Turrets & Treehouses
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I'm enchanted and inspired by the movie, "The Grass Harp" - based on a book by Truman Capote, screenplay by Sterling Silliphant. Set in the very early 1900s, a turreted house and a treehouse play major roles in the gentle, charming story, in which the tall grass truly makes music. And since harps, turrets and treehouses have long intrigued me, I was inspired to create this hub about their haunting essences and my own relationship to them.
The main characters seemed to live a youthful freedom and innocence: - kind, gentle Dolly Talbot, faithful Catherine (black but claiming to be Native American), retired Judge Cool and young Collin, an orphaned nephew who had come to live with the Talbot sisters and Catherine in their turreted house on Talbot Street, somewhere in The Deep South.
When Verena Talbot, Dolly's younger, bossy, straight-laced sister who dominated Dolly and claimed everything as hers, tried unsuccessfully to appropriate (and to market with the help of a Chicago promoter, Dr. Morris Ritz) Dolly's formula for her potion, she drove her away with harsh insults, mean-spirited put-downs and rejection. But for once it didn't intimidate Dolly into submission. Instead, along with her retinue of faithfuls, she retreated to autumnal living in an abandoned treehouse in a china tree with Spanish moss dangling from its ample branches.
Tall grasses, which she called "the grass harp", sang and spoke to Dolly. Nearby fields provided herbs, roots and other "magic" ingredients for her healing potion for the "dropsy", a secret formula which she had learned from a band of gypsies and shared with no one, not even Catherine. She had her own small circle of clients for the medicine; it was the one thing in the world that was actually, fully hers. Verena claimed ownership of all the family fortune and most of the town's businesses. Somehow the demand for her potion innervated Dolly to defy Verena.
This treehouse living arrangement, however, led to several confrontations from the inhibited Verena and most of the other townsfolk. Then when the treehouse dwellers took in a lady evangelist with her 15 children fathered by various men, that was the last straw!
There were other parts, and I won't tell you the ending, though it had both pathos and sweetness. I recommend seeing it for yourself if you get a chance.
The cast includes Piper Laurie, Sissy Spacek, Walter Matthau, Jack Lemmon, Nell Carter, Edward Furlong, Mary Steenburgen, Roddy McDowell. Directed by Charles Matthau.
Life is curlicues
And wiggle-wobbles,
Turrets and treehouses,
Magically full of imagination;
Sometimes it may be
Suspension in mid-space.
What it’s not,
Is fixed and fastened,
Nor controlled.
One must embrace it as it is
Fearlessly ~
Or miss it altogether.
______© Nellieanna H. Hay
Those turrets you wrote about
Are beautiful, in truth.
There are no dark, dismal dungeons.
The gloom's a massive hoax.
Why perpetuate it?
Illuminate!
______© Nellieanna H. Hay
There is a cadence
Of the heart
Where space
Is but
A single beat in time.
And time
Is but
A stride that's shared in space.
The length and depth
Of each are trivial.
But that they are ~
~ Profound!
______© Nellieanna H. Hay
Sometimes
We’re so engrossed with
Continuing tomorrow,
We fail to see today.
And tomorrow, when it arrives
Is just another wasted day.
______© Nellieanna H. Hay
Poetry
Precedes its happenings,
Or follows.
Living needs no poetry,
Unless the words are all there is.
I think there's more.
I think that walks
Along the country-side with love
Exist.
I think the seagulls
And the roses know.
I think, perhaps,
That sometimes
Even I have known.
______© Nellieanna H. Hay
Superimpose it not
Upon your
Preconditions.
Its reality ~
Sufficient.
Its facets ~
Non-exhausted.
______© Nellieanna H. Hay
Quiet wind chimes-
Announce a
Quiet day.
A quiet sun
Renounces grays
With brilliant gold.
______© Nellieanna H. Hay
Birds fly
Like cinders
In the sky;
So you and I
Can happen.
______© Nellieanna H. Hay
Poetry lightens
The heavy load
Of a heart too full of love.
But there are better ways
I'm told,
Awaiting better days.
______© Nellieanna H. Hay
Oh, yes, - treehouses and turreted houses have been wondrous fantasies for me. Perhaps things born mostly of our imaginations are most precious. After all, we can fashion and furnish them totally to suit ourselves, and renovate or recast them in our fantasies at will.
I recall climbing the chinaberry tree as a kid. Its branches were almost like a treehouse, very friendly toward a little girl who was prone to breaking bones. It cared for me as I imagined myself like Tarzan's Jane.
Then a few years later, an apricot tree provided my treehouse experience, though neither did it have an actual house in it. I simply climbed up to its top branches and, supported with my feet there, I lay back on the gentle rise of the roof of our house to gaze at the stars and think about life and where I might fit into the scheme of things.
Gazing at the stars above fascinated me; to think of seeing things millions of light years away; and mind boggling to think that we are seeing many of them long after they've ceased to be.
At age 12, some of my several ambitions included philosopher, astronomer and femme fatale.
My imaginary turrets were the rock-bordered path in the park near our house. It meandered and climbed up and around the rocky rises which bordered the Concho River. The path's border had stones set in it similar to those around the roofs of castles' turrets. In the park was also a sunken garden with a man-made waterfall feeding a lily-pad-strewn pond surrounded by paths among flower beds and a curved rock bridge which spanned the pond. I played at stories there, being the heroine of my own visuals: a princess or a hostage. As I grew further, the scent of those flowers at night in summertime became a lasting memorable part of walks home from the movies with my first love as we cut through the park en route to my house and shared kisses.
How good it is to be alive
In every way
And every day,
To touch the universe
And sense
Its deepest wisdom.
______© Nellieanna H. Hay
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As always, you have done a fanfastic job with this Hub. I'm not sure how you do the creative art work, but it is so beautiful! I voted it UP, etc.
Your creativity flowed even as a child, Nellieanna. What magic you conjured out of rocks, winding paths and waterfall! The imagination that made a chinaberry tree into a treehouse lent and lends itself to your beautiful and profound poetry.
JAYE
P.S. I note that you posted this five hours ago, so the verse about long nights without sleeping may be a clue. As a frequent insomniac, that verse spoke to me. However, I'm more likely to stay awake reading until the wee hours, then fall asleep from exhaustion. Better to use the time for creative pursuits....
The images here are only surpassed in beauty by your words.
Thanks for taking me, as always, out of this world, Nellieanna. I am completely out of words to praise you. You've heard them all - the lot I have in my vocabulary.
I halted on this one -
"Poetry lightens
The heavy load
Of a heart too full of love."
