August 16, 2006
Robert "Buff" McElroy attended the Golden Boots over the weekend and acted as part of the color guard for the opening ceremonies. He spent some time in the Green Room and got to talking with producer Patrick Curtis (portrayed Baby Beau Wilkes in Gone With The Wind and also was married to Raquel Welch) about True West magazine. Patrick bragged that he collects True West and has for a long time. Clint Eastwood, who was being honored with a Founder's Award, piped up, "I read True West."

I heard someone say that the average person only walks about 300 yards a day. Ouch! That rings true. Except for the bike rides I need to get out and walk more.

My speech up at the Phippen Museum last Saturday went quite well. Packed house, lots of laughs and sold lots of books. Tom Carpenter dropped his wife off at the mall and drove down from Flag for the talk (it's 83 miles). Janet Childress was there. Several old Kingman families were represented including Kay Bonham, Ray's sister, Beverly Wells (formerly of the Big Sandy), Marie Wickwire and Shawn and Deand Cameron of the SV Ranch (they knew Clay Tyree and my cousins Billy and Craig Hamilton).

Saw a very funny movie on Saturday evening: Little Miss Sunshine. It's about a family from Albuquerque who travel in an old hippie van to Redondo Beach for a kid beauty show and they go through Flag and Scottsdale. Most of the interior shots in the VW bus were shot on California freeways, then they'd cut to exterior shots of saguaros. That was a bit jarring, but the movie is so funny and clever, who cares? When they drove past a sign that said, "Carefree Highway" everyone in the packed theater gasped out loud. It was one of those movie moments. Anyway, I highly recommend the movie unless you are offended by a grandpa (Alan Arkin) who snorts heroin.

The Top Secret Project
I'm pushing myself more since going to that damn blog site Emma recommended. Funny how competition can fuel extra effort. I'll post tonight a gaggle of washes mixed with line work that I'm playing with for the graphic effect I'm seeking.

The Top Secret Writer and I are pushing for a melded historical feel and my son text messaged me (on the road outside Chicago) with a great quote to that end:

"There is no privileged past. There is an infintude of pasts. All equally valid. At each and every instant of time, however brief you suppose it, the line of events forks like the stem of a tree putting forth twin branches."
—Andre Maurois