A heady evening

Tonight I was inducted into the Fort Worth Publiuc Library's Texas Literary Hall of Fame, which means I joined the ranks with such people as John Graves, Katherine Ann Porter, Horton Foote, Shelby Hearon and others--pretty heady company. My children came--Colin, Jordan, and Jamie--Megan was delayed by a kindergartner's first ever school carnival and such things are priority, but she and her family are driving up as we speak. Lisa and Christian stayed home with four grandchildren, all of whom are now crowded into two beds in my family room. Maddie is one of the four, so she'll ride herd on them and make sure they go to sleep. Everyone has to be up and out the door by 8:40 for Jacob's soccer game. Not me. I'd sleep late but I'm sure young voices won't let me. It's such a joy to have them all here--Colin says he got a picture of all four of them in their bed, so I'm waiting for that.
Jordan got lots of pictures tonight at the dinner, but she hasn't shared them, so I have none to post--watch for them in future blogs. I was nervous, of course, about my half-page speech, but it went well, and I got a lot of compliments. I talked about growing up in Chicago and thinking Texas was a foreign land. Then my folks went to Corpus to visit my brother at the Naval Air Station and reported a lush and green tropical land. Later, my soon-to-be husband went to Turkey, Texas, and reported a barren, brown land with no vegetation. I was puzzled. My conclusion was, of course, that I found a land that was green sometimes and brown sometimes but more than that had a rich history and literature, out of which I built a career. I am really amazed by the honor, humbled and grateful.
The inductees with me were all good friends--and I was the only female. They were Jim Lee,sort of a grandfather of Texas literature in many ways, Bill Crider, mystery writer extradorinaire, Carlton Stowers, sports writer, true crimer author, and all around nice guy, Bob Ray Sanders, award-winning journalist with a career in TV, author of the text for one of TCU Press' best-ever photography books, and Jeff Guinn, former book editor of the Star-Telegram and the author of many books, one a winner of the TCU Texas Book Award. I keep using the word heady, but it was heady company to be in.
Best of all, my kids thought I did well on the talk, and that means everything to me. I'm not a native Texasn, but I've been here forty-five years, and I've written and published a whole lot about the state. It's my state, even though some call me an outsider.
I'm a happy camper tonight and going to bed tired.

Bookish Frogs enjoy a Dan Jenkins evening

Tonight the Bookish Frogs, a community support group for TCU Press, had a wonderful evening with Dan Jenkins to celebrate the press' reprint edition of Baja Oklahoma. It was a potluck supper at the home of--okay, I met the host and hostess, chatted amiably with them and liked them a  lot, but never got their names. But it was in a new, gated community and was probably the most spectacular modern house I've ever been in. We walked in an open door and were immediately in the living area--only we weren't. It turns out we walked into the patio, but glass sectioned doors that separate the patio from the living area had been opened so that it was all one huge open space. With wonderful artwork, a superb library that left my tongue hanging out, and a beautiful master bedroom--in which a tiny Pappillon begged for attention. He could hear the crowd and wanted to be amongst us. I live in a house built in 1922 and love it, so I wouldn't want to live in that open glass and steel space--but I sure did admire it.
There were about 30 people and there was so much food for the potluck supper that I came home with at least half the sandwiches I had made. Jeff Guinn, now a noted author and once book editor of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, interviewed Dan and both were jovial, funny and entertaining--yet it was an evening with insights into the art of writing. I'm impressed that TCU Press can put on such an affair--in that setting, with those people, and with an author of Dan's star quality. Truly a triumph--and hats off to Susan Petty who put it all together.
At noon today Linda, my friend from Granbury, brought her mother for lunch, and Connie, the widow of my ex-husband's partner and a longtime friend of mine, came down from Keller for lunch. We meant to go out, but Connie got lost and by the time she got here all restaurants would be crowded. So we left the two older ladies, whose friendship goes back to the late '40s, to visit on the porch and went to get lunch from Nonna Tata--salads for them and braseola (the beef versionof proscuitto, dressed with lemon, olive oil, arugula, and grana cheese) for me. We had lunch on the porch where there was a delightful breeze--but Billie, Linda's mom, is always cold, and I brought her my prayer shawl which she wrapped around her shoulders. It was fascinating to hear them talk about being in Kirksville, Missouri in the late '40s--Linda was four and probably doesn't remember much; I was there for four years in the early '60s, when it was already a much different town. Recently fund-raisers from Truman State University visited me (it used to be Kirksville State Teachers College) and we talked about the town--some of my favorite restaurants are still there, but both the state university and the osteopathic medical school campuses have changed so that I would not recognize them. I haven't been back since 1976. But back to lunch with Billie Connie, and Linda--it was a delight. And bringing lunch to the porch proved to be just the right touch.
What a nice day.