Throwback Thursday

Thursdays on Instagram are called "Throwback Thursday" and then folks post an older photo from the past. 

This is mine.

It’s amazing how a simple photo can call up so many memories.

My parents came to visit me when I was working for the Van Norman’s in Tuscarora, NV.  Dad was really proud of me. And I was proud that he was proud and so we sat on this fence, and he listened while I excitedly prattled on about the horses in the pen below us and how chuffed I was with my life.

Mums snapped this picture and then joined us. 

Today I sat on the floor of the living room, and excitedly prattled on about my life and future plans to both of my folks. I haven't changed a lot. 

What would you post for your #ThrowbackThursday, and why that particular memory?

xo xo Liz 

Editing a Rough Draft

Adrian trips out the front door in her little semi-squared toed boots. Red material swirls around her legs and the sounds of the concert she is going to attend is already occupying her mind.

I sit back down with pen and paper, the number of this rough draft is now lost to me, it has been revised so many times. I cross out entire sections, write a new chapter. My tea grows cold and I ignore the ache in my back and I try and keep the worrying thoughts at bay. Recently, they crowd ever closer.

Scratch, scratch, scratch….my pen flies and my thoughts wander…

Maybe the glasses I will be getting will help me not feel as unbalanced horseback, and I won’t be scared when I ride. Maybe I’ll be able to start driving again…oh can you imagine the freedom?!

Scratch, scratch, scratch….my pen is ruthless and efficient…

I need to unpack the rest of our shop things with dad, I want to make a video for YouTube on what you need to get started braiding. God, I love these people I’ve come in contact with from Buckaroo Barbie. They’ve touched me more than I ever realized was possible in a virtual world.

Scratch, scratch, scratch…my favorite pen’s blue ink is soaked up almost instantly…

Maybe I’ll ask Em and Trev if I can come and visit, stay for a while, roll around in the snow and maybe play cowboy a little. I hear Bill Confer is shutting down his rawhide business. Where in the hell am I going to get hides? I’m not strong enough to make my own rawhide all the way through anymore…damn my body for failing me, right when it feels like I’m starting to get my feet under me.

Scratch, scratch, scratch…it’s almost musical the way the nib traces out the skeletons of unformed words…

The people I really care about will love and appreciate this book. I’m pretty sure all my old friends will despise me. I don’t care anymore though, I just can’t.

Scratch, scratch, scratch….why in God’s name did I write THAT….but this is good…

The dance, the drag, the pull, it continues. I slowly get out of my chair, massage the kink in my neck. I throw out my cold tea and take the dogs outside. I lite a cigarette and all the thoughts I’ve kept at bay come rushing in and take over. I’m back in Alberta and you’re teaching me to cut calves and every night you sing “Sunlight On Silver.” I startle back to reality when I burn myself on the end of this stupid smoke stick. I’ll deal with all that later, right now, more editing awaits me.

xo xo Liz 

A Wedding To Remember

Good Evening, Dolls! I am footsore, tired and as Mrs. Darcy would say, incandescently happy. As you know, since I have been  posting about it non-stop, last night was my dear friend’s wedding and it was one of the best evenings of my life. I’m afraid that it might have even changed my views on weddings….it was that beautiful. I never cry at weddings and I may or may not have teared through the whole thing. Any time I get the chance to be around people who edify and encourage me to grow as a human is a real treat, and I was so inspired by my friend’s class and graciousness. She is definitely someone to look up to!

Here are some photos from yesterday's festivities, I’m sorry for the poor quality on some of them, I promise I will be getting a new camera soon!

Enjoy!

Found the time to fit in a short, but intense strength and yoga sesh.

(H&M pants, Foreign Exchange top, BP from Nordstrom ankle boots, Michael Kors bag) 

A little lunch as soon as we arrived at the hotel because I was starving! As usual...

(Tadashi Shoji gown, Michael Kors heels not pictured, JCrew ring, clutch unknown)

My date was gorgeous in his tux, but is a bit camera shy. 

The dance floor was packed all night long, but with such a fantastic band I don't know how you could stay in your seat. Michael Kors heels are the way to go if you're going to be on your feet all night...I danced, walked and stood for hours and not once was uncomfortable. 

xo xo Liz 

My Favorite Moments From Elko 2013

This year was the 29th Elko Poetry Gathering and these are my favorite moments that happened during the week.

• Adrian lighting candles, spraying perfume, opening all the doors and windows to our hotel room while I chain smoked to try and mask the smell of pee. Why would anyone urinate on a radiator? You can't clean behind it and when that's the heat source in the room, it's a little rank!! 

• Spending an inordinate amount of money. I'm not going to lie, that was fun. It probably won't be as much fun when I balance my check book though. 

• Buying my first Timmy Lynn levi quilt. I've been wanting one of those since I was 19...COOL! 

• Visiting loudly, joyfully and did we mention noisily, with our friends the Goemmers. Adrian and my's personalities are so similar to Reata and Dally's and it's kind of funny to see how there's an outgoing, louder sister and a little more reserved sister in each family. And there's something about getting to be around Mindy that makes my loudness come out full force...and I LOVE it! 

• Seeing our Italian friends here on American soil. Drinking, hand gesticulating and eating gone wild. For some reason when I get around Drew and Nat I start talking English with an Italian accent. Why, I'll never know.

