Happy Halloween!

Why not have TWO Philadelphia-related blogs in a row? Happy Halloween, everybody!
Hope you aren't egged or TPd tonight!

(Take in your pumpkins, y'all...)

FUN weekend!!!

Linda's 50th Surprise Birthday Party Weekend started with a trip to BILLADELPHIA'S (restaurant review here) with the Bush family (full story here), where you can get real Philadelphia-style cheesesteaks on Amoroso rolls...with birch beer...

...and Italian water ices (WAAAY better than snow cones)...

...and TASTYKAKES!!! The HOLY GRAIL of Pennsylvania cuisine!!!

They were out of my favorite, Koffee Kakes. (Yes, that's how they spell it...quit rolling your eyes.) I usually wouldn't tolerate such spelling tomfoolery, but these are a blast from the past!

In fact, Koffee Kakes are so amazing, it wouldn't matter if they called them "Cough-y Kakes."
I would gladly purchase them by the shopping cart. Or kart.

The karnage...a pizza steak wrapper, a Kandy Kakes sleeve--and a smile. :-)

Dan looked so content! They must be sneaking something narcotic into those Krimpets.

Then it was off to Plano to attend Linda's surprise party. (The Hostesses with the Mostest pose for a photo above.) We had a lot of fun getting to know each other and put faces to names while we waited for the birthday girl. Anne even got to hug old family friends!

Finally, after a few false alarms, the birthday girl arrived. Jessica answered the door, and the look on Linda's face when I stepped around the corner was one of pure puzzlement...and then everyone yelled "SURPRISE!"...and she finally realized what was going on!

Hugs all around!

Linda's baby picture, matted and awaiting notes from all the party goers.
(What a great idea, Anne!)

We laughed (and snapped pictures) ALL NIGHT LONG.

Professor McGonagall in the house!

Anne made the COOLEST movie, all about Linda's Favorite Things, plus a trivia quiz about the year 1959. (Seems like Linda actually *shares* a birthday with some of her favorite things, like Barbie, Alan Rickman, and Simon Cowell.) You heard right. She loves Simon Cowell. There's no accounting for taste...

CAKE!

Her gifts from the Abilene gang? English "biscuits" and tea...and
Seth Grahame-Smith's Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

Staying up and talking with Falisha until 1:00 in the morning...
and still making it to church ON TIME!!

And finally, taking time to thank God for such wonderful friends, great food, and safe travels. I was able to stop at Central Market on the way home, get Karen two pounds of Seltzer's sweet Lebanon bologna, and still get the church bulletin printed on time!

The bushes outside Falisha's church were COVERED IN BUTTERFLIES this morning...
what a glorious way to start a Sunday...hope your weekend was wonderful, too!

Where are your Kleenex? Look around...

...cuz you're gonna' need 'em.

Catalyst 2009 Compassion Moment from Catalyst on Vimeo.

Thanks to Tammy Marcelain for sharing this. I always, always leave her blog or photo blog feeling inspired.

And now for the one that got me this morning before school. (Mom, you're so lucky you're OFF on Fridays. You can listen to StoryCorps every week without wrecking your mascara!)

Click here for this morning's StoryCorps interview with Willie Jefferson & Chloe Smith.

Happy Weekend, everybody!

P.S. Fingers crossed in hopes that Russ & Amanda Faye will have time to put up some Sweet Baby James pics this weekend...I think they're waiting to see if we Texas Folk will get in our cars and drive to NC because we're so photo-deprived!! Well, we cry "Uncle!"...or "AUNT," as the case may be!! PHOTOS!! We beg for PHOTOS!

(Did he turn out homely, and you don't want us to know? Well, we don't care! Post some snapshots, even if he looks like a Cabbage Patch Kid or Charles Kuralt!)

Jealous.

So Karen just called from Pennsylvania, telling me how beautiful Wes & Joelle's wedding was, and what a fine job Dad did with the ceremony, and how great the groomsmen looked in their kilts, and how Houston's "Best Man" toast was a hit...

...and how great the food is (V&S Sandwiches and Mike's, but ran out of time before Paolo's), and how fresh the air smells, and how GORGEOUS the colors are right now...

...and how Mom, who broke her ribs in a fall Monday (three days into her Poconos vacation and five days before Wesley's wedding) is actually doing okay, thanks to her "Texas tough" attitude and some really good painkillers.

All week long I've been fretting about Mom's fall and how awful it was and how poorly-timed and how it could ruin her trip and make travel extra painful. One night, as I lay praying and worrying, God reminded me that three years ago, we went to The Poconos with Mom for what doctors predicted could be her last time (see photos above). Diagnosed with bronchiolitis obliterans with organizing pneumonia (BOOP), she was told she might only live for three more years...

...which really puts a few cracked ribs into perspective...

LOVE YOU, MOM!
GOOD JOB, DAD!
GOD BLESS YOU ALWAYS, WES & JOELLE!
GODSPEED, KAREN & HOUSTON!

And for Russ & me, who were unable to make the trip...the Pity Party ends tomorrow morning, when the Wedding Revelers have to drag themselves to work and school, dog tired, while we show up, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. (Or as bushy-tailed as you can be when you share a sleep schedule with a newborn...)

Husband? I don't need no stinkin' husband! :-)

Who needs a husband when you're an honorary Schumann and
FIVE MEN FROM GERMANY
will fix your car with a Phillips screwdriver and a two-by-four?

At one point, I offered Dirk (wielding the bed slat below) a bottle of my finest Lambrusco (quit laughing). He joked that only street people drink Lambrusco. (Well, street folk and librarians on a budget, apparently.)

So, as a feeble gesture to repay their kindness, I'm treating his wife, Tina, to a night on the town next week!

They were the absolute coolest. The finest. And now der Wagen is no longer kaput!! I can experience the joy of Fahrvergnugen once again...

Ann Arbor...so far

Trees. Real ones.

Fat squirrels with big, bushy tails...
instead of those red, half-starved ones we have.

Rain.

Ducks out the window.

Good conversation.

Loot.

Sports fanatics checking the score.

Old friends...who somehow knew to color coordinate!

Team Apps.

The most amazing food...in copious amounts!

Great wall art!

And finally, t-shirt shopping downtown after dinner!!

More database meetings tomorrow...so happy! It's hard to get anyone to talk databases to me in Abilene! (One librarian had a colleague ask if she were attending "NerdFest" this weekend, but I personally prefer "Burning Nerd"...)