Twenty-nine years ago today, I was crossing the hall from the bathroom to the bedroom at my friend Patricia Butler’s house in Austin when I heard the distressed voice of a news commentator on television as he reacted to the unexpected explosion of the space shuttle Challenger less than two minutes into its launch. I…
Category: Family
A Quick and Delicious Chinese Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe
I made this soup last night and it is something that can be whipped up in no time. The key is to have this secret ingredient available: This concentrated chicken broth takes just a few minutes to prepare and is always delicious. The recipe goes like this: Saute in 2 tablespoons of olive oil: 2 cloves…
My Very First Art Class as an Adult
I am not known for my artistic ability. I enjoy wonderful art and appreciate the skill that others bring to painting, sculpting, and pottery but producing beautiful pieces of art has never been part of my experience. That is until tonight when I attended my first art class since middle school…or maybe even elementary school…
Shared Birthday Weekend Celebration
I have spent the last two days at our orange grove in Ojai with my family celebrating daughter Liz’s 29th birthday and my upcoming (next Wednesday) 62nd birthday. Ray and I arrived on Friday afternoon and returned today (Sunday) late afternoon. Our time with family, first at Surfers’ Beach in Ventura for several hours on…
To Elizabeth, On the Eve of Her Birthday
Tomorrow is the birthday of my beloved daughter, Elizabeth Beaty, who will be moving right up the line with the magic number 29. I happen to know that Elizabeth reads my blog, so this is the perfect spot to express my feelings without dissolving into a blubbering mess, which I would most certainly do if…
Happy Upcoming Birthday, Cousin Lee Leatherwood
Dear Lee, You have been my friend for as long as I can remember. You, who were born six days earlier than I, in the very same hospital and who lived less than a block away from me until we were five. At that point, we lived a whole five blocks away until we graduated…
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…
Church, Catfish and Books
Today, we went to church at St. Stephen’s Episcopal church where we saw old friends and met the new priest. This was the church where we went with my mother when we lived in Sherman, and it holds many memories for our family. Ray and I had our wedding blessing there, our nieces were baptised…
Christmas Eve
It is 2:21 am so this will be short. Returned from Midnight Mass just a bit ago. It was beautiful! We spent the afternoon and early evening at Sarah’s and celebrated our Christmas. Here are a few pictures. A lovely day filled with lovely people. Merry Christmas to all.
20 Minutes a Day 