What a wonderful day!

As I drove to the grocery this morning, with the top down on my VW Bug, I thought I must be someplace other than Fort Worth, Texas. I had been transported to a place that looked just like Fort Worth--all the familiar streets--but it couldn't be North Texas. At 9:30 a.m. on July 1, it was in the seventies, with a lovely breeze. The day continued that way, never reaching ninety.
At happy hour, Elizabeth and I sat on the porch sipping wine and talking about the remarkable weather. The breeze still blew, we were surrounded by green--trees and plants and hanging baskets. We agreed if the weather would stay this way year round, North Texas would be an idyllic place to live.
After supper, when Jacob had left, I snuck back out on the porch, ignoring the work on my desk, to read for a while. Often when I do that, I end up staring into space. Tonight I was thinking about a man who had once been a good friend. He died in the last couple of days, too young. May he rest in peace--he will always have a small corner of my heart.
Right now my prayer list is long--more people than I care to count with life-threatening illnesses, automobile accidents with severe after-effects, two families affected by last-stage Alzheimer's--I pray for comfort for all of them. I pray that they can find some comfort in our lovely weather.
I hope you got out and enjoyed the breeze, the light sunshine (rather than intense sun that beats on you), and the cool temperatures.

A friend needs prayers, reading, and Mexican night at the Alters

My friend Katie today emailed asking for prayers for her husband, Gayland Pool, who will have bypass surgery in the morning. Gayland is a wonderful person, a retired Episcopalian priest who happens to make the best bread ever. He and Katie have my prayers and those of all who know and love them. Sometimes I am saddened by how many people need our prayers, saddened and also grateful for the good health and good fortune my family and I enjoy.
I read about a blog today called http://www.200books.com. The writer, a bookstore owner, has vowed to read 200 books in 2008, and she's keeping a page count, and a record of her reading, on her blog, along with assorted other comments. She's doing this because she's alarmed at how little most Americans read for pleasure. Hats off to her! I'm glad to say, however, that I'm one of those who reads for pleasure.
TCU Press decided today--by democratic vote of the staff and our graduate student--to give up our blog, The Bookish Frog in case anyone is reading, and send our news to the Texas A&M University Press blog (http://bookblog.typepad.com). A&M distributes our books, and their blog is linked to RSS feeds (okay, I'm still learning about this).
Tonight was Mexican night at the Alters. Jordan has been doing this for years. In fact, she started asking for taco dinners for her birthday as a very young child. As a young single person, she began inviting friends for taco dinners at my house It became Mexican night at the Alters, and the faces change a bit, but they're mostly the same young people I've known for years. I like having them around me, though tonight I admit my feet and back are more than a little tired. Jordan did most of the work, and I did most of the cleanup. We had tacos, Colin's queso (hamburger and pork sausage, 1 lb. each, a 16 oz. jar of Pace picante, a lb. of Velveeta, and a can of mushroom soup--you can vary the spice of it by choosing regular or hot sausage, mild or hot picante), leftover tamale pie (which everyone raved about), and Jordan's layered dip. Enough left over to feed Cox's army. Plus I made a pan of brownies. I'll freeze those and have them for late night snacks. In fact, excuse me a minute--I need a brownie.
Jacob was a little solemn during the evening, but I maintain he was a bit overwhelmed by being the only child among 15 tall people he didn't know. His father kept saying, "He's trying to get sick" until I told him if he said that again I'd bop him. I don't believe in planting the illness model in children's heads, even though he did have a fever this morning (teething, maybe). Christian said, "He doesn't know what I said," but I don't believe that either. Jacob's understands a whole lot more than he talks about. Tonight one of the girls asked him to show her the lions, and he took her by the hand and led her to my neighbors house where there are indeed concrete lions.
Ready for bed, but there are still a few young people on my porch enjoying themselves. It's nice that it turned out to be the warmest evening we've had in a long time, the first front porch night of spring.