Quips from Kay

(Note to my readers: It seems I have sent the first installment of this tale to you twice. Sorry about that) The bar scene didn't go well with Louis but after a simple explanation, all was well. My luggage still hadn't arrived so after leaving info as to where we would be staying, we got a taxi and went into the city of Athens. ...and drove through the city whereupon I learned we were not staying there but in a small hotel called Cavo d' Oro in Pireaus. Pireaus is where Onassis kept his ships and there were a couple of them in port at this time. After a good night's sleep we made plans to meet two Greek couples at the gulfside. In those days, (1975) we really had no money for extras and buying clothes would have been considered "extra" so I had to wear the same outfit worn previously. Fortunately, I had enough sense to rinse out part of the ensemble the night before so I was fairly presentable when we joined our hosts. They took us to a seafood market acr...

About a year after we moved to New Orleans from Fredericksburg, my husband arranged for me to meet him in Athens, (Greece, not Georgia). He was to arrive there after a ten day business trip to the East. I had barely learned to maneuver my way around New Orleans and now how to fly from there to Athens! I had one suitcase, my overnight bag and my husband's suit. He had been traveling around the Orient wearing the same suit for ten days!  I arrived at Newark airport on an American Airlines flight and was told I had to take a bus to Swissair. I had never been to a large airport and didn't know that each airline had their own terminal. As I have said before, "what do I know, I'm from Beeville". Anyway, after the bus driver had dropped off all the other passengers, he asked me where I was going and when I told him Swissair, he said I was on the wrong bus but he would take me to that terminal anyway. He did and I ran through the airport carrying my little bag and Louis...

Some of these are not very cheerful poems. Well, one can't be happily entertaining ALL the time! LONELY I spoke and no one said a word I called and no one answered I screamed a lonely little scream I know it will go unheard ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- COLD STONE I left a stone unturned somewhere I must have done, love is not here Like Gretel in the darkened wood, heart crumbs fell where I once stood. I lifted up each hard, cold stone but alas, I am still alone. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ? Now here we are Where? There Who? Us When? Then Is that all? Yes

In a previous blog I wrote about my father's feed store but I forgot something so here it is. The feed store was the kind of place where farmers and ranchers liked to gather, sit and shoot the breeze around the old wood stove that squatted in the middle of the main room. Daddy got there about 7:00 every morning, lit the fire and put a pot of coffee on for himself and any customers. (The reason I am now remembering this is because I just cleaned out my coffee pot and the filter.) Daddy used the same coffee grounds all day long, I guess he figured that if they were good once, they'd be good again. It was percolated coffee so it just kept going through the grounds over and over. They drank their coffee black, and believe me, black it was! No sugar, no cream, just "make-your-hair-stand-up" coffee. But I'm pretty sure that the tales told around that stove took their minds off the taste. To this day, I still cannot drink a cup of coffee all the way to the bottom. Thos...

Getting old is not so bad if you look at it from the right angles. For example,, if I wish I can travel back to Europe in my mind and go to wherever I want to. I can picture the time spent in Spain with my husband driving from Madrid north to the Basque country. I can see the beautiful mountains and valleys, remember the strange food and reflect on the fact that my knowledge of Spanish worked very well. My husband spoke Spanish fluently since he learned English and Spanish at the same time when he was very young. Driving through the Pyrenees on one lane roads was exhilarating yet nerve wracking, with mountains reaching for the sky on one side and deep ravines on the other. We never made reservations ahead on our trips because we didn't really have a set plan as to where we were going. It was always an adventure, stopping in small villages, taking side roads to unfamiliar areas, and stopping at little cafes on the side of the road. We were able to meet interesting people and lear...

MEMORIES Memories are with me Quiet sleep I don't know The mind's door is open but they will not go. When I was young  sleep was a waste. There was much to do  and so, in my haste I left not a moment  to things undone. I enjoyed it all. Each day was fun. And since most were fine I've decided to keep even those memories which deprive me of sleep. 2001 --------------------------------------------------------------- DROUGHT The last green fingers of moisture  reaching out from their prison of dry farmland. The once fertile fields fed by living streams now chafed and worn by the plow. Feed the people and so they did. But forgot to feed the provider. How much longer can they last before they die forever? written en route across Texas with Angel Flight 1999 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ DOWN         ...

This particular post may not be very interesting to many of you but I want to share an important part of my childhood with you. It was the kind of childhood that so many young people don't have and I am very thankful for it. When I was about six years old, my Daddy opened his Beeville Feed and Seed Company store. I know what year it was because that was when the movie P inocchio came out, 1940. Mama bought a Pinocchio doll for me and I remember taking it in to the feed store to show Daddy. The doll had a long nose like the character in the story and its nose got broken on the first day I had it. I, in my confused child mind, thought it was because I had told a lie. I just didn't remember telling one. That movie made a great impression on me though because I have never been strongly tempted to tell a lie. The feed store was rather large, (by Beeville standards anyway), and it had a flower bed along the front, large picture windows and big double doors. The main sale room was...

A blue jay and a crow were sitting in a tree. The crow said to the jay- Why aren't you black like me? Now that's a thought, replied the jay. But how come you aren't blue? You know it's better anyway. Don't you see that's true? I have white upon my breast but you are black all over. There's no doubt that I'm the best. That's known from here to Dover. The crow compressed a feathered frown and slowly did take in unkind remarks by this blue bird whom he considered as a friend. We both have feathers and a beak. We both live in a nest and no one listens when we speak. How does color make one best? The blue jay thought on this a bit and finally did agree. I had never thought of it as quite the same, you see. So I'm not black and you're not blue. I don't care-do you? 12/5/98