Kim Miller | Midland talent

Kim Miller was a classmate of my sister's at Midland High. Their class is having a reunion this week and I ran across Kim's entry on their website. Kim lives in Wimberely, as does my friend Connie Nelson who is still involved in the music business. I hope to put them together....

Preview more of Kim's music at Kim Miller.Com

Father's Day: Gone but never forgotten..

My Dad.....and Mom with me

Photographic legacy...

I'm daily being reminded of where my photographic interest, and whatever talent I have, came from. My Dad. After my Dad passed away I took possession of his photo archive; thousands of color slides, which he took from the late 1940's until the early 1990's. My goal is to put as many of them as I can into digital format to not only preserve them but also to give copies to my brother and sister.

I have about 20 slide carousals full, as well as a photo file box with many 100's of loose slides. I was helped along by my Mom, who some years ago made a good effort at organizing the carousals into topics roughly by the years in which they were taken and/or by subject. So I have many from the 40's and 50's of Mom and Dad's families, me and my siblings as small kids, trips taken over the decades [including to the original Disneyland not long after it opened], scout photos and memorable events. I have to admit that reviewing all these photos is a very poignant experience. Seeing family members [including dogs] long gone, remembering trips taken and reliving good times is a joyful yet very melancholy experience.

I really need to acquire a good slide scanner, but as I was reviewing the slide carousals shown on our original family slide screen, the thought occured to me that I might be able to photograph the slides with my digital camera. The old fashion slide screen provides excellent luminosity and the results have been mostly good.

The photo above is one. The shot taken by my Dad is of his mother, out rowing at our house in Michigan. She's probably close to 80 years old when the photo was taken in the late 70's. She was quite a woman. My Dad was in our vintage Old Town canoe, a beautiful creation of wood and canvas.

How hot is it.....?

How hot is it.....? Well in West Texas terms it's not that bad. It's been close to 100° every day for several days, but that's not too bad comparatively. In 1994 I lived through the hottest day on record here, 119°, that's hot. It's just that our daily weather is turning into those kinda' days that are like living on Mars. No clouds most of the day, so the sun is "on" with no breaks. We have had some thunderstorms build up in the afternoons, late in the afternoon, but these are just an irritant. As anyone who has lived in Midland knows, there is a phenomenon peculiar in these parts, that a storm, no matter how big will suddenly veer, or split, or just stop before it gets into the City of Midland. Weathermen friends confirm this. So......lot's of storms and rain around, none on our yards.

It's the kinda' hot now that starts to bug man and dog. I know when this starts because of D. Daphne Dog. Usually when I say the magic words, "out back" or "ride", she's on her feet like her legs were spring loaded. Now, with D. Daphne laying under the air conditioning vent the king of words, "ride", illicits that kind of look that says, "if you make me I'll go, otherwise I'm fine right here". That's kinda' the way I feel too.

Le Mans..

Jim Hall | Del Sloan
The 24 hours of Le Mans being run today is the premier sports car event in the world...in my opinion. Cars of all makes, models and capabilities running a grueling and long track for 24 hours. I'll be watching during the day....and night with special interest this year. My old friend and business partner Del Sloan is there.

I had some business with racing legend Jim Hall this week and Del accompanied me to my visit at Chaparral Racing to lend a hand in the oil business talk. But the highlight of the visit was hearing Jim talk about his career at Le Mans, especially the 1963 season when Jim teamed with another racing superstar, Dan Gurney, to drive Le Mans. Hearing some of the inside stories about those "golden days" of sports car racing from one of the legends of the era is magic!

A Good List....

By Regina Brett, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, OH

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.
8. Yield.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey
is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.
35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood.
38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.
41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
42. The best is yet to come.
43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
44. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.

June 6th 1944 | D-Day

Thank you for your sacrifice for our freedom....

Dogs in cars...

