To Dad...

...thanks.*


Thank you* for leading our family with strength and integrity. Your legacy is not just one of words, although your sermons are beautifully crafted with time and thought and study, but your legacy is also one of passion...of kindness in action...of accepting people where they are. We kids would sometimes get exasperated with you as you befriended hobos and loners and the poor and the mentally or physically disabled and sometimes just the Truly Weird, but now we see your gift for what it really is...Christ in action. Even though He came to love and serve and *save* us all--even the smug and lazy and self-satisfied--He has a special place in His heart for the ones who are searching.

(The funny thing is that those are the people we remember most fondly now. While the teenager in me wished that you could make friends with "normal people," the colorful cast of characters who passed through our home made it richer and more interesting...and nothing, NOTHING is worse than boring. And, on reflection, many of the people you embraced at the fringe of society are among the finest people I've ever met!)

*** And to any of Dad's friends who stumble upon this blog...I'm certainly not talking about you. (Unless you're the weird professor who wore the fake eye patch and told dirty jokes. Or the creepy guy who didn't like the way I made his cup of tea while we waited for Dad to come home. Because, yeah, I'm totally talking about you two.) ***

My very favorite picture of you...ever.

(It's no wonder you make friends so easily...
just look at those DIMPLES!)

* "My dear papa, how shall I thank you?
It is easy to thank when
the gift of kindness is little.
It is difficult to thank
when it is great."
--John Ruskin

Dolly's fifteen minutes of fame!

About 22 seconds in, "Miss Dollywood" makes her Big Debut!

Mayor's Hike - Lake Abilene from infocusdigital on Vimeo.

Thanks SO MUCH to Infocus Digital for inviting Dolly to help spread the word about the Mayor's Hike! See y'all at Abilene State Park on June 27th.

Country of the Day: ESTONIA!

Thanks to Cousin Eva for the tip about the Estonian view of Europe!

Are you familiar with the Kitten Mitten?

Max was clearly NOT impressed with the "Kitten Mitten," a gift I brought my only grandchild. With jangly balls and catnip, it seemed a sure smash hit. Designed to protect the hand of the wearer from kitty scratches (remember back in February when Linda, my old college roomie, came down with Cat Scratch Fever?), I thought Max would just flip for it.

But no matter how hard I tried...

...Max would have NONE of it.

Surprisingly, neither would Bethany!

On the other hand...

...I lost my MIND with love for the Kitten Mitten!

This cat toy gets two thumbs up and a hearty recommendation from the most Non-Cat Person you know, so it must be good. If your cat is even remotely playful, invest in the Kitten Mitten. (Available online here--and be sure to read the consumer reviews!)

Finally, thanks to Kirsten for sending me to Meg Cabot's blog and to Meg, the author & minx who shared THIS CLASSIC VIDEO REMAKE with the world.

And if you liked that, you might enjoy Falisha & Bethany's favorite:

You haven't really lived until you've sung "Total Eclipse of the Heart" at the Alamo Drafthouse's Power Ballad Sing-Along with Bethany & Falisha, btw.

Hooray for a-ha & Bonnie Tyler! Hooray for beautiful daughters! Hooray for the weird and wonderful 'Eighties!

Because Mom's afraid I forgot to pack a camera...

Check it out, Momma! I remembered the camera AND I even borrowed the school's new Flip camera to get you some video of the ceremony itself. Doug did a *terrific* job. You would have been so proud. Everyone sends their love...but your handsome brother sends the most love of all.

More pics coming to my Flickr site once I get back to Abilene (prettiest town I ever seen). So far, we've played with Max, hiked at McKinney Falls State Park, shopped at Central Market, swum at Barton Springs, eaten at Chuy's, and celebrated at Red Corral Ranch! (Right now, the kids are at Tyler's soccer game while I rest my sunburned shoulders on the futon, pet Max--and wipe his drool off the computer, and watch a DVD of classic Edward R. Murrow interviews. So far, he's interviewed Milton Berle, Jerry Lewis, Sammy Davis, Jr, etc.) What a wonderful weekend!

The only troubling things are that we saw a dog pass away today at Barton Springs and that Ben is still missing after getting out of our back gate. These two things are very much on my mind and in my prayers right now. Bethany and I were very shaken after seeing the dog in distress, not to mention the guilt and worry of his owner. However, if a ten-and-a-half year-old dog passes away playing in the water of Barton Springs after a lifetime of adventure, it was a life well-spent. If any of us die splashing in the legendary Austin swimming hole at the age of seventy-five, let's agree to chalk that up in the "Win" column.

P.S. Gotta' run. Max just broke Bethany's neon sign! ARGH!

P.P.S. Bethany was cool about it. She and Tyler helped me clean up all the glass, and Max didn't get in any trouble!

