SEEING STARS, MUSICAL CHAIRS AND THE DUMP!

As most of you know, we have a wonderful older grandson who will celebrate his 30th birthday this year and his name is Nicholas. He's a tiny little thing ... has now grown to the amazing height of 6'8!!! He makes me feel like a dwarf ( and I'm standing up straight)

Here he is with Frank who is 6' tall, so you can see what I mean!

Frank has become a big Stars fan (that's Dallas' hockey team for you non-sports fans) and Nicholas and his sister are fans as well.

Last weekend he and his sister, Rachel, and their spouses went to a Stars game and he entered into a game on the ice called Musical Chairs. We all played it at birthday parties when were little, but not on the ice!!! Here is his rendition of what happened last Saturday night:

Here's how it all went down. Rachel, Matt, and a few of their friends went to the game, as well as Dayna. The only pics are of Rachel and me. We showed up about a half hour early to see the players warm up, and when we walked in a rep for the Stars intermission entertainment committee approached us. They wanted Matt instead of me because he was wearing a jersey, but Matt could not participate due to his back. I had to beg, but they let me sign up on the contingency that I would wear his jersey or buy a Stars shirt. So Dayna bought me a nice All Star polo on clearance, and we were good to go. After all of that, the advertiser for the event (The Dump) had supplied t-shirts for us to wear.

There were five players total, and we played during the 2nd intermission. I had to do some pushing and shoving (and kicking of inflated chairs), but I came out victorious.

Rachel was knocked out in the first round, and unfortunately did not receive a gift card.

I got a $500 gift card to "The Dump," and an invite back for the musical chair finals. Apparently the finals will award $1500 to the winner, but I don't know if it is cash or a gift card. I can't wait.

The Dump is a furniture store in the Fort Worth/Dallas area and they also carry all sorts of appliances, so he and Dayna can put the gift certificate to good use. To quote the Dallas Morning News, "You won't find any rubbish at the Dump. You will, however, discover some fabulous deals on a constantly changing inventory of off-price dining, living room and bedroom furniture, rugs, leather upholstery, mattresses and more.
The Virginia-based company brings its value-oriented concept to Irving with a 150,000-square-foot store opening (unofficially) Feb. 23. The grand opening is planned for March 9. The name reflects the retailer's no-frills approach, meaning that it essentially dumps all unnecessary costs. With little overhead and limited hours of operation, the Dump's buyers shop furniture markets around the world and are constantly hunting down deals, seizing little-used castoffs from manufacturers' showrooms, overstock inventories and bankruptcy situations."

As an innocent onlooker, I wouldn't want to tangle with Nicholas. He's big enough to win any argument :-)

I know he's excited about the finals. Hope we get to see him on the ice again and I hope that he wins!

XOXO, Pcasso

GAMES, LECTURES, MUSEUMS AND EVENSONG

The past few days have been full ones. After working out Friday morning, I helped with a funeral at St. Alban's. A long time parishioner passed away and I was the reader at her Memorial Service. It was a beautiful service and she will be missed by all those whose lives she touched.

That afternoon the boys came over and stayed with us overnight. Beth and Franklin had somewhere to go in Dallas, so we had the pleasure of keeping the boys. Harry didn't come with them this time since it was not an overnight event for the parents.

We went to Chili's for dinner and then came back home for our dessert, watched the movie "Akeelah and the Bee", which I highly recommend, and then we played Rumikins which is a great board game. Ian won, but we all demanded a re-match the next time they come over! We have played this before at their house and I remembered that I had that game when Jim and Courtney were small and we used to play it all the time. My game is nearly 40 years old but is still it A-1 shape, so it will live in our bar where we can get to it and play anytime we feel the urge. It's really fun.

We belong to the Archbishop Michael Ramsey Society which is for Lay Associates of the Nashotah House Alumni Association benefiting the Bishop Donald J. Parsons Scholarship Fund.

In 1841, under the direction of Bishop Jackson Kemper, three newly ordained deacons journeyed west and founded Nashotah House as a mission to the American frontier. The following year, a seminary opened with three students. These modest beginnings are witnessed today in the original Red Chapel where the early seminary community worshiped, nestled along the shore of Upper Nashotah Lake. In 1847, Nashotah House received its formal charter from the Wisconsin territorial legislature as a college of "piety and learning." From its humble inception, the mission of the House, then, as now, is to prepare men and women to proclaim boldly and clearly the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Chapel is at the heart of the community, and, as a seminary of longstanding tradition, Nashotah House is dedicated to the Anglican heritage of daily prayer and worship. Every day begins and ends in the Chapel with daily offices of Morning and Evening Prayer as well as the celebration of the Holy Eucharist.

