Christmas 1953

I have been doing a lot of Family History/Genealogy work during the last three months. I went through the boxes of papers that I found at my father's house after he died, and I found a lot of interesting artifacts and photos. Some of the photos I already had in my collection, but I recovered a few that were in better condition than the ones I had. Here are some from a Merry Christmas from my past.

These photos were taken in Lordsburg, New Mexico, in 1953. I turned six in October, and Jill turned three in November. We look mighty happy here. You don't see tinsel on a tree anymore. I don't think you can even buy it now. I loved to watch the old bubble lights on the tree, and the tinsel shimmer and wave in the air currents. Ah, the by gone days.

A Dubious Achievement

As of last Friday, March 1st, I have seen all episodes, all 168 half-hour episodes, of The Rifleman Television series. Some of them I saw more than once, but I have seen them all at least once. The series ran from September 1958 to April 1963. Eighty-four hours of rootin' tootin' shoot 'em up! Eighty-four hours of my life that I will never get back, but I enjoyed it, so what is the loss. Maybe reading some books or doing something constructive. Hummmm.

One thing I wonder about is just where the town of Northfork, New Mexico Territory, is supposed to be located. They mention more than once the towns of Lordsburg, Roswell, and Hobbs, all of which towns I lived in for three, two, and three years respectively between 1951 and 1960. So Northfork has to be somewhere in the southern third of New Mexico and not a long distance from the Mexican border. The town of Yuma is also mentioned often as if it were not more than a couple of days' distance to travel. Yuma is actually all the way across Arizona on the California border, about 300 miles from the New Mexico border. Does anyone know in what geographic location Northfork was supposed to be? Maybe it floated around the area as needed for the storyline.

This may now be filed with another of my dubious television achievements: I have also seen all 234 episodes of Leave It To Beaver.

A Green ATC Swap for March with a Roswell Twist

 

I joined a Swap-Bot ATC swap for March wherein the ATC was to be or have a lot of green on it. When I read my swap partner's profile, I thought see said she loved aliens, as in UFOs and "little green men." So I started an ATC with a green alien on a green and gold background that I painted using acrylic and bubble wrap. I used the same painting process on the envelope. I went back and looked at her profile again and saw that she loved the movie Aliens and not little green men in general. Oh well, I had already started it, and it did follow the swap requirements. Lived in Roswell, NM, from 1954 to 56 when I was in the third and forth grades. My dad taught at the New Mexico Military Institute during those two years. I don't remember ever hearing, when I lived there, about the suppossed flying saucer crash that happened near Roswell in July 1947. My wife and I drove through Roswell six years ago on a trip around New Mexico to visit places I lived as a child. UFOs and little green men are a big deal in Roswell now with alien signs, plasic blowup aliens, murals, and a UFO museum.

 

Any way, I used the alien theme for my official swap card and added a couple more for fun.

 

 

If anyone wants to start swapping ATCs or postal art, contact me. I would like to expand my postal art and ATC contacts. You might also think about joining Swap-Bot. Let's keep good old snail-mail going.