everybody's entitled

An Edible History of Humanity

2011-11-06T19:22:00.000-08:00

I'm listening to An Edible History of Humanity by Ted Standage and it is fascinating. I think if I can remember one or two points of a book then it has been worth the time to read/listen to it.

1. Historic hunter-gatherers were healthier than farmers - more variety in their diet meant taller and longer-lived than farmers.

2. India hasn't had a famine since the British left.

3. The use of food as a weapon has been around since the beginning of time, and is the worst weapon there is.

Hotel review

2011-04-14T14:26:00.000-07:00

We're at the Mariott Copley Place in Boston for the ABA. Nice room - not very big, but it's big enough. I asked specifically for a room with a bathtub, since the last two hotels booked us in rooms with only a shower. Don't most people like to loll in the tub and read?

We've got a room with a view of the Charles River and we're next door to a big Mall and near Filene's Basement - which I think is the original of that chain. The Boston Public Library is a block away. It's a big old building with a new squared-off addition. I visited the lovely courtyard on a beautiful day - and had a wonderful Chicken Ceasar Salad eaten outside. Very nice. The Library must be under some adjustment as the Fiction was in one room - then a whole lot of empty shelves - then the rest of the alphabet in another room. They are having a Vintage Postcard exhibit, but the signage was so lacking I couldn't find it.

The hotel doesn't have in room coffee, a makeup mirror, or bathrobes, but they asked about newspaper delivery (and not just USA Today). No Boston Herald except in the gift shop.

The Boston Marathon is on Monday (we'll be gone) and the Old South Church across from the Library has a sign "May you run and not grow weary, walk and not faint." The also have a "Blessing of the Athletes" at "the Church of the Finish Line."

Americans for Disability Act

2011-03-08T16:38:00.000-08:00

I've been sort of scornful of some of the uses the ADA has been put - like the stripper in the wheelchair who couldn't get work. However, since I've been the mainstay of my brother who is in a wheelchair I've had an awakening.

Really - don't park in those handicapped places. Even if it's "just for a minute while I run in", it's not cool to take one of those spots. This is especially important since I just got a Handicapped tag for my car.

Also, don't block the ramp which leads from the parking lot to the sidewalk. Recently I took him in for a manicure (I tried trimming his fingernails myself and almost amputated the end of his little finger - this was a job for a professional!) I pulled up to Jannie's and someone had parked in the ramp. Let me tell you that pushing the wheelchair (very light - an Excel Translator - more about that later) with 185 pounds of dead weight up the curb is no fun. Not impossible - there was a slight incline - but still!

Next, for goodness sake! When planning a medical facility in which sick people are waiting for radiation or a variety of scans, don't furnish the waiting room with benches with no backs! What kind of idiot does that? (This was in the Baylor Medical Pavillion, 3900 Junius, Dallas.) In other news, the young aide who took Bobby back to prep him for the CT scan (a) was chewing gum (why do I think this is so offensive?) (b) took him to a room which was not equipped with anything she needed to access a vein for the introduction of the contrast material for the scan - no alcohol swabs, no stretchy thingy to make a tourniquet, no gloves. She had to go get everything - one thing at a time, including another aide who finally did get the needle in the right spot. Also the chair he might have used if he was not in a wheelchair had an attached table that had old coffee rings on it. Ugh.

And finally, when we met his oncologist's nurse for the neulasta shot (to help boost his blood count), the office had moved into a new facility and Monday, when we were there, was their first day. So, OK - I can understand confusion during this transition time.
No less than eight people were standing in like to check in at any one time, and they subsequently lost his check in "ticket" to have his blood drawn, so we waited about 45 minutes before I caught on.

But the main sin is that they have a bank of seven elevators. Seven. And each of the elevators' up/down lights which let you know which elevator has appeared are recessed. Yes, recessed! Not in front where a person could see which door has opened, but hidden from view. There is not one spot on which a person can stand to see all the lights. So, when the elevator dings - you have to rush over to see which one might be available. Unbelievable! Doesn't anyone check this stuff out. This was the new Sammons Cancer Center at Baylor - 3410 Worth Street, Dallas.

Snow day

2011-02-01T19:02:00.000-08:00

I can't remember another snow day when I actually haven't stepped outside. I did think about taking Lexie down the alley, but the side door steps are covered in about an inch of ice and I chickened out.

However, it's been a good day to clean out the bathroom drawers - I filled 5 or 6 plastic bags with half-used and disliked shampoo and lotion bottles, old medicines (thank goodness for expiration dates!) and junk I should have thrown away months (years) ago.

Having cleaned out the kitchen cabinets and the pantry last week when Byron was out of town, I'm feeling pretty virtuous.

Tomorrow, I may attack my closet.

Requiem in pacem

2010-12-31T20:09:00.000-08:00

In no particular order

Lynn Bell
Ingrid Armstrong
Jon Mac Nobles
Ed Notestine
Gill Clements
Ed Miller

New favorite thing!

2010-12-30T20:07:00.001-08:00

Did you know you can take a package to Target (the SuperTarget on Abrams - maybe others) and mail a package? It's the NEW POST OFFICE!

Take your package, put in on the scale, tell the machine the size, put in the zip of the destination, swipe your credit card, print the postage and VOILA! No standing in line watching clerks chew gum!

What a concept!

I love it!

Texas v. Nebraska

2010-10-17T20:30:00.000-07:00

We went to the game expecting the worst.

After all, we'd suffered through Texas - OU.

But 1) Omaha is nice. We toured Boys Town (remember the Spencer Tracy/Andy Rooney flick? If not, watch it when you can) and the Durham Museum, which is in the old Union Pacific Train Station, when they knew how to build a train staion.

2) the fans before and after the game were unbelievably nice. "Welcome to Lincoln!" "I hope everyone is nice to you while you are here." "Great game!" "Was everyone nice?" "Glad you came"

3) We won!

Shopping

2010-09-17T19:22:00.000-07:00

I remember reading years ago about how French women shop every day for food for that night's meal and thinking - that's just insane. I had a weekly calendar of every child's schedule and shopped once a week, planning for leftovers.

Some days, with soccer, volleyball or gymnastics practices, I just planned for McDonald's or Wendy's - knowing I couldn't get home to cook those nights - and if I did go to the effort, it was wasted.

Now, however, I find that shopping every day seems to be my pattern. Since there are just two of us, I tend to just go pick up a salmon dish from Eatzi's or Whole Foods and that's that. Or, like tonight, I go get two steaks, two potatoes and some lettuce. Tomorrow, I'll think of something else and go find it.

Maybe Bubba's.

Wimped out

2010-06-12T18:16:00.000-07:00

OK - I wimped out on my trip back from seeing Katherine, et al in Virginia. My AA flight from DCA to DFW was about 3 hours 40 minutes and every minute was marred by two children in 8 DEF (I was in 10 A) talking, laughing, screeching, shrieking, sobbing and playing games at top volume. I should have called the flight attendant at the beginning of the flight ans asked her to ask the children and their adult companion (who never said shhhh or shush or "use your inside voices") to calm them down.

I wondered if perhaps they were hard of hearing and needed to converse at decibels beyond normal speech.

I even put on my defensive CD player earphones and listened to the end of "The Shape Shifter" - Tony Hillerman (highly recommended) and still couldn't block out the sounds of these two demons. At one time they played some sort of game that utilized slapping the tray tables at intervals. I couldn't have been the only wimp in the front of the plane! And they were close enough to First Class to be heard as well.

Next time I won't be so nice....

PS seeing Katherine, Andy and Margaret was delightful! They are moving to within babysitting and cousin range - woo hoo!

This week

2010-06-02T20:52:00.000-07:00

This week hasn't been so great. Mary's devoted dog Kieran is gone. He had a great send-off, but will always be missed. He was a one-woman dog.

Also, Jerome (both Jerome and Kieran were named by Mary....) who was our volunteer cat. He showed up with a loud voice in 1992 and demanded to be our cat. We walked him all over the neighborhood (he would follow) to find his lost home, but he was determined to be our cat. He'd already been neutered and declawed in the front, which may have precipitated his departure from his earlier home.
About a month ago, he attacked and jumped on the back of an annoying, barking dog who dared to invade his space! And he did it twice as the idiots who were walking the dog came back "to teach the dog a lesson"!

Jerome had been ailing and losing weight for some time and the last week or so refused food and water. After several attempted interventions, I decided that I couldn't bear for Jerome to just starve himself to death.

Thanks to Janie Hodges, DVM, who treats all of us like family.

In other bad news, my older brother has been diagnosed with lung cancer - no fair for someone who quit smoking in 1987! It's early days, but here's hoping it's caught early and easily treatable.

Founder's Syndrome

2010-04-20T20:40:00.000-07:00

My Library group (including me) is suffering from Founder's Syndrome. Those of us who have been there since the beginning of our grassroots effort to make a library happen in our community are having to hand it off to others. And it's hard.

It's hard to see that a whole new group is taking over and depending less and less on our knowledge and experience - even though we know it's time to expand our vision. The new people don't know anything about how we got here and they seem adverse to learning from our mistakes, making them over and over.

However, I'm ready to step back. The new phase of the library is going to involve getting people who know people who can give lots of money to build the new facility - not just us worker bees who sort and shelve the books and hold book sales. We're talking about people who can raise millions of dollars. It won't be perfect, but I have faith that they can get the job done.

There are some of us, however, who can't accept the transition from day to day leadership to a more auxiliary role and are complaining to everyone within earshot that the "letter was too long" "the membership categories were not complete" "the mailing was late" etc, etc. But you know, someone else did it, and we didn't have to.

Our whole effort has been made up as we go along - we could step in and do an event, mailing, program, grant request at the last minute and so far, we're still reacting, rather than acting. But I think this will change as the new group goes forward.

Will they do everything perfectly? Probably not. Would they be smart to listen to the old folks? Probably. Will the Library survive and prosper? I have every hope.

New Car

2010-04-17T20:01:00.000-07:00

I just heard about Meg locking herself in the car (she's fine, thank goodness! And Katherine may recover soon.) and I just have to brag about my new car. Here are the things I wanted:

(1) adjustable pedals (my short legs meant that in my Tahoe I was pretty close to the steering wheel. If I were in a wreck, the air bag would probably do some major damage. In my new car, the adjustable pedals mean I'm a little farther away from the wheel.

2. power rear lift gate. Hauling that rear gate in the Tahoe was something I knew I would outgrow. I love punching the fob button and the gate lifts while I'm walking up with my basket from Sam's or Home Depot.

3. power third row. I didn't use the third row in my old car very much. I think we removed the seats when I brought the car home and put them in once, when we had family in town. Each seat weighed about 80 pounds and the installation and removal were hard to do. The power seats mean that I can push a button and raise up one or both of the third row seats.

4. seats fold flat. In the Tahoe, I could fold up the second row, but the third row stood up about 12 inches - meaning that I would have to get in the back area and lift up anything big to go over the seats. In the new car, the folded seats lie flat so things can slide up to the back of the front seats. A caveat is that there is a channel between the folded flat third row and the folded flat second row, but it can be overcome easily.

A bonus is that the car has a locking system that can rescue me if I lock the keys inside or if I just need to put something inside without using the keys. It has a five digit code that unlocks the passenger door with an additional code for the rest of the car. When the total code is in, I can open the back hatch. All without a key!

Also, the car is big, sits up high and small cars fear me.

It's a Ford Expedition. After two Suburbans and two Tahoes, I'm sold on Ford.

Sniff, snort, cough

2010-03-13T18:52:00.000-08:00

Everything is blooming in Dallas, including my nose! The dust is blowing in from Canada and mingling with the rain-soaked mold, mildew and budding flowers - to all of which I have acquired allergic reactions. I don't know why I haven't lost a significant amount of weight just from blowing my nose over the last two days.

I never used to be allergic to anything - except wool (itchy, itchy) - but now spring brings a new period of first, drippy nose, multiple sneezing and watery eyes. This is followed by a couple (I hope only a couple) of nights of waking up to uncontrolled coughing.

Remedies include bourbon, honey, lemon in hot water, Nyquil, Sudafed (the good kind you have to sign for), hot salty water to gargle, hot tea with lemon, Hall's lemon cough drops, lemon drops and my new cure - Lemoncello (sort of a liquid lemon drop with vodka).

I'm counting on a good night's sleep tonight!

My list

2010-03-01T20:59:00.000-08:00

Not my bucket list - just a list of things I needed to do today:

Make bank deposit
Go with Elizabeth to see discovery materials
Call the tree man
Send the Garden Club agenda
Write up next year's President of Garden Club's responsibilities and send
Buy bread, milk, OJ, dog food, bananas, something for dinner (salmon with salad and garlic bread)
Buy Vitamin D (for some reason Vitamin D is in, right now)
Mail a package of talking Easter Eggs to Katherine

I've finished (or helped Mary finish) the puzzles and now am knitting a prayer shawl.

Library expansion

2010-02-17T16:13:00.000-08:00

Our generous landlord has allowed us to have the 3,500 square feet across the hall for storage, story time and room to breathe! It's very exciting - they are having the carpet stretched today (very wavy). If I can figure it out I'll post pictures. It will make a huge difference in our Book Sale stuff, not to mention having space for the staff to sit at an actual table to eat lunch!

The snow is just about all melted and the sun was out, but not really warm.

Once I finish the Nominating slate for the garden club, I'll only have to be on that kind of committee one more time (next year as past president)! Just like my resolution to never serve as treasurer again, I'm setting aside Nominating Committee as well - especially if I have to call and cajole people into serving.

I've found a new hairdresser - Michael. A friend told me about him - nearby, good and price is right. She neglected to tell me (how could I have missed it?) that he wears an eyepatch? I did like the haircut, though - and he's very entertaining and nice.

Still thankful for electricity

2010-02-14T20:53:00.001-08:00

It is nice and warm, and I have the Olympics and the NBA All Stars on TV. Not that I'm that interested in the All Stars, but apparently it is a big deal and it's here in Dallas.

We've had a nice Valentine's Day - out to dinner on Friday night, brunch after church today, and Elizabeth, Megan and Emma for dinner tonight.

We're finalizing plans for the Clan Egan Rally in Tasmania - very exciting!

Some people still don't have electricity - I'm feeling very thankful.

Power outage

2010-02-12T20:00:00.000-08:00

We had no power (no lights, no heat, no TV, no computer except for low charge iPHone) for almost 24 hours. How did our ancestors/ancestresses deal with it? I went shopping and then tried to nap.

I also went to Luby's Cafeteria for the first time in a long time - their Louann platter (senior citizens only, please) is over $7 - I can eat twice at McDonald's for that!)

Anyway I decided to treat myself since it was cold, dark and boring at home - and I had picked up Game Change at Sam's.

1. When I went to pick up my tray, the lady shoved in a new stack, clipping my fingers.
2. When the serving man put in new meat loaf (or something), he slopped juice into my tray and onto Game Change.
3. When I got coffee and asked for cream, I was told the "lady would be by to take my order" which she was, but my coffee was cold before I got up to get my own cream
4. I was overcharged and had to wait until the manager was called.

So, I think I'll give Luby's a miss from now on.
BUT! electricity back on! Hooray!

In other news, I've been letting Jerome the cat sleep in the garage (with a plug in oil heater) since it has been so cold.) Since the power was out, I couldn't raise the garage door to let him out and had visions of him either starving or freezing to death. I finally found the emergency key (thanks to Byron who never throws anything away), but couldn't make it work. I finally called a locksmith, who could make the key work and Jerome is rescued!

Electricity is wonderful!

Good news!

2010-02-10T20:09:00.000-08:00

My friend didn't break her neck in the car wreck yesterday! She (according to rumor) merely broke her collarbone and a couple of ribs. Not great, but still!

Donor Bridge, whining, accident

2010-02-09T20:11:00.000-08:00

The Donor Bridge is a great program in which agencies can sign up and on a specific day, donors can donate to the agency (or library) and the donation is matched. Great, right? But the application is awful. We need the mission statement, impact statement, employee retention, history of the organization, management succession plan, strategic plan, fundraising plan, three year financials, etc., etc.

I know, I know - it's all valuable information - but what a pain to do it all. Do most agencies have a paid person to do this? Also, it only works on a PC and internet explorer - so all the info I've collected on my Mac has to be sent to a person with a PC then uploaded from there. And did I mention that we changed our name in 2005, but apparently not with the IRS, just with Texas, so all that has to be changed and they've misspelled library on all our forms (Libarary) - so that all has to be changed, too.

If it weren't a local program and if we weren't planning a capital campaign, I would just say to hell with it.

