RELATIVES AND RISTRAS

This past week was a typical week in Lent. We attended the Lenten series at St. Andrew's in downtown Fort Worth on Wednesday where the Rt. Rev'd John Guernsey was the guest preacher. He's a wonderful preacher and teacher and we learned a lot.




The stained glass windows there are remarkable and it gives you such a peaceful feeling to sit in their Nave and study the windows while you are listening to the organ concert that precedes the noonday service.


Last Monday was my Father's birthday. He was born on St. Patrick's Day and would be 105 if he was still alive. He was a sweet and a very handsome man and I still miss him very much.








On Sunday we had a Family Day gathering. It was at Nicholas and Dayna's this time and we had a wonderful time.

They live in Dallas now, so we had a 30 mile drive to get there which wasn't bad at all. We are so blessed to have the family near by. We have friends who don't get to see their children and grandchildren as often as we do and they are missing out on a lot.

Ian had just returned from a skiing trip to Vail the day before where he spent the week with his good friend, Billy, and his Mother. It was spring break in the Metroplex, so all the young ones were out of school.

Ethan followed Connor's lead and spent the day on his hand held Gameboy (I think that's what you call it)

Those little machines have turned our youth into anti-social creatures who never interact with people anymore. It's a pity as we'd love to talk to them and visit about what's going on in their lives. The art of conversation is no longer a subject with lots of the young people and that's a shame. They don't know what they're missing! Guess I'm just old fashioned but I liked it when we all visited with one another.
Nicholas and Dayna were the perfect host and hostess.


It was a real treat for Frank and me to be able to go to their home and be guests instead of the ones doing everything. Nick prepared fajitas and they were delicious. The rest of us brought snacks and dessert and that made it easy for everyone. We will have Easter dinner at our house and then Beth and Franklin will host the next Family Day in May.





While he was cooking, Franklin played a game or two of Frisbee Golf and he was really good at it. Frisbee golf (also called Disc Golf or frolf) is a disc game in which individual players throw a flying disc into a basket or at a target. According to the Professional Disc Golf Association, "The object of the game is to traverse a course from beginning to end in the fewest number of throws of the disc."

For the first time in a long time, everyone was there that day!

We even had a new family member there. I think his name is Dangle and he's a Bearded Dragon.

He even has his own "desert dwelling" in Nicholas' office.

I am told that Bearded Dragons are popular exotic pets, most commonly Pogona vitticeps, the Inland or Central Bearded Dragon. They are a popular species , because of their friendly and calm nature, along with the relative ease of caring for them.

I, personally, would rather have a cat or a dog, but to each his own!

We also noticed a family resemblance that we hadn't discovered before. It seems that Franklin and Nicholas now have the same "hairline".

There again, I'd rather have a cat or a dog than a shaved head!

I returned to my Easel early this week. I was commissioned by a client who lives in Las Vegas to paint some Chilies for her. Here is the final painting. It's 8x10 on a Gallery wrapped canvas and she really liked it. So do I!

It was good to be back to my paints again. It's been a while and I really miss painting. Life sometimes just gets in the way ;-)

I'll be writing again as soon as something new or interesting happens in our lives. We still Dance with the Stars each week as well as sing along with American Idol wannabe's, so that keeps us content in the evenings.

Take care and have a good rest of the week.

XOXO, Pcasso