Roots and Branches

This post is all about Geneology and the British side of my family tree (the Russian side is harder to trace due to small snags like the Russian Revolution and World War II). I am mainly writing this page for my relatives and close friends to enjoy so it may be of no interest to anyone else.

We had visitors from England this past week, Matt and Sapna Tugby from Durham, England.
Here's Durham on the map, up near the Scottish border. There's a big cathedral there.

Here's where Matt fits into our family story. My mother, Joyce Radford, was the youngest of four children, born in Long Eaton, Nottingham, England, in 1924. She had three older siblings, Jack, Gladys, and Nell. Jack died in 1950 of tuberculosis. Nell married Harold Tubb and had one child, my cousin Brian. Gladys married Frank Salmon and had two children, Janet and Gay. Matt is the youngest son of Gay. Mom married Vadim Komkov and had five children, thus holding the record so far for anyone in recent generations.

Gladys, Nell, and Jack in 1918 before Joyce was born.

Here are my mom, Joyce and her sister, Gladys and Nell in the 1940's.

Aunt Nell's wedding photo.

 Here is Matt's Dad, Gay, as a little boy. And Gay's sister, Janet.

 The Salmon family, Frank, Gladys, Janet, and Gay in the 1940's.

At this point our British family lineage had all been staying put for centuries in the same region, but then things happened. Mom met, Dad, the crazy Russian, who was now stationed in England during WWII, fighting with the Polish RAF squadron. They got married in 1946.

 Then I came along. Jobs were scarce in post war Britain so Dad got an engineering job in Johannesburg, South Africa, where my sister, Stephanie was born, then later we moved to Kitwie, Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) where he worked as an engineer for the Rhokana copper mines, and where my sister Andrea, was born.

Dad and I on board ship to South Africa.

 Kitwie: Mom with myself and baby, Andrea, (soon to become much more attractive). 1956

Meanwhile, Gay's older sister, Janet, now a teenager, came to visit us in Africa, met and married Gawie Roux, and remained in Africa to settle in Zambia then South Africa. Our family was now slowly spreading out across the world. Shortly after this my Dad got a job at the University of Utah and we emigrated to the U.S. in 1957.
Look at these poor immigrants (Stephanie and myself) boarding the ship in Cape Town.

Meanwhile, Matt's wife Sapna's parents, left India in the 1970's and emigrated to England, where many years later, in 2012, Matt and Sapna would marry.

Matt first visited us in 2003 when he was a college student, and wanted to come over and visit this branch of the family. Nell's son, Brian had already brought his wife and three kids to the states in 1982, and later with his twin boys, Edwin and Arthur in 1994.

Here Brian is with his grown children in 2012. Edwin, Arthur, and Maisie, who has three children of her own.

Which brings us back to Matt and Sapna, and what a lovely visit we had this past week, especially as they got to see Mom, now 91, and catch up on memories and back stories. Matt was officially in the U.S. as a professor of philosophy (A PhD in the true sense of the word) from Durham University, presenting a paper at a conference at Rutgers University in New Jersey. Lubbock was just a short detour. Here are a few mementos of their visit.

At the Ranching Heritage Center. Followed by a visit to the Ansel Adams exhibit at the TTU Museum.

Matt and Sapna, with Andrea and myself. It was a beastly hot day!

It's not an official trip until you go to Prairie Dog Town:

The Robert Bruno house at Lake Ransom Canyon:

The Buddy Holly Center. Closed on Monday but we still got a photo op with the glasses.

And of course, lots of good food, including barbeque, Mexican food, and hearty breakfasts (yes, both Matt and Sapna commented on the huge portions of food they serve in the U.S.). But importantly, they got to spend time with Joyce and reminisce. She was so pleased to see them.

Why I Am Never Bored

Fall will be here soon and, oh boy, I am busy already. First up, a mini quilt selected as a finalist in Quilting Arts Reader's Challenge, An Artful Adventure. This one is called Tools of the Trade and reflects most of the various media I work in:

Next, I took a chance and entered an out of state art show calling for submissions. My daughter found it online, under the theme, Animal Spirit, so these two little creations, Vixen, and Silent Language, are off to Costa Mesa, California, to a gallery called Location 1980:

Feeling pumped about that I submitted to another show called Art Hop, in Georgetown, Texas. I entered two paintings under the Abstract 2-D category, but I won't know the results until September:

 There will be an exhibit calling for entries in all media, at the Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts. The theme is White on White, so I'm starting that project now in fabric, thread, photography, and paint. These are quick cell phone shots of the work in progress. Eventually I will need the professional photographer (my daughter, Naomi) to take photos. Even so, shooting white fiber arts will be a challenge.
If you squint there's lots of micro quilting happening on linen and cotton fabric:
 The coloring looks gold in some shots. That's just sunlight and yellow walls reflecting off the fabric. Much more hand stitching and embroidered embellishment will now take place.