Recycled.

Thought stream #1: "Hey, before I leave for Austin today, all of the drink containers in this car should go in the school's recycle bins!"

Thought stream #2: "THIRTEEN water bottles and two cans? All in one Tribute? Yeah, I need to clean out this car more often. Wait...this one has the sport top for the dog; gotta' keep that. Hold on...this one is the brand-new one from yesterday, when Dolly was being filmed in Nelson Park. But still, ELEVEN water bottles? That's ridiculous."

Thought stream #3: "When do I get to see Bethany?"

Thought stream #4: "If they don't let us go until 2:00, I'll hit those crazy Austin traffic jams. And there will be no water supply in here to keep me alive! They'll find my dehydrated corpse in the right-hand lane of I-35!"

BOOK BELLES!

Have you seen my Flickr page lately? I've added the lucky 13 photos I found in Canton of girls and books! Check out the BOOK BELLES! set HERE.


And since it would be sexist to exclude men who read, the BOOK BEAUX set is HERE. (Yeah, it's a little skimpy compared to the gals' set...so send me a photo for my collection to get the boys all caught up!)

P.S. BIG thanks to my momma for giving Alzheimer's a kick in the keester and DOUBLING the amount raised on my Memory Walk page! Love you, Mom!

P.P.S. Big thanks to Kirsten, who just sent me two new photos for my BOOK BEAUX! Flickr set. I have to personally own them to put them in the set, so now I have two to print at Walgreens.

Goodbye, Alzheimer's. Don't let the door hit ya on the way out.

My grandparents, Russ and Lea Fowler.

Help end Alzheimer's! Click here to sponsor me in this year's Memory Walk. I'm on Team Libby and walk to honor Libby and my grandmother, Lea Emma (Reid) Fowler.

My friend and team captain, Libby Embry.

Furniture shoppin'

Hey, Russ! The next time we go to Greensboro, let's get "Galactic Burritos" at The Acropolis on Eugene, visit The Clothesline (the best consignment store EVER), and make a side trip to High Point for a little furniture shopping!

Want to know how they made it? Click on, Brother.

Author, author!

We miss Cali Gonzales already! Saltwater editor of Texas Fish & Game magazine and also an editor at Sport Fishing magazine, Mr. Gonzales was a big hit this week at Madison with students and teachers alike.
Full Flickr photostream at http://www.flickr.com/photos/mad4books .

Fifties day has come and gone, as well. It's hard to believe that this is Mrs. Lineweaver's final 'Fifties Day...and harder to believe that she doesn't look one bit sad or nostalgic! She and Sonja are so excited to retire! (We miss them already, too.)


Now it's time for the biggest party of the year...the Lone Star awards luncheon this Wednesday at noon (exhausting!) and the retirement reception for Ms. Lineweaver, Ms. Smith, Ms. Perez, and Mr. Owens Wednesday after school (not too exhausting...I'm only in charge of Bison coins and nuts). Look for pics this Thursday!

In culinary news...

With a heavy heart, I've consumed the last bottle of the BEST SALAD DRESSING EVER. (Still delicious, even though it was MONTHS past the expiration date.) Goodbye, "Classic Greek with Imported Olive Oil" by New England Inn Recipes...you will be sorely missed.

Here's something weird...according to Google Analytics, most strangers who navigate to this blog from search engines land on the February, 2008 lament that this salad dressing had apparently been discontinued. They arrive using keywords like "crowley & shay's gourmet foods" and "crowley new england inn dressing" and every other conceivable combination of significant keywords.
And here's why I'm FINISHED trying to grow tomatoes in Abilene...

Birds. Horrible birds.

Sticking their filthy, avian-flu-riddled beaks into every tomato *just* as it begins to ripen.

Eating even the remotely pink ones down to the nub.

Houston saw a mockingbird reveling in the planter the other day as if it were his own personal salad bar. It is so frustrating because fresh tomatoes are one of the BEST things about summer. (One of my favorite memories is when Russell and Bethany and I grew cherry tomatoes at our duplex on Minter Lane. We had the BEST tomatoes in that sandy soil, and Bethany would eat them like candy. We also had marigolds and hot peppers...and even wild strawberries near the leaky, perpetually wet AC unit!)

In other news, the basil and rosemary are doing GREAT. The cilantro has already gone to seed; we cut it back to stalks and are wondering if it will come back. Will post details about the peppers, if there's any good news.

To Mom...

...thanks.

Thank you, Mom. You and I both know how much you've done for me...and I rise up and call you blessed. (Proverbs 31:28)

I like Ike. And Mike. And links. (Lots of links.)

Here's an exchange from a December, 1958 interview Edward R. Murrow conducted with the handsome, charming Gene Kelly on Murrow's hit television show Person to Person.

