Spike of Gold

So, up at the Courthouse Square, here in Independence, there's a statue of Andy Jackson. He and his horse stare off westward, unaware, I reckon of the changing scene around them. Just as well they took no notice of the streets blocked off all around them, streets full of chilly people roaming & ambling & goofing around, visiting vendors, ever-hopeful, on the occasion of Harry Truman's birthday. Lots of big doin's hereabouts, none of which I bothered with. Much more interesting it was doing yet another drawing for my Betsy-Tacy Coloring Book. If you're not aware, do make the acquaintance of Maud Hart Lovelace's mostly-autobiographical books about her happy girlhood in Mankato, Minnesota, 1897-1917. www.betsy-tacysociety.org Comforting too, messing about with pen & ink, drawing pretty pictures. It's what I've always done when the world's too much, ever since my own girlhood, here in Independence.

And, too, just for you to know, 'twas on this day in 1869, when Laura Ingalls was 2 years old, a big gaggle of top-hatted gents, working men, and 2 steel monsters all met to celebrate the completion of our nation's transcontinental railroad by way of a Golden Spike. A truly big deal it was. www.nps.gov/gosp/photosmultimedia/index.htm