DOCTORS, THE DIOCESE, SPORTS AND ALL THAT JAZZ!

The past few weeks have been busy, busy ... BUSY. We didn't have many "spooks"at our door, so we had to be content just sitting in the Pumpkin Patch.







I've gone to every doctor known to man the past week (that's what happens when you're in your Golden Years). I've seen my Internist, Dentist, Gynecologist, Cardiologist, Dermatologist as well as having my annual Mammogram. The good news is that I got a good report from all the above, so I'm good to go for another year ... Praise God!
There were also a couple of firsts for our family. Our great-grandson, Ethan went to the Cowboy game with his Grandpa for the first time

and I went with Frank to my first hockey game to watch the Dallas Stars play. It was the first time I had been to the American Airlines Center and the place is wonderful.

You really have to bundle up at a hockey game as it is very cold in there! I had no idea it would be that cold as we were in the upper deck, but it was!

The American Airlines Center is an arena located in the Victory Park neighborhood near downtown Dallas, Texas that is used for hockey games, basketball games, football games, concerts and various other events.
The Dallas Stars are a National Hockey League team based in Dallas. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). They play their home games at the American Airlines Center.
Our whole family is very sports oriented (with the exception of me), and they all have their "uniforms" that they wear when their team is playing.

Our eldest grandson, Nicholas, even made this T-shirt when we were playing Washington. They're all ardent fans.

Ian could name all the players on the Stars team along with their positions when they won the Stanley Cup. He was not quite 3 years old at the time, and the Security person was so impressed with him that he let him have his photograph taken with the trophy and he also let him touch the Cup without wearing gloves which was a big time no-no!

Since both Franklin and Ian are musicians, I decided to paint these guitars for them. Like I said, I've been in a painting mood the past few weeks.

If you compare Ian in the following photograph with the one with him and the Stanley Cup, you'll see how much he has changed. Time really flies when you're having fun. Where have the years gone???

Two weeks ago the boy's school celebrated Grandparent's Day, so we took their lunch to them and visited with them while they ate. It was a beautiful day, so we were able to sit outside for their lunch.

We opted to go to a restaurant after the lunch period was over as we've never been much for school cafeteria food.

Several weeks ago I received a letter from a gentleman in Florence, Italy, who had read my blog. He is a fellow artist and was interested in the time that I had studied with Charles Reid. We have started a continuing correspondence and he sent me some photographs that he had taken when he studied with Mel Stabin in Italy. I decided to drag out my watercolors again and this is that I came up with after having been inspired by the photographs he sent me. I haven't painted in this medium in a long time but I think I still have fairly a decent handle on it!

I have spent the past few days painting gumball machines. I subscribe to a painters web site, and when I saw a gumball machine on there a long time ago, I got the idea to try to paint some myself.

I started with one, but as time went by, I was so carried away and it was so much fun that I ended up painting 3. I hope that you like them.
Frank will be going to College Station this weekend to see the A&M game. He will be staying with a young friend of his, Robert Davis. He's such a big Aggie fan that he bleeds maroon if he cuts himself! I'll stay home and might even paint some more. I've really been in the mood lately and this will be a good time to do it.

Our Diocesan Convention will be the following weekend, so please keep us and the Church in your prayers. I have been keeping a 11 day Novena for the Church with prayers for spiritual discernment. This is going to be a historical meeting and we need all the Divine guidance that we can get.

I hope that all of you had a happy Halloween and will have a good few weeks now that we are back on Daylight Savings Time and have more hours to play :-)
I look forward to hearing from each of you soon. Email is a wonderful way to keep in touch. You are always in my heart if not in my sight,
XOXO, Pcasso