In worse news, one of our key library people, past president of the Friends and good friend was in a car wreck tonight and broke her neck. She has feeling in her extremities and is talking, so it could be lots worse -

Last whine. Our generous landlord has let us have about 4500 more square feet for the library - mostly storage space and space for meetings and storytime. Since it used to be an office, there are poles which contain computer cables and electricity which go from ceiling to floor which we want to remove since we don't need them. I took the man who's been doing handyman stuff here at the house and at the rental places over to help - but now the building manager says everyone who works there has to sign a waiver for asbestos.

Wasgij

2010-02-08T20:49:00.000-08:00

I saw that Leanne Egan had talked about the puzzle Wasgij and googled it. It is jigsaw spelled backwards, and the picture on the puzzle box is not the picture you reassemble. The one you do is what one of the characters in the puzzle is seeing. Challenging - but fun. Basically you fit the puzzle pieces that fit without having a clear idea of what it will eventually resemble.

I bought a regular puzzle at Target to work tomorrow - there's something about being able to create order from chaos that appeals. I'm still working on the Donor Bridge application, but think I've done the Colonial Dames one. I've sent off the latter to a checker. We'll see.

My friend Lisa Arrieta was found dead in her home last week. The funeral is tomorrow. I'm sorry to say I had lost touch with her - she was about 10 years younger and we've gone in different directions since we both worked on the Theta Recommendation Board with Nancy Abbey, but I'll miss her just the same.

Cold and rainy and colder and more rain tomorrow.

The electrician we've asked to work on the rental duplex is apparently waiting until spring to do the job, but, so far, no tenants have moved out.

Megan and cough syrup

2010-02-06T16:19:00.001-08:00

Megan is better, but Dr. Pharo will keep watching her bilirubin levels. Apparently Mark gave her a teaspoon of over the counter cough syrup and that may have caused the problem. I googled cough syrup and children and that is a big no-no, and doesn't even address the problem of a teaspoon is too much for a 5-year-old.

It may be something entirely different, but is still worrying.

Elizabeth and the girls (all in pink and looked darling) came over to see Lexie on their way from the doctor's office to the park and we had Mini-bites spaghetti and meatballs. They didn't eat it all so I had the left overs for lunch. Pretty good!

I'm still working on this Donor Bridge application, but may be whittling it down. I'm also weeding (which is library-speak for removing books from the shelves which haven't been checked out for three years or so) in the Dewey 200s (religion). Almost none of those books which were donations have ever been checked out. We're going to have a great sale on March 6!

Garden Club Meeting

2010-02-05T18:23:00.000-08:00

The Garden Club meeting went off OK - fabulous house (where do these young women get these palaces? They can't all be married to drug dealers!) and the program - Poisonous Plants - was great. The presenter was a real drama guy and had a multi-media production about herbal poisons. He was really good.

Elizabeth called and asked me to pick Emma up at school because she was home with Megan who had come home early with a bad headache. They went directly to Dr. Pharo, who said to wait until more symptoms (fever or vomiting, etc) showed up, but they never did. She took Megan back this afternoon and it is still a mystery what is wrong. (Of course, not good for the imagination that I've just seen a dramatic exposition of herbal poisons - hemlock, caster beans, henbane. Could she have eaten something?) They are still waiting to see - she is in ketosis, but no evidence of diabetes. She still has a headache.

Anyway, Emma was darling - her teacher put her hair in pony tails (she was so proud) and we had hot chocolate in little tea cups.

I'm waiting to hear how Megan is tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I'm procrastinating about filling out the Donor Bridge form and the Colonial Dames application....

Wisdom of Gaga

2010-02-04T16:24:00.000-08:00

Gaga used to say, since she wrote in her journal every day and also wrote to Lolah Mary daily -"When you write every day, there is lots to tell. If you write once a month, you can't think of anything worthwhile to relate."

I always think I will have something interesting to say, but usually don't.

For instance, today I had the freezer people come out. Obviously I don't use the freezer much, and when I opened it last night, it was hot inside. I threw all the meat and spoiled stuff out, which fortunately wasn't much. The vodka, pecans, cookies from the Christmas party and freezer pops were just fine for the temporary heat wave. The freezer guy said that $395 for a new timer was lots better than a new SubZero, which runs $6-7,000 (!), or even a new condenser motor which runs about $2000.

After that I met Elizabeth, Megan and Emma at the Library for Storytime, where Jim Carvell (Wade's father) plays the guitar (and made Emma his biggest fan "Play it again!"). Then we went to Bubba's for fried chicken, hot rolls with honey and delicious green beans. Did I mention that it was raining? And we only had one umbrella? Every child should have her own umbrella.

Back to the Library for a meeting in our new space. Our kind landlord (who has given us the space for 8 years for $1.25 per year, but has recently decided the Library won't be in his new building as promised) has given us about 4,500 new square feet across the hall with room for Book Sale set up, Storytime space, a breakroom with an actual table for the staff. We met to try to decide what will go where, and who should do what to set it up. First on the agenda is stretching the carpet which lies in waves on the floor - then we can begin moving in the dozens of books in beer flats which can then be sorted as to their Dewey number for the Book Sale.

Back home to work on tomorrow agenda for the Junior League Garden Club. I recommend any president or presiding person should do a printed agenda and hand it out to everyone. That way you are organized in your mind about how things should proceed, and you won't forget anything. (If you do, someone will remind you "Your forgot the Treasurer's report!). The Program Chairman of the Garden Club is one of those really detail people who are great on a committee, since they insist on keeping everything just right. They are also terrible on a committee since they drive you crazy "Have you checked the number of reservations?" "Have you ordered enough chairs"? "Let's do a walk-through of Debbie's house to see where the speaker should set up." This also makes for a very smooth meeting.

We're going (assuming Byron gets home in the next 45 minutes, otherwise I'm going) to Book Club where our favorite reviewer Marjorie Currey will talk about Warren Buffet's biography (by a HP woman) "Snowball".

I'm sure tomorrow will be equally fascinating.

Bam's and Ranny's Chili and Beans

2010-01-01T16:02:00.000-08:00

Classic recipe:
2 - 3 round steaks - cubed 1/2" by 1/2", brown in oil. Ideally these should have the bone in, but hard to find these days.
Add salt and pepper
Add 2 whole cloves of garlic
2 cans of Mountain Pass Red Chili Sauce
2 cans water.

Simmer, covered, at least 3 hours - the longer the better. stir occasionally. Add flour and water paste to thicken.

Beans: In another pot, put 1 pound of pinto beans, add water to cover. Boil for 5 minutes. Pour off water. Add fresh cold water and chunk of salt pork. Cover at simmer at least 3 hours - the longer the better. Add water when needed and stir occasionally. When ready to serve, mash some beans to thicken.

Homemade rolls:

Scald 2 C milk (or 1 C milk and 1 C water), 1/2 C Crisco, 1/2 C sugar (scant), 1 t. salt. Allow to cool. Soak package of dry yeast in 1/2 C warm water. Add to cooled liquid (130 degrees). Add 5 - 6 C flour. Let rise, then knead. Shape into rolls (cut in circle, fold over once). Let rise in oiled pan. Bake 400 degrees for about 10 minutes.

I usually make this up in advance and freeze. The meat should be in shreds. Do not use ground meat or the West Texas Goddesses will haunt you. If you don't want to cut up the steak, just get Wolf Brand with no beans and don't aspire to true chili greatness. (New Mexicans spell it chile for no good reason I can find.)

Note - it is hard to find true red chili sauce (not salsa, picante or enchilada sauce - these do not smell right.) Sometimes I can find red chili sauce at a Dollar Store.

You can substitute chili powder or Wick Fowler's 2-Alarm chili mix. Taste right before serving to achieve desired chili kick.

I now use Sister Shubert's frozen rolls rather than homemade.

Serve with iceberg lettuce which has been torn and put into a bowl with a tiny bit of oil and two cut garlic cloves. Remove garlic and add lime juice and salad oil (not olive oil) to taste.

Enjoy!

2009-12-28T15:30:00.000-08:00

Christmas is over! As I get older, Christmases seem to come and go with more rapidity, but this year's celebration was great. Elizabeth and her girls spent the night so Santa could be here at the crack of dawn (well, more like 8:30 - all of the adults were chomping at the bit to get to the stockings!); Mary was here from Austin, and Great Uncle Bobby ("What's so great about Uncle Bobby?") was here from Pecos.

I had decorated with help from Andy and Meg who were here for Thanksgiving for our annual Christmas Party, and Mary and Byron helped in taking it all down. I love the sparkly lights and poinsettias, so it seems sort of bare around here now.

We all benefited from an Elizabeth-Dad shopping spree prior to Thanksgiving - new clothes all around (many compliments on my outfits!) and lots of practical gifts like the package opener (once we got one open with a knife, scissors and lots of cursing, it was a cinch to open the seven Barbies and other gifts which were tied/glued down as if made of gold and the mint was making sure of a slow getaway.)

Our menu included the traditional Dean eggnog and traditional chili and beans AND a breakfast egg casserole, cinnamon rolls and other pastries. I tried a beef tenderloin for lunch, but I just don't like rare beef. I'm making beef stroganoff with the leftovers tonight.

While I'm thinking about it, and avoiding looking through the Christmas cards to update addresses, here's how I do our Christmas Party - in case someone should want to continue the tradition.

1. If you are going to need parkers, engage them and the kitchen help early. I once forgot to do this and called the parking company late and we had to beg to get parkers - we got some - probably recruited from the homeless shelter had to cope with a torrential rainstorm.
2. Move all the chairs away. Obviously, if you are having elderly or infirm guests, you'll have to have some chairs, but don't make it easy for guests to sit around. One, you'll never get them to leave and two, they won't mingle around.
3. Decide on a menu that doesn't require forks. The point is to have people wander around. Have food stations everywhere, but not the same food on every station.
4. Have someone act as bartender. You can have glasses of wine poured and set out, but don't let some guest start making mixed drinks.
5. The hosts should stand at the door throughout the party - unless everyone you invited is already present, then you can close the door and go mingle yourself.
6. Invite a variety of people - neighbors, relatives, work friends, your children's teachers. Miss Manners (my idol) says that children need to see how adults behave at parties and adults will behave better if children are watching. This doesn't include your teenager's friends, but at least you'll know where they are.

Measuring Board

2009-11-15T18:42:00.000-08:00

Long ago and far away, my father's family had a doorway with a board perfect for measuring the growth of the children. That board was moved from the old house to our house at 523 S. Hackberry. We had a ritual of measuring everyone at Christmas - maybe other occasions.

Once (maybe 1967 or so) the board disappeared. There was a lot of yelling and name calling until the board was found to be sawed in half and employed as bed slats in a new twin bed.

Daddy mounted the old board onto a larger board - giving more room to new measuring. This is a picture of Daddy standing on the kitchen table (green Formica - now at the Brownwood ranch) sawing the board to add to the old measuring board.

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Even later, he added another board since we had used up all the room on the older two boards.

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Here is the board today with Megan and Emma standing near.

The tradition is that Uncle Bobby will hold a Kleenex box over the head of the measuree and mark the increase in height.

Outliers

2009-11-04T20:40:00.001-08:00

I've just listened to Outliers by Malcolm Gladewell and I think it is an important book. Hockey and soccer players handicapped by December birthdays - advantage for Bill Gates to have his own computer at age 13 in 1968, culture matters. 10,000 hours of practice to be successful - smartest one or not. Fascinating. Read it.

Shingles shot

2009-10-13T20:39:00.000-07:00

Several friends have recommended getting immunized against shingles, which apparently you can get if you had chicken pox as a child. Those who have recommended it have had shingles and shingles is something no one wants. They say it hurts like hell and can leave scars.

So, I asked my GP (now known as Internal Medicine Doctor) and he said to go for it - but said he would go to the pharmacy to get it because he would have to charge twice as much as the pharmacy. After filling out the forms for one pharmacy and running out of time, then later to the Tom Thumb pharmacy, it turns out that you have to have a prescription AND it costs $214 since we didn't sign up for Medicare part D.

Then I dithered - would it be worth it? What if I was too cheap to get it THEN got shingles? I went back and got it.

Becoming blonde

2009-10-06T09:18:00.000-07:00

I've always sort of liked my grey/white hair - but now, for some reason, it's turning blonde. Not the pretty kind, either. So far remedies suggested are:
* mix baking soda with your shampoo
* purple shampoo (when I tried this years ago, whole head was purple)
* stop smoking (done about 40 years ago - probably not a factor now)
* stay out of the sun

Nothing has really worked. Maybe the usual Head and Shoulders I've been using for years (and just bought a big bottle from Sam's) has a new formulation, or maybe I need to use more conditioner.

But now I've researched all the local CVSs and Walgreens and Targets - no purple shampoo of any kind! What does that say about their demographics? Are there no women with white hair they need to service?

I did find Sally Beauty Supply (close to Stein Mart) and got some new purple shampoo, but resisted the gel (yuck to have it on your hands) and the spray.

I'm going back today to get both.

Glee

2009-09-28T20:10:00.000-07:00

My favorite new show is Glee! Have you seen it? Jane Lynch is the evil cheerleader sponsor (Cathy Wheat, anyone?) and a sweet Spanish teacher takes on the Glee club. Subplots abound: is his wife really pregnant, or pretending?, will the outcast great singer stay with the club or defect? will the football team win with new choreography?

In other news, we have returned from New York and had a great time. Since Byron (I confess, I love it, too) has fallen in love with the movie "Mamma Mia", and has seen it, or parts of it (thanks DVR and U-verse) about 25 times, we got tickets to see the Broadway version. It was different, but still great. Turns out it wasn't Pierce Brosnan's fault on that song - even the professional singer had some trouble with the tune - just a difficult song to sing.

The songs are earworms, though and will haunt you for days.

Remembering Marsue

2009-09-06T14:32:00.000-07:00

Remembering Marsue

Who could ever forget Marsue?

I first met Marsue (originally named Mary Susan, maybe, or Margaret Susan) right after we had moved to Dallas in 1969. We went to dinner at a prix fixe restaurant on Lovers Lane (I think it was $17 for four courses!) and it was a big deal to get a sitter for Elizabeth and go to a French restaurant!

The occasion was that Marsue’s niece had gotten married and she and new husband, who was a policeman, were spending their honeymoon visiting her Aunt Marsue in Denton. Marsue brought them to Dallas to meet the relatives.Also in attendance were my mother-in-law and Byron’s sister and her husband, Bill.

Bill, the son and grandson of oil men, played lord of the manor, even though my mother-in-law paid. He sent the salad plates back because they weren’t chilled and sent the entree back because the plate wasn’t warmed.

Marsue’s first marriage was when she was a student at the University of Arkansas. She had been Valdictorian of her Little Rock High Schoool class. (Her two older sisters had also been Valdictorians, but they had been in school in Warren, Arkansas - so much smaller schools.) She was very bright.

Marsue pledged Pi Phi, as had her sisters and mother, but somehow she met a serviceman and they secretly eloped. He then was sent to New Mexico on assignment.

A few months later, when the marriage became known, her parents (her father was a judge on the Supreme Court of Arkansas) simply packed her up and put her on the train to “go be an Air Force private’s wife.” Two children later, the marriage broke up. Many years later, Marsue found out that her father had paid her husband to “go away and never come back”. He never did.

Marsue returned with her children to the U of A and received her undergraduate degree, Masters and Doctorate. She moved to Denton as a college professor at then North Texas State, married a music professor who looked like an early Bert Bachrach, reared the children and taught college English.

Divorcing husband #2 after finding him in bed in their house with a student, she continued teaching, which was when I fiirst met her.

She would occasionally come to Dallas and Fort Worth to see relatives, and sometimes bring her mother Miss Tillie to vist her first cousin, my mother-in-law.

We met many of her beaus in Dallas, and she also invited us to Denton to partake of her famous (and inexpensive) lasagna dinners. I always admired her for her open hearted welcome to her friends and noted that even though she really had no disposable inccome, she could invite people over for a convivial and entertaining meal.

For some reason, she decided that I should give her permanents. My own last experience with a permanent was in junior high when my mother’s hairdresser left it on too long and I had the worst hair possible for about three months, untill it could be trimmed off. I haven’t loved my straight hair, but I’ll take it instead of a permananet any day!

Anyway, Marsue would get a permanent kit from the drugstore and I would wind those little rollers in her hair, and we would stay up late, drink some Scotch, smoke and laugh.

She would give me advice:

1. Always take a hostess gift, even if it just a pack of napkins or a candle. It’s the thought that counts.

2. A lady always has a freshly ironed hankerchief in her purse.

3. Reciprocate invitations. Don’t let someone invite you too many times without inviting them back. You don’t have to match a big dinner out or a special occasion like a play or ball game, but you can have them over for lasagna. Also, if someone accepts your hospitality too many times without reciprocating, something is unbalanced in your relationship.

