August 27, 2020 - I need to make this perfectly clear at the outset, I did not play with dolls or doll houses when I was a young boy. However, when I was in the sixth grade at San Augustine, Texas Junior High, our homeroom teacher decided that we needed a class project to work on during the semester. Mrs. Dan Lowe decided that our class should build a doll house, or a model home. So, she drew up some plans, much like an architect would do.
August 20, 2020 - If you are like me you have heard this phrase most of your life, but probably not thought much about it. On the surface it appears to have a finality about it as it can be translated “that’s all there is,” “it’s finished,” “it’s over,” or “there’s no more.”
August 18, 2020 - Every neighborhood needs a nurse, a woman who is always there to doctor the kids’ skinned knees, insect bites, minor cuts, and abrasions that are a part of life in the ‘hood’. When our family lived in Houston, Texas in the early 1970s, a Mrs. Whatley performed this activity in the Westbury neighborhood in which we lived. Through this “asphalt jungle” snaked a drainage ditch which attracted kids of all ages. My pre-teen son, Doug, loved to play with his buddies in this drainage ditch.
August 7, 2020 - “Cecil, I think someone is in our house!” my mother exclaimed as dad drove our 1941 Chevrolet into the driveway to our house. It was dusk on a summer day in 1946. I was ten years old at the time, and we were returning from an exhausting road trip to Los Angeles, California. My brother, Richard, who was stationed at the naval base in San Diego, had been quite ill, and we had made a hasty trip to check on him. Now we were back in San Augustine, Texas, our home, but things did not look quite right.
July 23, 2020 - I suppose than anyone can get addicted to anything. People get addicted to alcohol, drugs, shopping, and all kinds of other things. My addiction happens to be to popcorn.
It started at an early age. My parents used to popcorn in a deep skillet with a lid. They usually put a bit of butter in with the oil and shake the skillet until the corn was all popped, except for a few “old maids.” I got addicted to that wonderfully tasting corn which has lasted a lifetime.
July 21, 2020 - Clara Murphy could not have the traditional recitals this spring due to the pandemic. Four private piano recitals were held in the studio in Murphy’s home in the Butts Addition. Masks and social distancing were utilized.
On June 29, 2020 Charlisa Teagle played her pieces for friends and family. Prelude in C by Bach and Canon in D by Pachebel were played on the piano. Tarantella was played on Murphy’s large church organ in her studio.
July 16, 2020 - Well, I finally gave in to the urging of all our public officials – I am now wearing a mask out in public. I resisted for a time as my mind flew back to the 1940s when, as a kid, I watched movies at the Augus Theatre of cowboys who sometimes wore masks. It seemed that every cowboy had a large silk rag around his neck. The ones who robbed banks and stage coaches pulled their rag up over their noses while committing their dastardly deeds.
July 10 2020 - Before my father, Cecil, entered county politics in 1938, he was a painting and paperhanging contractor. He worked with his father, Felix, and his younger brother, Marvin. The trio had worked in most of the early homes in San Augustine, either painting or hanging wallpaper. Dad recalled several times to me an incident that occurred around 1929 and was amused by it.
July 2, 2020 - “Boy, *Willie is in a heap of trouble with the boss,” Gary told me when I walked into the funeral home office. “I sure hope he doesn’t get fired.”
June 25, 2020 - Around 1965 a new store opened in the Meyerland area of Houston, Texas near where we lived. It was a new kind of store, a forerunner of K-Mart or Wal-Mart. It was a “Sage” store, massive in its size, and contained most anything any shopper would need. The only thing different was that you had to “join” the club in order to shop there. I recall the price was somewhere around $15.00 per year for the privilege to shop, and you had to show your ID card in order to enter.