...... Because I thought not only of love, but of any emotion... sadness, anger.... etc.
Thanks again, for absorbing me into your aesthetic world.
tlpoague! We certainly have a lot in common!
I had three much older siblings and older parents, plus we spent all of every summer at the ranch where visitors were rarities. During the school part of the year, we lived in town. When I was a kid, it was in Del Rio, and then when I was 10, we moved to San Angelo. Both towns had some wonderful places and features where a kid could entertain herself endlessly. I had a few playmates, of course - and my best friend also loved making up scenarios and either acting them out or, in the case of one friend, we had our "Storybook Dolls" act them out.
But, generally I spent a LOT of time playing alone and "entertaining myself". Mother was an artist and both my parents enjoyed reading and sharing stories, but they were usually occupied with the business at hand. At the ranch, I created a "dude ranch" scenario, using the sheep troughs for swimming pools! The various activities of ranching seemed to yield themselves to possibilities.
Del Rio is graced with a perpetual spring and waters the otherwise balmy desert-like area into a veritable jungle paradise. The spring was pouring forth when I was born there many decades ago and shows no signs of stopping. I learned to swim in totally fresh spring water! The places to play were endless. One of my playmates (Tommy Jo Everett) there was such a tomboy that I was aways relegated to being the squaw when she wanted to play cowboys and Indians. I was only expected to do the cooking. That was the scenario of the chinaberry tree. I had to hde out from militia attacks while she fought them off. It was her yard. She had good imagination, too and we staged plays in her living room for her folks. I was permitted more freedom in writing those scripts. Their house had an arched through-way with a full-length curtain we could pull and have the audience seated in the next room to watch. Our big old Victorian type house down on the next block was a kid's dream, too. Never ran out of props and ideas for stories in it.
Then we moved to San Angelo - comparatively the "big city" (haha) - into another interesting house only a couple of blocks from the Concho River which wends through the town and has walking paths and parks all along it. The house provided interesting features, as well, including the apricot tree. It also provided luscious plentiful fruit! I still can't get used to the cost of fresh apricots in the produce bins. That tree was a spoiler.
Looking back, I realize I had an environment rich with ample tools for imagination to flourish! What I lacked in confidence, I made up with just doing a plethora of interesting things and did them mostly pretty well, though I didn't evaluate. I just did what was fun and satisfying. That's mostly me M.O. still.
I think we were a fortunate generation. Kids with electronic toys get so much 'pre-digested input' with fewer chances to really explore possibilities. sigh.
Thank you for the lovely comments!
Mary - thank you. The creative art is sort of my 'thing'. I consider myself a 'coordinator' and the art makes the hub ideas and the hub ideas make the art. As for "how it's done", I use Adobe Elements program on this Mac. I also have Paint Shop Pro on my old Dell, though I'm accustoming myself to using mostly the Mac.
I ignore most of the instructions and just experiment with what I discover the program can do - and then do it my way. It's great good fun. I've used these kinds of programs for many years, making the graphic elements for my personal website. Each project is a new adventure. I would be hard-pressed to NOT do them.
I'm hard-pressed to teach anyone how to do whatever I do creatively, because the first step is to forget limitations and do what YOU want to do, letting your own inclinations be your guide. Of course that yields YOUR authentic results, not mine - and that is the best advice I know! :-)
Thank you for such kind praise!
Jaye - yes, I think I was born with a flowing imagination. haha My family was mostly creative, though Dad's was more in writing and thinking creatively. My mother & sisters were both highly creative in several directions and my brother was inventively and technically creative. It just seemed the natural way to be and I guess I soaked up a little of all of theirs.
I confess that in a creative surge, sleep can get neglected. All my life, though I never have trouble sleeping and enjoy it - I've sort of resented the time it takes up! I remember in my youth bed with the barred sides, sneaking a little battery-powered lantern under the covers with a book to read. haha. When learning how to make my website, it was commonplace to spend all night, all the next day and most of the next night on whatever project was in progress. I'm too thorough, as well, so I seem to want to tie up all the loose ends and go for closure when involved.
However, at nearly 80-going-on-100, I realize that sleep is a friend. So these days I've become more dedicated to the proposition of putting my projects to bed when it's time for me go go upstairs to mine. Whenever I do I am asleep by the time my head hits the bed. Insomnia is not a problem, not since I was a freshman in college! I sleep very soundly and whatever amount I get is refreshing.
I got to bed this morning at nearly 6:00 and was up at 9:00. I could use more hours, and I do prefer to get my zzzs earlier and to be up earlier. But I can do it either way and am able to 'turn it off' when I choose. There are always tiresome tooly details to do when one lives alone. That is why I didn't get to bed immediately after posting this hub. Had to clean my face and get into my jammies.
When my beloved was becoming so dependent, I had to do my stuff mostly in the night when he was sleeping. So once the night is 'shot', I just use whatever time there is. I can cat-nap, as well, which is refreshing, though I don't prefer using active hours of the day napping.
You're right that if one can't get to sleep it is better to use the time for creative pursuits. But one does need to sleep, as well. Smart people must be smart enough to be able to turn off the flow and creative enough to create good sleep! ;-)
Thank you, dear, for your thoughty comments. Hope you get enough sleep. . .
poetvix - aw - that is a lovely comment from a very talented writer! I just checked your new profile and couldn't agree more! Now IS all anyone ever has to live for sure! And I see so many hubs on there I need to read! You are always a unique and exciting writer! Thank you for visiting my place! Hugs.
Martie! Ah - you know, I almost changed the word "love" in that poem to include more lifetime experiences and responses. But it was written as "love" so I decided to leave it so. Expanding it seemed 'too-much", plus I really liked the idea of leaving the reader to supply that extra meaning. And you did! Of course, - it fits any emotion or experience, really. Poetry always lightens any heavy load of our subjective inner life. You and I both know lots about how that works! :-)
I am very pleased to absorb you into my world, as you do me into yours. It's lovely! Thank you!
What a lovely hub. What a lovely mind. You will never cease to amaze me, my dear friend. I feel honoured enough to follow, but to call you friend is superb.
I bought 'The Grass Harp' several years ago, and didn't like it at all.
But now, me being me, and you being you, I am going to find it and play it tomorrow evening, and I know for sure that I shall love it.
Hugs,
Ian
My dear Ian. Thank you! I thought you might like this hub. I'm the honored one.
If it's any comfort, the first time I watched the movie when I got it several years ago, I sort of dismissed it. I just didn't really think about it or get into its subtleties and nuances. Now, though, I feel akin to some of the characters, especially Dolly. I love it when Verena says "You're not yourself" when Dolly is standing up and whole on the edge of the treehouse. Dolly says "Look again. I AM myself." Wow. Her gentleness wins out. Each of the characterizations rings so true. I see new things in it each time I watch it.
