THE WEDDING!

We were supposed to go to a wedding in Austin, but due to circumstances beyond our control, we were unable to make it.

My friend and Mother of the Bride, Wanda, sent the photographs in the following post that I have made into a slide show. They are a sample of this very special event. If you "mouse over" the photographs in the slide show, you can read the captions. Meredith and Eric make a BEAUTIFUL couple and I wanted to share this special time in their lives with you. The Minshew's are good friends of ours and we are so happy for everyone concerned. We're blessed to have them for our friends.

The wedding and reception took place at the Four Season's Hotel in Austin, Texas. The hotel is located on the banks of Lady Bird Lake (Mrs LBJ) and it is truly a garden of tranquility.

It offers good old Texas hospitality and sophisticated dining, Hill Country style. It was the perfect place for the wedding. It's a great escape for all of us in the DFW area that's close enough for us to drive in a few hours.

XOXO, Pcasso

MINSHEW WEDDING

MOTHER'S DAY, FAMILY AND BITTERSWEET TIMES

So much has been going on since I last posted here that I hardly know where to begin.

I'll start with some photographs of several paintings that I ran across that I painted a while back.
Since the fruit trees are in bloom, I thought this painting was appropriate. The weather here is ideal right now, but it will change shortly as we start our annual Texas heat-a-thon.

Another painting I ran across that I painted around the same time are these three little birds.

As much bird watching as we've been doing lately, I have never seen any as colorful as the ones I painted. However, our squirrel is so exhausted from chasing all the birds in the yard, no matter what their color is, that he decided to take a break.

Two weekends ago Franklin and Beth attended a benefit that they go to in Dallas every year. It's called Diffa and it is a fund raiser to help with AIDS research. They looked wonderful that evening.

We kept the boys for the weekend and they stayed in Dallas and celebrated their 16th wedding anniversary that same weekend. Here is a photograph of them when they were dating. It's hard to realize that time has passed so quickly. Seems like only yesterday that we were preparing for the wedding!

We had great fun with the boys. We played some board games

and then they watched several movies that we had on hand.

It's always great fun having them here with us. Their lives are getting so busy that it won't be long and I'm afraid that they won't have a lot of time for Grandparents. That makes me sad but it's a fact of life.

Speaking of weddings, we were supposed to go to the Minshew's daughter's wedding in Austin last weekend, but were unable to attend due to circumstances which I will explain below. They promised to show us lots of photographs, however.

Frank does volunteer work at the hospital and he was recently given is 150 hour pin for his work he does there in the Cardiac Rehabilitation section of the hospital.

He looks so cute in his "uniform" that I had to include a photograph of him. He'll kill me for publishing this one!

Some friends from the church had us over for dinner to help them celebrate their wedding anniversary.

It was a wonderful meal and beautifully presented. Jack even played the role of the wine steward and served us a delicious bottle or two. His "bride" of many years watched him fill this role with great pride.

Another one of my favorite paintings is this Native American woman. I really enjoy using vibrant colors in some of my paintings. They make me smile as they seem so alive, at least to my eye.

Mother's Day was very special for me. We went to church and each Mother was given a flower as we were leaving. That's such a nice touch. I put mine in our guest bathroom and it looked lovely there.

Franklin invited us, Beth's Mom and her sister and her fiancee over for lunch. He cooked for us and served us these delicious chickens.

He's not only a great cook, he's a very gracious host. I feel so blessed to have him for my son.

It was also wonderful to spend time with Beth's sister and her mother. It really made Mother's Day special for all of us.

Franklin and Beth gave me and Maureen these lovely flowers. They are always so thoughtful!




Little did we know that while we were celebrating, our dear friends that we have know for nearly 50 years were suffering a dramatic loss. Mother's Day morning their little 8 year old Grandson was accidentally shot and killed. His brother and a friend were our on their ranch hunting rabbits and the gun discharged and hit Jedrek. It was such a tragedy.




We left last Wednesday morning so we could be with them at this unfortunate time in their lives. We were very close friends when we were all newlyweds and lived in Raton and we have kept in constant touch with them since we left New Mexico over 40 years ago. Larry and Frank are fishing buddies and we have all traveled together on several occasions. My heart aches for each one of them. We're just thankful that we were able to be with them since they are like family to us.

The day after the funeral we left Raton and went to Tucumcari to see our nephew and his family. On our way to Tucumcari we had a near miss. Do you remember the song, "Home, Home on the Range"? Well, there's one less antelope playing there now!

Right after we left Springer (Frank's home town) an antelope appeared from out of nowhere and ran in front of us. We were so fortunate that it didn't come through the windshield! Poor little thing didn't stand a chance and our car lost part of the front bumper and the turn signal light. You don't realize how flimsy cars are made today until part of it is hanging on the road and you drag it along for a couple of hundred miles!

Gary helped Frank trim off the excess "stuff" so we could continue on to Texas.

His daughter, Kaitlyn, graduates from high school this year.

She is not only graduating, she's graduating with honors ... Valedictorian of her class! We're so proud of her.

She was also Prom Queen and she looked so pretty that night.

I talked her Mom out of this photograph of her since we couldn't be there for the actual event.

We arrived home safely and as always, it was good to be back. We continue to pray for the Stolarczyk family in their time of loss and for the repose of the soul of little Jedrek. I ask you to please do the same.

I'll post more a little later. My thanks to each of you who have supported this family in prayer. They're very special people and prayer will help them get through this.

XOXO, Pcasso