Lipscomb County, Texas

I was going to work through lunch, but I don't want to work through lunch. I have to work before and after lunch, so I should use this time to blog.

I don't have any photos or videos, but this weekend should be recorded in Alexander's first year somehow, so I will tell you about it in writing only. Maybe later I can get some pics from my mom and add to this post.

Still not quite sure how, but Nana Gayle convinced us at the last minute on Friday night to travel to Booker this weekend. We haven't been out of Lubbock in awhile and although it was very last minute and odd for us, we loaded up the whole family, Sampson included and headed to Booker Saturday morning. Of course, we stopped in Amarillo to pick up Uncle Marcus. We didn't make it home in time for a wedding shower I would have loved to attend, but we did get to see some old friends before we headed to Lipscomb for dinner.

For those of you who have never been to Lipscomb, it is the county seat less than 30 miles from Booker. Booker is the largest town in the county with 1,315 inhabitants. "So, why would you go to Lipscomb for dinner?" you ask. Well, Mom had said there was a great live band playing and a bar-b-que dinner that they put on once a month in the summers. Lipscomb is kind of an artsy place and has a long heritage as the county seat. I have personally only been there a couple of times and only remembered that they had the courthouse. In fact there are several buildings. A few houses, a couple of art galleries and I think even a grocery/convenience store. I think they claim 44 as a population although I am not sure all 44 live in the city limits.

Since we had made the 4 hour drive and Jason and Alexander had never been to Lipscomb, dinner and live music sounded like a great night. The weather was nice and we had our lawn chairs ready to go. When we arrived, Uncle Marcus, Jason and I were a little surprised that this was not an event that drew most of the people we knew in the county. The median age of the event was 65.

Uncle Marcus said he wished he could videotape that night to show Alexander, because he'd probably never see something like this again. It almost felt like we had gone back in time. It was a carefree and friendly time where time seemed to stand still.

The line for pork tenderloin, black-eyed pea salsa, corn bread, sweet potatoes and cobbler was wrapped around the wooden platform where the band and several dancing couples were already enjoying themselves. The square dance callers were singing a karaoke-esk ditty as the cowboys twirled their poofy-skirt wearing partners. Alexander danced (head banged) to the square dancing as we sat in our chairs around the platform and enjoyed dinner.

After dinner, the hostess took the mic to make announcements and introduce the band. The first announcement was about the outhouse usage. She wanted to remind everyone that if you were using one of the three outhouses in the adjacent field, to please take the lantern hanging outside inside with you so that other patrons would know that you the outhouse was in use and wouldn't have to make the walk until the lantern returned to its hanging position.

The second announcement was about the contest of the night. There had been a "Well Water Tasting Contest" for tonight's event. A family friend of ours won the second best tasting well water prize. Last she announced that we could put money in the big milk cans that would be passed around to help support the band for the evening.

The band took the stage and played some good country music. Unfortunately a couple of their singers were about as good as the winner of last year's America's Got Talent, Kevin Skinner from Kentucky. But, the music was good and many couples continued to dance. I'm sure the band went on for hours, but it was getting late for Alexander. He was still dancing and enjoying the whole scene when we loaded up to get him home for bath time. He went straight to bed and slept long and hard after his Lipscomb adventures.