I hope you enjoy it afresh. Thank you for you comments. And I fully enjoyed making this hub!
As soon as I opened the hub, I looked at the towers in the trees and the child in me told me how much fun it would be to climb up into them and play.
Not look around and survey, but PLAY!
As I said, I'm going to drag Novelette in this evening and we are going to watch it.
I hope there aren't any animals in it. If so she starts shrieking, "Oh no! The poor little Slobbers (Novelettespeak for "Doggy") is going to die."
or
"Don't let the sweet little Doggy fall out of the tree"
Or some such crap.
Ian - oh, yes - to PLAY! Why not play? My somewhat secret motto is, "If it can't be fun, why do it?" I keep it mostly to myself because many straight-laced folks misinterpret it to mean "irresponsible". That is the opposite of what it means! To be truly responsible is to have ample response-ability! Then and only then can one respond realistically and optimistically to life as it really IS and happens, and enjoy doing so.
There are a couple of cats and some beloved fish in the house on Talbot Street, but reassure Novelette that there are no domestic animals in the treehouse residence, though one squirrel climbing the tree meets a tragic fate of becoming a meal when another peripheral character in the story (Riley Henderson, another orphan and the town's wild Lothario who wins the attention of the girls Collin wishes to win!) came out to the field in search of one. (That's one squirrel-meal, not a girl!)
I hope that won't disturb Novelette too greatly. It sort of bothered me. You know about my relationship with my local squirrels, the rascals! But I'd never want to hurt them and they know it. Yesterday I shooed away a flock of crows in the tree which were frightening my squirrels. Ugly birds.
Hello. I have just come back to report.
I now know why I didn't like the film when I watched it some time back. I couldn't understand a word of what was being said, apart from Colin's reporting of what had happened. So I only watched about a quarter of an hour and then gave up.
This time I stuck with it and although I understood very little (Those Southerners are a hard lot to understand) I loved the cinematography.
The authenticity was so comforting somehow. I get tired of film in which there are period rooms and furnishings and they look as if they were purchased the week before. These were a gentle mish-mash and looked lived in, yet so “right”.
The ending on the stairs was heartrending, and also the character development was well handled.
Strangely enough, the squirrel climbing to tree didn’t bother Novelette, and we coped with that.
There are parts of the film that reminded me of ‘Chocolat’, especially the lady with the fifteen children.
Thank you for pointing me in the right direction and encouraging me to watch it again.
I have just read the last couple of sentences, and I am thanking you for encouraging me to watch ‘The Grass Harp’ again… of course the hub was for all readers, but I seem to have captured you into my heart, and it seemed as if it was written fir me solely.
Hugs
Ian
Nellieanna , Somehow we must all have been connected as children , treehouses,....I had a dozen! I built everything from those to cabins in lost kingdoms.....that was my escape , and now? I still escape to solitude , to places in the woods , or near the river , you my dear lady write like .....like a dream!.......:-}
Thanks for those slices of your life Nellieanna, enhanced by your beautiful poems. Heres to a Great New Year, with many more of the same from you.
I never been there but it is really interesting ..hope will go there once day ..well nice post
Ian, dear Ian. I hadn't thought of the difficulty for you in understanding the Southern brogue. And that was not the most extreme example! Plus some Southern areas have other ethnic influences, such as the Cajun in southern Louisiana. I suppose the UK has various linguistic influences too, which make their pronunciation a little bit difficult. What astounds me at times is how well British actors 'take to' southern or other American dialects. I think of Vivien Leigh in "Gone With The Wind" and Emma Thompson in "Primary Colors". And Helen Mirren can play any one from anywhere or any time and sound authentic.
I'm relieved to know the squirrel scene wasn't a problem for Novelette and especially happy you liked the movie better this time. I know you're quite honest about how you feel about movies! I'm so flattered! Hugs!
Ah yes, horseback. . . I agree. Maybe we're still children at heart. Did you build the furnishings out of apple crates and Velveeta boxes? Everything was material for the imagination. Imagination was - and often still is - the main escape! Thank you for your kind words!
Christopher - thank you, kind sir. Ah, yes - it seems there are endless slices by now! :-) I'm glad you're not totally bored and put to sleep by them, as much as I seem to ramble on about my many lives lived during this stint upon the Earth, though as they're being lived, they seem quite familiar and "old hat". So it comes as rather a surprise if or when they seem more exotic to others! But that's one of the perks about the internet and especially here on HP, where so many of us come from such different places and have the writing bug so that we can entertain each other just sharing our "I" stories!
I have mental images of your place with the resident ghost and other fascinating details.
I do thank you and I wish you a wonderful 2012, too!
Dear Ms Todd - thank you. I'm grateful when my posts eke by with your approval, knowing what your profession is! It's a bit like living in that house right across Pecos Street from twin sister English teachers! I was a bit self-conscious about my grammar when visiting with them outside the classroom, though they were always so dear and kind. Miss Elizabeth Williams was the one who wrote "Sweeping assertion!" in red in the margin of one of my essays when I had her for ninth grade English, though I still received an "A-" on the paper. I also had Miss Margaret Williams for that subject in another grade. Their darling little Dachshund was named 'Chaucer', by the way.
But I must admit that I'm not quite sure what place in my hub it is to which you refer. Del Rio, perhaps? The Deep South in general? I did skip around this part of the country a bit here! :-) Anyway, I'm happy that you visited places with me vicariously via my hub!
Nellieanna...
Truly beautiful! Now I want to read The Grass Harp! I have been a huge fan of tree houses forever! Even though you are only fifteen feet above the ground (usually)...feels like another world!
Have a wonderful and safe holiday season my good friend!
Thomas
Dear Nellieanna, Again you have touched me and probably every other reader by your sweet reminiscence of childhood treehouses and fantasies.
Your poetry is not only beautiful but philosophically accurate. Case in point: "We’re so engrossed with Continuing tomorrow, We fail to see today ..." That short outstanding line indicates much of what may be wrong with the world of today. May your holidays be fruitful and happy as well as the New Year. Just keep writing, m'dear.
