Long Hollow

The Art of Relaxation

One September about twelve years ago I made a phone call to a previously unknown-to-me condominium complex in Port Aransas, Texas, and reserved a three bedroom condo on the 5th floor.

I needed to escape.

Not a permanent escape, of course. Just a few days all to myself, where I didn't have to cook anything, clean anything, be anywhere at a certain time, make any phone calls, settle any arguments, attend any meetings...

I could just take care of myself and no one else.

And my body literally ached, mentally and physically, for the beach. For the lounging, the reading, the song of the surf and birds, the sun on my body.

A few margaritas sounded good, too.

So I rounded up some friends who needed a short escape just as much as I did (I couldn't afford that place by myself!) and we spent a glorious weekend on the coast.

Our condo overlooked the beach on one side and the bay on the other. I lucked out because some of the women relaxed by cooking and a few others by cleaning, so they got their dream weekend and I got mine!

(You can tell by the way I'm dressed... I'm the old lady in the middle... I really needed a Mommy break!)

I've gone back every fall except one, with mostly the same women, give or take ten or twenty. (It caught on, as you can imagine.) 

Days of unscheduled time at the beach with dear friends, a good book, my camera, and a cocktail or two. That's my answer to BlogHer's Life Well Lived "Get Happy" Question of the Week...

What are your favorite relaxation techniques?

And what benefits do you see from practicing them?

Oh, I forgot to mention the benefits...

They're too numerous to count, but they include sanity, serenity, deeper friendships...

...Just one big <sigh> that lasts almost a whole year. (Two trips a year would be perfect. Maybe three to play it safe.)

So now tell me, because I'm nosy, what are your favorite relaxation techniques and what benefits do you see from practicing them?

(After sharing, visit the main post on BlogHer (here) and don't forget to enter the current Life Well Lived Sweepstakes! (here))

 

Dark Shadows of the Soul (and Popcorn for Dinner Twice in One Week!)

Ah, Barnabas.

Almost every day, circa 1969-1970, I rushed home from school and plopped down in front of the TV, just in time to see what you and the rest of the cursed Collins family was up against in the next episode of Dark Shadows. Daddy joined me as often as his shift schedule allowed. We'd sit on the edge of our seats, grateful the sun was shining outside to counter the dark suspense on the screen.

I lost track of you after you scared me half to death in House of Dark Shadows. Perhaps it was a mistake on my part to sit on the very first row of the theater during a movie consisting mostly of blood. (Maybe there was more to the movie, such as plot and dialogue, but blood - lots and lots of blood - is all I remember, flowing right after the very beginning when a little boy follows his ball down into a crypt.) But those were the only seats left for me and my five friends.

The series was in black and white, the movie in full living (and dying... get it?) color. Just too much for my 11ish-year-old self.

But last weekend I gave you another chance and you won me back. 

Giving in to the eleven-year-old inside of me, I decided to ignore to-do lists last Sunday and go see the new Dark Shadows movie. I can't resist a Johnny Depp movie and I had already been clued that it was more funny than scary. Sure, I'm 53 now, but I like scary movies even less than I did when I was eleven. (No way was I going to traumatize myself again for you, Barnabas!)

TG and Daniel tagged along with me. Daniel had watched a few of the old episodes with me via Netflix, and enjoyed them, but TG knew nothing about it at all.

I don't care if it got a Rotten Tomato award or not... I absolutely loved it! And I think my kids enjoyed it just as much as I did. 

It made me laugh out loud, paying homage to the darkness and original story of the television series with tongue firmly in cheek. And it stayed true to the campy '70s era... macrame, hippies and hitchhikers, and even Alice Cooper has a cameo.

There's some blood, alas, but I guess you have to expect a little in a vampire movie. Johnny Depp was so good in it, I forgave him those scenes. Michelle Pfeiffer was great, too.

If you enjoyed the series as much as I did, I think you'll like it. 

Continuing the "Dark Shadows of the Soul" theme, later in the week I jumped at the chance to watch the new Jack Black movie "Bernie."  For one thing, it meant I got to have popcorn for dinner twice in one week!

