First United Methodist Church ~ Shelbyville, Texas

Lufkin Mural

This is one of five large murals painted in downtown Lufkin commemorating the history of the city.  Coca-Cola signs were abundant back in the '30s and '40s in this area.  This photograph only shows about half of the mural, but because of a big ugly black dumpster parked right in front of the other portion, it was impossible for me to get a picture of the whole thing.  Another mural was portrayed on this blog back on March 25 and the post of March 21 was dedicated to the Pines Theater which is also depicted in this piece.

It's So Dry ...

... even the dandelions have turned brown!

Spring's First Magnolia Blossom

I didn't discover the first blossom on our magnolia tree until it had almost dried up!  It has been very dry here since the first of the year and the usually dark green magnolia leaves are showing signs of  water deprivation and the blossoms are turning dark much sooner than usual.

Pink Cadillac

Spotted:  Near Lake Murvaul

 

1966?  No wonder the tires are flat!

Our Pond

We have a nice large pond on our property which was built by my dad many years ago.  It is fed by a natural spring so the water is relatively clear.  It's a welcome relief for the cattle and the many creatures who live nearby to have fresh water in these days of dryness.  We are hoping for rain soon.

Tall Bearded Iris

Below are some of the iris that have bloomed in our yard so far this spring.

Invitation

Iris 101:  The upper petals are called standards; the lower petals are falls.  The fuzzy portion underneath the standards and on top of the falls is the beard.  Invitation is pale apricot with a tangerine beard.

I don't know the name of this beauty.   One of my uncles who has been dead for many,  many years gave it to my mother a long time ago.  I just call it the Neil Cranford, which was my uncle's name.  It reminds me of a big scoop of orange sherbet.

This is an old-fashioned purple iris, a prolific bloomer.  We've probably had at least 50 blooms so far.  The wire you see at the top of the photograph is an electric fence because on that side of the fence is a meadow and the cows will push up against the fence and try to eat the plants that are planted near it.

Role Model

Four years ago when I started making plans to move back to Texas, I dug up all my iris in my garden in Phoenix and mailed them all to my mom.  Role Model was always one of my favorites and I was so pleased when it bloomed this year.

Another lovely which made the transition from Desert Southwest to the humid almost subtropics of East Texas.  I don't remember the name of it though and haven't been able to find it as yet on the Internet.

The fairest of the fair is this gorgeous French blue specimen which my mother purchased a few years back.  She doesn't remember the name of it but it just may be a variety called Monet's Blue.  So far it's my favorite.

Note to Mari:  This is the white fence I told you that has been calling to me to please come give it a bath!

Caption Contest Winner and Metal Patchwork

The winner of the caption contest for Tuesday's picture of the llama family is ...... drumroll, please! ...... Tracy of Life is a Road Trip for her wacky caption of  "Yeah, well, your mother was an alpaca.  Hmph."

I've had the opportunity to meet Tracy while I was still in Arizona and she has one of the best senses of humor I've ever experienced.  I sometimes think she is the original Comeback Kid.  Visit her blog through the link above.  Thank you all for your very funny entries.  Let's plan to do another caption contest soon!

Today's picture is of a storage structure behind a group of buildings in downtown Rusk, Texas, a little town near where I live.  I decided to title it Metal Patchwork because it looks to me like someone just took various pieces of corrugated metal and nailed them together.  I like the way they have weathered and it reminds me of an old patchwork quilt.

Logansport Cowboy

The most memorable landmark in Logansport, Louisiana, is the rodeo cowboy on a bucking bronco on what once was Dave's Hardware & Furniture store.  It seems to be held in place by some metal scaffolding and lots of wires. I presume it's been repaired at some point because in one of the pictures I found on the Internet, the cowboy was hatless but he definitely wears a cowboy hat these days.

Yeah, well, your mother was an alpaca. Hmph.

