Long Hollow

Super Moon and other Sweet!s of the Week

I've already jumped onto the Weekend Express, but I'm taking advantage of a pit stop to post my Saturday Sweet! List from the past week before I get whisked into the next one...

 

Saturday: catching the Super Moon low on the horizon; waking to the sound of unexpected rain

(Not the best capture, but enough to trigger my memory of standing on my friend Nancy's back porch watching it rise in the sky over the pasture.) 

Sunday: Mass with dear friends in a beautiful historic church; sunlight streaming through stained glass windows; barbecue chicken plates benefiting a volunteer fire department; a quick visit with your son, future daughter-in-law, and grandpuppy; Gruene, Texas, even for just a quick stop

Monday: an omelette made with fresh veggies from a friend's garden; new tires on your car; spending time with your baby girl 

Tuesday: your husband bringing you flowers; finishing tasks that weighed on your mind

(from a yucca plant that was knocked over in the thunder storm)

Wednesday: soft raindrops on a morning walk; box turtles resting near a pond; sleeping dogs; friends responding to a prayer request; grilled cheese sandwiches a la Tom

Thursday: an unexpected paid work day (cha-ching!); second graders; Ocean Week in an elementary school; storm clouds making way for sunshine long enough to walk your puppies

Friday: gathering with friends and 1/3 of your kids for dinner, even if the band (and dancing) is rained out; sunsets and storm clouds over a lake; rainbows

 

Hope you all had a wonderful week and the next one is even better. And in case my Mother's Day post runs a few days late, Happy Mother's Day to all of you who have experienced the joy and heartbreak of motherhood, whether you ever gave birth or not.

Here's a flower for you...

(the onions are blooming!) 

Hello There

Has anyone even missed me?

For the past few days, I've been holed up in my office, focused in a way that's unusual for me, fueled with determination to finish editing photos from a shoot last month.

(I know! Shame on me for taking so long! I do have the relatively good excuse of getting my new computer, having to load software and learn how to do what I need to do, bit by bit. Still, shame on me...)

But I'm happy to report I finished the photos last night and mailed them off to my friend today. I also mailed a shoebox full of thank-you notes to friends who helped me get this dream computer that I'm staring at right now. I never, ever, ever could have gotten it without them, so the writing of those notes had also been hanging over my head, occasionally tapping me on the shoulder, and even sometimes tripping me when I walked by. 

I forgive them because I appreciate the reminders, but you can imagine how relieved I am to have them out of my house!

(Now I know my friends that they're addressed to aren't checking their mailboxes every day and tsk, tsk, tsking me on my lack of manners, or planning to de-Facebook-friend me because of it. But it's one of those things you feel inside, that you know you need to take care of and the longer you put it off the more it eats at you.)

So, whew! that's done.

During my outing to the post office, I also mailed a ring to a friend. This is a dear friend who lives a couple of hours away, who I just happened to visit this past weekend on the premise of her hosting a Silpada party for me.

This ring is the replacement to one she bought several years ago from a different Silpada representative. The stone had fallen out and I took care of the exchange for her. (Silpada has a lifetime guarantee.) 

I've been holding onto the replacement ring for a few weeks now. I mean, why mail it when I would be going to see her soon anyway, right?

It's weird...I remember the very moment this weekend when I realized I had forgotten to bring that ring. I was standing in her kitchen and it hit me hard, like a frying pan. Thank goodness Nancy was (sort of) forgiving and didn't hit me herself with a frying pan.

And hallelujah! that nagging feeling that I'd forgotten something went away...

Tom came along with me for the weekend and we had such a great time. Nancy and Paul are teachers who live out in the country, as in cows and chickens and kittens and sheep and tractors and gardens overflowing with cucumbers, squash, potatoes, peppers... overflowing enough that they loaded us up with fresh garden treasure... that now overflows bowls in my kitchen...

It had been a couple of years since our last visit to their house. Time always brings change, but this time the change was pretty obvious: an oil rig squatted in the pasture between Nancy's house and her in-laws'.

Oil is the new hot crop in those parts, especially after the drought of the past couple of years. Ranchers have had to sell cattle because they couldn't feed them. The oil boom is a huge blessing!

And that's why they forgive the rig its gawky incongruity with the surrounding countryside. In fact, Tom would really love to get one, too!

But I had looked forward to getting some more photos of Nancy's cows, and was disappointed that the rig had scared them off to some distant back forty. 

Thank goodness the Mama cat had had more kittens...

...and even though for some reason I felt too intimidated on this trip to snap any photos during Mass of their gorgeous, historic church, I did snap these afterward...

Nancy and I also went for a ride down the highway on a Kuboto RTV to meet members of their sheep herd (mostly to see the brand new babies) but I'm going to post those on my photography site, um, later. Hopefully tomorrow.

But there are still some of those items on my to-do list tapping me on my shoulder, so first and foremost, I'm going back into my shell to get them done before they start tripping me as I walk by. 

#1 on that list is "make progress on my book." 

Wish me luck!

What Do You Worry About?

 

The older I get, the less I worry. 

That doesn't mean I don't worry. Just that I'm beginning to realize worry doesn't help anything.

Prayer does, so the older I get, the more I pray.... that God will show me what I can do to help the situation, and if there's nothing I can do, to help me step back and let him take care of things.

...And that no matter what, I never lose hope.

When I do worry, it's about my kids... our finances... Tom's health... um... I think that's it. Next to those, nothing else seems to matter that much.

Oh, I pray about much more than that... issues that my friends and family are dealing with... social problems in the world... but I'm talking about that knotted up, gray-cloud-of-despair, helpless type of worry.

I recently came across this list that author F. Scott Fitzgerald gave to his 11-year-old daughter, Scottie, in 1933.  

Things to worry about:

Worry about courage
Worry about cleanliness
Worry about efficiency
Worry about horsemanship

Things not to worry about: 

Don’t worry about popular opinion
Don’t worry about dolls
Don’t worry about the past
Don’t worry about the future
Don’t worry about growing up
Don’t worry about anybody getting ahead of you
Don’t worry about triumph
Don’t worry about failure unless it comes through your own fault
Don’t worry about mosquitoes
Don’t worry about flies
Don’t worry about insects in general
Don’t worry about parents
Don’t worry about boys
Don’t worry about disappointments
Don’t worry about pleasures
Don’t worry about satisfactions

Things to think about: 

What am I really aiming at? 
How good am I really in comparison to my contemporaries in regard to:

(a) Scholarship
(b) Do I really understand about people and am I able to get along with them? 
(c) Am I trying to make my body a useful instrument or am I neglecting it? 

With dearest love,

Daddy

I don't agree with him on all of the items (horsemanship?), but I do on quite a few (especially the "nots") and like that he divided it between things we have control over and things we don't.

I wish I'd had the forethought to give my kids a list like this when they were younger. 

They probably wouldn't have listened to me, though.

I wonder if F. Scott's daughter listened to him? Probably not. We all seem to have to learn the hard way, right?

So... what do you worry about? 

 

Ten Years Ago...

He noticed it when he used the rowing machine at the gym where he worked. A consistent pain or pressure that would start up after a few minutes and go away when he stopped rowing. Perhaps a pulled muscle? He was in the middle of building our new home, after all, and stretching and working those muscles to their limit.

But when the pain popped up again while working on the car one April morning ten years ago, he decided he should have it looked into. He'd read enough about heart attacks to hear that tiny warning voice whispering in his ear.

Our doctor's office said don't bother coming in, call an ambulance and get to the hospital right away.

We didn't call an ambulance. By then the pain had gone away, so we took time to shower and eat lunch before heading out the door. We had enough experience with hospitals to know we'd be there awhile. 

After hours and hours and test after test - he passed the stress test with flying colors - they declared his heart fine and sent us home. But come see me in two weeks, the cardiologist told him.

He did, and he told her how he could get that feeling back in his chest after just so many minutes on that rowing machine even though running on the treadmill did nothing.

So she scheduled an arteriogram which revealed an artery in the circumflex was 95% blocked, in a spot that doesn't show up on EKGs and stress tests. 

They popped in a stent and two days later he was back at work.

Thank you, God, for good cardiologists and modern medicine and stubborn husbands who listen to their bodies and aren't afraid to speak up.

Thank you, God, for these past ten years with my sweet husband. I pray we have at least ten more, but just in case, I'll try my best not to take a single one of them for granted.

Happy Anniversary, Tom!! Thank you for taking care of yourself!

 

"Lullaby" (Dixie Chicks)

They didn't have you where I come from
Never knew the best was yet to come
Life began when I saw your face
And I hear your laugh like a serenade

How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough, is forever enough
How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough
Cause I'm never, never giving you up

I slip in bed when you're asleep
To hold you close and feel your breath on me
Tomorrow there'll be so much to do
So tonight I'll drift in a dream with you

How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough, is forever enough
How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough
Cause I'm never, never giving you up

As you wander through this troubled world
In search of all things beautiful
You can close your eyes when you're miles away
And hear my voice like a serenade

How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough, is forever enough
How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough
Cause I'm never, never giving you up

How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough, is forever enough
How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough
Cause I'm never, never giving you up
Is forever enough
Cause I'm never, never giving you up

 

Totally. Blown. Away.

When my friend Darla mentioned having a birthday party for me, I agreed only because it was a good excuse for a get-together with dear friends from high school. 

"No presents, though!" I told her. "Make sure you tell everyone 'no presents'"! 

I knew she would still go crazy on food and decorating... she's a Master Hostess. The Diva of Detail.

But I was still surprised by these...

The next big surprise was turning a corner and seeing faces I didn't expect to see. Faces of friends who live hours and hours away, like Patti who even traveled with her margarita machine and the necessary ingredients for her delicious 80 calorie margaritas...

I was pretty sure my friend Annie was going to be there, even though she and husband Dan had some car issues they had to straighten out before driving in from Galveston. And I knew she was bringing some of her beautiful paintings.

But I'd only seen photos of them on Facebook and Etsy up until Saturday. In person they are even more amazingly beautiful.

Getting to take two home with me was certainly a sweet surprise! (Thank you, sweet, talented Annie!)

(you can see more of Annie's paintings in her Etsy Shop)

But as if those weren't enough surprises for this 53-year-old heart, they made me sit down while Patti read a poem she composed for me... which made me cry... 

and that ended like this:

So here's a little something to help you get that damn book written!

Then they plopped this huge box in front of me.

Breathless. 

That's how I felt as I stripped the paper away and realized these sneaky, wonderful people had somehow managed to give me a new computer. A brand spanking new giNORmous Mac.

My husband and Darla were the main conspirators. Oh, sneaky, sneaky...

He had even gone by there earlier in the week (when he told me he was working late!) and loaded some photos on it!

I'm still not sure who all is responsible - I know my kids were as well as some people who couldn't make it to the party. Darla promised to let me know, and as soon as I'm through with thank you notes, I'm taping their photos to my wall. I'll feel their eyes on me when I'm working, reminding me to stick with it. Whether it's warranted or not, they're putting their faith in me to finish my book.

Or maybe they were just really tired of hearing me complain about my old computer. I know Tom was!

Whatever their reasons, I still feel breathless and blown away when I think of their generosity and the depth of their friendship. It will be hard to repay them, but I'll do my best. 

 

‎"You don't have to have anything in common with people you've known since you were five. With old friends, you've got your whole life in common."

- Lyle Lovett

Mary Poppins and other Sweet!s of the week

I would lie on the wooden floor for hours... or at least it seemed like hours... listening to my Mary Poppins soundtrack album, over and over. Asthma held my lungs hostage - each breath was a major accomplishment - so lying there listening to "Step in Time" and "Feed the Birds" was about all I could do and the songs are ingrained in my memory.

It was, and still is, my favorite Disney movie. I don't remember the first time I saw it, but I remember going back as a teen with my sister, imagining strange looks from everyone else in line because we were the only ones who didn't have someone under the age of 5 with us.

Thanks to the miracle of recorded movies a la Beta, VHS, and DVD, I've watched it hundreds of times, with and without my children at various ages.

And that's why my heart skipped a beat when my dear friends let me know they were taking me to the stage performance for my birthday. 

We went Thursday night, first stopping for dinner at Hyde Park Grill. The stage production is a teensy bit different than the movie, but I could still sing along with most of the songs and the sets and actors' performances were amazing. 

A very sweet! night, thanks to some very sweet friends. Thank you Mary Kay, Karen, and Conni! 

Conni's not pictured... she's going Sunday with her twenty-something daughter, but we made sure to get her one of these bracelets! We've formed a new club!

Now I'm already halfway through a sweet! weekend. Two-thirds of the kids are home for the second weekend in a row, just because they wanted to. I like that.

And as if those aren't enough, here are a few other sweet! moments from the past week...

 

Sunday: Easter Mass; all the kids home; dinner with friends; watching kids on an Easter egg hunt; a call from your mama

Monday: new flowers popping up; watching your puppies hunt for lizards and swim in the creek 

Tuesday: shampoos by Clint (bittersweet... he's retiring from shampoos); a new cut and color by Michael; Panda Express fortune cookie fortunes

Wednesday: kids of all ages blowing bubbles; taking photos of a sweet friend and her family

Thursday: shoes on your feet and insect spray close by when you spot a 6-inch centipede swishing across your kitchen floor; the imaginations of 4th graders; watching kids swinging and playing a rowdy game of kickball on a school playground; dinner and Mary Poppins with dear friends

Friday: Friday the 13ths; spending the day with your sweetie; watching another episode of "The Game of Thrones" with 2/3 of your kids; discovering you won a "Post of the Week" from Hilary at The Smitten Image (Thanks again, Hilary!)

Saturday: spring mornings; your son and his dad working together on his "new" car

I hope you've all had a week full of sweets and the next one plain overflows with them!

 

The Great U2 Mystery

Yesterday morning, I was all set to listen to U2 while I ran on the treadmill. I've kept their Achtung, Baby! down there for several years for when the U2 running mood hits me. (I also keep some Ted Nugent, John Mellencamp, and Dixie Chicks handy - my running moods are pretty eclectic!)

(It's kind of funny... I didn't appreciate U2 until I approached my fifties. That seems so strange to me because I love their music now... to me, it's so passionate and energizing.) 

Anyway, that's what I needed yesterday morning, but when I opened the case, it was empty!

I searched through the loose cds piled on the shelf - no luck. I looked through the other cds upstairs. No luck. 

I scratched my head. Why did my U2 cds keep disappearing?  My absolute favorite one - The Best of 1990-2000 - went missing years ago. I keep the case, still hoping it will turn up someday, maybe under a couch cushion or someone's bed, perhaps. 

But now Achtung, too? What was going on? Was this some personal vendetta against me and U2?

I called Tom, texted all of my kids, in hopes that someone saw something, spotted it somewhere, remembered removing it from the player...

No luck.

Thank goodness I still had Joshua Tree to appease my U2 running mood, but the whole time I ran I wondered about Achtung and the great U2 CD Mystery...

