Lunch at Camp Verde General Store

            Yesterday I went to lunch with neighbor ladies, Dottie, Sandy, and Sue. They took me where I’d never been, to the Camp Verde General store, about a ten-minute drive out of town. 

            The store was established in 1857 because “army regulations prohibited the sale of intoxicants upon the reserve” -Ford Camp Verde. Four years earlier Secretary of War Jefferson Davis petitioned congress to appropriate $30,000 so the army could experiment with camels for army transportation and military purposes.  The bill was approved in 1855. In 1856 the first shipment of nine dromedaries from Egypt, twenty burden camels and four of mixed breed arrived at Camp Verde, with four native drivers.  A second load for forty more camels arrived the next year.  The third shipment, used as cover on a slave ship were turned loose to range the coast.

            When the civil war broke out there were fifty-three camels at Camp Verde. The fort was captured by the Confederacy in February 1861 but was recaptured by the U.S. Army in 1865.  The camels were excellent pack animals but when the war ended there were not enough funds to continue the operation. In 1869 the fort was deactivated but the store and post office continued to supply pioneer families.  The original structure was destroyed in a flood in 1910 and rebuilt.  In 2005 the new proprietors “carefully and conscientiously introduced a new spirit to this part of the Texas Hill Country . . . with spectacular outdoor patio . . . a front porch that invites you to ‘sit a spell’ and enjoy the day.”

            We certainly enjoyed our lunch – King Chicken, spinach salad,  pecan cobbler and iced tea  - only $6.77 each – in one of the high-ceilinged shelf-lined rooms displaying home made jams, body and bath products, kitchen items, art, candles, jewelry, etc.  When the weather finally cools it will be nice to go back and eat outside.  We plan to get together for lunch monthly, although Dottie will be returning to Colorado at the end of September.

            I’m happy that they included me. I love being with women. Conversation moves so easily from topic to topic. We always learn something from each other and about each other.

            A minor disappointment:  I won’t be teaching at Kerr Legacy Christian Academy. Turns out there are only fifteen students in the entire school; only three who were interested in working with me. I am willing to do it, but expect to be paid my normal rate, which the principal said the parents would not be able to afford.

            However, Lorraine has me set up to teach at Art2Heart, starting August 23 for six weeks. I have no idea how many children, or what ages will be there, as this is part of after school art/music program. But I’m game.

            Speaking of children – a must-see documentary Koran by Heart aired on HBO last night.  It’s fascinating.  Afterwards I read an interview with the filmmaker on Huffington Post. Shooting a documentary is so different from working with a script. He had to shoot tons of footage of many children who participated in the international recitation competition last year in Cairo, then edit down to cover the stories of the most fascinating kids and their families: boy from Tajikistan, girl from the Maldives.  We’re reminded that children are empty vessels into which adults pour information. Who would these children become if they were raised in America?  Who would we be if had been raised somewhere else?  My mind tingles at the thought.