4. Fold your towels in thirds. (I don’t know why this is a rule, but I faithfully fold towels in thirds.)

5. Write the names and dates on the back of pictures - you will forget who that kid is or who was standing by Aunt Katherine. (She was right - I still think I’ll remember.)

After George died (more about him later), we had Marsue come to Dallas to cheer her up and I got down all the unidentified photos from Mae Rene’s house and had her go through and identify them.

Later as Elizabeth grew up and became an unruly teenager, Marsue would invite her to come to Denton on the bus (!) to stay the weekend. What a relief to have a fun, safe and interesting place for Elizabeth to go! She invited Katherine, too, but Katherine resisted after being invited to get naked in the hot tub - and Mary may have gone a couple of times. It was an adventure for them and respite for me.

After my darling sister-in-law Shazie died in a car wreck, Marsue decided to befriend the widower Joe Mike - another first cousin once removed. His daughter Kathy was already in college, Bear was a junior or senior in high school and Frances was 14 or 15. People more unlike than Shazie - laid-back and casual in manner and dress, and Marsue - who still had a Southern idea of meals at the dinner table and getting dressed up - are hard to imagine. But for a brief time, Marsue and Joe Mike were a couple. She came on too strong for Frances, who was appalled and shocked by the forced intimancy of Marsue trying to take Shazie’s place.

Joe Mike was running for district attorney and Marsue was from an important political family. I think she put up signs and helped organize his campaign. He won that election, and she went back to Denton and pulled strings to get Bear into North Texas. He even lived with her for a while, until they couldn’t agree on what comprised proper hygiene and other housekeeping matters. The romance faded.

Marsue’s next adventure was as an exchange teacher in Lodz, Poland. I arranged for her to talk about her trip at the Craig Class and she was fascinating.

When she returned, she met a man who had been a year behind her in high school and they decided to marry. They were both interested in music and the joke at the time was that the music they chose for the ceremony would last longer than the reception. It did last almost longer than the marriage. We became suspicious when the groom asked Byron to help him change his last name to Marsue’s - rather than the usual reverse. It turned out he was trying to escape some very bad debts.

She had already accepted a teaching assignment in California (Pomona?) before the wedding, so he moved into her house while she went off to teach for three months. When she returned, her cats were gone and he became violent in arguments, once even brandishing a kitchen knife. She learned later that he had had her cats put to sleep while telling her that they had just run away.

Next, she availed herself of an early dating service and met an Air Force veteran whose job in the service was to produce the radio music program for the troops. He was not the usual genial type, but seemed steady and reasonably well-off. She gave up her tenured job in Denton and moved with him to Arizona where she used her retirment money and savings to buy a house.

She knew things weren’t going well when she returned from a trip to find that he had moved out with all his furniture.

During that time, she discovered a lump in her breast, and I went out to help hold her hand when she had the biopsy - which fortunately was benign.

She loved Arizona and got a job teaching English to would-be pilots at Embry-Riddle. There she met George, invited him home for lasagna and told him to quit wearing the toupee. George really was a rocket scientist, having worked at NASA. He was a darling dumpling of a man and clearly adored her. They married and were very happy until his death of cancer.

In the meantime, her son graduated from the Air Force Academy, married and had two sons of his own. Her daughter graduated from TWU in dance and went on to marry (in my wedding dress, by the way) and move to the East Coast and she and her husband became dance instructors. They have three or four children.

A couple of years ago, Marsue took up stained glass making and made us several wonderful stained glass crosses, which I treasure. She loved her Episcopal church and was very active in it.

We would see her infrequently as she seldom visited Arkansas (long-time smouldering feuds with her sisters), but we talked every month or so and exchanged emails.

She somehow injured her hand working with the stained glass and ultimately lost a finger to amputation when the infection couldn’t be resolved.

For Christmas I usually sent her an amarillys bulb. On day in early January two years ago, I got a call from a lady who said that she was living in the house at the address I had used, and that she was sorry to tell me that Marsue had died back in the summer. She said that Marsue had gone a cruise and had been dancing, fallen and hit her head. I later learned that she hadn’t died instantly, but had been taken to a shore hospital and died there.

I was shocked that neither of her children or her surviving sister had let us know, but what a way to go!

I used to say that I never needed to do much rebelling or naughty things, because I could always do them vicariously through Marsue. She wasn’t exactly Auntie Mame, or a hippie - she was a law unto herself, and I was lucky to be swept into her orbit. I miss her.

Our Cruise!

2009-08-23T12:35:00.000-07:00

Our cruise to the Baltic ends tomorrow with a flight from Copenhagen to London, London to Chicago and Chicago to Dallas. We'll be home tomorrow night about midnight. We'll be tired - but it has been fun and we've really learned a lot. Who knew Estonia was such a brave place? Hooray for Estonia!

I intended to write everyday, but with limited time (we've hit Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Russia, Estonia and Sweden again), unreliable internet access, and tours every day, plus a lot of eating and drinking, I haven't had time.

I'll have to look at the hundreds of pictures I've taken to remember where we've been, then write it up.

U-verse

2009-08-02T17:51:00.000-07:00

Have you been seeing the ads for the new AT&T service U-verse? We've seen them, heard them on the radio and received several mailings as well. Two Saturdays ago, two young salesmen rang our doorbell and sold us on the system. University Park has a deal with Charter, - even after a city survey which detailed the complaints the whole community had with Charter service.

Anyway, apparently AT&T called "monopoly" and has wedged into our area. We had two salesmen - one experienced one and one newbie (sort of like good cop-bad cop). Whatever we figured out wasn't just right was always the new guy's fault. We were promised "everything Charter was giving you, plus more channels, faster internet, free installation, AND lower cost per month" After about and hour and a half, we'd signed up and waited while the new guy tried to make contact with the installers. After about 15 minutes, they left saying that the installers would call that afternoon.

By Wednesday, I called (they had neglected to leave us a personal card) the main office and was shunted around to finally hear that someone would call. On Friday, I went to a corporate office (not the cell phone office on Lovers Lane, but the one on NW Highway next to El Fenix). They were shocked that someone hadn't called to install, then disputed what the salesmen had sold us (now it was more because of our two lines and the multiple TVs), but they promised Byron over the phone of a cash-back - not of $100 but $275. The installers came on Monday.

All good so far - except that the phones were dead. We got the phone people out Tuesday and they fixed the phones - except for the City + Country Pets line (not connected with our home lines at all - different number, different bill). It is now ringing on our main home number. Apparently Elizabeth can get messages from the remote call notes, but that's all.

Harold, the installer, said he just couldn't figure it out and said a more experienced technician would have to come out to see where the phone line came into the house, since he couldn't find it. He would have someone out on Wednesday.

On Thursday, two new men showed up to survey our experience with the installers - not getting the word that something was still wrong. They couldn't figure it out either and said someone else would be out to fix it.

I've called Harold 4 times and left messages and called Chris (in the last duo) three times who always says "I'll have Harold back out today!"

The TV part of U-verse is working great, though. I can record programs on all the TVs and watch them on any other TV, and there seems to be a good selection of movies (we did have HBO on Charter, which is extra on U-verse... we should learn to have salespeople put it in writing...sigh)

Quiet, Hot, Not so busy

2009-07-26T19:22:00.001-07:00

It's been a quiet weekend here in the Bubble.

Byron went to a conference in Austin then on to the ranch where he met Mark and Megan. The prospect of being even hotter than Dallas and being stuck doing the bed making, laundry, cooking and cleaning didn't appeal. I stayed at home and worked on a Directory (the first one for a large organization - so lots of bits and pieces). I think it is basically done, if people would just stop moving, marrying, changing their names, resigning and dying!

I helped clear up stuff at the Library, enjoying having our old Director back as an interim. Tried to eat healthy and do 20 minutes a day on the Wii. (That tennis is addictive, but I haven't made it to 900 yet. My Wii Sports age yesterday was 29!)

Projects for next week:
*Figure out clothes for the cruise. I told a friend we were cruising and she gave me some solid advice - "Your clothes don't need a vacation. Leave most of them at home. You'll never see most of the people on the cruise again - they won't care if they see you in the same outfit more than once." She had other good advice: take snack bars and spend time looking at the sights, not having a mediocre meal that lasts three hours; put your name and numbers on the top of your packed stuff in your suitcase, so they can find you if the bag gets lost; take extra camera and watch batteries; if you see something you like, buy it - you probably won't see it again.
* Finish up the Directory and don't tell anyone we're not going to print for a month.
* Work on the backyard. The grass is mostly dead. It's time to put in a ground cover.
* Think about getting the shingles vaccine. Dr. Armstrong said to get it from CVS - cheaper there than at his office. Side effects?
* Worry about whether I sprained my kneecap by slipping on a sweet gum ball while getting out of the car and hitting it on the edge of the door. I'm icing it, but it will sure be sore tomorrow.
* Learn how to work the camera Byron brought me back from Austin.
* Resist eating all the delicious-smelling German bread he also brought.
* Hope the guys from AT&T show up to do the transition from Charter tomorrow at 8 a.m.

New York

2009-06-29T19:54:00.001-07:00

I'm off tomorrow to NYC to have a family reunion with my siblings, Bobby, David and Mary Bird. The occasion is David's visit to his daughter Dorothy, who has just completed her Masters at Drew University in New Jersey, and the rest of us, from various parts of Texas, are going to see him. We've got tickets to see Angela Lansbury in Blithe Spirit on Broadway.

It's too bad Byron isn't coming, because we saw Angela Lansbury 43 years ago in Mame while we were on our honeymoon. I've written her to see if she will autograph my 1966 program. We'll see.

We stayed at the Plaza on our honeymoon, and several years ago - before they tore most of it down to make condos - they had a promotion that if you could bring a bill from your honeymoon, you could stay there for the same price. Of course I couldn't find the bill - but I have since found it. $31.50! I do remember ordering room service and Byron was horrified that it cost $7.50 (for coffee, eggs, toast and bacon).

We are planning to have some wonderful meals, visit and play some bridge in memory of Mother and Daddy.

Girls' trip

2009-06-02T19:42:00.000-07:00

My high school girls group met in Dallas and we had a great time. Age is creeping up with us, though, as Lynn is suffering from Parkinson's, which is a really terrible disease. We met in Dallas to make it easier for her - but nothing is easier for her. Her darling husband (also a classmate and former date partner of the four of us who didn't marry him) stayed with her to make sure she got her medication on time.

Somehow, even though we weren't the best of friends in high school, we have become dear friends now. You just never know.

Unlike another group with which I travel, this group stays in nice hotels - with a spa that offers massages and facials. We all have a separate room, so no worrying about snoring, farting, inability to sleep, wanting to read, needing to smoke, etc. My other group even books places which requires two to a bed - which is OK but suboptimal.

The spa at the Stoneleigh was great - as was the whole staff, who got to know us and waited on us hand and foot. The only drawback was the slow food service in their restaurant Bolla. Great food and a bargain at 4 courses for $40 - but slow, slow. It took about 10 minutes to get granola for breakfast. How long should it take to pour granola into a bowl?

On another day, I had hashbrowns for breakfast - topped with red onion chips and sour cream. Yum! But not served quickly. I wonder if they hoped that keeping the few diners they had at the table, they seemed more busy.

We visited the Dallas Arboretum (always worth a visit, highly recommended), Sam Moon (king of inexpensive jewelry, luggage and stuff), Half-price Books, Taco Diner and Sprinkles!

My friends are ready to come back next year.

Comfort reading

2009-05-11T16:49:00.001-07:00

I always have a book. I keep old paperbacks in the car in case I decide to stop at a fast food place for lunch (or any other place to eat). The trick is to have a book you are interested in enough to read during a meal, but not interested enough in to take it in the house - thus depriving yourself of a book to read when the need arises. I've been known to detour to a book store to pick up something to read while I eat, if I can't get home.

I don't understand people who don't read while eating alone. Reading at the table used to be forbidden when I was growing up. We could read the paper (the funnies, of course) at breakfast, but since lunch was in the dining room with a tablecloth and Peggy serving and the whole family present - books were not allowed.

The pattern changed a little when we got TV - we would eat supper in the kitchen and watch our one channel.

Now both Byron and I read through meals AND have the TV on.

Comfort reading is also what I have when I can't sleep. They say that stewing in bed while not sleeping is counter-productive and makes for bad memories of your bed. So I usually move to my chaise longue where I have a good light, and read. I usually don't choose that new thriller or the psychological mystery at that time. This is the time to reread an old, comfortable favorite. Some of mine are the Mary Lasswell novels about the three old ladies in San Diego, Agatha Christie mysteries, Phoebe Atwood Taylor's Asey Mayo and Leonidas Witherall mysteries, the Cheaper by the Dozen books, or Betty MacDonald's "The Egg and I" or her Mrs. Piggle Wiggle books. You don't want anything troubling, which might keep you awake.

Now that I have a Kindle (thank you to the family for the Mother's Day gift!), it will be interesting to see if my pattern changes. i tried it out this morning at Panda Express. I downloaded "Tea for the Traditionally Built" by Alexander McCall Smith and it is great. A wonderful feature is your ability to choose the size font that you can read most comfortably.

It will never take the place of the book in the bathtub, however.

Party paranoia

2009-05-07T20:55:00.000-07:00

I'm having a luncheon for the Junior League of Dallas Garden Club Committee, of which I'll be President next year. It's a turn-over meeting, meaning that past officers are supposed to "turn over" their notebooks (this is the Junior League, you know). It would have been so easy to just invite them all to the Woman's Club or to a restaurant - but no - I decided to host them at my house.

I figured that for the cost of the Woman's Club, etc - I could entertain at home and get some of the things around the house fixed for the same cost. - Like replacing the St. Augustine grass in front that has grub worms (I did add nematodes, which are supposed to kill the grubs), getting the front door painted, polishing up the front door knocker and door knob, putting out colorful, perennial, shade-loving plants, and cleaning up the house. (Except for Byron's study - we'll just shut the doors on his study.)

I'm having chicken salad, fruit salad, rolls (Sister Shubert), two-bite brownies and potato chips - which all sounded easy last week.

Tip - put all the serving dishes - plates, glasses and polished silverware - in the dishwasher before the party. I made the mistake once of not doing this and having a guest look askance at a plate with dried-on scrambled egg.

It will all be over at 1:30 tomorrow, and as Rick Reilly says "1 and a half billion Chinese don't care."

Gaga

2009-04-23T18:58:00.000-07:00

Gaga said, referring to writing Lolah Mary every day - that if you write to someone every day, there is always something to say. If you write once a week, you have to work at finding something to say. Very true. I'll try to write something every day.

More Gaga sayings: When she was worried about not being able to remember something, her friend Dr. Dick (Smith) said: Your brain is like a tape recorder - it gets filled up. Sooner or later, you have to delete something to remember something new (like - where are the keys? What did I have for lunch yesterday? When is that meeting/lunch/program?)

Another favorite Gaga saying "It's a great life, if you don't weaken!"

Grammy's birthday

2009-03-22T19:08:00.000-07:00

We were honored to be invited to attend Grammy's 97th birthday celebration. As the in-laws of her grandson - that's a pretty extended family circle!

Grammy is in great shape - even broke her hip about a year ago and is walking well without even a cane! We should all be so lucky. And how nice that her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren (not to mention in-laws and former in-laws as well) to come celebrate from all over the country.

The photenia is in bloom, which means that we're all sneezing, coughing and suffering from it and other blooming plants. On the good side, my azaleas are starting to bud out.

Kitchen Table Tales - Burford family

2009-02-14T20:29:00.001-08:00

All my stories about the Burfords are, at best, second or third hand - but interesting family lore. Take them with a grain or two of salt.

The story I've heard is that Freeman was an aspiring oil man who married a big oil man's young daughter - maybe they eloped? They bought a big house in Dallas once owned by Shepherd King, another oil man who had come on hard times. The family lived there briefly before Carolyn and Freeman divorced. The house then became headquarters for some large company (insurance, maybe) before being bought by Caroline Hunt's company and turned into the Mansion, one of the best hotels in Dallas.

One story has Freeman being accused of dealing in "hot oil", which happened during the early days of Texas oil. Some oil men and the government worried that all the oil would be pumped out too fast, and the price would drop, so a system called depletion allowance was devised. Wells were only allowed to pump so much per month. Some oil men ignored the restriction and continued to pump. The story I remember is that Freeman was not allowed to travel out of the North Texas area because he could be arrested if he appeared in some other counties.

The Burfords had three children - Bill, Carolyn and Ann. One story is that during the divorce proceedings, the children wanted to go with their mother and Freeman actually whipped Bill in the courtroom to make him change his mind. He did change his mind, but after a while, Bill and Carolyn packed their things and ran away to live with their mother.