When Tom came home later that evening, it only took him a couple of minutes to find it, of course. Show-off. Someone (possibly even me) had placed it in a clear cd case. It was sitting right there on the shelf near the others.

I would be mad at him if I wasn't so grateful. (Thank you, baby! Now can you find the other one?)

Traipsing through Cemeteries and other Sweet!s

It might seem unusual to wander through a cemetery on your birthday, but that's what I did yesterday.

There's a small one dating from the 1850's down the highway toward Marble Falls. When I heard it was blanketed with bluebonnets, I couldn't wait to visit it. There's just something about wildflowers growing beside a headstone that I find quite beautiful.  A reminder of fragility of life, the cycle of life, of life after death.

How appropriate for a birthday, especially one that falls on Good Friday, right?

After exploring the cemetery, offering prayers for the souls of those resting there and their families, we drove on to Marble Falls, where we visited a few eclectic antique and art shops in the old part of town (Tom and Daniel are such good sports!), and enjoyed dinner at a restaurant overlooking the lake.

Best of all, later that evening I got to share the traditional birthday cheesecake with all three of my kids. 

Just icing on a week full of sweet! moments...

Sunday: fields of bluebonnets and prairie verbena; pizza from a brick oven; sitting on the back deck on a beautiful spring night with your son and talking for hours

Monday: daily chats with your mom; finding a pair of shoes in your closet you'd forgotten about; butterflies; talking about your day over dinner with your sweetie

Tuesday: four-year-olds... especially their smiles and hugs and imaginations; working with a friend; reading a new book

Wednesday: a surprise birthday lunch with friends; creme brulee; a vineyard, caliche road and tin roof glowing in moonlight

Thursday: birthday cards in the mail; a birthday call from a dear friend and your uncle; practicing the drums; a full moon welcoming your birthday

Friday: greeting another birthday morning; breakfast, courtesy of your husband and son; birthday surprises in the mailbox; birthday wishes via phone, email and Facebook; bluebonnets blanketing a cemetery; sharing cheesecake and a movie with all three kids

Saturday: a lazy Saturday at home 

I hope you had a week full of sweet! moments, too!

 

An evening walk... and other sweet!s of the week

Tom and I have gotten into the habit of an afternoon walk down to our pond and along our little creek. The blue skies, golden light and exploding colors are irresistible.

First, Max wades into the pond up to his neck, letting the water penetrate his thick fur and cool him down. Belle ventures to the water's edge for a drink, but prefers to wallow in the sand of the road.

(Strange dog.)

Once Max is back on dry land, and dutifully shakes to share the pond with us, we cross the dam dotted with prairie verbena and fleabane, watching for poison ivy and blackberries, checking to see what trees are returning and which ones didn't survive the drought. I'm keeping my fingers crossed on the slender ones with the beautiful bark that line the creek. So far I haven't spotted any buds, but maybe they're late bloomers...

It's possible, right?

We head up the hill a bit, then cross over to the little cemetery where Jake and Maggie and Char and Sylvia and Sylvester and Spanky are buried, marked with small iron crosses. (That's two dogs, one Siamese cat, two gerbils and a tiger salamander, if you're wondering. All beloved pets.)

We pass the old, twisted cedars and scramble down a small slope to a path that runs along the creek, following it back up to the little waterfall where we search for minnows and tadpoles before crossing the little rock dam.

The water is rising a little every day and you can't cross without getting your feet wet now, but we don't mind. We aim for two large limestone slabs resting on the bank of the creek just a bit downstream, where we sit and talk about our days. Max wades back in, but Belle gives us kisses and lets us pet her before they both scratch out cool spots in the earth under a rock overhang near us and nap until we decide it's time to head back to the house.

I imagine heaven to be very similar. 

At any rate, it's a sweet way to greet the evening.

Every spring is the only spring — a perpetual astonishment.

Ellis Peters

 

Here are a few other sweet! moments from my past week...

Saturday: sitting on a rock near a running creek with your dogs and husband, watching tadpoles scurry under the surface 

Sunday: a spring morning that makes you hear Cat Stevens singing "Morning Has Broken" in your mind

Monday: watching a great documentary on the 50's and 60's... and getting paid for it!; an overdue phone call that settles the Mama Worries growing in your heart; a drive down to the lake with your sweetie

Tuesday: progress on your book; homemade migas for lunch, with enough left over for tomorrow's breakfast; playing the drums for the first time in two or three weeks; hearing happiness and relief in your babies' voices 

Wednesday: playing the drums for the second day in a row; a new book in the mailbox

Thursday: long phone conversations with a dear friend; spending time with your daughter; tortilla soup from Santa Rita; a walk near a creek at dusk

Friday: living in a small town where, everywhere you go, you run into someone you know; butterflies; Catholic Church fish fries, followed by Stations of the Cross; Belle's grin when you come back home

I hope your past week was full of sweet! moments... and the next will have even more! Share your favorites here!

Enchanted Awesome-ness

Awe is the finest portion of humankind… In awe one feels profoundly the immense.

~ Goethe

We sat under a dark sky sprinkled with stars, catching up on each other's lives. The warm breath of the bonfire chased away the chill and the song of the creek drifted to us from the darkness.

After a few short hours, Tom rose and faded into the night, returning with a bucket of water which he poured onto the fire. It sizzled and popped and sent golden sparkles up into the sky to compete with the stars.

"Time to go to bed! We've got to get up early!" he barked.

"Yessir, Bossman!" we grumbled, grabbing chairs and bottles and trudging up the trail to the house. 

But when my alarm shocked me awake the next morning, I was grateful Bossman had ordered us to bed. Otherwise we would have stayed up half the night, mesmerized by the fire and the stars and the joy of seeing each other again.

Which means we would have gotten a late start this past Saturday and never experienced the view from the top of Enchanted Rock, a granite dome that is the center of many Native American legends, because, shortly after we made it through the gate into the state park, it closed due to the capacity limit.

 

On a beautiful spring day in the Texas Hill Country, everyone wants to go to Enchanted Rock...

 

...even though there's not much to do but climb, sit, and stare...

 

...wonder at the life growing even on top of a huge granite rock...

 

...and maybe sneak a kiss.

 

But somehow, that's enough.

 

On the way back down the Rock, however, the formations bring out the kid in you. You find yourself wanting to climb again.

The trick is getting back down...

At any rate, thank you, Bossman!

(Before reaching Enchanted Rock State Park, we introduced our friends Robert and Shari to the waves of bluebonnets on the Willow City Loop, and afterwards, enjoyed lunch in Fredericksburg at the Altdorf Biergarten Restaurant. Best Reuben sandwich I've had in a long time! I'll share those photos, as well as a few more from Enchanted Rock, on Confessions tomorrow.)

Texas and other Sweet!s

I spent this glorious spring day with Tom and dear friends Shari and Robert driving through the hill country... ooh-ing and ah-ing at fields of bluebonnets, hiking up Enchanted Rock, and eating in Fredericksburg. I'm sunburned and dog-tired, but happily so. (Pictures to follow... you can probably imagine how many I took!)

I have to give Tom credit for spotting this single Bluebonnet growing right in front of our house. For some reason, bluebonnets are rare down in the Hollow. One year we tried to plant some, but as I told a friend, the birds must have eaten the seeds and pooped them out elsewhere.

Thank you to whatever bird planted this bluebonnet standing so tall and proud, like a true Texan...

I just love it!

..."Proud Texan" leads me to this next photo that some guy named Steve Redman posted on Facebook. It's spreading like wildfire... at least among my Texan friends. I have no idea where he got it, but I love it, too.

Yes, we do think like this. But we also laugh at ourselves for thinking like this. Does that help make us a little less obnoxious?

"I have said that Texas is a state of mind, but I think it is more than that.  It is a mystique closely approximating a religion.  And this is true to the extent that people either passionately love Texas or passionately hate it and, as in other religions, few people dare to inspect it for fear of losing their bearings in mystery or paradox.  But I think there will be little quarrel with my feeling that Texas is one thing.  For all its enormous range of space, climate, and physical appearance, and for all the internal squabbles, contentions, and strivings, Texas has a tight cohesiveness perhaps stronger than any other section of America.  Rich, poor, Panhandle, Gulf, city, country, Texas is the obsession, the proper study and the passionate possession of all Texans." -John Steinbeck, 1962

"If a man’s from Texas, he’ll tell you. If he’s not, why embarrass him by asking?" - Travel writer John Gunther, The Best of Texas.

 

And now for more sweet! moments of the past week...

 

Saturday: your Mama's tuna fish salad; watching basketball with your Daddy; bluebonnets and Indian paintbrushes on a hillside at sunset; the smiles on your puppies' faces when you arrive home after a road trip

Sunday: driving empty highways at 4am to retrieve your daughter from a 22-hour bus trip; a great sermon; a red-tailed hawk, soaring through the hollow; watching movies with your daughter before she heads back to college

Monday: a bluebonnet growing in the Hollow; ducks gliding across a pond; four-year-olds discovering patterns and pretending to be airplanes and kitty cats; walking familiar halls after years of absence

Tuesday: knowing your puppies are indoors, safe and sound, on a stormy morning; a glimpse of more ducks through the trees, even though they fly before you can snap their picture; a call from your father-in-law, letting you know he's out of the hospital 

Wednesday: a walk before dawn, the Big Dipper ahead of you and a glimmer of sunrise behind; no line at the post office

Thursday: lunch with friends; coming up with a good excuse to drive downtown for a daughter hug; watching ducks fly away from you, even though you didn't have time to snap their photo (again!)

Friday: reading Othello aloud with high school seniors; a (mostly) clean house, just in time for the arrival of sweet friends; sitting around a bonfire with friends under a sky full of stars, talking and listening to a rushing creek

Saturday: fields of Texas wildflowers; sharing the view from the top of Enchanted Rock with friends; real German Reuben sandwiches

What were some sweet! moments of your week?

A Celestial Evening (Celeste Krenz and Harley's Angels)

Friday night, Tom and I joined 38 other sets of ears in our friends' living room to listen to Celeste Krenz, an singer/songwriter we'd never heard of before, even though her amazing voice has been singing for audiences for a couple of decades.

Her songs are unique, yet familiar somehow... her voice lyrical, soothing, and angelic... even when she's singing "If I Had a Gun"... 

And nothing beats listening to music like that in the intimacy of a home concert.

These particular friends, Bob and Lisa, have hosted several concerts in their home, including the Shake Russell concert a few years ago that inspired us to have our own (because we couldn't make it to theirs!)

Two years ago Bob and Lisa decided to add a purpose beyond entertainment to the concerts. Each artist who performed in their home signed a a Venture V3 acoustic/electric guitar that was later auctioned off. Last year it went for $2000 in a live auction at the Flight Against Breast Cancer fundraiser.

The fundraiser benefited Harley's Angels, a non-profit organization comprised of a group of "women motorcycle enthusiasts dedicated to promoting breast cancer awareness, research and education." 

Bob, a motorcycle enthusiast himself, lost his sister Karen to breast cancer a few years ago. This is his way of celebrating her life and helping to fight the disease that took her life.

The Shake Russell Trio and Michael Hearne will be the featured performers again this year at the third annual Flight Against Breast Cancer fundraiser on September 29.

Celeste Krenz kicked off this year's concert series and fundraising: a portion of her CD sales went to Harley's Angels.

Susan Gibson plays in May. I'm not sure who else Bob has lined up this year, but I'm sure he'll gather some other great musician/artists. Last year's guitar was signed by Tavana, Chuck Cannon, Klaus Oglesby, Jeff Senour, Joe McGinnity, Shake Russell, Doug Floyd, Mike Roberts and Michael Hearne.

As you can tell, Bob isn't one of those people who sits around wishing other people would do something. He just does it.

Bob holds the guitar steady while Celeste signs her name.

Celeste with representatives of Harley's Angels.

 

Celeste with hosts, Bob and Lisa.

 

I just love this pic of Bob and my sweetie! They've been friends since their Coast Guard days. 

If you're interested in learning more about the Flight Against Breast Cancer concert series and auction, let me know and I'll be sure to keep you posted on the details.

Fiction, Fires, Family... and other sweet things

Bonfire sparks drifted up to the sky where clouds parted like curtains and stars crowded the stage, accompanied by the singing creek beside us. No moon softened the darkness - the pitch wall of night rose just beyond the reach of the firelight. 

There was a time not too long ago when I would have feared the darkness, imagining all sorts of danger lurking where my eyes couldn't see. But last night I hugged my jacket around me, craned my neck up to stare at the stars and felt nothing but awe at the beauty of the night and amazement that I ever felt fear standing in its darkness.

I had spent the past day and a half immersed in the world of children's books, listening to authors, agents and editors sharing their stories and experience, offering advice and encouragement to those of us still only dreaming of publication.

Standing there watching the stars break through the clouds, hearing the sizzle and pop of the fire, the trickle of the creek, the frogs singing in the distance... it all just added to the impression that this is a magical world where dreams can come true...

...Especially the small ones like sleeping in for the first time in weeks and meeting my cousin Pat for lunch after two years of trying to match our schedules (which is just ridiculous because she only lives an hour away!)

Pat's a genealogy addict like me, except she's still actively researching. I've had to put myself on a 12-step-program, otherwise I'd get nothing else accomplished!

A few years ago we spent a Saturday tracking down family cemeteries and visiting the Bell County Museum, where we discovered a photo of 'the oldest house in Bell County' hanging on the wall. 

According to writing on the photo, it was built by one of our ancestors. She sent off for a copy of it and today presented me with a framed canvas copy, along with copies of other family mementoes and letters she knew I'd treasure. 

 

 

Well, she's the true treasure! But I was enjoying our time together so much, I completely forgot about getting a photo of us together as I'd planned.

Next time... and by golly, we won't wait another two years for it.

"Our most treasured family heirlooms are our sweet family memories."

~ Unknown

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And now, here are a few Sweet! moments from the past week I remembered to record...

Monday: puppies, stretched out warm and cozy in the laundry room on a rainy, cold morning; making Valentine cyclops cookies with your Valentine

Tuesday: sharing Valentine cookies with your middle son and heart-shaped chocolates with your daughter; a "Happy Valentine's Day, Mom" call from your oldest; searching for fossilized hearts with your sweetie beside a lake, followed by dinner by candlelight and a funny, romantic movie 

Wednesday: a chicken quesadilla for lunch, shared with your honey who decided to take the day off; a little bird outside the window posing for your camera; a job that lets you eat pizza, play with jewelry, sip wine, and catch up with friends while you 'work'

 

 

Thursday: a rare day spent totally at home; a puppy's face in the window reminding you to take a break from the computer

Friday: the sound of raindrops on your umbrella; familiar faces in a roomful of strangers

Saturday: the rain stopping just as you leave the house; a day spent listening and learning from authors, agents and editors; watching the clouds give way to stars; bonfires on a crisp night 

Sunday: late Mass so you can sleep in a bit; a glimpse of a huge red-tailed hawk flying past; a long-overdue lunch with a dear cousin/friend

Hoping you had a week full of sweet!s and are blessed with even more in the week to come! (Share some of yours here!)

