Saturday, March 29th I wandered over to The Chisholm with my camera in tow. They were having their annual Chuck Wagon Gathering. For myself, it is a time to step back in time sampling all the great food and smelling the aromas, hearing music, watching gunfights, and more! There was something for all ages. To start I ran into Maitland with AAK, dressed for work with her long lens camera in tow to get some event shots. Of course, the girl needs rollerblades because this wasn’t her only event to cover. I explained I was there to take pictures for my art and would be glad to share. She was off to another event in Maitland fashion with a promise to return to film some of the day’s happenings. Stay tuned when Angie in the office does her magic, I’m sure it will be on AAK. It’s a process to get everyone’s work from the events to you whether it’s on social media or in paper form. After Covid visiting seemed a bit more meaningful. Saturday was a perfect setting.
As Maitland and I indulged in our samplings of beans and biscuits we found out our host was from Texas. They came for a love of history. As I separated from Maitland with the promise of taking pictures I ran into Chris Mendez. Chris is a collection specialist for the museum. In our conversation, I asked Chris about the mystery critter that had snuck in the upstairs of the Seay Mansion the day before. He said he tried to slide his cellphone camera inside the cabinet to verify the mystery noise but someone or something goosed him. If you were there you would notice the stairs roped off. Not sure if it was to keep any unsuspected visitors from having an encounter or maybe to keep the mysterious noise from coming downstairs. Being in the mansion over the years there’s always been talk of ghosts. Not sure if the situation needed animal control or someone for paranormal activities. Either way, it didn’t deter the activities downstairs!
I ran into Laura Callaham; we discussed our love for growing tomatoes and eating them straight from the plant, just struggling to get the plants to produce the tasty goodness. I met Laura’s parents; her dad was in his happy place taking in all the festivities. Blake is Laura’s husband and happened to be my boss when I worked at Pioneer Telephone. I had to ask Blake if he missed me yet. I had to give him a hard time but at the end of the day, we both knew the passion we shared for our jobs and taking care of our customers. I also ran into Mike, who has had connections with Pioneer for many years. He introduced me to his son and grandson, which brought up memories of Mike walking into our Pioneer office one day with a bit of a pale face and showing signs of shock. He and his wife Ginny had just found out they were expecting quadruplets.
As much as I enjoyed my visits with new and old friends, there was one encounter that stole my heart. My little four-year-old friend named Joe was working diligently coloring his horse’s heads. There was a table for the littles to create their stick horses. They had to color the left and right sides of a horse’s head. I mention left and right because some of the adults attending the booth would try to put together two left or right heads! Anyway, there were a few bloopers that occurred. Even though Joe’s mom told me he was a chatterbox at home, I saw him as a man who had few words. His face said it all while taking in all the adventures around him. I had to ask Joe if he was coloring a unicorn or a horse. Without saying a word, Joe’s face told me horses are real, unicorns are not, and I may be a bit crazy!
After all the food sampling and meeting new people, as well as reconnecting with a few, my camera was put away. I drove by the mansion the next morning. All the chuck wagons were gone and the smell of food had disappeared. The lawn was quiet again with the mansion shadowing it. As I drove by, I couldn’t help but feel like someone was watching from the second floor…
