Category: The Jollyville Years

Amazing Things, The Early Days, The Jollyville Years3 Comments

Capital Plaza And Greasy The Pig

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When I was 9 years old, in November 1961, Austin was a very different place. It got it’s first shopping mall. It was called Capital Plaza Shopping Center. It wasn’t anything like some of the ones that would follow. Hancock Mall, Highland Mall, & Barton Creek Mall were a decade or so later. The center piece of Capital Plaza was a Montgomery Wards Department Store. There were about two dozen other stores located within the center. The first McDonalds in Austin was built there. Prior to this time there there were small little strip centers, like Delwood and of course … Continue reading Capital Plaza And Greasy The Pig

The Early Days, The Jollyville Years, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

Eating Beans Is The Thing Most Country People Have In Common.

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Just about everyone I’m kin to and grew up around depended a lot on pinto beans as their main course many evenings. I remember when we lived down on the creek, out of Jollyville, getting off the school bus and making a long walk home. Before we would get to the front door I’d know there was a pot of beans on the stove. Those beans would be our afternoon snack after a hard day at Pond Springs School. Because we wanted something to eat right then, we would eat the beans that still had a firmness to them. Perhaps … Continue reading Eating Beans Is The Thing Most Country People Have In Common.

My Friends, The Jollyville Years2 Comments

My Friend & Classmate Gary

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I wrote one time about the summer before I was going on to the 4th grade and losing a friend/classmate to a train crash at US 183 where MOPAC now intersects. There were nothing but warning lights and some said even they weren’t working. He and his father was going into Austin, from Jollyville where we lived and went to school. It was early on a Saturday morning. We were out for summer vacation, but word reached us soon. We had just finished 3rd grade. It was strange returning to school when summer was over. It was our first time … Continue reading My Friend & Classmate Gary

Amazing Things, My Friends, The Early Days, The Jollyville Years1 Comment

Just Another Strange Happening

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When we were kids going to school in Jollyville, there were the Reeves boy’s that were the same age as Kenny and me. Donnie was Kenny’s age and Danny and I were in the same grade. We often visited each other’s house and played together. Then the Reeves’s cousin Elvin Horner came to live with them. He was a grade ahead Kenny and Donnie. The Reeves family moved and we lost touch with them. That was about 1963. By the mid 80s I was awarded a contract to construct a development project in Round Rock. When we got started building … Continue reading Just Another Strange Happening

Crazy Times, The Early Days, The Jollyville YearsLeave a comment

Cecil Lewis Knew How To Have Fun

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If I start talking about a telephone used for fishing, there are a few that wouldn’t have a clue what I’m talking about. But it would also prove they aren’t from Smithwick. A telephone is actually an electrical generator box that was used with the old-timey crank telephones. For whatever reason if you were in the lake and you possessed one of these boxes and you dropped a couple of wires over the side of the boat and started cranking on telephone, for some reason the fish (only catfish) would come to the top of water and take a short … Continue reading Cecil Lewis Knew How To Have Fun

Amazing Things, Crazy Times, The Early Days, The Jollyville Years1 Comment

Big Snakes

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A contribution by Kenny Lewis As Ronnie has mentioned, we lived on 65 acres of the roughest country that Bull Creek had to offer. Suitable for our little Angora goat herd, a few Shetlands, Tarbaby, a little Jersey cow named Crickett and Rattlesnakes. It never failed that when I got the urge to ride (which was usually daily) the horse I wanted to use was always in the back of the pasture. So, I took off with a halter in one hand and a small feed bucket in the other. Sure enough Shorty (a 31” paint Shetland) and Tarbaby were … Continue reading Big Snakes

Amazing Things, My Family, Smithwick, The Jollyville Years, Thoughts and Musings2 Comments

The Little Keepsake Box

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This little wooden box is one of the treasures that I hold close to my heart. It belonged to my Grandmother, Leona, that we affectionately called Maw-Maw. The initials L P was for Leona Purcell. I will be telling you more in a couple of days about my Maw-Maw, who was known as Aunt Nonie by many folks around the country. Why in a couple of days? May 6, 2021 will commemorate 112 year’s since her birth. Now back to the box. I remember that she always kept this box on her dresser. When I would ask her about it, … Continue reading The Little Keepsake Box

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The Only Track Meet I Ever Competed In

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Going to school in Jollyville didn’t provide for someone of the things that going to a more traditional school did. We didn’t have any sort of a sports program. We played kickball and dodgeball out on the playground. That was about it for sports. The principal, Mr. Pyle had come to us after being a coach and principal at Thrall. A year or so after he arrived at Jollyville, in my 6th grade year, he arraigned for those boys in grades 6 – 8 to go compete in the Thrall Track Meet. Eight or ten boys loaded up in cars, … Continue reading The Only Track Meet I Ever Competed In

Crazy Times, The Jollyville YearsLeave a comment

The Christmas Crayon Set

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As a young boy I loved to color. My mother knew to always get me a couple of coloring books and a fresh box of crayons. I had a bad habit of pressing down way too hard, using up the crayons much faster that I should have. Being rambunctious, I broke most of them in half. I’m sure I ate a few of them along the way. It was Christmas Eve night, most likely when I was 6 years old. When I unwrapped my presents I had a huge set of colors and it came in clear plastic carousal that … Continue reading The Christmas Crayon Set