Team Valentine (Who needs a dozen roses...?)

Valentine's Day Eve...

Tom made the cookie dough.

I peeled the wrappers off the milk chocolate hearts.

He formed the balls, rolled them in sugar and placed them on the cookie sheets I lined with foil.

He kept an eye on their baking, but together we topped each cookie with a heart and popped them in our mouths...

...over and over and over again. 

When there's someone, one someone who makes your days brighter,

makes your joys greater,

makes your heart lighter,

 

Valentine's Day...

Tom was in the Suzuki, pulling out of the driveway just as I drove up. 
"I'm going to get one more load of rock. Want to go with me?" he asked. Of course I did!

He cleared the dirty gloves and tools off the passenger seat, brushed as much loose dirt aside as he could, and I climbed in.  He drove to a spot near the lake where construction crews are laying new water pipe. The foreman gave Tom permission to gather up all the flat rock he wants - he's collecting them to use as paving stones for our future driveway, or as I like to call it, Hernia #5. Or maybe it's #6. I've lost count.

I helped him load the rock, then he showed me the mother lode of fossils he discovered. We spent the next half hour scouring the exposed lake bed for fossils, finding one stone heart after another, until the setting sun reminded us to head home.

That's when he discovered the flat in the right front tire. He drove the Suzuki as far as the top of our dirt road, then hopped out to lessen the weight on the tire. I drove it the last mile home with him following on foot.

Someone, one someone you want so to share with,

do everything with,

go everywhere with,

 

Valentine's Day Night...

Cards filled with love and sweetness. Candlelight. Grilled T-Bone steaks, Texas toast, fresh salad. A glass of pinot noir for me, a beer for him. A couple of cookies and "When Harry Met Sally".

Could there possibly be a better way to celebrate Valentine's Day? I can't imagine it.

Someone, one someone you want to live for--

you have that something called Love.

~ Karen Ravn 

 

The Privilege of a Lifetime

"The privilege of a lifetime is to be yourself."

 ~ Joseph Campbell

 

A big pot of chicken soup is simmering on the stove. From where I sit across the room I can hear the little bubbles playing on the surface and the aroma is making my stomach growl.

I made it for myself, because I'm sick. I don't cook often these days, and when I do, it's usually to whip up some favorite of one of my kids or my husband, although he's gotten quite good at cooking whatever he wants himself.

You see, there are tons of other things I'd rather do with my time besides cook. That's just me, the way I am, and I'm okay with it. Thank goodness my husband is, too.

I thought about this as I chopped up vegetables for the soup earlier, because BlogHer's latest question for their Life Well Lived Getting Happy series is: How do you practice self-acceptance and find unconditional love for yourself? (Part 2 of the question is: How does practicing love first help you attract more love and happiness in your life?)

Well, not cooking if I don't feel like it is one way I practice self-acceptance.

I spent years trying on cooking and crafting and gardening and sewing, and while I enjoyed each one to a certain extent, none of them fit me exactly right. 

Today I'm cooking because I care about myself. I want to get well.

It took years to shed the 'Mommy-Martyr' mentality that made me think everyone else's needs were more important than my own. It's still a trick mirror though... one big incentive to take care of myself is so I can take care of those I love who depend on me. To be healthy if they need me or to just set a good example.

When I eat right, when I run, when I make sure I get enough sleep or play my drums or take time to read or write or take photos or laugh with friends or go dancing with my husband... it's for them as much as it is for myself.

 

Turning 50 was a huge turning point in my self-attitude, like standing before a mirror, evaluating where I'd been, where I still wanted to go and whether or not I was heading in the right direction to get there. Trying to figure out what fit and what should be tossed. I was able to recognize and appreciate the strengths that got me this far, as well as the quirks that make me unique.

Love your neighbor as yourself. ~ Mark 12:31

I forgave myself mistakes made along the way, accepted myself as human, flaws and all, and by doing so, discovered how easy it is to do the same for other people. The key to loving your imperfect neighbor "as yourself" is first loving your imperfect self.

How do you start? Ponder this...

 Where there is no love, put love and there will be love.

~ St. John of the Cross

 

 

So how do you practice self-acceptance and find unconditional love for yourself?

And how does practicing love first help you attract more love and happiness in your life?

Leave your answer here, but also at the main post on BlogHer where you can see other answers. And be sure to enter the sweepstakes for a chance at a Kindle Fire and $50 Amazon Gift Card HERE.

It's already Saturday? (Sweet!)

I'm in a calm spot between a busy week and a busier weekend. We've been blessed with spring-like weather, lately, and I admit I'm ready for it to just stick around. Wildflowers haven't yet ventured our way, but we're being serenaded by birds and frogs and a running creek. Storm clouds and sunshine are taking turns painting the canvas above us.

Middle son is home this weekend which called for a celebration: pizza, wine, and a Netflix double-feature last night (I finally got up the nerve to watch "Interview with a Vampire"! Plus another movie that was pretty good but I can't recall the name. Guess it wasn't that good.)

Even though it was a busy week, I remembered to keep track of my sweet moments. Hope you did, too!

Saturday: a morning walk with girlfriends and dogs to wake your husband in his tent across the creek; fresh kolaches; a sunshine-filled afternoon with friends in a vineyard; kitchen counters overflowing with BBQ, King Cake and tons of other food; a house full of your longtime friends...dancing, laughing, talking; toasting your friendship with shots of Patron followed by cinnamon-sprinkled orange slices

 

 

Sunday: a road trip with a friend with hours to catch up on your lives; being part of a circle of support for a friend mourning her husband; snapping photos of an alligator (from a safe distance); dinner with view of the water; sharing a beautiful sunset with friends; hugs from your parents

 

 

Monday: breakfast by your Daddy, hours of unrushed time with your parents; a quick visit with your sister; missing traffic on your way home

Tuesday: sunshine breaking through morning fog; the wisdom of Winnie-the-Pooh 

Wednesday: Grand Prize on a SheWrites giveaway; a quick visit with your daughter; a phone call from a sweet friend you haven't talked to in a while; sitting on the porch swing on a summer-in-winter evening with your sweetie

Thursday: a puppy's face at the door, first thing in the morning; getting your run out of the way before the sun comes up; a walk along a running creek at dusk with your sweetie, and capturing a photo of the first star of the evening

 

 

Friday: dramatic storm clouds; wind whispering in your ears; pizza, wine and movies with your sweetie and middle son

Saturday: sleeping in before the rush of a busy weekend begins

Hope you've had a week full of sweet moments, too!

Friday the 13th

Up late last night, writing and coming through on a months-old promise of photos to a sweet friend.

Reset alarm, later, later. Finally staggered out of bed at 6am to kiss Tom before he hit the road.

"Happy Anniversary!" he tells me.

My sleepy brain scrambles for the meaning behind his words. Through the fog, it hits me... Today must be a Friday the 13th, just like the day we got married almost 30 years ago.

And he remembered.

That's just one reason I love him.

 

It was a beautiful Friday the 13th for me. I hope it was for you, too!

Peanut Butter/Chocolate Bars, a Snow-Squeaky Beach and other Sweet!s of the Week

Wednesday evening I spent an hour sitting at my in-law's dining room table working on a post to update you on our Florida week. I just had one more image to add before I hit 'publish' when Tom's laptop froze on me. As a last ditch effort, I refreshed the page.

Poof! My post vanished! 

Sigh. 

Of course, it was a brilliant post - one of my best ever! Ahem. But I decided playing cards, exploring thrift stores and walking on the beach were more important than trying to remember what I'd written, and I procrastinated re-writing it until now, after a twelve-hour drive home and lugging in all of our suitcases and before starting the laundry.

I'm sure you understand. 

I do recall that Nobel-worthy post had something to do with eating lots of peanut butter and chocolate. In my mother-in-law's kitchen there were these cute little Christmas plates that magically filled with all kinds of cookies overnight. Tom and I did our best to eat them up every day but then, the next morning, it would be overflowing in sweet yummy goodies all over again!

It was so weird!

Christmas magic, I'm sure.

We did more than eat peanut butter and chocolate, though; we played lots of cards... mostly 3-13, a kind of rummy. Tom and his family also play cribbage, but they're so fast at it I'd rather just sit and watch in awe.

One of Tom's eight brothers, Joe, lives near his parents; he and his wife Erin used to live in Texas and we've always had a great time with them. On this trip we trekked through antique/junk shops and along the beach, searching for all different kinds of treasure. We also spent one evening catching up over margaritas and 3-13 (they stomped us!)

Martha Stewart has nothing on Mom and Erin when it comes to Christmas decor. I came home totally inspired to finish my tree and create a beautiful table setting. Both of their houses twinkle in Christmas spirit.

Friday, our last day there, Mom had planned to take us to the infamous McGuires Irish Pub right after Pop had a small test run. Unfortunately, we ended up eating in a hospital cafeteria instead of McGuires. (Barbecued ribs, since you asked. And they were pretty dang good!)

Pop didn't even get any lunch... unless you call the stuff that drips through an IV "lunch".

You see, over the last few years - more frequently in the past few months - Pop has been getting anemic. So anemic that he requires transfusions. On Friday the doctor felt his blood count was low enough that he needed another recharge.

I'm glad Tom and I were able to be there to help them out, at least for a day. And we still had fun with them, playing cards and listening to Pop flirt with the nurses (that old rascal!)

As I write this, he's still in the hospital. We're praying the doctors can figure out why he keeps getting anemic and what to do about it. Please join me! (Thank you!)

And now for my sweet! moments of the week... 

Sunday: your parents-in-law's faces on a long overdue visit; playing 3-13 even if you lose every game; a tree covered in angel ornaments; chocolate and peanut butter bars

Monday: chocolate and peanut butter bars; chocolate and peanut butter bars; chocolate and peanut butter bars; laughing with your brother- and sister-in-law over margaritas and games of 3-13 (even if they always win)

Tuesday: chocolate and peanut butter bars; Tums; running with your sweetie so you can eat more chocolate and peanut butter bars; swingsets sturdy enough for adults; an evening penitential service in a beautiful church

Wednesday: exploring thrift/antique/junk shops with your sweetie, brother- and sister-in-law; Victorian houses draped in Christmas

Thursday: walking on a deserted Pensacola beach with loved ones, searching for shells; your heels sinking deep into squeaky snow white sand; wearing a swimsuit in December; purple beach flowers; finally winning a game of 3-13!

Friday: spending a day laughing and playing cards with your in-laws, even if most of it is spent in the hospital; old globes; watching old episodes of MASH, Taxi, Gomer Pyle, Petticoat Junction...

Saturday: starting off on time for your return trip home; a pre-dawn deserted interstate; sharing a footlong turkey sandwich with your sweetie; your tail-wagging, grinning puppies greeting you when you arrive back home after a week away; the sight of 2/3 of your kids after a long absence; your son helping you out when you're feeling frustrated and exhausted; three paychecks in the mail

Dancing, friendship, butterflies and the Jake Carr Band...

Tom and I ventured into enemy territory Friday night: we went dancing in College Station.

Considering we have one University of Texas graduate and one still in attendance, that's tantamount to treason around here. (College Station is the home of Texas A&M... UT's arch-rival.)

But we had a good reason to go there! We went to hear our friends' son play... he's the drummer in the Jake Carr Band, an up-and-coming country-ish musical group full of talented kids. They opened for another band (JB and the Moonshine Band) at a Bryan/College Station landmark: the Texas Hall of Fame. 

I call it a landmark because it's been there since 1978. It only took a few minutes for Tom to realize he had been there before.

"Did you come here with Debbie?"

"Yep."

Hmmm.

I know all about Debbie. Tom even called me "Debbie" once when we first started dating.

Needless to say, I made sure we got out on that dancefloor. He owed me! Plus, the Hall has one of the best dancefloors I've ever seen - I think the best since Gilley's in the days of our youth. Huge! No danger of bumping into anyone else, no matter how wild they get with their elbows and their twirling.

But back to why we were there...

The Jake Carr Band is really good. Sam Duncan, on the drums, is really, really good. Remember that name!

Plus he's so dang cute! Here he is with his beautiful Momma, Shari...

And here are some shots of the band... I bet we'll be hearing them on the radio before too long.

College Station was just the first stop on our weekend away. The true destination was our friends' place, nestled in the tall pines northwest of Houston.

Did you know that when the wind plays in those giant trees, its laughter sounds like rushing water? I had never noticed it before - perhaps it's because I miss the sound of our little waterfall so much.

That's the kind of weekend we had - slow and relaxing, where you have time to listen to the wind playing in the trees. Just the kind of weekend we needed.

We went for walks in nearby Tomball, full of great antique shops, where I was very, very tempted to buy this...

...because I've always wanted one and it was a great price.

But even a great price is too much these days, especially when I have no idea where I'd put it or what I'd do with it. That used to never stop me, but in these days when I'm dying to de-clutter, function trumps everything else.

We also took a long walk beside a nearby river, where my drought-weary eyes found colorful relief in the form of purple morning glories, clumps of red, white and yellow wildflowers, and even the butterflies I've missed so much this year, like this beauty... 

An old stable, buried under vines by the side of the road, caught our eye. We stopped to explore, not realizing until we were telling it goodbye that some of the vines were poison ivy... (Yikes! Where's the Benadryl?)

But we still used it as a "couples" photo backdrop before leaving (stepping up a few feet, of course!) 

Our sweet hosts, Robert and Shari...Thank you both for such a wonderful weekend!!

 

 

 

Now I Remember Why

Autumn behaved itself that year, arriving right on time, just at the end of September, bringing T-shirt-warm days and sweater-cool nights, perfect for snuggling in a sleeping bag with someone on the beach, staring up at a star-studded night sky. 

Perfect weather for New Braunfel's Wurstfest, with a night breeze chilly enough to believe it came straight from the Alps. 

Perfect weather for nights spent two-stepping in old dancehalls, like Gruene and Gilley's.

Perfect weather for the Renaissance Festival nestled in the tall trees near Magnolia, Texas, where cool mornings warmed up enough for wearing shorts but not hot enough for sweating in front of your new boyfriend.

That year, we went twice to the Renaissance Festival.

After the second trip, a day with such a glorious blue sky that every blue sky I've seen since reminded me of that one...a day where everything seemed to glow in a magical light, dreamlike, sparkling with life, he asked me to marry him.

Now I remember why I love autumn!

Happy 30th anniversary of that first autumn, Tom.

I still feel the magic!

 

 

Summer Sweet and Summer Sour

Monday morning I knew autumn had arrived, riding the tail of a brisk breeze from the north that dropped temperatures nearly twenty degrees. Robe wrapped tight and relishing the chill, I sipped coffee in my pajamas rocking on the deck of a log cabin nestled in the woods above a dry creek bed.

