Granny

With Mom & Dad out of town, we went this Saturday to visit with my grandmother, Granny. We usually see her at all the family events and occasionally will pick her up and drop her off for Mom. This visit was just us, not the noisy rush of a family gathering.

We took her to lunch and had a really nice visit. We'll see her again next weekend for Laurie's first birthday party.

More Alaska

Mom called yesterday when the ship was in Skagway. It seems so odd to consider them so far away, and yet still in the U.S. (and having working cell phones!) From our conversation, I think it is obvious to me now that the first glacier picture below is the same glacier as the later ones. Apparently, the Captain went back and forth a few times. Of course, now that I look at them, the mountains in the background are the same.

Yesterday the bridge cam seemed to be stuck on the same photo all day.

Today they are docked in Juneau.

Glacier Bay

I'm addicted to this Pacific Princess bridge cam. They are about 3 hours behind us and after cruising most of the morning from College Fjord to Glacier Bay, we finally have some interesting views of Glaciers. Really fascinating!

This is the first one. Then they sailed past some mountainous landscape and now we're viewing this one.

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Looking at this last one makes me wonder how deep the water is at this point - and how deep is the glacier into the water. I read from the Glacier Bay National Park website about how glaciers are formed from snow over hundreds of years. Of course, I read all of this to the girls and were so not interested.


Here's where they are now - just past the last glacier. Isn't this beautiful. I wish I could watch this all night.

Bridge Cams

Mom & Dad are on a Princess cruise in Alaska this week. They left Whittier/Anchorage on Wednesday night and will return to Houston via Vancouver next week.

The ship has a bridge cam! So we've been keeping tabs on their surroundings. Yesterday morning you could see mountains, ice in the water, and what looked like ice/glacier on the land. Silly me didn't think about saving the picture until later, when the mountains were more in the distance.

This morning, it looks like they are still in some open sea, though it's only 6 a.m. there. I'll be checking later for more glaciers.

Not Disappointed!

After a few interrupted starts yesterday, I finally settled down today after church to really dive into HP#7. It took about 7 hours and while I'm currently sporting one heck of a headache, the book was well worth the wait and the effort it took to refrain from any spoilers.

Typical classic hero tale with expected predictable ending? Yes and no. I had guessed everything related to Harry and Neville (trying not to give anything away) but the Snape chapter had me reeling. The horcrux/hallows Dumbledore story was fascinating, and dang I love those Weasleys. Twice during the book I thought I might get a tear.... and two other times I did - one on the second to last page caught me completely by surprise. I'm sure that's exactly what JKR intended!

I'm relieved and impressed how neatly she tied everything up - I've been thinking and can't really find any loose ends. I was surprised by the fast paced beginning, felt a little lull in the middle here and there, but at no time was I disappointed. The final battle was everything I hoped for and could see how it had been building since the first book.

Four stars. A-plus. A great big O (for those who know their O.W.L.s)

Reading Harry Potter

Our house is entralled with Harry Potter.

About two weeks ago, Cameron asked (again) to see the movie Goblet of Fire. After my often-repeated response, "You can watch the movie after you read the books," she ran off to the bookcase and pulled out the first book HP & the Sorcerer's Stone. She read it in about a week. Then we watched the movie. Meanwhile I've been re-reading books 5 & 6 in preparation for both Book 7 and the Order of the Phoenix movie.

Yesterday Cameron finished the second book, so we watched the second movie. Last night, as I was tucking her into bed, she says, "Mom, we don't have to watch any more of the movies. The books are way better than the movies."

This child knows how to melt her mother's heart. Sigh.

Now, 9:45 a.m., we've already been to Target to pick up the unabridged Book 7 on CD for Bryan to listen to while driving to/from work (it's a 45 min commute). I'm waiting - impatiently - for UPS to bring our Amazon ordered copy. I did hold the book in Target and saw the first sentence. But I can wait.

Tonight, we're going to the movie theater for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. So it will be a Harry Potter weekend. The only hard thing (while I wait) is that I can't look at anything on the internet or television because of the spoilers. Even the Yahoo.com home page when our IE opened already had a big spoiler on the front. Dadgumit! So aside from updating this blog, I'm isolating myself from the world until I read the book.

