December 2, 2009
My speech at the Heard Museum yesterday was a ton of fun. First off, my hosts, Jan and Jim Patten, from Pella, Iowa, bought me lunch at the Heard Museum Cafe which has excellent food. I had the spinach enchiladas, and we talked about Wyatt Earp's time in Pella (Jan's family lore lays claim to the story that her Dutch relatives beat up the Earp boys).

We had a packed house for the speech at 1:30, including, not one, but two folks from Kingman (who didn't know each other). The first person who came up to me before the speech was Joan Hampton Jasso who came to Kingman in 1952 and graducated from MCUHS in 1962 with Sarah Ann Waters, Bill Ridenour and Joe Hart, among others we both knew. The other gentleman, T.J. McMichael, graduated in 1958. Both cherished their days growing up in Kingman. This is a refrain I have been hearing more and more, the older I get. When I was younger the most common comment when I ran into a former Kingmanite was, "Man, I couldn't wait to get out of that hellhole." Come to think of it, I think I said the same thing when I was a snotty twerp and didn't know jack about the important things in life. Which reminds me of my Uncle Bud's line: "You sure know a lot, for being so damn dumb." Ha. Always have loved that Kingman quip.

Still working hard on the big, doubletruck of the Mesilla Brawl On The Mall painting, but had to stop this morning and whip out a Mountain Man spot illustration for an ad touting our 2010 Great American Trail Rides:

It's a poach from a Bill Moyers' sculpture titled "The Reckless Breed," although I changed it exactly 20% (my lawyers made me state this, for the record). Ha.

"Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better."
—Samuel Beckett