§ A Long Awaited Visit...

Erik is back in Houston. We had a good time visiting. It was much needed I think...for us all. Naturally, we ate too much and got little exercise...playing games, cards, etc. Of course both of the guys used me as a "dummy hand". In other words, they cheat. lol [just kidding]. But, all the games we DID play, I don't think I won one. Gin Rummy, Hearts, Uno [a newer version, which is quite different than the old version], and Quadruple Scrabble [instead of triple word score there are four squares of quadruple word score] - a larger playing board and a longer game. This shown above is Erik's tiles at one point; he persevered tho and didn't exchange them.  Of course, Bud won that. I didn't make the pumpkin pie for him as I planned. He told us about a place in Houston that has blackberry cobbler 'to die for' delicious. His words exactly "freaking delicious". So, I opted to make him a cobbler with blackberries instead. Personally, I'd much rather have made a pie, but the guys loved the cobbler!!  I made brownie points with both.

One morning, after sitting at the table playing Uno most of the day the day before, I got up from a night's sleep and felt I just HAD to get outdoors and walk.  It was cloudy, had sprinkled before sunrise.  But, Erik and I went out anyway.  The weather didn't cooperate much while we walked the seawall area.  We had planned on walking at the island jetty but that was nixed since a tragedy had occurred overnight -I was awakened around 11 pm to the sound of helicopters and planes flying low over our house.  I knew it had to be Coast Guard at that hour!!...two teen brothers were caught in a rip current in the Gulf.  One was rescued, the other older brother's body was found two days later, drowned.  The area where we planned to walk was cordoned off for a body search at the time.  I can't help but feel the pain the parents/family are going through this whole time.  Sad.  People just don't realize how dangerous rip currents are.  You just can't get out of them for the panic mode most fall into when they find out they're trapped.  

Anyway, at the seawall, it was misting the whole time.  Otherwise, it still felt good to get away from sitting all day long.  I took only my cellphone with me once again so not to ruin my good camera with rain.  There were a few oddballs die-hards out walking with us at that time, but not many.

Palm Tree-lined walkway toward the direction of the Port of Corpus Christi Channel and the Culture Center

The tanker is enshrouded with mist. The two herons kept a vigil on us as we walked past them. The one photo with the traffic light & Federal Court House is where Interstate 37 begins on the map...

...and to continue showcasing my Trolls...

↓ My 5th Troll Share ↓

TROLL DOLL COLLECTION Military Camouflage USMC <> c: early 70s

§ Genealogy & a Clippet of Humor...

First thing Tuesday morning I found myself reading my son's text from the night before. One I missed, but sure got a kick out of it while eating my oatmeal breakfast! It was of Jay Leno's "Jaywalking" segments that he had on his late show periodically. I laughed again. Even tho I've seen 'em before. Here is the link to the entire series. Even tho it's nearly seven minutes long, it's well worth watching if you need a good laugh! I still consider it my favorite...Jay asks a person on the street "What U S President was nicknamed 'Tricky Dick'"? The gal's answer? "Bill Clinton"!!! Another good one is "What does the D. C. stand for in Washington D.C.?" Answer by some other - "Da Capitol". Click Here. I really think you'll enjoy it all. 

note: image is screenshot, no infringement intended.

Then, speaking of taking screenshots, I was doing a bit of research for our family's genealogy to see if any updates have been focused on since I published our heritage book of some 300 pages. Just for updates mainly. After 25  years of my life working on the book, I tend to check about once a year to see if I can find anything "new" which hasn't been covered in my publication. Or, maybe add births and deaths in my note files at the end of the book.  I came across a photo of an ancestor and had to stop and re-read it [I also have the original photo in my history collection]...the family is related to Gen. Phil Sheridan and Robert E. Lee. Here is a little snippet of the family history site from which I read...

Aunt of Gen Phil. Sheridan - and a distant relation of Gen Robt E. Lee.  She would be my children's great-great-great-great-great grandmother if my math is correct.

She is the mother of thirteen children, eight sons and five daughters; seven sons and four daughters still living. She has 107 grand children living. Fifty one grandsons, fifty six grand daughters. 136 great grand children, and four great great grandchildren. eighty one grand, 121 great grand, two great great grand children in Ohio.