"Bernie" tells the true story of Bernie Tiede, a mortician in Carthage, Texas in the late '90s who befriends an unpopular, mean and stingy rich widow, kills her, and covers it up while spending her money to help the townspeople.

Everyone absolutely adores Bernie, because he's so caring and generous, so when the murder is finally discovered, the townspeople defend him. It gets so bad that the DA (gorgeous Matthew) succeeds in getting the trial moved to another small town, just to keep it fair. 

Jack Black, Matthew McConaughey, and Shirley MacLaine are fantastic. And despite the dark subject, it's hilarious. I watched it with a native of Carthage... her regular hoots of laughter testified to the accurate portrayals of East Texans. 

I believe this one has a limited distribution - we saw it at the local 'artsy' theater - but if it comes around near you, I recommend it, too. 

Now I'm craving popcorn again... any movies you've seen lately you'd recommend?

 

Thinking of another Memorial Day Weekend (plus my Sweet!s of My Week)

A day with our kids and other families, swimming in a cold river, eating fresh pineapple, grilling burgers... a night spent laughing and dancing to Johnny Dee and the Rocket '88s... and then a phone call early on that Tuesday morning afterwards that made me realize how much I had been taking for granted and how quickly life can change directions.

That Tuesday was fourteen years ago today. Tom left for work, expecting it to be like any other day, but it wasn't.  He didn't expect the other car to come into his lane, didn't expect to spend a week in the hospital or the summer trying to heal and recover instead of building our home. He didn't expect to live with pain for the next fourteen years.

But that's what happened, whether he expected it or not. And the thing is, we got through it. We built our home... not that summer, but there were other summers, and I'm grateful for that. We've spent more days swimming in cold water with family and friends, and evenings laughing and dancing. I don't think a day goes by when Tom isn't in some degree of pain, but somehow he moves on and doesn't let it stop him from doing what he needs, or wants, to do.

(I took notes and turned them into an essay as therapy... click "In the Aftermath of a Car Crash" if you want to read more about it.)

It wasn't the last unexpected detour in our road we've encountered, and I'm sure there are more waiting for us. I can't say I'm grateful it happened. I'd love to tell you something positive that came from it, but honestly, I haven't been able to see that ray of light yet. Perhaps it's shining where I can't see it. I can only hope so.

But I'm still grateful, period, that whatever roadblock is in front of us now, we're approaching it together.

Life is just too short for grudges and regrets that burn holes in your heart, for dwelling on the past or the future so long that you miss your today.

It's too short not to pursue your passion even if you only have a few seconds free each day to do it.

Too short to sit back and wait for things to happen, or for someone else to do it, or to make excuses.

Too short not to love with your whole heart, leaving no room for pride or selfishness, always trying to understand, listen, forgive, and ask forgiveness.

Too short not to take care of yourself and those you love.

Life is just too short, period, and too wonderful to take for granted.

(I've spared you the most graphic images of Tom. His face was split open. You're welcome.)

And now for a few sweet! moments of my week...

Sunday: chunks of time for writing; sitting in a dark theater, laughing at Dark Shadows with 2/3 of your kids, flashing back to watching the series with your dad; theater popcorn, courtesy of your son; giving my time for a friend

Monday: being asked to critique a high schooler's short story; friends pulling together to support another friend; a framed photo of you and your daughter from more than a decade ago sitting on your desk while you work, a belated Mother's Day gift from your baby girl

Tuesday: a songbird greeting you first thing in the morning; a day with your daughter, running errands, grocery shopping, meeting her new roommates; a funny movie with friends; popcorn for dinner twice in one week

Wednesday: Texas farmland and wide open spaces; supporting a dear friend as she says goodbye to her mother; catching up with long-time friends; your husband taking care of a mama mouse and her babies that he found in the garage, rather than put them outside where they'd surely be eaten by a snake 

(but now what do we do with them???)

Thursday: working out for the first time in a week; hours free to work on your book; two walks with your dogs in one day; friends who send you links to freelance jobs; not having to drive anywhere all day! 

