CIGAR INDIAN QUANTUM MIRACLE

Welcome to the KWAHADI MUSEUM in Amarillo, Texas

Recently we were invited to an event called The Cowboy Christmas featuring

Michael Martin Murphy

MMM is a great friend of the old west Cowboy and Native American Indian 

and he was a good friend of my mother

Each year he has this event and donates his time and the proceeds to the Kwahadi Center

~we were delighted to be invited~

but as I walked into the museum that evening, I realized the last time I had been to the center was for my mother's funeral ceremony in February.  The day before (December 10) was her birthday and I had not expected the emotion I would feel walking in again

(...BACK STORY...

for many years Mr. Pura Vida and I had been on the look out for a nice "something" for his library/office, maybe a barber pole or chair, a cigar Indian???  we knew when we found the right thing we'd get it)

as we entered the gift shop at the center before the music---I saw this

I have visited the gift shop several times but this is the first time I had ever noticed this very cool and perfect cigar Indian...so I asked the clerk if it was for sale and she said you need to speak to the gentleman behind you

Mr. Charles Richey..director of the center

ME:  Is this carved Indian for sale?

HE:  well, I have had this carving for many many years and no one has ever offered to purchase it

Me: well, I have been looking for one for many years and I'm very interested in it

HE: it belonged to a very dear friend of mine, who without her this museum wouldn't even be...

her name is Charlene....

ME: as I interrupted him...she is my mother

yes that's my man taking the cigar Indian to my car a few days later

that's our cigar Indian on our hearth waiting to decide where it will be 

when we picked up the carving I looked down at the counter and saw the amulets my mother had made and donated to the gift shop 

This is her buckskin dress...I wore it to her ceremony and here it has been since I took it off and laid it here February 14, 2019.  It will soon live on at the Kwahadi Museum

I understand that many people would believe the whole situation of me seeing the cigar Indian for the first time ever and finding out it belonged to my mother and never knowing she even owned a cigar Indian, would think this could be explained as a random occurrence and somehow scientific...quantum physics

but...

that person is not me

and this is her clan who will learn the story of the 

miracle of the cigar Indian as we tell it over and over

Charlene

Many Feathers

December 10, 1934-February 14, 2019

MY NEIGHBOR EDY

"Miss Entrekin" was everyone's 4th grade teacher...I barely remember her, but her daughter Edith lived in her mom's house on Dressen Street for as long as I can remember.

I have known her all my life, but she was my neighbor for the past 10 years.

She recently had a stroke and moved in with her daughter Crystal...she sold all of her belongings and her house too.

Until I went to her living estate sale, I didn't realize just what a very cool person Edith was.  I mean, I knew she was neat...but she is REALLY NEAT!!

She was so talented and creative...she made pottery, she sewed, she painted, she gardened, she cooked and she read....she was smart and feisty.

Her house is awesome and so we bought it.  I'm not exactly sure what we're going to do with it, but today...I want to hang on to it tight.

When she went to live with her daughter, I put her in my phone as "Edith"

yesterday "Edith" called and then she left me a text...only it wasn't her...it was her daughter calling to tell me that she had passed away.

I happened to be wearing her favorite denim shirt that I took from her closet

S.A.D. am I

I am really sad

I took some of her pottery that she made by hand...I just love this little dish in my window

she had a huge collection of copper....now it belongs to my house

large candelabras...I painted this one white

jewelry yet to be made

lots of pretty old bottles and perfume....she was very feminine

lots of vintage linens

her kids called her mummy....I love that so much...it is so sweet to hear her called that

Mummy...it fits her

I'm not sure what I thought when I was going through all her things and moving them across the alley from her cool house to my cool house....

but

I didn't really expect her to die

when she left that day I bought her 100 year old Webster dictionary...I didn't think it would be the last time I would see her

Look how beautiful she is...and her sassy earthy soul is woven in my life...I will cling to the things this beautiful woman made with her hands and gathered in her home...