Many of you may remember the old photo website, "The Mirror Project", a great website that killed itself because it got so popular that it became too much work for it's creator. It's premise was to submit photos of yourself in reflective surfaces. I spent several years submitting over a 100 photos and I miss it. The photos chronicled my life for those good years.

So now I occasionally chronicle the life of D. Daphne Dog in a British based web vehicle called, "Dogs in Cars". You can guess the premise of this effort I suspect. If you're a dog lover you'll enjoy looking around.
Here's one of Daphne
And a recent one....

Firing up a Chaparral...

Too wet to drive the Chaparral 2E, but it sounds good, we try to run again on Friday, 29 May. The guy in the shorts and black shirt looks familiar :>]

Memorial Day

C.W. Craig, 1923-2006
45th Infantry Division: Italy, France
WWII 1943-1946

Springboard Center Grand Opening

Video of The Springboard Center grand opening [thanks to Jimmy Patterson]

Irish ancestral serendipity.....

Craig family home, Castlecatt, Country Antrim, Northern Ireland

A month ago I wrote that I found out the name of the small town in Northern Ireland where my Dad's grandfather emigrated from, Castlecatt, and that I had just Googled up names there and found the Craig Cottage B&B and that I had written the owner Rosemary seeing if she could help me learn a few things about my family.

Well Rosemary has sure come through, referring me to her older uncle, Robert and his friend Nevin Taggert. Nevin, I've learned, in many emails is rather the local historian, and I get the feeling he's helped many Irish expatriate families get in touch with their pasts. Amazingly it turns out that Robert's wife, Margaret, quite possibly is a distant cousin; not from the Craig family but from the Wallace side of my family [from whence is derived my first name]. That side of our family name stopped with my Great/Great Grandmother Ellen Wallace who married Robert Howard Craig on 18 August 1859 in the First Presbyterian Church in Bushmills, County Antrim [something that Nevin found out for me]. Margaret Thompson's old family name is Wallace and Nevin tells me he thinks all the Wallace's in the area are from one family.

I've enjoyed meeting such great people far away and people whose sense of family and history runs deep. Nevin has gone so far as to visit several places around Castlecatt that he knows are related to my family history, taking photos for me. Like the photo above which he took yesterday. The yellow house was my Great/Great Uncle Samuel Craig's home, my Dad's grandfather's brother Sam who built the home about 1900. Nevin also sent a photo of Margaret wearing the Wallace family ring inherited from her grandmother. Amazing.

Keni Thomas | Ranger, musician, good guy...

My friend Keni Thomas at the Houston Rodeo.

Fallen Heroes..

Late last year, Mayor Wes Perry asked me to help him think of meaningful ways the City of Midland could honor our local/area soldiers who have fallen in Iraq and Afghanistan. We've done several small things, but we were looking for something more permanent.

We were mulling over several ideas when serendipity intervened. Several months ago my friend Connie Nelson called to say that through her country music contacts, she had a professional portrait artist friend in Nashville, Corey Frizzell, who wanted to honor our fallen soldiers by doing portraits of them to present to their families. Connie asked me if I had any ideas to assist Corey in getting his "Fallen Heroes" project off the ground. And boy did I!

After consulting with Wes and other city officials I asked Corey if he would be willing to render portraits of all eleven area service members who have given their lives for America, to be placed in a prominent public memorial. As you watch the video clip, below, of Corey presenting his first portrait last week, know that soon he will be working on our Permian Basin Fallen Heroes. Corey is noted for his works of country music stars, including his famous uncles Lefty and David Frizzell.

Corey's story can be seen here as he presents his first portrait to the mother of a fallen Marine. Corey presents portrait

Machine.......heal thyself!

Now this is strange.....but true.

A week or so ago, I reported that I had injured my back while lifting my lawnmower out of the trunk of my car. Dumb idea, but thanks to the Midland High sports trainers, my back is much better. I had taken the mower to our other family home to touch up the grass there until we can find a suitable yard guy.