Friday: turtles and yellow-crowned night heron sightings, even if you forgot to bring your zoom lens on your morning walk (do you spot it up there in the drying-up pond?); your puppy pouncing through the tall grass after lizards; scratching things off your to-do list; a call from your sister; sigh-evoking engagement photos of your son and his love; your baby girl home for the weekend

Saturday: having your husband by your side, through good days and bad days

Share your sweet moments with me! I think sharing makes them sweeter.

I hope your coming week is full of sweet, magical moments and that you remember not to take a single one for granted!

This world, after all our science and sciences, is still a miracle; wonderful, inscrutable, magical and more, to whosoever will think of it.

~Thomas Carlyle

The Tie that Binds

There came a time in high school when I was tossed out of my comfortable social nest. The group I had identified with for years...clung to like a raft in the treacherous middle and high school seas...wrapped around myself like a safe (I thought) cocoon...well, they decided one day that I just didn't belong with them anymore.

I racked my brain, sorted through my every action and word I could remember, trying to figure out what I had done wrong. Why didn't they like me anymore? I couldn't figure it out! I finally realized I had done nothing - said nothing - it was just my turn to feel those cold shoulders. I could sit and mope, feeling sad and lonely, or I could brush it off, find new friends and have fun. Without them.

I didn't have to look far. Kathy was in my science class, and I realized I had been too busy clinging to my safety net to realize how much fun she was and how much we had in common. I opened my eyes a little wider and was surprised to find even more friends all around me. Life outside of the cocoon was actually pretty fun! There were really cool people all around me!

How ironic that what seemed like a nightmare - the worst thing imaginable to a high school kid - turned out to be one of the best things that could happen to me. A true blessing in disguise! I gained more self-confidence and self-awareness, discovered true friendship, and became a more sensitive and caring person.

Within a few years, I was once again friends - even close friends - with several of my old nest-fellows; they were just teenage girls trying to navigate those treacherous waters themselves. We're still friends to this day, and I cherish those friendships, strengthened by fire and time.

But I'll always remember that Kathy was the first one that was there for me when everyone else left me cold and alone. She always saved me a spot on the school bus. We sang "Bad Company" and danced to Sly and the Family Stone...floated the Comal River in New Braunfels...rode around Deer Park with Nathan...went to the Galleria for Mexican Food with Hayden and William...saw Lynyrd Skynyrd with Bobby.

Later... clubs in Houston, parties and baseball games at Blinn College, and Wurstfest adventures in New Braunfels evolved into weddings and showers, heartbreak and happiness. There have been times when we've let years pass without seeing each other face to face, and we'll go months without talking, but our hearts are never far apart.

I wrote those words three years ago in a post here for my dear friend Kathy's 50th birthday. I hadn't seen Kathy in a few years when I wrote them, but that didn't change the friendship tie that bound us. 

And that's why I drove to the small town of Rosebud yesterday for her mom's funeral. Even though it's been several years (again!) since I've seen her, I wanted to be there to support her, to show my love, and to represent all of the other friends who were thinking of her and praying for her who couldn't be there.

Despite the sadness that brought me there, it was good to see her in person, to finally meet her husband and see her son who I last saw twenty years ago or so. He's changed a little bit, and now has a beautiful wife and adorable baby girl. 

Wow, Kathy is a grandmother!

I also got to catch up with Kathy's sister Kandy, and Kandy's husband Chris, who were friends of mine a long, long time ago as well, and see my sweet friend Donna who came to support Kathy, too.

What a blessing to be bound by these ties...

Blest be the tie that binds
Our hearts in Christian love;
The fellowship of kindred minds
Is like to that above.

Before our Father’s throne
We pour our ardent prayers;
Our fears, our hopes, our aims are one
Our comforts and our cares.

We share each other’s woes,
Our mutual burdens bear;
And often for each other flows
The sympathizing tear.

When we asunder part,
It gives us inward pain;
But we shall still be joined in heart,
And hope to meet again.

This glorious hope revives
Our courage by the way;
While each in expectation lives,
And longs to see the day.

