Terrapin Station

Botswana Day!

Did you know that today is Botswana Day? 

This, according to my Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Wisconsin-Madison calendar.  It's an amazing, colorful, beautiful item that I treasure each year.  "Created, produced, and marketed by volunteers, all proceeds from calendar sales are donated to educational and development projects at home and abroad. " Don't you want one yourself?  Some to give as gifts?  Go to their website and order now for 2010! 

Anyway...Botswana Day. 

Here is a link to information about the history of Botswana and its independence from the UK in 1966.  Here's a link to the Botswana national anthem.  Hum along! 

Why (you may ask) am I all excited about Botswana?

Well, any of you who have read and loved the wonderful No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency books by Alexander McCall Smith (his website is a delight!) are not the ones asking!  These lovely books are a peaceful and gentle look at a proud country where the citizens' concerns are the same as those of us all...love, relationships, fear, jealousy.  Mma Precious Ramotswe runs the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, using cleverness, common sense, and (largely!) her listening skills to solve mysteries that come her way. 

If you have not read them, you are in for a treat.  I have recently gone on a feast of re-reading this series and have a great desire to travel to Botswana!  Here is information from the Botswana Tourism Board.  Their website home page says: 

Welcome to the very best part of Africa. Botswana, a country better known for peace and tranquillity, diamonds and beef, holds a lot of suprises for you.  Come and explore the diverse cultures of its people and nature at its best. If there’s a place where one wishes time could stand still, it is the beautiful country you will be viewing on this Web site.

Recently, an exchange consortium to which we belong has opened a site in Botswana!  So now my students have the opportunity to do an exchange semester or year at the University of Botswana!  Oh, those lucky students!   

Do a little bit of reading about Botswana, and dream with me about a visit to Mma Ramotswe and her compatriots.  And for heaven's sake...if you haven't read these books...get to your local library! 

My Mama Writes

If you haven't already done so, please go read my mama's great blog post about the book The Pain and the Promise .  I found this book at Half-Price Books one day, browsing through the Civil Rights section looking for Ralph Ellison's The Invisible Man. 

I SNATCHED it up, because while I never lived in Tallahassee, it and the surrounding area are a big part of me.  My mother grew up there, and we went there every summer.  In addition, my mom's stories of growing up in that idyllic small-town, deep-South milieu were always fascinating to me.  I can't tell you how much time I spent poring over her yearbooks and wishing that I were there, then.  Of course, the truth (I am certain!)  is that those beautiful girls with the pageboys, those handsome young men in their letter sweaters, having the dates in the malt shop, were every bit as insecure and teenagedly miserable as I was 40 years later! 

I read the book, identified many of the names and families, was horrified, and eagerly took it to mom to read, fascinated to know how much if it she would recall.  And the answer was:  almost none.  She had been quite completely protected from it, as the white men running the city intended.  She had an entirely different experience of Tallahassee in the 50's and 60's than described in the book.

Enough from me.  Go read what she has to say.  It's eye opening. 

My Aunt Etta Jane

My sister Barbara published this photo on Facebook.  It hangs in Trinity Church, Houston, in honor of our Aunt Etta Jane's lifelong membership and faithful service to the church.  Barbara saw it as part of a 4-church bus tour of churches with beautiful stained glass windows that the Religion and the Arts Council at Christ Church Cathedral (of which she and niece Katie are part of the leadership)  put on. 

So, Aunt Etta Jane.  She was born in Hillsboro, Texas in 1915, where her parents had gone to start a ballast mining company.  They moved to Houston within a few years and began to attend Trinity.  Etta Jane was a committed Christian and a pillar of that church all her life, as well as the church treasurer for many year & until her death.  She was also a good and trusted friend to the rector there, and I was not sure he would make it through her funeral service. 

She was a Certified Public Accountant.  She lived with her mother always - the oldest of the five children in the family, her work and support during the bad years after their father died made it possible for my father and others to stay in college.  She bought his senior boots (a big deal for a young member of the Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M). 

The story I have heard about her not marrying is that Etta Jane had several suitors, but all her younger brothers and sisters "ran them off."  This seems plausible, given the 13 year age difference between her and the youngest.  (And the fact that my father was next-to-youngest!) 

