Taking a Break

Houseguests arrive tomorrow. I have been anticipating their visit for weeks.They are friends who date back to the early sixties, though the story of our friendship is too long to recount here. Needless to say they are among those I really value. I'll have the joy of sitting on the porch, drinking wine, and visiting about life and its vagaries. Equally important, they are giving me a chance to put my busy life on hold--no speaking engagements, no work on the novel (who can concentrate?), not even much thought to Christmas preparations, which is a direction my mind took tonight. Much as I love my busy life--this is retirement?--I'm putting it on hold until (oops--that's one of Jacob's spelling words this week!) Tuesday--and really looking forward to it.
Today I went to the grocery; tomorrow I'll cook--an overnight salad that I figure I can make first thing in the morning, put it in the fridge, and convince it it's been there overnight. Cheeseburger soup--nope, never tried it but it sounds delicious and not really too fattening except for the Velveeta. I'll play with proportions. And Palmetto cheese biscuits to have ready for breakfast the next morning.
After that my main cooking will be breakfast dishes and I love it--I have all these scrumptious sounding breakfast recipes and no one to try them on, so I'll fix potato nests with eggs and bacon, Welsh rarebit (oh, that's a story in itself) made with stout, and maybe a spinach/cheese souffle. My own mouth is watering, and I hope theirs will be.
We have no agenda for the weekend beyond two trips to the ranch to see my brother. Martha had fallen sometime back, and my brother, ever the concerned osteopathic physician par excellence, wants to check her out and probably see her twice. Friday's trip will be early, so I can be back to pick up Jacob. Don't know which day we'll go again. Mostly, we'll do nothing. Can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to that.

Breakfast with the pajama boys

These are my Austin grandsons, Sawyer and Ford, known as the pajama boys at the local I-Hop where they freqently go for Saturday breakfast. Their dad is hunting this weekend, and their mom and I took them to I-Hop. Now they're in the process of looking for the perfect bubble recipe on the web--apparentlly it involves a bit of glycerin, but Meg go the wrong recipe and it was a bust. We go from giggles to tears rapidly but it's never quiet unless Ford is taking his nap--when I plan to nap too. The boys figured out since I am their mom's mom I must be the boss of her (would it were still true!), since she is the boss of them. So they started calling me, The Big Cheese. Meg is ever so patient with almost everything they do, thuough she draws the line at some things.

It's very cold and windy today, though sunny and pretty and predicted to warm up. As usual I brought the wrong clothes, thinking it would be warm. I'm went to breakfast in a big old jacket of Brandon's and am now sitting in a long-sleeved shirt.

Last night was the Presidential Banquet of Texas State Historical Association. My good friend Fran was going out of office, so she was the honored guest and speaker,and I broke my five-day isolation, with permission, to go to the dinner. I went hesitantly, because I hate to go affairs like that alone, and I had crossed wires with the friends I planned to go with. But I gathered my courage, Megan dropped me off, and I of course had a wonderful time, saw all kinds of people I was delighted to see, met some new ones. I was really privileged to sit at the family table--I love Fran's kids and their families--and had a wonderful time. Only Fran can make a presidential banquet fun--her talk was about one of her East Texas ancestors, and so we had pot roast, mashed potatoes, black-eyed peas, and greens. The dessert was peach cobbler--with an iron skillet at each table and a delicious tub of cinnamon-flavored whipped cream! I was so glad I went!

Meantime I've been reading, answering e-mails (non-office only, of course) and napping and being lazy. Megan and I had a good lunch (with Brandon) and a fun shopping spree. I got some nifty pale green shoes, perfect with my dress for last night. A nice vacation! No working at all!

Home again

Got home about 2 p.m. on Tuesday. When I left for this long visit, I thought I'd be itching to get back by the time Jordan got there, but I wasn't at all. I was reluctant. I didn't want to face my responsibilities, especially the in-depth report I have to write about the press. I wanted to stay and play with Morgan and Kegan, read, eat Lisa's delicious meals, and sleep in that comfortable bed. But now I'm home, have been to Central Market (my goodness, when did ham get so expensive!), and am settled at my desk. I'm gradually putting away this and that from Christmas but will leave the house decorated until after tomorrow.

My last day in Houston ended with a bang--a trip to the Houston Zoo, where Colin and Lisa are members so that they can take the children often. This picture is probably one of my favorites of the whole trip. Kegan wanted to hold my hand, but he also wanted to catch up with the "big" kids and tried to urge me ahead--I figured we were already going at top speed for either of us.