From sorrow, toil and pain,
And sin, we shall be free,
And perfect love and friendship reign
Through all eternity.

~John Fawcett 

 

Transitions

The moment your baby is born, your heart grows so much with love that you think it will explode out of your chest. A second later, you have a vision of this tiny baby all grown up, leaving you to find its own way in this big world, and you feel the searing pain of anticipated loss.

There are times you have to tuck that knowledge away in a cupboard of your heart so you can quit worrying... so you can relax and enjoy those precious, fleeting baby moments.

At other times you need to pull that reminder out and set it in a prominent place, either as consolation when those precious moments turn into exhausting, overwhelming, frustrating, and seemingly endless days of their childhood or a reminder when you take those days and their childhood for granted.

If you're lucky, the going moves gradually, back and forth, like waves on the seashore during lowtide, returning but staying away longer and longer each time.

We're now in low tide with TG. Last week I moved her home... today I moved her back out again, into a first apartment with two other girls. It was a planned move and it's a cute place, with a spiral staircase in what seems to be a secure complex. I'm excited for her. I'm happy for her.

But this will be my first summer without her here at home (will I ever have another?) and dang it, I'm going to miss my baby, just like I knew I would one day. 

 

 We've had bad luck with our kids - they've all grown up. 

~Christopher Morley

 

But I have to admit... spending whatever time I'm given with the woman she's become is a pretty good trade-off.

Wishing her the best of luck in this summer semester, and keeping her close in my heart and lifted high in prayer...

Wildflowers, Swimming Dogs, and other Sweet!s of the Week

I came upon this field of wildflowers dancing in the wind yesterday afternoon. Sunshine plus a breeze plus a bouquet like this from nature equals a spring cleaning for my soul. No room left for any shadows. 

The photo doesn't do it justice, so close your eyes, take my hand and step into the field. Feel the sunshine warming your face, the breeze tousling your hair, the hum of bees and chatter of birds.

Now open your eyes and revel in the brilliant colors. Sway with the blooms in the wind, and be happy as they are to be exactly in that spot in that moment.

All the flowers of all the tomorrows are in the seeds of today.

Indian Proverb

 

Oh, did you hear that splash?

Max has waded into the pond for an afternoon swim, and what do you know... Belle has become a water dog, too! 

All it took was the thermometer to hit the 90's, I guess!

Smart dogs!

   

And now for some other sweet!s of the week...

 

Saturday: college graduation celebrations; playing ping-pong with your baby girl; wedding dresses; spending time with all three of your kids at once

Sunday: Mother's Day breakfast cooked by your son; spending the rest of Mother's Day with your mom; neighbors from a lifetime ago walking into the restaurant where you're eating (and recognizing them!); huge green parakeets and a white dove posing for pics in your parents' backyard

Monday: breakfast by Daddy; a walk around your old neighborhood; old barns and houses lining Highway 71; a red-tailed hawk swooping by to tell you 'welcome home' just as you step out of your car

Tuesday: watching second graders practice songs for an upcoming school performance; helping your husband celebrate his 55th birthday; dinner with 2/3 of your kids; walks at dusk; night birds flying over your head, croaking like frogs

Wednesday: moving your baby girl home from college, even if it's just temporary; quick service in an Emergency Room; morphine (when necessary); friendly hospital staff; the absence of pain; not facing gall bladder, or any other kind of surgery; friends who will drive you and your car home from the hospital at 10:30 at night

Thursday: the snake you find taking a morning stroll at the same time as you is NOT poisonous; not spending the afternoon/evening in the hospital; glancing out the window just in time to see the Great Blue Heron return to your hollow; seeing a green heron fly over and passing a tarantula on your way home from the grocery store; a long awaited package from a blogger friend in Greece, waiting for you in the mailbox

Friday: Bill Nye the Science Guy videos; listening to high school kids discuss their theories of dark matter; meeting an impassioned teenager, full of dreams and determination to help rid his country of corruption; 2/3 of your kids home; making a dent in an overflowing email inbox

Saturday: zoom lenses, for seeing weird bugs at a distance; cheesecake; a couple of hours in the car with your baby girl, even if it turned out to be a wasted trip because the bookstores closed early for commencement so you couldn't sell back her textbooks, but you had plenty of time to talk and laugh; an awesome photography workshop in a library in the old part of Round Rock (photography, books, and old towns - heaven!)

