Sweet baby angel Caleb, the newest member of the family.

I traveled to Omaha this Labor Day -- as I have done every Labor Day for the last decade or so -- and met that sweet little boy pictured above. He's just turned three months old and is a sweet natured baby.

I also saw my oldest daughter who drove from Colorado, so that was a nice treat as well.

But let me tell you, my family is a hot mess. Mostly lovable, but such a hot mess.

I also went to visit my dad's grave and left my traditional offering of pinwheels. There was a lovely breeze, and I did get video, but as I'm technologically challenged sometimes, I messed things up and now can't get the video to play. (Bah!) But here's a picture:

* * * * *

And I've finally, finally gotten to work on the revamp of Series One, Book One!

Yeah, remember that?

I've struggled to make progress over the last four months because there were more changes/fixes than I expected there to be. But I kept reading / reviewing and making notes. Finally figured out some of the things that were holding me back and now I'm able to move forward. Whew!

* * * * *

Oh, guess what? I'm no longer an official member of my writers group board of directors! Someone else ran for Treasurer. I still manage the website, but I'm gonna work on documentation so that someone else can take on that job at some point. Maybe even next year. :0)

* * * * *

I've also made some progress on those clay pots I mentioned wanting to paint. Here's the first one:

And, yes, I obviously went with a Pride theme. :0) The other one is going to have gnomes, but I'm still searching for a simple pattern that I like and can pull off with my rudimentary painting skills.

Once I plant something in this pot, I'll share the completely finished project. And once I finish the other, I will of course share that as well.

Take care and see you in two weeks.

 HAPPY LABOR DAY

Hope you have enjoyed / are enjoying the three-day rest from your labors, whatever they may be.

I'll be back next Monday with a regular post.

Take care.

Image Courtesy of Austin Pride.

It's official! I've attended my very first Pride Parade and I had a blast. The whole weekend was so much fun.

I met one of my oldest and dearest friends down in Austin and not only did we attend the Pride Parade, but we did some whirlwind sightseeing as well.

Weekend started Friday (08/09) with dinner at a local sub shop. Shout out to ThunderCloud Subs and their delicious sandwiches. I had the Lady Bird sub--chicken salad with avocado, bacon, and jalapenos--and it was fantastic. Highly recommend.

After dinner, Donny and I scoped out the launch point of our bat watching cruise, which we located easily, but then we had a couple of hours to kill. Rather than go back to the hotel, we walked along the Ann and Roy Butler Trail on the south side of Lady Bird Lake aka the Colorado River aka Town Lake, stopping often so I could give the knees and the hips a breather.

The bat watching cruise itself was also fantastic. Another shout out-- this time to Lone Star Riverboat for bat watching and comedy show. Captain DJ piloted the boat and Captain Mike was our tour guide. He was a font of knowledge of both the skyline and the bats and was very funny. Donny and I had a fantastic time and we got one of the best bat excursions of the season, according to Mike.

Not only did we see bats, but we also got a lightning show as weather sort of circled the city as the cruise was coming to an end. Overall, it was a fantastic evening.

Donny and me!

Here's one column of bats taking off...

We saw five or six of these curly-cuing columns at least.

And all of the bats are female!!

And here's the video:

They eat mosquitoes and moths and tend to fly downriver to the farms to dine. But they do keep the mosquito population along the river in check.

Saturday dawned sunny and warm...it's August in Texas, so duh. :0) We found a Target to buy bottled water for Saturday night's parade along with a few other things I decided I needed.

Then we did some sight-seeing. First we visited the LBJ Presidential Library and that was suuuuper interesting. I wasn't sure how to feel bout the man, but I think I like him and I certainly appreciate all the things he did to facilitate Civil Rights.

After lunch, we then went to see the Neill-Cochran House Museum. The house was lovely. Smaller than I expected from a footprint perspective, but the rooms were large with high ceilings as well as  airy with very tall windows and wide doors. Aside from having to dust the high corners, living in a house like that would be amazing. Every window had a pair of dark green shutters. Both floors had four rooms, two on each side with the wide foyer / hall / staircase in the middle.

The upstairs hall was big enough to be used as shared living space and there was a large door or set of doors that opened onto a balcony. That must have been a lovely spot to sit in the shade of both the overhanging roof and the tall trees.

The real draw of this place was the authentic slave quarters on the property. It, too, was a two story structure although not as tall as the house. It was maybe twelve feet square and had a square hole in the ceiling of the first floor with a rudimentary ladder for those sleeping on the second floor. * I * would have struggled to shimmy through that hole. In one corner downstairs there was a -- I don't even know what to call it -- it was like a small brick oven at the base for the fire and over that was a large metal basin for heating water. it had a chimney to carry the smoke up and out and provide no doubt limited heat to the upstairs.

