tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22707454907785125732026-03-31T06:27:07.324-07:00Perusing the Past Through Peeks at the PresentElece Hollishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15286024086460827268noreply@blogger.comBlogger64125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2270745490778512573.post-69074423930602206392018-08-17T19:54:00.001-07:002018-08-17T19:54:35.018-07:00

Come Friends and Followers and join Elece at her new blog address Elecehollis.com ! Prairie Places is included there and  Elece will still be writing stories, prose and poetry about home farm life, and family in Oklahoma. Join her there. Hope to see you. Thanks for following. Elece

Elece Hollishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15286024086460827268noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2270745490778512573.post-41740090171869370712016-04-26T07:51:00.001-07:002016-04-26T07:55:57.276-07:00

Evening Falls Sweetly By Elece Hollis The sun is sinking and the clouds are bottom rimmed with gold. Two geese fly honking overhead to settle on the farm pond for the evening. A mockingbird runs through his whole repertoire. Bees buzz in the clover. The air smells of wild onion, cut grass, and wild garlic. Dandelions give

Elece Hollishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15286024086460827268noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2270745490778512573.post-5060045801131783062015-06-02T08:12:00.000-07:002015-06-02T08:13:08.072-07:00

Peace on the Prairie By Elece Hollis      The sun shone today, the first of June, just like normal. The day did not dawn dimly with clouds or rainfall as it has now for the last few weeks of mornings. Sun shone in on my quilt and I was happy to see it!      I lay in bed last night with my window open and I listened to the night sounds, the country sounds,

Elece Hollishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15286024086460827268noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2270745490778512573.post-55902038283512422222014-09-24T07:57:00.000-07:002014-09-24T08:05:14.593-07:00

 Here's Petro, who stands ready to serve near an old gasoline pump.  Did you know about the Unstable Fisherman's Organization?  Ron and I discovered this overgrown place while driving home from OK City east toward Bristow. We stopped and though it seemed closed and abandoned, we were greeted by a grease coated mechanic. He showed us around his private museum of old

Elece Hollishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15286024086460827268noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2270745490778512573.post-37119788059633112532014-09-23T11:50:00.001-07:002014-09-23T11:50:20.174-07:00

Images of Home: Swallowtail: All among the flowers  She fluttered, she flew and she lit, Again her wings opened and closed like doors On hinges Windows that ...

Elece Hollishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15286024086460827268noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2270745490778512573.post-40583532696398165702014-08-20T19:38:00.001-07:002014-08-20T19:56:58.658-07:00

 The Round Barn was built in 1898 and is quite the sight to see along Route 66.  This is the upper level where loose hay was stored. Now it is a venue for weddings and dances. I loved it and danced and whirled around. It was one of the most wonderful rooms I have been inside in many days.  The round barn in 1940 looked bad and yet there was no money for

Elece Hollishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15286024086460827268noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2270745490778512573.post-91973199229446878882014-01-16T07:35:00.002-08:002014-01-16T07:35:59.841-08:00

 This Farmstead museum is planted in Little Rock Arkansas and is quite a surprising sight  nestled among skyscrapers.  It reminded me of a children's book we used to read wherein a small family house  has a whole city grow up around it.  Soon it is surrounded by towering buildings and many people.  Cotton growing in the door yard.  An

Elece Hollishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15286024086460827268noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2270745490778512573.post-72588888372984899922013-04-29T07:32:00.002-07:002013-04-29T07:32:49.098-07:00

Vines crawl the barn walls Growing up and someday over Inside trees sprout Through the dirt floor Metal rusts Wood cracks and grays Bees and wood ants riddle beams The prairie reclaims its spaces  Chimney from the past.

Elece Hollishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15286024086460827268noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2270745490778512573.post-26892987552732036112012-08-09T16:32:00.002-07:002012-08-09T16:32:42.525-07:00

 An old tall doorway of the Creek Council House, Okmulgee, Ok  My little 7 year old princess Jordyn  Jordyn meets the two junior Creek Nation princesses  Weaving away!   A weaver's chart  A finished basket I love these hands!  Nice results  Dr. Osborn weaving a basket  Old desk in the

Elece Hollishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15286024086460827268noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2270745490778512573.post-67228963293592453312011-11-01T11:34:00.000-07:002012-07-11T11:36:20.238-07:00

The pioneer girls with their baskets and babies. Martha ready to peel apples Beautiful Baby Emma Tired little pioneer girl Jessie in her pioneer clothes dress and sunbonnet. Making a cornhusk doll. Jacob making butter from cream in a pint jar. Good cooking! Grandma and Ashley getting a turn on the rope swing. Old Lantern Prairie Rolling school Matthew eating

Elece Hollishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15286024086460827268noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2270745490778512573.post-82554831709132700582011-08-29T14:44:00.000-07:002012-07-11T11:26:21.327-07:00

 Basket  By Elece Hollis Old basket, you make me wonder You make my mind twist back Into the spaces where time was still young. In a thrift shop, I found you Unwanted, uncared for, unrecognized I saw you and took you home. I washed dust from your weave in hottest water Your vines drank in that liquid like gold. I hung you on my porch to dry. Who made you? A pioneer housewife? I

Elece Hollishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15286024086460827268noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2270745490778512573.post-15123822738918306322011-08-13T07:39:00.000-07:002012-07-11T11:25:14.691-07:00

Elece Hollishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15286024086460827268noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2270745490778512573.post-11279018466915498592011-08-02T08:28:00.000-07:002012-07-11T11:23:39.611-07:00