She was 50 when I was born.  I knew her as a successful businesswoman...at a time when there were not so many of them.  She was active in P.E.O., Altrusa, and other organizations.  This photo is on the Altrusa International website, from the 1962-64 biennium when she was Governor. 

I saw her in the hospital about a week before she died.  She wasn't able to talk, but she knew me.  I was in grad school - young! - I didn't understand how severe her condition was.  She was dying of lung cancer.  I asked the nurse, blithely, "when can she go home?"  The nurse's non-answer told me what I needed to know.  I was there with my parents and aunts when she died, also. 

May she rise in peace and rest in glory.

WorldFest on the Square, Denton

Lined up for flag parade!!

 

Opening ceremony, UNT African Dance Ensemble 

  photos by David Minton, Denton Record-Chronicle

Yesterday's festivities for the WorldFest on the Square started with a parade of nations and moved into introductions of each country's flag and its bearer; many of them accompanied by local Brownie Scouts in uniform.  Then dancing by UNT's African Ensemble, speeches by the university president, Mayor of Denton, Consul General of Mexico in Dallas, and others.  There were three hours of great performances by international students...from a Japanese band (for whom I must find a CD!), tango dancers, Thai and Korean traditional dancing,

We had booths featuring countries from every region of the world, with a passport that visitors to the booths could get stamped after learning about the countries.  There was international food to enjoy: Thai, Indian, Korean, and Peruvian.  We partnered with organizers of Friday night's Fiesta on the Square, an established event that afforded us much assistance and excellent advice.   We had sponsor booths there from the outreach group of a local Catholic church, Visual Arts Society of Denton, Girl Scouts, 2010 Census, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Opening Doors Immigration Services, and more. 

Must give props to the weather, which was gorgeous; the Courthouse on the Square, which provided a lovely, shady space under huge spreading pecan trees; the Courthouse Museum, which was open for our browsing pleasure and graciously allowed us to use its restrooms!  Tremendous amounts of hard work by the organizers, volunteers, lots of students. 

It was a great way for UNT to bring a lot of what we already do out to the community.  We will be doing it again!! 

Friday Five: Autumn

This is what the pecan trees look like here, at this time of year! 

 

I grew up knowing that the pecan was the Texas state tree.  Now I learn that "Texas designated the pecan as the official state health nut in 2001."  LOL! 

 

Texas is the largest producer of native pecans.  There are over 1,000 varieties of pecans - many are named for Native American Indian tribes such as Cheyenne, Mohawk, Sioux, Choctaw and Shawnee. The pecan, because of its pure American heritage, is honored by having the month of April declared as National Pecan Month. Astronauts took pecans to the moon on two Apollo space missions.

 

Singing Owl says: 

The Autumnal Equinox has just come 'round again. I took a look back at our Friday Fives and noted that it always seems to make the Rev Gals and their Pals think of changes.

There is something so nostalgic about this time of year, at least in the Northern Hemisphere. The nights grow cooler, crops are harvested, for some of us the leaves are beginning to change colors. The scent of smoke is in the air, pumpkins are in the stores (or on wagons, or in roadside stands for those of us in the country). I'm thinking of putting away my summer clothes and pulling out the sweaters. And I have a tub of Fall-themed items that my husband just lugged up from the basement. I'm looking for my scarecrow.

For this week, let's share some memories along with some hopes and expectations.

1. Share a Fall memory.  When I was little I remember raking leaves and leaves and leaves with my Dad, one time before our family came over for Thanksgiving.  We had HUGE oak trees all over the property, so there was a lot of raking! 

2. Your favorite Fall clothes--(past or present)?  I have a great sweater that sister Barbara gave me in high school.  It's argyle diamonds of red white and blue on the back, and it has little sweaters knit all across the front!  I call it The Sweater Sweater.  It remains one of my favorites. 

3. Share a campfire story, song, experience...etc.  Campfires at Camp Allen - where I grew up doing summer camps. 

4. What is your favorite thing about this time of year?  The Not-Hotness!

5. What changes are you anticipating in your life, your church, family...whatever...as the season changes and winter approaches?  Hmm.  Ken really hates cold weather, so it's hard for him to get up and go out in it for his contracting work.  I try to supply coffee and oatmeal to ease the transition from bed to not bed! 

