Tag Archives: making hay

“Riding under a baloon beats making hay, but

believe me after we came down no more baloons for us.

How foolish to want to be way up in the air,

& then after you are up there,

you want to be down.”

I’m not sure who the two men are in the “baloon,” but this post card was one of a very few saved by my maternal grandmother, Louise Schlinke Boring a/k/a Dude to me. I believe the man on the right was one of my grandmother’s five brothers, and the man on the left was my maternal grandfather James Marion Boring, Sr. The post card was unsigned and not stamped which makes me imagine it was hand delivered.

What struck me about the card was the message written in pencil on the back, regardless of the missing names or how it was delivered. The people in my grandmother’s family were farmers so they were well acquainted with the labor involved in making hay in the hot Texas sun. My grandfather, on the other hand, was an adventurer who started and failed in business enterprises from root beer stands in Houston to a movie theater in Richards with four children along the way during his lifetime (1887 – 1938). I can believe the balloon ride was his idea.

No more balloons for these guys, though. “How foolish to want to be way up in the air, & then when are up there, you want to be down.”

I’ve felt that same feeling more than once in my life, too…not about balloon rides, of course. I’m not that brave.

Stay tuned.