• Catching up and spending some quality giggle time with Jennifer Dennison. Every blonde needs a redhead friend! :) 

• The Young Guns Show that Andy Hedges, Adrian and Brenn Hill did on Thursday night was amazing. I don't even know how to explain to you the pride and emotion (sorry, I'm being a girl), I have when my sister dedicates a song to me from stage. And when friends that we know take time off and pay their hard-earned money to come listen to Adrian, just makes me about want to bust. 

• Adrian getting locked out of her own show by an over zealous volunteer and then being asked to leave said show after finally being admitted for visiting too loudly with some fans when she was signing CDs...that actually made me so incredibly angry I thought I might fling an unlucky old lady through a window and down a snow covered hill, but I managed to control myself. Looking back on it, it was kind of funny though. I'm sorry miss, but with the name tag that says performer and that guitar in your hand at a guitar playing/cowboy singing festival, you look awfully suspicious. I'm going to have to ask you to leave!!! hehehehehe 

• I had never attended the artist breakfast in the past, but this year I went. We visited and laughed and joked and made a new friend in George Elsner. What a lovely man! I put a down on a set of spurs that he had with him....I'm so excited and can't wait to show them to you all! He is an amazing bit and spur maker whose snaffle bits and other gear are gladly used by the working cowboy/cowboy-girls in the area. He instantly knew that I needed a pair of spurs with a shorter shank because my legs are so long, and I love that he didn't try and talk me into the set with the drop shanks. I can't wait to get my greedy little paws on them! 

• Running into a couple who had been at a show of Adrian's and asked her if she really thought there were working cowboys and ranchers at her show. 

• One of my favorite things that happened this year, we actually missed by a margin of almost 10 minutes. We were at the Stray Dog listening to Mike Beck sing and play and left earlier than our friends to catch some zzzzz's before the next day of shows. Mike and the Goemmer's left the bar to find a homeless man rough housing a blonde lady up in attempt to steal her little dog. Mike and Sean of course jumped in, whereupon Mike got punched in the face and Sean wanted to hog tie the homeless man with the dog's lead. Everyone ended up being OK, but I would have payed SO much money to watch that little scene unfold. 

• Listening to Jessica Hedges, Adrian, Kathy Wines and Amy Auker talk during the youth meeting about the future of the Elko Poetry Gathering. They were eloquent, they were passionate and they all had very different but applicable ideas to put into affect. They also all come from a ranching/cowboying background, so I felt like what they had to say came from a position that desperately needs to be heard in the management tiers of Elko. 

• Getting up Sunday morning and picking up my best friend to have a cup of coffee. She's an ER nurse and works nights, so her just coming off her night shift and staying up to visit was wonderful. Her dad worked for the ranch MY dad worked for when I was 6, and we moved into the house that the Souza's moved out of, missing each other by a mere week. One of the first times I met Stephanie was at Jordan Valley Big Loop Rodeo when we were still teenagers. It was late into the evening's festivities and we were with a group of people where all the girls had showered, changed and done their hair. I think Steph and I knew we were going to be best friends from the moment we saw each other because we were both wearing old boots, hoodies and straight legged jeans....true kindred spirits. Getting to catch up face to face and realize we're friends for a reason....priceless. 

• Being sick in a hotelroom that reeked of urine, Adrian and I laying in the same bed and watching the latest installment of the Twilight movies. And we liked it. The movie, not the smell. Don't judge. 

• Making it home to the joyful and welcoming greetings of dogs, parents, cats and horses and feeling invigorated and inspired by the people and the stories we brushed up against while in Elko. Till next time!  

Jennifer Dennison, Adrian, me and Natalia Estrada

Note the look of nervous happiness since I just realized how much money I had spent that afternoon.

Adrian, me and Jessica Hedges right after the youth meeting. Note the happy looking man in the background...my friend Stephanie actually treated him in the ER a day later! WEIRD! 

xo xo Liz 

A Story That Rings True

Once upon a time, a long time ago, there was a girl who had black, black hair, as black as the night and she was a little, tiny thing and only weighed 97 pounds. She looked like the wind could carry her away, but she was as nice and sweet as she was pretty. The boy was from the country and didn’t think that such a dainty, pretty city girl like her would ever go out with a boy like him (not knowing that he was terribly handsome and most importantly that his heart was kind and wise), but she did. She had a condition though; he had to attend church with her on Sundays. He joined the choir because it made her happy, joined the church and then he became a Christian. At the ripe old age of 17 he joined the United States Navy and a year later they were married. The boy grew up into a strapping, handsome man and became a Chaplin and he and the black haired girl had 3 children and lots of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. And one year, many, many years later when her hair was no longer black but she was still as sweet as sweet could be, he bought her a beautiful diamond ring because she had always wanted one and he liked to make her smile. And smile she did and she treasured the ring because it came from him and she wore it until she died.

This is a true story, all though it’s just the bare bones version, not the lovely bread and butter story that it really is, and it’s about my grandpa and grandma who were head over heels in love from the time they were in high school.

Adrian got engaged recently and when she did, grandpa gave her and Boone our grandma’s ring. What a beautiful gift, to be given something from your grandparents who had a long and rich and loving marriage, just as you’re starting out on your own marriage. Adrian feels very blessed to be given something that meant so much to our grandma and Boone’s mother gave her a gold wedding band of hers. So, both sides of the family are blessing Boone and Adrian’s marriage in the form of rings. I’m extremely nostalgic, so this is me swooning over the loveliness of it all.

                                                 The mums and A and their pretty rings 

xo xo Liz