The Nana Second

This was sent to me today just when I needed to be reminded. So I thought I would use this as my blog post for today. I have been thinking about all of this the last few weeks, but I need to print it out and remind myself of all of these things everyday. The question to ask ourselves everyday is “What is really important in this life I have been given?” Enjoy the moment…

Today we have bigger houses and smaller families; more conveniences, but less time;

We have more degrees, but less common sense; more knowledge, but less judgment;

We have more experts, but more problems; more medicine, but less wellness.

We spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get to angry too quickly, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too often, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too little and lie too often.

We‘ve learned how to make a living, but not a life; we’ve added years to life, not life to years.

We have taller buildings, but shorter tempers; wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints.

We spend more, but have less; we buy more, but enjoy it less.

We’ve been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbor.

We’ve conquered outer space, but not inner space. We’ve split the atom, but not our prejudice;

We write more, but learn less; plan more, but accomplish less.

We’ve learned to rush, but not to wait; we have higher incomes, but lower morals.

We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies, but have less communication. We are long on quantity, but short on quality.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion; tall men and short character; steep profits and shallow relationships;

More leisure and less fun; more kinds of food, but less nutrition; two incomes, but more divorce; fancier houses, but broken homes.

That’s why I propose, that as of today, you do not keep anything for a special occasion, because every day that you live is a special occasion.

Search for knowledge, read more, sit on your front porch and admire the view without paying attention to your needs.

Spend more time with your family and friends, eat your favorite foods, and visit the places you love.

Life is a chain of moment of enjoyment, not only about survival.

Use your crystal goblets. Do not save your best perfume, and use it every time you feel you want it.

Remove from your vocabulary phrases like “one of these days” and “someday”. Let’s write that letter we thought of writing “one of these days”.

Tell your family and friends how much you love them. Do not delay anything that adds laughter and joy to your life.

Every day, every hour, and every minute is special. And you don’t know if it will be your last.

If you’re too busy to take the time to send this message to someone you love, and you tell yourself you will send it “one of these days “. Just think…”One of these days “, you may not be here to send it!

I promised a few more photos of the Churchmans…

This first one is of the four of us taken in 1979. We must have been off to do some Country/Western dancing that night. We always had so much fun.

Sheila on a Longhorn at our neighbor’s Kingfisher Ranch.
Miss Mary, Dave & Sheila with Mother at her 90th birthday party.
Sheila & Sandy at the Antique Rose Emporium in April, 2005.
Dave & Owen - “Dressed for Dinner” at Toledo Bend.
Sheila (far right) on her first ride on the Fabulous Flames float during Pecan Festival.
Don’s wife, Narmina, Don, Sheila & Kimberley
Owen & Dave - Buddies.
That’s all for now.

Happy New Year…

I am not often at a loss for words, but I truly do not know how to begin to convey what the past five or six weeks have been for our family. Saying that our hearts have been in a vice is probably a good way to begin.

Actually, changes in our lives began when Owen’s dad got ill, had surgery and, unfortunately, never recovered. We were all so saddened by the loss of Warren on September 18th, 2007. We really miss him, his funny jokes and playful manner - sometimes even when he was not feeling too well. Owen had had the opportunity to see him often in the past year since his job took him to New Orleans on a fairly regular basis. They were enjoying the visits and talked more often than they ever had. Owen is so thankful for the time shared with his dad.

Things seemed to be moving along normally through the months of October and November - no surprises for us. We were just staying busy, Owen with work and I with my activities and projects around the house. We took off for Ruston, LA to spend the Thanksgiving holidays with Mother and the rest of my family. We had a great time! Several families arrived a couple of days before Thanksgiving Day and that just allowed us extra time to visit - so much fun! We ate and ate and played and talked and generally just made some more memories. Then, each went our separate ways after the weekend. Mother had planned to come home with me, but got up that morning not feeling too well and we both agreed that she should probably stay home and that I would come back and get her in the spring when it was warmer anyway. I was disappointed, but knew that she would be miserable if she was sick and not in her own chair and own house. There was also another problem… Julie Lyons, the wife of Brad’s best friend, Brendan, had lost her yearlong battle with metastatic melanoma the day after Thanksgiving. Brad and Carrie left immediately to be with Brendan and the rest of that family. We knew this couple - www.lyonsfamily.org - through Brad and felt as if we were fighting the battle along with them. It was difficult for all to accept this. The funeral was held the following Thursday and it was an incredible service and memorial to Julie - What a fine young woman she was.