Dear Thomas - Thank you my friend. I want to read the book, as well. The movie is among the most beautiful, for sure. I would love to have a 'liveable' tree house right here in my back yard now! There's something about a place which is unconnected to the daily living quarters which has its own magical aura. At the ranch we always intended to build such a place out on the edge of one of the canyons, overlooking the canyon and layers of receding canyons, the distant blue mountains in Mexico, the less distant Ft. Davis mountains further westward toward the Big Bend and the glorious sunsets for which which that area is renowned. We didn't get the little regular living cabin completely done, however, before George was unable to be out there so far from medical help. But we often drove to the spot where we envisioned the little gazebo or whatever it would turn out to be on the edge of the canyon we named "Christmas" because of its appearance like a Christmas tree from the air, with feeder draws trickling to its descending center from an upper apex point. We'd set up lawn chairs and enjoy the view. We even spent one New Year's Eve welcoming in the next year with champagne at midnight up ther once. Good memories. Not enough tall trees (except a couple of mesquite in the compound where they get some water occasionally) for a treehouse there, but that view from atop that canyon is definitely like another world, one of many such magnificent spots on the place.
My holiday is especially nice - calm and close to the heart and meaning of it. Hope yours is, too!
DRBJ - hello, dear friend.
Thank you for such a lovely comment. I appreciate the reassurance that my ramblings aren't just tiresome!
Much of my poetry was written as awareness arose of what I really think and how I perceive life and all it involves. I wrote it in a kind of shorthand for myself to be reminded. Therein is the brevity and it surprises me most of all when it truly seems to encapsulate the meaning and message I was thinking.
I did observe and do think that far too many Earth dwellers do just that - or allow it to just happen, almost unaware. It's sometimes difficult to notice, and if noticed, to change. This holiday season has almost insisted that I just focus on & embrace today fully and let the rest of it happen and/or take care of itself. It's almost like a mental treehouse and so much more worry-and-guilt-free than times when I've been struggling right up to Christmas Day to get everything DONE. I am pretty sure that by the 26th, it won't have made any major difference in how the day came off but will matter that the unscheduled people and things I've been attending to and fully involved with instead will have been better benefitted - and I sure-as-heck will be! hehe
Merry Christmas and best wishes for a happy and healthy and prosperous New Year, Nellieanna. Each poem provokes many thoughts and evokes many feelings. Janis Ian has been one of my most favorite artists since she sang Society's Child when I was a teenager. This is another splendid Hub. Thanks.
Gerry, how delightful to see you! I'm looking forward to the New Year- and it's been a satisfying Christmas. Hope yours was, too. I'm totally blown away by Janis Ian, though I just 'met' her because she was on u-tube singing a song I like. Now I'm devoted to a whole list of her songs!
Thank you for your lovely comnment, my friend!
Another great gorgeous gracious contribution Nellieanna. Thank you so much. Made my day! Regards, snakeslane
Snakeslane - thank you! It's something of a special moment and your response adds to it.
Hi Nellieanna, been thinking of my tree-climbing days ever since reading this...there were three weeping willow trees in our yard, and we must have grown together, although the memory is fixed. Each tree had its own 'climb'. Actually getting up into the tree was the challenge. I think I used a porch chair to get a boost up. And I was happy not to climb very high. But the memory is so imprinted. Later in life I kept climbing trees, have photographs and a drawing I did titled 'me in a tree'. These experiences are so universal. You've really tapped in to something here! Thanks again. snakeslane
Snakeslane! Thank you for sharing that. I could really feel you experience there. I happen to have a willow tree in my childhood, too. Mine was not very tall, but it was sturdy. It was the ONLY willow tree in hundreds of miles. It was at the main ranch where I spent so much of my childhood (my brother's widow owns tht ranch now). My mother planted it in the yard of the original rock house my parents built. The house was on the top of a hill, to add to the unlikely habitat. Some trees do manage to grow in the bottoms of canyons. But the hill tops are mostly covered with rocks and low brush. So you can imagine how valuable that one willow tree was!
This is part of those memories:
http://nellieanna.com/atk3blkhouse.jpg
(The original ranch house before the tree was planted, even before I was born.)
http://nellieanna.com/nell-rnchshwr.jpg
( Nellieanna showering at ranch - age 14. No indoor plumbing, my brother built the outdoor shower.
We had no electricity out there till I was about 10, when I sat up in that willow tree watching the horizon for the rural electric crew to come across, stringing the line from ranch to ranch, bringing some of the 20th century to the wilderness out there, it was a huge event. wow.
Aww, sweet pic of outdoor shower Nellieanna. And the rock house too. You have an amazing history. I appreciate the links, thank you! It is pretty miraculous your willow tree would grow at the top of the hill, I agree.
Thank you. Yes, that's what I thought, that a picture would explain it best! It's not as bleak all over but that hill is one of the higher altitudes. And the road ends there. A huge canyon just beyond it is impassible with ranch roads and it's not on any major route. So when the famiily stayed there all summer every summer, we didn't get a lot of company either! Good place to learn to entertain oneself and I did! What is amazing to remember was that I ran around barefooted on those rocks. Now I can't bear so much as a wrinkle in my socks! haha
Ditto on the wrinkle in the socks lol. It seems that socks have become one's most important layer of clothing. When a sock gets lost in the dryer my whole day can fall apart rather quickly...Even when you have that extra pair, there's always one hiding somewhere...
Oh, yes! haha. I've become a socks wearer, except with sandals in the summertime. I don't fully understand their psychology, though - why one of a pair insists on wandering off somewhere. Or when matching them up, the last two don't quite match. I got several pairs of heavier weight tie-dyed cotton ones just for fun. At least they stand out from all the white ones and there's no way to exactly match tie-dyed stuff! They have the same general colors and areas, but the splatters are random.
Socks might make another good universal-interest hub! haha.
I did one on shoes...socks? why not...
An absolutely awesome story and such beautiful picture which inspires any imagination. Your poems just adding to this splendid hub. Thank you, Nellieanna.
Aha! I must read the one on shoes! - And, sure - why not socks? Socks are funnier, anyway, as well as cuddlier & more intimate. hehe
Hello, hello - thank you! I'm pleased that you enjoyed it. I think there's something about treehouses and castles which just naturally inspires the imagination! So enjoy! Hugs. -
Nellieanna, I love this hub, and your beautiful and interesting comments. I hope I'll be able to find "The Grass Harp". I've never seen it and I love Walter Matthau. I've been to his ranch in Idaho, it's really something to behold.
Nallie, You grew up in the same era as I did. Both you and I had three sibling, played with the same Storybrook dolls, and climbed our Apricot trees, and willow tree. I didn't play cowboys and Indians, I lived in Oakland,CA so I played Cops and Robbers but I did hide in the Willow tree. My only boy cousin,Dicky and I were always the robbers and my sisters and girl cousins were the cops ( Dicky died when he was twelve, I was nine). We had a play store, using empty food cans and cereal boxes. Dicky and I would Rob the store and hide in the Willow tree. Always ended with a big shoot out, or Dicky and I going to Jail.
