Ooops

I forgot to put the pictures from the World War I Symposium in Kansas City at the WWI Museum. Here they are. Why would I want an SLR camera when I can barely work this one. The field of silk poppies gives pause. There are 9000 poppies, each one representing 1000 people who were killed during the war. Lest anyone forget . . . . It was a moving place to remember 9/11.

On the road again. . .

After a couple days at home (think laundry), we took off again to a World War I Symposium in Kansas City. A simple journey north on I35. Unfortunately, Tropical Storm Hermine also decided to go north along I35 the entire three days. They closed 35 in Dallas as we went by; it rained 11.6 inches in Killeen as we went by. Boy was that fun. Good times in KC. I had lunch with an old friend from Pentagon days, who hasn't changed a bit. It gave me hope that I hadn't either. Saturday was the piece de resistance, however. We got up early and I got Joe off to the seminar. And, Daisy got a chance to run and run and run. Then it was my turn. I crawled back into bed and watched two Law and Orders and drifted in and out of sleep. Utter decadence. Then Room Service. A personal pizza, apple pie and a Diet Dr. Pepper. Back into bed and watched Runaway Bride. Mindless idiocy, but I can't remember the last time I got to do that. Maybe the morning Princess Di and Charles got married. That maybe an exaggeration but not by much.

Now the National Baptist Convention was at the hotel and the membership really knew how to dress. Hats, suits, hats, bow ties and more hats. I wish I could carry off some of those outfits. I owe a big vote of thanks to two of the guys standing outside the hotel. I went out to walk Daisy, and they called after me, gesturing wildly. Seems my cute little skirt was tucked in my panties. See, I could never carry off the elegant outfits the women were wearing.

The 9th anniversary of September 11th has come and gone. Polly called to tell me she was thinking of us. That touched me more than I would have anticipated. The memories continue to fade; the only concrete remnant is a strong startle response. I guess I'm at peace with what was done or not done. Someone said today that we should focus on the survivors of that day. I liked that. Virtually everyone was changed in someway. Maybe we should all take a moment to thank God that we're survivors and to savor that fact.

Well, after too much to eat at a rib place in Norman, OK, I guess I snuggle in for a long winter's nap.

I'm Baaaaaack

I can hardly believe that it's been almost a year since a sallied forth. But, good friends reminded me of the obvious. Joe and I and our favorite lap dog started out on a two-week roadtrip to points west. We hoofed it to Ruidosa with a stop in Ft Stockton, one of our favorite resting places (that was tongue in cheek) but if you live in San Antonio and want to go west, it's stop there or nowhere. We descended on Bruce and Nancy and Daisy's sister, Pali. Daisy decided to stay with them when we went to Chandler to Creative Escapes scrapbook extravaganza.


We made the yearly pilgrimage to the Heart Attack Grill and stuffed ourself with lard, cream and Mexican cokes - the really syrupy kind. Fred and Joe had found it (by accident) last year, so we invited Nancy and Bruce and we all had burgers dripping with grease. After 3 hard days of scrapbooking, we left Patty and Fred at the airport and went to retrieve Daisy.
Joe and I had decided to drive to the Grand Canyon but when we learned Nancy (another highschool friend) and Don, her husband, were back in town, we opted to have lunch with them and then the six of us could drive to Vegas instead. What a great choice.
Boys in one car and girls in the other. We told funny stories, reminisced, and just had an all around good time. Once there, we had great Italian food; bad craps tables, good Oz and Monopoly slot machines. It must have been a good time cause we never left the hotel. You just can't take for granted friendships that last over time. We have been truly blessed. And another blessing is that our husbands really appear to like each other. I'm sure sometimes they feel left our of the stories, but they benevolently hang in there. Here's to them.
After all of that, the ride home was a bit of an afterthought, but Daisy joined us in the front seat and we returned home to laundry, mail, and other assorted mundane stuff. And packing for a trip to Kansas City. Thank you Lord for friends.

Time Flies By

and suddenly this tiny 14-year old has her Texas A&M class ring. I don't think I even got a college class ring (my roommate Ellen had stolen my high school ring), but at A&M it's one of the great traditions. You are entitled to order one when you have the right number of hours. The morning you get your ring, you receive a time. Maggie had 5:15 p.m. and we went at 5:45 and avoided the rush.

Alums hand you the ring and take pictures - I'm the one with the lump in my throat.


Maybe later I'll try to figure out how to get the pix in better, but not today.


Then you have your picture taken. We chose the fountain rather than the enormous class ring since it was dark.




Another great tradition is that only Seniors are allowed to do certain cheers. She's a real senior now.

The joys of home ownership . . .

It hasn't rained much this summer. Or, should I say not at all. Then came a rain of 5 inches in an hour during our house party for 100 people. But, it was in the master bath so no unmanageable crisis. The tarp guys came on Sun as well as the ServPro guys. Our insurance company representative, USAA, said no problem. We didn't believe them, but they said so. What they meant was there was no problem in denying our claim. I saw a wonderful billboard about USAA, "Serving America's Military." I wanted to spray paint it to add "A little less each year." It took the adjustor 12 days to come look at the damage, which of course got worse every day and we had two more hellacious storms. But, at day 12, of course, it didn't look like storm damage. YOYO. You're On Your Own. USAA'a motto. Not to worry though. We didn't have anything else to spend $9000 on. USAA says they're passionate about their service. I'm passionate about there lack of it. It's just as well. If they'd have paid the claim, they would have cancelled our insurance.

Enough already

There I was minding my own business driving to the clinic for my allergy shot. A billboard caught my eye. It was an add for a maternity store. It said, "Knocked up or not, we have clothes for you." If that's not the most tasteless bit of advertising I've seen lately! I'm still irritated. But the drive was saved by a bumper sticker that I thought was great. My husband was nonplussed. (I had to look up nonplussed to check it's meaning, and I'm using it in the more modern way; in other words, he wasn't impressed.) It said "Since guns don't kill people, do pencils misspell words?" I like that. I don't think I remember the exact wording, but you get the point.

I am not of this world . . . .

It all started innocently enough. I was driving across town to get my monthly allergy shot, and I made my traditional stop at Sonic for a large Diet Dr Pepper. I had surreptitiously purchased an "Us" magazine and was going to take a few minutes to skim through it before I headed to the clinic. (No, I do not read the trashy Enquirer, etc although we do get the Star in our Sunday paper). I found out that Padma Lakshmi's pregnant; that Lady Gaga's tour is off; 25 things about Selena Gomez that no one knows. I also found out that I have never heard of these people. And more, I don't care. Where's the news about people I've heard of ( or about whom I've heard, if you care about dangling prepositions). Elizabeth Taylor? Cher? Air Supply? OK, I do know about Nicole Richie and Jennifer Garner, and Penelope Cruz, so I'm not a complete idiot. What is the world coming to? Or for better or for worse - why have I become my mother?