Bill was very bright and won a Fulbright to study in England and became a well-known poet. He declined a paid position on the board of Skelly oil, and reportedly his father said "OK, you want to be a poet? You can starve like one," and withdrew all financial support. Bill was sent to a boarding school where he was friends with Marlon Brando, and received his doctorate from Johns Hopkins.

He met Lolah Mary Egan at SMU and after they married, Bill taught at the University of Texas at Austin and was a very popular teacher. He had not finished his dissertation, and when the administration found out, he was let go until he could finish it. His mother-in-law paid the fees for him to finish. It was on Marcel Proust.

Carolyn Skelly Burford never remarried, but had a high-profile life wherever she lived. According to one story, because of the divorce, her father's estate was divided between her and her sister. At the time of her divorce, the estate was very valuable since oil was high. However, when Old Man Skelly (which is what Daddy always called him - never having met him) died, oil was down and the estate much less valuable. The sisters sued each other to the detriment of both.

Carolyn had a fabulous collection of jewelry which was frequently stolen. There is a Vanity Fair article about her which made her sound very sad. She had had (the story goes) very unfortunate results from plastic surgery and became a sort of recluse. She would give huge parties and never come down stairs to attend them herself. There was also a rumor that she would go into shops and pick things up - the store would just send a bill to the accountant and be paid.

Freeman and his new wife were to go on a cruise, and a pastor (maybe from St. Michaels?) counseled him to make some allowance for Bill and Lolah and the children, even though they were still estranged. Freeman did set up trusts before his death. I believe he died shortly after returning from the cruise.

Bill got a job teaching at the University of Montana, Missoula, and Lolah began writing her novels, beginning with "Vice Avenged, a Moral Tale." published by MacMillan.

Freeman Weedman Burford

2009-02-14T20:27:00.001-08:00

While looking up the Burford-Egan-Dean connection, I found this bio of Freeman Burford, the father of Byron's sister's husband. He died in early 1967 and I never met him. More stories about him in next post.

Freeman Weedman Burford was the son of Guy and Harriet (Weedman) Burford.
He was a successful oilman.

Freeman Weedman Burford was born 8
August 1900 in Farmer City, IL to Guy Ernest
and Harriet (Weedman) Burford. The family
moved in 1905 to Muskogee, OK where Guy
Burford entered the oil business. Ultimately,
the family moved to Dallas, TX. Freeman
Burford died 7 January 1967 aboard the
steamship, Mariposa, as he and his wife were
returning from Australia where they had been
visiting the U.S Ambassador to that country.

Mr. Burford was a prominent public figure for
four decades and once considered running for
Governor of Texas. He was a distinguished
veteran of World War II in which he was
awarded the Bronze Star Medal, Legion of
Merit, Croix de Guerre and the French Legion of
Honor.

Freeman Burford attended public schools in Muskogee and was a graduate of Shattuck
Military School in Fairbault, MN. He attended the University of Oklahoma School of
Law.

He entered the oil business in Oklahoma in 1921 and in 1926 moved to Shreveport, LA
where he was Vice President and General Manager of Crystal Oil Refining Corp. He was
the organizer and General Manager of Burford Oil Company in Pecos, TX in 1929 and of
the East Texas Refining Company in 1931.

He was a pioneer producer and the first refiner in the East Texas oil fields, selling his
producing properties to Magnolia Petroleum Company in 1935 to become an independent
producer and natural gasoline manufacturer in Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas.

He entered the Second World War and was a graduate of the Command and General Staff
School in Fort Leavenworth, KS. He was a full Colonel and oversaw the operation of
3,500 miles of gasoline pipelines, which supported the Allied war efforts. He was
awarded medals to commemorate his performance in those roles.

After the War, he became President of the Sid Richardson Refining Company (1947-
1960); owner and President, Harbor Terminal Company (1959-1962) and was an
independent oil operator at the time of his death.

He married Carolyn Skelly, daughter of William G. Skelly who founded Skelly Oil
Company in May 1927. They had three children: William S. Burford, Ann Burford,
and Carolyn Burford.

The couple was divorced after 1935 and Mr. Burford later married Jacqueline Faison of
Greenville, AL. There were no children of this marriage.

Mr. Burford was a colorful and strong personality. He was a strong proponent of Texas
industrialization and was in great demand as a speaker in the 1930s when he proposed a
program to make credit available to tenant farmers to buy their own farms. He considered
running for Governor of Texas but declined.

He was a key figure as a custodian of the Cotton Bowl in Dallas during which time the
enterprise prospered.

In 1935, Freeman Burford bought a large home in the Dallas area that was destined to
become what is now the Mansion at Turtle Creek Hotel. After the divorce, Carolyn
Skelly Burford retained the house for many years and reverted to the use of her maiden
name. Articles have been written about the house and featured in the Dallas Morning
News.

The first Mrs. Freeman W. Burford (Carolyn Skelly) was a colorful figure in her own
right having suffered more than one jewel robbery and theft. She died in 1996 in her
home in Newport, R.I. An article in the December 1999 issue of Vanity Fair gave an
account of Carolyn Skelly.

Freeman Weedman Burford achieved considerable success both in business and in the
Dallas community at large. He was arguably one of the most successful business people
in the Weedman family.

2009-02-13T06:32:00.000-08:00

One of the more interesting "it's a small world" stories is that when we decided to get married and the families got together, it turned out that Byron's sister Lolah had married Bill Burford. Bill's father, Freeman Burford, was an oil man who built an oil refinery in Pecos.

When Daddy graduated from the University (of Texas at Austin) in 1932, the depression was still on and jobs hard to find. He had majored in business and could type, though. (Apparently his handwriting was so bad that he had permission to type out his exams - which probably was maddening to other students trying to think!)

Somehow, through Pecos connections, Daddy got a job with Burford's East Texas Refining Company making $100 a month as a typist. Daddy lived at the YMCA. Family lore says that Daddy made extra money by playing catch with Bill Burford (his father not having time to teach him.)

Freeman Burford married Carolyn Skelly, the young daughter of a very successful oil man - and I think for a very brief time they lived in Pecos.

Kitchen Table Tales - Alarm Clock Club

2009-01-28T08:13:00.001-08:00

Maybe people living in big cities think living in a small town would be pretty boring, but living in Pecos in the 1950s or so was pretty much fun for my parents. In those days, TV had just arrived and for years we only got CBS, which might explain why they had to make their own fun.

The Alarm Clock Club was mnade up of couples who agreed to host the group once a year, or so. The host couple provided drinks and three (no more, no fewer) hors d'oeuvres. The guests would arrive at 7 p.m. and the party was over when the alarm clock rang at 9 p.m. exactly. Then they all adjourned to the Pecos Valley Country Club for dinner.

The PVCC at that time was housed in the old air base officers club with a bar, booths and a big hardwood (oak, maybe?) dance floor. Our high school dances were held there, and the different high school sororities would decorate the club with crepe paper and balloons. We would shake out that floor wax so the splinters in the floor would be smoothed over.

The club had shuffleboard games and a pool, with a canteen where you could order food. I think I spent almost every summer day at the pool.

At that time in Texas, only private clubs could serve "liquor by the drink", but restaurants could serve "set ups". They would charge extra for club soda or tonic water, and the patron would bring in a flask or bottle in a brown paper sack and surreptitiously add the booze. Hence the popularity of private clubs.

There was no actual gambling at the PVCC, but sometimes the club would buy those little tickets which if you tore it open and found three cherries, you won more little tickets. It was a great way to keep the kids quiet while we drank our Shirley Temples or Roy Rogers.

The food, as I recall, was pretty good. My favorite was the Steak Diane, which they fixed tableside and flamed! Pretty tall cotton for West Texas.

The Alarm Clock Club spawned a younger version - the Ding-a-Lings.

The Alarm Clock and the PVCC both have dwindled due to deaths and people moving away. One old timer told me that in the old days, they would pay Joe Henry, the long-time bartender and local favorite, to stay open late and that these days they couldn’t even stay up till 9.

The club finally tore down the old club and the new one is in a triple-wide modular building and has an open membership. It still has fried chicken for Sunday lunch, but is even closed on Saturday nights.

Iced in

2009-01-28T07:56:00.000-08:00

Since it is 21 degrees and the streets are covered in ice, I can't get out to go the Craig Class - ironically the program today is a review of "Hot, Flat and Crowded", I would like everyone to be entitled to my opinion of Big Rich, a new book by Bryan Burrough about the big Texas oil fortunes.

I stayed up late last night reading about Hugh Roy Cullen, Sid Richardson, Clint Murchison and can't wait to read the parts about H. L. Hunt. However, I'm appalled that the author or his editor has misspelled the name of the Texas towns Burkburnett (he writes Buckburnett) and Waxahachie (he writes Waxahatchie).

Burkburnett is actually named for a man named Burk Burnett.
Here's the Wikipedia entry:

Originally settled by ranchers as early as 1856, this community was known by some locals as Nesterville. By 1880 the town had a small store with a population of 132. From 1882 until 1903, a post office operated there under the designation Gilbert, named after the north Texas pioneer Mabel Gilbert. In 1906, a nearby wealthy rancher named Samuel Burk Burnett sold over 16,000 acres (65 km²) of his land in northern Wichita County to a group of investors who were seeking to extend the Wichita Falls and Northwestern Railway north through Oklahoma and Kansas.[4] Within Burnett’s former land near the railroad, lots were auctioned off the following year and a post office was established. The town was named Burkburnett by President Theodore Roosevelt, who visited the area for a wolf hunt that was hosted by the wealthy rancher Burnett.[5] In 1912, oil was discovered west of the town attracting thousands to the area and by 1918, an approximate twenty-thousand people had settled around the oilfield. The Great Depression would have a negative impact on the town’s population, which would be boosted again in 1941 as Sheppard Air Force Base would be established nearby.

There are about 10,000 people living there now.

Couldn't Penguin Press have consulted a Texas native or a Texas map?

That reminds me of the old joke:

Yankee travelers were driving through Texas and came to a town named Mexia. They got into an argument about how to pronounce it, and the argument got a little heated. They stopped at a fast food place in the town, surged in and demanded of the girl behind the counter.

"How do you pronounce the name of this place?"

She looked dumbfounded, but pronounced very carefully "Dairrrrry Queeeeen."

Kitchen Table Tales - Stuffed Deer

2009-01-27T19:37:00.000-08:00

When Dad was a teenager, he used to take his friends, Dan Shieder and Joe and Sam Bonney to go deer hunting at his dad's ranch outside of Kerrville. The ranch was about 1000 acres in the hill country of Texas and was pretty rocky with hills and lots of mesquite trees and brush.

The story is that in the old Flanary house in Dallas (a big house on Lemmon Avenue in which Byron's grandparents (A. B. and Lolah Armstrong Flanary and their helpers ((he had Parkinson's)) and his parents Joe and Mae Rene Flanary Egan) lived, there was a stuffed deer. This was not just the head on the wall - this was an entire deer. It lived in the parlor (it was a very big house).

When Judge Flanary died, Joe and Mae Rene moved to the house at 3637 Stratford, with grandmother Lolah and young Byron (aka Biff) who was a sophomore in high school. There was no room for the stuffed deer, so Joe took it to the ranch.

When Byron and the boys went to the ranch to hunt, they would be assigned blinds from which to hunt, so they wouldn't shoot each other. During the night before the early morning hunt, Byron would go out and place the stuffed deer near one of blinds. If the unwary hunter saw the deer and shot it, the others would have a good laugh, and if the hunter didn't see it - an even bigger laugh.

Kitchen Table Tales - Mary Bird and the race tickets

2009-01-25T19:37:00.000-08:00

When we were growing up in Pecos, the summers were hot. Like 120 degrees hot.

Daddy had air conditioners installed at the house - not those window units, but real refrigerated air registers like you'd find in a meat locker. He liked it cold.

Anyway, several weekends during the summer we would take a trip to Ruidoso, New Mexico, which was 285 miles from Pecos in the mountains. It was cooler there and also had the attraction of horse racing at Ruidoso Downs.

Daddy shared a Jockey Club membership with some other man, and we would sit up high in the bleachers with chairs and little built-in desks, have Shirley Temples and bet.

Children, of course, weren't allowed to bet, but Daddy would finance $20 per child for the day. Since there were 12 races, you would have to have at least one winner to have enough to bet on all 12 races at $2 a race. You could keep your winnings, which didn't amount to much, and you didn't have to pay back the $20 if you lost it all.

Bobby and I (the big kids) would study our race programs, buy a tip sheet and maybe end up with $5 or $6 at the end of the day. Mary Bird, who might have been about 6, would choose a horse because of the color of his jockey's outfit or because she liked his name, and she would clean up!

To keep us out of the way during the races, Daddy would have all of us go around and pick up all the tickets that people had dropped, and later in the motel room, we would carefully go through to see if anyone had inadvertently discarded a winning ticket. You'd be surprised that we found at least a couple of winners every day, which we turned in for the cash value.

Mary Bird, however, was the champ. Once she got the hang of it, she would bet not only the Daily Double (you pick the winner in two different races), she would bet on the Quinela (first and second in the right order, I think). I remember that she once won a big Quinela while Daddy had had no luck, and he decreed that she had to pay for the hotel rooms and dinner for all of us out of her winnings. She still kept about $25, if I recall.

Many years later, we had a reunion at Ruidoso and Jonathan was still a baby, so Mary Bird and Bob stayed back with him as the rest of us went to the races. Mary Bird randomly picked out horses and we made the bets for her. She still did better than all the rest of us combined.

Kitchen Table Tales - Wedding tale

2009-01-18T14:26:00.000-08:00

Mary and Katherine gave me a list of stories they wanted me to write down, and I'm about at the end of the list. If you have a story you want me to include, let me know.

The story of our wedding is on a past blog - June 2008. However, there was the Bill Teague saga.

Bill Teague is a friend of Byron's (then called Biff), from his Sigma Nu days at UT Austin (then known as The University). Bill is from Odessa and is a couple of years older than Byron. He was an usher at our wedding in 1966.

We had several pre-wedding parties and Bill would drive over from Odessa - once managing to overimbibe and run into the only tree between Pecos and Odessa, and another time stopping at the stop sign on Hackberry and falling out of his car.

During the festivities leading up to the wedding, he developed a crush on Cheryl Garrett, one of the bridesmaids - as did another of the guys. Bill must have made an oblique pass at her at the rehearsal dinner, and she said something like "If you'd try harder, you might get somewhere."

At the wedding, Bill was so drunk he could barely stand up and showed up with his tux shirt studs fastened on the inside of his shirt, wearing a long-billed baseball cap. One of the other ushers leaned him against the wall of the foyer of the church and kept him from falling down.

At the reception at my parents' house, Bill decided to act on Cheryl's suggestion and sort of tackled her (probably meaning to hug her) and they both fell down on the living room floor - in front of God and everybody. Actually, we had already left, so missed the show.

Mary Bird and others had painted my car up (a Nash Rambler with front seats that reclined all the way), and Kenny Hughes drove us in my car to where Byron's car was nice and clean at Jack & Bill's Texaco station, and we were off to Odessa's Sands Motel, then to NYC to stay at the Plaza.

Later, Bill got his PhD in English and taught at the junior college level. He's lately had some health issues (probably related to too much alcohol) but is doing better.

We fixed him up with Byrd, a Theta sister of mine, and they dated for nine years before marrying. We had dinner with them at the Woman's Club just the other night.

Fin and Feather

2009-01-17T20:08:00.000-08:00

Fin and Feather is a hunting and fishing club 18.4 miles from our house. Our son-in-law Mark is a member and talked me into joining last year. There are 41 members in this club which was established in 1893, which is pretty old for Dallas and Texas.

About two weeks ago, one of the members with a cabin (there are only 19 cabins) decided to sell his cabin at a sealed bid auction, and I won. The cabin itself is maybe marginally functional, but I'm now entertaining visions of tearing it down and building a cool two bedroom cabin with a long front porch looking out on the lake with a stone fireplace (gas logs so no ashes to clean up).

We've never lived in a new house - how cool would it be to have a new cabin?

Kitchen Table Tales - Wake up, baby!

2009-01-12T16:38:00.000-08:00

My grandmother Dean (Bam) was the oldest of 10. Her name was Mary Medina Breeding. (also spelled Madina)
Her siblings were
Louise Antoinette
Robert (a girl)
Florence Crozier
Ida Louis (Louis is correct)
Clarence (another girl)
Margaret Cecilia
Alice Elizabeth
Arthur (only boy)
Laura

Margaret and Florence never married, and Louise (widowed twice) and Rob (widowed) all lived in Carlsbad, NM, where Daddy was born. Louise had married into money and had a nice house I remember visiting - mainly because she had several layers of Oriental carpet nailed to the floor. Her sisters all lived in a little house in the poor part of town that lacked paint and maybe indoor plumbing. This was probably the old family house from their childhood. Louise didn't like to share.