She married on November 2, 1797 in St. Johns Parish Protestant Episcopa, Joppa, Harford, Maryland. Children:
Sarah
Rachel
John
James
Mary Ann
Jane
Elizabeth
William
Thomas
Lee
Archibald
Asberry
Alexander

Another 'new' item I found while perusing online was a painting of the kind of ship one of our anscetors crossed the Atlantic in! Even for me, today, it is just very difficult to imagine crossing in this small craft with hundreds aboard. They all must have been very determined, strong, souls. The image shared here is very large in size. You can read the blue highlighted area if interested. I had proof of the wife dying while at sea, but never the ship. One of the surviving sons was a direct decendant of our family that settled here in America...and his offspring times a few generations, eventually locating in Nebraska where I was born. In genealogy, PROOF is the most important! It may take years to find a record, but well worth the time, cost, travel, efforts.  And I will, to the last breath I take, continue to update anywhere, anytime, with anything I can find to pass it on to another generation.

If interested, and you're still here, reading...Here is a post showing you my published book on my family history.

§ I LOST an Hour Sleep that I Won't Find!!!

It was a Sunday morning. Typical first day of Daylight Savings Time...it really screws with my sleep habits!! After light of day came about, I could see there would be no yard work, no walking. Rainy, chilly as predicted. Outdoor activity was nixed. After visiting my birding 'friends' who link in over the weekend, I was done for the day. LOL It was gonna be a long day. I called my daughter. We chatted quite a while. Mostly about HER dissertation she is/will be working on for HER PhD. Just think, in a short time, I will be able to state clearly and proudly, that I raised TWO doctors. Doctors of Philosophy [...degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. According to wikipedia]. My son is working on his dissertation on Churchill [for his doctorate degree in Political Science/Government], and daughter is working on her doctorate/dissertation on public policy with social policy cognate, with specializing in a study on raising a child with special needs...a special study on Down Syndrome since that has been her life since our grandson was born. She has written articles on this a few times and one that I know of has been published. In a few minutes I will sit back and read some snippets of what she has so far. Of course, with both kids, this is a several year work in progress. Erik is in his 3rd year, and Irene is in her 2nd year. Once they begin writing their dissertation, the road to a title "Doctor" is a down hill ride, tho a lot of mental work to get a paper published...more challenging than studies the first years. Even tho the expense of it all is extreme, the two are living their dreams. That makes it all worth it!! 

The two of us here in Texas spent most of the day with a movie marathon.  First one watched was Hell or High Water [modern-day bank robbers in West Texas - starring Chris Pine *eye candy photo], Sahara [Archeological search for the Monitor -starring Matthew McConaughey *eye candy photo, which reminds me that recently, in the news, there are rumors of him running for Texas Governor against Abbott....hmmm], and one more movie, the- Phantom of the Opera.  More eye candy and great music compositions!!   I made vegetarian lasagna and all the fixins' for dinner, plus an apple pie for dessert.  The day was done!!

The 2 dozen bouquet of roses was from Bud, a surprise for our 53rd anniversary of first date that I posted about last week.

§ Dissertation...Book...Flowers...Hearts

It's been a while since I've shared nature's hearts.  Here are some from my archives where I save for future postings like today. Three leaves and one broken nest from a Kiskadee bird...

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This will be my last update on the birthday's Table Top Garden. I think most of the bulbs shipped in the planter have either bloomed or is now in full bloom, as you can see in the first of the series of 6 photos, before they all too soon fade away. I'm thinking of experimenting with them over the non-growing season for this temperate zone and its high water ground table and see if I can't encourage them to bloom next year. Wish me luck.

_ _ _ _

Lastly, I realized this morning I never did a critique on the last book that I was reading when I posted on my blog. All I can say is, don't bother even opening the cover. It made no sense throughout. Well, it did somewhat, but all I can say after finishing it, what was the purpose of writing this in the first place. I am now reading "The Queen's Fortune". A historical novel of Napoleon's first love. By Allison Pataki. It was recommended to me from my sister. It's a hit and miss reading since I've been helping with the English grammar and punctuation of my son's PhD dissertation on Churchill. That is taking up a lot of my time which I don't mind helping...but, he'd better dedicate his work to "For My Mother" lololol.

§ Exposing Myself...well, Pictures!!

Dreary weekend so far. Yesterday morning, Saturday, I stayed home and got a lot of small chores done around the house. Like changing sheets, doing laundry, making a large pot of spaghetti sauce [hopefully it'll reheat and be leftovers for a couple of days], cleaning both bathrooms and changing out the towels in kitchen and baths. Then, I played on the computer for my allotted hour's time sitting in one place. I played with some of my photos and went out online and did a few "double exposures" with their filter. Did one of each...one in black and white, and the other with the color images. Some, I thought, looked better as black and white.

