A year ago, time and mortality

At Dad's grave long ago

A year ago, I posted this, and cousin John Clark reminded me of it on Facebook today. Click this link:  Time and Mortality continue. 
This was obviously before 1975, probably in 1974, when she died, and is now buried in Oakwood cemetery in Whitesboro, Texas. We lived in Waurika, Ok. She outlived her husband John Worden Reasor--1886-1967 by eight years. 
Her first husband, Erle Thweat Clark, was our grandfather, parents to Terrence, Lewis, Rex, Mike and Champ Clark, parents of about 16 of us cousins, scattered to the winds. Dad and Erle are buried side by side in Fairlawn Cemetery in Comanche, Ok., the town where Dad and his brothers were born.

The blog at 140 countries and landlocked!

A reader in the African nation of Zambia clicked on this blog this month, marking the 140th country and territory to have read Coffee with Clark.
That followed two readers in two other first time countries in December--Kyrgyzstan and Botswana. That means there have been readers in 22 African Countries and 24 Asian counties.  All three of these are land-locked.

Why and how, I don't know. I've added a translation button to the blog so visitors can read it in their own languages, but the story behind those readers remains a tantalizing mystery to me. 
The flag counter on this page is also not quite accurate--having been added this last year, and sometimes it's slow to update.  But as the blog reaches its seventh birthday May 3, it's come a long way, and reached people and done things I never dreamed back them.

Now, for the record, he's a little about each of those "newcomers" which makes them even more interesting. I'm thankful for my readers--you help keep me going.

Zambia--Formerly British Northern Rhodesia, it gained independence in 1964. It holds regular elections and has a population of 14.5 million, and is the location of the spectacular 354 foot Zambezi falls in the  Victoria falls, the world's largest.
In 2010 the World Bank named the country one of the fastest economically  reformed countries.  

The flag is notable in that its design is not focused on the middle: colors represent green for the flora, red for the struggle for freedom, black for the people and orange for the natural resources. That's a Zambia fish eagle.

Botswana--Formerly the British protectorate  Bechuanaland, Botswana adopted its new name after becoming independent  in 1966. Since then, it has maintained a stable representative democracy, with a consistent record of uninterrupted democratic elections.

Botswana is  flat, with up to 70 percent  being the Kalahari Desert.  Its border with Zambia to the north is poorly defined but at most is a few hundred yards,
With just over 2 million people, Botswana is one of the most sparsely populated nations in the world. Formerly one of the poorest countries, it is now one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.

The flag was designed to contrast with the flag of South Africa, since the latter country was ruled under an apartheid regime. The black stripe with the white frame symbolized the peace and harmony between the people of African and European descent. 

Kyrgyzstan is farther from the sea than any other individual country, and all its rivers flow into closed drainage systems which do not reach the sea. The mountainous region covers over 80 percent  of the country (Kyrgyzstan is occasionally referred to as "the Switzerland of Central Asia.")

It gained independence from the USSR in 1991. Most of the 5.7 million residents are Turkic, non-denominational Muslims. Thirty four percent are under age 16. It is a parliamentary republic but with lots of political and economic instability.

The 40-rayed yellow sun in the center of the flag represent the 40 tribes that once made up the entirety of Kyrgyz culture before the intervention of Russia. The lines inside the sun represent the crown or tündük of a yurt. The red portion of the flag represents peace and openness of Kyrgyzstan. National sports reflect the ancient culture of horse riding.

Of gates, and journeys, and watercolor

"High Lonesome," 9" by 7" watercolor, 140# d'Arches

I'm not sure what it is about gates, but they captivate me, spur my imagination.
There's a hint of adventure, of beckoning journeys, that lead to something undiscovered. I guess that's why I have written and painted a lot of them. See "A Gate Always Beckons."
This one goes back deeply, to a lost painting of my Dad's, and it's a theme I've approached many times. It's been accepted into the juried member show at Paseo Arts District, Feb. 5-29 in OKC, and yes it's for sale.
It's not that I really want to sell it, but it has to be priced to enter the show. Something happened to my painting here that I can't explain, except my work was more luminous and fluid that others, taking advantage of the beauty and magic of watercolor.
Part of its appeal, and others similar to it is that many people identify with it, either in some gate they saw, or knew long ago, and such things bring back wistful memories. I've opened gates like that long past, and when I see them  in the country side, I almost always have to stop and take a photo. In my imagination, they lead to a cabin, and solitude and quiet.
I guess that's part of it with me too. Although I'm captivated even with the word "gate." That's another post, except to let you know I really want to go to Gates of the Arctic National Park in Alaska. Told you there's magic in the word.

"There is never any end to Paris"--romance

Toasting my love, in l'Atlas, with Guy Pascal and his little dog Octavous in the background

TBT--Twelve years ago this month, we were in Paris.
Sure it was winter, but usually just rainy, but not all the time.
We discovered immediately what Hemingway meant when he wrote "There is never any end to Paris," in A Moveable Feast.

Guy Pascal and Octavous

We stayed in a hotel in the Latin Quarter, doing our own tour every day. The last night there, we walked in the rain to l'Atlas, a brasserie in the St. Germaine area, had wonderful oysters and seafood.
Across the room, I spotted this old Frenchman and his little dog, and went over to ask him if I could take their photo. He spoke perfect English, having just returned from years in New York. 
Memories... including a middle- aged professor having dinner with a beautiful young grad student next to us.
Paris...romance.

Back to the Future, again--in a book

Jeanetta reading in Edmond

Standing in Best of Books in Edmond, listening to friend Jeanetta Calhoun Mish read from her book "Okiehomeland" last week, a paperback caught my eye, rousing memories.
"Childhood's End," by Arthur C. Clark, written in 1953, in a new edition. I had to buy it, because I vaguely remember reading it as either a preteen, or teen, and it's been a while since I read science fiction.

Original cover, better than now

I finished it off this weekend, book number two of the year.
Clarke is famous for have introduced the idea of satellites to the world back in the late 40s. So besides a fiction writer, probably best known today for the movie 2001, A Space Odyssey, he was also a futurist with remarkable vision.
As I'm rereading the book about humans' first contact with aliens (hint, it doesn't turn out well), he predicted two other inventions, years ahead of time in 1953--the birth control pill and DNA testing.
What I remember from the book so long ago, and I forgot the source till now, has to do with bull fighting.
The aliens outlaw any killing of animals, which humans ignore. Then one day at a bull fight, a matador jabs a lance in the back of a bull, and the whole crowd screams in agony. End of cruelty. Pretty cool, huh?
I thought so so many years ago, and traveled back to the future this week in a book that includes time travel, relatively--that's a pun and clue--figure it out.