Old, older, oldest

NO, I'm not talking about people!  Although some people are definitely older than others!
I think as quilters where we notice color & texture & patterns, we're bound to be more cognizant of changes in our surroundings, aren't we?

  This picture is of my sweet hubby and 3 of his team mates on the
Ardmore Tiger Baseball team that won the 1st State Championship ever for our highschool.  It happened in 1972, forty years ago.  The guys got almost everybody together a week or so ago and had a little reunion.  They REALLY enjoyed visiting & reminiscing. Stan came home with his sides aching from laughing so much.  Tell you what-  these men were getting to be on the OLD side!

We have a customer who shares really OLD stuff with us- to look at, mostly.  This last week, Bob brought in pictures of old time Ardmore.  I was hoping to see pictures of "our" corner, East Broadway at Caddo.  The pics Bob brought, though, were of main street. Still VERY interesting!  These buildings still stand today, almost all of them.  In my not-yet-58 years here, I have several memories of the downtown area.  My Very Most Favorite Shopping Place of Alltime was Daube's department store.  Even the smell inside was a pleasure- sort of a new, expensive smell.  Here's a pic of what Daube's looked like around 1900. Well darn, I forgot to take a picture of the picture!  I'll add it tomorrow.

Let's go back even more!  Surely when you were in grade school you learned about the Oklahoma Land Run, didn't you?  People came from everywhere to latch onto some land. You know our right

to Private Property Ownership is one of the most unique of freedoms.  People even knew that when our country was in its infant stages.   The right to own property - for everyone, not just the elite - is fundamental!  Because Americans have the right to keep what they earn without someone jerking it away from them. That's why man's creativity BLOOMED in the last couple hundred years- men were free to have ideas and act on them, then keep what they earned by being so inventive!  Have you read the book The 5000 Year Leap?  You should!  

 Anyway, here are some pics of the Oklahoma Land Run. Here they are getting ready.

 and here they are all lined up waiting for the gun to go off.

 This is a pretty serious fellow, don't you think?

 Doesn't it look like there's a TON of work to doing this?

 Oh my, the Dust!

 Dressed to the nine's, though:

Just think about it.  There were no roads, no places set up to get a drink or potty, and look at all those clothes!  Not only H-O-T but yards & yards of fabric involved, especially in the ladies' dresses.
And how in the world did they get their sewing machines & stashes in those little bitty wagons!!!!!!