I've gotten out my notes on the report I have to write, answered all the Christmas mail, unpacked the suitcase and--ooops! forgot to start the washer. Yep, I'm home, but I truly hope to take the relaxation of Houston into the New Year with me. May you all have a happy, blessed, and stress-free 2009.

Another day, another "Juju" trip

Today, we went to Old Town Spring--Spring being a town slightly north and west of Kingwood where the kids live. It's one of those rejuvenated old areas turned into a tourist attraction--lots of kitsch, boutiques, sweet shoppes, small cafes, and the like. It reminds one of Kemah, or Manitou Springs in Colorado, Old Town in Albuquerque, or even, with a different flavor, Fort Worth's Stockyards area. We ate a delicious lunch in Ellen's Cafe (where the specialty is home-made ice cream), the kids found a two-story ramp that they ran up and down, and we shopped a bit. Visited an amazing doll hospital, the Spring Historical Museum where they really have some interesting artifacts--a small, apparently volunteer project, it's quality for its size. And then we visited the public restroom several times. In spite of a drizzle, the area was full of tourists. We ended our outing back at Ellen's eating ice cream cones on the porch. On the way home the drizzle turned to a violent downpour, the kind you hate to drive in, though Colin did admirably.
Jordan and Jacob arrive tomorrow, so its dawned on me that my vacation is drawing to a close. In recognition, I took an extra long nap. But I'd felt that today anyway. For a week now, I've been "Juju," a grandmother, and today, the first thoughts of the office crept it. I began a list of things to be done when I get home. I thought of something I should write tonight. The week away has done me good, but I guess I'm no good at staying away too long.
I'm barely into the P. D. James novel, The Private Patient, but already I'm intrigued by technique. She opens the novel focusing on the intended murder victim, so for the first 60 pages or so, the reader sees things through her eyes. She's not a particularly likeable or warm woman--scarred by the scar she carries on her cheek, a woman who keeps herself remote from others. Perhpas that's so that we don't abandon the book when she's murdered. But I still think it's a bit unusual to spend so much time developing the characters of the intended victim--a technique perhaps that would only work in the hands of a masterful writer like James.
Excuse me, I've got to go. The children are "helping" put up new shelves in the playroom and the opening of the Olympics, the TV "Event of the Year," is being replayed.

More 'tis the season

Well, I have had two days filled with Christmas and enjoyed them thoroughly. Yesterday I had lunch with my good friend Jean, and we exchanged gifts--of course, we knew we had each gotten the other the same thing--a ceritifcate for flowers of the month at a local florist. And we had a laughingly happy lunch. Then Mary Lu came by--I had given her the same certificate, but she brought me the most elaborate measuring spoons. Embossed with Laugh, Love, Live on the back and a rooster in the bowl of each spoon. I don't know how she finds such unusual gifts, but she always does.
I fixed supper for Jeannie and Betty last night, and we exchanged gifts. We've gotten into the habit of two of us buying a gift for the third--my gift was two more Reidel O glasses (they had given me four for my birthday) plus Terry Thompson-Anderson's new book, The Texas Hill Country: A Food and Wine Lover's Paradise, which I had made plain I wanted. Now I think the three of us need to explore the Hill Country.
Today we had a TCU Press "staff luncheon." Jim Lee had a gift certificate to Cafe Aspen which was, he declared, burning a hole in his brief case, so he treated us. It's what I have always considered my family restaurant--Jamie worked there forever, and Jordan and Colin both briefly. Wonderful lunch, another gift exchange, and lots of laughter.
In the afternoon, my brother and Cindy came by--a truly rare event, because they never tell me when they're in town, and I know John doesn't like to linger. But we traded Christmas presents--he did NOT want to open them until Christmas--and sat and talked for over a half hour. I considered it a loving, brotherly gesture on his part and was delighted to see them.
Then this evening Sue came over to talk about keeping the house and animals, and Jay wandered in to drink a beer--he says if you leave cheap beer in my refrigerator, you can be sure no one else will drink it. So we had another good visit. Tonight I am filled with the happy sense of how many friends I have and how many people to share the holidays spirit with. It's a very good feeling.
Tomorrow is my last day at work for two weeks. I am truly looking forward to being away, though I have a major report to write by February 1. I think tomorrow morning I'll collect info for it, bring it all home, and work on it late in my vacation--but not in Houston.
I am going to spend the holidays with Colin and his family. Since it is supposed to be 20 Sunday night, I am delighted that I have found people to stay in the house and bring Scooby in at night. I'm looking forward to time with three-year-old Morgan and Kegan, 1-1/2 years--and their parents.