July 8, 2003
Backdating
Step and I are back from California. We had a fabulous time there, took some great pictures (I'll add a link as soon as they are up), and came back with lots of wonderful ideas for future vacations. Since I didn't bother to hunt for an internet connection while away, I didn't get to maintain my journals as well (or not) as I usually do. I'm trying to fill in the blanks with backdated entries as best I can...my first first vacation entry is dated June 28, 2003 and called Bertha and Frank.
July 9, 2003
Vacation Pictures
(Click on the photo to link to the index of our vacation pictures)
This picture is from one of my favorite exhibits at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I swear I could stand in front of this wall of jellyfish for hours! I think I'll include a jellyfish wall in the living room whenever we get around to remodeling.
July 20, 2003
...and I said
(ref. Elizabeth's blog)
what Kathleen should read...what college freshmen wouldn't look forward to playing cards with his older cousins (married and female or not) when we can also offer him fresh, cold milk and hot, home-baked cookies?
what Kathleen should NOT read...maybe he wouldn't mind if we also offered to liquor him up ;-)
July 25, 2003
Brother Dan
My brother, Danny, has been in town this week for work. It's nice that he remembered to call to let me know he was here...
On Wednesday night, Danny picked me up after work and we went to Central Market for some picnic supplies (mostly cheese, crackers, and fruit). Then we met Stepan, Homer, a HS friend of Danny's, Taylor, and a college friend of hers, Ellen, at Zilker Park for Blues on the Green, a free concert hosted by a local radio station. This concert featured Ray Wylie Hubbard with Bugs Henderson…the music was pretty good, but I find it extremely difficult to listen to live music while visiting with family and friends…I’m constantly torn between talking and listening or trying to get Stepan to dance with me. The weather was perfect for an outdoor event due to some rain that moved through the area at lunchtime. I didn’t get to talk much with Taylor, but Ellen, who is getting married in November, and I had talked most of the night about wedding photographers, cakes, websites, etc. etc. etc. It’s amazing to me that I love to talk about all things wedding.
Last night, Danny surprised me with another call. He wanted to hang out with me at my house for while. I would have thought that he would have thought that one night with the sister-unit would be enough to fulfill his sibling obligations for this trip. In reality, he just needed a place to hang until a late night party he was invited to got started. Whatever the reason, we had a great time playing backgammon and enjoying the kielbasa that Stepan grilled for us.
He may be back in town next week. If that is the case, I hope we can arrange to have Elizabeth over for a couple of rounds of euchre.
July 26, 2003
A Fish Tale
coming soon to a theatre near you!
There's a creek that runs through the park behind our house. In that creek lives a variety of fauna - minnows, crawdads, turtles. Earlier this year, a nice size gold fish appeared there as well. It seemed like the perfect fishy place to live...until the hot, dry, Texas July started sucking the water slowly, but surely out of the section of the creek that Goldie called home. Day by day, Stepan and I would walk by the diminishing pond and ponder the extra inch of mud exposed on the banks.
This morning, we decided that enough was enough. The poor fish was living in an area about the size of my closet and containing less than a foot of water! It was time we took action. So we headed back to the house to collect a couple of buckets, the video camera, and some muddin' clothes.
Suffice it to say that the fish didn't enjoy the experience though it is now living in a much more water-stable environment, Stepan got fairly dirty, and we now have footage for an interesting home movie short. So stay tuned...I'm sure Stepan will post the movie as soon as it's ready for public consumption.