the "other" Mrs. Gentry

My childhood was surrounded by a lot of really good people. Mrs. Bundy was my art teacher from Kindergarten to 8th grade. I took 4H starting in the 3rd grade and the "other" Mrs. Gentry was my craft leader.

Alice Gentry. She was wonderful! She had kilns! She taught us how to paint ceramics. I picked a square box with roses on the lid and I painted it turquoise. I was fascinated with the whole process...yet absolutely scared to death of the kilns!!! I thought for sure I was going to fall inside one and I was going to burn "in hell" forever!

OK....just tie a little of the preacher's Sunday morning sermon into my vivid imagination and take it from there!!!

Now, Karla is not my only childhood chum that I love to go visit when I go "home". Alice Gentry's daughter, Nola, was in my class from K - 8. This is her way back then:


and this is me....
Again, I don't think either one of us has changed much at all!!!

And this is Gregg Byers on the left. We got together at the little community center and spent a few hours just having the best time ever talking about our childhood days. Of course, the school has been town down.....

but I swear, when I'm with my friends...I can still see us running up the stairs, down the halls, out to play ball, into the gym, up on the stage, in our band uniforms......

isn't memory just a wonderful thing?

I am so blessed to have so many friends from my childhood still a huge part of my life today. And even though we live a thousand miles apart, with skype, facebook, blogging and the internet....it seems like all of them are just down the hall from me!

And while Nola's mom, the "other" Mrs. Gentry, has been gone for awhile.....I can still see all the wonderful painted ceramics that would come out of her kilns when we were kids. I think it's just amazing that I'm now taking classes in glass slumping and fusing, working with dichroic glass and firing metal clay in a kiln. I know that she would love it all!

So "thank you" to Mrs Alice Gentry and Mrs Mildred Gentry - for everything you taught me as a child. And thank you for your daughter and your daughter-in-law.....that 40 some years later we are all still great friends!!!

Childhood plays

It's amazing to me how one thought leads to another....and how one creative idea creates another. I just finished designing 19 pieces of jewelry that will be published by Belle Armoire in upcoming magazines. I think I have "brain drain"...but then I started blogging about ice skating...and that make me think of my childhood chum, Karla, which made me realize that I totally want to scrap the plays we were in together.

Our tiny little church, the Perkinsville Methodist Church, put on 2 plays. Unfortunately, I acquired the lead role in the play "Mountain Gal". The saga of a poor mountain gal who winds up in the big city. I remember it so well...I remember I had 115 lines to memorize! And Karla was right there with me when we had to run outside, slap some mud all over us, and go back on stage acting like hillbilly kids. Oh my! What fun that was!






Over the years, she and I have kept in touch. Does that mean she's my "oldest living friend"? She will laugh if/when she reads that as we both are traveling down this winding river of our life....she still in Indiana, me out in Coloroado. Gotta love the internet...it does keep us all connected.

In 2000 (geez, has it been that long already?) Karla and I got together at the Perkinsville fish fry. What a hoot!





And from the pictures, you can see...we just haven't changed much! Got me to wondering why, when we were so poor as kids, would they take (and save) that awful photo of us! I've searched everywhere and simply cannot find a good photo of us as kids...although we were together quite a bit of the time.

I was such a quiet child. (yes, another story, another day). And to be given the lead in a church play....wow! I think my Sunday School teachers had a lot more faith in me than I had in myself back then. But it was a great learning ground. I learned that I could be the lead in a play. And today, I know that I can do anything I set out to do. We truly draw our strengths from our childhood....and we draw our ability to play and create from that very same place.

Here's to Karla....and all the "Karla's" of my childhood...it's because of you that I play so well today! :o)