 

Any bits of heaven in your past week? Share them! And I hope the coming week has a generous portion of for you!

There's Something About May...

Maybe I'm paranoid, but I think May doesn't like me.

Tuesday was Tom's 55th birthday. I've barely been home the past week and looked forward to having some time off yesterday afternoon to write a post here about how grateful I am for each of those 55 years... especially the 30 I've shared with him...

Instead, I spent most of the afternoon doubled up in pain on the couch until I drove myself to the emergency room, where I spent the rest of the evening.

I was sure it was a gall bladder attack. It hit right after eating one of my veggie omelettes that I drown in picante sauce, and the only other time I've had pain like that (other than labor for each one of my kids) is after eating a spicy Thai salad several years ago. My friends with experience told me then that it sounded like a gall bladder rebellion.

Not life threatening, so when it subsided a bit, I just called and made an appointment for today with my doctor and tried to get comfortable on the couch.

But I couldn't. When it didn't go away after a few hours, and even felt like it was getting worse again, I thought I better get a second opinion, or I guess third, if you count Google, and off to the ER I went, in such a rush I didn't even grab a book.

To put it into perspective, I think it's been over thirty years since I went to an emergency room for myself. Who has time for that? I didn't even go when I thought my heart was going to explode out of my chest two years ago. 

In May.

Ah, May. Why don't you like me?

Shingles had attacked me the previous May. Or maybe that year it was the super duper urinary tract infection... only the second one I've had in my life... and shingles was the year before.

At any rate, last May I held my breath all month, wondering what disease or affliction would hit me out of the blue. Surprise... I made it through with no surprises! I thought the May curse was broken. 

I guess it wasn't.

On the up side, my internal organs passed all of yesterday's tests with flying colors. An hour after the morphine shot, my pain went away and hasn't returned. I'm flummoxed but relieved! I think the doctor was flummoxed, too. He called it a stomach virus, gave me a prescription for nausea medicine (which I didn't and still don't need) and released me to my dear friends Mary Kay and Joe. (I couldn't drive myself home because of the morphine.)

Also on the up side, these random May afflictions remind me to not take my health for granted... or anything for granted, really, because things can change in a split second, can't they? So maybe May is just being a good friend, keeping me humble and on my toes. And grateful when things go right.

After all, a month that celebrates mothers, welcomed my husband into the world, and gives us beautiful flowers can't be too bad, can it?

(I'll still be glad when June arrives.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ah, Mother's Day...

For the first time in years, I actually saw my mother on Mother's Day instead of telling her how much I love and appreciate her via a card and a phone call.

It meant missing church and spending hours on the road Sunday morning, but Daniel (middle son) awoke early enough to send me off stuffed with my traditional Mother's Day eggs and bacon breakfast. He even offered to feed the dogs for me, but I treated myself to those few relaxing minutes on the back porch with my coffee.

I got to see the other 2/3 of my kids on Saturday at my future daughter-in-law's sister's college graduation party in San Antonio. Tommy gave me a beautiful card and TG surprised me with a cup she decorated with sparkly beads and a note that begins "To my closest friend, my role model, and my rock..."

Add the breakfast Daniel made me, and what more could a mother want?

To see her own mother, that's what.

It helped that I had today off, so after dinner at Sudie's Catfish House with my mom, dad, sister, brother-in-law, and niece yesterday afternoon, I was able to relax and visit awhile last night, and then sleep late and enjoy bacon and eggs a la Daddy this morning before jumping back on that highway headed home.

(Speaking of Sudie's... we were sitting there in one of the side dining rooms when I noticed this older woman enter. Her face looked so familiar, a memory drifting out of my childhood, but I couldn't place it. Then her husband entered, and her daughter, and the memory was anchored. Ginger, Buddy, and Randi who used to live behind us, who used to call me BeeBee. I spent hours and hours at their house, played in their backyard, coveted Randi's doll collection and loved Ginger's cherry tomatoes.

