Vibrant Texas Panhandle

Texas Panhandle, 8 1/2 by 14 watercolor, 140 # paper

"Paint," she said, after a night of good food, wine, drinks and discussions and agguments about God, prayer, spirituality, and more, thanks to Richard Rohr, "Immortal diamond" and more, including a chiminea and pinon fire on a cold back porch.

So here it is, thanks to Susan, another version of my trip through the Texas Panhandle.

Great sentence search--a masterpiece

Great sentence search--something I urge on my writing students--find one in the NY Times where you know the writer had fun writing it. Today there was a masterpiece, written by Michael Powell, in a column blasting the NFL for ignoring the Michael Rice event, headlined, Lucrative League Sees Only What It Wants to See. 
Here's the terrific sentence:
"So ambiguity curls up like a cat around the foot of intentional ignorance."
Just wow. Here's the link to the story: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/11/sports/football/ray-rice-in-lucrative-and-ludicrous-nfl-the-show-goes-on.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=0

Texas Panhandle

Texas Panhandle, 8 by 10 watercolor,  140 # paper

Prairie skyscrapers

I love the Texas Panhandle. For many, it's perhaps boring and desolate, but I love the starkness, the far horizons, and the always changing weather.  My trip last weekend ran into the front that eventually brought more than an inch and a half of rain, and fall temperatures. The clouds moved in quickly the farther west I got, building constantly changing moods and infinite shapes and shadows all the way.  Beautiful country with awesome prairie skyscrapers.

Where Peace Prevails on the Earth in Oklahoma

Hebrew, "May Peace Prevail On Earth"

In Noble County in Northern Oklahoma, on a historic farm, there is a peace pole.
You walk up to the front porch and on one of the polls supporting the roof is the saying in English, "May Peace Prevail on Earth." Look closer, and one another side is the Hebrew version, and the opposite side, the Arabic.
Peace inhabits the George Bellmon Centennial farm in rural Billings, settled by the parents of Oklahoma Governor Henry Bellmon. After attending the mindfulness retreat at the brick Bellmon home a quarter mile north a week ago, run by his daughters as the Turtle Rock Farm, we paid extra and spent the night for a restful, peaceful and quiet night in rural Oklahoma.

Farmhouse at the George Bellmon Centennial Farm

Though a little more than a mile east of I-35, the southern wind and night sounds drowned out the truck traffic sounds. What we hear instead were chickens clucking, guineas chattering, roosters crowing, swifts chirping away. You could sit on rocking chairs on the front porch, and enjoy the fresh air. When the sun goes down, you step out in the driveway and marvel at the Milky Way. 

Long morning shadows, rocking chairs and peace on a front porch

How long since you've sat in a rocking chair on the front  porch, sipping coffee, listening to roosters, watching wasps and hummingbirds attracted to feeders?
Pat Hoerth, who lives in the house except when she rents it out for the night, arrived to put the chickens up, and told us there were eggs in the frig for breakfast. Asked how fresh, she handed Susan four she'd just retrieved from the hen house, "This fresh."

The alpacas will nuzzle you after feeding, Susan finds out

The farm house has a completely stocked kitchen, and Susan and Christy Vincent had prepared salmon and salad for dinner an hour before, and we'd been watching the chickens and a rabbit out for their evening meals.

You can tell I had a good time--Susan photo

 Three alpacas were grazing in the pasture and would need to be fed some supplement in the morning.  After a breakfast of fresh scrambled eggs, we helped out.
Then we loaded up the car, and headed back to the Interstate, leaving peacefulness behind, but not forgotten. Soon we were suburban Sunday traffic, still thinking about the previous day's lesson from the roadrunner to us roadrunners, The Angel Had Wings.
The Centennial Farm Program through the Oklahoma Historical Society was initiated by Bellmon to honor pioneer farms in the same family for 100 years, marking the centennial of the Run of 89. Eventually his  farm was selected as well. 

Ann and Pat--Photo by Rebekah Workman

Then his daughters, Pat, and Ann Denney, returned to operate the Turtle Rock Farm as a center for sustainability, spirituality and healing. You can read their blog, including a little about our visit. They said their dad thought they were crazy, but they have the Bellmon genes for being individuals. Bellmon was the state's first Republican governor, worked with Democrats, supported busing and giving the Panama Canal back to Panama. And he spent a lot of time on his farm, where he gained his strength and peace, close to the land. 

Where Peace Prevails on the Earth in Oklahoma