Light and Shadow

Old MKT Railroad Station

This old railroad station has been put to another use, since the original function is no longer required. It has become one of the coolest antique shops ever..

it has everything from the old cookbooks / booklets that I love, I have found vintage chicken scratch/snowflaking kitchen aprons and embroidered linens... and all sorts of vintage kitchen utensils...one of my favorite.shops to search through...

Fountain

Reading in the Shade

This sculpture seems quite at ease and at home here..resting in the shade..reading all about the Katy Museum

The Old MKT Depot

In 1872, the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway established a railhead in the wilderness just south of the Red River in Texas.
The Katy Depot is the former passenger station and general office building of the MKT Railroad. It now houses a museum filled with hundreds of artifacts, display cases, photos.......and treasured memories.

Look at Me

Whilst entering a restaurant I had wanted to visit for awhile...there was this tiny flower..stand so proud and tall.....bravely facing the wind and cold.. I just had to take a picture....

By the way..the same restaurant wouldn't allow me to take photos of some of the best food ever... It's okay. Pictures or no, I will go back.

On The Road Again....

Did you ever wonder......where all the tracks lead to...

What adventures await....

What dangers and drama...

This is the path to everywhere.............and nowhere

Maybe thats why the whistle of the train sounds so haunting and lonly.............

The Inn

Again...in our wanderings and on the same day we found the old clock...we came across this beautiful inn....a bed and breakfast thats as beautiful as its name. It"s called the Inn of Many Faces, and upon reading further..we discovered it was originally built for one of the towns founding fathers.....being built in 1897.

Soon..soon..I hope, I hope.....I get to stay here and be pampered in one of the lovely restored rooms..and wander about the two acres its located on. This is truly a lovely house..and a lovely retreat.

All That's Left

We came across this beautiful old clock in our wanderings and upon further investigation...... discovered it to be all that's left of a historic building.... Of the old 1913 Denison High School to be exact. The building was on the Texas 2007 Most Endangered List...and rightly so.

It appears there was quite a battle to save this wonderfulhttp://mygardenfence.blogspot. old building... however, this fight was lost and the building demolished, torn down..destroyed and annilated. This clock being all thats left.

I don't live in this little town, and don't understand why it's impacted on me..except for the fact that I'm a genealogy nut..and love all things vintage. Well, almost all things vintage. It's just a mystery to me that in a town rich with history..this school building had to go...I am so sad for the building...and the clock sitting all alone...., while it awaits what befalls it next......

Dancing Lights

Tiny Park..Squirrel Watching

Playground of one of my favourite little creatures... The scampering squirrel...

This is the neatest little park. There are tons of trees, places to rest and just be.....but best of all is the squirrels. There are many and too fast for me to get photo. I am,however a patient person, and I will get the next one. One that can be seen clearly !!!...*sighs

I'm not sure what these berries are..but they're the lovliest shade of red....they look Christmasy......

One of the "condos" of my elusive little friend..the squirrel

Home of the mighty oak tree..and the tiny acorn....

My elusive scampering little friend. He appears and plays, I try silently to raise camera, he looks at me, I look at him..i raise my camera..he snickers..and away he zooms...

I sighed and gave up on squirrel photos...I just sat quietly and watched them play...I did manage to get these two photos..can you see him???

Sunset and the Red River

Part of the Ranch

There are some beautiful ranches in Texas..and some very large ones. This is not one of them..( the larger ones )..it's just quiet and serene.
In the heat of a blazing Texas sun..this little ranch, with its many shades of green and all the trees looks so peacful, cool and inviting. I even love the look of it in December..when this photo was taken..


It seems this fence stretches on forever, enclosing valleys, hill and hidden places. I grew up in an area like this......an endless source of wonder for myself and my sister.
There was tire swings, a treehouse large enough to hold ourselves,several cousins and our dolls..there was animals, and fields and pastures going on and on.........there was places to lie under the trees, look up at the clouds...to dream and imagine....

In the Kiamichi's

The Kiamichi's......Lake Sardis..... some of the most beautiful areas in Oklahoma can be found here. There is wildlife, rivers, lakes...hiking, fishing...everything is here..surrounded by this beauty

My someday home....back in the mountains...near rivers fed by cold springs...

Someday...............my log cabin

Do You Know What This Is?

This here is IBE writing, with a do you know what this is thing !!

When me and the girl was out walking. I saw these thingies and wanted to take a picture. But the girl said no..I took the picture anyways.

It was almost dark and I couldn't see well, but I managed to get all my buttons turned on and took this picture. These are really really pretty and they're Magnolia seed pods. Those reddish looking seeds on the ground are a beautiful shade of red..and this is what the magnolia trees come from. The pod thingies may be kinda ugly, but the seeds, the trees and the flowers are just too beautiful.

The girl says if you get these seed thingies at just the right time, when they're all red and pretty, before our little squirrel friends get to them..they make great arrangments for your home...

Parking Lot Sunset

Even the parking lot couldn't diminish these lucious colors...

Little Barber Shop

In the present time..of all things fast, from fast food, fast cars.......our fast paced lives.

