The Duke is IN THE HOUSE!

Glen Rose was a bevy of activity last weekend. Trick-or-treaters of every age dressed up for the safe trick-or-treating at all the local businesses. My personal favorite were the two "nuns" outside Angels with Attitude, replete with yardsticks. I'll admit, I sat up a little straighter as I drove by....

Fossilmania was also in town. Hundreds of fossil collectors gathers to show, sell or trade their treasures at the Expo Center.

Lord's Acre at the First United Methodist Church was held to great success. The Barbecue was a big hit and the weather was picture perfect- a crisp autumn day under sunny skies with very little wind. For we Texans who just survived the hottest, driest summer in Texas history, the fall atmosphere was all the sweeter. A few of us crooners sang for the crowd during lunch, and then we all headed to the live auction. My sister Linda and her partner Karen arrived ten minutes before the silent auction and walked out of it with arms full. That is the way to get 'er done!!

The evening held a a highly anticipated event. Local artist Robert Summers' John Wayne sculpture is internationally known. It resides at the Orange County airport in California. The steel, Styrofoam and wax sculpture that served as the mold for the final bronze was brought back to Glen Rose and unveiled at the White Buffalo Art Gallery, where it will remain on permanent display.

As I stood with the crowd, I was taken back to a memory of the first time I saw the sculpture, back in 1999. I was in California for business and flew into the Orange County airport. When I spotted the John Wayne sculpture I was immediately struck by its larger than life size and spot on rendition of The Duke's walk. I stared at it in full appreciation for a good long time before heading out to grab my rental car. Here I was now in 2011, 12 years later, chatting with the artist in a crowd of many friends and acquaintances and art lovers, in the town that I have come to call home. I go to church with Robert's sister, Francis. I have met him and his wife several times and am friends with the gallery owner. I belong to the local art league, and my heart has come to belong to this town.

And now, in a small way, I feel like part of The Duke belongs to me.

Our Family is Growing

Tracy and I had wonderful news recently. Jerrod Ivy, Tracy's step-son since he was just three years old, has asked Jenette Brininger to marry him. We could not be more thrilled. The wedding is set for June 30 in Mesquite, TX. The lovely couple honored me by letting me take their engagement photos. It just brought so much joy to me to see their two fresh and young faces, with their whole lives ahead of them. Both smart and sensible and clearly in love.

We took photos on a muggy August morning, in the last days of the hottest Texas summer on record. And they were still smiling! Tracy made a fine photographer's assistant, carrying props from one place to another. As he and I close in on our first wedding anniversary, being a part of this great celebration makes it all the sweeter.

More good news, it looks like the 100-plus days are for the most part gone. None are in the forseeable forecast. I rode my bicycle this morning and was ALMOST a tiny bit chilled when I first started. Almost.

Glen Rose had its second annual Neo Relix Film Festival this weekend. I was a volunteer movie screener so got a free pass for the weekend. One of the highlights for me was Child of Giants: My Journey With Maynard Dixon and Dorothea Lange, a documentary about and narrated by their son Daniel. Tom Ropelewski, Daniel's son-in-law, directed and produced. Tracy and I got to chat with him a bit and learned more about this fascinating family. I also very much enjoyed Bag It, a sobering conservation documentary about where all of our single-use plastic cups, bags and bottles end up, and Sh! and Sushi, a movie and dinner event to watch a sneak preview of a documentary by an Austinite. All in all a great event, and I hope we get even more attendees next year!!

Tracy and I are headed to church this morning and then off to College Station. It is that time of year....first game of the season tonight for A & M. He watched movies with me yesterday, I will watch the game with him tonight....give and take!!

Have a safe Labor Day weekend!

Praying for Rain

Our house sits on the southwest corner of Somervell County, teetering on the edge between "Severe Drought" and "Exceptional Drought" according to a News8 graph I saw last night.

Tracy and I and the cats sit out front every morning to enjoy a few moments of relative cool and then mostly stay indoors until the sun sets. At night we head to the back deck to watch stars and meteors and satellites.

We have been on a burn ban for so long I can't even remember when it started. The grass in the pastures is a wan brown, and several trees within site are dying or dead. It is July 11. Lots and lots of summer days yet to come.

Every cloud gets a visual inspection by us, looking for any sign that it could mean rain is coming our way. So far very little has come since this winter.

Tracy waters our "xeriscaping" a couple of times a week- and we still lost a couple of sage bushes. Even the cacti look thirsty.

I am praying for rain. A good, slow, longlasting garden rain. I am praying that the drought ends, for Somervell County, for Texas. For the scraggly, skinny raccons and mouth breathing road runners that are getting by with salty water from our hot tub.

Lord, please rain on Texas and please, end this drought.

All Seven Sisters Together Again!

In today's hyper-busy world, with pressures from all sides, I consider it no small feat that we were able to bring seven sisters in from busy jobs- and busy lives- to a weekend of sister fun.
Karen joined us, too, making this a full-on sisterly gathering.

We took turns making meals, ate in Glen Rose once and managed to schedule in all our regular sister gathering activies: star gazing, hot tub soaking, river walking, poetry reading, singing, walking, all important water ballet, and even built our own sister cairn just outside my driveway.

Now I have a reminder of the wonderful weekend everytime I leave or come home.

No shooting stars in the night sky were more appreciated than the ones we saw! There is something about shared joy that makes it exponentially better. I was tuckered out after everyone left, but found myself smiling all Sunday afternoon as I put towels from our swimming adventure in the washer and dishes from our home cooked meals into the dishwasher.

I am already looking forward to next year!

Good and Ordinary Times

Last Friday I took the day off (except for that hour and a half I spent on a conference call and completing expense reports) to get ready for the weekend "festivities". My son Tim turned 30 on March 16! He came to Big Hill last weekend to celebrate with us, and I ordered a coconut cream pie from Pie Peddlers, one of Tim's favorites.

I was in the store chatting with my friend Betty Grace, who works there on weekends- and on Spring Break in this case- and as I was leaving experienced a palpable feeling of belonging, of happiness, of being home. I have learned to cherish those brief moments, small as they seem, because in the long run they are the times I remember as my happiest.

That good feeling carried over through the whole weekend. Ashley was home from College Station for the weekend, too. We didn't do anything special. We watched a movie, Tim and I played Scrabble, Ashley studied, I cooked, we all cleaned for a visit from my boss that never happened- but, boy! The house looked great! We sat outside and watched the evening fade to night and the Perigee moon rise over the horizon; we ate burgers at The Green Pickle and listened to a loud and kind of pushy band- "I like beer if you want to buy me one". What??

We slept in, but the "kids" slept in later. I gave Sweet Pea, my cat with very long and very thick fur, a bath to try and stave off her prolific shedding, and Ashley and I brushed the other three pets.

I played my new-to-me white Yamaha baby grand that Tracy bought after his house sold. This one came up on Craig's list just at the right time. I had traveled to Winnsboro, TX the weekend before to check it out and was delighted to find it had been in the loving care of a very nice woman. It will certainly have a happy home on Big Hill.

An ordinary weekend, but a really, really good one.