) OUR NATIONAL DITTY:

               "THE  STAR MANGLED BANNER"

      (8)  THE BEST DUCK HUNT EVER

      (9) EMPTY SADDLES IN THE OLD 

              CORRAL

      (10) OUR SUPPER CHICKENED OUT

      (11)  A FORTIES CHRISTMAS AT POP'S 

                  PLACE

       (12) ME AND LEVI STOLE TWO 

                OF DAD'S CIGARS

Ah yes, stories of another century when

Americans acted like Americans...and I

 have violated RULE ONE again--- I must

re-read these, above.

So stay tuned, there are lot more to come--

    stories from Stebbins and Snipes,

       Wylie and Vernoy,  Richard and Albin...

....and lots of Happy Memories...

always remember: if you had no history,

or memory, you wouldn't be a you.

Above all: Praise be to God!  

        Seven hundred!

---------

MIL AND B.E.

29 MARCH 2018

MIL'S PLACE....3/31/11 to....

    

1940's CLOVIS.....AND FAST FORWARD TO 2017-2018

By Robert Stebbins, CHS, '51

                            
                                     TRANSCONTINENTAL AIR TRANSPORT

From my early childhood, I have been fascinated with airplanes.  My 1939 Ford TriMotor 15-minute airplane ride that took off from a cow pasture just south of Clovis underpass set the tone. That was followed by X-Acto knives, balsa wood, tissue paper, and Testor's Airplane Cement and Testor's Dope. And, later by visits to Clovis Air Base Open House where we were allowed to climb on and around B-24's and B-29's to our heart's content.

The photo of me below is not that of an aviator on a mission.  The "pilot helmet" was useful to keep ears warm on a cold winter's day, and the indispensable attached goggles were especially useful just about anytime to keep sand out of your eyes during those regularly occurring springtime Eastern New Mexico sandstorms.

And now, fast forward to today. Since about 1995, I have been attending a weekly current affairs discussion group that meets at our local community center. A group of 15-20 of us hash over world problems, arrive at no solutions to any of them, and then return the next week to repeat the process.  It moves the grey matter around.  One of the ladies and I have become friends over the past year, and in the course of our discussions she discovered that I have a deep interest in anything that flies.  Well, Shazam!  It turns out that her daughter has her own airplane (Bombardier Global 6000) and her daughter invited me to visit and tour it just prior to her departure on a 3-week worldwide trip....nonstop from San Diego to Dublin, then to Switzerland, the Middle East, India, Bhutan, and other intermediate stops.

I arrived at the airport about an hour prior to her arrival, and the plane captain greeted me in the terminal and invited me aboard. He showed me all around, introduced me to the co-pilot and flight attendant, and all I can say is "Wow".  Then, the owner who I had never before met, arrived about 45 minutes later, graciously greeted me, and gave me a hug like we had known each other since the 1940's in Clovis. I am seriously thinking about hiring her mother as my publicity agent because she must have given me a tremendous build up with her daughter for which I am enormously grateful

                           

                          

After her return, my friend's daughter invited my wife, Olga, and me for dinner just before Christmas.  She does business worldwide in international risk analysis.  I asked her to not forget that my background includes prior experience as a Department of State Diplomatic Courier, escorting highly classified diplomatic shipments safely around the world.  I suggested to her that if ever she is unavailable and needs someone to fly on her plane to pick up or deliver something domestically or internationally, I am her guy to do so discretely and safely.

FOR MIL'S PLACE:
    Robert Stebbins,  March 8, 2017

MIL'S PLACE COUNTDOWN TO SEVEN HUNDRED, poem by Wylie Dougherty

FRIENDS AND LIVING

by Wylie Dougherty

CHS '53

Since I met you, I’ve felt some changes 

In my mind and the way I think.

I had grown beyond the pure romantic

And quit listening to the sounds of living, Words of songs 

and beauty of a simple flower.

I’ve learned to love and live again a little better,

I see the clouds, sunsets and beauty in life.

I know I’m worth more than I was,

Not sure that I’m more worthy, 

To those who love, trust, need and wait for me.

As I grow old and wiser, I know 

I have to share and take and love-that’s the price of life.

My life can never be the same—no more grays and drabs

I have to live and give and love.

You never know what’s round the bend, a waterfall or rocky road

Or green, green grassy pastures waiting for our bare feet.

The wisdom of the age is still-live for the moment, love your friends

Take time to smell the flowers-treat nature with respect.

Take the extra moment to be sure you’ve cured the hurts you caused

Never be afraid to cry.  You see you have to open up your heart

To let a little hurt come in to see if you’re alive.

If you’re alive your owe a debt to each of those who give and shape and care

About the way you are.  

You pay the debt by reaching out to a friend who has a need—

Or stick your neck out, help someone who isn’t yet your friend.

The pleasure and pain of life were never meant to be unshared

Don’t carry the load alone—the burden’s only half as heavy if you share it with a friend.

The time you take to help another is paid back many times.

Looking back we hope to see the way we.ve shaped some souls

And heaped a little happiness on lives grown stale and cold.

Never be too busy to care and hold and shape and mold another who has needs.

Another time they’ll be the one to lift you back to life.

Wylie Dougherty 

*******************************************
BY MIL,  5 MARCH, 2018

EARLY YEARS IN PHOTOGRAPHY

MIL'S PLACE: COUNTDOWN TO SEVEN HUNDRED

FAVORITE PHOTOS
******************


    "MUSING...A COOL AUTUMN DAY"
                       Photo by B.E.


               "READY TO WRITE"



           






















                  JEREMIAH II



                      "WAGON WHEEL AT RED RIVER"
                                       by Kindell Brinay


               "BREAKFAST AT MIL'S"
                            by Mil, 2017                    

            
                    "JEREMIAH, THE PREACHER"
                                   Photo by R.L.S.

"COUNT-DOWN" TO SEVEN HUNDRED POSTS

FAVORITE PHOTOS....from MIL'S PLACE



                "ECLIPSE OF THE CANTALOUPES"
                               Photo by Mil, 2017


             KINDELL BRINAY
                      Selfie, 2016


                "SPRING AT WILD PEACH"
                     Photo by W.L.M. 2016



                        "MY TOMATOES", 2016
                                   Photo by Mil


                          "HAMBURGER TIME"
                                  Photo by Mil, 2016