Bonus: What food says "AUTUMN" at your house? Recipes always appreciated.

Stews in the crock pot.  No recipes to hand...maybe later.

My Daddy

Today I am grateful for my dad. 

This is his birthday; he is 84 today. 

Here are some of the things he taught me:

to fish

to run a motorboat

to sail a Sunfish

to hit a golf ball (but I didn't learn very well!)

to eat greens with vinegar on (yum)

to say "God-a-Friday!" and "What a bunch of potlickers." 

to never apologize for getting good grades

to do my job with pride, no matter what is assigned to me

to value my family and my heritage

to love and honor my God

to be loyal

Thank you Dad!  I love you! 

Checking In

Spent the weekend in WesTexas (you gotta say it like that).

Here's my family: 

in front of the Olive Garden.

Here are the Birthday People:

Spencer, 9/29; Dad, 9/23; Nancy, 9/19 (Talk Like a Pirate Day!)

We had a great time.  Mom and I got a lot of cleaning & straightening up done.  We visited Nancy and Scooter's church Sunday - First Baptist of Mertzon.  I wish I'd taken a photo of the hat rack in the narthex - full of cowboy hats.  :) 

The Great Mandala

My friend Songbird's words on Jimmy Carter as prophet reminded me of another favorite by Peter, Paul & Mary. 

THE GREAT MANDALA (The Wheel of Life)
Peter Yarrow- Pepamar Music Corp.- ASCAP

So I told him that he'd better shut his mouth
And do his job like a man.
And he answered "Listen, Father,
I will never kill another."
He thinks he's better
than his brother that died
What the hell does he think he's doing
To his father who brought him up right?

Chorus:
Take your place on The Great Mandala
As it moves through your brief moment of time.
Win or lose now you must choose now
And if you lose you're only losing your life.

Tell the jailer not to bother
With his meal of bread and water today.
He is fasting 'til the killing's over
He's a martyr, he thinks he's a prophet.
But he's a coward, he's just playing a game
He can't do it, he can't change it
It's been going on for ten thousand years

(Chorus)

Tell the people they are safe now
Hunger stopped him, he lies still in his cell.
Death has gagged his accusations

We are free now, we can kill now,
We can hate now, now we can end the world
We're not guilty, he was crazy
And it's been going on for ten thousand years!

Take your place on The Great Mandala
As it moves through your brief moment of time.
Win or lose now you must choose now
And if you lose you've only wasted your life.

All I ask of dyin' is to go naturally

I sang this today for Mary Travers.  May she rest in peace and rise in glory.

Refrain:
And when I die, and when I'm dead, dead and gone,
There'll be one child born and a world to carry on,
There'll be one child born to carry on.

I'm not scared of dyin' and I don't really care
If it's peace you find in dyin', well, then let the time be near;
If it's peace you find in dying, when dyin' time is here,
Just bundle up my coffin, cause it's cold way down there.

(Refrain)

My troubles are many, they're as deep as a well,
I can swear there ain't no heaven, but I pray there ain't no hell.
Swear there ain't no heaven, pray there ain't no hell,
But I'll never know by livin', only my dyin' will tell
Only my dyin' will tell.

(Refrain)

Give me my freedom, for as long as I be,
All I ask of livin' is to have no chains on me.
All I ask I of livin' is to have no chains on me,
And all I ask of dyin' is to go naturally
I only wanna go naturally.

And when I die, and when I'm gone,
There'll be one child born and a world to carry on,
There'll be one child born to carry on.
Comin' as I go, and a world to carry on.
There'll be one child born to carry on.

Letter to my Teenage Self

Typepad asks: 

If you could travel back in time and meet yourself as a teenager, what three things would you tell yourself?

My dear teenage self,

I would love to tell you (though I am completely certain you will not believe me on any of this, because you must learn it for yourself) that:

1) You are not fat.  No, you are not. 

2) As you grow up, things will matter less.  Everything will not be the end of the world.

3) Yes, you will have friends.  Always. 

Love, Your Grown Up Self