A fireplace in summer

The granddaughter who just turned twenty-one

If you read this blog often, you know I love my tiny cottage. It has everything I’ve ever wanted—except a fireplace. There simply isn’t space in my 600 square feet. On cold mornings, I longed for the heat of a fireplace and the comfort of flickering flames.

Fast forward: today is my oldest granddaughter’s birthday. Sweet Maddie Moo is 21 today. With social distancing the family couldn’t gather to celebrate. And Maddie is in quarantine with her family in Frisco, so no celebrating with her friends at Colorado University. And though she planned to test out her new legal drinking age, she had to study for a remote final tomorrow. A grim way to celebrate your twenty-first, but she followed through with her usual cheerful attitude.

This afternoon Jordan and Jacob drove to Frisco to do a drive-by birthday celebration. They ended sitting on the front lawn, at appropriate distances, for about half an hour. When they came home, Jordan said, “Jamie sent  you a present.”

It turned out to be a desk fireplace! Just the thing I needed. It provides the image, and, should you want it—which I do not right now—it gives off some heat. In February, it will be great. I’m really excited about it—even as I turn on the air conditioner.

Other than that, it was an ordinary day. I laughed today when I saw a headline in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that proclaimed tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo and urged readers to let them help plan the day. What’s to plan, I wondered? We’re quarantined, and one day blends into the next. No planning required. And that’s how my day went—1550 words on the work-in-progress, a nap, leftovers for supper. Chicken enchiladas and the remnants of a taco salad. So good—but a heaping plate that I forgot to take a picture of.

Tonight I’m watching a PBS special on the presidency of George W. Bush. I’ve been intrigued by Facebook threads since Bush made his statement last weekend urging the country to unite to fight the corona virus. “We are all in this together.” That release inspired a lot of comments. Many cannot and never will forgive him the disasters of his presidency—the Iraqi war, the devastating financial recession, the poor reaction to Katrina.

But others, and I am one of them, like Bush a lot better now that he is  not making bad decisions for the country. Perhaps it is that he has grown in character; perhaps it is that he is away from the malignant influence of Dick Cheney. He has taken up painting and done a series of portraits of wounded warriors, a series that exhibits compassion and caring. And it was not something that came easily to him—he worked at his art, he studied with artists.

Today, if you turn away from his presidency, he is usually regarded as a genuinely nice guy, comfortable, no pretense. His statement this past weekend demonstrated the man that he is today, who has perhaps put his political career behind him in retirement.

Here it comes: the story of “my encounter with a celebrity.” In this case, it’s Bush. At a Texas Book Festival in Austin, I attended a breakfast for authors in the governor’s mansion. I was at the time writing a book on strong Texas women and hoped to include Laura Bush. She was everything I expected—crisp, disciplined, organized (the profile of her never did work out). But she introduced me to her husband, who looked like he had just pulled his shirt out of the dryer and ducked his head shyly when he shook my hand.

Shows how our impressions of people change.

Note: This was supposed to be a Monday night post, but Blogger and I had a disagreement. "Twas late, and I was beyond figuroring it out, so I put it off until morning. Amazing how things that are complicated at midnight work out at eight in the morning.