Stop for a minute and look back to a time of the general store, barber shop, beauty shop...and the corner drugstore, with the ice cream scoops in tiny glass dishes..so cold it almost froze you,... the Saturday movies and nickle candy..... those were good times, not all was..but most were

More of Little Village

See there on the porch..the wringer washing machine?
When I was a little girl, we owned one of these marvels..designed to make the housewives life easier... you ask yourself..how does she remember something so ordinary???? ( I remember a lot of ordinary things...)...however, this one stands out to present day. Simply put...mothers everywhere were quick to warn children.. "Don't put your hand near the wringer part"!!!!!... That should have been enough. ** sighs , Now enter my self and an equally stupid cousin...well, she dared me..and I dared her..then it got to be double dog dare. I lost and as any country girl will tell you, only a hanging or a rattlesnake stands in the way of that...and so I was the first to stick my hand in... I was also the last. You could have heard me screaming 3 counties away..and Texas has some big counties. Our mothers came running from where they had been quilting and I was eventually rescued....
By the way, I never told on you Bitty...you still owe me !!!!!!!!!!

This is one of my favorite of the older houses in the village. They're all wonderful but the one with the walkway is a special one.

A very special house was this.....but for what reason the milk can is placed here escapes me..

I can almost see this houses lady standing in doorway...to catch a little cool breeze

Another little log cabin

Paper Wasp Nest

Showing inside the cells of the paper wasp nest. Paper Wasps are stingers !! These stingers prefer to build their nests in places that bring them in close contact to people.

An egg is laid in each of these cells. Larvae hatch from these cells and are fed by worker wasps......the main supply of food is nectar and caterpillars.

The Paper Wasp nests are developed by the female wasps who use a blend of saliva and wood to form single layer nests containing individual cells.

The size of the wasp nest can range from 1" to 18" or more.....(This was a fairly large one then). The old timers say the size of the nest can depend a lot on the warm weather and food supply..., and actually it makes a lot of sense.

Sad Little Face

This is Ibe...the girl and me, didn't notice the little face at first glance.. but when she saw little face, the girl almost sobbed. She went back to the area..and cleared up around the tiny flower. I thought little flower might be afraid of the stick, so stick is gone now.

Through the Canopy

Time and the Window

I seem to be partial to very old buildings and whatevers in my wanderings. Some seem to have a story to tell and some have long since told their story.

This one seemed interesting.. it was home to the "pods" ; the wasp and the bee.........so there is still life and interest here, not only with the aforementioned, but also the texture of plants, the wood and the old peeling paint.

Note to self..get a book showing plants and their names.

The Eisenhower Birthplace State Historic Site

Eisenhower Birthplace State Historic Site

Vintage phone in the Visitors Center. There is in this building lots and lots of materials, mementos, photographs of his early life, the war years and that of the Presidency. There was just too much to look at and the tour was starting soon the guide said... so away we went...

I love this statue...it was done by Robert Dean Jr.

Mr. Dean has completed three statues of Dwight D. Eisenhower...

The one in Denison,Texas... his birthplace

the second on the grounds of the U.S.Military Academy

the third on the grounds of the U.S. Embassy in London

His other major works include two statues of General Douglas McArthur

and one of George S.Patton

Now I ask you..isn't the sky just too blue in Texas

This is a beautiful little house.."back in the day" this would truly have been a fine wonderful home

As the guide let us in the front door, and then turned to lock it behind us..(we would be exiting at the back of the house), she was having trouble getting the key to come back out..I looked down and was amazed at the workmanship of the "lockplate?". It was a taller one..more tall than wide and there was a raised embossed heart there, surrounding where the key had finally been removed.

This is just to the left of the long hallway and was the family sitting room. I especially loved the little chair and the toys...but then I looked at what the table held...

Our guide, (a wonderful lady and thankfully, a really cool one) seemed kinda amused by my little outburst. Upon seeing what was on the table, I believe I blurted out something like{ ..ummmmm holy hells bells..something kinda like that..:)... } You hafta understand, I truly love vintage sewing supplies..and here was a tablefull. There was everything from several pincushions, a sewing case, a needlecase..and a tiny box holding scissors and other supplies..and a very, very old, well used darning egg.

And then...there on the chair, (just behind the guide)...was a white pillow cushion with pins and spindle bobbins and she must have imagined I would faint..cause she quickly asked me a question. She said..do you know what that is?? And being a good Texan, I said well of course. My granny had those and she let me help her sometime. The lady next to me froze me with a look...but not for long...the guide actually let me hold that beautiful cushion and look at the pins, the thread, the spindle bobbins and how they were wound...and the lace that was being made.... It was wonderful...

I don't think the lady that gave me the look forgave me..

I loved this beautiful old Log Cabin quilt...and the old chair and cradle. Note that cute little white nessesity at the foot of the bed. "Back in the day" these were called everything from chamber pots...to well..... This one has a crocheted cover for the lid...

This little highchair had many uses.....it came apart in ways so as to serve...as highchair, walker, and a stroller...

Another of my weaknesses...and yes, I have many....happens to be stoves from the bygone days. But I tell you, if you've never had red beans, ham and either cornbread or biscuits cooked on a wood stove...well, you just haven't had your fair share of good food.


This little area and the other flower areas...are all butterfly gardens. The little house on the post..is a butterfly home...

Another little house on the property

Another of the buildings on the property

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The Eisenhower Birthplace State Historic Site is located at:

609 South Lamar Avenue

Denison, Grayson County, Texas..

The house, office and visitor center are only closed on Mondays and are open year round, with the exception of Christmas Day and New Years Day..