Turning off the music, I hear the crunch of gravel under the tires as I pull off this lonely, deserted stretch of highway.  I'm weary from long hours behind the wheel and I long for a place to rest.  I put the window down as I roll slowly down a small road, and the breeze teases my hair. 

Just a little further, I find a place to kill the engine and rest.  What am I running from?  Why did I turn west and just keep driving?  My mind asks questions for which I have no answers and I long to turn off my thoughts.

Opening the door, I step out , the warmth of the hot day still present in the sandy ground under my bare feet.  Then recognition brings me from my inner thoughts and I take in my surroundings......

No light is necessary as I look into a night bathed in moonlight and I am drawn to pull myself up and perch crosslegged on the tailgate.  Emotion  inside me begins to build, moving me to lift my eyes ever upward, and the breath catches in my chest.  My arms lift and I slowly lie back......never taking my eyes from the heavens.......

Then I breath in a long, slow, deep breath and as I close my eyes, I release the air slowly from my lungs in a low moan as I release my emotion......long and slow....

How had I forgotten?  How could I?  In one long breath, I have taken in rememberance and exhaled years of yearning.  I open my eyes as my mind and body smile, succumbing to this natural high I had totally forgotten about.

I hear the familiar whine and know of it's origin.  I turn my head to see the huge oil well and the "horsehead" shape in the distant dark as it continues it's steady up and down motion.  I see the tumbleweeds piled up on one side where the wind had chased them before the sun set and the air settled to a soft breeze.

And at that moment, memories flood my mind of earlier times spent at so many places just like this one.....times with friends, sitting in the moonlight....laughing.....talking......drinking beer.

Free......oh how free we were in our youth.  But I realize the youth is not what I long to recapture and have unknowingly yearned for.  Rather it is the smell and feel of the dry, clear air and that huge west Texas sky so full of stars......so vast, but so close.

How could I have forgotten the peace and freedom of that sky?  The vastness of the endless flat land all around me.......

I sigh as the peace envelopes me and the wind softly caresses my skin.  The tiredness drains from my body and I embrace the night.  Soon the sky will grow lighter and I will leave this place.......before the sun begins it's slow bake once again. 

And as I return to the timber country that I love so much by day, I will take the west Texas night with me........once again.

Don't mind me......I'm just floating along here on the stream on a lazy Tuesday evening.  I'm just enjoying the easy flow and taking in what's around me.  Mmmmm...I smell Biggie's flowers wafting this way, and I see Lulu and Sugar playing in the distance, as Woogs looks on in disdain.

I see AM in the distance with "R" and all the kids around the campfire and a big bengal tiger lazing on the rocks above.  Hey, is that a polar bear coming in the distance?  I believe it is!  Welcome home, PB! 

Over there is Ice pouring himself a shot of Crown after his pork chop supper, and heading out to visit this one and that one.  He and I popped over to Colo's this morning and had a wonderful visit......

I see Dazey over there, in her floppy hat, sitting under a thundercloud with her face upturned in to the wind........smiling.  Lucy is close by, curled up on a couch with a good book, resting from a busy week on the stream.

There comes Topaz, waving at everyone as she passes with a smile in those beautiful eyes and they all wave and smile back lovingly.  What is that sound?.......ahh, I believe it's a train whistle....way off in the distance.

I wave at Six as she sits with Prank, discussing something about a Mr. Happy?  Hmmm....that must be a newcomer to the stream, huh?  Oops!  I almost bumped into that pirate ship as it sailed by.....I should pay better attention! 

Oh look!  There are Captain Morgan and his Queen....floating along in a row boat looking very much in love......and as they float on by, I see Belle on her front porch with a tall glass of sweet iced tea, thinking of Bo and the Yankee and listening to the crickets chirp.....

But don't mind me......I'm just floating along.....ahhhhh.......

Today is the day to remember all the veterans of this nation.  To thank those have served and are serving, and to remember those have fallen.

 

I am one of the few fortunate folks that don’t know the agony of losing a loved one or friend to war.  I do, however know many veterans who have served and survived.  I want to take this opportunity to thank them all for their service to this great nation.  They are all heroes.

 

But the best veteran of them all is the one I have the privilege of sharing my life with.  The one that has shared so many stories of his service and time spent in Viet Nam.  And I’ve witnessed the faraway look that comes to his eyes sometimes when he speaks of those times.  I know that even the good times he speaks of were always laced with the awareness of his mortality.  I thank God that he was one of the fortunate and is still here.

 

I tell him all the time that he’s my hero on many levels.  He shrugs it off and grins.  But this man will never know the true depth of feeling behind those words.  He’s just doing his job, as he did back then, as far as he’s concerned. 

 

Thank you Ice, for your service, for being you, and loving me.  I love you.

Pup

Wow, the weekend is only half over and so much activity on the stream already.  I’ve spent a lot of my time lobbing and dodging threats with pirates and Men In Black, with the help of my fellow Posse members, and keeping an eye on Jonnie so she wouldn’t bury her head back in the sand.  You would think, tho, that with all the careful planning and one-upmanship comments that we manufacture in our brilliant (?) minds, one of us would learn how to spell ADVERSARY, don’t you think? 