We did the acting too, I always wanted to be the beautiful movie star, I think it was Lorane Day or Gail Russell, my sister got that part. My cousin always wanted to be Allen Ladd and I had to be Guy Madison. Like you did,we would put on a plays for the adults. But think ours was all made up as we went along. I didn't know how to read.
My dad was a barber, he could read I think and he was a good speller, but he didn't see the point for girls getting an education. He use to joke that all he would have to pay for were weddings. My mom was a great lady, and had lots of common sense but couldn't spell worth a darn. Except for the Bible, a well looked at Copy of The Wizard of Od and one Big World Book I don't remember any other books in our house. Any money in our house was controlled by my dad. He would give my mom $2 a day to buy food.
By Jr.High I could resite a Hella good book report, yet never having read the book. My friends would tell me about the books. What I lacked in reading I had enough confidence to bluff my way through the rest of my schooling. I don't remember ever taking English classes. I'm loving your hubs and the graceful way you write. I sure envy you girl. I will no longer be kada. I look forward to hearing from you on my gmail account.
KDee411
Oh, KDee - I hope you can find the movie. It is truly charming. Walter Matthew is his best in it. I think his son is the director.
What an amazing lot of things we have in common! Funny how much our lives overlap. Even alone, with no audience, I was always being Dorothy Lamour, Betty Grable or one of the glamour movie stars, just playing alone or with others.
Back around the early 1900s, when it was unusual for girls to get educations, my Dad actually encouraged my Mother to study and get hers. But then, later when they were married, he didn't want her to earn any money from it! So the ways of the day had their effect. My parents were trying to buy the ranch during the Depression, so money was very tight. My 3 older siblings were in the midst of all that. I was born during it.
Funny that you did book reports without reading the books! That's clever! I was painfully shy, not so confident then.
Now this is a very relaxing read - like a lazy meandering through beautiful prose, poetry and imagery. :D
I love your hubs so much Nellie. I sure don't want to loose you when I cnange names I'm going to start some hubs with my new name KDee411 might only have Dolly's picture, my dog,not your sister. I have been writing when I can. Learning the computer is another matter. My kids bought me an iPad, and I go to the Apple store every week and learn more. I love it. That's the Worlds best deal for school. $100 for a whole year, one to one lessons. I'm also on email,same name as my new one at Gmail. I know I'll not be able to put pictures and glamor like you do, but I'vegot lots to say.
Nellieanna -
I too am a tree-house and turret fan, and I enjoyed this read so much!
One of the most memorable trips I ever made was to Sherwood Forest with some friends when I lived across the pond. I got to take a few archery lessons there, near what is marked as "Robin Hood's Tree". It was MASSIVE, and truly an impressive sight. I nearly flayed the skin off my forearm by the time I was done with the long-bow lessons but it was WORTH it! (Plus, the instructor was pretty cute too, lol!)
When I was very little, my family lived in Newport, Kentucky, on a bricked street with rows of huge and old brownstone houses on both sides. Most of them had several balconies, shaded by tree branches, and most had turrets. My family lived on the top floor of ours, and our flat had a beautiful turret addition. From the inside it made the corner of the living room, with a big fireplace, and my mother set up a small table in the round area by the turret window for my dad to play chess with his friends. I was allowed to sit on his lap and watch if I was quiet. I'd last about five minutes before the wiggles got the best of me and I'd be dismissed from the game, lol.
I was born not far up the road from Newport, in Fort Thomas, and every time I'm in the area I drive down Overton Street in Newport to look at the houses. They're still beautiful. At the end of the street, at the cross section, is a large multi-storied funeral home. It served (back in the day) as a last stop safe house in the underground railroad network and housed the escapees until they could get them safely at night to Cincinnati, just across the Ohio River.
It's a beautiful little city, with a great deal of history, and there are turrets on homes in all of the towns along the Ohio in that area.
I love tree houses, and to blend the two sounds like a marvelous idea, as long as they bling it out with electrical outlets, a working bathroom and heat, lol!
I loved the photos you included as well, especially those of the park along the Concho! They're beautiful and added so much to the article!
femme
Sorry for interfering, but what a lovely and interesting comment, Femme.
Chris - now this is a pleasant surprise! It's been ages since I saw you! I'm very pleased. I like that it feels relaxing and lazy here. It's always nice to find that effect! Thank you so much!
Kada - - No reason to lose each other. If I happen to drop the ball, I'll know it's you when you nudge me!
At the present, my computers are in an uproar - so I'm a little off my feed, but I will remember that KDee411 is YOU! You can always contact me by Hubpages email and then I'll have your email address and when I reply, you'll have mine.
I got a MacBookPro a little over a year ago and love it, but it's now needing some help. Right now, I'm on an old Dell laptop and I just got a new hard drive replacement in my Dell desktop, barely 2 days before its extended warantee expired. Of course - just having that done requires a lot of adjustments and my backup for it failed, so it's almost like a new machine. But I need it for various reasons so I'll just plough ahead.
I can start getting my Mac looked into next week. I really miss it! I just hope this old Dell laptop holds up! Nothing is exactly similar on Windows and Mac machines.
Thank you for the lovely comment!
Femme - I'm enchanted by your comments. A fellow hubber lives next to Sherwood Forest & has invited me to visit. - I would love to do that one of these days, - if I get my passport renewed.
Your report makes it sound all the more inviting. I once learned how to arch, but it's been too long! Your experience sounds fun, if a little painful! I think my long bow is at the ranch, where it's always much too windy for archery!
So - you were born in the Newport area. I've never been there, but I've been to Cincinnati a couple of times. Fact is, my Mother was born across the river from Cincy on the Indiana side - in Aurora, but very very long ago. If she were alive, she would be 120!
I've lived just south of Lexington in Nicholasville and also in Louisville. A friend whom I knew in Louisville wrote a poem to me mentioning turrets. That is the reference in the one poem above.
I spent a big block of my 18-year first marriage across from Louisville on the Indiana side. But I'm a native Texan and have lived here the major part of my life, before and after that stint. But my children are still up there.
I'm regretting not getting to Newport! I love those style houses. We have some turreted houses in Texas, but not as many, though early building was often influenced by that era. Of course, there is much Spanish influence, as well.
I'd like the modern conveniences in my tree house, as well. hehe.
Thank you for the lovely comments.
Ian - yes - you got that right; Femme's comments are certainly both lovely and interesting. And you're not interfering! NEVER! Thank you for the addition.