This is blue bonnets last spring and an egret with the "canopy" stance they do when hunting for a meal.


A shrimp boat silhouette and a Gulf sunrise superimposed


A white tailed stag infused into park landscaping along the river bank


Top of palm -with a bird- against a bay sunrise


Daughter, Irene, and butterfly


Another shrimp boat scene [can you tell I love seeing these?] and sunrise


Brown pelican and bank of jetty super-imposed [and palm trees]

Before I knew it, it was time to get up away from the computer and do a bit of walking. I stopped at my stationary bike and peddled for 30 minutes. By that time it was time to get busy with something else for activity. Gotta keep busy for I get bored at home. lol  Maybe find something to sketch or do another pastel with my oil crayons?!!  Maybe fold the clothes I washed?  [I don't fold them the very minute I take them out of the dryer except to hang the permanent press...otherwise, they sit for a day maybe.]  Or help Bud finish setting up his smartphone.  He has the hardest time understanding these "techie" things, I would honestly say, it'd be easier for me to just do it...but, hey...it's good for his brain.  Oh, I know what I can do for a few minutes!  Take down the Valentine's Day decorations and get the dining table back to 'normal'.  We're also thinking of watching an oldie but goodie movie...Robin Williams and Good Morning Vietnam.  It's been ages since we've seen that one.  Shut the lights off, sit cozy in a warm house and enjoy a good movie.

§ Throwback Thursday

I'm joining Martha today and a Throwback Thursday with a another tidbit of our lives here in Texas. Well, some of the family this time. Mostly Bud's side. In fact a lot of Bud's history. I have, in our main hallway, three walls I like to call our Nostalgia Walls. Family heirlooms & keepsakes and portraits. This week, it's Navy, Retirement, Grandparents, and a little snippet of my mother. So, here goes: 

The above photo is dated 1940. It's a calender of his grandparents' store in Colorado Springs, Colorado. This is where Bud had his first job...a stocker and sacker....but, many years later than this year on the calender by several years.

Next, on another wall is all about NAVY. Bud was stationed on three ships during his long stint as a seaman. His MO was an I C man...radio communications mostly. The three ships were the J D Blackwood, Tabberer, and the U S S O'Hare. [the O'Hare airport in downtown Chicago was named after Commander O'Hare and has a huge picture of the ship in the terminal.] Of the three ships he was aboard, he has two of the ships' crest plaques...the O'Hare

The clear round piece behind the rabbit with white lines is part of O'Hare's [the ship] gyro-compass.
...and the U S S Tabberer
Now, this ship has quite a history in the naval record books. Commendations, and such. Why even, if you may have heard, the Halsey's Typhoon is all about the ship Tabberer. I cannot tell you the story verbatim, and yet I've heard it many times. It's best you read about it if interested. The link is provided with its name.
His last ship on the wall is the J Douglas Blackwood.

And the tied knot along the wall is called a monkey's fist knot tied by him years ago.

After being discharged, Bud eventually landed a job with the U S Government and worked for the very same for nearly 30 years before retiring. His last day to report to work, it's traditional the retiree gets the flag flown outside the building as a momento...here is his:

- - -


 

The rest of the walls are other family members...my grandmother's wedding portrait, Our kids from birth to High School Graduation and U S Marine Corps, grandsons, oh, and my mother's bible. She was a very devout Christian...read her bible nightly and oftentimes aloud,  [you can look closely and see how frayed from use it is!] THE hanky she carried everywhere, her prized thimble which no one else was allowed to use, her high school graduation ring, her mother's ring and a 1930 autograph book of her classmates [behind the bible, invisible in the photo]. They're there, all within reach of safe keeping where I can grab them quickly if a disaster falls upon us!!