I will miss her

UGLY BROWN UPDATE

When we first began this project, hopefully our last big one for awhile,

I made my mind up that I would exercise my patience and when it gets done it gets done

this was in late summer...demo day

this was in late February and the day I decided that I might not have meant

APRIL!!!!  

The marble has been chosen and quite possibly on it's way!

Progress on the niche for sure

ummmm....do I really have flowers and art in this niche 

giving a whirl at venetian plaster that in theory was going to be a very pale pink since this is the powder room just off the pink music/dining room.  

Our color intensity kind of got away from us!

well...yes, yes I do have art hanging...mirrors too!  I know I have to drive Mr. PV so crazy!  But getting the cart ahead of the horse kind of helps me not be so forlorn in long projects.  These antique mirrors have been in my guest bathroom for a very long time! 

Waiting Waiting Waiting

not waiting on me, that's for sure!

I think this ceiling pitch is going to be so cool!

a very rustic hewn beam with a very chandelerias chandelier!

I have found a tin retablo on eBay that has a $4,500 bid

NOT

so...my plan to amuse myself while the marble is on order and getting installed, is to paint her on a very large ugly painting that I bought at a recent auction.  The frame is to die for...

It's also a pretty good way to spend a very blustery March day!...and/or weekend!

depending how detailed I get on that dove!

WHERE ARE YOU GOING SWEETHEART?

 

A late in pregnancy cesarean surprise benefitted baby Theodore, but mom was a little late feeling better.  

She was so excited when the time came to be able to take a nice hot bath and this is what she told me....

I was so excited to be able to sit in a nice hot tub and just relax and while I was there, all alone and soaking in my tub, Honey read (the following) to me.  I just put her on speaker phone and she read to me and I think I will always remember it!

I think reading out loud, words, emotions, old stories...well...they are unforgettable.  It's one of the sweetest things I've ever heard about...this sweet moment between grandmother and granddaughter!

The following is a poem that my Aunt Irene wrote about her Papa, and Theodore August Pshigoda's great great great grandfather and name sake...this is why the story is so sweet

EMAIL:

Grace:  My Aunt Irene, Theodore Benton's oldest child and one of 4 girls was a wonderful poet.  All of her poetry was about her family and her son who had a printing company in Dallas, published a little book of her poetry and sent each of her children a copy and Gene (my brother) made me a copy and sent it to me.  I get really inspired from reading her poetry and I think you would greatly enjoy so, when I can get around to it, I am going to make you a copy (about 50 poems) and send to you.  She dearly loved her Father (Theodore Henry) and wrote about him and her Mother often....also her children and grandchildren.  I am enclosing one poem that she wrote about her Father, and my Grandfather - Theodore.  It is obvious from her poems that he was a good man and great father.  Everyone loved Grandpa Benton and he was affectionately  called "Toad or Toadie".  Talk to you later, Love Honey

My apologies for not responding earlier.  First, I was inundated with orders on my eBay store.  I do want to tell you that I am working on my present to that sweet little Baby Boy.  I didn't want to make him a little quilt just like his brother, Henry.  So I started a different one, and have been swamped and not able to work on it very much....but I will give you a clue:  It is Hiawatha ABC and has blocks representing Native American  items to match the alphabet.  Also, I will send him a little turtle amulet which is for boys.  I received a picture of Theodore and Little Theodore, I think which came from Gina.  I forwarded it to Uncle Gene, knowing he would be so pleased.  

My memory of my Grandpa Benton (Theodore Henry).  I loved him so much and he would teach me Choctaw words which I remember some.  One sentence I remember (spelling is what sounds like to me):  Katcha, me au, chum ki pully - which means: "Where are you going Sweetheart."  Grandpa Benton was also so happy and jovial and loved for his kids to come spend the week end at Plainview, Texas.