Update:  Friday, April 22:  The winner of the caption contest with the above title is TRACY, the funny lady from Life is a Road Trip.  

Okay, Bloggie Buddies, get your caption cap on and come up with a cool caption for this llama family (note baby in lower left).  The "contest" stays open until 5 p.m. CDT Friday.  The panel of judges (that's me, me, and me) will at that time pick the winning entry and the post will be renamed.  I know there will be some good ones for this photo.  Enter as many times as you wish.

Just Horsin' Around

The Colors of Nature

Red Dirt

Green Fields

Blue Sky

To Keachi and Home Again

Whenever I plan a daylong road trip, the first thing I do is go to the website of the National Register of Historic Places and then to the specific state and then the specific county (or parish as in the case of Louisiana) to look for a listing of buildings/sites which have been placed on the National Register.  Imagine my surprise when I found TEN historic places in a little town 12 miles north of the village of Grand Cane called Keachi.  I'm told it's properly pronounced keech-EYE as opposed to the keech-EEE pronunciation I gave to it.  I had never heard of this town of 300 people but I couldn’t wait to get there.  I especially wanted to see the four Greek Revival homes that I had seen listed on the National Register. Unfortunately, the only location given for the homes was a highway number and Keachi is a crossroads with three separately numbered highways meeting at the center of town (if you can really call it a town).  I did find two homes which I was pretty sure were historic properties but I could not be certain, nor could I even be certain which home was which because there were no markers.  

  

I decided this must be one of the places.  I did not feel comfortable pulling into the overgrown driveway.  The house sat back a short distance from the road and there was no place along the road to park so I drove back to the crossroads and walked back to the house.  As I walked up the driveway I marveled at how beautiful it once had been but now was overgrown, in need of paint and many repairs.  I found two old cast iron wash tubs in the front yard, both cracked with weeds growing up through them.  I loved the porch, the flapping window shutters, the big double entryway doors, and the round room on the front.  As I walked around the side of the house I was surprised at how narrow it seemed, and I was even more surprised to see two pickup trucks in the back yard and toys and lawn chairs and other stuff on the back porch.  Good Lord, this place was occupied and here I was pokin’ and peekin’ around.  I had come close to being arrested a few weeks back for trespassing on someone’s property and that was in Nacogdoches, and I sure didn’t want to be the little old grandma being interrogated by a Cajun sheriff as to why she had that fancy camera and was snoopin’ around Jean-Pierre’s old plantation house.  So I made a hasty retreat and skedaddled back to the safety of Truck, continued to look around and take a few more pictures and then headed back home to Texas.

Thanks for going on this little road trip with me!  I had a great time and hope you did too!

Onward to Grand Cane

When I first saw the name Grand Cane on a map of DeSoto Parish, I just knew I had to go there (you may remember my search for Eulalie Brice a few weeks back).  It just had such a romantic tone that I knew there was something special there.  And, boy, was I right!

This beautiful Revival Gothic church (First United Methodist) in the village of Grand Cane, Louisiana, was the most spectacular building I saw on this road trip.  Just a few miles up the road from Mansfield, Grand Cane is a relative youngster, having only been established in 1881.  It reached its peak population of 500 around the turn of the century and has a present population of 191 (2000 census).  Little but mighty, Grand Cane had the first accredited high school in the State of Louisiana.  The entire downtown area of the village, consisting of about six buildings laid out in a row along one side of a fairly new four-lane state highway, is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places, as is this wonderful church which was built in approximately 1888.  Tomorrow I hope you will join me for a look at an historic house in Keachi, Louisiana.

Continuing on the Journey ~ Mansfield, Louisiana

Continuing on from Logansport, I headed 20 miles northeast to Mansfield, the parish seat of DeSoto Parish.  Mansfield is best known as the site of the Battle of Mansfield, a heated Civil War encounter on April 8, 1864.  I'm not big into battle reenactments, but I came to learn that just the day previous to my visit was the annual reenactment of this famous battle just on the outskirts of town.  That's me, a day late and a dollar short!  The battle was a decisive Confederate victory even though the 7,000 Confederate troops were outnumbered nearly two to one by Union forces.

