MadRowdyBird

Do you ever get the feeling that the universe is speaking to you? No sooner had I crested a hill in West Texas and stared down this road when Robert Earl Keen's "Road Goes on Forever (and the party never ends)" came up on my music play list. It was a convergence of fate and fortune and, as I cruised along ---- windows open, sun on my face ---- I felt a rush of 100% pure elation, like everything I had ever done and seen and listened to had been pointing me to this one golden, sun-dappled moment. I try to, as Ray Wylie Hubbard says, keep my gratitude higher than my expectations, but I don't always succeed. On this evening, though, it was easy. One of my own photos, taken in 2023.

The Arcane Texas Fact of the Day: On June 26, 1863, noted British ornithologist Henry E. Dresser, shown in the photo below, arrived at Matamoros on a Confederate merchant ship. He spent 13 months in South Texas, where he collected and shipped to England the bird skins of 272 different specimens. The collection currently resides in the museum of the University of Manchester. He also published "Notes on the Birds of Southern Texas."

Sue Lottie Emery sits at her piano, or a piano in a studio (probably that, actually) circa 1888. I'm not sure where this photo was taken but Sue Lottie was born on November 1, 1874 in Kaufman County and died on Feb. 24, 1949 in Mexia. She was buried in Greenwood cemetery in Dallas. She never married. She looks pensive here. Another phine photo courtesy the Portal to Texas History.

Traces of Texas reader Kaye Solomon Partin graciously sent in this great photo, which was found among her grandmother's things when she passed away in 1986. Nobody knows who the boy is, but his outfit is so great and what REALLY takes this to another level is the poem written on the back: My boy is not a sissy boy He is every inch a man. Tho he loves his mother dearly And helps her all he can. And when at school he holds his own, Tho once he got a black eye. He fought the boy a pretty good fight And never even cried. With sisters two he’s kind and true As ever a boy can be. In cowboy suit and gun and flint He’s just a sight to see. And now he wants a pony To ride upon the plains. With handkerchief upon his neck A cowboys song he sings. He’s going to have a picture made To send to his grandpa, And to some aunts and uncles And perhaps a friend or two. And if you don’t think he’s grand Just come around and see. Thank you, Kaye. Outstanding!