Nellieanna,
I'm all excited that we've shared nearly the same stomping grounds. My mother was a Hoosier as well, and I spent "most" of my growing-up years in Indiana in the area her mother was from. I loved it!
When my mother was 8 months pregnant, my father was deployed. She was living at Camp LeJeune in North Carolina and had an appendectomy. Because it became a high-risk pregnancy, she left LeJeune and went to Kentucky where her part of her immediate family, and his lived so as not to be alone for the remainder of the pregnancy and birth.
I thank God she did, or I might have been a Tarheel!! (No offense to Alastar!) And, though I love my Hoosier kith and kin, I'm forever happy that my siblings and I were birthed in Kentucky.
I have a solution for your archery adventure in Sherwood. Borrow a crossbow! They don't hurt at all, lol!
And, would you believe while I was in Sherwood, I heard a group of folks speaking with a familiar accent (which by then sounded SOOOOOO GOOD to my ears)? Of course, being the shy introvert that I am, I went over and introduced myself and asked where they were from.
The answer was Dallas, Texas, lol, where I'd arrived in England from myself.
Twilight Lawns: I don't think you'll have to worry about interfering. Nellieanna is unfailingly gracious and accomodating. Thank you for your comment. :)
Nellieanna,
One of the big things I miss about living in Texas is Greek Chili.
If they ever open a Skyline here, I might die of happiness at the dinner table.
femme
Femme -what amazing similarities! The story of your birth is amazing. Thank goodness you weren't born prematurely during the appendectomy! And Kentucky is a good birth state.
Amazing that you ran into Dallasites at Sherwood Forest!
I confess my ignorance. I love chili and Greek cuisine, but I've never eaten Greek chili! I guess I have an experience awaiting! WOW. I've eaten some strange chilis though. Arizona chili is excellent (lived there one year during that 18-year marriage when he was getting his masters degree), Southern Indiana chili is not chili, in my expert opinion. hehe. But Cincinnati '5-way' chili is really delicious. Sometimes I make my own chili as a kind of Tex-Mex - Cincinnati- Arizona hybrid. So long as it's not bland! Once I made my own Tex-Mex chili in that 18 year marriage and it was among 3 major mistakes I made leading to the rather violent end of the marriage. The other two were wearing sandals and failing to tell every thought that crossed my mind. I'm afraid I have no lost love for Indiana, though it's where my daughter and all her progeny live. My son has remained estranged for the past 40 years, but he & his progeny live in Ohio now.
My Dad was born and grew up in Northern Indiana. He met Mother when her family had moved to Illinois. She was in 8th grade and he was a 10th grader at a religious school in Elkhart, Indiana. Then, good students in the upper grades were allowed to teach in rural schools. (this was early in the 1900s) -- and she was one of his students, as well as her two younger sisters! He taught 2 years, she caught up with him and they went on to school together! He encouraged her to pursue her education, which she did all through college and beyond. That was before women had the vote!
They married after each had graduated from college and they set off to make their fortune selling home medical books door-to- door in the Pacific Northwest. My eldest sister was born in Seattle! Then - after a stint in the Army in WWI - Dad heard of an oil boom in Texas - so they moved to North Texas where he worked in the oil fields. My two next siblings were born there, in Electra, Texas. After a hunting trip to Mexico, he came back with a water-well drilling rig and contracts to drill water wells in Southwest Texas, so Mother and the three small kids (I wasn't even dreamt of yet) set out across the wilderness with that drilling rig, and Mother kept the campfire burning, where she cooked all the meals. This was in the rocky, cactusy, canyony, rugged part of the state.
They lived in tents and slept on bedrolls and at the old drilling rig made most of the first rough rocky roads out there where they ended up with a couple of sheep and goat ranches. One of them is mine now. I was born in Del Rio, Texas and have lived the majority of my life in Texas. I graduated from college here in Dallas, but have 3 alma-maters in Texas. hehe. After my Indiana life and the year in Louisville, I came home and settled in Dallas.
Nellieanna,
So BOTH your parents were Hoosiers! (Big smile!)
I haven't been to Del Rio. However, if they have mountain bike trails there, I'd be willing to go as soon as I can get loaded for the trip, lol.
I HAVE been to Electra. I did a funeral, or two, there. Im more familiar with the cemetery than I am the town, but I haven't spent much time in either. Once the services are concluded and the soils in place, I scoot.
When I was younger, I did a great deal of camping, but I've never camped in Texas. And, I must say, I'm way impressed with those who will. The scorpions, tarantulas and rattle snakes here are not animals I'm accustomed to dealing with and honestly, they scare the pazizzle out of me. So, the closest I've come to camping here is in a hotel room, lol.
Even on cycle trips, I'm wary, unless it's in cold weather, then I feel much more at ease rolling around in the woods.
I've managed to get some shots you might like to see though, while I've been out biking or skating with my pack-mates. They're mostly along the Trinity River, which spans both our current areas.
I'll email you the link.
I only have one alma mater in Texas, but I hope to have at least two before I'm all done here, lol.
femme
Yep. Both Hoosiers. They never lived it down in Southwest Texas - they came to Texas in 1919, but to those folks, they were always Damnyankees, even after being here till their deaths in the 1970s.
My own children were born in an Air Force Hospital in Waco, Texas but my ex decided we had to go back up there (his home) when he got out, and his family taught my son to say "I'm a little "Hooshoe" when he was 2. And so he became, along with his baby sister. So strong is regionalism.
My beloved late husband and I loved to camp in East Texas. Our favorite place was Lake 'O The Pines just north of Longview on I-20. We tented till our cats panicked one night during a thunderstorm and we ended up getting an RV, which was much more comfortable! But I kind of missed the tenting. I did a lot of sketching out there when we were into that. But the ranch gained all our attention soon after and for the next 16 or so years was where we spent at least half our time. We built our own cabin out there, in fact, and kept the RV in Del Rio for our trips there to buy groceries and other supplies - the nearest place for it - 100 miles from the ranch.
It's not really much cycling country. It is semi-desert and quite rugged terrain. As you're aware, there are many unfriendly creatures in Texas - especially the western part. But it's the southwest where my roots are. You're wise to be cautious.
I've only been to Electra once, with Mother when she went to visit a dear friend from the Electra days. They'd been gone from there for ten or so years before I was born. My parents were born in 1890 and 1892, by the way. Mother was 40 when I came along. So I suppose the egg from which I was hatched would be about 120 now! hehe. Makes my goal of living at least to 100 seem quite doable.
