Studio8 - Uniting the Arts

slideshow with fondue

(a labor day 2006 – labor day 2007 photo essay from Tom and Jenni Peal - conversation invited)



welcome, welcome to our home
our little get-together - glad
you’re free to spend some time
oho, flowers - so elegant
for just a time with friends, our
little home is yours, stash your purse, I'll show
you where the bathroom is
then you can find a seat in the den
on the ottoman or piano bench

there’s popcorn to begin with
sardines on crackers with mayo, make
a drink; the projection screen is up and
the projector’s nearly ready
wedge a book to raise the angle
turn the projector on – its
square of light fights centering
smell the dust on the lightbulb burn
hear the hum of the motor fan
don’t look at the light
pass the popcorn
watch the dust fairies dance …

October 21, 2006: The Big Bend, Texas

a big piece of the map
inside the crooked elbow of the Rio Grande
Mexico's Rio Bravo Del Norte
Texas' Big Bend
is the Chisos Mountains and Sierra Madre to the south,
up through the National Park to Study Butte
and the Terlingua ghost town ...



as remotely north in Mexico as it is south in the USA
(when they talk about the new fear fence I think of this)

...and it's on the road to nowhere if your're heading south and on the road to everywhere if you're heading north. Fence the Rio Grande?

I hope not...

doctor my eyes


Rio Grande wanders, follow old 90 in Texas
followed it up north and crossed it as a stream somewhere around Sante Fe NM on my way across 44 to farmington and Ship Rock

Wind up in Seattle.



beautiful pictures
gracias

Big Bend is the only area of Texas that I did not get to see.
Alpine is waiting for me.

oops i thought it would be green
more like high desert so it seems
gonna have to head south from Alpine in my dreams

had a job on the oil rigs out of Galveston
1977
met a fellow from India who had gone to college in Alpine
he liked steak
I thought that was interesting because he was from India
annd thought they were all vegetarians
holy cow
also remember how he and the other young Texans I worked with were totally unperturbed
they were lucky
I was highly perturbed in 1977

Before that, in 1976, after the fall of Saigon and during my fall from grace, I was driving mindlessly down through New Mexico picked up a whole slew of hitch hikers going to New Orleans. I did not want to carry them across west Texas, so dropped them off in El Paso. They left a huge bag od marijuana in my back seat, which I tossed into a garbage can. I was perturbed, yes, drove to Padre Island, and on to New Orleans.

In 1987, after I had left Shreveport and the vet center years, I luxuriated in one final road going fling.

I ran out of money and stayed in Ft Worthless for the summer, working, met a lady at the Kimball Museum in front of a Picasso painting of Don Quixote. She took me to the park by the zoo at late afternooon and we heard a tumultous roar from the beasts at dusk. Later, driving west, I was crying, saw the Guadeloupe Mountains, heading to Phoenix for the winter.

Early 1988, heading east in southern Arizona, I pickedup a hitch hiker in Wilcox. He was from Tunesia. He had a huge black hairy growth on his left upper cheek. He was going to Philadelphia. He told me he had AIDS and kept muttering,
"I'm gonna do it" over annd over.
I stopped at a large truck stop just east of El Paso, bought him supper, and dumped him. Two weeks later, heading on down to Florida, my final destination, I saw him hitch hiking on US 10 east of Pensacola. I did not stop until I got to old St Pete, been here ever since March 0f '88.

Texas is sweet. I miss my brother, lives in Useless.

Where is the popcorn?

I been everywhere man
but You Can't Get The Hell Out of Texas (gary p nunn song)

Three thousand mile waltz around texas one week, I never left the state, never back tracked once just a loop from houstone to El Paso to Armadillo to Sherman to Houston..

A lot of miles and smiles of Texas.

old ninety the loneliest road I ever rode.
Taking the short cut from Mile marker Zero on I-ten to Laredo.
Only did it once and at night,
Such a complete darkness, few lights anywhere.

Some excellent stories of the old stomping grounds from jimboloco and stilltrucking, our virtual neighbors -
And the popcorn's virtual too (won't dry out your mouth that way!)
Thanks for joining us, J&T

Ah, such excellent ramblings! Here is the popcorn!

tom and jenni,

when can I move in?

popcorn and big screen?....hey, I'm there.

my friend Frank X. Tolbert Jr., built a 30 ft. tall sculpture of a chili pepper in Terlinqua one year for the cook-off. His dad, Frank Sr., was the founder of the festival.

wow!! Big Bend and popcorn salado!!! thanks!!
(beautiful photos!!)

fence the rio grande,
wall in the spirit,
desecrate dry, wistful oceans...

(I too hope they don't...)


somewhere west of Terlingua...

(note from doreen peri -
This is where Lightning Rod got this photo
http://whatscookingamerica.net/Soup/PotChili1.jpg
Please try to use photos you own. If you don't own them, you risk complaints by the sites where you are posting from since you are using their bandwidth. If you insist on posting images from other sites, at least do the site the courtesy of showing the link so people can visit the site. Please be aware that if any site complains, your image must be removed. YOU are ultimately responsible for what you post here. Thank you.)

what´s that? It looks like empanada´s relleno with too much tomato. It smells good!!!!

Lightning Rod wrote:tom and jenni,

when can I move in?

popcorn and big screen?....hey, I'm there.

my friend Frank X. Tolbert Jr., built a 30 ft. tall sculpture of a chili pepper in Terlinqua one year for the cook-off. His dad, Frank Sr., was the founder of the festival.

LR,
You are welcome to come on down anytime! Never been to the chili fest in Terlingua. Sounds like a lot of craziness. Not that I have anything against craziness, you know. I guess everyone has their own favorite varieties!
Tom

Arcadia wrote:what´s that? It looks like empanada´s relleno with too much tomato. It smells good!!!!

Looks like a steaming pot full of Texas Red. South of the border that would be chili con carne. Most folks just call it chili.