To chronicle my week a bit…I left Ruston on Monday, driving back to Texas alone as Owen and I had come in separate cars because he had to be back in the office on Monday. I was getting myself back in the home mode, catching up with things around the house, carrying on with my usual Wednesday routine - ensemble handbells at 1pm, church handbell choir at 5pm and sanctuary choir at 7pm. As I got into the car to leave the church, I noticed that I had a couple of messages on my phone, one from my sister, Essie. This was a little unusual because she knows where I am on Wednesdays. Knowing now what she was to tell me, I should have waited until arriving home. She told me as gently as she could, but it couldn’t soften the blow that my great nephew, Kendall, had been killed in a plane crash in Oklahoma. I was shocked beyond belief, quickly pulled the car into a parking lot and had my first flood of tears. We had just seen him Thanksgiving week. How could this be? It is still painful because I know the pain my sister, Bobbie, and my niece, Kim, and family are in. He was an adorable and sweet young man. We are missing him, too. We left on the Saturday after Julie’s funeral to drive to Oklahoma, where the funeral and burial was held. It was truly overwhelming - the kindness of the people in the community and their obvious love for this family. See Brad’s blog for pictures. Mother came back to Texas with us.

Now, carrying on…Our church choir had been preparing for our Christmas musical for several months and I had recently auditioned for a solo part of a song a trio was singing - sounds confusing… Long story short, it was difficult, but I got through it. I was so excited to have Mother here to experience the musical and hear me sing a solo for the first time. The kids came up and we had a great time together. Mother and I were having fun shopping and visiting and getting ready for Christmas. We had talked her into staying with us for Christmas - had it all planned when we received a phone call on December 20th from Kim Churchman Davis telling us that there had been and explosion at her parents’ - our best friends, Dave and Sheila Churchman
- house in Colfax, LA. My first question was, “Who’s gone?” By the tone of her voice, I just knew that it was bad… She said that Dave, her father, and Miss Mary,

her grandmother didn’t make it, but her mother, Sheila, brother, Don, and his wife, Narmina had been transported to hospitals. Sadly, we would find out just a couple of hours later that Sheila could not be stabilized and died at the hospital. Don and Narmina had injuries, but were going to be fine. Owen and I, as well as my mother, were in complete shock. I could not stop crying - the tears just flowed down my cheeks. We had lost our very best friends, friends for 34 years and friends whom we had shared so many fun times. I will share some of those another time. Of course, we left immediately, took Mother back to Ruston (a couple of hours from Colfax) and headed to Natchitoches to Dave’s brother’s house. Arrangements were made for Dave, Sheila and Miss Mary. The services and burial would all be at the same time. This was the most heart wrenching funeral I have ever attended. We had not intended to be burying friends on Christmas Eve… To say that we miss them is just not enough. They were such a part of our lives. They were always full of life and fun. There will be no replacing them. It almost seems surreal writing about them right now.
But the story doesn’t end here…we had an early Saturday morning (Dec. 29th) phone call from Sheila’s sister saying that Don had collapsed and was not able to be resuscitated. At this point, I had no more tears. I was shocked and though my heart aches for Kim and the rest of the family, I can not cry. Our thought had been that at least Kim and Don have each other if they don’t have their parents and grandmother. Tragic is the only word that comes to mind right now. So…we are planning to attend yet another funeral, this one on January 4th, 2008.

I was praying that 2008 would have a new and happier beginning. Now, I’m praying that this sad event is the only one for 2008. More photos another time.

Bringing this to you live from my new “Mac”. I can not believe that my sweet husband surprised me with an early Christmas present and had this and a “huge” new monitor delivered by our very own “in-family” specialist, Bradley. He has never been able to surprise me - ever! This is a first.

Now, I’ll try to take a picture with this MacBook and see what happens. If you don’t see a picture of me in our red office, then that means that I was not successful, but I’ll keep trying. Boy, do I have a lot to learn. SO MUCH FUN!
!

That’s all for now…

Since my son, Bradley, informed me during the Christmas holidays that he was “disappointed” that I had not been blogging, I thought that I would take advantage of this wet, frigid, January day to catch up and to get back in his good graces…

The last few months have flown by and I seem to have had little time to do anything but “keep up”.  My children think that I sit around all day painting my nails or having lunch or goodness knows what they must think – since I don’t have a “real” job.  But I AM involved in a number of different organizations and activities.  I won’t go into all of them, but suffice it to say that I stay busy and am enjoying these involvements.