My other colleges were Abilene Christian before SMU and Univ. of Texas in Austin, where I did a graduate semester and earned my Texas Teacher's Certification in 1954.
Your photos of the Trinity River here in the Dallas area really show up beauties along it few people here have ever seen, just crossing it en route to somewhere on the roads.
Nellieanna,
I'm laughing about the "little Hooshoe", lol!! I've not heard that one before, but it's right cute!
I've been near Lake O' The Pines frequently, but not to the physical lake. I travelled I-20 a great deal while I worked in transplant to work cases in Longview and Tyler. I love that area because of all the hills and trees. It's a wonderful escape from the concrete jungle here in DFW. Since then I've become good friends with a fellow in Tyler. He lives there, but teaches school in Palestine; Texas History to 7th graders. He bought a bike a year ago, and soon, we plan to ride the state park at Tyler. From the intel I've gathered, they have 20 miles of off road trails there and the scenery is said to be impressive. So, I'm looking forward to my pack and I making the trip.
I've spent time in western Texas while working in transplant as well, but only in the Abilene area. Unfortunately, most of my trips there were made when it was dark, so I didn't get to see much. Or, I was flying, and ... I never see a thing when I fly. I'm always too busy keeping my eyes shut tight and offering high-velocity prayers. I hate flying.
But, south-west Texas, that place won my heart!! I loveeee the Rio Valley!!
It's like home ... with palm trees, lol!!
My father loved the area, and my mother told me before she died, that if I ever went there, I'd be hard pressed to come back to DFW. She was right. I didn't want to leave once I got there.
My schedule is not as packed as it was when I worked in medical field here, so I'm finally getting to explore Texas quite a bit more. For the life of me, I couldn't understand why the Kentuckians and the Tennessee folks raved about the place when they relocated here, way back when. But, on my recent trip to Goliad, I understood their reaction a bit better. It isn't like home, but it does have some impressive resemblances. The terraine there is nothing like DFW, and I liked it a great deal.
DFW has some beautiful spots as well, it just tends to get lost in the highway network and buildings.
femme
We used to tour around East Texas all the time. George wanted to buy a little bit of it and finally bought some land out of Emory, near Lake Fork. But for years we were either hopping around looking at tracts or camping at various lakes. We loved Toledo Bend near Lufkin and close to Louisiana. We even went to Caddo Lake once. And there are so many lakes within a radius of DFW, all of them we've visited and enjoyed. He loved to fish and I would paint or write in the boat while he fished, though I also liked to cast occasionally. Just not all that excited about the monotony of actually fishing for fish. He always released his catch, though.
Yes, Tyler is a pretty area. I had a friend who retired there after her husband died. But they were older and I'm not sure whether she's still living. Knew them back in the middle and late 1970s. My middle sister (12 years older than I - and the only living, but very failing, member of my natal family for many years now) lived in Palestine in the 1950s. In fact she encouraged my romance with my first husband (Mr. Indiana) and invited me to spent the summer before our wedding with her, because it was nearer Waco, where he was stationed in the A.F. I almost suspect she was working toward getting me out of the state, which is how it worked out! haha. In any case, would have been a better decision for me to have accepted the teaching job offer from Mason, Texas High School instead. haha. He always claimed he saved me from Mason, but it's a lovely ranching town and I like it.
The Rio Grande Valley is South Texas. Southwest Texas is along the Rio Grande further west, from Del Rio on in that general direction toward El Paso. I say the ranch is 'West of the Pecos and just shy of the Bend' - The Big Bend, that is. The furtherest south along the Rio Grand I've gone is to Quemoda, not too far from Del Rio. I've lived in Houston briefly (right after I graduated from SMU) and have gone on a quick trip to Padre Island. I'm not wild about large bodies of water, especially on east coasts, though. haha. I'm a landlubber. I like trees but prefer them with space between. Del Rio has palm trees, though, along with lovely pecan trees and some other types. One sees an occasional banana tree or citrus tree. It's a semi-tropical zone, though at times it can be quite chilly. But it's an oasis in the semi-desert, rugged terrain around it. The perpetual spring which pours forth huge quantities of water account for its verdure. Also there is now a huge, small sea-sized lake nearby, Amistad. It is partly in Texas and partly in Mexico. Of course, Del Rio itself is just a mile from the bridge to Cuidad Acuña, Mexico.
Goliad is not far from the Gulf and Victoria, where my childhood playmate lived until she died a few years ago. As I mentioned, I'm not fond of large bodies of water on eastern coast.
She and I were best friends in Del Rio, till my folks moved to San Angelo when I was 10 and hers moved to San Antonio when she was 12. (all my peers were 2 years older because I started to first grade at 4/1/2) We visited each other every summer for several years and even started to the academy at Abilene Christian together for our senior years in High School. And we kept up with each other all those years.
By the way, Abilene is not much like MY southwest Texas. It's flat and rather boring terrain. The city's OK & only 100 miles from San Angelo. An ideal solution: to sent me off to boarding school when my parents had to be away from home so much attending to the ranch way off and a nearby farm, which was why they moved to Angelo, - to raise feed for the livestock during a bad drought. They decided it was better for me to be off at school than bunking with friends and neighbors during their absences. And it was a VERY strict school! :-)
Little Hooshoe was my 2 year-old son's interpretation! Totally original so you probably wouldn't have heard it! He also called root beer 'boo-too". haha. One can see the pattern. Who would have suspected he'd have an IQ of 151! haha.
Nellieanna,
Now I understand why I didn't recognize "Hoo-Shoo", lol.
I'll have to make some inquiries with my Texas friends who are of a mind to go tripping with me and see if I can manage a visit to the Del Rio area. Now you've peaked my interest in the place and I'm curious!
I haven't been to San Antonio yet either, and there's a doctor who works in one of the ERs there that I would love to interview, so it's on the list.
I recently discovered that San Antonio is the largest city in the US for retired military people. That of course put it immediately on the list of places I want to browse through. I have a strong affinity for military families.
And, though I've not seen any cycle areas listed for Del Rio area, I haven't checked yet. If they have even one, I'll have my Schwinn locked and loaded when I make the trip, lol.
femme
You owe it to yourself to visit San Antonio. It's listed as one of the several 'most picturesque' cities in the US, along with New Orleans and San Francisco. The Riverwalk is a joy, the Alamo and all the old missions, the general flavor of the place - must see.
Of course the Hill Country just west of there is a wondrous area. Bandera is a fascinating place. For cycling, I'd think the Hill Counry would be ideal. There are some lovely State Parks too.
