"Roper"

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We lived in the panhandle of Texas from the time I was about five years old until I was barely eleven.

The "town" we lived in was more a village than a town. All the people and the stores were positioned on one side of the highway, and on the other side was a roping arena where my dad used to take me to watch some of the guys he worked with practise their roping skills in the evenings. In those days and this activity was as common there as kids used to be playing ball in the parks and sandlots around town.

Just after my eleventh birthday we moved to Washington state where cowboy boots, and cowboy hats, and even denim jackets were only worn by slow-talkin' hicks from the sticks. Me. The kids called me, "Tex," and I took it in stride.

Still, all that Texas-talk, and the way of the Texas cowboys, as I saw them, remain with me. I guess that's why when I saw this photograph in the local news the image attracted me enough to get out my sketchbook and pens.