At Christmas, Daddy would go, or send Bobby, to pick up the great aunts and have them come for the family celebration. He always bought corsages for all the ladies, including babies. Your age and status decided your corsage. Mother and the grandmothers got huge purple orchids. The young ladies got cyndibium orchids, younger ladies got gardenias and babies got carnations. The carnations got pinned on the babies' backs, so the pin wouldn't stick them. The old great aunts fell into the young lady category.

I'm pretty sure my grandmother wasn't best thrilled to have her sisters there, but Daddy loved having the whole family around.

Anyway, Elizabeth (the first grandchild) was about a month and a half old that Christmas and the aunts were there. Bobby's favorite story of Louise is her saying "This egg nog is too strong! Gimme another cup!"

Elizabeth was asleep in the old infant seat which would get you arrested for child abuse today (soft plastic with a metal stand hooked on the back) on the floor of the living room when Louise noticed her for the first time. She poked Elizabeth with her cane - "Wake up, baby. Wake up!"

There is also a great photo of the aunts all sitting on the couch in the living room with their legs a little spread - leading all of us younger generation to relate to the dicta - You aren't old until you sit with your underwear showing!

Kitchen Table Tales - Mother and Daddy on the cruise

2009-01-08T19:47:00.000-08:00

There are three stories about Mother and Daddy on a cruise.

The first two involve John and Barbara Stuart, who, as UT representatives, were in charge of this trip of Flying Longhorns. I think this cruise went to Greece and the Deans and the Stuarts had many adventures, including mule rides up and down a mountain and also finding a cab driver with no English who took about two hours to find their hotel in the middle of the night.

On this particular cruise, there was a dress-up night and Daddy took his WWII Naval uniform, which, even though had had a big placket added to the rear of the pants, was still too tight. After the party, they decided to throw the pants overboard. They conducted a Viking funeral, complete with flowers and a trumpet solo.

At the end of the cruise, John heard a commotion in the Purser's office and went to see what was wrong. He found Daddy and another man arguing over their bar bills. Apparently Daddy was offended that the other fellow had a larger bar bill. "I ALWAYS have the biggest bar bill!" he asserted.

The other cruise story took place in 1976 - which was the bicentennial of the U. S. In the celebrations leading up to the country's 200th birthday, Mother and Daddy, with several other couples from Pecos, took lessons in dancing the minuet. After learning the steps and acquiring costumes, they performed a couple of times for school children and at the country club. Later, on the cruise, they were demonstrating the dance on a slick marble floor and Mother slipped and fell. She broke her coccyx (tailbone). It was a painful injury and she had to sit on a "doughnut" pillow for several months after.

Wii Fit

2009-01-07T19:24:00.000-08:00

Taking a break from Kitchen Table Tales - I have a Wii Fit! I bought the basic console before Christmas and Katherine and Mary and I played on it.

The Wii Fit came today (I couldn't find it at any store here) and it is cool! The good news is that I have improved my Wii Age from the 72 on the basic Wii to 61 on the Wii Fit. It may turn out to be one of those relentless fitness programs that is impossible to cheat.

Kitchen Table Tales - Driving on the airstrip

2009-01-02T09:22:00.000-08:00

I'm writing about these in the order requested - this one would have been at the very bottom on my own list!

When I was in high school, I was given my grandmother Dean's (Bam), Chrysler New Yorker - a two-tone green four-door sedan. It had all the bells and whistles like power steering and power windows. Unfortunately, by the time I got it the windows didn't work, which in Pecos was a serious problem. If I got the windows down, the dust got in and if I got them up, it would be 125 degrees inside.

Anyway, the Pecos airport had twice-weekly flights on Trans-Texas Airways (we called it Tree Top Air) which Daddy and some of his friends talked into serving the area. Sometimes they even mounted campaigns to fill the planes in order to meet the minimum passengers to keep the service going.

The airfield was left over from WWII, when Pecos had a big flight training operation (flat land and lots of blue sky), and the field was not fenced. I was out driving with a friend and we decided to look for Cat's Eye Cave - which was a large abandoned pipe. When you looked through it, the far end looked like a cat's eye.

As we were driving around, I looked up and saw a plane getting ready to take off, and I was right in its way. I stomped on the gas and the plane lifted off. I don't know how close I came to being hit by the plane, but it felt very close.

Later, as we were sitting down to lunch at the house (we always had a formal lunch at home since the schools didn't have cafeterias) the radio was on for the noon news and it was announced that a car had driven in front of a plane, and issued a description of the car.

Once I was identified as the culprit, Daddy asked if I wanted to go confess or not, and I chose not to confess. The authorities didn't find out, or at least didn't let me know they found out. However, some members of my family like to bring it up.

Kitchen Table Tales - tamales

2008-12-30T20:23:00.001-08:00

The story of how Mother and Daddy met goes like this.

For some reason, Daddy (about 14) was selling tamales at the tennis courts. (Why tennis players would want to eat tamales is beyond me!) Mother (about 8) and her friend Jo Bryan managed to steal some tamales and Mother hid them in her chest of drawers at home, and forgot about them. Her mother, noticing a peculiar smell found them, got the story from Mother and made her go apologize.

And the rest is history.

Bill Dean Obituary

2008-12-29T10:25:00.000-08:00

I have a copy of the newspaper with Uncle Bill's obituary, but it is in bad shape. I'll type it in here for posterity.

Bill Dean Loses in Gallant Battle With Infantile Paralysis - Pecos Enterprise, Pecos, Texas, Friday, August 25, 1933
Dies Near Angelo in Ambulance

Last Dramatic Dash For Life Proves Unavailing

"Those whom the Gods Love die young."

William Walters Dean, known to his thousands of friends as Bill Dean, died near San Angelo Tuesday night of the dread Infantile paralysis after a supreme fight for his life.

He passed on when stricken muscles and paralyzed organs at last sapped the last of his strength and after he had been kept alive for more than 24 hours by artificial respiration.

His passing came as he was enroute to Houston to seek relief in an artificial respirator, a so-called 'iron lung' that by means of a vacuum administers the respiration which his friends were applying to him with their hands. His deathg came while the trait most characteristic of him - a gallant fight against overwhelming odds - was being displayed in its finest form.

Stricken Suddenly

It is hard to write of Bill Dean's death as we would of another person. It all has come so suddenly - he was sticken down so ruthlessly in the prime of life - they just yet all of us are a little dazed and bewildered.

He was such a cheerful, such a hard working, such a game chap. His sportsmanship - it was part of his nature - endured until the very last. As he breathed his last, fully conscious that the end was at hand, he summoned the gallant comrades who had so faithfully endeavored to keep aflame the tiny spark of life that lingered in his stricken body. He looked up at them and summoning all his strength he smiled . . . and winked at them cheerfully. Then he passed on.

Those with him were grown men but as they saw such a game and gallant spirit expire not a dry eye remained.

So it has been with our town, Bill Dean's sudden illness, the lightning-like rapidity with which the malady descended, his indomitable courage all have made his death the occasion for city-wide mourning.

Whole Town Mourns

Seldom is a community so affected. During the hours when his life trembled in the balance his welfare was the sole topic of conversation. Friends by the score volunteered to help in any possible way. Downtown people waited up late for news of his progress.

Stores closed during the hours of the funeral.

The last dramatic effort to save him typifies the fight that was put up. Artificial respiration here was hearing him away Tuesday. It was evident that here he could last but a few hours longer. The father, W. W. Sr., just as game, just as fine a sportsman as the son, and the mother, Mrs. Mary Dean, beloved by everyone in Pecos, Dorothy Finley Dean, the courageous wife , and all the others determined to do all in their power, to leave no possibility unexploited.

Aware that the odds were stacked against them, they frantically telephoned and telegraphed over all of the Southwest in an effort to locate the respirator which they had hopes would keep him alive long enough for serum to have a partial effect.

Finally, after hours of anxious inquiry they located one of the new are rare 'iron lungs' at a private hospital in Houston. Houston attendants responded quickly, had all ready for him.

Unique Caravan

Then was organized that unique caravan. A Pecos Furniture Co. ambulance was chartered. Drivers volunteered. Six of Bill's close friends volunteered to accompany him and administer the artificial respiration.

Wallace Anderson drove the ambulance. Ralph Williams drove the car which carried the grief-stricken wife, Dorothy, Mr. and Mrs. Dean, and the faithful nurse, Miss Lovey Neal.

A. H. Sams drive the car carrying the men who alternated at duty in the ambulance. The men who went on the trip - they deserve the ecomiums of heroes - were George Morrison, Les Bevill, Hill Hudson, Jack May and Harvey Beauchamp. Others who volunteered were Earl Bell, Paul Morrison, Dave Wood Bozeman, F. P. Stubblefield and others.

At a rate of speed averaging over 60 miles per hour they sped toward their far-away destination. Tense and nervous they were but each one did his part in this battle for a human life.

Well, all know the rest of the story. Try as humans will, at best they are powerless in the face of the infinite. Bill breathed his last near San Angelo as his party was endeavoring to reach an emergency hospital.

Morticials at San Angelo took this body in charge, prepared it for burial and it came back to Pecos in the ambulance.

Funeral at Cemetery

Funeral services were held Thursday morning at the cemetery, Rev. Hall Pierce of Carlsbad, Episcopal rector of the Church, of which Bill was a communicant and a long time friends of the family, preached the funeral oration. The largest crowd ever to attend a Pecos funeral, at least in the recent history of the town, paid their respects to one of the best loved sons of Pecos.

The floral offering was of stupendous magnitude. The Pecos Flower Shop worked four people all night Wednesday night and had flowers coming from outside on every train. We repeat, seldom has a community taken a tragedy to heart as has this one.

Near noon, Thursday, just five days from the time Bill was alive and well, all that was mortal of him was laid away in Fiarview cemetery.

Surviving are the widow, Dorothy; the children, Mary Katherine and W. W. Dean III, Capt. and Mrs. W. W. Dean the parents; Bob Dean of Dallas, the brother; Mrs. Katherine Broughton and Mrs. Dave Sudderth, the sisters; and the many, many friends to whom this loss comes as distinctly as as bitterly as a personal one.

Brief Biography

We here present a brief biographical sketch of Bill Dean. His death occurred at the age of 26. He was a lifetime resident of the Pecos Valley, being born at Lakewood, N.M. near Artesia. When a few months old, he accompanied his parents to Carlsbad, where the family lived (except for the War period) until their removal to Pecos in 1919.

He began school at Carlsbad, and attended school in other parts of New Mexico as well during the war when his father was being given different military assignments.

He attended high school in Pecos, finishing in 1925. During his term in school he played quarterback on the football team. Small of stature and light of weight he nevertheless fought so hard and so clean and knew so much of the game that he became a star.

Prominent in Athletics

During high school he developed his natural talent at tennis, winning several district titles and on one occasion nearly winning the state championship. His doubles partners, Cap Weyer and Gordon Stine, both were on hand for the funeral. Gordon driving in from Wichita Falls to be here.

After his high school career, he attended A. and M. College for a year. There he was a member of the freshman football squad, ranking man of the freshman tennis team and also of member of the freshman basefall eam.

He returned to Pecos to enter business, while working a while as a cotton classer in El Paso. He came back to Pecos in 1928 to become associated with his father in the Dean and Dean Insurance Agency and the Pecos Abstract Co. He eventually became manager and a stockholder in the Pecos Abstract Co.,

He was married to Dorothy Finley on August 28, 1928 and to them have been born Mary Katherine Dean in January 1930 and W. W. Dean III in May 1932.

During the past few years he has earned the title of one of Pecos' hardest working and most promising young business men. No idler was Bill Dean. You never saw him standing about the corners. He tried to fill every day to overflowing with usefulness. When not at town, he loved to be with the wife and the children. He was a model in private life.

During the past few years he had developed into one of the finest golf players in the local country club. In the recent tournament he fought his way to the finals and made the "gamest" exhibition of them all. He recently likewise won the President's Cup in a close match at the Country Club. He has likewise recently participated with the Pecos tennis team in several tournaments.

In his passing, all have lost a friend; his relatives have lost a loved one whose absence they hardly can bear; and in this hour of grief and sorrow the heart of every resident of Pecos beats in sympathy with those closest to him. Only God, in His Infinite Wisdom, can give the comfort which can ease the bitterness of the grief.

Bill Nelson of the East Texas Refining Company of Dallas phones all morning long Tuesday and found the respirator at Houston to which Bill was being taken

At 11 a.m. Monday serum was ordered from Fort Worth and Bob Dean, of Dallas, Bill's brother, was telephoned of Bill's serious condition. Bob took a fast car and raced to Fort Worth to pick up the serum and deliver it al Bill's door in eight hours, several hours earlier than it could have reached on the train.

Dr. Camp had everything ready and promptly administered the first treatment in hope of staying the ravages of the malady.

Active pallbearers were: George Mrrison, Gordon Stine, Charles Firzgerald Jr., David Wood Bozeman, Jr., Morris W. Collie, Jr., Charles Weyer.

Honorary pallbears were L. W. Anderson, Jr., Paul Morrison, William L. Kerr, Jack May, Harvey Beachamp, Hill Hudson, Lester Bevill, A. H. Sams, Jr., J. P. Stubblefield, Earl Bell, Lee Bilberry, Bill Collie, Ralph Williams, Roy I. Biggs, Keigh Camp, Hilliard Camp, Gilbert Murray, Jack Camp, Louis Roberson, Milford S. Howard, D. W. Bozeman, Sr., L. W. Anderson, Sr., Harry Hinkle, Albert Sisk, Red Bell.

Trying again

2008-12-28T17:58:00.000-08:00

Rescanned

Photo right side up

2008-12-28T17:55:00.000-08:00

Here is photo right side up. Daddy (note cigarette) and Uncle Bill in their tennis whites. Daddy was about 5'7".

Kitchen Table Tales - Bill Dean and Polio

2008-12-28T17:22:00.000-08:00

Daddy was the youngest of four - Aunt Jane, Uncle Bill, Aunt Katherine and Daddy. In 1933, Uncle Bill, the father of 3-year-old Katchie and 15-month-old Billy, contracted polio, which paralyzed his chest muscles. He was kept alive for over 24 hours by friends and family administering artificial respiration while the call went out for an iron lung. One was found in Houston and Bill was on his way in an ambulance when he died near San Angelo. He was 26.

Daddy had been dispatched to Fort Worth to pick up some serum (apparently made from the blood of recovered patients), but it was administered too late to help.

Pecos High School still has an award for a junior boy who excels in academics and athletics named the Bill Dean Memorial Award.

landlord, apes, Miss Margaret

2008-12-16T20:12:00.001-08:00

I know I don't blog as often as I should - the trouble is that most of the people I might write about can read....

On another note - I am a new landlord, having bought a house that rents out. I've been agitating to buy rental property for years (and of course would have made a fortune if listened to) and am excited about the prospect of holding a property for more appreciation and collecting rent in the process. We'll see.

I've been listening to Charles Murray's book Human Achievement - 8000 BC to 1950. He is really a statistician, so lots of boring reasons for his conclusions, but I like his assertions that excellence exists. This parallels The Know It All which quotes (I should look this up) someone who said that we're not fallen angels but working our way up from apes with weapons.

We are looking forward to Christmas with the whole family here - can't wait to see Andy and already-standing-ready-to-walk Miss Margaret!

Waiting for the sprinkler man

2008-11-12T08:45:00.000-08:00

The sprinkler man is here. One of the stations in the system which was put in before we moved here is now broken - apparently the wire from the conductor to this station is broken somewhere between the front of the house and the back yard. He has moved several of the old stepping stones we moved from Gaga's house and may still have to dig a trench to run a new wire. Who knew that there is a machine like a metal detector which can track underground sprinkler wires?

The election is over and I'm keeping a good thought for President Obama. As a Republican and a conservative, I voted for McCain, but can't say that he would have been my first choice. I've already seen a poll for 2012 in which Mitt Romney is ahead. I liked Sarah Palin and think McCain's people are chicken for not speaking on the record instead of anonymously. I can't see her as the Presidential nominee in 2012, but she will be an interesting and successful fundraiser.

The 2016 election may shape up like 2008 in that, assuming Obama serves two terms with Biden as VP, there will once again be no incumbents running on either side. Jockeying for position started last Wednesday.

In local news, my nephew from Australia is coming to visit and I'm going to make Pecos chili and beans!

