Thoughts from an acheing head

Laying in bed with a raging headache but unable to rest. Took a couple of Excederin and hope they work sooner than soon. Meanwhile I'll blog to take my mind of the ache. Had a bit of a conversation with my brother while he was here about the ways of communicating today. He says that his blogging, face booking, has kept him in touch with his old friends and made him some new ones. I am in touch with friends I made on the Internet and met in person but also with those I had as snail mail pen pals and have never met. While email, twitter, face book, etc. is certainly faster, snail mail is far more personal. The pleasure of finding a letter from a friend or loved one in the mail box is not the same as reading an email. Also it required more commitment because the letter had to be written, put in an envelope, and mailed! There is not much effort put into dashing off an email. Granted the web cams and voice chats which I use quite often can put you in the here and now and I wouldn't want to do away with them. I also recognize the fact that devices such as cell phones and laptops can keep the world connected and show us much more of the world than all the news shows combined. Witness the turmoil in Iran. Twitter and Youtube has been a life line for those protesters in Iran whose freedoms have been so brutally repressed. So yes I see the good in instant communication. I also see the bad side of it when I read about someone who has lied about who they are and caused great harm to those who believe them. It's not perfect, but then again nothing is. I do miss getting personal mail though. The pleasure of finding a letter from a friend or loved one in the mail box is not the same as reading an email. Grabbing a cup of tea or coffee and settling into a comfy chair, opening the envelope that just days ago was sealed shut by a warm tongue, unfolding the sheets of stationary that were folded by loving hands and catching the scent of the person who wrote it can be a very sensual experience or a comforting one depending on who sent it. I miss that. I fear the personal letter has gone the way of the dinosaurs, and that is a shame.

Saturday catch up

Not my usual routine this week. Frank, Krys, and I got a rare chance to trek to Shreveport for some R&R. We didn't break the bank but we had a good time anyway. Also got to visit with my brother who came for a nice but brief visit to pick up his daughter for her summer trip to his home. While my brother loves Austin I don't think he's used to the heat anymore. It's been in the hundreds or close to it for a couple of months now and strangely with not much rain we have high humidity to further make you feel blah. It makes for good swimming weather though and if you get out early in the morning you can get a nice run or walk in. Kind of embarrassed to say here that my walking routine has been erratic this week but I did get in three days this week. I guess two out of three isn't bad. I'll be back on track come Monday. On Sunday we plan to go out to our son's house for a cookout to celebrate Father's Day. It should be fun.

Sunday, Sunday....

Enjoying my brother while he's here on a visit. We watched W. yesterday and I liked it. I had heard of the film and couldn't imagine Josh Brolin as GW but he did a good job and it was very believable. On the walking side I've kept up my routine. Hopefully while my brother is here we'll go out together one morning and he'll help me rev up my pace that I'll do one day out of the 5 I walk. I want to walk a 5K in under 50 minutes. A modest goal that I think is doable. My left hip is a little tender right now but that comes and it's not so painful that I can't deal with it. Also while my brother is here Frank and I (along with Krys) are making a trip on the cheap to Shreveport to stimulate the Louisiana economy. ;-) It'll be a nice change for a couple of days. No dishes to wash, no bed to make, now that's the life. :-) The pic I included here is one of some figures used for the Texas Click It or Ticket campaign. Why they used the figures of Elvis, Yosemite Sam and the others I don't know. They are cute though.

Lazy Sunday

Wow here it is well into June and hot. We're expecting triple digit temperatures today. Ugh. I love Fall and Spring but Summer and Winter not so much. I've kept up my walking routine since my last post with my usual 3 mile average 5 days a week. With the days longer and hotter now I try to go early in the morning and get it done. I've been working on my painting and I'm thinking I'm getting better at it. Please see the posted photos. 1 is entitled Sunrise, 2 is The Lake House, 3 is The Boathouse. I hope you like them. I've also done some reading, the latest being Duma Key by Stephen King. I enjoyed it very much. Krys and I have seen two movies so far this summer. Star Trek which was super fun and Drag Me To Hell which was okay. We also took a trip last weekend to see our youngest granddaughter graduate from high school. Boy are we old! ;-) The battle to save the trees (mostly older pecans) at Barton Springs has been been won. Only 8 or 9 trees will be removed as opposed to the 28 they wanted to cut down. Yea!

Memorial Day Weekend

2009 is flying by with the summer months coming up. It's already been hot here in Austin and not much rain but somehow things are pretty and green. It's been up and down for walking weather but I've managed to keep up my usual 3.1 miles a day, 5 days a week. There is a Triathlon on Monday but I decided not to enter that. ;-) Didn't want to embarrass anyone, mostly myself! Things are kind of quite which is not a bad thing. We're going to Frankie and Sandy's for Memorial Day to visit and try out his new grill. Should be fun. Cyndi and Pam are visiting their sister up in Seattle and by all accounts are having a great time. We talked to them this morning using Skype and it was fun. The photo is of Sammy, Pam, Rick, and Lauren's new addition to the family. He's a cutie!

Playing catch up again

The weather here has been hot, terribly humid (90% one morning), and just plain icky for outdoor activities but I've kept up my walking regimen. Since I know the distances of the different routes I take I can safely say that I'm getting a 5K in 5 days a week. Sometimes a wee bit more, sometimes a wee bit less. No pictures available yet from the Texas Roundup but I'll post one or two when I get them.
Meanwhile I'm posting a photo of the first green beans of the summer from Frank's garden. They were good too. :-)
Also (and please forgive the poor quality) some photos of Krystal getting her certificate from the honor society.

Good news all around. Frank's surgical procedure resulted in good news. No tumor found. Whew! That gave us all a big lift after a over a week of worrying about this new 'thing' the doctor had seen on his last visit. Next visit for him is in three months. Also Cyndi was offered her teaching job back, same school, special education department. It starts in August but meanwhile she's working as a sub at the same school and full time at the IRS. Don't know where she gets the energy.
It happened to me again! Another lady came up and talked to me and said she had seen me walking down So. 1st Street all the time. She was very pleasant.
The photos in the slide show below were taken in the house and yard where we live. Hope you enjoy our springtime show.