What I didn't report was that after all the effort to get the mower to the other house....I couldn't get it started. I had just used it at my home a week before, but when I tried to start it at the other house, the pull cord would not budge an inch. I tried gently nudging it out and I tried furious jerking...no movement at all; which is when I packed it up, came home and injured my back getting it out of the car.

The mower is about 9 years old, but I keep it in good shape so I was befuddled as to this sudden malfunction. My first thought was that perhaps the motor had seized up, but it was working fine when I shut it off the previous week. The second, and more logical thought, was that the starter cord had become entangled inside the mower, something I thought I might try fixing myself, although my confidence in this was shaken when my friend CJ, the air conditioning guy, told me he tried this once and that there is a very strong spring inside the cord assembly that nearly took his hand off when he had tried this same repair years ago.

But, early this morning I thought I'd at least get it out, take the cover off and see what I could manage to see. The mower has been inside the tool shed untouched since I painfully put it there last week. Before I disassembled anything, I thought I might just give the cord a tug to remind myself of the problem.....when I did, it pulled smartly out and the mower started right up as if there had never been any problem at all, so I proceeded to mow the yard.

Now in medical and psychological illnesses I've heard of spontaneous remission, but I never had any idea that a machine could heal itself. I'm still really perplexed, but as my neighbor said, and I had thought aleady, just be grateful. And I am.

Easy to be hard......

Weird dream spawns eclectic memories......

Blogging anniversary...or two

The remembrance of my anniversary into blogging is not a high priority, but I should note it I suppose, if not a little late. Officially Streams came into being on March 9th 2002 with these sage remarks. Before that, however, my official entry using actual blogging technology came about in an earlier effort entitled, "Pedro's Dreamland" starting on June 18th, 2001.

And, even before I found "Blogger" and started using their ready made technology I had been producing a similarly formatted effort called "The Adventures of Pedro" which premiered on March 20, 2001. I produced this daily using photos and short stories of my dull daily life, using a new hand produced html page each and every day. Obviously this was some effort, so when I found that the newly introduced "Blogger" could do the same thing, the technology intrigued me and I starting using it. The old "Adventures of Pedro" are still up and can be seen here [all links at bottom]. These completely fabricated stories which started as a joke were, really, some of my best work and I actually had quite a following of readers.

What started out in 2001 as complete fun and moronic entertainment got lost, for awhile, in becoming too serious as blogging grew into a national pasttime and I had the mistaken impression that people really cared what I had to say on the deep issues of the day. So now, and maybe this is why I'm still around when others have tired of the effort; I post items that interest me, only when......I have items that interest me. I don't worry about putting up something everyday nor care much about entering into the fray of big stories. And generally I am more diligent about my daily photos at Eclectic Photography. But for those who occasionally still wander in after 8 years of blogging.....thanks.

Older....but not too damn much wiser

Here's a helpful hint for those of around my age...over 35. Don't try and pick up a lawn mower and put it into the trunk of your car.

I'm looking after my folks vacant house a few blocks away which includes keeping the yard up. For the last two years we've had a young guy doing it, but seeing greener pastures and larger yard jobs, he let us go. I have a temporary yard guy, but he only comes occasionally, so early Tuesday morning I thought I'd take my lawn mower over and clean things up a bit. Since it's only blocks away I don't mind setting my mower in the trunk for the short trip. I had done this once before.....after Tuesday I won't do it again.

I got the mower in and out at the other house and back into the car with not much problem. The mower is moderately heavy but nothing a He-Man can't handle, the problem is that it's unwieldy. Back at my house, as I was lowering it to the ground I was hit with PAIN. I'm used to some pain, but this was PAIN, the kind where you see bright lights and feel sick and about to faint kinda' PAIN. Lower back PAIN. The kind of pain that mostly paralyzes you and I had visions of the neighbors having to carry me in.

But I finally limped inside, took a bottle of Aleve and somehow got changed and went to a meeting. I found that if I stood up, straight up, I was able to function. So I stood up most all day and then went to photograph a baseball game that night. All the standing and moving, I suppose, loosening things up where I felt a little better by then and at bed time.