But…the last few days have found me “holed up” in our toasty warm house here in Chappell Hill.  Our nice, big fireplace not only contributed to a warm house, but to the ambiance (don’t you just love that word?) and has served as our source of energy for cooking.  When we bought the house, I was so excited to see that the fireplace had a swinging arm While in New Orleans, I had volunteered at the Hermann-Grima house in their outdoor kitchen.  Once a month, I volunteered to be part of a team doing “down hearth cooking”.  This was just so much fun.  I was amazed at the meal we could prepare using down hearth cooking methods, a Dutch oven and a few other special tools.  The best part was that we got to take home the meal we had prepared that day.  Hermann-Grima has one of the only beehive ovens in the city.  So we also occasionally made homemade bread - delicious. 

So….since we had had a fire going in the (yes…I am married to a firebug!) since Sunday afternoon, which is also the last time I set foot outside the door, I decided that I would just have a little fun.  My sister, Essie, had given me a very large Dutch oven a couple of years ago. I had seasoned it, but not used it.  This is not a “real” Dutch oven, which has the little feet on the bottom and the inverted lid, but a more modern one.  It works well to hang on the swinging arm, but would not do well for baking a cake, which we used to do on occasion at Hermann-Grima.  Here is what I made – Baked Potato Soup.  I have to say that it was really wonderful and warmed us nicely for lunch.  Then, I decided to try something else for dinner – no pictures…too busy cooking – so I grilled a fabulous tenderloin steak in a fish basket used on a grill and sauteed some mushrooms in a black iron skillet with a pie plate lid on top.  I agreed with Owen that it was about the best steak we have ever had — anywhere!  The flavor was incredible!   Now on to today…it’s Wednesday…

I got up this morning not intending to cook anything, but when I saw that Owen had built a really nice fire, I started browsing the pantry for some inspiration.  I came across some split peas and after getting Owen’s “go-ahead” (didn’t take much since he loves this!), I got the pot on the fire.  Here it is…Dutch Erwtensoup, better known as Split Pea soup here in the USA.  You can go to any restaurant, large or small, in The Netherlands summer or winter and get this wonderful, thick pea soup.  They usually put leeks, potatoes and carrots in theirs.  I had large bulb onions and carrots, but used all of my potatoes in the potato soup – so will have to do without that. Just had the  for lunch and it was yummy!  Just to entertain myself, I am trying to decide what I can grill for dinner – not that I don’t have other things to do – but I’m just taking advantage of the fire…

Sooooo…what’s on your menu today?

Today is certainly a reason to celebrate! � There are fewer and fewer couples who reach their 36th wedding anniversary.  Owen and I have been blessed beyond measure during our married life.  Here is a picture from May, 1968 � Owen�s Senior Prom. (We met on September 30, 1967 � blind date!)  He was a class officer and there was a special dinner before the prom for all of the officers.  Wasn�t he just the most handsome in his �Clark Kent� glasses?  Well…I fell for him anyway.  And there I am right beside him as I have been ever since. 

I didn�t think we would get to this point in our lives so quickly, but WOW have we had a great time � so far!  Fortunately, we still enjoy each other�s company, still have wonderful, long conversations (about so many different things �well, lots of time I�m listening since Owen is such a great �talker�), enjoy planning projects and working on them together, and continue to be the best of friends even in the worst of times.  Does that make sense?  What I�m trying to say is that no matter what is going on or how bad things appear (to us and others), our love for each other is always there to see us through.  How he puts up with me � I just don�t know sometimes, but I thank God for him daily, for bringing us together and for the life He has planned for us.  I don�t know what the future holds, but I trust that God has much, much more planned in the years ahead and that they will be as full and wonderful as the previous years have been.

Now…before I get anymore choked up, I�ll share a few more pictures �

Through the years…                

…..With Owen�s Maw Maw Bradley � 1970

….Going to a McDermott party � December,1979.  

Family Portrait � Cobham, Surrey, England � 1982

Family picture at Richele & Michael�s wedding � 1995                                                                                         

May, 2006

We haven�t changed that much, have we???  

And to my sweetheart of all these years � Happy 36th Anniversary!  I am looking forward to the rest of our lives together, wherever He leads us.  I love you…

I had such a great time with Alyssa and Samantha when they stayed with us while their parents were at the beach having a wonderful time.  We played games, took pictures on the hay bales ,

made cookies, and went to this fabulous playhouse at my friend, Barbara’s, house. Barbara’s son built this for her granddaughter several years ago.  It has running water and electricity.  We spent a couple of hours there after church on Sunday.What fun!! They were worn out…They love to come to Nana’s and Pop-O’s house.  However, Alyssa did ask me one day what “we” did for fun around here.  Hilarious!!  I just had to tell her that when they weren’t here we entertained ourselves pretty well.  

