Storms, luncheons, and books

We had wonderful stormy weather here tonight though to the north of us there was the real threat of tornadoes and to the east, power outages. Although I got out candles and flashlights, we were spared all that. We had lots of fairly heavy rain, thunder and lightning but no high winds. After it was over, I called my neighbor about something and he answered with, "Wasn't that a lovely storm?" I agreed--I love a good storm, a love carried over from my childhood summers in a cabin in Indiana at the foot of Lake Michigan. We would watch storms roll down the length of the lake, and as the lake churned and grew angry, it was awe-inspiring. Scooby has none of my appreciation of storms, so I brought him in early, but I know he won't go out again until morning. I just hope he doesn't get impatient before seven o'clock.
My neighbor Sue called to say she was staying in Dallas at her office until the storm passed. "If you were out in this," she told me, "I'd worry." So she didn't want me to worry about her and has promised to call when she gets home. It's so wonderful to be surrounded by people who care about me and who I care about.
Today I went to the retirees lunch of TCOM (Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine, now part of the University of North Texas Health Center System). Charles likes me to go with him, which I appreciate, and since he has quit driving, I picked him up. There are only two or three people I remember from the old days, but I had a good time talking to two ladies next to me who had worked with the Institute for Human Fitness and knew my brother. I regaled them with the story of how the institute was born in meetings in my living room and while the men met and discussed fitness, my friend Anne, who lived with us then, and I cooked the most lavish rich desserts we could imagine. Those fitness experts devoured them. I always remember Anne's husband at a child's birthday party, his plate loaded with cake and ice cream, asking plaintively, "Don't you have any diet Coke?"
The luncheon speakers were a bit long but very interesting and for once I was really tuned into the talks--I often tune them out. The statistics on how TCOM has grown in 40 years are remarkable from 100 students to over 1400 next fall, millions in research grants, etc.--and to think I was there at the very beginning. The main speaker talked about our failing health care system, insisting that money isn't the way to fix it--electronic connections and cooperation are the way to save millions, and so is education, preventive health, etc. Most interesting.
I'm reading another cooking book, this about a young American woman's experience at Cordon Bleu. I'll report soon.