by Elaine Thomas | Oct 2, 2020 | Family, Tips and Ideas
Carol MacKay can’t bring herself to walk past a bin of vintage portraits gathering dust in an antique store or thrift shop. She feels compelled to stop and look through the stack of discarded images. Then she carefully scrutinizes the front and the back of each...
by Elaine Thomas | Sep 18, 2020 | Tips and Ideas
Barbara Wampler comes to the rescue of neglected, vintage textiles. Catherine “Rabbit” Janecka brings new life to weathered wood, chipped resin, and rusted iron. These “champions of second chances” repurpose, repair, and recycle items that others might consider trash....
by Elaine Thomas | Sep 4, 2020 | Saving Stories
I joined the influx of immigrants to Houston about a decade after our friend, Richard Dixon. We didn’t know each other back then, but comparing notes now makes us laugh. The heat of that first summer we spent in our respective corners of the Bayou City was not for the...
by Elaine Thomas | Aug 31, 2020 | Rural Life
We can set our clock by David Heller of the Hallettsville (Texas) Livestock Commission. When this cattleman says he’ll arrive on Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. to haul our livestock, count on it. As David turns off the main road onto the uneven surface of our lane, the gates...
by Elaine Thomas | Aug 7, 2020 | Rural Texas
You’ll have to look up if you want to see some amazing examples of Great Depression-era art in rural Texas! A massive mural of galloping horses hangs above the postmaster’s door at our post office in La Grange. At nearby Smithville, Texas Rangers make an arrest...