Murrow: "Well, from what you say, I gather that you'd agree with the people who say that we Americans are just plain getting too soft. right?"

Kelly: "Yes. Yes, I do. I think that we should have done more about the physical fitness program of President Eisenhower. A couple of years ago, he had great talks about going ahead with something nationally. We never did. Over 30, men don't take enough care of themselves--including myself--we all let ourselves go."

Murrow: "Too true, unfortunately!"

Oh, dear. Those two legends had no idea that so many Americans, including Yours Truly, would be so out of shape 51 years later! In fact, the doctor fussed at me about my weight on Monday, and so it's time to get back on the wagon. The brittle, dry, Wasa fiber-cracker, Sugar Buster wagon.

(Actually, I'm kinda' looking forward to the challenge...it's going to be harder to lose the weight now that I'm in my forties, but if I did it in 2002, I can do it again! As my college roomie Linda used to say, "I'm the boss of what I put in my mouth and am solely responsible for my own weight!" )

And though I'm still pretty weak from strep throat and have no plans to exercise today, I'm gonna' hit the track AND gym hard this weekend! (May Bee & Dolly will be so happy!) Plus, you all know how much I love Mike Huckabee (who lost 110 pounds after being diagnosed with diabetes, y'all!); he and Chuck Norris are always preaching physical fitness so we'll do an extra lap for our boys, Mike and Chuck.

Hey, Damon, HOPE's preacher, put his sermon online so I didn't miss it, after all! (We're in the middle of a series on prayer.) Canton was fun, but it's a bummer to miss church. (Lauren & Curtis recently announced that they're leaving HOPE for grad school, and it makes me so sad.) That's the bad part about becoming friends with all of these ACU and Dyess folks...they keep leaving! The Thompsons, the Pattersons, the Driskells, Kadie, the Harmons, the Masseys, and tons of others...it's getting to the point where I'm almost afraid to like anyone!

Like Marsha in Season Two of Spaced...these young people keep breaking my heart!! (And if you haven't put both seasons of Spaced in your NetFlix queue, you are robbing only yourself. Overlook their horrible language, please, because the show is wonderful, and THANK YOU to Falisha to sharing it with me!!)

And finally, HOPE finally won a church league softball game! Go, Wildcats!!! Lauren (the one I'm going to miss) emailed me this picture of the team prayer after the game, noting that if you look really closely, you can see their win on the scoreboard. :-)

GLEE!

Thanks to Meg Cabot's blog for sharing the glee!

Unwell? Yep. Unhealthy? Check.

The best photo of our weekend in Canton!
(Aren't these two spectacular?)

Had a blast on the Big Shopping Trip of 2009, even though I hardly bought anything and woke up sick on the last day. We laughed until our sides hurt...from the time we got there on Friday and discovered while unpacking that ALL SEVEN of us had brought wine, continuing through Libby's fall into the hot tub, the Bra Incident, the White Elephant gift exchange, and our free breakfast before we all went our separate ways...some to the Tyler Rose Garden and zoo, some to the Tanger Outlets, and some back to Abilene.

Last night's fever of 101 is down to 100, but it still seems prudent to go to the doctor. (The appointment is in about an hour, and although it's probably just a sinus infection, the thought of sitting in a doctor's office during the Level Five Swine Flu Pandemic is rather off-putting.) At least I have the AISD Kindle 2 to keep me company...I'm not touching ANY of those H1N1-infected doctor's office magazines!

And finally, here's one of my favorite parts of Dad's sermon yesterday which I read for a devotional this morning. He quotes a Dr. Allen Hunt:

"Most Americans define themselves by what they have or what they do. That is dangerous territory to inhabit. Your life is not defined by what you own, possess, or have. Nor is your life best defined by what you do for a living, whether lawyer, athlete, or auto mechanic.

A part of you craves meaning and purpose. Listen to that voice within your soul. Tune out the voices around you that insist you buy more, consume more, borrow more, and own more. The more you possess, the more you will worry about it. The more time you will invest in caring for your stuff, and the more energy you will spend in insuring it and maintaining it. Your life consists of far more than the possessions you pile up.

Simplicity is your friend, not your enemy."

Wow. I know he's right because my fever last night gave me nightmares and, apparently, what I fear losing most has nothing to do with stocks or bonds or *things* at all...money has nothing at all to do with what is PRECIOUS.

Happy Monday, everyone! Listen to the President and wash your hands

UPDATE: Strep throat. My first-ever case of strep. (I'm so visibly swollen that my new best friend, Cecille, at the United Pharmacy on 14th Street thought at first that I had a toothache! BTW, Cecille is the all-time coolest...a pharmacist who will remind you of your mom!)