Very eye opening and sad, quite frankly. Our nation was built on the backs of the slaves we dragged from their homeland, and we treated them like shit.

*sigh*

So after that we went back to the hotel and chatted for a bit before attempting naps in advance of the parade. I slept a bit, but not as much as I'd hoped.

By a quirk of luck, our hotel was situated at the launching off point of the parade. It was on a corner and one of the streets was where the floats and other parade procession organizations.

We walked two blocks west and took our spot at the base of the Texas Capitol building.

But the parade itself was amazing. I had so much fun seeing all the floats and organizations supporting the LGBTQ community. My only beef was that I felt it lasted a little too long...probably an hour and half. At the hour mark I was ready to be done. Maybe that's just me. Maybe was because I was standing the whole time.

My favorite group was a group of Middle-Eastern men--I have no idea what organization or business they were representing--but it was so very cool to see these men who'd have dealt with a fate I hate to imagine in their home country--dancing and singing and celebrating this part of themselves without fear of judgement or reprisal.

Anyway, a fun time was had by all. Donny and I will do this again--thinking about Denver next June.

Here are a few pictures:

Catch you in two weeks!

There should have been a post today, but as I mentioned in my last post, I was out of town this past weekend and I need some time to write all about my trip to Austin.

Thanks for your patience!

Here's a preview:

I recently read this book and it spoke quite strongly to me in regards to making sure that the last two or three decades of my life are as I want them to be. Namely--me being fairly independent, able to care for myself, healthy (physically & mentally), active, stable, flexible, and doing the things I want to do.

Dr. Attia firmly believes that the best thing we can do for ourselves to protect and prevent (as is much as humanly possible) us from succumbing to any of the Four Horsemen, as he calls them, is exercise. He has specific ideas and recommendations as to what kind of exercise, of course, but exercise none the less.

The Four Horsemen, according to Dr. Attia, are heart disease, type two diabetes, cancer, and neurogenerative disease.

Right now, medicine in general (Medicine 2.0) tends to respond to things that are wrong with people rather than work on preventative actions (Medicine 3.0). Sometimes the responses come too late, such as with cancers.

Anyway, it's a very informative book and I highly recommend it to everyone.

* * * * *

As a fan of the original Twister (released 1996!), DD and I were very excited to learn that a contemporary version was coming to theaters. We went to see it as a family a week ago yesterday and ...

DD and I both loved it. So much so that we decided to see it in the theater a second time. I decided to wear my earbuds during my second viewing to dampen the sound a bit as volume seemed super loud in the IMAX theater. However, the regular theater volume was fine and I took them out halways through the film.

There were several call backs to the original, but the plot line was original unto itself. We highly recommend it, but see it soon as it won't be in theaters long. DD saw it an additional two times on her own, but could not explain what about it has exactly tickled her fancy.

* * * * *

Image courtesy of Google Maps.

Speaking of exercise...

My annual road trip home is a month or so out. I debated flying because I've reached a point that sitting for extended periods of time does my body no good, leaving me feeling stiff and achy--two things I try to avoid on a daily basis by getting up and moving around hourly.

But the cost of flights (plus checked luggage fees) and the lack of freedom while I'm visiting my family was prohibitive this year. I'll need to start checking flight prices sooner next summer.

To combat my bodily grievances, I'm seriously considering stopping at Walmart Supercenters (chosen for safety reasons) at two-ish hour intervals in order to take a stroll around the store. I can also use their restrooms and buy better food at cheaper prices than at gas stations.

I've scoped out the relevant store locations already and will ponder this course of action for the next several weeks before making a definite decision.

* * * * *

Hope you are well! My trip to Austin will happen the weekend before we meet again, so I may postpone posting so as to have time to write about my experiences.

Be well and take care...

First off -- there's been a huge upset in the business. Our very first employee, who'd worked for us for seventeen(!) years, gave notice a few weeks ago, and this past Friday was his last day.

It's a mixed blessing, to be sure, but ultimately, our business is going to be the better for it.

* * * * *

Also this past weekend (Fri-Sun), I was on a mini-writer's retreat with my writer besties. It was wonderful to get away (a couple hours east from home) and hang out with my friends and get some work done on the revamp of my first series. I've talked about that here.

Books 1 - 3 are all in progress, Book One needing the most work. But I reached a point with that book that I needed more time / space (well, lack of distractions) that I'd saved the focused work for this retreat and moved on to the other books in turn. Not that I've finished either of them either.