I was amused to come up behind this buggy pulled by a horse near Westville, Oklahoma recently.  A passed the trap and waited with my camera to catch another shot when it would pass by.  Even buggies pulled by horses must stop at the traffic lights.  Notice they have an ice chest for hot weather rides. The little boy looks so precarious perched on the

Elece Hollishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15286024086460827268noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2270745490778512573.post-13599356605218665702011-06-27T07:24:00.000-07:002011-06-27T07:34:50.120-07:00

Stained glass windows on the Presbyterian church. I love this one. These two churches are located in Haskell, Oklahoma. One ought, every day at least,to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Elece Hollishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15286024086460827268noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2270745490778512573.post-19159823163295035172011-05-22T09:15:00.000-07:002011-05-23T13:57:23.575-07:00

Yesterday I visited three small towns on my trip to see my granddaughter's school program. These once thriving communities are now quiet and all but abandoned. Boynton, Oklahoma is east of Okmulgee and Morris and west of Muskogee. I think a train once passed that way carrying loads of coal from Henryetta to Muskogee.  The remains of a cotton gin greeted me as I entered the town from the

Elece Hollishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15286024086460827268noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2270745490778512573.post-66465446114861782072011-03-09T19:07:00.000-08:002011-03-09T19:07:34.528-08:00

Elece Hollishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15286024086460827268noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2270745490778512573.post-45694659337378071512011-02-05T16:45:00.000-08:002011-02-05T16:47:43.779-08:00

 The Groucho brothers. Don't they look mad? "Hey, Lady,pass the hay will ya?" One of my favorite horses Short horned wrestling steers?Red barn holds plenty of hay.  These cows were certain I'd brought them something to eat. Sorry! Smile for the camera Bessie! Well, maybe not.

Elece Hollishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15286024086460827268noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2270745490778512573.post-83601672983884242792011-01-20T18:22:00.000-08:002011-01-23T10:33:01.278-08:00

I enjoy feeding the birds in and watching them as they eat."This snow is so cold it makes my hair stand on end."  "May be static electricity, Ralph.""Just what are you thinking?"Cardinals feed with white-crowned sparrows.White clouds like tufts of cotton in a bright blue winter sky. Hay bales topped with snow like iced cinnamon rolls.Truck tracks in the driveway like the fancy stitch

Elece Hollishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15286024086460827268noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2270745490778512573.post-73394277824045905412010-12-19T12:20:00.000-08:002010-12-20T08:36:09.583-08:00

 Here is a blurry, but spooky picture of a barn owl. An owl flew from the window of the old house, probably the mate to this one.  The porch leans and the house leans, even the tree leans! I always wonder about an abandoned farm like this. Who lived there? What happened to them?  I think it must have once been a very nice farm. It is located along highway 52 which runs 

Elece Hollishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15286024086460827268noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2270745490778512573.post-52182161502185317402010-11-30T07:56:00.000-08:002010-11-30T07:56:50.148-08:00

 Hawks wheel above hay fields searching for a meal in the moving grasses. Often a lone tree in a field survives cattle ranging and becomes a sculpture against the sky.  Bales of hay are lined up like windbreaks along the edges of fields waiting for winter use. A round bale of hay like this will feed a horse or a couple of cows for a week or so.  Berry and brier 

Elece Hollishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15286024086460827268noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2270745490778512573.post-14409557217344591162010-11-24T05:48:00.000-08:002010-11-24T08:34:52.612-08:00

 This dirt road near my home trundles off into the woods where I came on an old homesite and a couple of ruined buildings which could have been school houses or possibly churches and another that was obviously a burn site with nothing remaining to be seen except an old brick chimney and some fences around the perimeter. Sparrows balance on windblown grasses on a partly cloudy

Elece Hollishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15286024086460827268noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2270745490778512573.post-64771541795226972352010-10-29T16:16:00.000-07:002010-10-29T21:33:39.362-07:00

This prairie wildflower is a single stem...                                                                         called Broom Weed. The vase from this angle looks about to slid across the table.I like how the

Elece Hollishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15286024086460827268noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2270745490778512573.post-79109043370443326982010-10-27T13:06:00.000-07:002010-10-27T13:09:03.225-07:00

 This is a strange old building I found along a dirt road off Hyw.16. It looked very old but it appears to be made of cinder block. So, how old could it be? How did it lose its roof? Why such a large doorway?  It had church or school style windows. I wonder about its use. Was it burned? It doesn't appear to have burn damage. maybe it was never finished. Maybe it lost its roof in a

Elece Hollishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15286024086460827268noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2270745490778512573.post-61374526306602534392010-10-06T09:21:00.000-07:002010-10-11T14:50:20.494-07:00

A dirt driveway meandered off into the woods. I wondered where it led.  The ruins of an old abandoned house greeted us. Who once lived there? I guessed some grandparents who were visited summers and holidays by happy grandchildren.  This old tire swing was what caught my eye and made me wonder about the place. Look at the curve of tree limb. The house was a shambles, not safe

Elece Hollishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15286024086460827268noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2270745490778512573.post-48366001563349306072010-09-20T11:17:00.000-07:002010-09-22T12:11:46.980-07:00

What a great cow in the pasture filled with yellow flowers! All of Oklahoma prairie country is not flat as it may seem. See the hills to the northwest? Sunflowers are a spectacle in September. The bloom along fences and in ditches, low places and in fields. The yellow wildflowers dominate the late summer days. This youngster had his eye out. Maybe he had heard rumors about how I was once

Elece Hollishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15286024086460827268noreply@blogger.com1