The subjects of my growing up in Bandera stories are many and taken from a 79-year-old memory bank.
Usually something I am doing or seeing will cause a flashback and I make a mental note.
When I sit down to write I just expand on that passing thought. I've had people suggest I write about certain things but my mind doesn't seem to wanna work that way. It takes a personal flashback trigger to get me going, I guess.
Watermelon and cantaloupe season always reminds me of times spent with my granddaddy Harry Clark.
We would travel down south to pick melons out of the fields around Pearsall. As we headed back in his old Dodge truck along with the trailer it was pulling, we were fully loaded.
We would detour over to Uvalde, Utopia, Leakey, Garvin Store and Medina before finally heading back to his vegetable stand on Main Street in Bandera.
During our drive the load would be lightened as he was selling to every little store along the way and the remainder was put in the trailer and parked under the oak tree in front of his vegetable stand with me in charge of selling.
That oak tree is still there on Main Street where Gail Stone has her real estate office today. It was my front row seat for some really true Bandera moments.
Other times we would travel to Market Square in San Antonio for a load of whatever was in season. Those trips were more enjoyable for me as they didn't require much physical work on my part.
I still remember that place as it was an amazing display of what the area had been in earlier times. Even the early day shingle makers in Bandera were taking loads of shingles there to sell as it was the hub of trading in south Texas.
The sights and smell of that place will remain embedded in my mind forever and nothing like it exists today. Sadly, progress sometimes destroys in an effort to build.
Peach time in the hill country brings to mind when I was a young kid and I would ride with Mr. Knauf to distribute movie posters to the different business places in the area that advertised the movies coming to The Bantex Theater.
I remember the day we stopped at Hatfield's store in Medina and he bought some peaches. I can't tell you if that was the first fresh peach I ever had but it must have been really good because I still remember it to this day.
Mr. Knauf was a good man who always came through for me when they lived just down the block and around the corner from us. Whether I was selling magazine subscriptions or collecting for the March of Dimes he always helped me out.
In the fall my mind is filled with thoughts of the adventures my brother Eddie and I had while thrashing and gathering pecans on the river with the three Evans boys.
There was an old man on Pecan Street about halfway between their house and ours who bought all the pecans we brought in. He told me his favorite was the native small pecans when it came to taste. Anyone who has ever eaten one must surely agree. I do and I've eaten my share while growing up in Bandera.
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