The Eagle Has Landed

"HOUSTON, Tranquility Base here, the Eagle has landed." Armstrong spoke these first words from the lunar surface 38 years ago today.

A few hours later, those on Earth heard another call from their moon. "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind."

Now we live an age where ordinary people take space travel for granted, they ignore it, they grumble about all the money it costs the US. Talk radio hosts wonder why we should spend US dollars for the good of mankind, for exploration, for pushing the boundaries, for learning about ourselves, our planet, our universe.

The United States today lacks the fortitude to commit to any project and see it through to the very end.

Shall I ever look up to the moon and know that human beings walk on it again?

Lordy Lordy, Look who's 40!

No, not either of us!

My very good friend, Anna, hit that big 4-0 birthday (today) and of course I don't think she looks a day over 34. We were in our 20s (were we ever so young?) when we met as co-workers in Galveston. Anna's husband, Mark, has already gotten away with a surprise party in the past, and he knew she'd be waiting for something this year, which naturally would hinder his plans. So he took the party out-of-town. He brought her along with him, sans children, to a work related conference in San Antonio. While he attended sessions, she ran around town doing her own thing.

She knew that after his last session on Saturday night, they were going to her favorite restaurant in Kerrvile and then staying one night at a B&B there. What she didn't know is that two couples were meeting them for the weekend.

Jay & Melinda, Bryan & I arrived at the pre-ordained time and put our names in for a good table. (They don't do reservations on Sat. night.) We explained the situation to the hostess, giving her the "secret code word" (Anna) to have the birthday couple brought to our table. Then we grabbed some drinks and settled in to wait. Now, Mark is a very punctual man, so when he didn't show up at the exact moment, we got a little antsy. (We didn't know that the hostess left and a new hostess took over - so she just put "Anna, party of 2" on the waiting list.

Bryan decided to go around and sneak a peek at the very full parking lot to spot their truck. As he walked around the corner, he saw Mark in the lobby area. He beat a hasty retreat back to our table.

However, Anna had already seen Bryan. "NO WAY!" She didn't put it all together immediately though, thinking Bryan was in Kerrville on business? or something? But she was pleasantly surprised and we had a wonderful dinner together.

The B&B turned out to be a RANCH - on about 80 acres some 12-14 miles north of Kerrville. The owners had taken a log cabin and connected it with a 2-bedroom frame house. Outside they had a large fire pit, where we sat talking until after 1 a.m. (Men must build fire....)

There were no cattle on this ranch, but plenty of deer. I counted seven as we drove in the gate. Truly spectacular though were the hummingbirds. There must have been a dozen - buzzing around two feeders off the front porch. We won't talk about the colonies of daddy-long-legs seen on the porch, walls, and under the eaves. They're just a natural part of the Hill Country.

I wish we could have stayed through Monday, as was originally planned, but both of us had work obligations yesterday. We really enjoyed the too-brief weekend, and look forward to celebrating Anna's 50th in another ten years. Good friends like these are rare in the world.

Our beautiful girls

While Bryan & I were away this past weekend, my sister and sister-in-law and mother took all six of the grandchildren to have their photo taken at Portrait Innovations. You can see all the results on Lisa's blog.

Come and Take It!

Bryan and I took the girls to SBR for a few days alone early last week. We drove into Gonzales, TX for a few hours. Bryan wanted to go to Walmart and get a pair of shoes (someone *me* forgot to bring his tennis shoes and all he had with him were work boots.) Cameron & Brenna really wanted to show him the Old Jail Museum.

After that we drove over to the Gonzales Memorial Museum & Amphitheater, built during the Texas Centennial of 1936 and honoring the Immortal 32, the volunteers who responded to Travis' call for aid from the Alamo.

Here rests the Gonzales cannon that led to the beginning of the Texas Revolution and inspired the flag "Come and Take It!"

After spending a little time steeping in Texas history, we went to Walmart, bought fireworks and headed back to Silver Belle Ranch.

Despite the Texas Hill Country flooding and pouring rain in San Antonio, it was a clear night, with about an inch in the rain gauge, and we shot off fireworks that night.

Happy Fourth of July

A day late, but a message worth repeating.



Shamelessly stolen off of Lone Star Times.