Cousin Tate at the P.A. Watson Cabin

From Saturday: Cousin Tate sits on the steps at my Great-Great-Grandfather's cabin in Arlington, TX. Click the photo and study Tate's expression. Is it serene? Impassive? Pensive? He's a Tate Mona Lisa, clinging to a truck bulldozer!

In background, my Mom - in a green top - speaks to one of the pioneer ladies from the Arlington Historic Society. Members of my family occupied this cabin from 1857 until 1961. On the north Texas prairie, in the 19th Century, the breezeway between the connected structures, and the porch, marked this as a comfortably appointed cabin. Texas Historical Marker Number 3901:

After his wife Margaret Ann (Armstrong) died, Patrick Alfred Watson (1810-1894) built this dwelling in 1855 near present Arlington for their six children. In 1858 he married Margaret's niece Mary Jane Donaldson and they had six children. A surveyor, educator, and religious leader, Watson gave land for the P.A. Watson Community Cemetery and for the original site of a church and school building. The congregation is now West Fork United Presbyterian Church in Grand Prairie. The house was enlarged and Watson family descendants occupied it until 1961. It was moved here in 1976.

We are descended from P.A. Watson's union with Mary Jane Donaldson. I can remember, as a child, in the late 1960s, going to Thanksgiving celebrations at the family farm. It was located just north and across I-30 from Six Flags Over Texas. U.S. Hwy 360, running north/south along the Arlington/Grand Prairie border to DFW Airport, was originally Watson Road. The access road is still Watson Road.

A Watson daughter married a Copeland: the two became my Great-Grandparents. Copeland Road runs east/west, and is wedged between I-30 and Six Flags.


*Three of Emjay's children; four of her grandchildren; two of her great-grandchildren: photo
*My brothers and I are listed near the bottom right of this family tree at the cabin. Emjay is above us and to the left: "June Goodson." "Special K", a sometime commenter here (apparently, my family are big on anonymity - at least as it relates to being associated with this blog!) = June's daughter Kathy.
*Thanks to Cousin Jenny for the photos
*Photo of Cabin
*Info and more photos

Super Freak

"Super Freak" intro plays on jam box. 18 month old cousin Tate dances. In time to lyrics, I say: "He's a very kinky boy." 5 people stare blankly: "What?!"

16 minutes ago from web

gcotharn
Greg Cotharn





Cousin Tate likes the funk.

End Zone: Anderson and Roe, "A New Account of the Blue Danube Waltzes"

Get Down On It + Cousin Tate

Dancing cousin Tate, a very kinky boy, makes his 5 second debut as part of the framing of a television commercial.

Cousin Tate is ready for his close up

Fun outfit. The blond hair and impish smile are nice accoutrements.

I would love to see this outfit accessorized with brown (or cordovan?) Buster Brown shoes. Would give it an 1870s to 1930s vibe.

Of course, were I a good cousin, I would buy those shoes myself; and arrive at Tate's house with a camera, a gaffer, an assistant lighting director to handle the bounce*, a little squeaky toy, a butter cookie, and apple juice.   And a photographic documentarian:  Cousin Bob.

Sadly, I am kind of a suck eggs cousin. Mainly because I refuse to hire a union gaffer.

*"the bounce" = a light reflector on a movie set. Thx to @brookedodson

Beauty

Preparing to celebrate the holidays with family, I am struck by the beauty to be found.

My cousin, Jade - another grandchild of the prolific Emjay.



My family, on both sides, is STOCKED with beautiful women. And those women produce sons and daughters. My family is gleefully countering the Muslim population explosion.

Jade's son, Rylan, ready for trick or treating:





I put up photos of cousin Chelsea and her son, Hunter, a while back. But, look at this new photo:


Apple pie. Except, Hunter is more like frogs and snails and puppy-dogs' tails. As he reaches adulthood, I suspect Hunter will need an outlet for the natural heroism, and for the love of action, which oozes from his every pore. Might he have a future in the military? In a fire department? Whatever his future, Hunter will never be a Beta male. He is constitutionally incapable.



Below, my cousins: sisters Sydney and Annika, and their and my brand new cousin, Piper.



Sydney looks like a resident of Whoville. At age 22 or so, Sydney and Annika will slay men where they stand, via nothing more than a glance and a smile. And, if headbands are in style in 2031, Piper will slay, also.







Cousin Victoria and Marsha Brady.




Toria is another grandchild of the prolific Emjay. I'll be at Toria's house tomorrow, for Thanksgiving.

