We drove to Antlers Saturday for a surprise birthday party for my brother, Robert, 80th birthday. We left early and stopped at Waffle House in Gainesville for breakfast. Interesting place run by a tight fisted owner who limited the number of jelly packages on the table and only had one waffle maker running so I had to wait for a while on the waffle. Restrooms had no towels but a stack of napkins to dry your hands.
On the way into Antlers we stopped at the cemetery to find my dad and mother's tombstone and were fortunate when Nancy spotted it. We offered a prayer for them and their descendants. We then found the Church of Christ after showing Nancy where we were living when WWII broke out.
Tommie brought Robert to a truly surprise party. He refused to get out of the car and his kids had to go out and bring him in. Had most of his family there including his daughter Elizabeth and her daughters Nicole (who reads this blog) and Bryce who is living with Robert and Tommie, granddaughter Ricci, grandson Cody with his four sons, as well as his son Bobby and his new wife, plus a number of Antlers residents. I got to visit with one of the graduates of my class of '44 who brought me up to date on who are left. Not many. Several have died in the last year.
Robert's birthday cake had 80 candles. It was a two tiered cake with candles on the top and around the lower tier, but he was able to huff and puff and blow them all out. We then had the professional photographer take a lot of family group photos. One of all the Rodenberger boys had Robert, me, my son Mark, Robert's son, Bobby, his son Cody and four of Cody's sons. Quite a good-looking crew. More photos were taken across the street at the Brantley grade school building where Robert had gone one year when we lived in Antlers in '40-'41 and where Robert's children had gone to school.
It was a great party and we drove back getting home at 8. A long but satisfying day.
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Monday, November 12, 2012
TEXAS BOOK FESTIVAL
We drove to Austin Saturday. Stopped for a break in Crawford and the store had no George W. Bush memorabilia for sale. We were surprised because just a few years ago it was filled with items.
Parking at the TBF was impossible. We got there about 12:30 and spent 30 minutes looking. We finally parked at Colorado and 17th street. But it was a beautiful day to walk. We started at the Capitol building where we ate at the Capitol Grill.
We then went to the tents starting with Tent #1 that held the Western Writers of America with Candy Moulton and her husband holding the fort. He told me that they left 8" of snow on the ground and he had justed talked to his daughter on the phone and it was -7 degrees. We continued to walk through the exhibition tents. Most of the usual exhibitors were there except Shearer Publishing. They did have a place on the program with the Italian author of the Tuscany Cookbook flying in for the program. Kathy was there but I missed the program.
Parking at the TBF was impossible. We got there about 12:30 and spent 30 minutes looking. We finally parked at Colorado and 17th street. But it was a beautiful day to walk. We started at the Capitol building where we ate at the Capitol Grill.
We then went to the tents starting with Tent #1 that held the Western Writers of America with Candy Moulton and her husband holding the fort. He told me that they left 8" of snow on the ground and he had justed talked to his daughter on the phone and it was -7 degrees. We continued to walk through the exhibition tents. Most of the usual exhibitors were there except Shearer Publishing. They did have a place on the program with the Italian author of the Tuscany Cookbook flying in for the program. Kathy was there but I missed the program.
Rollo Newsome, Charles and Kay Arnold at the TFS booth.
The exhibit tents this year went all the way down Congress Avenue to 8th street. We walked back up past the Capitol looking at the new statues and memorials. We had our photo taken by a friendly onlooker at the TBF post and Nancy took my photo at the WWII memorial.2012 LORD'S ACRE
We celebrated the Cross Plains FUMC Lord's Acre along with Sue's birthday on November 10. We got to visit with many friends. We contributed a Mink jacket that we had purchased in Granbury with the supposed history of being a gift from the estate of a Methodist minister whose children donated it for a fund raiser and after going thru three churches came to Granbury. I was able to make the high bid on it at CP and gave it to Sue as a BD present.
On Sunday we attended our old SS class to read the first 4 chapters of Amos. The class has new members and a few who have stayed for the two year journey through the Bible. A few more lessons and they will be through the Old Testament and into Matthew. Nancy and I have been reading the lessons along with the class and even got a lesson ahead we found. We enjoyed attending the church service and I stood with the other veterans recognized on veteran's day.
God was with us driving back Sunday. On the narrow road between Sipe Springs and DeLeon a truck indicating a wide load came toward us. I didn't slow like I should and topped a hill to find a pickup that was stopped in our lane with a car pulled off to the right in front. I couldn't stop and went around both cars to pull off on the right side of the road in time to miss the wide Double-wide coming toward us taking up most of our lane as well as the other side. God was with us. It could have been a real disaster if the wide load had been closer. At 70 mph it is impossible to stop short. We are blessed and I need to be more aware of warning signals in the future.
On Sunday we attended our old SS class to read the first 4 chapters of Amos. The class has new members and a few who have stayed for the two year journey through the Bible. A few more lessons and they will be through the Old Testament and into Matthew. Nancy and I have been reading the lessons along with the class and even got a lesson ahead we found. We enjoyed attending the church service and I stood with the other veterans recognized on veteran's day.
God was with us driving back Sunday. On the narrow road between Sipe Springs and DeLeon a truck indicating a wide load came toward us. I didn't slow like I should and topped a hill to find a pickup that was stopped in our lane with a car pulled off to the right in front. I couldn't stop and went around both cars to pull off on the right side of the road in time to miss the wide Double-wide coming toward us taking up most of our lane as well as the other side. God was with us. It could have been a real disaster if the wide load had been closer. At 70 mph it is impossible to stop short. We are blessed and I need to be more aware of warning signals in the future.
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