Grandpa was always a farmer and/or cattle trader.  He worked hard all of his life plowing and planting crops.  I think he raised a lot of cotton crops.  He and Grandma always had a garden and she canned and cooked a lot.  She always went barefoot and wore an apron with a pocket and kept her money tied up in a hankie and pinned inside the pocket.  They would sell eggs and milk.  They would raise and kill their own meat also.  We would go nearly every weekend and spend with them at their farm near Plainview - as well as all of their other kids and their children.  People would be sleeping all over the house.  Mother and Daddy would sleep in a bed and me, Gene and Eddie would sleep at the foot of the bed with our feet going upward.  Wonderful, fond memories.  Grandpa and his boys would play dominoes and the grandkids would play monopoly, etc.  It was later that Grandpa Benton started calling me "Many Feathers".  He always said I was smart and talented and like a bird with many different feathers.  He and Grandma always sent me little presents.  A couple of my favorites was a little porcelain doll and another was a little gold ring with a yellow bead center.  I always looked forward to gifts from them which was not always a holiday or birthday gift.....just a gift.

Grandpa, as a young man, went to an Indian School - called "Old Goodland" as well as my father.  My daddy was in charge of looking after a bunch of little boys who were going to school there.  Grandpa Benton, as a young man and even older in school played ball.  He was a very good player and a "star of the team".  Gina's Uncle Gene could probably add a lot information about Grandpa Toady Benton.  I never thought of Grandpa Benton having a drinking problem, but I remember lots of times that he and his sons would get a little "tanked up and have a good time".  As a matter of fact, kinda like Gina/Brian and her children get together and "wine-taste" LOL

Grandma and Grandpa lived on a farm just out of Plainview, Texas.  Hope this answers some questions.  Love to you and your little family, Honey

HOBBY LOBBY TOP 5

Do you like Hobby Lobby?

Or is it a chore that you MUST do and therefore DREAD???

Not that it matters, but even in the midst of all the chaos and hullabaloo, I find Hobby Lobby to be one of the best places to shop and here's why...

1.  First stop from the long drive is always...the bathroom...this is where it smells fresh and clean and no matter the season there is ALWAYS glitter sparkling on the floor!

2.  EVERYTHING no matter the season is ON SALE...and a great sale...not just 10% off.  This  means when the season (Christmas) is tight...it is so affordable.  Exciting Stuff!  And if a sale isn't good enough?  Then take your phone in and use the app for 40%

3.  The wonderful Christian music....please listen and let yourself hum along to your favorite hymn...it's one of the most relaxing and in my opinion, brainiac shopping strategies of all time!  

4.  Which probably explains #4....I actually like standing in a long line and watching the employees over and over and over be kind and gracious and helpful and NICE...

no matter the season...

CLASSY!

5.  I just love it when I run into someone I love in the aisle, which happens often, so when you get done with your shopping, it's time for lunch and you make time to lunch with them...and then you notice in the middle of a bite of a Golden Light Cheeseburger...the glitter sparkling on the face across from you!  

I just can't wait to go back!

CHEAP

Meet our granddad...Charles...his brothers called him Chief

Meet by brother and sister

Bobby and M

they have been married since 1973...high school sweethearts together forever

after all this time...they got to choose their grandparent names

Meet their children Bobby and Beth and their four new babies

These babies will finally be adopted in January and then we can show their faces.

With one phone call, in one fail swoop, in years and months and weeks and days

God's great plan....unfolded.

Imagine the heart ache of trying for years to have children

Imagine the uncertainty of giving birth to four children you didn't want

Imagine the heart-break of a birth mother changing her mind when the baby came

Imagine the struggle of two parents who could just not get it together to keep their kids

Imagine the anger over the adoption agency bankrupting with thousands of your dollars

Imagine the scene CPS saw to make the choice to remove two brothers and twin sisters from their home

all the while...swirling above...a great dynamic plan was brewing

who in the world would adopt four desperate little baby children?

