Sunday, January 11, 2009

A Very Simple Piece

This is a very simple piece. There are no complicated stitches. No blended threads. Not a great many counted stitches or thread colors.

I've not yet framed this piece, but plan to do so, because the thought of the railway station in Durango, Colorado brings such pleasure. I have many great memories of the town and surrounding country. If you have never ridden the Narrow Gauge Railroad from Durango to Silverton, Colorado, do! It affords absolutely spectacular scenery.

This is the land where the western writer Louis L'Amour lived. Veteran western movie actor Harry Carey, Jr. lived in Durango. An aside: at a Friends of the Library book signing in Seguin, we met a couple who have become dear friends who are good friends with Harry Carey, Jr. and still keep in touch with him since Carey's move to California. It is a small world.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was filmed in this area. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell lives in Ignacio, near Durango. Canyon de Chelly National Monument is nearby (where our high school senior class would trek a week before graduation). I learned to waterski on Vallecito Lake (so happy when I could slalom on one ski!).

A group of us would go up to snow ski (although I watched from the lodge) when one wore what one had to ski (levis and heavy sweaters) - no expensive fancy ski clothes for us. In the evening we would grill steaks, drink beer and soft drinks, sing silly songs, enjoying it all with youthful enthusiasm - and then drive back home in time to grab a few hours sleep before going to work. Many happy memories!

We would go to the Strater Hotel to view a melodrama and then eat the most delicious fried chicken and sopapillas filled with honey at the Silver Spur restaurant.

December 1960: Hubby and I (two weeks after we eloped) drove to Durango in a snowstorm for our honeymoon (driving back home that same night!). It was on a Sunday and we saw the movie Never on Sunday, starring Melina Mercouri.

Our daughter attended Fort Lewis College (which affords a great education with professors who taught at Princeton and Harvard or perhaps other Ivy League schools or major universities, but in their later years wanted to enjoy all that Durango offers).

I realize this is what my youngest granddaughter would say is TMI; after telling me this about a story she was relating, she patiently enunciated "too much information," in the event I didn't know anything about TMI.

So although the stitched piece is very simple, the memories and the experiences of Durango are multiple and varied.

It is worth a visit!

http://www.durango.org/

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