That’s all for now.  Hope you had a wonderful weekend – we did!

One of the neat things about living in a small town is that you get to do small town things such as what we enjoyed today.  It is a glorious, blue sky, Texas day here in Chappell Hill, albeit hot � 101 on the thermometer.  However, the heat didn�t deter us from getting out and enjoying some of the events going on around town.  We attended the first annual Chappell Hill Lavender Fest .  I had been out to the Lavender Farm last year with my garden club and enjoyed meeting the owner, Debbie McDowell.  Here is a picture of the farm and one of a few of the ladies who attended the tour last October.

She told us all about how they planted, harvested, etc.  Very interesting.  Then we got to cut some lavender to take home.  To me, there is nothing that comes close to that smell � just heavenly.  It was a little hot to be out there in the lavender field today, so Owen and I visited the gift shop instead and came home with some wonderful smelling soap and hand lotion.  We are both �suckers� for that sort of thing.   

Another stop on the festival trail was the Independence Coffee Co., owned by Christie and Ragan Bond.  They just purchased a building located on Hwy. 105 between Navasota and Brenham.  You can read all about them on their web site.  Their coffee is fabulous.  I tasted the �Jet Fuel� and �Madalyn�s Backyard Pecan�.  The first will wake you up for sure and �Madalyn�s� has a smooth but robust taste with the flavor of real pecans in it.  We brought home �Madalyn�s� beans, which has fresh pecan pieces mixed in it.  I can�t wait to grind some here at home and see if I can brew it the way they did this morning.  There is an interesting process to roasting coffee beans and to taste the coffee that has just been roasted and ground is a really incredible experience for coffee connoisseurs.  

We also made a stop at Chappell Hill�s only (Owen would say there are two � the other being my kitchen. HA!) gourmet restaurant in this community, Inn at Dos Brisas.  Again, too hot for a tour of the organic vegetable gardens and herb gardens, but just the drive onto the 320 acre property was a treat.  The inn itself was not open to tours today, but we decided to check it out during the week sometime.  I have heard that the food and service is excellent � if a bit on the expensive side…

Our Saturday outing would not have been complete without a stop at Southern Flyer Restaurant at the Brenham Airport where we had a great hamburger and french fries!  And I�ll tell on Owen � he added a chocolate malt to his meal.  I kept my mouth half-shut � LOL � and then had to taste it when it was brought to the table.  O.K….so we weren�t watching our diet/cholesterol today, but it was fun and good.  I brought half the hamburger home in a to-go box � it is that big!  Sorry no pictures today!!

Now, as I sit here journaling away, Owen is sleeping in the chair in the bedroom.  We were up late last night, having gone to dinner with friends at a little place in Industry called The Feed Barn � good food.   Having had such a great time with great people and great food and conversation, we were so wound up by the time we got home that we had a difficult time going to sleep until after midnight.  I know, I know Brad �-you are just getting your second wind by then, but not so for us.  Anyway, Owen still got up early and decided that he�d better nap before tonight as we are having dinner at the home of friends tonight. 

What a wonderful Saturday for us in the country.  I remarked to Owen on the way home that this is so serene and beautiful - even driving to eat at the airport � why would anyone want to live in the city.  We are blessed beyond measure and I am so thankful to be right where I am.  I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend as well. 

Now don�t forget to stop and smell the roses � or lavender - as the case may be. Catch you later…

I had a little adventure this weekend that I would like to share with you all.  Angela, a friend from my Bunko group, invited several of us to join her and her husband to harvest grapes at Pleasant Hill Winery in Brenham.  Yes!, we do have a winery – believe it or not!  Bob and Jeanne Cottle own this little winery and they are delightful folks.  Jeanne prepared a very nice breakfast of quiche, danishes and fruit for us before we headed to the vines.  There were eight of us in all, plus a few “pickers” the Cottles had hired.  We were out there from 8:30 – 10:30.  It was blazing hot!  It’s a good thing that the harvesting is not a difficult.  You just go down the row, cut the clump of grapes off the vine and throw it in the bin.  There is a larger bin that is set on a pallet and then picked up with a tractor to take back to the crusher.  

