San Marcos

A toast in front of the cake.


Walking back up the aisle, married.

We had to extend our honeymoon by going to San Marcos for the Texas Folklore Society Thursday, Friday and Saturday. We enjoyed renewing our relationships. Nancy had attended the meeting last year in Abilene and had to renew her new friends. She was in pain last year. This year we even walked fairly straight. One of the papers was on the flu epidemic in Sherman in October 1918. We returned home to find that a 52 year old son-in-law of Mary Schulle had died after having pnuemonia for a few weeks, much like the flu victims.

We enjoyed the food. Even drove over to TSU campus to eat lunch Friday at a Thai restaurant with the students. I have to admit I missed one session by sleeping thru my nap Friday.

I only had a couple of photos of the wedding on my camera, but got a bunch yesterday when Kathy emailed her photos. I am waiting for Mandi to send me her photos of Faith and Jeremy. Kathy had one photo that was out of focus of Jeremy. I have posted a couple of photos. More later.

WEDDING PHOTOS

Nancy and me at the head table with our angels singing in the flowers. Note the placemats made by the church women. They were signed by Nancy and me in turquoise ink.


Harris is signing the marraige certificate to make it legal.

I know that a lot of people took photos and maybe they will share some with me later.

I AM NOW MARRIED

April 17, Palm Sunday at our church service, Nancy Johnston and I were joined in marraige. Her sons presented her for her family. My best man was my grandson, Jim Wilcox. His sons served as ring bearers. All of us men wore turqouise vests to brighten up the wedding. I wore my turquoise bolo. Nancy set up turqouise and red as the colors. The lunch tables had our signed placemats with turqouise napkins and forks.

I have to thank everyone for helping us. Nancy's kids were great. Her daughter, Vicky, took care of the cake preparation. Her grandson, Jeremy, played the piano during the dinner and my great-granddaughter, Faith, helped him by playing a few of the notes and he put them in his playing. Nancy's other grandsons took care of the flowers and distributed them to all who needed a flower. Nancy's son, John, unloaded the van of the beds and set up the Halsell House where a lot of Nancy's family slept before the wedding. Three had to sleep in cars. My house was filled with Kathy's family. Valerie brought two of her girl friends who got up Saturday morning to run 8 miles preparing for a marathon. I have good roads to run on. Up and down hill is good exercise.

My best man, Jim had to take his students to a contest in Corpus Christi and as a result missed the rehearsal and got here at 11 p.m. Saturday. But he was there for the wedding. His three kids were a great part of the wedding.

Friends came from everywhere. My brother, Robert, his wife Tommie came with his son Bob and wife from Oklahoma. Chuck Herndon brought his wife, Pat from Granbury and Barbara Majors from Fort Worth. Craig Hansen, his wife and son came from Fort Worth. He works for Lockheed and was a student I helped at A&M in the 1970's. A lot of my Cross Plains friends also showed up. We filled up our church with people. Had about 100 eat at the dinner. A lot of Nancy's friends came from as far as Ruidoso and Granbury.

I can't thank enough all of the church members who helped us with the meals. My daughter Kathy prepared the rehearsal dinner and fed everyone lasagna, bread and salad plus chocolate cake dessert for me. The church members prepared the tables and cleaned up. They were great.

We left to honeymoon in Abilene at Elegante Hotel. We were given four complimentary drinks but only had time to drink one. We were near Outback where we ate a flatbread apetizer and missed the other free drinks. We enjoyed the hot tub and slept late. We ate the complimentary breakfast and enjoyed the TV before coming back to Cross Plains to put money in the bank for the income tax hit. We had tried to deposit checks on Friday afternoon but found the bank closed due to the fire burning north of CP and the town was on pins and needles that the fire would come in again like in 2005. Everyone was watering their yards and reducing the water pressure the firemen needed. They were able to contain the fire and keep it out of town, unlike in Eastland County where they moved everyone out of Gorman and burned Kokomo again. It has been worse at Possum Kingdom and in the area north of Abilene where thousands of acres have been burned.

Today I had the County Agent speak at Kiwanis to a very small audience. Our grape producers were in California buying more plants to add to their grape acreage. Others had other excuses, but I am feeling a lot better and walking almost 100 percent. Maybe 99.8% anyhow.

The temperature got high today and will be warm tonight. Just hope the fires stay away.

TURKEY DAY?

Today for the first time this year I saw two turkeys walking through. It isn't Turkey day yet though. I got a call that my information for the County needs photos of the wildlife. I see them go through but don't photo them. I will get married this Sunday and maybe then things will calm down. I got a call from a doctor yesterday reporting on the MRI of my head. Can't find anything but wants me to meet with a neurologist after the wedding to try to find why I am having balance problems. Yesterday I drove to CP for bird feed and Library business and made it OK. Nancy vacuumed the Halsell House and washed off the front porch. Today I Kiwanis and I will be busy there and with Meet The Author tonight.

SPRING IS HERE

I can't believe I have waited this long to post to the blog. Due to the physical problems I have been having with my head, my fingers don't work well on the keyboard and I am just now beginning to feel normal. Every day I say tomorrow I will be normal. I am getting better. The last post talked about the snow. It did take it several weeks to completely melt. Nancy is hearing from friends in Nebraska and they are still having snow. Today we read 95 degrees on our car outside temperature as we drove back to Granbury. We will be here all week. I think my problem is related to the nerve problem that started in my leg. I think taking the steroids took care of the pain but caused some of my problems with my head. I can feel the steroids leaving. My legs are not as swollen. I have been taking stretching exercises that have solved the pain in my legs and if I can get rid of the wobbly head problem I will be back to normal. Nancy and I got our marriage licence last week and it got in the local paper, so at the restaurant after church we had a lot of people congratulating us. Even got the threat of a Shivaree from Don Clark. We are leaving on a Honeymoon and don't intend to be home for a Shivaree. Nancy has a lot of plans. I am glad that we will have the marriage ceremony as part of the church service. That will simplify things some. Today one of my Sunday School members became a member of the church which pleased me. She is a recent retiree from the USAF with her husband and is building a home in the Cottonwood area. We were glad to get her. She is a great addition to the Sunday School Class. I served as Worship Leader this morning but due to my wobblyness didn't help serve Communion. Tomorrow my head will clear up and I will be better!