 

I’m giggling as I type, thinking that every time I typed the word the last couple of days, it just didn’t seem to look right, but I couldn’t put a finger on what was wrong with it.  I was spelling it “advosary”, lol.  What was more perplexing about it was the fact that at some point in my life, I knew the correct spelling.  Wonder what happened?

 

Anyway, back to the point…….I noticed the word several times on other blogs from the “other side”, which was spelled differently, but still didn’t look right.  Now, all this time, I knew “spell check” was just a few clicks away, so don’t ask me why I didn’t take the steps to check. 

 

Then Ice noticed my misspelled “advosary” on today’s post and made sure I knew that it was spelled wrong and announced to me the correct spelling, which was “advesary”.  Okay……..so I changed it.  But it still didn’t look right?  Oh well, I still didn’t check it out until a few hours later.

 

So, to my ADVERSARIES, I salute you!  We do have at least ONE thing in common, right?  And why does this strike me as so funny?  I don’t have a clue.

 

Poor Colo has been attacked yet again, for who knows what reason?  I’ve come to the conclusion that the insight she possesses and expresses so eloquently somehow sparks ire in those that would do evil.  Is it fear of being understood and exposed for who they are?  Are they afraid she can see their soul?  Just a thought.  But we all know that Colo will not succumb to personal attacks, and she knows she is not alone here. 

 

And Jonnie?  Well, she’s still confused. lol

 

Lucy has outdone herself and worked her butt off to put together the 2006 yearbook.  I so admire her creativity and believe she should be Homecoming Queen, or Most Likely To Succeed, don’t you? 

 

But it’s the tip of the iceberg, is it not?  Those of us who have been here the longest could be put into a gathering place and be able to talk as if we’d known each other for years.  It would be better than any actual class reunion I would ever attend, for sure.  Those people I went to high school with didn’t really know me at all, but you all do.  And I know you. 

 

However, we would have to be able to use our blog names, because I for one would be lost if I was introduced to a large gathering of people by their real names.  And can you imagine what an innocent bystander would be thinking while listening to all of us referring to each other by those names?  And the references to our stories, such as Purse Posse, Railroad Street, Men in Black, or Needs More Cowbell?  Or hearing stories about the judge in Scratch’s trial and subject matter of that trial?  Or the party at Prank’s place on Halloween?

 

I fear we would all be carted off in straight jackets, don’t you?  I mean, think about what those stories would consist of, which would mostly be of the silly scenarios that emerge out of thin air and are acted out here on the stream.  And the personas we fall into so easily.  It’s a blast, but who else could make any sense at all out of it?  We might as well be talking in code. 

 

But the point is…….the memories we share.  They don’t make sense to anybody but us, which is the same dynamic of a family or a group of friends that have known each other for years.  Powerful, isn’t it?  We have bonded, my friends.  Bonded not only with laughter, but with our tears and support of each other.  I am still in awe of this phenomenon that seems so out of place in today’s society. 

 

There are so many who have gone their own way that I miss and there will be more.  Heck, there have been times that my own interest has waned, and Ice’s as well.  But it’s more a reflection of what’s going on in our “real” worlds that pulls us away from the stream.  I think some struggle with feeling they spend too much time here, which I do also at times.  There are many reasons that we step away for a time, but most of us come right back.  And are welcomed warmly. 

 

Personally, I don’t feel like I’ll ever run across another phenomenon as powerful as this one, so I’m going to stay as long as it’s happening.  And I think we will all agree that sooner or later, this will all pass for some reason or another, or just fade away as so many good things do.  But one thing that will never change and will be with us forever is…….Our memories.

 

Thanks for the memories, you guys.  May we make so many more!

 

And Jonnie?  Well, Jonnie, aka The Blog Stalker was the first person to mention and recommend my blog.  Thanks, Jonnie for giving me a leg up.  See how such little things lead to so much?  If she hadn’t mentioned my blog, I might have lost interest and faded away.

 

Oh, and one last thing!  WE MISS YOU, WALLY!

 

Good night, my friends.

 

Pup

To all Purse Posse members, I salute you!  Our advesaries, have once again fought the good fight, and once again come to the wise conclusion that the "Mystic Object" will never be revealed and their search for it is futile.  So I must also salute these guys for their valiant effort to solve an age old mystery. 

However, we all know that they don't REALLY want to know.  Their curiosity just gets the better of their good judgement sometimes.  Which leads to a good exercise for both sides in strategic warfare.  A chance for us to test our skills, so to speak. 

Girls, we all know that the PMS weapon will stop any man in his tracks, so it remains and will forever remain our best diversion tactic.  To date, our Menopausal Mode, which is procedure following PMS, has not been tested.  This is due to the documented success of the preceding tactic, as well as the liability issues involved, such as getting them treated for severe trauma and terror, should they be captured. 

So we have come away from yet another skirmish with more finely honed skills and have had the opportunity to test some of our other, less sophisticated weapons, such as the double D slingshot loaded with rolls of pennies, which serves to keep them busy and allow us some entertainment before the more advanced weapons are deployed.

So I extend a big Thank You to Cap'n and Scratch for this valuable opportunity to test our skills and weapons.  And a nice break from doing our nails.

Good work, Girls!!!  Purse Power!!!

Pup

Note:  Please continue with the sign-up and re-enlistment process on previous post.  Thanks!

Note #2:  Confidential to the Iceman:  Submit, Baby!  Submit! (if any reader is confused, please see new post on The New Residencia)