Around OakMeadows

Around OakMeadows

We went to my niece's funeral Saturday. She was 59. I remember what a sweet child she was.  But she was obese and a heavy smoker. You just can't abuse your body without consequences. Her mother was there and this was the second daughter she has had to bury. I cannot begin to imagine the pain. She has one remaining daughter. 

On to other news. The hummingbirds have finally arrived. We have at least 5 guzzling sugar water from our one feeder. If there were more, I would add a second feeder but so far one is fine. 

Sunday we went to the Houston BBQFestival at NRG park. I was worried about the weather but it turned out perfect--cool and overcast with a slight breeze.  And, oh, the BBQ!!! My favorites were the brisket from Killen's and the pork from Louis Mueller. Chris and Tamara were all smiles at the turnout--2,000 tickets were a sellout!  I wish there were some way to have it indoors so that the weather wouldn't be such a worry. 

The monster quilt now has 21 blocks finished, only 35 to go. Why oh why did I ever start this mess?? 

I finished reading The Second Chance Dog by Jon Katz. It was really good. I think it was longer than it should have been but well written and interesting. The other book I was reading, My Organic Life by Nora Pouillon, was a dud and I didn't finish it. I've started The Liar by Nora Roberts and so far so good. 

It looks like I will have to wait a bit longer to get the interior of the house painted because we need to have some roof repairs made. Joe has 3 contractors coming to give us estimates. And on top of that, we had to have the air conditioner repaired. It is 11 years old and has never given us a minute's trouble so I shouldn't complain. I remember the days before air conditioning and am thankful for it. 

I am working on the committee that is locating my high school classmates for our 50th reunion.  I grew up and went through the public schools in Galveston. It was a wonderful place to grow up and I got a really good high school education there.  We have everyone on a spreadsheet with any contact information. As we verify the information or find new information we highlight that line in yellow. If we find that a classmate is deceased, we highlight that line in red. It is heartbreaking to see how many red lines we have now. But after 50 years, it is to be expected. And it makes those remaining so much more precious. 

We have had so much rain that the yard has been too mushy to mow.  But today was gorgeous and it is supposed to be beautiful all through the weekend. So maybe we can get outside and get it cleaned up. After the drought we've had the previous couple of years, no complaints here about the rain. 

That's all the news from OakMeadows where the cats are all spoiled and the retired people nap every afternoon from 1 to 3.