Our first Christmas in our mountain house with Kodi |
Writing Life Stories
With Glenda Council Beall
Words from a Reader
Sunday, September 29, 2024
The Old Life Ends
Sunday, August 25, 2024
Vacation in Southern Utah
Barren is beautiful in Bryce National Park |
Some of my favorite vacations took place in the southwestern United States. Each year, in the fall, Barry and I traveled to Las Vegas for a truck show on behalf of Hercules Bumpers, our Council family business. The company manufactured heavy duty bumpers for pickup trucks. Barry and I flew out early from south Georgia because he was in charge of setting up the booth. For several days, he and Hal, my brother, worked at the convention promoting the newest bumpers and finding new customers among the truck dealerships represented there. We were a national company at that time and our strong, tough bumpers were in demand all over the country.
Neither Barry nor I were into gambling, but we enjoyed
the stage shows with popular performers like Mr. Las Vegas, Wayne Newton.
Our favorite part of the trip was after the convention
center closed and all the Hercules bumpers were repacked and shipped home, we
had a week to ourselves.
We rented a car and drove north into southern Utah. I had
not realized how beautiful the barren landscape would be. The hoodoos, like spires from another planet in Bryce Canyon, stood magnificently tall, the color of burnished copper in the setting
sun.
We drove to Zion National Park and Barry took hundreds of photographs. I had never seen landscapes like those at Zion. You can’t drive through much of the park, and at that time we didn’t know of any way to get down into the gorge. I understand now you can take a shuttle down between the high canyon walls that rise a thousand feet and see the narrow river that created this site.
My favorite memory of those trips was a ride back to Las Vegas in the falling snow. We drove through large forests of Aspen trees with their white trunks. We listened to a recording of haunting Indian flute melodies while driving through the total silence of the snowfall. Click on the link below and imagine driving for an hour through softly falling snow covering the Aspen trees. The deep forests of white trunks bordered the mountain road. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyTy0WHOYqw&list=PLKeaaUnDcEk7Mn8f6ofiUyplqhiWwx587&index=2
I still get chills remembering the feeling I had that day. We both knew we had seen and been a part of something very special and I will never forget it. That video is packed in a box and I will find it and show it one day, I hope.
Southern Utah has an interesting history. The Mormons are a major part of it. Books about those who left Salt Lake City and moved south tell those stories. Many of them had come west from the southern part of the mainland so the region came to be called Dixie.
I love the western part of our country and southern Utah
holds great memories for me.
Saturday, July 27, 2024
Women have come so far but still struggle.
Have you seen the interview by Melinda French Gates with Billie Jean King?
Wow, what a
lot I learned about women in tennis and all sports. Do you remember in the
seventies when women could not get a credit card without a man signing for her?
She could not use her husband’s card unless he made her a signer. I remember my
sister who was newly married telling me how she was embarrassed when she tried
to use her husband’s credit card and was turned down.
I have really
enjoyed Melinda Gates’ program of interviews with women. It is the best program
I have seen to learn about the history of tennis and how Billie Jean changed
the minds of people who watched her match with Bobbie Riggs and won in straight
sets, 6–4, 6–3, 6–3. She earned the winner-take-all prize of $100,000.
People came
to her and said that this match changed their ideas about women in sports. Men said
it made them think about their daughters, their nieces, their sisters and the
possibilities for them. She was a fantastic tennis player, but at the time, women
did not get the attention or equal pay as men.
When Billie Jean
was outed by someone and didn’t deny it, she lost all the money she had gained because
those who had supported her athleticism dropped her. She was dropped because she
told the truth and didn’t deny that she was gay. And her funds were taken from her.
She said that
dads make the biggest difference when girls want to go into sports, and she hopes
these men who can influence and support girls who love tennis or any sport make
sure these girls have opportunities to follow their interests and learn all they
can.
I remember my
father said his oldest child, my sister, June, was the best baseball player in
the family. She had four brothers. But, she was not allowed to play on the
local team that my father managed. I don’t know if she wanted to play, but I
know she was not allowed. And at that time, she would not have expected to be
included.
King continues as a leader in the struggle for societal change. In her own words, she is
fighting for equality and freedom and equal rights and opportunities for
everyone. Not just girls, but everyone.
Young people
today often take for granted that females have always had opportunities to
become professional sports figures but people like Billie Jean King, now 80
years old, are still working diligently for equality of gender, and ethnicity, and
she is teaching the business of tennis. She said the athletes need to know about who runs the tournaments, where their money comes from, and why it is important to know this organization they are a part of now. Like many people who become famous, if they
don’t understand the business they are involved with and hire others to handle their
finances, they could possibly lose everything.
I urge everyone,
especially women, to watch Melinda
Gates’ interviews with these women who are making a difference in the world.
When we know our history, we know more about ourselves, and in today’s world
when women’s rights are being threatened, young and old can make better
decisions if they know about the past.
Saturday, July 13, 2024
Violence again and what will we do about it?
Friday, June 21, 2024
Do What you love to do as long as you can.
Sunday, May 12, 2024
Tuesdays, 6 - 8:30 PM Write with Me
May 12, 2024
Mother, Daddy at their 50th wedding anniversary with their grandchildren |
My mother as a young woman |
Friday, April 26, 2024
Moving on but slowly
LEXIE misses her sofa. I gave it away. No room in the apartment. |
Saturday, March 9, 2024
What Ann-Margret and I have in Common
In a recent article about Ann-Margrett, the movie star who played opposite Elvis Presley in Viva Las Vegas, I learned that she is 82 years old. She is still very pretty, and she has a life similar to mine except she sings, and I write. She is rich and I am not. Her estimated worth is 25 million dollars.
Like me, she doesn't get up until nearly noon every day. She makes no appointments for mornings. She loves her dogs. They make her feel joyful.
When Ann-Margret was young, she and her husband Roger enjoyed riding motorcycles. Barry and I loved to ride dirt bikes.
Ann-Margaret still owns a motorcycle and still rides it. The avid motorcyclist says she “of course” still rides her Harley Davidson.
“It's lavender and it's got white daisies all over it,” she says. “There's flowers on the back fender and on the front fender. I love the speed.”
While I don’t ride horses or motorcycles now, I well remember the excitement and joy of those halcyon days of yore.
Good for you, Ann-Margret. Ride as long as you can!
As we age, fight through difficulties, and lose loved
ones, we can still count our blessings, and remember.