Hello Nellie, I was afraid that I had lost one of my favorite persons. You know I love your Willow and Apricot trees. I was kada94566. Same person new name. I finally put a hub in, but not many came to see. They will, I hope. Love your new picture.
Later Kay
Kay, didn't I tell you we wouldn't lose each other? :-)
As soon as I received the email telling me your were following me and I went to your new site with your new name with which you had earlier mentioned you intended to come back, I recognized it was you!
I love your first hub! It has received some good comments and from some highly respected Hubbers! It's a most impressive work, and your profile says so much about the wonderful person you are and circumstances you've lived through to emerge stronger and better acquainted with yourself! Hugs.
(somehow this reply posted twice - that's why one has been removed)
Nelly, voted up and all across. You have all my votes. What a fantastic collaberation of your work. This is a very detailed article with great poetry. You are very creative and this article shows your talent for sure. I can appreciate all the hard work you have put in to it. I am glad to read your work and now follow you and your work. I look forward to meeting you and talking to you. Once again, amazing job. Take care and best wishes.
thelyricwriter - what a lovely comment. Thank you. This is a typical hub the way I typically do them. Form and total presentation matter to me and what I enjoy doing. So it doesn't feel like work in the least. But you are perceptive to notice.
I appreciate your follow and look forward to meeting you, too. Thank you!
Please forgive me my scribe for abandoning you and others. I have had some personal matters to attend to and thus my absence. I am drawn by the magic of your quill. You never cease to open my eyes to the beauty you bestow upon the blank page in front of you. Turning it into a palette of masterful verse colored with your eloquence, mastery of the English language and the thriving talent you were so blessed with.
I can see you Nellieanna Hay amongst the trees, brooks, pathways, hidden places, climbing and running about portraying so many characters who fill your wild imagination. With all you have achieved in your lifetime,we now are blessed to be recipients of your poetry. Like Merlin you are magical and spontaneous with your gifts. You take us all into another world as we breath you in my friend. Your fantasy is mine, your verse very special to my eyes, I also hear your music as each word is savored on my tongue as I withdraw to my chamber for deep rest, smiling that I have read another of your hubs. Hugs from me to you. I will be by to catch up.
My dear Ken/Vincent ~ How I relish your visits, however often. I've been a bit neglectful on here myself, but have been catching up a bit. It encourages me to hear your approval and beautiful words saying you do. Sharing some gentle imagination and memory is refreshing.
As it's always done, just writing or re-writing my poetry is like a visit with my soul and even therapy for me. When it gives something to others, I am truly gratified.
I so look forward to seeing more of your poetry published here. We need to treasure our camaraderie here.
Hugs.
I am not sure it is fair that you write while riding on the back of a butterfly flying through a scented garden accompanied by singing birds and chirping crickets.
Mike - Just as fair as for your tongue to roll off such lovely comments like silk! If you weren't familiar with butter-flying your own self, you'd never even notice, anyway! Hugs and thank you, dear man.
Capote was a favorite of mine. This hub is too lovely for words, especially if one allows the music to play as one reads your poetry.
Hello, Lilleyth - so we share a favorite! I'm pleased that you enjoyed the hub and I have to admit that the music just delights me too.
Yes, we do! I was somewhat dismayed when I read that Capote was infatuated with one of the killers, the musical one, during the time he was writing In Cold Blood, I can't remember which now. The music on your hub is haunting. Love it!
I never heard about that. Well, with his particular genius, he surely didn't view things in a usual way, but that is distressing, anyway. Yes - the music is haunting. . . . I'm enjoying listening to it again. If you haven't seen "The Grass Harp", you owe it to yourself, too.
Hi Nellieanna, I was worrying about you with all the big storms (tornados) down your way. Looks like you are out of harms way, I'm happy to see!
Snakeslane - Thank you for thinking about me. This was an incredible day. From about 1PM and all throughout the afternoon our local TV was broadcasting first radar and skycap pictures and reports of the multiple tornados rising and moving in several areas and neighboring counties of these awful tornados. One nearby one picked up a bunch of 18-wheel tractor-trailers and tossed them around high up in the air like toys. Fortunately they were lifted off a parking lot for them so that they weren't occupied at the time. Meantime another tornado - well, several others - were doing massive damage in other areas. One trail went right up along WhiteRock Lake which is VERY close to my house, but it didn't touch down there, thankfully. The whole thing was totally amazing - and especially in that no lives were lost and there were very few injuries, though the damage was just devastating.
Omg! Nellieanna! That is so close! Thank you for getting back to me. You live very close to another Hub Pages writer I've been following Peg Cole. The tornado touched down all around her area too, but she and her family were safe. I am so happy to hear you are doing alright. What a frightening day for you. Take care Nellieanna!
My spellcheck decided I meant "skycap", rather than "skycam" which I did mean. (Doggone - it changed it again! Hope it will let it stay this time.)
The live videos of the actual progress were truly amazing. Yes it was quite a day. I've been where tornados were nearby before but not since my children were babies and we were in our little Air Force house on the base in Waco during a major tornado have I been quite so close and felt so vulnerable to one. I can still feel how I felt clutching my two babies and huddled in the safest spot I could find have I felt it so first-hand. I can only imagine how all those folks whose houses were wrecked Tue. afternoon have to be feeling- a combination of shock, sorrow and joy to have been spared. Some of the stories of how it was at the time were really amazing.
Thank you. Glad Peg Cole and her family are safe. I didn't realize she was that close, though these storms cut a swath through several counties around me, so it may not be so very very close.
Hi Nellieanna, not sure exactly how close Peg is, but from where I am sitting she is very close. She was telling us earlier about her day in the Emerald Wells Cafe Speakeasy March Hub. The tornado season is sure dramatic and horrible and destructive around those parts wow!
Hi Nellieanna. Glad that the tornadoes missed you and you are well. Hugs,Gerry.
Ah - well, as I say - the tornado system yesterday covered quite a large swath of north Texas. We're in "tornado alley", that's for sure. Nature gets high-handed at times. Weather is such a complicated affair and the whole globe is connected in many ways.
Gerry - Hello. Thank you. It's an amazingly wonderful relief to have been missed! Makes up for not winning the lottery. - - Oh, yeah, well, I didn't sign up for either one! haha. Hugs.
tlpoague Level 7 Commenter 5 months ago
Beautiful poems! When I was a child, I loved imagining I was in a magical world filled with faries that fluttered from tree houses and hidden turrets. Every forest and small creek I walked through had me thinking up different adventures. As an adult, I am still drawn to them. I even once told my husband that I would have loved to build a tree house deep in a wooded lot for a place to sit and write. Thank you for the great memories as a child.