Emma's baptism

2008-09-21T19:46:00.000-07:00

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Here's the family gathered after Emma's Baptism. She was darling and precious and gave the congregation a big smile.

What a day!

2008-09-10T19:41:00.000-07:00

1. The leak in the breakfast room is back. After hundreds of dollars, three different roofers and finally getting the room repainted, it rained in at the same place (around the skylight).
2. There was a nasty confrontation at the Library board between people who don't like the Library Director and the people who are trying to make the transition between an all-volunteer library and letting the professionals do their job.
3. One of the anti-director people resigned and sent out her nasty resignation letter to the entire board.
4. A past president who has been ill has decided to "help" the Library by inviting her 80+ year-old friends (two in nursing homes and one stone deaf) to come read to the children and told another that her job at the front desk starts tomorrow.
5. I'm trying to write the grant for one of our major Library funders and it's due Friday at 5 p.m.
6. I rushed home, changed clothes and went to meet friends for a margarita - only to discover that the party is tomorrow.
7. Misunderstanding what the hostess chairman of our Book Club told me, I emailed my committee to bring desserts for Book Club tomorrow night - but it doesn't meet until next month.
8. We are having a plague of flies in the den.

On the good side
1. I mailed off the tax return for another organization and I am done, done, done with them.
2. Good riddance to the person who resigned.
3. I did enjoy the margarita and nachos at the restaurant, even though it was the wrong day. (Always have something to read.)
4. It's not raining now, and the roofer is coming tomorrow.
5. Lysol 4-Way Spray Cleaner kills flies.

Influence

2008-09-08T18:41:00.000-07:00

Just a note to say how much a random comment can influence. A friend remarked "what a great lipstick" and I went out and bought two Estee Lauder Hot Kiss lipsticks.

Let someone say - "That color looks great on you" and I'm stuck wearing that certain shade of blue.

Reminder to self - if you think something good about someone - even a stranger - say something. It could make their day and influence their future.

By the way - you look marvelous.

American Airlines 777

2008-07-08T07:44:00.000-07:00

If you get a chance to choose, go on American's 777. You can sit in business class for the price of coach - and those seats are fabulous - they even recline flat for sleeping!

We flew to Ireland from Boston (our flight to Kennedy in NY was cancelled at the last minute) and flew Aer Lingus to Shannon. That plane was old, dirty, didn't have decent earphones or personal screens and our reading light didn't work. (Business class would have been $6000 more - per person!). Our flight back, which was changed to route through Chicago included a stop in Dublin (so we flew over Ireland twice on the way home).

We had raided the duty free shop in Shannon for Irish adult beverages and overloaded the overhead then when we got to Dublin were told we had to get off with all our hand luggage. Then they herded us up and down stairs (great for those rolly bags) to wait in a room meant for 50 or so passengers with a group of at least 200 - holding on to our hand luggage and purchases - for about an hour.

Recommendations:
1. Check other airlines for travel to Ireland. Ryanair doesn't fly from the US, but Delta and Continental do. There are now no direct flights from DFW, so try for the AA 777 from DFW to wherever.
2. Take your own earphones. I took my CD player and a story CD, but lost the player with disc 9 of Prisoner of Birth. I have a feeling that the girl sitting next to me might have taken it, but I did find the earphones.
3. Take crackers and cheese. You never know if they'll have anything at all to eat or how long you might be trapped on the plane. Peanut butter sandwiches work, too.
4. You can take as many little bottles of Scotch or other adult beverages as you can fit into a quart sized Baggie in your carry on luggage. Take an empty water bottle and when you are through Security you can fill it up for free with water for a mixer. Remember to take a cup and you won't have to wait until the plane has reached cruising level.

Wrong photo

2008-07-08T06:47:00.000-07:00

I intended to publish a photo of Ireland and accidently uploaded a photo of the ranch - Mark was spreading gravel on the driveway with a little bulldozer and we all had to play on it.

Here is a photo of Redwood Castle - also known as the Egan Castle. It's in County Clare near Portumna and near Birr. Our late chief, Michael J. Egan, a lawyer in Castlebar, bought it and restored it and held the first modern Egan Rally about 25 years ago. Ever since then, the Rally is held in Ireland every four years and somewhere else two years later. So far we've been to Austria with the German Egans (the vonEgans), Salt Lake City with the Mormon Egans, Annapolis with the Naval Egans, Melbourne with the Australian Egans. We hosted them in Dallas in 2006 and the next rally is to be held in Tasmania with the Devil Egans (sorry, couldn't resist).

My iPhone is fabulous but I'm on a learning curve about uploading pictures to my computer then finding the ones I want. I upload to Kodak Easyshare which collects them in date, but not time, order. In other words, I can find photos for June 26, but they are jumbled in time - with early morning photos mixed in with late night photos. And, on Easyshare, the photos aren't numbered which would make it easier to upload to the blog.

Anyway, this is Redwood Castle, still in the family of the late chief - and when in Ireland we've always held the final meeting of the Rally there. The castle is now party subsidized by the country and must be held open for visitors so many days a year. The sign outside invites people in for 6 euro.

Unfortunately, the heirs who own the castle now are not very family oriented. They charged the 85-95 people (relatives!) 20 euro to enter! Not only that, if anyone who didn't have 20 euro in cash for every person (including children) they were not allowed to pay by check or credit card! (Of course some Egan white knights stepped up to pay.)

To make matters even worse, no preparation was made for the people attending. Chairs were not set up and not enough were provided. Tea was offered with a few store-bought cookies.

We'll never go there again and recommend that no one else go, either.

Ireland!

2008-07-08T06:33:00.001-07:00

We are just back from an Egan family Rally in Ireland. It was great to see old friends and relatives. Our international chief, Michael J. S. Egan, planned and executed a wonderful programme of events, meals, transportation and lodgings for about 100 assorted Egans from all over the world.

As word for US travelers, though - stay home! The euro is about $1.8 - meaning when things cost 1 euro it is about 2 dollars. And not only that, the prices in Ireland are jacked up. For instance, a McDonald's Happy Meal in Dallas is about $2.15. In Limerick, a McDonald's Happy Meal costs 4 euro - almost 8 dollars! I didn't see one price that was less than 1 euro - even a pack of gum.

If foreign travelers come to America they can really buy lots of stuff at a great price.

Grammar

2008-06-22T19:30:00.000-07:00

I originally titled my blog everybodysentitled because I thought that 's weren't allowed. My youngest daughter suggested - a lot more kindly than I usually correct someone else's grammar - that it should either be "everybody's entitled" or "everybodies entitled".

I plead ignorance of blogging rather than a grammatical error, however, and see that I can use an apostrophe and a space in there. I give Mary credit for catching the error. It is pretty great to point out other people's errors.

I've just finished reading Harry Hunsicker's "Still River". He's a Dallas author who spoke at our Issues and Interests Junior League Sustainer Group last year. He's also president of the Mystery Writer's Guild this year. This is his first novel with his hero Lee Henry Oswald - which is pretty funny considering Lee Harvey Oswald's role in Dallas history. I enjoyed the story with lots of action and with lots of Dallas landmarks playing a part in the story. He could have used a better editor, though. I'll check his later books to see if it is worth writing to his publisher.

Now, if she'd just come home and explain why my iPod copied the first part of Jeffery Archer's excellent novel "Prisoner of Birth" and won't let me download part two, even though it is on my iTunes list.

A fake fingernail update: I noticed that my nails grow pretty quickly and went back for what I thought was called a "fill" which I imagined was more pink goop near the cuticle - but the girl sanded off the old stuff and put on new stuff. It looks to me like most of the fake plastic nail is now off and the acrylic just covers my natural nail.

It has been interesting to have really strong nails that can pry up the ring on a Diet Coke with no problem and that drumming my nails now has a neat click to it. The only problem I have (except for worrying what this stuff is doing to my real nails) is that I have trouble setting my watch, since the nails are too thick to easily pry the stem.

42!

2008-06-19T19:57:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was our 42nd anniversary.

It's all hazy now but I think we got engaged after Thanksgiving my senior year at the University of Texas and we married June 18, 1966 after I graduated. Byron had finished his first year of law school. I remember that the Sigma Nus (serenaded me at the Theta house. (They probably don't do that anymore - probably no college kids get engaged anymore).

We met at a match party. That was a party at the fraternity house - and each of the Theta pledges were "matched" with a Sigma Nu. The Theta social chairman and the Sigma Nu social chairman were dating (Cookie Mattox and Will Wills) and they made great matches - at least four couples ended up married (Byron says seven) and we're all still married. (Cookie and Will married other people.)

In those bygone days, the match party was held at the fraternity house (the boys buying the beer since the sorority wasn't allowed to buy it - and most of us were underage, anyway - and the sorority would pay for the live band). This happened every Friday night all Fall. If your date liked you, he invited you to the football game on Saturday. If you didn't like each other, you could spend the evening in the ladies room with your sorority sisters who were in the same boat.

After my classes were over, I didn't bother to participate in graduation, but went home to get married about three weeks later. My mother planned the whole thing. The wedding was at the First Christian Church with ministers from the Christian Church (where Mother and all us kids belonged) and the Episcopal Church, where Daddy belonged.

My mother-in-law hosted the rehearsal dinner at the Holiday Inn (the Pecos Valley Country Club was closed for renovation) and the day of the wedding lunch (none of that "bad luck to see the bride before the ceremony" stuff) was held at Jane and Bruce Hay's. She was Mother's best friend, frequent guest at our kitchen table for a five o'clock Scotch and a wonderful cook.

About four days before the wedding Byron came to Pecos and stayed at the house until he and Daddy got into an argument about displaying the gifts. The gifts were displayed on tables covered with white tablecloths in the upstairs hall and Daddy wanted them all on view. Byron thought some could be boxed up and taken back to Austin with friends so we wouldn't have to move them all after the honeymoon.

Daddy suggested that perhaps Byron should move on over to the motel where his mother and family and friends would be staying.

During the countdown to the wedding, Daddy called it the "possible wedding"; the week before, he called it the "probable wedding"; the day of he called it the "ominent wedding". On the way up the steps to the church he turned to me and said "You can still call this off if you want to."

The reception was held at my parents' house with cake and champagne. In those days people were expected to have eaten dinner before attending a wedding and the reception was mainly dessert. There were little boxes with a small piece of cake, tied with ribbon for guests to take home. (It was a superstition that if you slept with wedding cake under your pillow, you would dream of your future spouse.)

We left the reception very quickly - not even having a dance in the newly created "ball room" which had been the sun room which had been especially decorated for the wedding. We drove away in my Nash Rambler which our friends decorated to the filling station where Byron's car was stashed.

We spent our wedding night in the Sands Motel in Odessa, catching a plane early the next day to New York where we spent a week at the Plaza Hotel. A few years ago the Plaza had a promotion, before they closed for renovation, that invited honeymoon couples to stay there at the same rate as their original stay. I couldn't find it at the time, but came across it later - $32.50 per night.

After 42 years with Byron, three wonderful daughters and four lovely grandchildren - I'm glad that I decided to ignore my father's suggestion to call it off!

Sprinkler

2008-06-14T05:41:00.001-07:00

I had the sprinkler people out this week to fix a head that wouldn't stay screwed on, and after replacing four heads and checking to see that the entire yard was actually sprinkled, they charged me $208. Last night about 11 p.m. I heard the system go on, then realized that another head had popped off and was shooting water about 25 feet into the air.

The stations are set at about 10 minutes per section, but this seemed to be staying on, so I went out into the night to shut off the system - but it wouldn't shut off. The water in the back yard was about ankle deep.

I got Byron up (we are leaving this morning for Virginia to see baby Margaret Anne be baptized - the car picked us up at 6:30) and we tried for 30 minutes to shut off the water in the alley.

We finally called the city fire department to come shut off the water and it turns out that we have not just two meters in the alley, but three. The last one was hidden dirt and grass, and, of course, that's the one that controls the sprinkler system.

I'm looking forward to a nap on the plane. Then I'll be making a call to Mustang Contracting to see if they guarantee their work.

Kiera Knightley, Pride and Prejudice

2008-06-13T21:02:00.000-07:00

I just watched the Kiera Knightley version of Pride and Prejudice. Boo, hiss. 1) How can you call it "adaptation" when you change the story? Austen was a master - don't mess with her. 2. Knightley never closes her mouth! Someone must have told her that she was more attractive with a half-open mouth - but for that moue to be effective, it must be contrasted with some faces with lips together. Does she do that in all her movies?

Why did I stay up to watch that when I knew every minute was making me more irritated.

I have gone to the dark side

2008-06-11T19:18:00.000-07:00

First the braces, now the fingernails.

This morning while making the bed I tore one of my fingernails. I have tried gelatin, nail strengthener, liquid wraps, etc, etc. My nails - unlike my bones, which are in the top 10% of my age group - are like paper. Occasionally I have had all ten sort of long, only to chip, peel or tear one, followed by the others.

So I went to my usual nail place and asked for gel nails. A high school friend said the gels are better and healthier than the acrylic ones for reasons I don't remember now, but even though "We specialize in gel nails..." was painted on the window, they don't do them now.

Being ready to have stronger nails, I decided to get "solar nails". It was a fascinating process. They trimmed my pathetically short nails to the same length, used a machine to smooth out the ridges then glued long, long, LONG plastic nails. These looked like the ones you see on some cashiers who have them painted with designs. I couldn't scratch my nose with these on my fingers, much less use the phone or the computer!

The manicurist (who fortunately spoke some English) then clipped them to about 1/8 of an inch longer than my own nails. The join between the plastic and my nail was then smoothed with the drill. She then dipped a wet brush into some white powder and piled it up on the end of the nail. She used an extra plastic nail to make the crescent shape of the white tip. After this hardened, she dipped the brush into some pink powder and piled it up on the rest of the nail. When this hardened, she used the drill to smooth the edges and the surface.

After more smoothing and polishing, I have strong nails which look mostly natural (not natural to me, but still sort of natural). Another good thing is that they always look clean!

They said I'd have to return in two weeks for a fill. I don't know if I have entered the perpetual zone - like shaving your legs - or whether I will decide that this process is actually dissolving my real nails. But it's interesting for now.

Braces, fingernails.... is lipo next?

Library

2008-05-12T17:10:00.001-07:00

Our community library is now seven years old. The community is almost 100, which shows the interest the powers that be have had in providing a library. The Friends of the Library have done yeoman service finding a space, getting donated books, staffing with volunteers (etc. etc.)

It's been a long haul. From being open four hours a week staffed with volunteers with no checkout system to a library with four full time staffers (three professional librarians (that's with a Master of Library Science degree) and a full time circulation desk person has been a labor. A labor of love, needless to say, but a labor. We have computer check out, a web site, wifi and loads of brand new bestsellers.

We have weathered a Founder's Syndrome - when the founders expect to have a say about everything, including how books are cataloged to where to hang pictures on the wall - with only minor scars.

Now we are transitioning from a volunteer-run operation to a professional corporation. The Executive Committee will shrink from 30 to 10 and a lot of us old presidents have moved to the non-Executive level. That's a good thing.

The Director has even changed the locks so random people can't wander around after hours or at times the library's not open.

Our next challenge is extracting ourselves from our benevolent but mystic landlord and finding property on which we can build our own free standing library. After three tries at the City Council without success, it's pretty obvious that he won't be able to convince the city fathers that a library in the basement of a large office building would be in the best interest of the city.

We absolutely would not have been where we are as a library without his active help and donation of 5500 square feet of space for $1 a year for the past six years, but we need to move on.

What I want (not speaking for the Board - just as an interested volunteer) is a free-standing state-of-the-art library which is adequate to serve our high-end well-educated population of 23,000. I envision a library district, with an elected board of managers and a guaranteed revenue stream from the city.

It's amazing what a dedicated groups of people (even when they know not what they are doing) can do.

Reunions

2008-05-08T17:19:00.000-07:00

My hometown of Pecos, TX recently had a Mega-Reunion for all classes. We held it in Austin because (1) there isn't much to do in Pecos except the Rodeo around the 4th of July, and West Texas in July is rather hot (Like 114 degrees hot) (And dry) ( And the Rodeo people usually take up all the motel rooms) and (2) the oil and gas boom means that all the motel rooms are taken up with landmen/women who want to lease or buy our mineral interests. Our family mantra is "Never sell the minerals."

Anyway, we held the Reunion in Austin and had a great time. The attendees were mostly from the classes of the 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s - with one graduate from the Class of 1924 (she's 102). Elvis made an appearance and wonderful old cars were on display. The highlight of the event was the Carrico Singers- honoring our wonderful choir director Bill Carrico - who sang the School Song, "You'll Never Walk Alone" and "The Battle Hymn of the Republic". It was great.