We were at a rental lake house, guests of my oldest son's girlfriend's dad, along with his mom, his girls, their friends, my boys and Tommy's friend Ryan. It was just the change of scenery I needed after being on my feet eleven hours on Saturday and six on Sunday: fajitas, wine, a hot tub, my first game of beer pong... (Tom and I lost, of course. How could we compete against college kids?)

One of the college girls is a San Antonio Spurs Cheerleader; it took awhile but we finally convinced her to teach us part of the audition dance. ("Us" included my boys. I was one proud mom! That took guts - and resulted in lots of laughs!)

We kept one eye on the television, though. Unfortunately, the dry, brisk breeze that brought such beautiful weather also helped stir up and spread wildfires all over Central Texas Sunday afternoon.

I worried about my puppies, but my neighbors promised to let us know if the Hollow was threatened with fire danger, so before heading home we all drove to a beautiful picnic area on the banks of the Colorado River.

A rope swing beckoned. It took awhile to get up my nerve (and Tom had to mention "Bucket List") but I finally took my turn, swinging out over the river and splashing down into its cool depths.

Ah, such summer sweetness! 

It was truly a glorious day with blue skies and perfect temperatures, but driving home, seeing the towers of smoke from wildfires to our south and east, we prayed for rain instead. 

 A few hours later, I noticed the blue sky over the Hollow had turned a hazy gray. I stepped outside and the smell of smoke hit my nose. I envisioned a wall of fire just over the next hill, racing toward us. 

With a blue sky above you, it's easy to feel detached from the danger even while you pray for those affected and  worry about it coming close to you. When smoke fills the sky and your nose, detached uneasiness can flare into full-fledged panic. At least that's the way it affected me.

I searched the sky in all directions, but thank goodness no distinct columns of smoke, black or white, rose above our surrounding hills. That helped douse the panic, but I had to make sure nothing was sneaking up on us, so I grabbed my keys and drove to a nearby hill where I had a 360 view. That hazy gray smoke wafted toward us from across the lake, obscuring the horizon and washing out the blue sky, but no fires burned near us. 

Yesterday, the winds were calm. The sky above us stayed blue. I kept an eye on the horizon but no smoke drifted our way, although I knew the fires are still burning around us, both old and new. But the potential remained. I knew it could be us just as easily as it has been Bastrop, Spicewood, Steiner Ranch, Pflugerville, Leander... and what would I do if fire turned our way? 

Lists ground me, making me feel I have some control, even if it's an illusion, so I made an "Evacuation List", a reminder to me of things I need to grab if fire chases us out of our home.   

The puppies, my purse, plus some items I can fit in a backpack:  my external hard drive, my phone and charger, my camera and charger, a list of accounts and passwords, our medicine, a bottle of water...

No extra clothes or toiletries... they're replaceable. No books, family mementoes, heirloom quilts, wedding photos... I'd hate to leave them behind, potentially lose them, but they aren't crucial. 

So tell me, what's on your Evacuation List? 

Please join me in praying for the evacuees, for the firefighters and especially, for rain. Fires are also popping up near Houston. Over 3.6 million acres of Texas have burned since December - reportedly the size of Connecticut if you lump them all together.

If you would like to help the victims and firefighters, click HERE for the Central Texas Red Cross website and HERE for a list of other organizations and locations to drop donations.

My Sweet and My Sweets!

On this day 29 years ago, I walked down the aisle of St. Mary's Catholic Church in League City, Texas and officially joined my life to Tom's. I hadn't even known him a full year, but I was very sure my feet were treading in the right direction.

Despite that confidence and our whole romantic fairy-tale falling-in-love story, the path hasn't always been an easy one, because, you know, we're married. It's like a three-legged sack race... to get to the finish line you have to learn to work as a team. You might travel faster by yourself, and maybe trip less, but it sure wouldn't be as much fun.

Last weekend we attended a wedding officiated by a permanent deacon of the Catholic Church, a widower who was able to give a unique spin to the ceremony and the concept of marriage. 

He spoke mostly to the new couple, but his words resonated even with the rest of us who already know that marriage can be hard, how there are going to be times you might not even like that person you married much less love them, grrr, because he helped us remember we're just a heartbeat away from being left alone with just our memories and regrets. Never take each other's presence for granted.

He warned the new couple that Life would try to come between them. I personally think the most important word in marriage, besides Love, is Cling. You have got to cling to each other with all you've got because there's so much pulling you apart or trying to squeeze in between you. Stress, lack of money, lack of sleep, kids, exhaustion, pride...

Oh, pride is a big one. Watch out for it! The deacon warned against it, too, about the dangers of keeping score on who does the most around the house, etc. (Those of you who've been married awhile know what I'm talking about!)

We need to overlook each other's faults and focus on the positives. Focus on love, because after all, the love you have for each other is just a reflection of God's love for each of you.

"My wife was a terrible housekeeper," he told us, then looking up, he said, "You know it's true! You were!" But he said if started to complain, she would look at him and say, "Do you love me?" and it would get him everytime. (Yes, he loved you. It was plain to all of us!)

He told us to kiss each other and say "I love you" every day, and he had us do it right then and there! 

By golly, I think the best thing a couple can do for their marriage is to attend a wedding every now and then, especially right before their anniversary.

Happy anniversary, sweet Tom! I love you!

Gosh, we were cute, weren't we?

 And now for the rest of my sweet! moments of the week...

Sunday: attending Mass with 2/3 of your kids; an unrushed trip to the grocery store; Tom's hot wings for dinner; catching up on South Park episodes with your son

Monday: pink clouds; capturing photos of a woodpecker; a too rare phone conversation with your mother- and father-in-law

Tuesday: watching your old dog run down a dirt road; keeping your temper despite being disconnected 6 times and being on hold for two hours with the phone company; a new lens waiting in your mailbox; a violet dusk; a call from your brother with joyful news

Wednesday: glimpse of a hummingbird out the window; a new book to review waiting in your mailbox; potentially good news from your son

Thursday: your sister's birthday!; news that your cataract is growing but not enough to affect your vision or require surgery... yet; lunch at the mall and philosophical discussions with 2/3 of your kids; Panda Express orange chicken; a surprise gift from a friend

Friday: the excitement of closing one chapter in your life and opening a new one; a roadrunner zipping in front of you then waiting while you snap its picture; writing and writing and writing on your book; a full moon over your left shoulder, casting light on the road before you.

Saturday: looking into a pair of familiar blue eyes, feeling the same rush of love you felt 29 years ago when you said "I do".

Hope you've had a week full of sweet! moments!

 

 

Where did the week go? Heck, where did the years go? (plus my Saturday Sweet Report)

I totally lost track of this week. Until this weekend, nothing extraordinary happened, but even so, it felt crazy and I was exhausted without knowing exactly why!

Our empty nest isn't so empty right now - TG is still home for the summer, along with the contents of her dorm room, currently in Transition-Limbo, tucked into random places. And as of this past Saturday, Daniel and the stuff from his apartment are back home in Transition-Limbo, as well.

Tom helped move him home then they both took off for several days of sun and fishing on the coast, leaving a maze of boxes and stuffed trash bags full of household items and clothes overflowing from Daniel's room.

While they were gone I had to cover for Tom, which meant making sure TG and I had something to eat and pulling the evening puppy duty as well as the morning one. Okay, it doesn't sound like much, but it felt like a lot and I was pooped. 

They rolled back in Thursday night, just in time to unpack, re-pack and head to Dallas (all of us) for a wedding.

See that cute chubby-cheeked boy in red below?

That's Quentin, one of Tommy's friends. They went through Boy Scouts together and helped each other earn their Eagle Scout ranks. Along with his dad and brothers, Quentin helped us build our house.

Somehow, he's old enough to get married now. How did that happen?

The photo above was taken at Tommy's 12th birthday party, when all it took to entertain those boys was pizza, video games, movies, boxing gloves and some kind of rowdy wrestling game that, if I remember correctly, involved jumping from trees and forced me to come inside before I started screaming "Be careful!" and embarrassing my children.

Ah, boys. Those were the days.

In just a blink or two from when this photo was snapped, Quentin graduated salutatorian from high school, graduated with a degree in Aerospace Engineering from Texas A&M and then decided to teach high school math and science. A pretty good decision because that's where he met Kristen, the high school Spanish teacher who is now his wife.

Funny how we somehow get to where we need to be, even though the path seems to zig-zag a bit.

These days, I believe Quentin finds Kristen much more entertaining than pizza and video games.

It was fun seeing those kids, all grown up. A bonus to the trip was having all of my kids together. TG and Daniel stayed at Tommy's house, while Tom and I snuck away to our very own hotel room - all by ourselves! It was kind of an early anniversary celebration - next week will be 29 years.

Talk about time passing in a blink of the eye!

This morning we enjoyed a wonderful Mexican food breakfast all together before zooming back home, where I changed clothes and headed to work for the First Saturday Dinner at the Bistro. Each month the Three Course Wine Lunch menu changes and they feature some of the new items at this special night event. Getting to see - and taste - some of the new items... definitely sweet!

Here are some other sweets from the week...

Sunday: seeing your son and husband heading off for a few days of coastal adventure; watching a movie with your daughter instead of tackling your to-do list.

Monday: a surprise call from a dear friend; a text from your son letting you know they made it to the coast okay; hearing that your sister is feeling better after being very sick... again.

Tuesday: finally making the decision to buy a lens you've been wanting and getting a surprise discount on it; a glorious blue and orange striped sunset.

Wednesday: a glimpse of a mama quail, babies parading behind her, making it safely across a busy road; trio of baby deer finally out in the sunshine where you could snap their photo.

Thursday: pink mornings; your husband and son straggling in safe and only slightly burnt from days of fun at the coast.

Friday: witnessing a wedding, being reminded of love that lasts a lifetime; catching up with long-time friends; dancing.

Saturday: sharing breakfast with your husband and all of your babies; arriving home safely from a road trip; a new book to review waiting for you in the mailbox; Banana Crumble with a glass of Mistella; moonlight on a vineyard.

Hope you took time to notice the sweet moments in your week!

 

 

 

Headed for Adventure, a Crape Myrtle Update and Saturday's Belated "Sweet!" Report

Tom and Daniel headed out this morning for several days of fishing on the coast. Would you believe TG and I weren't invited?

But that's okay with me. I wasn't even tempted to tag along. When I say they'll be "on the coast," I really mean "on the coast"! They're planning to park the truck right on the beach and just stay put. 

Despite my love for the sun and sand, my idea of a vacation at the beach includes an air-conditioned high-rise condo decorated in blues and greens and cute beach decor. Oh, and also with a balcony looking far out over the water where I can sit with my coffee in the mornings and a glass of wine in the evenings.

And I'll get exactly that in about two months. 

So, have fun, guys! Be safe! TG and I will miss you while we sit here holding down this (air-conditioned) home fort!

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My poor baby crape myrtle trees. Only one is budding, and it hasn't made much progress in days. Every morning I haul buckets of water up the stone path to them, whisper encouraging things and say another prayer for a good soaking rain. 

Sigh.

At least their leaves are still green. And summer's not over!

***********************************************

Now for my week of sweet! moments... 

Saturday: whacking and killing a centipede without its legs scattering all over the laundry room floor (why, yes, I do have a photo! But for the sake of the skittish, I decided not to share it. Yet...); a quick trip into a Goodwill store and finding treasure.

Sunday: spotting a silver fox running cross the road right in front of you on the way home from church.

Monday: a summer morning on the back deck; the sight of three spotted fawns lounging in the shade, waiting for their mamas (and the sight of their mamas joining them later, soothing your fear that the kids were abandoned!)

 Tuesday: stealing a few morning minutes to play your drums for the first time in months 

Wednesday: another sighting of the fawns, this time with their big brother (who keeps an eye on you as you walk by!)

Thursday: the quiet of a college computer lab when you need to write 

Friday: a perfect Reuben sandwich; more bargains at Goodwill; an afternoon with friends and my camera in an old Texas courthouse square full of eclectic shops and architecture.

Saturday: hummingbirds; an icy limoncella (or two) with friends on a hot Texas evening; Mary Kay's chicken enchiladas; selling some jewelry!

What were some of your sweet! moments this week? (You are keeping track, aren't you?)

 

He Knows Me So Well (and Saturday's Week of Sweet!s)

Tom's email read "I saw this and thought of you," with a hyperlink under the message.

My heart fluttered - he thought of me while he was at work? How sweet! Tom never emails me unless it's a two-word response to something I've sent him.

I clicked the link and laughed when the page popped up describing (and showing images of) a 557-square-foot House of Shelves in Japan that can hold 10 tons of books.

Be still my heart!

Yes, Tom knows me well. I'd have shelves on every wall in our house if he'd let me.

Click HERE to see the House of Shelves and read more about it.

************************************************

My brother Donnie also knows me well - he sent me a link to something he knew I'd love to read about... a 7-year-old drummer named Jonah. Check him out! So cute! (He's 5 in this video - amazing!)

 

 

Now I'm fired up to squeeze 'playing my drums' back into my schedule somehow. They've gotten a little dusty lately. (Go to Jonah Rocks to find out more about Jonah.)

 

*********************************************

 

And now for my Sweet! Moments of the Week...

Sunday: witnessing more than a dozen teenagers receiving the sacrament of Confirmation

Monday: the contrast of cool lake water and hot sunshine on your body

Tuesday: a dusty rose dawn; finding a beautiful shirt on a clearance rack for $7!

Wednesday: a sky full of storm clouds and a few drops of rain on your dusty dry land

Thursday: a text message from your big brother telling you he's in love again

Friday: unwinding on a shady porch after work with a glass of Super Texan; watching "Where the Heart Is" with your honey (what a sweet movie!)

Saturday: Having friends drop in to support you at your new job; Sean's duck and Tom's slow-smoked beef ribs - double yum! Getting word that Shake Russell was finally recognized as "Entertainer of the Year" at the Texas Music Awards! (Congratulations, Shake!)

Hope you find plenty of Sweet! moments in this coming week. Remember...

‎"All things pass; God never changes."

~ St. Teresa of Avila

The moon, my honey and Los Lonely Boys...

Saturday night, a Texas moon smiling down on me and Tom by my side, I had one of those Aha! moments.

I realized I was finally experiencing Austin with all five senses in a way I hadn't yet in the nearly sixteen years we've lived here.

I could feel it in the just-cool-enough breeze blowing through the courtyard of Stubb's Bar-B-Q, taste it in my jalapeno brisket taco, hear it in the music of Willie Nelson's son, Lukas, and his band, Promise of the Real and then even more in Los Lonely Boys, those sons of San Angelo, see it in trees and old stone buildings bordering the courtyard and in the diversity of the other fans ... young, old, straight, gay, preppy, hippie, Austin Weird, every race and color imaginable ... and even smell it in the air, an intermittent wafting of barbecue with a hint of... is that marijuana?