§ It Was the Best of Times...it was the BEST of Times

In my youth, each summer when it was getting close to Labor Day and soon, back to school for the young ones, my family [paternal side] would always hold a family reunion in the park. And there were a lot of those that attended each year as you can see by all the cars in the background...a very large family. I've often wondered since becoming an adult, if they really knew what caused all those kids! From grandparents, to the youngest sibling or cousin. The food was always something to behold set up on many many picnic tables. Fried Chicken, Hot dogs, potato salad, baked beans, breads and corn bread, lemonade, beer, root beer, fruit salads, pies, cakes...all topped off with a huge gathering at the end of the day with someone at the crank, making home-made ice cream.   My dad would always hide one "Dad's Root Beer" for me when the ice cream was made, and always made me a root beer float as he knew I really liked them.  But, while someone was manning the ice cream machine, the adult women would gather around grouped-up tables and play games or just chit-chat. The men would gather around and have a grand ol' B S session or some would even go off to the lake and try their luck at fishing, or even have a very challenging [and noisy] game of horseshoes. The older kids would roam around, making up games of their own, away from the pestering little ones who tried to keep up with them. We younger ones would play kick the can, gunnysack races, tag, mother may I and such. It was simpler times, and lives were happy but not less stressful than we have today. Their stressors were different from today, but all too similar. Budgets, putting food on the table, family issues, wars, etc. etc.

I found this image on the laptop in a "save" folder and thought...why not?  Share some happy times!!

My two older siblings [Darrel and Gene] were nearing adult-hood [a family of 5 siblings], but we three were close in ages...

Left to right:

My sister, Sharon.  In the middle is my brother, Lary [one 'R'] and of course me, all sunshine and smiles and mischievous as all get-out.

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I also checked out, for fun, the mirror avatar gizzywich that Sandra has been sharing the past few days.  I made a few, played with it, changed my blog profile to one I made to a 'birder' after I sent it to myself and took off some of the clipart and added birds.  But, I will probably change it back in the future to the 'real me'.  Anyway, after I dubbed around, making them, I realized that the app really drained the battery on the phone.  It went from 98% to 20% within such a short period of time.  Needless to say, I saved some and put them on the laptop for safe keeping [I'll share some more soon]...but the app has since then, been uninstalled off my phone!!  Too much power is being wasted. It, I'm sure, can become addictive.  I have notifications enabled, and while playing with the avatars "app mirror avatar is draining your battery, put it to sleep?" I'd much rather view blogs and use Google Search during the day with power left over for the next day's usage....on my phone!  I don't want to be charging  2-3 times a day, even if it IS fun and creative.  

§ Silent, Broken, yet....Finding Inner Strengths

Monday morning, early.  DENSE FOG.  I'm not going anywhere for now, so at the computer I sit...



All these sketches I share today are drawn from memory...or what was on my mind at the time. No photo guides on either....

This first one, is a copied one of the original...our daughter, Irene, has the pencil sketch from my work...I sketched on the back of a magazine during our grandson's open heart surgery.  He was born with Downs and at 5 months of age he went through a multiple hour operation to repair his defective heart.  I also wrote a poem during the waiting period.   There will be more on this sketch below all drawings shared... The 2nd sketch is of my parents...circa late 1970s-early 1980s.

This first one was a work of what I was feeling when I found out [1969] that my high school sweetheart had been KIA in Viet Nam [it's a conglomeration of many...a map of Viet Nam, a tearful friend, a  soldier, a flag of each country, helicopter, tank, military foot garb - and the brick wall is to depict that when I found out it was like being hit with a ton of bricks!!].  I was truly war-torn at the loss of a sweet guy...He was 21.  The 2nd one I titled Crown of Thorns.

This last one was during the Obama Inauguration Ceremony...When the TV camera panned through the crowd, this lady was so calm, yet the lone tear falling from her cheek hit my heart strings.  I had to try and draw her from memory.  I still, to this day, can see her face...it was a day of history that will live on forever.  With this woman and her in mind,  I titled this one "Thank God Almighty..."


* * *

Coming back to my sketch of Clint, my grandson...
first, this is a screen shot [70%] of a blog post from long ago:



...and the poem I composed during his operation:


[this was written in the hospital waiting room, on a magazine cover, during our grandson's open heart surgery - at 5 months of age. And the image above is my own graphic. The face in the clouds is actually Clint! Superimposed from a pencil sketch of mine of him.]

...and the poetry written that day:


CLINT'S SKY
© Hootin' Anni

I think the sky ends in your heart
so you've captured mine.
With twilight's purples, pinks, and gold...
The knowledge now that which I cast
what tokens I hold.

As the sun, you're glowing, alive and fresh.
Stars, you sparkle and shine.
Like the moon, you're stately, powerful, bright.
Clouds, you're tender and fine.
Your dark storms' furies: Natural passion is God's will.

The mystical horizon, the inner light...our existences entwine.
I think the sky ends in your heart Clint,
And so, you've captured mine.


One more note: After the successful operation was over, the pediatricians and surgery specialists gave Irene, and us...a 5 year life span expectancy for Clint. He is now 31 years of age, in May.