GOD knew just the family that would!

in one fail swoop...Chief and M get to have four little grandchildren...as if they had just waited for them one by one...over the years...

On the very first day of school this fall...Bobby and M called to talk to the kids to wish them good luck....one of the twin girls, who can't quite say "Chief" yet...told him...

"sorry Cheap...we're in a hurry...we gotta go!"

God is Good

Pura Vida

OKLAHOMA

I am almost as in love with the state of Oklahoma as I am New Mexico and count myself so fortunate to be but a drive away from each one!

There is so much history to the wonderful state of Oklahoma...a wide open, big blue sky and fertile soil country all its own!

The name Oklahoma is based on the Choctaw Indian words okla humma which translates as "red people." 

Recorded history for the name "Oklahoma" began with Spanish explorer Coronado in 1541 on his quest for the "Lost City of Gold." Oklahoma became the 46th state on November 16, 1907.

My people are from here...they came during the Trail of Tears

My mother was born in a little house in Bokchito that is still standing today

The Trail of Tears was a series of forced relocations of Native American nations in the United States following the Indian Removal Act of 1830. The removal included members of the Cherokee, Muscogee, Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw nations, from their ancestral homelands in the southeastern U.S. to an area west of the Mississippi River that had been designated as Indian Territory.

Our supper table can be very spirited during college football season

we studied at Texas Tech, Texas A&M, OU and OSU...all rivals

Origin of the lyrics. The phrase "Boomer Sooner" refers to the Land Run of 1889, in which the land around the modern university was settled. Boomers were people who campaigned for the lands to be opened (or tried to enter the lands) before passage of the Indian Appropriations Act of 1889.  It is said that the Sooners found their land and staked it before the land rush started with the single cannon shot into the air.

The Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889 was the first land rush into the Unassigned Lands. The area that was opened to settlement included all or part of the present-day Canadian, Cleveland, Kingfisher, Logan, Oklahoma, and Payne counties of the US state of Oklahoma.

Far and Away is a very sweet epic film about the Land Rush starring Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise.  Their chemistry in this film is incredible and I cannot watch it enough!






Tulsa Time  Even though the late great Don Williams is from Floydada, Texas, he made Tulsa famous with this song.  Certainly Tulsa could have been famous without this fun song, as it's one of the most sophisticated cities in America.

This past summer, our entire vacation was a drive through the state of Oklahoma and we loved every single minute of it!

The history is wonderful...so much to see and do...but perhaps you might know of Oklahoma for a very sad moment in time

Oklahoma City Bombing

April 19, 1995

Oklahoma City National Memorial

If you are lucky enough to take a drive through Oklahoma..give yourself at least a week to see it all....the most beautiful country you can imagine!  If not, it is worth the flight in!  If you don't have time to do that...then take advantage of technology and take a virtual vacation!

OKLAHOMA IS OK!

THE UGLY BROWN BATHROOM

 When we purchased 822, the tiny bathroom in the exact center of the house was definitely on the

TO DO LIST!

I had no idea that 7 years almost exactly (October 19, 2010) would pass by before it ever made it to the top of the list.

I have been collecting photos and ideas all this time 

The bathroom was a five piece bathroom in a very small space and truthfully over the years I came to really like the cozy feel of it...but it was so dated it was coming back into style!

My plan?  Well, it's what I would call  a

religious romantic chocolate box powder room

Pink marble

Pink Venetian Plaster

lots and lots of fun vintage religious ...STUFF!

not this white but this is one of my inspirational photos...loving the brass!!  See what I mean? So old it's back in style!

Here we go...first things first...

DEMO!

so long brown tub

OUCH!

NOPE!

scary!

wish you could stay exposed brick wall...you  nearly made it but you just don't fit!

so long ceiling...hello pitch!

YES!

Beam and Chandelier...fancy!

Hoping we will done by Christmas!