Yeah, that's Austin.

Stubb's doesn't allow detachable lenses (discrimination!) and I don't own a point-and-shoot or an iPhone, so I don't have any photos from Saturday night, just these images impressed on my mind.

But here are some photos from the rest of the birthday boy's weekend...

A happy breakfast a la me and Daniel for the birthday boy

Walking with the boys, Kirby and...

...the goofy dogs.

The boys spotted this beetle (just like old times!) Anyone know what it is? 

Ping-pong!!

Cheesecake!

A birthday wish...

...and a nap.

Not bad for #54.

Oops!

Oops! Oops! OOPS!

Halfway to my car, ready to head out for a full day of errands, it hit me: I didn't have my keys and the house was locked up tight. 

OOPS!

What the hell happened to my OCD, that bully who forces me to check that my keys are in my purse over and over and over each time I leave the house until I finally get tired and just grip them in my hand when I pull the locked door to behind me to be satified I really have them?

I know that pest had been on my shoulder whispering in my ear when I checked every door and window, making sure they were all locked. It was even there after I loosened the bathroom window screen to let the beautiful moth out that has been trapped in the house for days, nagging me to make sure the screen was back in place tight, rather than just wedging it "good enough" like I wanted to.

It reminded me to grab the water bill, my checkbook, and my coffee carafe and mug, reading them to me off my mental checklist.  Yep, that's it. You have everything...

Um, OCD, what about KEYS?!

Okay, I confess that "Oops!" isn't what flew out of my mouth when I realized my car keys were still sitting all by their lonesome on the counter and I was locked out of the house. (They were probably wondering why I'd run off and left them. Or were they laughing at me? That's more likely, isn't it? Damn smartass keys.)

Anyway, I can't write what I really said, but Tom knows ... he heard it all when I called him on my cell phone for help (I told you I had everything I needed except the keys.) I prayed he'd stashed a key outside somewhere. I knew I hadn't. 

He hadn't either, dang it.

But...he had an idea. Following his suggestion, I tried breaking a pane out of a window with a metal pipe. I banged the hell out of it, the sound ricocheting through the Hollow and scaring the puppies.

Not a crack. Not a dent. Not a scratch.

That made us feel more secure, but didn't help me get in the house.

So guess what Tom did?

He drove home to rescue me - a 45 minute trip one way.

My Knight in Shining Armor. My Personal Cavalry.

My Tom.

sigh.

He unlocked the door, I ran to the bathroom (I'd had time to drink that whole carafe of coffee!), we each ate a slice of cheesecake (to make us feel better) then, keys in my hand and water bill in his, we kissed goodbye and went our separate ways.

But that's not the end of the story. On his way home tonight, he stopped and bought me a present. Five of them, in fact. Five copies of our housekey, now safely hidden in secure, mysterious spots you would never think of so don't try, and attached to every set of keys we own.

My Hero.

He still holds the keys to my heart, for sure.

 

 

 

 

 

Happy birthday, Tom!

I'm going to spend this day celebrating Tom - we'll have the boys and Kirby here (TG is still mired in finals and studying, poor baby), eat pizza and cheesecake, go for walks with the puppies and (fingers crossed) play some ping-pong.

But this is Tom's day. I think he also mentioned finishing up work on the Suzuki so he could take it for a drive in the back roads (it's been over a year since he's driven it) or perhaps take the canoe on out while Lake Travis is still a lake.

It's a gorgeous day (thank you, God!) so whatever we do, we'll be outside.

Happy 54th birthday, sweetie. I'm grateful you're in my life and I hope to be able to celebrate at least 54 more birthdays with you!

Intense love does not measure… it just gives.

~ Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

 

 

It's Our 49th Anniversary! (Sweet! #9)

Yes, we've been married for 49 "Friday the 13th"s now, starting with our wedding day.

Tom is the one keeping count. This afternoon he greeted me with "Happy 49th Anniversary!" 

I don't know how he does it - I can barely keep track of my age these days, but it makes me feel good that he does; it's easier to ignore him when he's grumpy and helps me overlook all of those empty Diet Coke cans and various tools left lying about.

Knowing you matter to someone else and they're glad you're in their life.... Sweet! #9

So we're celebrating tonight! I paid bills and he headed into the garage to start cleaning up in there.

Nah, just kidding.

Oh, we really did those things, but that's not the celebration. I just knew better than to procrastinate those bills. Now I've got to finish reading A Jane Austen Education by William Deresiewicz for my latest BlogHer Book Club Review (due this weekend! Argh!) and THEN we'll snuggle up and watch a movie together and I'll try hard not to fall asleep. 

(Disclosure: I'm an Amazon Affiliate, so if you click on that link and buy the book from Amazon, I get a few pennies for my piggy bank.)

It's Friday, so here are my favorite photos of the week, for obvious reasons if you've been keeping up with the state of the Hollow...

Hope you've had a wonderful Friday the 13th!

P.S. I waited until I had permission to post this. It's another wonderful story - I hate to admit it, but better than mine - of why 13 has been given a bad rap and can actually be a lucky number...

When I first went to M.D.Anderson 34 years ago, the patient number they assigned me (which you keep forever) was 131313. I took one look and thought, "Oh, no, you don't... I won't take that number!" Then just as quick, I thought, "Wait a minute... are you going to be superstitious or are you going to trust in God." So I kept the number and although there has been a few bumps in the road, I'm still here enjoying life all these 34 years later. And what a wonderful life it has been; I can say that there are very few things on my Bucket List that I haven't achieved in those years. Also, through all these years, every time I check-in for all the multitude of tests each year, they all look at that 131313 and say, "Oh, my goodness, I would NEVER have accepted that number!" which gives me a chance to speak of God and faith. I would say that the number 13 (in triple no less) has NOT been unlucky for me. God is good.

Amen! Thank you for letting me share your story, MJ! (Anyone else have a good Lucky 13 story? I want to hear it!)

 

Craig's List ... Sweet! #3 (and my Friday Favorite Photo)

Finding just what you've been looking for at a price you can afford on Craig's List.

Tom must have realized I was never going to give up on my dream of a library.

I'm sure he was just as tired of seeing dozens of boxes of books lining the downstairs walls as I was frustrated that all my books were still in boxes.

I think he also realized he would never have the time or money to build custom shelves from scratch, as he had planned. 

Guess what he found on Craig's List this week?

It's just a start, but oh, isn't it a lovely start?

Eventually they'll go all the way to the ceiling and perhaps be painted white (they're all different types of wood), and if we can figure out how, I'd like to turn two stained glass windows we've had stored for ages into cabinet doors. 

But even just as it is, I'm in book-lover heaven.

Finding just what you've been looking for at a price you can afford on Craig's List.

Sweet!

What treasures have you found on Craig's List, or at garage sales, or flea markets... ?

Spring Fever Frenzy and Sweet! #1

Frenzy is my word of the week, (where's my copy of Pearl Jam's song Just Breathe?) so please forgive me if this post seems a little harried and unorganized. If it jumps around a bit, it's just a reflection of my life right now, hopscotching from one project to the next in haphazard order.

Tom and I have two Major Events coming up this month - another Shake Russell home concert and Daniel's graduation - just the kind of matches we need to light fires under our butts and get us moving on projects we should have tackled months ago.

Why, oh why do we procrastinate?

You would be amazed by how much Tom and I can ignore around our house - he always has half a dozen projects in various stages going on simultaneously and after almost 30 years together, I've learned to ignore random tools and pieces of equipment left lying in odd places. 

One reason I ignore it all is because, if he dares say anything about my own piles of unorganized junk or projects-in-progress, I have ammunition. We've learned to be very accepting of each other's idiosyncrasies.

When Major Events appear on the calendar, though, that helps us see our home from a visitor's point of view and YIKES, our priorities shift. I haven't even gotten to the 'cleaning' part - for some reason, I've got it in my head I need to sort through boxes, clean up my office-to-be, my closet, cabinets... 

It's not that I think anyone will care, but I have to use this rare fever while I have it.

So, what I didn't do this past weekend: 

• Work on my book.
• Dance, play ping-pong or my drums.
• Load Photoshop Elements on my computer. (I'm hesitating because, from experience with my computer, I know it won't be as easy as clicking a few buttons. I need a chunk of time to work on this.)
• Finalize the name for my new venture. If I get any chunks of time, this is what I've been spending them on. Even though I work for a naming company, I had no idea it would take me this long to pick one. I'm really afraid I'm overthinking it. I've narrowed it down to three, though, and now have to figure out how to register it. There are so many things involved in starting a business - yikes!
• Attend my friend Jacque's college graduation Saturday morning. I fully intended to - I got up early, showered, dressed and was ready to head out the door, but stopped to double check directions to where I thought it was being held Turns out, it was on a totally different highway than she told me in her graduation-eve excitement, much farther than I realized. I should have googled it the night before and gotten up earlier. There was no way I could make it there in time.

What I did accomplish, outside of the normal routine:

• Unloaded a ton of stuff at Goodwill. I was going to stop after the graduation ceremony, anyway. Tom and I had already loaded up my car with bags and boxes of things to donate.
• Treated myself to a pedicure and manicure. Unusual for someone in a frenzy, I know, but the salon is next door to Goodwill. I'm 52, but I can count the number of pedicures I've had in my life on one hand - I think this was number 5 - and this was only the second manicure I've ever had. The other one was part of a spa day gift from Tom in honor of my 30th birthday. (What is wrong with me?)
• Promised myself I won't wait another year for a pedicure, or another 22 years for a manicure.
• Made a few baby steps of progress on starting my business. No, I didn't finalize the name, but I made progress. That's what I have to focus on.
• Sorted through several boxes of stuff and weeded out more stuff to give away. I'm a hoarder collector, but I'm started to have pity on my kids when they have to go through my things later. (Of course, if Tom's still around, it'll be easy on them. He'll just dump it all or burn it.)
• Paid bills and made a dent in the laundry. (No explanation needed here - these things never wait patiently.) 

Tom spent most of Saturday on a Habitat-for-Humanity type project. It's not HFH, but a similar program his company partners with a few times a year. He loves using his carpentry skills to help people.

On his way home he picked up a new (to us) elliptical trainer and stationary bike he found on Craig's List. We have our own little gym again, for less than the cost of a gym membership. Yay, Tom! 

He's putting his Craig's List truck to good use!

On the Today Show this week, I found out about something that apparently everyone else already knows about - 1000 Awesome Things.

How did I miss this? Especially as a blogger? (If you, like me, have had your head in the ground lately and haven't heard about this, click on that link above and take a look - but then come back!)

Actually, what I want to know, is why didn't I think of this myself?

Even though I didn't, I'm going to blatantly steal borrow Neil Pasricha's premise and start looking on the bright side of things every day. Considering my current frenzied state, I think it will do me some good.

I also want to set a good example for my kids and prove to them that no matter how bad things get in a day, it's possible to find one little "sweet!" moment. I honestly believe that.

I apologize in advance because this means I might have two posts in a single day right here on Long Hollow, plus another one on Confessions. I forgive you if you don't always read them or comment, but I would like to hear about your "sweet!" moments too, if you have the time to share them. From here on out, I'll write them as separate posts and keep them in the Sweet! category so I can go back and remember little rays of sunshine on those dark days.

 So here we go with Sweet #1 (drumroll please)...

... Getting an email from my son just to say he loves me - and to tell me he has no cavities. When your grown children take charge of their lives, it can be so hard to let go, especially in those health care areas. After years of intensive, organized, methodical mothering and worrying over their health - doctor and dentist check-ups, prescriptions, etc. - you watch them fly out of the nest to other regions with unknown doctors and dentists and you can only pray they continue to take care of themselves. 

It took the suspicion of a cavity, but he did it. Sweet!

 

 

 

Royal Wedding, the Sequel. Yes, I'll be watching. (And my Friday-ish Favorite Photo)

 

On a summer morning in 1981, I stumbled up the stairs and into my condo after a twelve-hour night shift, turned on the television, plopped on the floor, and watched the fairy-tale wedding of Diana and Charles.

Despite the cynicism of my 22 years, I guess I believed in the fairy-tale, and must have said an envious prayer as I watched, because just two months later I met my own prince.

My life turned out to be the happily-ever-after story, not Diana's. At least as much as anyone's can be these days. (Knock on wood, quick!)

We appeared to be nothing alike, but for some reason I identified with Diana - her relationship with Charles seemed similar to a long-term relationship I had at her age ... I understood her struggle to please, to gain attention, the battles with bulimia and anorexia and self-esteem. (Thank the good Lord mine didn't result in marriage.)

I had two sons in a row, just as she did. And my oldest son even looked like William for many years (I'm not the only one who said so.) 

Because of Diana, I became a Royal Watcher. Not in excess, but I watched the interviews, the news blurbs, read the books. When she died, I cried, glued to the television for days.

I know I'm not the only one.

I really don't understand it. It's against character for me, but there you have it. And for the same reasons I don't understand, I'll be up early - really early - this morning watching Diana's son tie the knot with that lovely young girl Kate, praying that after their fairy-tale wedding, they live happily-ever-after.

For Diana's sake.

The commemorative mug above was a birthday gift from my sweet friend Kim a few years ago. Thank you again, Kimmy!

 

And now, this goofy capture of Max is my Friday-ish Favorite Photo, because the look of delirious joy on his face as Daniel pets him is a mirror of the joy I felt having all three kids here.

I hope all of you have a joyous weekend!

Wining and Dining, Texas Style (my birthday part 2 - and my Friday/Saturday Favorite Photos)

Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity.  ~Voltaire

 

Texas has a lot of vineyards and wineries. I bet some of you didn't know that! We noticed one outside of Wimberley named Driftwood and decided to drop in on our way to the Salt Lick.

When I say "we" I mean  "me". Tom doesn't care for wine, but hey, it was my birthday!

And it was also Rachel's birthday! Her 21st! She was there with her parents. So of course we had to have a picture together. 

 

(My hair doesn't look too bad, does it, considering it was just released from a zipline helmet and it was at least 120 degrees in that room? Thank you, Michael!)

(This is what Tom wants for his birthday.)

Driftwood is actually a little town... the location of The Salt Lick Bar-b-que (the original). I had never been to the Salt Lick, although it seemed everyone else had been, so I used my birthday as an excuse to get Tom to take me. I was so tired of hearing everyone else rave about it!

(Tom wasn't waiting on me to finish snapping pics - he was hungry!)

Let me tell you... it lived up to it's reputation.

And let me tell you something else... Wednesday afternoons at 4pm is the time to go. No one else is there. From what I've heard, if you go on a weekend, expect to wait in a long line!

But I understand why now - it's divine!

Tom's brisket is this good or better, which is saying a lot because this was damn-good, but Salt Lick's ribs, turkey, sausage were melt-in-your-mouth delicious, and the potato salad and cole slaw were the best I've ever eaten. 

(Sorry, Mama.)

 

 (This lasted me two days - Wednesday's dinner and Thursday's lunch - yum!)

