“Howdy, Y’All”

How can you not like this photo?  Right?  Such a cheerful little photo.  I think I may have posted this photo before with another one as a comment on a blog post.  I thought it was time for it to have a blog post of its own.  Being that we are right in the middle of a coronavirus lock-down, I thought something a bit cheery was in order.  That “middle” definer in that last sentence might be a bit optimistic as well.  We shall see.

If you don’t already know, this is a photo of my dear sweet Mama.  Funny how that phrase reminds me of something so particular.  When I was in college, I went home one weekend.  Part of that weekend included washing my clothes.  I’m pretty sure that she was the one doing the washing!  The next week I put on a shirt and noticed something in the pocket.  I fished out a stick of gum that had a note attached that read, “From your dear sweet Mama!”  That’s my mom, a sweet one for sure.  I saved that little note, though I haven’t seen it in a while.  If I ever find it again, I’ll have to add it to this post.

So as I was saying, this is Betty Lou Bucklin Landry.  She was born in Hathaway, Louisiana, on May 20, 1933, with Dr. Fletcher from Elton in attendance.  At the time that this photo was taken, she was around 17 years old.  She was either a junior or senior in high school at Hathaway High.  Go Hornets!  She’s sitting on a swing in the china ball tree next to the old ice box.  Her dad Fred Bucklin had a plant nursery back then and you can see part of that in the background.  Just a quiet day in little old Hathaway in the early 50s.

When I first started writing this post, it looked like she was saying a big hello.  Now it looks like she is saying, “See you later!”