Sticks and stones

2008-05-08T17:13:00.000-07:00

While contemplating bad names to call someone, it occurs to me that most names "sonofabitch" and "bastard" are names which really don't reflect on the person called that name, but do reflect on his mother. A "bitch" and the "c" word both refer to women. If you want to call a man the worst thing, what would it be? One suggestion is "a-hole", but couldn't that be non-gender-specific? I did come up with the traditional southern epithet "sorry" - as in "He's just sorry" meaning lame, useless and unredeemably bad.

New name

2008-05-07T20:13:00.000-07:00

I've decided to change the name of my blog from GrandmotherDearest to a more general "Everybodysentitled" to my opinion, of course.

I will give changing the name a chance tomorrow.

Easter photos

2008-04-05T18:13:00.000-07:00

If I didn't think Katherine's photos of her own children were horrible, then I would be really upset at the photos of baby Emma et al on her blog. Here she and Elizabeth are at Fin and Feather for Grammy's 96th birthday.

Grandmothering

2008-04-02T20:26:00.000-07:00

Let me say right away that if I ever thought that my daughters (mothers of my grandchildren) were making a big deal out of mothering - I was wrong! This is hard work! Just the lifting and carrying is meant for a young person. My mother-in-law, who delivered my husband at age 43 (surprising his brother 17 and sister 15 - not to mention herself!) used to say that God meant children to be born to young women. She felt Byron was "a consolation to her old age."

I frankly don't remember how I handled our three girls - born three and a half years apart. We didn't have a nanny, just a once-a-week maid who mainly changed the sheets (a luxury I still appreciate). I guess I hauled them all to the grocery store and took the younger ones in all the carpools, ballet lessons and soccer games. I don't have a memory of anything hideous and the girls are all still speaking to me, so I guess we survived it.

We've had the darling and precious (and very smart) three-year-old grandson and his darling and precious eight-week-old sister here for 10 days with lots of visits from our three-and-a-half-year-old darling and precious (and very dressy) granddaughter with her eight-month-old sister. There was lots of wonderful cuddling, confusion and cousinly camaraderie. We loved every minute.

They left on Tuesday and left us with the darling and precious eight-month-old prodigy who is pulling up, can clap on command and can provide a spectacular raspberry when prompted. She is dangerous because she can't be left alone and is anxious and to explore new venues - the dog's bowl, any lint or trash on the floor, pulling out drawers and pulling up on unstable tables and curtains. She is darling and precious, but Grandmother Dearest is tired.

I took darling and precious baby Emma to the library (where she promptly burst into tears and initially devastated Librarians Carla and Miss Kitty until she warmed up) - and the trek up the steps carrying the "bucket" was a true pain in the neck and back. The bucket must weigh 10 pounds without the baby! The thought of loading her up - much less with an older, more opinionated sibling - to go to the grocery store, is daunting. No wonder pizza delivery is so popular with the younger set.

Hats off to all you mothers of babies - Grandmother Dearest salutes you!

Renovation - bath, sinks, floors and beyond

2008-01-17T07:03:00.000-08:00

In the last couple of months, I've been nesting - no, not that kind - I mean looking around the house to see all the things I've meant to do in the 18 or so years we've lived here. Once we had the conversation about never moving except to the graveyard, it just makes sense to fix things the way that pleases us (me).

Here are my projects:

Paint the downstairs woodwork.Replace the stairwell broken spindle before someone falls through it.

Paint the last unpainted bedroom (removing the old intercom receiver - why didn't I do that in all the rooms? The only one that works is the one in the kitchen. It doesn't function as an intercom, but does play the radio.)

Remove old, ugly wallpaper in the two upstairs bathrooms, paint a neutral color.

Remove the old, ugly countertops in said bathrooms, replace with Simplicity, by Corian (a couple of bucks cheaper than the regular Corian.)
Replace the old faucets (those really ugly ones with plastic "crystal" handles) with faucets with only one handle. (I really like those - you only need one hand to get the right temperature water - you don't have to put the book or the baby down to wash your hands.)Home Depot.

Have the kitchen Corian cleaned and polished. It is the 3/4" Corian which they don't make anymore. This was probably installed 25-30 years ago. Home Depot.

One of the young men who installed the bathroom countertops came back on a Sunday to do this. He also recommended we round the square edges of the kitchen countertops - which I hadn't noticed but were just the right height to catch a grandchild's head. He charged $150 for the whole job, which took hours, and was the best bargain of my renovation saga. He did bring his 3=year-old son for me to entertain, though.

Replace the garage door with a steel one. The salesman neglected to notice that the new door didn't meet up with the control for the electric opener, which left us without a closeable door over the holidays. If you use Welborn Overhead Doors, beware of extra charges.

Install Travertine flooring in the upstairs bathroom which has had damaged lineolum under carpet since we moved in. This is an ongoing production since the hardibacker underfloor is 1/2" and the Travertine is 1/2" (adding up, surprisingly, to 1").

The installer didn't have a transition piece ("they didn't tell me to bring the right size") to go from the tile to the hardwood floor, so I'm now waiting for the installing company to come view the job. I have also noticed that the tile doesn't lie flat and they may have to come tear it out, install the 1/4" hardibacker board, and reinstall the tile.

Since the floor is now an inch taller, the doors don't fit, but I don't want to get them cut before the floor issue is solved. Fortunately, we only have family scheduled to visit, so they won't mind (too much) the open air quality of the bathroom. Home Depot.
I ordered, and paid for, this installation on November 5, and after several phone calls ("we had to special order it, even though we told you it was in stock" "it's just been delivered and we'll install next week"), I called to complain and ask them to repay me the interest they would charge for the same length of time. Which they did.

At the moment, I'm waiting for the plumber to come fix the leak in the downstairs powder room (which Byron says can't be updated because he loves the dark wallpaper and three-toned accent painting on the vanity). He has agreed to replace the really fancy faucet with some plain brass ones. These are promised to NEVER need polishing. I'm going to have the equally fancy and impossible to clean ones replaced in the master bath, too.

Now all that's left to do is re-organize the office - turning it back into an office/bedroom - that's going to take awhile.

Grandmothering

2007-12-11T17:06:00.000-08:00

I've just spend four days and nights babysitting 3-year-old Megan and 5-month-old Emma, and I am tired! I have new respect for mothers of toddlers! Just hauling that car seat with 14-pound Emma up and into the base and then out again was enough to pull every muscle in my arms and back - and somehow carrying babies through the house has redefined my space and I've managed to knock my shins, ankles, shoulders and other parts into the dishwasher door, step ladder, coffee table and door frame. I'm looking forward to a massage, once I get the house picked up.

Other than that, the girls were darling and precious - Megan talking non-stop (reminding me of her Aunt Katherine), insisting on wearing her Princess dress and hand-me-down Cinderella (pronounced Cindagrella) slippers, and wanting "just one more story"; and Emma finally cuddling up and taking a bottle and falling asleep in my arms. Emma is already turning over both front-to-back and back-to-front, and is almost sitting up. She has discovered her feet and is unsafe unless securely strapped in, since she can really arch that back. She's a talker, too. What is sweeter than hearing a baby gurgle and chirp?

The two portable video monitors helped keep that hundreds of trips up and down the stairs to a minimum and the swing Elizabeth brought over for Emma was great for helping her stay asleep longer.

Byron reminded me that my mother kept our girls pretty often - but I remember (1) Mother was at least 10 years younger than I am now, (2) Mother had full time help (Peggy stayed until my 8-years-younger sister graduated from high school - when Elizabeth was two) and Daddy was home most of the time.

I would do it again, just not right away.

Video games for girls

2007-11-07T05:54:00.001-08:00

I don't play video games - too old and slow - and don't interest me. Who cares about shoot-'em-ups, car chases, explosions? Those are all guy things.

BUT, if someone invented games for girls - that might be fun.

How about Bride Pride? You could play the role of Bridezilla
1. Choosing the groom (involved, semi-involved, absent)
2. Choose his mother (possibilities are endless)
3. Pick out the ring
4. Design a dress
5. Thwart your mother
6 Order bridesmaids around
7. Choose horrible bridesmaids dresses
8. Have numerous showers and parties
9. Register for gifts

The program could have built-in obstacles (flowers don't arrive, people bring children to the service, groom gets flat tire on way to church, torrential rain)

You could also play the Mother of the Bride role or Mother of the Groom role.

There could be options for the $500,000 wedding or the $500 one.

This might even be a sort of instructional interactive game for brides to see what their dream wedding might cost.

The possibilities are endless!

Travel Report

2007-10-20T19:31:00.001-07:00

In the last couple of weeks I've been to Florida with my lady friends (our 25th year of fall travel), to the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs and the the Algonquin in New York City. Fun, but I'm glad to be back home!

Our ladies group consists of eight lawyers wives. It all started when our husbands, law partners, took clients on a weekend fishing trip to Biloxi, Mississippi and we wives, in retaliation, decided to take a trip of our own. We've visited Charleston, Savannah, Deleware (Winterthur and Longwood Gardens), Sturbridge, the Hudson Valley (Kikut), Lake Placid, South Texas, among others. This year we rented a house in Watercolor in the panhandle of Florida - near Destin. Beautiful beaches and good food. Our husbands have all either moved to other firms or retired and don't do their fishing trip anymore, but we are still taking advantage of the time to catch up, see some beautiful scenery, shop and eat.

The Broadmoor is beautiful and the Colorado Springs area has a lot to offer. The Colorado Springs Art Museum has an unmatched collection of Dale Chihuly glass art - spectacular! And Manitou Springs has cave dwellings and a delightful and different kind of hippie culture mixed with tourist trappings. The chapel at the Air Force Academy is a cultural experience not to be missed.

New York is always exciting and it was fun to imagine Dorothy Parker and Robert Benchley et al in the Algonquin, even though the hotel has been renovated. The rooms are still about as big as a good-sized closet, but the hall wallpaper is made up of New Yorker cartoons and a quote from one of the Roundtable regulars appears daily on each hotel room door. Have a drink in the lounge (I recommend the "Parker", but more than one might kill you). Give the dining room a miss.

We tried for tickets to "The Jersey Boys" which I saw in San Francisco and loved, but they were sold out except for premium seats at $320 each. We settled for "The Fantasticks", written by two home-grown Texans (and University of Texas ex-students) that we saw maybe 40 years ago. Tom Jones (one of the play's authors - not the British singer) appeared in the part of the old actor. The production was in the Snapple Theater a small and pretty grubby venue and was about half full. But the fantasy and the music still charms. I'm still singing "Try to Remember" and "Plant a Radish" in my head a week later.

TIVO and US Open

2007-09-05T16:28:00.000-07:00

I'm going to have to get TIVO. We've spent a good bit of time watching the US Open since we spent Labor Day at the ranch with family, including almost three-year-old Megan and eight-week-old Emma. (Megan is working on being potty trained and Grandmother Dearest was in great demand to help and watch.)

However, if I have to see that stupid American Express ad with John McEnroe and the actor pretending to be a former tennis judge, I may have to commit violence. If Amex can't come up with more than one ad to run every three or so minutes during an entire tournament, they are unworthy of my business. I have missed good tennis by grabbing for the remote every time that dumb ad appears. Why should the Super Bowl get all the good ads? I need TIVO so I can avoid that ad.

The Andy Roddick Lexus ad is only marginally better - at least it has no dialog and is easier to ignore.

California Dreamin'

2007-08-13T08:06:00.000-07:00

We've been on a week-long trip to Napa Valley and San Francisco. In Napa we stayed in the very posh Auberge du Soleil - probably the most expensive place we've been (business friends arranged it). It is beautiful, peaceful and surrounded by gorgeous countryside loaded with flowers and landscaping to die for. The food was excellent and served with great service and terrific views.

Our room was less impressive - although with a private terrace (complete with a hummingbird in the early morning). Even with all the lights on it still seemed too dark to read and our hardwood floor had a big buckle in it at the end of the bed.

The most interesting perk was that our bellman said "You have already bought all the accoutrements here, so don't hesitate to take them." Which, in perversity (or something) led us to leave stuff in the refrigerator - including two servings of Chinese food which would need to be microwaved in a non-existant microwave.

I recommend the Auberge du Soleil if you have the money and time to enjoy the setting.

We had great wine tastings, arranged by friends - VineCrest, Ggrich Hills and Duckhorn. We didn't get to the French Laundry but those who did had two comments: $550 per person seemed a little high, each bite was delicious but there were not enough bites and the staff was pretentious and condescending.

In San Francisco we stayed at the Fairmont, which is close to the cable car junction at Powell and California, but not much else. It is a nice, efficient convention-type hotel and across the street from the Mark Hopkins. We ended up most nights at the Top of the Mark for after dinner drinks and dancing.

Yesterday I went to see Jersey Boys. When I originally looked on line there were good seats for one, so took my chances at the box office. Mistake!

First, I either misread the web site or the info wasn't up-to-date, but I ended up at the Opheum Theater not the Curran (after walking through a seedy neighborhood), then not finding a cab driver who knew where the theater is. (It's about a block from Union Square). A security man finally gave me directions.

Second, it was almost a sell-out, and my seat, of course, was behind the tallest, wiggliest man available! Even with that handicap,the show was great! The actors/singers were outstanding and it has a good story line (Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons rise to fame). I not only recommend it, I'd go see it again!

New York Times, Gail Collins, spellcheck

2007-08-02T06:42:00.000-07:00

Don't you just hate it when that happens?

In Gail Collins' column vilifying Judith Giuliani in this morning's NYT editorial section, she takes a swipe at Rudy as well:

"This is not something you as a voter need to worry about since Giuliani's closest aides and confidants tend to be extremely expendable hangers-on. (We will revisit this issue sometime later when we discuss how chauffer-turned-police commissioner Bernard Kerik came to be nominated for chief of Homeland Security.)"

Yes, chauffer.

Spellcheck, anyone?

Clothing, Talbots, Chico's

2007-07-30T20:13:00.001-07:00

For someone who doesn't look any better than I do, it is surprising how much time I spend trying to find something to wear. Of course, I want to look, if not thin (too much to ask), then at least trim and somewhat classic.

Today I looked for some dress shoes - you know, the kind that you wear with a short cocktail dress or a pant suit not made of cotton. No deal. I talked to one shoe salesman and asked for an evening shoe with a 2 inch heel, file or microfiber, black, closed toe and not pointy-toe. How hard is that - a regular shoe! "Nothing like that this year," he said. As if that were something out of Harry Potter's Muggle catalog!

Looking for a jacket to wear in Florida in October is also fruitless. Lots of print jersey (ugh! and lots of pseudo-maternity tops (those 100% cotton (have to be ironed) blouses with a band under the boobs) (double ugh!)

For a nation with millions of boomers, who is going to clothe women of a certain age? Even Talbots, my former fave, hasn't tempted me to spend my two $25 coupons. And Chico's has gone mad with stuff I wouldn't wear at any price.

Creepy

2007-07-29T13:39:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago I visited a friend's church. I had the bad luck to sit behind a couple - seemed to be married to each other and have children on the same pew - and the man, while seeming to pay attention to the service, continually stroked his wife's hair, shoulders, neck and up and down her arm.

Then today, at my regular church, a man, woman and presumably their teenage son (big and almost as tall as the man) were three or four pews in front of me. The man kept his hand on his son's shoulder and patted, scratched, smoothed and rubbed - all while seeming to be enthralled in the sermon.

What's the deal? Is the stroker proclaiming "possession" of the strokee? Ewwww.

Pecos Cantaloupes, FEMA

2007-07-26T07:05:00.001-07:00

I got a crate of Pecos Cantaloupes yesterday and they are just as good as promised. Although you can get cantaloupes grown in California, Arizona, Mexico or even Presidio, TX - the Pecos ones are the sweetest and best. I can usually find the Pecos ones (marked PecosSweet) in the Dallas stores, but not this year. I had to order them from the Pecos Cantaloupe Shed (no website - call (432) 447-2123 to order).
(432) 447-2123(432) 447-2123

The growing season for these West Texas specialties is usually just the month of July, but this year has been strange. One - not many acres were planted because a shortage of workers. Apparently there are plenty of migrant workers, but no place to house them. The oil and gas boom has taken up all the available housing - and they are even building an apartment building and a new suites hotel. It's slow, though, because the workers they truck in to work in construction are soon lured away to the better paying oil patch jobs.
Two - unusual rain. The average rainfall in far West Texas is about 8 inches per year - this year they've already had over 8. The desert is blooming, but it was hard on the melons which thrive in the sun.

In any case, the melons are always the best.