The oak trees and picnic tables called to me, so we tarried a little outside, and guess what? We discovered a winery next door...

Since I was hitting legendery Austin places, how could I not stop at Poodie's Hilltop Bar & Grill when I spotted it on our way home? Poodie Locke was Willie Nelson's stage manager for three decades - he ran the bar on the side ... it's one of those unpresuming spots where big names drop in unannounced.

Very unpresuming.

We didn't recognize anyone famous, so we took our drinks outside to a deck overlooking the western horizon, imagining how beautiful the sunset must be from that vantage, and wondering about Peggy... 

A long drive home, through Marble Falls, along twisty, turning hill country roads faced us, so we didn't wait around for sunset on the deck. 

We made it home just at twilight, in time for a quick walk with the dogs.

And then, another surprise from Tom... a beautiful card and cheesecake! 

Now that's the way to welcome 52.

 Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been. – Mark Twain

 

P.S. Update on my sister - she's much better and was released from the hospital this afternoon. She's weak and still on antibiotics, but able to eat again. Yay! Thank you for your prayers and please keep them coming! There's still that hip surgery she needs to recover from... !

Zippity-Do-Dah (my birthday, part 1)

I wanted to be Tarzan when I was little.

I'd sit in the livingroom on Saturday afternoons watching Johnny Weismuller swing from tree to tree on those vines, and then poof! I was in that jungle myself, way up in a tree, grabbing hold of a vine and swinging high above the ground to the next limb. A green blur surrounded me and the wind whistled in my ear...

And then there were the dreams of flying through my neighborhood - not too high, not too fast, just soaring above the treetops.

Well, imagine a combination of the two, and that's what riding the zipline felt like to me yesterday; there was that stepping off into nothing feeling and that swinging feeling (holding onto a lanyard instead of a vine) and that soaring feeling as I glided above the treetops.

I confess I was a little nervous at first. Thank goodness they make you zip on a practice line before they let you go hundreds of feet in the air, because I failed and had to do it again.

Sure, I looked like I knew what I was doing...

...but when it was time to brake, even though I knew I was supposed to press down flathanded on the cable behind me, I clamped down instead, gripping it, and that's a big NO-NO! If I did that up on the real zipline, going 30 mph, my arm would be ripped out and left dangling from the cable, or fall to the ground to be some coyote or vulture's dinner...

Ugh.

Lesson learned. I didn't forget again! (Classroom humiliation really works! That's also how I learned to read the word "something" in first grade, but that's another story...)

Okay, I'm getting ahead of myself...

My wonderful birthday-day started by sleeping beyond sunrise. Yes, I took the day off from work. What better reason could there be but to celebrate life, or more specifically, celebrate another year of your life? Tom took it off, too, just to make me happy.

Then there was coffee - not just any coffee, but some freshly brewed Texas Pecan that my friend Bo sent me. It was leftover from their coffee house that unfortunately couldn't compete with a nearby Starbucks. I was so bummed when I heard it was closing before I even had a chance to visit, so he offered a bit of his leftover "stock" - coincidentally, it arrived just before my birthday!

While I fed the dogs and sipped on my cup of Texas Pecan on the back deck, Tom whipped up a delicious heart-attack breakfast of fried eggs and sausage. Yum!

Thus fortified, we headed off to to Wimberley Zipline Adventures, almost two hours away, where we were issued our helmets, harnesses, lanyards, pulleys, water bottles and "brakes" (leather gloves) and sent over to the practice line, where I failed. 

Okay, I'm all caught up.

After we all (finally) passed the practice zipline, we piled into four-wheel drive trucks for a trip up the hill. Then on foot we climbed and climbed and climbed up to the first platform. You start at the highest spot, of course, then criss-cross the valley/ravine along 8 different lines almost to the bottom.

In between, our guide Andrew filled us in on local history and information on native plants that we didn't know (his great-grandfather was Buck Winn, an artist who bought the property back in the 1930's and pretty much established Wimberley as an artist colony.) 

I'll explain the rest through photos...

This is taking off (it isn't me, but you get the idea.)

This is me...

Notice the look of concentration as I press the cable flat-handed... "Don't grip! Don't grip!"

Ah, good job, Barbara.

Tom's turn. He's a natural. (show-off!)

He was coming in fast!

We had to take a few posed shots...

Just some random shots to give you an idea of what the heck we were doing!

Look, I'm smiling now! Nothin' to it...

This is FUN!

One of our great guides, Andrew (all of them were wonderful and made it a lot of fun!)

So guess what we did next?

The answer and more tomorrow in "Birthday, Part 2"!

(thanks to my friend Debbie for the idea of "Zippity" in the title, by the way!)

Hurray for the Weekend! (and my Friday Favorite Photos)

I can't believe it's already Friday again, and I haven't yet mentioned what a fantastic weekend I had... a week ago! It was a weekend with friends, and that's always wonderful, but what made this even better is having friends meet friends meet friends...

It started simple enough. Shari and Robert made plans to come visit for a night of dancing. Then our gypsy friends Jay and Chris let us know they'd be swinging through our way on the very same weekend in their travel trailer. They are on a cross country adventure and blogging about it on the way at Chris and Jay's Odyssey.

We hadn't seen Jay in more than ten years - he had been Tom's Coast Guard commander in a previous life - and we had never even met Chris, the woman who snagged him out of an entrenched bachelor lifestyle. So after quick introductions and hamburgers, all of us went dancing, and met another set of friends there who no one else knew yet - Debbie and Kevin.

And then (can you believe there's more? can you keep up?) Saturday night friends of Jay's came over for dinner. Don and Kathy actually live in our little town, but we had never met them! 

Don and Jay also knew each other from the Coast Guard - they were both stationed in Puerto Rico in the late 60's, early 70's. I enjoyed listening to their stories, and talking genealogy with Chris and Kathy. 

Sunday morning Tom and I were up early for our Austin Marathon adventure (if you missed it, click HERE and HERE) but were able to just relax on the porch and visit with Chris and Jay the rest of the day. (Shari and Robert had to head back home Saturday.)

And that's my idea of a perfect Sunday afternoon, just rocking on the porch with friends.

No photos of our night dancing, but here's a blast from the past - Tom, me and Jay on his sailboat in the Chesapeake Bay, circa 1984...

And here's Jay and Chris in our "front yard" this weekend. (She's a professional photographer, among a zillion other things, and professionals make me camera-shy, so I wasn't my normal snap-happy self. I've got to get over that! But my desire to have a photo of them made me overcome my shyness. If you like beautiful photography, check out her website HERE.) 

So here we are on the brink of another weekend. It won't be nearly as much fun, except for a little get-together tonight, but if the forecast for sunshine holds out, I'm hoping to get a lot of work done around here.

Especially since Tom picked up this little beauty on Craig's List yesterday for almost nothing! 

Sure, it needs a new paint job, but the a/c is cold! And it runs! Talk about an answer to a prayer - we (as in "Tom") really needed a work truck around here, since he traded the old one in for my little Elantra and TG rolled the Suzuki Samurai last year.

As beautiful as the truck is (you realize, don't you, that beauty is in the eye of the beholder? Tom thinks it's beautiful and that's all that matters!) that wasn't my Friday Favorite Photo. 

This is... 

Today is full of sunshine, but we had several drippy mornings this week, and this raindrop-dotted plant along the road caught my eye. I'm not sure what it is, and haven't had time to look it up, but I like the way the raindrops bling it up, don't you?

And because last Friday I was busy getting ready for the action-packed weekend (which means I was frantically cleaning house!) I didn't put up last week's Favorite, so here it is... my shot of February's full moon...

Happy Friday!

 

 

 

 

What Money Can't Buy

Tom and I are pretty old and settled - it doesn't take much to entertain us. Since we're also pretty broke, that's a good thing.

Taking a leisurely walk down our caliche road with the dogs on a sunshine-filled afternoon is a highlight of our weekends.

That's how old and settled we are.

 

We live on an old sea shore. We know this because of all the shell fossils we find on our walks, if we remember to look for them. Sometimes they're just lying there, loose, right out in the open.

Sometimes they're not.

 

Sometimes you have to dig a little to break them loose...

 

On a good day, if you're lucky and paying attention, you can end up with a handful.

 

But very once in a while you come across a buried one that turns out to be bigger and deeper than you thought. You start digging...

 

The dogs sigh and settle down to wait.

 

and wait...

 

while you keep digging...

 

Good dogs.

Stubborn fossil.
(Stubborn Tom.)

 

Persistence pays off (with the help of a rock hammer tossed in the car so you can stop and dig it out a few hours later when you're headed out to a friend's house)... a natural Valentine.

 

To go along with the Valentine's Day sunset...

 

and the best card in the world...

"If you want to feel rich, just count the things you have that money can't buy."

Like time and sunsets with the one you love.

 

 

More "Love is..."

...Love is being greeted at the door by Brooks and Dunne singing "Still in Love With You" and the smell of grilled steaks and baked potatoes.

(Love is leaving a cd of Country Love Songs on the table beside a mushy card and heart-shaped box of "Wild About Reese's" peanut butter cups for him to find when he got home from work.)

Love is eating dinner together then watching a brilliant pink-orange sunset before coming inside to pay bills and type up an agenda for tomorrow night's meeting ... which is why I'm re-posting something from last year in honor of Valentine's Day, instead of writing something completely new and fresh.

I hope you enjoy it, anyway!

Happy Valentine's Day! 

 

 

 

 

Love talked about can be easily turned aside, but love demonstrated is irresistible. 

W. Stanley Mooneyham
American minister and speaker, 20th century

**********************

I was bemoaning the fact that, despite hundreds of miles run, lunges lunged and squats thrusted, and losing enough weight that I could buy my bras in "training" sizes, I still have my grandmother's saddle-bag thighs.

"But you don't have any cellulite anymore," Tom told me.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Really."

The next day I looked for myself. Sigh. Just as dimpled as ever. I knew Tom hadn't been lying or merely trying to make me feel better; he just can't see worth crap anymore. But he also just doesn't care. He doesn't care that my hair is thinning. Heck, he wouldn't care if I went bald. He has never been able to tell when I'm wearing makeup or not (I've tested him)...so I'm sure my deepening wrinkles go unnoticed. He pays attention to me, he sees me...but it's the me on the inside...the me that he met and fell in love with despite himself almost 28 years ago. He looks past the "me" on the outside just as I look past the 52-year-old "him" on the outside and see the "him" who asked me for a dance at Diamondback so many years ago.

That's love.

Jill, from ELEMENTAL, my dear, invited bloggers to share their idea of what love is, so it set me to thinking about things that make or have made my heart go pitter-patter. Here are a few more ...

...Love is the sound of drums coming from my house...fulfilling a wish I had tossed aside, believing it couldn't come true because there wasn't a spot for them in our new house. Tom surprised me with a set (thank you, Craig's List) on our anniversary a few years ago. It proved to me he pays attention. At least sometimes.

(Love is throwing him not one, but two surprise birthday parties...plus a huge family reunion/50th birthday party that lasted two weeks and involved having people sleeping on every square inch of the house, including on a mattress in the downstairs shower stall. Poor Kirby)

...Love is coming in the house from a long weekend, relieved to discover your coffee grounds from four days before have (thank the Lord!) been dumped and all the pieces are clean and dry, ready to go...despite the fact that your spouse doesn't drink coffee. (If he hadn't cleaned it for me...ooh, gross!)

(Love is picking up empty Dr. Pepper cans from all over the house...and outside...and biting my tongue. Pretty much.)

...Love is finding the coupon section of the Sunday newspaper separated for me, without asking.

(Love is gathering up the Sunday newspaper, at times from different rooms in the house, and putting it in the wicker basket where it goes.)

...Love is not minding that I plant myself in front of the computer every evening after dinner to write...and biting his tongue when he sees I'm on Facebook instead.

(Love is not minding that some nights he just crawls in bed and flips channels, instead of working on whatever project is in progress at the time, because he's physically and mentally worn out. He leaves the house at 5:30 am, for goodness sake!)

...Love is not being jealous about phone calls from old boyfriends, or emails from old boyfriends, or birthday lunches with old boyfriends.

(Love is not being jealous about his women friends and co-workers...even when he pinches Lisa's rear-end.)

...Love is always dancing the Cotton-Eyed Joe and the Schottische even though his hips and ankles still hurt from that accident in 1998.

(Love is sitting by his side in the hospital for a week, afraid to leave him...holding the urinal in place for an hour because he thinks he can go on his own...feeding him ice chips, sleeping on a fold-out chair, grateful for the sound of his snoring because it means he's alive.)

...Love is piecing together sections of workshop floor matting for me to lie on when I do sit-ups, so my tailbone doesn't get bruised anymore.

(Love is subscribing to Men's World e-newsletters and forwarding the good ones to him to keep him healthy.)

...Love is not nagging each other because the bathroom he/she is in charge of cleaning is a borderline health problem.

...Love is saying to hell with everything that needs to be done around here to play ping-pong...or go for long walks along the creek...or travel virtually to Ireland or Istanbul or Italy with Rick Steves...

...Love is still joking around, still having fun, still laughing at each other and at ourselves after almost 30 years...and looking forward to the next 30 together.

What do you think "love is..."? 

 

Love is Life

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day.

Tom and I celebrated early with a walk through the woods with the puppies, where odd things caught my eye, like this branch and its shadow against the aged cedar tree...

and this colorful cactus...

And then on the road headed home, Tom spent a few minutes trying to free a fossilized shell from its caliche prison.

(More on that adventure later, but isn't this a cute photo of my Valentine?)

 

We moved in slow-motion, mesmerized by the blue sky and sunshine and warmth, physically and mentally exhausted from the weekend.

We played ping-pong, drove into town, stopped for a quick meal at Panda Express and hit the grocery store.

Perhaps that doesn't seem like much of a celebration. It's nothing extraordinary; we often spend our days this way.

But isn't that what love is all about? Those thousands of moments that blend together into a single heart ... one giant heart that beats for each of you, pulsing to the rhythm of your lives, setting the tempo, ensuring your steps match each other's even when there are times you can't be together?

We've never gone overboard with huge Valentine's Day celebrations, but especially after this past weekend we understand how precious each moment we have together is, and that it's the simple, quiet, every day moments that say "I love you. I'm glad you're mine." louder than any box of candy or corny, dusty Garfield statue ever could...

(Garfield is pretty cute, though. Happy Valentine's Day tomorrow , anyway...)

This is my contribution to week 6 of Focus 52 - "‘Love, baby’! L-O-V-E!" Click HERE to see the other contributions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Chili Kind of Night

Tom made chili tonight. He used my recipe, but of course, it tasted better than when I make it. 

He's so irritating that way.

But I forgive him, because it was really, really good - the kind that makes your nose run and beads of sweat pop up on your brow (a picture of my Daddy just popped in my head, pulling out his handkerchief, wiping it across his forehead and saying, Mmmm, that's good!)

