HIGH POINTS from El Camino Real
CHRIS DAVIS
April is flying by and folks along El Camino Real will be

looking at graduation and a long summer before we know it. The high price of gas is going to have many of us finding new places to vacation closer to the home. We'll have more time for leisure activities this summer too, because we aren't going to be able to mow our yards as often as we have been doing. You will be able to kick back and enjoy your four bits' worth of news, just like you did when gas was only $1.75 a gallon.

I was sorry to hear of the passing of our friend Edna Baxley this past week. Edna moved here from England many years ago and quickly became one of the home folks. She battled a case of cancer that was supposed to have taken her several years ago, but she fought back and stayed with us a good while longer. She was a special lady and we will miss her English accent.

We will especially miss the visits from her two brothers from England. They made many friends here on their visits to see Edna and we will certainly miss our limey friends. Please keep this family in your prayers this week as they mourn the passing of their sister. You better say it pretty loud because they are all the way across the big pond.

My uncle Thomas Kellum came through 10 hours of open heart surgery like a champ and is recovering slowly but surely at Woodland Heights Medical Center in Lufkin. He is still in intensive care, but we are all hoping that he will be in a room sometime this week. They put a pig valve in his heart and we are all hoping that it wasn't from a wild hog. It would be pretty embarrassing if he started rooting up yards. Please keep Thomas and Maybelle in your prayers during this difficult time.

Jake and Adria West have a new baby girl at their house. Kathryn Isabelle West was born on Tuesday, April 15. She is a beautiful baby and her big brother Cayden is proud of his new sister, but even prouder that she came with her own toys. He is pretty protective over his trucks and tractors.

Congratulations to the Wests on their beautiful new addition to the family.

It's homecoming time again in East Texas, and we always start it off with the Central High Homecoming. Get out your picnic baskets, lawn chairs and ice chests and get ready to socialize.

If you don't participate and keep the memories of our communities and loved ones alive, the only thing we'll have to leave our kids are grown up cemeteries and empty spots in their hearts where love of family and heritage should be.

If my calculations are right this should be Central High's 45th homecoming on May 4 at the old school. The fun will start at 10 a.m. and last as long as you want to stay. As always they are having a drawing for a handmade quilt and this year it's a real pretty one. I've already bought my chances, so you better find somebody to sell you some chances even if you don't go to the homecoming.

The Alto Yellowjacket

baseball team is district champ after winning over Cushing Friday night. The Yellowjackets defeated Mt. Enterprise on Saturday night.

The boys are playing some great baseball this year and I'm hoping we will be watching them for a while longer. I don't keep up with the baseball as much as the football, but when we start the playoff games then everyone will get interested. Congratulations to the Alto Yellowjacket baseball team.

My boys put out a few lines in a lake this weekend and on Sunday morning I headed out with Grant to check them before church. We were running late and I didn't carry a dip net. I didn't figure the boys had caught anything anyway.

When we got to the lake one of the throw lines was jerking pretty hard and when Grant pulled it up he had a little mudcat on the line. We moved on down and found another line with a mudcat that had been bitten in half. A big catfish boiled the water on a trot line, so we had to get the boat to check that line. I had already told my son that if we weren't careful the fish would twist off and sure enough as I pulled the big channel catfish up to the top of the water, he went to spinning around and twisted off.

I explained to Grant that this is where the term, "twisted off" comes from - when people get real mad or act crazy. When something twists off you have lost all control of it. We managed to land the next one on the line that weighed about 10 pounds.

We got back home a little bit muddy and running a little late for Sunday school. The wife was not happy, but she didn't twist off. I'd rather have the wife twist off than a big catfish. You can usually untwist a wife, but a twisted off catfish is gone for good.

The early morning frosts that hit a couple of days last week spared my garden completely and for that I'm thankful. I'd be even more thankful if you folks would remember to send me a little news every once in a while.

If there is no more than this going on around Alto then I fear we could all die of boredom. I'll see ya next week. And remember, You can never show kindness too soon because you never know how soon it will be too late. elcaminoreal@consolidated.net