Unfortunately, Book One needed more work than I remembered and I had a hard time really getting in the work zone to do the detailed edits that need to be done. But I did read through it yet again, making minor tweaks and refreshing my memory on the scope of work. So now I can plan some time blocks to work on it.

Book Two and Book Three are, tbh, I don't even know right know. Closer to being done than Book One, so those can be worked on whenever.

As for the new covers I've commissioned, those are coming along too. The original covers are very soft and muted. The new ones are gonna be brighter and a little more cookie cutter. It's been a challenge finding appropriate models, especially for Book Two. Ultimately, I decided not to stress about it too much. They're not really for me.

My goal is to be done revamping the first three books by the end of September and then dive into the second three books during the 4th quarter. I hope Books 4-6 won't need too much work. Then comes the challenge of new words for Book 7 which is one-third to one-half done.

But I'm chugging along with the overall project, so I'm not complaining.

* * * * *

Anyone who's been around these here parts for any length of time will know I love podcasts. I've listened to various different ones, including history, but mostly I listen to hockey podcasts.

Puck Soup was my first hockey-based podcast and I loved it dearly. Yes, loved. These days, it's fine. I haven't listened to any of the new stuff since the Stars fell out of the playoffs. I couldn't bear any hockey talk because the Stars' defeat would have been a hot topic and my heart was too raw to hear the players and the play dissected.

I've basically unsubbed from everything podcast / hockey related -- except Puck Soup even though I could save myself $9 a month by doing so. I keep it solely because of one person...Greg Wyshinski, who doesn't even participate in the hockey eps anymore because of his work contract with ESPN.

Greg was one of the original hosts of Puck Soup along with Dave Lozo. Dave eventually left to purse other career opportunities, and I hope things have worked out for him.

But I have to confess that I have sorely missed his presence as well as the camaraderie and interplay between him and Greg.

So the reason I have not yet opted to save myself nine-dollars-and-change is because I have been listening to the very old/beginning/first episodes of Puck Soup with these two zany dudes.

They make me laugh out loud. And their hockey predictions with eight years of hindsight are also amusing.

Dave on the left, Greg on the right.

* * * * *

Another thing I've gotten into is watching The Hoof GP on YouTube. Sonshine introduced me to the Hoof GP while he was here, and now I'm hooked.

The Hoof GP is a Scottish hoof trimmer who practices his trade in beautiful Southwest Scotland.

Watching him trim the hooves of (mostly) dairy cows is calming and also very interesting. His love and care for the animals is always evident and I now find myself feeling for these animals as well.

Two of his wife's brothers also work with him and it's enjoyable to watch the interplay between the three of them.

Anyway, it's worth checking out. :0)

* * * * *

And that, my friends, is that for now. I hope you're all well.

I'll be back in two weeks' time.

Take care.

Credit goes to me--image taken in a random Kroger in North Central Texas last June. :0)

Happy Fourth of July!

Three days hence, the nation will be collectively grilling tasty meats, drinking wonderful beverages, and watching fireworks. I hope you have a wonderful day whatever you have planned.

* * * * *

My newest Funko Pop--a birthday gift from DD: Alexander Hamilton.

"I'm not going to miss my shot."

A couple of weeks ago, DD dragged me to a mall. In two different stores, there were these huge sections of Funko Pops.

I've said this before, usually about the massive number of varieties of cereal in the grocery store, but let me just say it again in general...there is way toooo much crap in the world.

Why...just why?

Don't get me wrong, I own my fair share of crap, including five Funko Pops, but whenever I go to a store (pick a store, any store), I'm flabbergasted anew.

* * * * *

Buc-ee's ~ Hillsboro, TX

Two Saturdays ago, DD and I finally checked out the brand new Buc-ee's in Hillsboro, Texas. It wasn't jam packed as I expected, which was a nice change of pace on a hot Saturday afternoon. I bought the requisite magnet, but I also filled a gap in my wardrobe; I now own a Buc-ee's tee shirt. :0) 

* * * * *

Hope you're all well.

Catch you in a couple of weeks.

...short lived though it was.

But by the time you're reading this, Sonshine will have come and gone. I was gonna post this last Monday, but random things conspired to make me forget. Oops. :0)

But spending five days with my beloved Sonshine was wonderful. He did let me know, in no uncertain terms, that Texas was, sadly for me, no longer a place he wished to live. I'd been holding on to hope that he'd eventually move "home." But home for him is now across the Sound from Seattle proper. Of course, him being there and the Brown Eyed Girl being in Colorado gives us good reason to visit two very gorgeous geographies.

Any who, time with Sonshine is always prized so we spent five days mostly talking, but we also did puzzles, played some games, and just generally hung out. We even took him out to eat for his "half" birthday.