I mentioned to another friend that I just love picking vegetables and all kinds of fruit and berries.  He said it was probably in the genes – my ancestors must have been cotton pickers.  He thought that his were, too.  LOL  Though the heat was not very pleasant, I still enjoyed myself.  We worked in pairs and were able to find out lots more about one another and solve lots of the world’s problems in those two hours.  The time just flew by!  We finished up and headed to the area where Bob and the rest of his hired crew dumped the grapes into a device where the grapes are separated from the stems, then pushed through a large hose into the crusher and strained through a sieve.  As the juice comes out from the sieve, it is collected in the bottom sauce of the sieve and sent through yet another hose and finally into the large tank in the cellar, which is kept at 64 degrees.  So interesting! 

Jeanne served us a light lunch and then we headed upstairs to the gift shop to sample the wine.  But as my son would remark, “Which I may or may not have sampled.” I report…You decide!  So thanks to the Cottles at Pleasant Hill Winery for a fun Saturday morning.  We had fun and they got the grapes off of the vines.

A few pictures to share… 

Jodi, Liz, and Bob

Me…

I wish I could remember the name of the grapes – I’ll find out…

Now…I ask you, is this fun or what? 

New Orleans is coming back! That is, if you can judge by the number of restaurants that have opened in the last couple of months. I was last here in February and the “pickings” were slim, but after checking out a few New Orleans websites, and www.neworleansrestaurants.com, it appears that New Orleanians have gotten back their appetites. And…it’s a wonderful thing!

Owen and I had a great shrimp poboy, “dressed” please, yesterday from the little deli across the street. There is no matching the french bread baked in this city. I have never tasted any better any where in the world - including France. Dave and Sheila…I think you’ll agree with me on this! We had a few loaves between fabulous red wine when vacationing there a few years ago - to o many! We bought french bread to make our own poboys for lunch today - just ham and cheese, but I could have eaten it with just butter spread on it - delicious.

Owen is here working on his dad’s building - putting it back together after Katrina had its way with it. He is finishing up the electrical work he started months ago. It just takes so long to get anything done. And then, of course, it is a process…waiting on someone else to finish the sheetrocking, cabinetry installation, flooring and painting before finishing up with the outlets, light fixtures and fans. I know the people whose houses have suffered damage have to be frustrated with all the delays. It’s been 10 months since Katrina hit this city and there are still signs of the damage everywhere - some places harder hit than others, of course. I cannot imagine having to deal with living here and rebuilding, but New Orleanians have an incredible spirit about them - a “never say die” attitude that has kept them “afloat” during this rebuilding process. To see the FEMA trailers still lined up inside a fenced in “compound” of sorts in Chalmette was shocking. However, I am happy to report that things look a whole lot better than they did when I was here last and a whole lot better than I expected.

But…wasn’t I talking about food, which is something this city still understands better than any other? I had to stop this post because I had to leave Monday evening to go our friends, the O’Bannons for a visit. I insisted that she not cook because I really just wanted time to visit since we have not seen them for quite a while. Ernest “cooked” by going to Dimartino’s to pick up some muffallettas. Mina added some delicious potato salad and creole tomatoes with fresh mozzarella cheese and basil from her herb garden. Fabulous! The combined flavors and textures in a “muffie” is something that is unmatched. This wasn’t Central Grocery’s muffaletta, but it was every bit as good and with a nice glass of wine - ummmmmm good!

My intention was to try a few different restaurants while in town. Unfortunately, that hasn’t worked out very well. The one I wanted to go to last night with the Joneses was closed for some odd reason. So we went to Caffe Fresca for a light meal. The menu is still limited and I was hoping that they had their fried oyster fettucine, but was informed that that is usually the special on Thursdays. Oh well - another day. The service was great, food really good and company wonderful! Bill, Nancy,
Owen and I got to do some catching up on the last six months since we have seen them. And we got first hand their “Katrina story”. They are still in the renovation process and will be for a little while longer. They did not have flooding, but suffered wind damage to their roof and therefore water damage inside. As a realtor friend of ours told us in a conversation today, the storm has been renamed - it’s now St. Katrina. People are renovating and upgrading where they never would have had it not been for St. Katrina! And…they have the money with which to do it.
Still on the food subject…I thought that I would get to try out Brigtsen’s tonight, but Shirley has informed me that she cooked red beans and rice. Not that I am being ungrateful for someone cooking for me, but I can have that any day, any week! I decided to have a late lunch and forego the beans tonight. One less meal won’t hurt me - that’s for sure! She did redeem herself - somewhat - when she also announced that she was cooking gumbo for tomorrow night. Now that can get my interest, because she makes some of the best gumbo I have ever had - shrimp, oysters, crab - just delicious. So, I suppose I will have to save my appetite for other seafood for another trip.
O.K….I have rattled on about next to nothing. I’ll save my breath for another day.

More later…