The beauty in my families keeps coming, as in fields which steadily sprout wildflowers.








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One more vignette:

Cousin Tate, wearing his Ole Miss jersey, made official pilgrimage to Oxford for Ole Miss vs. LSU. After, he imitated Ole Miss fans:

Photos from luscious Seville

I love everything* about this photo



I imagine stories for all the women in the photo. I imagine this tiny boy grows into a man filled to the brim with self confidence; into a man who has absolute knowledge that the women in his life adore him. Self confidence beats tentativeness every time. The little boy's shoes are the kind of shoes which, were I a better cousin, I would buy for Cousin Tate.


I wore either Buster Browns or cowboy boots through early childhood. There was some type of problem with Southern Brother and I rolling our feet outwards (to best of my understanding), and Mom attempted to fix it with "good shoes". She seemingly succeeded. I will attest that Buster Browns were good and durable shoes: we beat them to death, yet they persevered. I was in first grade before I scored a pair of tennis shoes like the other kids.


Searching Buster Brown online, I discover the venerable company no longer makes the model of shoes which Southern Brother and I wore, and which looked a lot like the shoes the Spanish boy is wearing.

Modern day Buster Brown preschool selections for boys

The "Bryce" comes closest to replicating the shoe we wore. Except, memory of the shoe is burned in my mind for life, and the Bryce's non leather sole is an aesthetic fail. If shoes make the outfit, soles make the shoes. The Bryce does not measure up to our 1960s classics.




Photo at top is from a blogpost of travel photos from Seville, linked by lovely Tatyana.




*Would I recommend those purple ankle collar shoes? I would not, yet a man does appreciate the charm of a thing which may be unbuckled.

A New Account of the Blue Danube Waltzes

Posting this amounts to a mood check.  Sometimes, I detest schmaltz, and want to slap it to the side with maximum disdain. Today: I like it. Feels right.





Pretty dress.
Pretty girl.
Pretty parlor.







From Anderson and Roe blog:

Our videos are not intended to be clever or “rock-style;” they are designed to enhance the meaning of the music performed. [...] Similarly, our video of the New Account of the Blue Danube Waltzes intends to visually dramatize what the music already conveys: as we wrote in our album’s liner notes, “our kaleidoscopic Blue Danube Fantasy takes the elegance of the Viennese waltz as a point of departure and plunges headlong into the passions that undulate beneath the dance's restrained facade.”

My cousin Tate doesn't like schmaltz as much. He likes the funk.

Komodo Dragon Thursday

because I am horrified by Komodo Dragons. They are vicious car wrecks which I stare at.

New species info: Komodo Dragons shoot venom from glands which run along the jawline on the insides of their mouths. The venom is an anticoagulant. Their victims suffer lowered blood pressure, eventually going into shock (whereupon the Komodo Dragon and his Komodo friends eat them alive). Via Instapunk:

Scientists always believed that because Komodos also fed on carrion, their mouths must teem with bacteria and that the germs infected their victims, killing them slowly.

Magnetic resonance imaging scans have shown, however, that Komodos have glands in their mouths that produce venom similar to that of many snakes.

The lizard’s sharp, serrated teeth open up wounds into which the venom flows from the gland that runs along the jawline. The venom acts as an anticoagulant, increasing the blood flow and reducing blood pressure, sending the victim into shock. The victim’s blood cannot clot and it bleeds to death....

Despite the dragon’s venom gland running visibly along its jawline, scientists had not realised until now that it was poisonous.

“That’s because no one bothered to look,” said Dr Fry, who noted the gland during his work with captive Komodos at Singapore zoo.

I can't tell you how many nature shows I've watched over the decades in which highly credentialed zoologists stared straight into the camera and informed me that Komodo dragons kill by infecting their prey with the godawful bacteria in their mouths. A whole new dimension in halitosis. I believed them. Why wouldn't I? But they were wrong.

The End Zone is clearly about:

• Happy Slip videos (1, 2) 
• Fort Worth cartoon videos about my parents
• Cousin Tate
• Texas Rangers baseball 
• future POTUS Piper Palin
• Megyn Kelly, and 
• horrifying Komodo Dragon info (1, 2)
  

There you go:  all the insight you will ever need into my personality.

Tate loves America

My cousin;
whom -
having urinated on a flag
during a notorious
diaper changing incident -
has reformed his protester ways and
has seen the light:
Tate loves America,
Hippies smell.