HICKORY PASS RANCH #12

ROCKS, FOSSILS, & A CAMERA

-- DAY 20

By (c) Russ Barnes.  All rights reserved: Text.

July 27, 2008, Sunday.  This is the actual celebration of my birthday.  The real birthday is tomorrow.  This date is usual because my brother Doug’s birthday is July 26, and we always celebrated in between the two birthdays, July 27.  And it is a great day.  Blue sky.  Tall sky over central Texas.  We’ve got the girls, the three daughters, who arrive.   They play monopoly.  They give me rocks for my birthday.  Fossils.  I adore these.  Even heavy, I will take them back to Rockville in my luggage.  Joe and I go out to a new tank.  Big holes.  Beavers.  Jacquelyn brings the best cut of steak anyone can imagine.  Joe ages it.  Herbs it.  Barbecues it slowly.  It is a feast.  Joe picks up the religious imagery laughing,  “And God said it was a pleasing scent.”

Bell, poblano, & serrano peppers

Karen can’t make it as she has to work in the sewing machine shop today.  But she sends a scrumptious chocolate cake.

THE CREW PERFORMS ON STAGE

Now I engineer a reading of CRABS ALIVE!  Somehow I know Texans will understand this play which is the one I need to work on next.  So the whole crew comes down to my guest house.  I set up the computer.  I sit in the background.  I am not the star.  My desire is to make them stars.  The three daughters take turns reading the female character, Jovita.  Joe reads the part of Captain Charlie.

Somehow George Washington, “father” of our country, occurs to me on this day.  Washington was a solid man with character.  Mary Custis, his wife, had a fortune, land, and slaves.   It was in some ways, her fortune that brought the United States of America into being.  She had some kind of powerful faith in her husband, George Washington.  And her inheritance and plantation land fueled the founding of an idea that reverberates around the world even today.  George would have been nothing without his lady.  He was tough.  But not self-sufficient.

WHAT IS THE GREATEST?

I opened my present from Robbin.  It  makes me weep to see it and the affection I feel for her over it.  I have wanted a digital camera for over ten years.  Because photos are an important part of reporting.  I’m not the greatest eye for the camera, but I am pretty good,  I am not the best piano player in the world, but I do have a bit of soul.  I am not the best lover in the world, but there are some who like what I do because I really do love them, appreciate them.  And I show that within the best of my power.

Coals for a portion of the barbecue

I can write.  Especially plays.  They are not the best ever written.  But in the human catalogue of communication, they will be among the best.  For somewhere, someone in time, my words will be salvation or at least enlightenment.  Not the biggest deal in the world.  But will get someone through where they need to get to.  And this may be for centuries.  And they are for people whom we need to get empowered upon our earth.  That’s why I’m here.  I’m here to empower people.

I talk with Robbin later in the evening about Stacey and David.  Appalling behavior.  Makes me sad.  Tender for Stacey.  She has been, I perceive, trying.

Getting near the end of my stay at Hickory Pass Ranch.

To be continued tomorrow.

Go to sequel #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6 ,#7, #8, #9, #10, #11