Anyway, the chili hit the spot. And the fire in the wood burning stove is keeping the cold outside where it belongs. I'm supposed to be paying bills, but instead I've been playing with photographs, finally posting those frosty images from last week over at Confessions.

I'm hoping for snow. Not as much as the northeast is getting. Just a few inches would make me happy. A blanket of light snow, maybe some ice, that would force us to hibernate for a day or so - our roads aren't made for cold weather and we wouldn't be able to drive up the surrounding hills to the highway. We'd be in our own little world...

It might happen by the end of the week. We'll see. The forecasters are getting really excited and talking about breaking records. But all I know is, tonight it's really, really cold - temperatures will drop into the teens and, with the wind chill, down in the single digits. (I can feel you Montana and Kansas people rolling your eyes, but that's still cold!)

Tom and I have had a debate about bringing the puppies into the house. He argues they have a great doghouse built into the hill and up against the house, and if both of them crawled in there, they'd be toasty warm.

I argue that they're my puppies and I worry about them. And I'm really not sure they're smart enough to crawl into the doghouse together.

So I'm headed downstairs now to puppy-proof the laundry room. 

And then I'll pay bills. I promise.

Hope you're warm wherever you are!

P.S. I tried to get the dogs into the house. Max came gratefully, but Belle stopped at the threshold and wouldn't come a step farther! She was afraid! Max finally re-joined her outside and the last I saw them, they were running and playing, headed in the direction of the pond. Goofy dogs! The wind is howling and it's so cold I could see my frosty breath right there at the door! I'll try to coax them in again a little while. I really am paying bills now. And then there's that book I'm writing...

 

 

Broken Spoke, at last

He stood on the edge of the dance floor, toes tapping, body bouncing to the beat, feet shuffling, preparing for take-off.

I recognized those signs: he wanted to dance.

I recognized the signs because I was doing the same thing next to our table, 20 feet away. Tom had turned me down on this song (Too fast!) and so I thought, What the heck? So what if this tall dark cowboy is 20 years younger than me? I'm 50, dammit! This is a good song and I want to dance!

(Okay, okay, 51, but if you're over 50, you know what I mean. Just a few years ago I wouldn't have had the nerve to ask a stranger to dance like that, but now, who cares? There's no time to waste!)

I made my move, hoping he didn't twirl off with someone else before I got there.

(Funny. I realize now I never thought of rejection. Just preemption. See above explanation about life after 50.) 

Do you want to dance?

Sure!

I realize now it might have been embarrassing if he had said "no" - but he didn't, thank goodness! He grabbed my hand and my waist and we were off. I expected a fast polka and had to readjust my step to his really fast two-step, but it was a smooth transition, and soon he was even spinning me around...

...which was tricky, because we were at Austin's legendary Broken Spoke on a dance floor that might comfortably provide for 10 couples - but there were at least 50 all vying for space. At times it was more like a session of bumper cars than dancing.

Despite the crowd, Tom and I danced quite a bit (they weren't all fast songs) - we did our best to break in his my Christmas shoes, fulfilling my wish for a night of dancing.

It was also a night with friends, eating, talking, and catching up, and scratching something off of my Austin Bucket List: dancing at the Broken Spoke.

But neither one of us has any desire to go back. And not just because of the tiny, overpacked dance floor. The place just seems to be trying to cash in on its legend. The band (Bobby Flores) was pretty good, but the service in the restaurant was terrible, the chicken fried steak was far from the best I've ever eaten, and this is the first dance hall I've ever been to that didn't provide water for free: $2 for a bottle, take it or leave it.

I took it then refilled it in the ladies' restroom.

But at least now I can say I've been to the Broken Spoke. I just wish I could have said it twenty or thirty years ago, before it became another Texas caricature. (It reminds me of Gilley's after Urban Cowboy, except at least Gilley's still had a large dance floor!)

Still on my Austin Bucket List ... La Zona Rosa, Austin Music Hall, Cedar Street, Stubbs BBQ, Cactus Cafe, Cedar Street, Continental Club, the Hole in the Wall, Mount Bonnell, Salt Lick BBQ, The Blanton Museum,  the UT Tower, the Elisabet Ney Museum ...

Wow, I better get busy! Tom?

Meanwhile, here are more scenes from the night...

Dance lessons, anyone?

Class of '77 rocks! (er, two-steps!)

 

Time to say goodnight...

 

A "What You Touch is Gold" weekend

We're coming off of a quiet, lie-low weekend. Tom and I both felt the need to stick close to home. I don't know about you, but as much as I enjoy getting out with my friends, dancing, eating, shopping... there are times when I just want to burrow into my cave, hide the entrance, and have some down time.

This was one of those weekends. Tom and I burrowed, going for walks, playing ping-pong, and tackling projects during the day (I cleaned bathrooms and my "library" - fun stuff like that)  and then relaxing and watching movies at night ... "Gattica" (great science fiction) and "The Madness of King George" (historical fiction.) Both from the '90's. Both really good! Jude Law, Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman, Helen Mirren, Nigel Hawthorne... it was a star-studded weekend! 

I never realized we missed so many good movies in the '90's. Grown-up movies, anyway. I think we were busy watching what the kids wanted to watch... "The Mummy", "Mystery Men"... I enjoyed those, too, but wow, how did I miss so many others?

But the big news of the weekend is... Tom fixed my lens!

Need proof?  I took this of him cleaning up his tools at my junky little work area (he found the instructions on the internet)... the very first photo with my refurbished lens...

I swear, this man can do anything he puts his mind to, especially if it's going to save him some money! Even after almost 30 years, he still amazes me. 

...now, I admit I had to nudge him a little to fix it. I planned to see my friend Amory Castro's play on Sunday, and I wanted to be ready to take photos if the chance arose... not impossible with my zoom, but a tad awkward. I didn't have to nudge too often or too hard, though. I didn't have to go into an all-out nag over it, thank goodness.

(But I was prepared to.)

The play, "What You Touch is Gold", was wonderful. I knew it would be - heck, the reading was wonderful!

I've always been too shy to be an actor, so it always amazes me how someone can step out on a stage and transform into a different person altogether.

It takes a great script, of course, one with believable characters, action and dialogue, and this play had all of those. The actors were amazing; even though this was all they had to work with - two tables, a ladder, and a branch -

 

- once the play began, instead of these simple props, I saw a kitchen, a meadow, a craft store, a dining room... pretty much a small town, right there in front of me!

How do they do that?

I forgot to take photos during the play - too swept away by the story! But I managed to corral Amory (on the right) and Erica Heidepriem, who played the part of Charlotte. for a couple of shots when it was over.

 

No way to get the rest of the cast - as you can see in the background of this one, they were already busy striking the set. Ah, show business...

(Open your eyes, Amory! You're a successful playwright!! Congratulations!)

Don't worry - it's not too late to see the play yourself! There are still two more performances of "What You Touch is Gold" at the Salvage Vanguard Theater - Jan 26th at 7:00pm and Jan 30th at 7:30pm.

 

 

 

 

Goodbye, weekend! I'll miss you!

The sun came out for the first time in days today. I made sure I slipped outside to feel its warmth on my skin. I've heard it's only visiting for a couple of days, then it's off again ... a gypsy sun, just popping in and out... so I didn't want to miss it!

I wish it had paid a visit this weekend. Instead, a cold misty rain hung around, which wouldn't have been bad if it had been a slow weekend close to home, one spent watching movies, reading, writing, keeping the fire going in the wood-burning stove...

But it wasn't. We had plans. Places to go. Things to do. And we didn't let that rain stop us, either, by golly!

Friday night Tom learned why I'm in love with Eddie V - and I think he might have fallen in love himself! We met my friend Tamara and her husband Rod there, just like my first rendezvous with Eddie V (it's a "where", not a "who", in case you're wondering), and again, for several hours I was in Taste Bud Heaven. The best part was getting to spend time with Tamara and Rod, though, and having Tom finally be able to enjoy their company as well.

Saturday evening we ignored the rain again and headed downtown to meet up with some of my former high school classmates and even some alumni I didn't know! Many of them traveled from the Houston area in the yucky weather for the gathering at Fado's, where lots of talking, laughing, reminiscing, eating, drinking, and listening of music ensued... specifically music by the band Mysterious Ways, a U2 tribute band, befitting an Irish Pub. 

The part for my versatile lens didn't arrive in time, so I did the best I could with my zoom... mostly photos of the band...

(I was playing around with the settings and got this one somehow - I think it's kind of creepy and cool at the same time!)

 

 

...and this one of me and my 9th grade boyfriend, Larry...

But before you get any ideas, look at this... you'll see Larry got around that night...

Sunday was my day-before-empty-nest day (see my last post), totally focused on TG... church, shopping, eating, delivering, hugging, and saying goodbye... for now. I refused to worry or stress about anything else except enjoying the time with her and helping her get a good start on the semester.

So far, I'm sticking with my resolution... what about you?

...I said hey, hey, hey, don't let another moment pass away...

 

 

Today I also thought about the impact Martin Luther King, Jr. made on our country. He was a man, just like any other... he had his faults, his sins... but that only shows that each of us is capable of more than we thought possible, too. These are some of his quotes that I call my favorites... they apply today as much as they did then.

Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase. 

He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it.
He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it. 

Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal. 

Means we use must be as pure as the ends we seek. 

Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend. 

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. 

A Nose Update, No Sleep, and other Thursday Tidbits

The Nose

I can't imagine - don't want to imagine - how it feels to have big chunks of plastic shoved up your nose filling up the entire space so that you need to breathe through your mouth but your throat is in red, raw agony from the trach tube shoved down it a week ago and every breath you take hurts like hell...

...So when Tom's blowing and snorting and getting up and down wakes me every hour or so, all night long, I remember how miserable he must feel right now. I don't even think of complaining. 

(Well, there was that one night when I went, sssshhhhhh....)

(But that was just one time, one night, and other than that, I've been really sympathetic. Really.)

Poor Tom.

The stents come out tomorrow - hallelujah!! We're both looking forward to getting some sleep this weekend.

The Lens

Tom bought some special glue a week or so ago, intending to glue that broken piece back onto my injured lens. He had stored the teensy, tiny black piece of plastic between the lens and the lens cap. Somehow, sometime between the breaking and the intended fixing, the piece disappeared.

I thought that was it - no hope of using that lens ever again. So I got creative with my zoom and discovered I could actually do a lot with it.  I would just make do with it until (way, way off in the distant future) we could afford a new mid-range lens.

But guess what? It turns out you can order a whole new mounting piece - that's the part that chipped upon impact with the concrete floor. (If you don't know that heartbreaking, I mean, lensbreaking story, click HERE.)

Tom placed the order two days ago, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed the lens arrives before the weekend, when I'll be reconnecting with lots and lots of faces from my past. If it doesn't, I'll just make due with the zoom again. 

One thing's for sure, ... either way, I'll be snapping lots of photos!

 

Early Morning

During the week, I head out to walk the dogs as soon as it's light enough to see my feet. That way, I time it just right to catch something like this...

And this is really how it looked one morning this week, too - no color saturation or playing with tones, light, shadows or anything. 

It almost makes it worth getting up that early... almost.

(I posted several more "Fire in the Sky" shots on Confessions last night. If you want to see them, click HERE.)

 

When I have time to read...

I started reading a new book last week. Well, it's actually an old book, and I've read it two or three times already, but you know what I mean.

I'm not sure why I started it - I'm already in the middle of a handful of nonfiction and fiction books, including Cold Mountain, which I just can't seem to get into, despite loving the movie. I'm just plodding along through it, not eager at all to read the next page. And I have stacks - no, boxes - of books I've collected with the very real intention of reading them someday. Just a week or so ago, TG and I hit the book sale room at our local library and I left with 15 books ($1 a piece, and the funds go to Friends of the Library - how could I resist?)

Anyway, it was pure impulse that made me search my bookshelves for C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy - "Out of the Silent Planet", "Perelandra", "That Hideous Strength" - and dive head-first into volume one. 

The first time I read them, I was dubious. I didn't think I cared for science fiction. (I have no idea why I thought that -  I saw "Star Wars" 5 or 6 times the first week it was out in 1977! This was only a few years later!)

But Paula, a woman I worked with at the chemical plant, could not believe I'd never read them. She insisted I give them a chance, loaned me her copies, and assured me I would love them.

She was right. 

I eventually found my own well-worn copies in a Goodwill or at a garage sale or somewhere, and even convinced one of my kids to read them, despite the cheesy '60's style paperback artwork. And he liked them, too. When he saw my nose in Out of the Silent Planet this weekend, he told me he wants to read them again when I'm finished.

But anyway, what I wanted to say is, I recommend these books ... even if you don't think you like science fiction or fantasy, I think these are worth reading. They're really very thought-provoking - the kind of book that sticks in your brain for years.

If you try them, let me know what you think.

Besides C.S. Lewis, I read some wonderful blog posts this week. Two stood out enough that I want to mention them here, even though they are by bloggers I wasn't familiar with until now. If you have a few minutes,  I recommend reading these, too.

The first I came across on BlogHer - "The Red Underwear: Gifts and Giving". Every woman should read this one.

(I mean it. Do it. Now. You'll thank me.)

The second is one of the most beautiful posts I've ever read: The Gift, by Bossy Betty. I think both men and women will be touched by this one.

I was directed to it by Hilary at The Smitten Image. I don't know how she does it, but every week she scours the blog world for the best posts and photographs, and lists them for the rest of us on her Wednesday Posts of the Week feature. I still haven't even had time to read all that she listed this week. But thank you, Hilary!

 

A Good Quote

I came across this one today, and it took me by surprise, in that weird way like when you feel someone has read your mind, because I had been thinking of all the books I've read in my life, and how even the ones I didn't care for had affected me in some way, and gee, can't that apply to the places I've been and the people I've met as well? 

Thomas Wolfe said it much better than I did just now, though: 

I am a part of all that I have touched and all that has touched me.

And that includes you. Happy Thursday!

Waiting

I settled into cubicle #14 to wait. In my bag I had two books, a spiral notebook with plenty of blank pages, the local newspaper, a bottle of water, some peanuts, walnuts, almonds and a granola bar.

I have experience waiting...

...I think the first time was soon after we were married; he broke his ankle riding a motorcycle through the Sam Houston National Forest with friends. He broke it bad enough to need surgery and a 2 inch screw, and started his second semester of college on crutches.

Or it might have been that trip to the emergency room when he sliced his thumb open on the table saw bad enough that it took 50 stitches to close it up. We were still in the house in League City, so it was during our Pre-Kid Era, as well. (A group of Jehovah's Witnesses startled him as he was ripping boards on the saw in the garage with the door open.)

Then there was the first hernia surgery, the car accident, the ulcer surgery, two more hernias, the heart attack scare, the arteriogram and subsequent stent insertion... um, I think that's all.

And that's just Tom. I'm not even going to mention the hours spent in doctors' offices and emergency rooms for my three asthmatic, active kids.

