The Boots My Father Wore

At a place called Grace Assisted Living, in Meridian, Idaho, in the tiny apt. my Father and Mother have lived for the past 8 1/2 months. There sits my Father's boots, the two pair he brought from home when he came here to live. He would alternate the days he wore them. At 98 years of age, his shoulders and arms did not work as they once had.  Some days he struggled to pull those boots on, and many evenings my Mother helped him to remove them. Along with his Levis, his western shirt and vest, and most often his cowboy hat, he made a fine and dapper looking gentleman.  Lately his boots have sat there together, under the t.v stand where he would sit and watch his western movies and while away the hours.

On Sunday January 5th, while getting himself dressed, he suffered a fall and was taken by ambulance to the hospital.  It was determined that he had fractured his pelvis in 3 places.  From that point on, he was bedridden.  He spent two nights in the hospital and on Tuesday January 7th was transported back to his place at Grace.  He was already in Hospice care due to another hospitalization over Thanksgiving. From the moment he came back to Grace, there was a steady stream of relatives along with the hospice people. The hospice staff were all wonderful to him and to us.  Hubby and I were there, we had spent the previous 3 1/2 weeks in Idaho so we had spent a lot of time with him. Because of work commitments, we had to come back to Texas, so, reluctantly, we left on the 11th. From the time he came back to Grace he alternated between being clear and coherent to being agitated and incoherent. When he was doing well, he always had a kind word or a joke for the hospice staff, the aides and staff at Grace and anyone who came by to see him.  Yesterday on Sunday the 19th, he passed peacefully, in the presence of my Mom, my Sister, my Aunt(his sister) and my Cousin(his niece).  My Father, Bernard(Barney) Stephen Conner, was 17 days from reaching his 99th birthday.

When I left him on the 10th, I was pretty certain it would be the last time I would see him in this life. I wrote these words when I got back home to Texas.

Your voice so soft

I cannot hear

I must lean in

Close to your ear

So much unspoken, but the time is near

All I can do is say...

Thank You

I Love You

and then

Goodbye

SouthXSouthWest-ing

I haven't had much time to work with my new computer, because the Big One..the SXSW conference has started, and been going on all week. It's big, really big, folks. Like Texas Big. International Big. I do like to avoid the crowds of 20,000 or more, but feel comfortable in rooms that hold 100 to 500 peeps. Have been to a few of the broadcasts in person, watched a lot of it on the internet, and some on T.V. It's definitely the place to see folks and hear amazingly good music and see new film. I won't even mention all the famous peeps that strolled through the lobby of the Four Seasons the few times I was there this week. Musicians, actors,writers, etc. That is just the ones I saw personally. I heard mention of a few I didn't see, but might not have recognized anyhow. But I will tell you this,I came eye to eye, face to face, up close and personal with John Hiatt, as he made his way through the crowd to get into the filled to capacity Music Lounge. I was standing right by the door, helping the manager try to keep folks from sneaking into the crowded room if they hadn't already been granted a seat or a standing spot. He said Hello and I think I grinned and mumbled Hello back. Some guy behind me said, Wow, do you know who that was? Yup..I sure did.

Things are winding down tonight and tomorrow and the city can get back to normal. These festivals are a double edged sword. They bring tons of money into the local economy, but for awhile the traffic is almost unbearable.

It's a lot of fun to live in such a city, where we are exposed to so many performers on a regular basis. There is always a movie or two being filmed around here so there are many stars who are in town on any given day. You never know who you will run into. I am always pleased to find out that the majority of them are just as nice as we think they are. However there are some who are just as nasty as we've heard they are too. That's amusing as well.

Early on before the crowds get so packed, you can see some fine costumes. I got a few shots of some great boots and outfits. These floral ones were my favorite boots. After it gets so crowded you'll only see heads if you are standing or behinds if you are sitting.


Boots everywhere.

Cute cowgirl jacket.


T-Bird and The Breaks. Good local band.

Texas Book Festival

I spent yesterday recovering from two fun filled days at the Texas Book Festival, a yearly event that I eagerly anticipate. We get to hear a lot of authors speak about the books that they have written the previous year, plus purchase books, hear great music from local musicians, and hang out at the capitol and grounds. All this is free to the public, it's a wonderful family friendly atmosphere. The weather could not have been more perfect, Lows in the 50's Highs in the 70's to low 80's. My kind of fall weather. The reward for having suffered through all those triple digits for the past few months. I even got to take a little nap on the capitol lawn, until a squirrel started dropping nuts on my head.

This place was centrally located for Hubby to make several stops at during the w/e.


Besides hearing authors speak, gathering ephemera,I humored myself by taking photos of some of the gorgeous boots I saw people wearing. I also photo'ed a lot of peoples dogs, but won't show those, at least not now.
Love your boots Margie


Wimberley boots


Suede and tied


Bag and boots of the lovely, sweet & talented Patricia Vonne