* * * * *

On a sad note, my Dallas Stars just couldn't get through the Western Conference Final to the Stanley Cup Final. I have been soooo sad and disappointed for them. For me now, though, hockey season is over. I have had no desire to watch the Stanley Cup Final. (Nor listen to my podcasters break down what happened!) I just hope the Eastern Conference Champs, the Florida Panthers, win the Cup.

On a muuuuch sadder note, one of the NHL's favorite veteran players and hugely popular Dallas Star Joe Pavelski says he's retiring. My heart cracked a little when I heard the news. He's 39 now and that's considered old in hockey years. He'd defied the aging curve up until the last month or so of hockey, but it seemed to have finally caught up with him. I hoped he stays with us one more year playing in the bottom six, but that remains to be seen.

There were tears in the dressing room and tears across the Stars fan base at his loss. We're hoping that if he doesn't accept another one-year player contract, he takes a job in Dallas Stars management, consolation prize though it be for him.

* * * * *

And finally, Happy Birthday Dad!

Today would have been his seventy-seventh birthday.

Image courtesy depositphotos.com.

I finally got the confirmation that Sonshine can and will be coming for a visit. He'll be here the week of my birthday and, with any luck, the Stanley Cup Playoffs will have come and gone and I'll be dragging my boy to downtown Dallas for a parade. :0)

* * * * *

Speaking of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Round Two has come and gone since last we chatted. And the Stars are still playing hockey. WHOOO! They're currently in the middle of the Western Conference Final.

DD and I attended the watch party of Round 2, Game 6, where our boys in Victory Green had to win the game twice... and I know you're asking "What does that even mean, Jen?"

It means we scored in the first overtime but the goal was disallowed and we had to keep playing. We made it to second overtime and were able to score / win. (FYI, overtime in the playoffs is sudden death.)

And we bought tickets to Round 3, Game 2 while driving home that night, lol...

By the time you're reading this, we'll have attended that game, and we'll play Round 3, Game 3 the night this posts.

We're 1-1 in the series so far. :0) LETS GO STARS!!!

* * * * *

So DD and I saw Hamilton last week and I gotta say... Great performance by the cast. It wasn't Lin-Manuel Miranda and Company, but it was as good as could be expected. I got a magnet to remember the occasion by, and it's basically that star in the image above, just with the gold and the black reversed.

Now, for a performance in a fancy-schmancy opera house, there was an interesting array of modes of dress. From summer shorts & tee shirts to dressy dresses and sports coats and everything in between, everything was represented. And more power to y'all.

Having not previously attended a performance there, we picked seats we thought would be a good mix of affordable and that provided a good view of the stage. We didn't pick great--it's always a learning curve, isn't it? If I sat back comfortably in my seat, I was unable to see about 1/3 if the stage at an angle as we were seated along the left side of the opera house on the 4th level. Next time, we need to be more centrally located.

As a result I had to sit with a few contortions and it wasn't comfortable by any stretch. My back, which already has issues, was not a happy camper. Live and learn.

* * * * *

Okay, friends...that's all for this edition. Catch you in two weeks. Hope you're having a lovely Memorial Day Weekend.

So let's start with the Stars...it took seven nail-biting games against a tough opponent to advance to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. That was a week and a half ago.

Now they're playing an even tougher opponent in the Colorado Avalanche... The Avs had a week+ of rest. The Stars had none. There's always the conversation of "rest versus rust" when a team has significant time off between playoff rounds... 

Now I don't know which way the pundits are leaning as far as that question goes because I'm losing faith in the so called experts for a variety of reasons.

Anywho, my boys in Victory Green played Round One, Game Seven on a Sunday, played Round Two, Game One on the following Tuesday, which they promptly lost. *sigh* Then they won Round Two, Game Two (so a split at home!) Then they flew to Denver (the mile-high city, dontcha know) and curb-stomped the Avs in their own barn.

So we're three games deep and the Stars are leading the series 2-1.

* * * * *

[there should be a picture here, but I forgot to have someone take one--argh!]

In happier news, I got see my Brown-Eyed Girl and her soulmate this past weekend. Soulmate's niece graduated from TCU so on Friday, we were invited to dinner with soulmate's family. And it was treat to finally meet his mother and two sisters. Our kids have been together (with a short hiatus) for close to a decade at this point.

And this past Sunday/Mother's Day, they came and stayed overnight at the house before flying home today.

* * * * *

And in equally happy news, it looks as though Sonshine will be able to come for a visit after all. He's supposed to call me on his day off and we're going to book his flight.

It's a been a few years--I need a new picture of me and my sonshine. :0)

*

And that is that for this edition of Jen's blog. Have a great week! Catch you in two...