How fitting, and what a wonderful surprise, to see one of the moms from your childhood on Mother's Day. Randi actually lives near me and we met for lunch a couple of years ago, so it was good to see her again and meet her husband and daughter.)

My gift to my mom...I gathered most of my flower photos from the past few weeks into a printed bouquet... a book of my flower photos, accoompanied by sentimental but fitting quotes about mothers.

And another gift, although I'm not sure it's one she noticed... although I glanced at my email on my phone, I didn't touch her computer. Not once. It'll take me a couple of weeks to catch up on Facebook and email and blog reading, but I feel it was a good trade-off to focus on time with her and Daddy while I had the chance.

I have to admit I was busy snapping photos out the back door again. Two green parakeets (which are actually about 10 inches long) and a white dove visited their backyard, along with the regular menagerie. I'll post those pics later on the photography blog.

I hope all of you had a wonderful weekend, too. If you weren't able to be with your mother, I hope memories of her filled your heart and brought a smile to your face.

And if the week ahead of you looks as crazy and rushed as the one ahead of me, don't forget to breathe and focus on each moment! 

"If you have a mom, there is nowhere you are likely to go where a prayer has not already been."

 ~Robert Brault

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!

Vintage Airports, Engaged Couples, Dark-Eyed Juncos, and other Sweet!s of the Week

We've known him since he was a baby, but when Justin gets married next month we won't be at the wedding. He and his beautiful bride-to-be Pati are tying the knot in Mexico, and as much as we'd love a few days at an ocean side resort, we just can't swing it financially. 

That's why his mom and dad threw an engagement party for them last weekend, so we and all the rest who couldn't be at the ceremony could celebrate with the couple.

The best part.. it was a surprise party! I love surprises!

They thought the surprise was just a flight in this small plane...

They didn't know it would land at a different airport where friends and family waited to party with them in a vintage airport terminal.

 

Did you catch that "vintage airport" part?

It was the 1940's Air Terminal Museum - the original art deco air terminal at Hobby Airport in Houston, currently being renovated back to its glory days and filled with all sorts of vintage airport memorabilia. Very cool!

I took one or two photos... ahem...

Bob, Justin's dad, decorated the tables with flags and maps and tidbits on the history of Justin and Pati's love story.

As you can see, we sat at the Istanbul, Turkey table, where Justin and Pati's story began.

Bob's so creative.

Believe it or not, I also took some photos of the cute couple! 

 

Ah, young love. Very sweet! 

And now for a few other sweet!s of my week...

Saturday: seeing your husband after a week apart; surprise parties; dancing, dancing, dancing

Sunday: breakfast by Daddy; parakeets running wild; tutus and cowgirl boots; a slumber party with your sister and mom

Monday: finding out you won a beautiful sketch by TexWis Girl; a call from a dear friend; an afternoon walk with the puppies after a fun weekend with friends and family; new growth on a beautiful tree you didn't think survived the drought

Tuesday: the sun rising early enough to fit in a walk with the puppies before work; a call from another good friend; two hawks hamming it up for your camera (okay, once on the computer I realized they were those vultures again, but they really are photogenic!)

Wednesday: time before work to walk your puppies, switch the laundry around, and run two miles; high school juniors reading and writing children's stories; packages in the mailbox; baby frogs; finding out Hilary at The Smitten Image awarded you a Post of the Week for one of your photography posts

Thursday: hours to get lost in your writing; answered prayers for a friend; your mom calling, worried about you because you haven't checked in with her yet today

Friday: veggie omelettes; eavesdropping on teenager's conversations; a mailbox stuffed with the box containing the beautiful sketch you won, a dark-eyed junco by TexWisGirl Theresa of The Run*A*Round Ranch Report

Isn't it precious? She's so talented!

Theresa also enclosed one four- and one five-leaf clover in a sweet card. Bonus sweet!

Thanks again, Theresa!! 

I hope the next week is filled with bonus sweet!s for all of you!

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?