Here's my second tip. When you sleep all night on an injured back, don't try and jump out of bed in the morning. I tried.....and almost cried the PAIN was so bad, the back having tightened up again overnight. Luckily, with my sports connections at Midland High, I am able to avail myself of the Bulldog's professional training staff and equipment, which is what I did Wednesday morning along with a call to the world's best trainer, Doc Dodson. The trainers gave me a going over and recommended some helpful tips, especially about sleeping. I just love a pillow between my knees all night. But today it's somewhat better if I mind what I'm doing like not bending over, turning quickly or sitting crooked. I'm trying to teach D. Daphne Dog how to tie my shoes.

500 Wins...

Congratulations to Midland High School baseball coach Barry Russell on achieving his 500th career coaching win last week. A big accomplishment considering, at Midland High, it includes 11 consecutive playoff appearances, 10 straight seasons with 23 or more wins-- including owning all or part of the District Championships in 1998, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2006. The Bulldogs were the Texas State 5-A Champions in 2001 and state semi-finalists in 2006.

On Wednesday night Coach Russell was honored with a dinner by players, fans and the baseball booster club....cake and all! Photo Slideshow..

Heritage explained.....

And now I know of the genes responsible for my fondness for the military......and whiskey!!

Over decades, my Mom did extensive genealogical work on her family and my Dads, all without the Internet. She called people all over the states and wrote to people in Europe. Her family went back to North Carolina in the early 1700's, getting her in the DAR. My Dad's came from Germany on his Mom's side, and from Northern Ireland, after migrating from Scotland, on his father's side. His Grandad's name was Robert Howard Craig. They actually went to N. Ireland twice and met some distant relatives.

Recently she gave me a lot of her work which included the Obit of my Great Grand Uncle, Sir James Craig M.D. who became the President of the Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland. He was also a knight...always nice to have one knight in the family. It listed his birthplace as Castlecatt, County Antrim, thusly telllng me where my Great Grandfather came from. I knew we came from County Antrim but not the exact village. It is about 3 miles from Bushmills....and we know what they make there. Thus my obvious love of whiskey, though I haven't had a dram in 15 years.

So, with the Internet I decided to see what I could find out about Craig's in Castlecatt and Bushmills. Finding no official town websites I ended up writing to a couple of B&B's in the area figuring they'd be nice people....and they were. One actually owns The Craig Cottage B&B right up the road from Bushmills. She tells me that there are still Craigs galore in the area. Another lady who owns the Primrose Inn in Castlecatt sent me a lead on the war memorial to the WWI dead from Bushmills listing several Craigs...and a Wallace. My Great Grandfather married a Wallace from around Bushmills. And so now we know where my name, Wallace Howard Craig, came from....my Great Grandparents, Robert Howard Craig, and wife Ellen Wallace

These are the WWI dead, sharing my family names, from the Memorial to the 12th Royal Irish Rifles, a central County Antrim unit raised for the war. Look at the dates of death for the first three.....all the same day at the battle of the Somme.

CRAIG, Rifleman, SAMUEL, 1712. 12th Bn. Royal Irish Rifles. Co. Antrim 1st July 1916. XI. M. 5.
CRAIG, Rifleman, ALEXANDER, 614. 12th Bn. Royal Irish Rifles. Co. Antrim 1st July 1916. Pier and Face 15 A and 15 B
WALLACE, Rifleman, ALEXANDER, 19242. 12th Bn. Royal Irish Rifles. 1st July 1916. Age 26. Husband of Amy Wallace, of 5, Gilmore St., Ballymena, Co. Antrim. Pier and Face 15 A and 15 B
CRAIG, Lance Corporal, JAMES, 47837. 12th Bn. Royal Irish Rifles. Co. Antrim 11th April 1918. Panel 138 to 140 and 162 to 162A and 163A

Here's an interesting website detailing the history of the 12th Royal Irish Rifles ........