So when I headed downtown Friday to wait as Tom had surgery on a deviated septum, I went prepared.

I have plenty of practice, waiting.

He drove himself. Daniel took the car to his nearby apartment and drove it back here for us yesterday. I'll shuttle him back downtown tomorrow.

We did it that way because I needed to take TG to work - she hasn't driven since the incident with the Suzuki Samurai last winter, and hasn't had time to practice driving Tom's car. The Suzuki is still out of commission; Tom's putting it back together piece by piece as he finds the parts. I didn't want her first day driving after a year to be one where I was miles and miles away. 

Why is everything so complicated?

He was still in surgery when I arrived, but they wheeled him into #14 with me within 40 minutes, and then I was on duty, watching his oxygen levels blink on the monitor above him (BREATHE!) and keeping his cup full of ice and water to soothe his sore throat.

In between talking to Tom (he was very alert and not in much pain at all) and ordering him to breathe, I glanced around.

It was a total coincidence, but exactly a year ago on that day, I sat in a curtained cubby waiting with TG after the same surgery with the same doctor. Tom had opted for a different surgical center so he could have it on a Friday and I was grateful. Instead of curtains all around, making me privy to everyone else's snorts, coughs, conversations, cries, you name it ... and vice-versa ... this one had three solid walls and one glass one, with a cute dog-cat-picket-fence-themed wallpaper border brightening up the tan walls. Much more privacy.

The nurse's station was directly in front of us, and I enjoyed watching them bustle about in their navy blue scrubs, thinking, I should have been a nurse. I'd love having a job that kept me busy, kept me moving, where I knew I was helping people and perhaps best of all, I didn't have to decide what to wear in the morning.

I never even considered it when I was younger - I had spent too much time in doctor's offices and emergency rooms with my own asthma, and I hated the smell, hated the fluorescent lighting, hated not having any windows. Little did I know I'd eventually spend hours and hours in both places with my kids, and with all of my family's health issues, I ended up a nurse of sorts, anyway.

Before I knew it, they were going over post-op instructions with me and helping him sit up on the edge of the bed. I barely had time to read the local newspaper, much less dive into the books I brought, and they were kicking us out! I think my granola bar is still in my purse.

Maybe it's all the practice he's had...maybe it's because he's so stubborn...but if it weren't for all the noise Tom makes trying to breathe (he has plastic stents in both nostrils, after all), it would be easy for me to forget he even had surgery. He doesn't complain, doesn't want to be waited on, remembers his medicine all on his own.

Miraculously, his nose doesn't hurt, just his throat, which is ruby red from the endotracheal tube. But he's been up moving around, walking the dogs, changing light bulbs - he even fixed a pot roast for dinner last night while I was at the grocery store.

So thank you all for your prayers. I can vouch that they worked. Please stay tuned for next time!

Oh, yeah...I had my camera with me, too, of course. Cute feet, huh?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pink Skies, Random Thoughts

Pink clouds, pink skies have greeted my ascension to the dirt road the past two mornings ... a nice change from the woolen grays and mist that have been waiting up there for me lately.

I've noticed that a pink sky or one filled with clouds that look dipped in pink-orange paint lighten my heart and make me feel like anything at all is possible that day, and even if the day doesn't turn out quite as great as I thought it would, the memory of that sunrise gets me through it.

*********************************************

 

"The King's Speech" is an awesome movie! If I had ten thumbs, they'd all be UP! You'd think a movie about a speech therapist and his patient would be boring, but this one kept me hooked the whole time.

There are no glitches in the screenplay whatsoever - it flows so smoothly you forget it's a movie! The acting , photography, dialogue, everything ... flawless!  

Add a pre-movie dinner with dear friends, a bag of fresh movie popcorn and a few pieces of chocolate, and you've got yourself one fantastic Wednesday night!

Well, I had myself one fantastic Wednesday night, anyway...

 

*****************************************************************************

 

Hubby's having surgery for a deviated septum tomorrow morning - the result of his accident back in '98 wherein his face was split open and this amazing plastic surgeon welded his nose back together.

We're hoping the surgery helps with Tom's headaches. Please say a prayer for him.

 

***************************************************

 

Life is unfair. I already knew this, of course, but I had a fresh course in the lesson today. Briefly... a couple of years ago a dump truck slammed into my sister's car. I mean slammed, as in he wasn't paying attention and didn't see that she'd had to stop and he didn't apply any brakes at all.

Miraculously and thankfully, she wasn't hurt. But instead of checking to see if she was okay or apologizing, he immediately started trying to squirm out of the blame - his business was at risk, after all.

Well, thank goodness witnesses were around and he had to pay for the damages, etc.

His trial finally came around today, but the prosecutor (a volunteer! have you ever heard of that?) didn't present the accident report or bring up the fact that the driver's insurance had paid for my sister's car. He didn't have any evidence ready at all - he just used my sister's photographs!

To the jury it was a "he said - she said" case, so I can't really blame them for finding the guy not guilty, I guess. But shame on the driver and shame on the prosecutor. And let this be a warning to all of you in Houston that thanks to the prosecutor and the jury, this guy is still out on the road. It makes me wonder how many other cases go through the court system like this, where a volunteer prosecutor doesn't feel a case is worth the time it takes to do it right.

 

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Remember Mam-ma's piano?

It turns out my mother isn't that eager to get rid of it - she just wants it out of her livingroom, but didn't want to impose on anyone by asking us to move it back into Mam-ma's room. (deep sigh.)

So next time we're there, we're moving it. And I've asked my mom to make a list of everything else she would like done - I think I've convinced her we'd love to do whatever we can and help out however we can and it would make us happy and we won't feel imposed upon at all.

But I might have to come out with a "you never let me...!" to get my way. (It always worked when I was growing up!)

 

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Okay, what the heck is up with mascara these days? Is it just me? I have tried every brand, every type (within my budget, that is) and no matter how much they proclaim not to clump or flake, I can't find one single tube of mascara that doesn't do one or the other or both. This latest one I bought makes me look like Liza Minnelli, for goodness sake, it's so thick and clumpy, despite promises on the package to do neither. Any suggestions out there? 

 

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Today is my sweet friend Darla's birthday - Darla, my Secret Santa from last year, deserving star of "Late Love is from Heaven" and gracious hostess of my best birthday party ever, and I missed celebrating with her tonight because of another obligation I had to fulfill - attending a city council meeting, of all things.

Yes, instead of toasting my friend with a yummy margarita, I was sitting in a small room listening to small town politicians twist facts, but at least ultimately (thanks to an important clear-headed few and the democratic process) the vote went our way, which made me feel a teensy bit better about missing the celebration.  

And the margarita.

But just a teensy bit.

Happy birthday, Darla! I'll celebrate with you soon! (When you're over 50, it's okay to keep celebrating all year long...)

 

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And now here are a couple of videos I feel the need to share. The first is "Phoenix Burn" by Alpha Rev, a group from Austin. It's just the lyrics set to music - I couldn't find a real video. Sorry! But the song has been haunting me for a few weeks - thank goodness it always lifts me up! But I love these lines: 

I wanna push through the undiscovered
Find my answers, leave them uncovered
I wanna speak out what I believe in
That love will heal us, give us our freedom
I wanna see what's on the horizon
Change directions, stop the fightin
I need to find a way of letting it go
When everything falls apart...

 

 

And this is one Tom just showed to me - it's a single dad and his daughter. Guaranteed to put a smile on your face! 

"What do you want for Christmas?"

To Barbara

From Santa

Ummm ... What are these?

"You told me all you wanted for Christmas was to go dancing. Well, those are my dancing shoes. Now I'll be able to dance."

Sigh.

He does listen sometimes.

Hope you got everything you wanted for Christmas, too!

A little of this, a little of that...

...makes a great pot of chili!

A cold front dropped in for a visit this weekend and has decided to stick around for a few days, so Tom and I took advantage of it tonight and made our first pot of Winter 2010 Chili.

We made a great team - he browned the meat and chopped onions...I added the tomatoes and seasonings and came back periodically for tastings (and adjustments) while he kept an eye on it. He knows I'm not good at the "keeping an eye on it" stage - I get distracted by too many other things, like laundry, loading the dishwasher, cleaning off my desk, decorating the tree (as you can see, the only common theme on my tree is sappy sentimentality...)

We made way too much chili for just the two of us, and we'll be sick of it by the time we finish it all, but, man oh man, it hit the spot tonight!

A little of this and a little of that makes great chili...and also a great weekend!

We started off right, with friends, music under the stars, and a bonfire. Hootenanny!

We have fun even if it's just a handful of us out there, but Friday night there was a real crowd - so many talented musicians playing all kinds of music, and enough others in the audience that Tom and I didn't feel alone. Thanks again to Jim and Liane for hosting this every week.

Saturday Tom and I took advantage of a day at home to scratch things off of our dusty to-do lists...but we threw in a walk with the dogs and a game of ping-pong (I won!), and a movie, because, after all, it was Saturday!

Sunday after Mass I needed to run into town to the bank...to the grocery store...to Goodwill to drop off boxes I've been moving from room to room for months... Normally I would procrastinate, but I knew if I didn't just go, I'd end up having to go late one night this week (NO!) or I'd be late to the infamous St. Mary's Adult Christmas Party, where we get to visit with friends, and enjoy Rudy's Barbecue (sigh), complementary "adult" beverages, and a dance floor almost all to ourselves... 

When was the last time you did the Hokey-Pokey?

I've known Mary, on the left, for years, but I just discovered that in a previous life she interviewed Lucille Ball, Frank Sinatra, and other celebrities while working at a radio station years ago in California. People are full of surprises (and I love that about people!)

 

My friend Karen didn't realize when I encouraged her to come to the dance even though her husband was out of town that I had ulterior motives...getting her to fill in on dancing with me when Tom pooped out. I think this was taken right after her first "chicken dance".

We never get to spend time with these two anymore...Tom D. helped us build our house (we couldn't have done it without him!) and I loved subbing for Berniece's English and theater classes in my other life...she is an amazing teacher!

And this couple is proof that you should never give up on love popping up where you least expect it (and they're also the best dancers, although I couldn't catch a good one of him flipping her.) 

A little of this, a little of that...works with chili and weekends!

 

 

 

Oh, it's you again, Monday...

It's not a good idea to stay up late, late, late Sunday night working at the computer when you need to get up early, early, early Monday morning for work.

So now you know how my Monday started...with bloodshot eyes and plenty of yawns and scrambling to be on time.

When will I learn?

I wasn't even working on my book or any other kind of writing. I'm trying to "redecorate" my blog but I'm getting very, very frustrated. I've already spent more time on it than I really wanted to, or could afford to, but I've designed a new banner that I love and I'm bound and determined to finish what I've started. Eventually. I need to learn when to give up and call it a night, though, that's for sure.

All things considered (bloodshot eyes and yawns) it wasn't a bad Monday...for me, anyway. The puppies and I (and my camera, safe and sound at home again) took a walk in an un-wintery balmy breeze under a blue gray swirly sky. Max is still limping, but not bad. Belle is still bouncy Belle.

Then I ran 3 miles on the treadmill in just over 30 minutes (good riddance, cheesecake!) and got to spend most of my work day researching and writing about autism.

I received a few sweet comments on yesterday's blog post, including one from Suldog pointing me in the direction of his blogger friend, Running in the Yard Next Door, who posted something about Advent yesterday, too, only much better than mine. (Read it HERE.)

Tom, on the other hand, although his back was enough better to go to the office, got hit by a bad headache mid-morning that stubbornly held on until this evening, all through a day of meetings. I had already planned to grill pork chops, but then had to eat alone because I didn't want to wake him. (I was supposed to grill them last night, but had a full day of running around with TG and ended up eating my first yummy Black Bean Burger at Dirty Martin's, while Tom made due at home with frozen taquitos, poor guy.)

And also today, I got a phone call from someone dear to me who was being bombarded by one thing after another on a day when he couldn't afford the time or mental effort to deal with anything extra. Isn't that the way it goes, though? That's when you learn to take baby steps and breathe and not look at the big picture because it's just too damn overwhelming. On the up side, you learn you can deal with just about anything, and you really, really appreciate those days when everything is easy-peasy. (And dear one, those days will come, more often than days like today, I promise!)

I spent a lot of time praying today...

I also thought about this past weekend, when I did something I love to do but rarely get the chance... Swing. As in up and down, back and forth, on an actual playground swing.

We passed near these on one of our walks through the old neighborhood, and Daniel and I couldn't resist; we jumped right on. Besides being just plain fun, swinging is great exercise; I think I had really skinny legs up until I quit swinging regularly, around age 10.

Perhaps just coincidence. But perhaps not. 

Anyway, I try to make up for lost time when I come across a sturdy swing set... there's something about flying up into the air, back and forth, that is so relaxing...you can feel those troubles just dropping to the ground below, like so many marbles out of a kid's pocket...

"How do you like to go up in a swing, up in the air so blue?

Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing ever a child 22-year-old-man or 51-year-old-woman can do!"

~from The Swing, by Robert Louis Stevenson (slightly modified)

Did you notice the smiles? You just can't help but smile when you're flying through the air on a swing...

Hope you made it through Monday with a smile or two intact!

 

 

 

 

One thing I'm grateful for...

Sometimes it's those things that are right in front of us every day

that we take for granted the most...

I'm grateful for many things,

but I'm especially grateful I'll be seeing him again later today! 

I'm praying for safe travels for Tom and others who will be on the road or in the air over this holiday weekend.

May we all be gracious to and grateful for one another...

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

 

When we were young...

Young love, young bodies.

Before pregnancy and childbirth and knee surgeries and varicose veins.

Before car wrecks and hernias and headaches and heart stents.

When there was...

...enough money...

...enough energy...

...enough time for all of our dreams to come true.

 

Man, how time flies!

But, you know...

Our love might not be young.

(Our bodies certainly aren't. They've gone through all of the above, and more.

And survived.)

We might not have enough money or energy or time for all we want.

But somehow we do have...

...enough money...

...enough energy...

...enough time for the things that are important to us.

As well as enough wisdom to take life one day at a time...

...and be grateful for that day.

The funny thing is, I still feel the same inside...just as young, just as old...the very same person I was in these photos when I was 24...

...way back in 1983.

Pretty scary, huh?

My friend and former co-worker, Jim, posted these photos on Facebook today. They are from a camping trip to Canyon Lake my fellow shift members and I (and our families) took back in 1983.

Tom and I were two months away from our 1st wedding anniversary.

I have many photos from this same year, several from this same trip, but I'm familiar with the "me" I am in those.

Seeing these, however, is like seeing a "me" I had forgotten all about, and stepping back into memories I'd tucked away, memories of dear friends and fun times. 

Life goes on and sometimes you have to leave people and places behind, but seeing these photos reminds me that the ones who come close enough to leave an impression are never really gone...and if you're lucky, they wander back in a little ways down the road...

Thanks, Jim!