By now I was nearly two months past my graduation and settling in for a four year stint as a cowboy girl in some often rather harsh and stark circumstances. In one way I was proud and devoted to what I was doing but in others it was very narrow and restrictive as I was closer than ever to being isolated. It had not yet really penetrated there would be no more school and college was just over four years away at this point. We had quite a few animals now and were going to be acquiring more--for which I had a very large responsibility.
July 26, 1962 Thursday
I overslept again. I’m going to have to start setting my alarm if I do it again. Fed the monsters, ate a brief breakfast and was ready to roll at 7:30. Chipper did 100% better today. I guess the system works. I will give it some more trials anyway. When I got in I found that we were all going to Prescott so I had to hurry up and get ready. I wore my purple outfit today. I really like it. We got rained on quite a bit. Anyway we did get our money. I exchanged Mom’s levis and she let me get some to fit me. I also bought some paper. Someday I am going to buy about ten of those pretty little polished rocks they sell in the dime store in Prescott. I’ll make a bracelet, earrings etc. of them. We got a watermelon today. It sure was good. We’ve eaten it all up so it won’t spoil. Tonight we drove out and fed all the critters and hauled hay so now, if the weather cooperates, I can ride for several times. Dad liked my little design drawings real well and Mom does too. As I have said before, I guess I can’t judge my own work. They don’t seem too exceptional to me. I do enjoy making them though and I’ll have to send some to Jose. Of course I didn’t get any list jobs done. We got home about 3:30 but I slept off a headache until 5:00 and then we had chores to do. Busy tomorrow.
I often referred to the animals we were keeping there in Clarkdale at any one time as "the monsters". I loved most of them but otherwise their care was a "chore" at best and really onerous at times like bad weather days. I have mentioned Chipper before; he was mostly a good mule but did get a stubborn spell at times.
Looking back, my fascination with the bins of little polished rocks is funny. Clairvoyant? No, just the first glimmer. A few years later I got deep into lapidary and even jewelry making and starting with a tumbler, soon got other tools and machines to make little rocks of big ones and shiny ones from dull or rough. Being around mining towns so much, I guess becoming a rockhound was inevitable. I was collecting "pretty rocks" before I knew anything about them, before we left Jerome.
I still dabbled in odd art projects and the designs I mention were one. Taking some inspiration from the Blue Willow china pattern and some Asian, especially Japanese, art, I did line drawings and sometimes colored them a bit. Like my poetry, I often shared some with my current pen pal, Jose, who I have mentioned before, the one associated with BYU who lived in Provo, UT. And as always I was sewing and making clothes. Purple was a favorite color as was turquoise. Still are. The outfit was a dark skirt with a lace band trim and a lighter violet blouse or shirt.
So some photos: First is me with Alex, wearing that purple oufit. It may have been this very day I've described. Then a couple of my little drawings. I doubt I could duplicate them now; my eye for art has changed.
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