Even though it was the largest city I visited in Louisiana (5,500) this day, I took the fewest pictures in this little town.  I had a map locating some historic properties but for some reason I found myself having a hard time negotiating and making the map match with what I was seeing in reality.  While I was in the downtown area I stopped to take a photo of an old building and happened to notice this Coca-Cola brickart through a wrought iron gate next to the building.  I couldn't get over there fast enough, but, alas, the gate was locked.  It appears that a restaurant courtyard faces this fabulous piece of nostalgia and, darn it, it was closed for the day.  So the angle of my picture is not good but I think you can tell that this is an outstanding piece of artwork that was probably done sometime in the 1930s or 1940s.  It has obviously been refurbished because the color was the best I've seen.  Since it's less than 50 miles from my home to Mansfield, I'm hoping I'll be able to make a trip back someday soon during the week to get a better look at this beauty!  Everything else I saw in Mansfield paled to this treasure, so I soon was headed north in search of Grand Cane.

On the Road ~ from Center to Logansport

Stop 2 on this road trip found me just 13 miles from Center in Logansport, Louisiana, right on the border of the two states.  The Sabine River forms the boundary of the southern portion of Louisiana with Texas as it flows on toward the Gulf of Mexico.  In this area the Sabine is remarkably clear and beautiful although it is a rusty, brownish color.  This is, after all, the land of red dirt so not too many of our rivers are blue.

If you follow this blog you know how partial I am to rust, so you can just imagine my delight in finding this railroad truss bridge still in use across the Sabine at Logansport.

I've tried to do some research to find out how this little town of 1500 people came to be called Logansport.  Nada, nil, nothing.  I'll just bet at one time it was a port named after someone known as Logan (pretty astute of me, eh?) but in these parts the locals pronounce it Logan-sport rather than Logan's-port.  So my surmise may be way off.  It's a sleepy little town whose citizens travel east across the state line to buy groceries at a Brookshire Brothers supermarket in Joaquin, Texas, but it is the self-proclaimed sand bass capital of the world.  Of course, just a few miles down the road you will find the Toledo Bend Reservoir (in Texas, of course) which is loaded with bass so I guess it's okay for Logansport to get a little recognition for being so close to bass fishing heaven.

Tomorrow:  On down the road a piece to Mansfield.

Road Trip ~ Keachi, LA and Places in Between

I headed off early this morning to explore a couple of historic places in Western Louisiana.  My first stop before hitting the border was the neighboring town of Center, Texas.  It just happens to be where I was born and only about 15 miles from where we live so I have a bit of familiarity with the place.  It's had a population of around 5,000 for as long as I can remember.  It's one of those places that just never seems to change.  There are always throngs of people in town driving around the courthouse square and we always wonder why it's such busy a busy little town.  But this morning at about 8:30 the place was pretty much deserted and I was able to find a quick parking spot to jump out and take a picture of the Rio Theater.  It has been operating since 1926 and was originally named Shelby but due to the high cost of neon lettering the name was shortened to Rio.  Both the interior and exterior were remodeled in the late 1990s and it shows one first-run movie three or four nights a week.  I need to check out the remodeling and see the original side staircase leading to the balcony, which is still used today.  The Rio is one of the oldest continuously run single-screen theaters in Texas.

Tomorrow:  On to Logansport.

Bluebonnets and Red Clover

The bluebonnets of Texas are rather sparse this year.  We have a small patch along our driveway and by the road in front of our place but, alas, they have dried up.  Just not enough rain this year.  I had hoped to take a road trip down into the Texas Hill Country where they are generally exceptionally beautiful but this year they just aren't making a show.   However ...

... the red clover is lush and tall and has thickly populated many of our country roadsides.