When I was growing up in Pecos, my dad and his cousin had a cantaloupe operation - the M.L. Todd Company. They shipped cantaloupes all over the country via Railway Express, which had refrigerated cars. As I recall, you could ship 9 or 12 melons to New Jersey for $4.95. They had a shed where trailers with hinges on the side (not the back) could drive up unload onto a conveyor belt, be sorted, graded and packed into wooden crates in a very smooth, efficient operation.

The melons too ripe for shipping would be sold as "culls" for $1 a grocery sack full. My younger brother David was in charge of the shed's cull selling operation and my friend Sallie and I had a stand closer to town. Daddy had a fellow build a frame and covered it with an orange and white parachute for shade. I think we made about $100 all summer.

That open air shed, on Highway 80 next to the train tracks, has since burned down. I think the new one is enclosed and air conditioned.

Bluebell Ice Cream has had a flavor called PecosSweet Cantaloupes and Cream, but I haven't found any this year.

The Pecos Economic Development office is trying to get FEMA to send some of those infamous trailers for workers in Pecos, but I think some enterprising trailer seller from Dallas or Fort Worth could take a bunch out there and sell them to people who are now driving 90 - 100 miles each way daily for housing.

Surveys, Rocky LaPorte, Augusten Burroughs, opinion

2007-07-25T06:12:00.000-07:00

Well, they got me again. I do know enough not to be sucked in by Cambodians promising millions, but somehow, when I'm asked my opinion, I can't help myself.

This group - Audience Studies - said they were testing a new TV sit com and since I fit into their demographic, would I watch the show and give my opinion? I would receive the CD on Monday, must watch on Monday and would be called Tuesday.

I didn't get the CD until Tuesday, but faithfully followed instructions - including filling out a form regarding product preferences - smooth or crunchy? Which of 12 kinds of seasoning salt? I should have known.

Then I watched the CD - The Rocky LaPorte Show. Let's just say it probably wouldn't harm the kids to watch. I had never heard of Rocky LaPorte, who apparently is a stand up comic. If he wrote this, he wouldn't make the first cut for Last Comic Standing.

I followed the instructions to fill out another, almost identical, form regarding product preferences.

Then they called and wanted to know when I'd watched and wanted to call back tomorrow since it was important to survey a day after watching. "Now or never," I said, so he deigned to continue. Did I watch the CD? Did I fast forward through the commercials? (aha!) Now, before discussing the show, a few questions about detergent preferences.

"Hold on," I said. "I'll tell you what I think of the show, but I'm not answering all these questions about products. I'm not interested in doing a marketing survey. "

After some argument from the caller, who said that the questions must be answered, I wished him a good day and hung up.

Do companies really pay for the results of this "survey"? Do they think they are getting good information about their products?

After listening to Augusten Burrough's books A Year of Magical Thinking and Possible Side Effects hearing about his experiences in the advertising world, I'd say companies who fall for this sort of "market research" should have their collective heads examined.

They won't get me again!

Baby Emma

2007-07-14T18:53:00.001-07:00

We have a darling new granddaughter, Emma.

She is darling and precious, with dark hair and blue eyes. Her big sister Megan is crazy about her at the moment, but Emma's only been home a day or two, so we are expecting more sibling rivalry in the future. A wonderful sort of cousin, Katherine, has come to help Emma, Megan and their parents by entertaining whoever needs entertaining (including Grandmother Dearest) and she is delightful and a huge help.

Katherine is one of those volunteer relatives (her late father was married to my first cousin) that we treasure more than the relatives we are related to by blood - because we choose to be family.

In other news, we are anxiously awaiting Book 7 of the Harry Potter saga. We have tickets to the movie (#5) and everyone will get a new book at midnight on the 20th. Of course, I've preordered the book and the audio book.

In still other news, I'm working on a project to target one zip code in Dallas for intense spay/neuter promotion plus loose dog round up. An article in the current DMagazine profiles the terrible overpopulation of unspayed/unneutered dogs running loose in some areas of Dallas. The Metroplex Animal Coalition offers free spay/neuter in 14 different zip codes and the City of Dallas provides free spay/neuter if a person is already on public assistance - but many of the targeted population isn't getting the message. And the application (in English only) is long and has to be mailed before an appointment is set. Surely we can do better!

I propose to do a direct mailing to each address in a targeted zip code telling them in English and Spanish how to take advantage of these programs.

Baby names

2007-06-17T19:13:00.000-07:00

In about 20 days we'll have grandchild #3 from daughter #1. We already have grandchild #1 Megan and grandchild #2 Andy.
This leads me to consider baby naming.

When my daughters were born, we (I - having C-sections and looking pale and wan, trumped all my husband's desire to name them Eleanor or Elaine), named them after family members and gave them family surnames as middle names.

I preached strenously for 30 some odd years about the benefits of family names "you know your child will someday say 'why am I named Matilda or Byron' and you can say 'because we loved aunt Matilda, or uncle Byron' - BUT if you name them Chase or Tiffany or Brittany, how can you look at that child in 5 years and say - "but she was sooo cute on the Mouskeeters!").

However, names seem to be dated. Census takers apparently can deterime your age by your name.

My grandmothers' generation Gladys, Mae (May) Ruby, Jewel, Opal, Esmeralda

My mother's generation - Beverly, Lucile, Nancy, Jo, Flossie, Fannie.

My generation - Linda, Sandra, Joy, Lynn, Kay, Barbara, Susan, Judy, Mary Beth (all double names), Tammy, Debbie

My daughters' generation - Katherine, Kathryn, Catherine. Elizbeth, Mary, Emily, Tracy, Stephanie, Lisa, Jennifer

My grandaugters' generation - Megan, Isabella, Emma, Frances, Mary, Kate, Lydia, Margaret, Emily.

Mosquitoes

2007-06-09T19:08:00.000-07:00

Dallas has been inundated with rain. We've had a hard-to-fix roof leak on that stupid flat roof. (Why would anyone have a flat roof anywhere but in West Texas or the Middle East?) And the mosquitoes are out in force. Every door of our house has a colony of the biters lurking, just to try to get in. I have the pests in my car! My new perfume is Deep Off Woods (25% Deet) and I have about 12 current bites. Fortunately, these aren't the kind that give West Nile Virus.

To make matters even more annoying, my husband does not get bitten. Oh, he'll get the occasional tick attached to tender parts when we go to the ranch, but mosquitoes just don't like him. He doesn't spray at all and he just never gets bitten. NO fair.

I'm waiting anxiously, for someone to do his DNA and give me some of that.

Gum chewing

2007-04-20T20:34:00.000-07:00

I know this is trivial with war, insane college shooters and out-of-control TV coverage, but gum chewing is driving me crazy. I think there must be a requirement for postal employees that they perfect gum chewing before being allowed to work the desk at the post office. Seriously, when was the last time you stood in line and actually watched a post office work NOT chomping away?

My aunt Jane (born in 1902) wrote in her diary that "they were so naughty - they chewed gum!" And my mother thought gum chewing should be done only in private.

Just look at Britany Spears - doesn't the fact that she's always chewing away (mouth open, of course) just punctuate the fact that she's just trashy?

Writing Contest, life lessons

2007-03-28T20:43:00.000-07:00

In between editing the pet magazine, preparing the library budget and grandmothering, I have entered the over 60 PEN Texas contest. As background, I remember leafing through a book in the library at the Theta house in Austin in around 1964 and being fascinated with an account of a life told in checks. The series of checks revealed a life in Hollywood in 1931 (writen by Wuther Grue) and published in a big book.

Last year I came across the same book ( Vanity Fair 1931) and thought that this could be adapted to Dallas from the 70s to 2006 and tell the life of a privileged young woman. It was harder than I thought to organize the events and the different banks (there were lots of bank changes in the time)! Anyway, I sent it off and we'll see.

I used events from my own daughters' lives (the OB/GYN, the ballet school, cotillion) but other events (obviously, since my daughters grew up to be perfect, unspoiled, intelligent and beautiful) are made up or drawn from friends or acquaintences who weren't so blessed. Looking at their lives makes me realize that you can do everything you think is right and still be wrong.

Family history

2007-03-10T18:26:00.000-08:00

In my spare time I've been organizing the mound of family papers - putting them in binders titled with family names;
Egan
Dean
Camp
Flanary
Armstrong
Stroud
Camp
Walling
Breeding
Crozier
Smyth (or Smythe)
Kuhn
Denton
and others.

It has been fascinating and I've been lucky to be the family historian. Most of the men in my husband's family have left a personal record of who they are and from where they came.

Here's mine:

I was born in Pecos, Texas December 3, 1943, the second child of John Robert "Bob" and Nancy Elizabeth Camp Dean. My older brother was born October 31, 1939. My younger brother was born July 25, 1949 and my younger sister born September 1, 1952.

Pecos, a town of about 15,000 people at the time, was a great place in which to grow up. We had prosperity from oil, gas, cantaloupes (the World's Best) and cotton. My father and grandfather operated an abstract office - very important in determining ownership of mineral properties - and Daddy and his cousin Marcus Dingler operated cotton and cantaloupe fields.

Our high school provided us with exemplary education with outstanding teachers and many of us went off to colleges. I went to Christian College in Columbia, Missouri (which a cousin had attended) then transferred to the University of Texas (at Austin - a suffix not required in 1963).

My father's family moved to Pecos, Texas in 1918 (when he was 8) from Carlsbad, New Mexico. (He was the youngest of four siblings - Jane, Bill, Jr, Katherine).

Mother was the youngest of her family, as well. She had two brothers, Hilliard and Keith. She was born in Pecos in 1916 and was delivered by her father, Dr. Jim Camp.

More fascinating family history later.

black pants, braces

2007-03-10T18:18:00.000-08:00

Ok - I've ranted about maternity clothing. Now I want to rant about grown women's clothing. Have you noticed that all the "new" looks (tunics, empire waists etc) look like maternity clothing? I'm 63 - I don't want to look pregnant! I want to look put together and stylish (not to mention, this) - if I can achieve that without itching, holding my stomach in, or sweating.

I looked at the mall today for plain lightweight black pants - cotton blend. It's too hot in Texas to wear heavy polyester or even microfiber. We need cotton with a little spandex for shape. We older women want a little camoflage of the bumps and rolls - no thin fabric - and give us a little room, for goodness sake! Anyway, no luck with black cotton-blend pants. I think the Chinese look of black pants and jacket would look great. I'm looking online.

In other news, I've decide to get braces to correct the overcrowding of my lower teeth. So far, ouch. The benefit of orthodontia at an advanced age is wine.

Ugly, ugly

2007-02-02T17:05:00.000-08:00

Well, I've looked everywhere and there are no good-looking maternity clothes. My oldest (of three) daughters is having her second baby in July and we went shopping yesterday. Destination Maternity is a store here which carries Mimi Maternity, A Pea in the Pod and other brands under the same roof - and it's all ugly! I checked out Sears, Motherhood and Penney's today - ugly, ugly. And cheap-looking.

Who decided that the "look" for pregnant women is an empire line (which hits most pregnant breasts about the nipple) and thin, jersey-like fabric which clings so closely that nipples and bellybuttons are in high relief? Ugh.

Looking back on pictures of me in maternity clothes back in the 60s and 70s, I'm surprised I wasn't arrested they were so short. But they did cover the vitals. They were dresses (for the most part) which hung from the shoulders and were made of thicker fabric. They didn't disguise the pregnancy but they didn't thrust it in the face of passersby, either.

I'll bet they were also more comfortable and cooler (a big advantage for a big, hot body) as well as being easier to navigate the frequent bathroom stops.

I had the bright idea of finding a maternity jumper dress made from a wool crepe or light gaberdine which Elizabeth could wear with or without a blouse or T-shirt underneath. She could wear that to the office, to lunch or even out for dinner with appropriate accoutrements. I couldn't find anything like that. They do have denim ones with cutsie embroidry, but anywhere you would wear that, you could wear jeans.

Maybe I'll have one made (I gave up my sewing machine after the disaster of the purple velvet pants suit, which I made with the nap going up on one leg and down on the other.)

Ears and Years

2007-02-02T04:39:00.000-08:00

We attended the University of Texas Chancellor's Council meeting here in Dallas last weekend.

They presented a fascinating program at UT Dallas (the UT system has nine academic campuses and six medical ones) - showing off the latest in nanotechnology, brain studies and art. Their interdiscipilnary coordination between the science and art departments boggle the less-than-young mind.

Then we reconvened at UT Southwestern Medical School and heard about the coordinaton between Callier Center for Communication (used to be just speech and hearing challenges), UT Dallas Engineering school and UT Southwestern Medical. They are doing ground-breaking work on deafness and cochlear implantation.

Did you know:
Hearing aids supply amplification; cochlear implants electically replace the tiny hairs in the inner ear which transmit impulses to the brain which allow you to hear.

They can do a cochlear implant in childen as young as 6 months.

A cochlear implant never (so far - they've been being implanted for the last 20 or so years) needs to be replaced as the inner ear is adult size at birth.

Children can't learn to speak if they can't hear.

Getting a cochlear implant can result in loss of any residual hearing.

Studies show that background noise can sometimes be eliminated with two implants.

Technology is coming up with new systems to deliver sounds to the deaf - future systems may include hardware that looks and acts a like PDA.

In more news, we are having our 45th high school reunion and about a fourth of our class of 97 will attend. I expect lots of laughing over old pictures and oohs and ahhs over the photos of the grandchildren - some of whom are in their 40s. In our old days, people didn't wait until their late 30s to marry and have children. Some of our classmates married at 18 or 19 and had children right away - AND some are even still married to their original spouse! What a concept!

Maybe it's not the schools

2007-01-21T10:57:00.000-08:00

Charles Murray, the co-author of The Bell Curve, has written a series of three articles for the Wall Street Journal on the part intelligence plays in the classroom. In my opinion, it is the brilliant exposition of a serious flaw in our educational system.

Here’s what I understand his studies to show:

There is a wide range of levels of intelligence in the American classroom.

Half of all children are below average in intelligence. We are not from Lake Wobegon (where all the children are above average).

“Our ability to improve the academic accomplishment of students in the lower half of the distribution of intelligence is severely limited “

A good teacher may be able to bring up the grades of a motivated intelligent (IQ above 100) student, but even an exceptional teacher is not able to impact the ability of the student with an IQ much under 100.

“Some say that the public schools are so awful that there is huge room for improvement in academic performance just by improving education. There are two problems with that position. The first is that the numbers used to indict the public schools are missing a crucial component. For example, in the 2005 round of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 36% of all fourth-graders were below the NAEP's "basic achievement" score in reading. It sounds like a terrible record. But we know from the mathematics of the normal distribution that 36% of fourth-graders also have IQs lower than 95.”

Food for thought!

Raising Children in Your Spare Time

2007-01-15T05:59:00.000-08:00

I pulled out one of my old time favorite books on child rearing to see what it had to say about two-year-olds now that both babies, (uh toddlers,) are two.

They seem to be learning a new word daily, plus learning how to open and close doors among other scary lessons. And they are learning how to push mama's and grandmother dearest's buttons by refusing to put on jackets, deciding that their formerly favorite meal is now poison and having contrary opinions about everything.

"How to Raise Children at Home in Your Spare Time" written in 1966 by Dr. Marvin J. Gersh, was a book I initally found at the Austin Public Library when I was pregnant with Elizabeth, so at least 38 years ago. It's a little out of date now, but it was reassuring with practical and tongue-in-cheek advice. His theory seemed to be that childraising was too serious to be taken seriously.

However, I think I need to get Vicki Iovine's toddler book to see what she advises about this new stage.

Brain Health

2007-01-11T07:40:00.000-08:00

I heard a lecture yesterday about keeping your brain healthy and it was fascinating.

The Center for BrainHealth® , out of the University of Texas at Dallas, is dedicated to achieving an individual's highest mental and communicative potential to optimize brain health after brain injury, brain disease, and natural aging. www.brainhealth.utdallas.edu.

Sandra Chapman, PhD, made several points that stuck with me.

1. Forgetting is good. Somethings don't need to be remembered (trivia, your fourth-grade teacher's birthday, long ago negative experiences). Replace them with postive memories.

2. Don't have general anesthesia if you don't have to. It puts a ding in your brain that takes a long time to overcome.

3. Older people do forget details but remember the gist. Cultivate getting the big picture.

4. Keep learning, but find something you are already find interesting. Don't take up calculus or sudoku or French if you don't like it. Get better at something you already do well.

5. Multitasking can be overwhelming. Focus on the important things.

6. Forgetting and disorientation are not normal signs of aging. Consult a specialist - your gynocologist or dentist may not know. The Center for Brain Health is proposing a "baseline" brain checkup (like in mammograms or colonoscopy) so changes can be monitored and treated.