We decided to drive back to CA in an old car we recently bought as a knock-around car. The reason? So we could leave the van in Texas for the upcoming trip to bring the Airstream to the orange grove. Things were fine last night when we drove to Amarillo where it was 18 degrees….
Month: January 2015
Standing Up to Fear
I have been thinking a lot today about the idea of censorship. How critical it is that we don’t fall victim to the fear that what we think and feel might bring trouble if we speak up and share our thoughts. Free speech is one of the fundamental components of a free society; without it,…
A Varied Texas House Experience
This is our last night at our house here in Texas, at least for a while. Ray will return fairly soon, but it may be a couple of months before I get back to the Lone Star State. We have had quite a time here, this round. We enjoyed a vacation house experience for our…
Road Trip Preparations
We are preparing for our westward trip back to LA. We will be leaving on Thursday and plan to arrive home on Friday night. We have been hustling around today attending to a multitude of small tasks, all of which need to be completed before we take to the road. Also, we have seen many…
A Cold Winter’s Night and an Old Fashioned Heater
I am sitting in our quiet house here in Texas. Our Scottie, Sammie, is lying in the chair opposite me and Ray is in the kitchen. Cordelia is somewhere in the house, probably curled up on the floor near Ray. It is 10:30 at night on a cold January night. The temperature outside is 36…
Brene Brown’s Talk on Critics in LIfe
Below is a great 99 U talk by Brene Brown entitled, “Why Your Critics Aren’t the Ones that Count.” I am gearing up for my 2015 writing goals. I found this talk, which is 21 minutes long, to be helpful. I hope you will, too. Here is the link. 99 U has a tagline: Insights…
Hearing Aids: A New Era
Yesterday my first cousin’s wife, Elaine, an audiologist, may have saved my marriage. She administered a hearing test after learning that my family has been complaining about my mishearing for the past year or two or three. The gist: 2 new hearing aids that Elaine described as the equivalent of reading glasses. Not a lot…
Day in Austin
Ray and I are in Austin visiting our extended family here. We had dinner tonight with lots of nieces, nephews, cousins, and sister-in-laws. We also saw our new great-niece, who is a contemporary of our grandchild, Luna. Lots of love, laughter, good food and positive energy. Hard to beat all of that. Thank you, Lee…
Results from Ancestry DNA Test – A Christmas Gift from My Kids
My kids wanted to give us information on our ancestry (and theirs) for Christmas and I just received the results. Turns out that I am 96.6% Northern European, with relatives primarily from the British Isles, a few from Germany and France and then the big surprise – I am 3.2% Sub – Saharan African, more…
20 Minutes a Day 