Canton Babies

Series 6 in the Canton First Monday Trade Days posts.

If you have managed to stick with me through this week-long journey, you are truly my bloggiemates!  I've had so much fun sharing this little trip with all of you and I hope you've enjoyed coming along.

So here is the grand finale.  Everyone loves babies and I certainly fell in love with these and I know you will too.

A pile of Aussie puppies being tenderly tended by a French poodle

Now what could be more adorable and soft than baby chicks ...

... unless it's adorable ducklings.

If I could have gotten this baby donkey in the car, I would have bought him and taken him home.

I have fallen in love with donkies, 

but that's a story for another post.

Just look at those faces!

What's there not to love?

Several of you have asked are these animals all really for sale, and the answer is yes, with the exception of the dogs shown a couple of days ago who just happened to be attending the trade days with their owners.  All the babies shown above were found in the area of the flea market called "Dog Alley," a very large area that is actually separate from the other sales arenas.  The event started back in the 1800s with locals attending court on the first Monday of each month and bringing their livestock and other items to trade and sell on the courthouse square.  It quickly became known as a good place to get a good horse or a dog, and it now has branched out into a modern-day flea market.  Many farmers come here to purchase goats, horses, and all kinds of ordinary and exotic poultry and the "Dog Alley" part of the event is obviously one of the most popular.

Canton Vendors

Series 5 in the Canton First Monday Trade Days posts.

 

The Parakeet Lady in Dog Alley

A snack shop proprietor in Dog Alley scoops up a double-dipped waffle cone

of Blue Bell ice cream just for me!

Pretty Mama Fashionista

Winner of my best-dressed award

Duckman picks the cream of the crop for this lady who is restocking her pond after a harsh winter.

Thanks for sticking with me this week.  One more day to go in the series and I've saved the best for last.  So come back tomorrow for Canton Babies and  I'll tell you right now they are not human children!

Canton Dogs AND 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 Dogs/100

Series 4 in the Canton First Monday posts.

Many dogs attend Canton First Monday Trade Days and proudly show off their humans. 

I used my day there last Friday to get caught up on my 100 Dogs Project, 

so I present (drumroll, please) ....

No. 12 ~ Arlo, Basset Hound

Maybe in need of some Visine.

No. 13 ~ Frankie, Shih Tzu

A little stuck-up and definitely with an attitude, but I fell in love with him anyway.

No. 14 ~ Louise, Bloodhound

Louise's human was very proud of the fact that she has liver and tan markings with brown eyes.

According to him, this is a rare combination.  

No. 15 ~ Patty, Australian Shepherd

Patty was shielding her eyes from the bright afternoon Texas sun.

No. 16 ~ Sophie, Weimaraner

Sophie says animal prints are always in fashion.

No. 17 ~ Yoda, Chihuahua

Yoda was dressed in matching hat and jacket of patriotic colors.

Tomorrow's Edition:  Canton Vendors

Canton Animals

Series 3 in the Canton First Monday posts.

First Monday Trade Days in Canton finds all kinds of animals, especially in the Dog Alley area of the flea market.  Here is a sampling.

Schnauzers in carts and strollers

 

Horses just being horses

Donkeys braying

Mothers giving motherly advice

And alligator snapping turtles pretending to be prom queens

Tune in tomorrow for a peek at Canton Dogs

Canton Stuff

What's a Texas flea market without ...

cowboy boots ...

 

and saddles ...

... for your horse.

 

Now my personal favorite was this cowgirl and her deerest friend.

One of the few places around where you can find a giant chicken and a stun gun in the same place.

This is the only bikini you're likely to find me in this summer!

And what did I buy?

A baseball cap - I forgot mine and it was blazing hot

A roadrunner pin for the cap

A vegetable peeler

An adjustable garden rake 

A waffle cone stuffed with Blue Bell ice cream!

Stay tuned for tomorrow's Canton adventure, Canton Animals!