There's also a Dia de los Muertos show coming up and so far I can't decide what to do. Here's a sample from a previous year:

 And finally, I am choreographing again this Fall for Flatlands Dance Theatre, excited about our theme: Texas Icons of Music. I will be creating a dance to the Dixie Chicks song, Wide Open Spaces, but I'll save that for another blog, as I plan to collaborate with my photographer daughter on it for some great background vistas. Meanwhile, here are a couple of her promotional photographs for the concert. Always happy to brag about her:

West by Southwest

After a recent trip to New Mexico I was happily thinking I have now explored every corner of that state. From Tucumcari to Carlsbad, Chama and Raton to Hobbs, Santa Fe, Taos, and Albuquerque to Clovis to Cimmaron to Gallup. (Although, I discovered, after watching a CBS Sunday Morning report, that I have never been to Pie Town, off the beaten track and perched on the Continental Divide, and famous for, yes, it's pies).

This past June we were headed to Ruidoso,  (between Roswell and Alamagordo above) to stay at the vacation house of kind friends, and to take a quick side trip to Silver City, just to see what was there. It kept turning up in magazines as one of the 'best small towns in the U.S.' and also a burgeoning arts community.

Ruidoso is only four hours from Lubbock and includes a pass through Roswell, home of the UFO Museum. Since we had seen it before, a few years ago, we kept on going, up into the rolling foothills, then through the Hondo Valley, slowly climbing from 3500 ft back on the high plains to 8000 feet in Ruidoso. Our final destination was 6 miles down the road from the town, to Alto, to a house perched on a hillside overlooking a small lake. Time to kick back with a book and a glass of wine.

Even our bedroom had a great view:

We found our favorite coffee shop, Sacred Grounds, in a newer larger location, with layers of decks overlooking the Ruidoso River. And we visited it frequently.

He's reading a biography of Thomas Jefferson.

It's been a green, wet year here, too, so everything was blooming.

Next came our side trip to Silver City. In order to get there, as there is no direct route, we had to drive through Alamagordo, past White Sands and the missile range, down into the Chihuahuan desert to Las Cruces, then slowly back up to the high desert mountains of western New Mexico.
Here's the giant pistachio at the pistachio orchard in Alamagordo.

 From there we dipped down into the Chihuahuan desert, where all cars reached a checkpoint and had to pull of the road to be questioned by the border patrol. We passed, and were sent on our way.

 The Organ mountains that loom over Las Cruces.

 More wide open spaces where we picked up I-10, which runs across the lower U.S. from Florida to California, Everything was bright and hot, with a haze of sand.

Silver City was quirky and isolated, seemingly filled with old hippies, happy lesbians, college students, and people who like being off the main road.

 Our first and best stop, was lunch at the Curious Kumquat, where we had fish tacos and a divine key lime pie dessert.

http://curiouskumquat.com/

A commercial shot:

We stayed at the Murray Hotel, which had a 30's art deco look, having been actually built back then, and which still retained a sort of noir novel vibe from that era, right down to lack of air conditioning.

Here's the lobby.

There was art around town and a few galleries, but not quite as much art as we expected, certainly not the quality and quantity I am now used to in Lubbock.

We went up a few miles into the mountains to Pinos Altos ('tall pines' or 'high penis' depending on your pronunciation.) There was an old saloon and opera house there from the 19th century mining days, which was now a fun and cozy bar, that gave music concerts next door.

By the next day we were ready to head back to our nice digs in Alto so back we went through the desert, and back up into the mountains of Ruidoso. On the way we stopped at Ruidoso's famous resort and casino, The Inn of the Mountain Gods, owned by the Mescalero Apache tribe. We took a quick tour through the hotel and grounds, enjoying the scenery. There was a zip line from the opposite mountain down across the lake I was dying to try but there was a long wait and it cost $35 for a run, so maybe next time.....

Here's a commercial shot:

And my cell phone shots:

 A great golf course.

All in all an enjoyable trip, with lots of good New Mexican food.