In a small, closely knit community of intentional prayer, Nashotah House instills traditional values and a commitment to spreading the Word of God. Mission takes form in education and outreach, creating new experiences and opportunities in the communities and parishes Nashotah House serves. Here, a focus on mission instills a passion for ministry to make a difference in the world.
This difference is achieved by the men and women who have been trained at Nashotah House to articulate the Gospel with intelligence and clarity. They foster the growth of the Church and nurture God's people in the saving graces of Jesus Christ.

We gathered at 1:00 p.m. yesterday at the Church of the Holy Apostles for a lecture on the earliest Christian art which is now on display at the Kimball Museum.

Approximately 80 of us attended this lecture which was given by The Rev'd Dr. Arnold Klukas who is the Professor of Sacramental and Ascetical Theology at Nashotah House.

He is an excellent speaker and it was extremely helpful to hear what he had to say before going to the exhibition. It gave us a foretaste of what we were going to see plus the historical as well as theological background on the pieces of ancient art that were on exhibit.

After his lecture, we boarded buses to go to the Museum which is located in West Fort Worth. It took two buses to transport us since there was such a good turnout for this special event.

No Christian images are known to date before the beginning of the third century A.D., and it seems unlikely that the small Christian community created distinctive works of art illustrating or expressing their beliefs before that date.

By the early third century, however, Christians had begun to borrow Old Testament motifs that were regarded as having special Christian significance, such as images of Abraham and Isaac, Jonah, and Daniel, as well as symbolic images, including the Good Shepherd and the fish, the latter an allusion to Jesus (“ichthys", “fish” in Greek, being an acrostic for “Jesus Christ, son of God, savior”). Although very rare in the third century, pictorial scenes from the life of Jesus were evidently being developed, and by the fourth century, extensive illustrations of the New Testament were being created in a variety of media, including catacomb paintings, mosaics, sarcophagi, ivories, and no doubt Bibles, although none survives till the following century. By the sixth century, many of these early, innovative images had been replaced by conventional depictions of the life and miracles of Jesus. Picturing the Bible brings together a wide range of material in an attempt to help clarify the questions of how Christians in the Greco-Roman period illustrated their religious beliefs, including frescoes, marble sculpture and sarcophagi, silver vessels and reliquaries,

carved ivories, engraved gold glass,

bronze sculpture, seals in semiprecious stones, illustrated Bibles, and decorated crosses.

Among the highly important treasures in the exhibition are several that have never or rarely been lent before, such as the spectacular, gem-encrusted gold cross presented by the emperor Justin II to Pope John III in the late sixth century, on loan from the Treasury of Saint Peter's in Vatican City.

This cross functioned as a reliquary, containing a piece of the True Cross. Another important reliquary comes from the Museo Diocesano of Milan. An extremely rare silver reliquary, the “Capsella” of San Nazaro was discovered in 1578, when Saint Carlo Borromeo, the archbishop of Milan, ordered the exploration of the area beneath the high altar of the church of San Nazaro (the fourth-century Basilica Apostolorum). One of the largest silver reliquaries of the Early Christian period, this box from San Nazaro combines sacred Christian imagery from the Old and New Testaments with imperial iconography. The Roman chiton and short, fringed hair worn by Christ while teaching, and the scene of the enthroned Virgin holding the Christ Child, recall the classicizing tradition of the imperial court.

It was an excellent exhibit and extremely helpful to have had Father Klulas' explanation beforehand as well as more informative answers to any questions we might have after having visited the exhibition.

After spending a couple of hours at the Museum, we got back on the buses and returned to Holy Apostles for Evensong.

This is a glorious service. Evensong is a liturgy used in the Anglican Communion used in the late afternoon or evening and the office is rendered chorally (that is, when most of the service is sung by the choir and clergy alone). It is roughly the equivalent of Vespers in the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran churches, although it was originally formed by combining the Catholic offices of vespers and compline. There is a group in Fort Worth called the St. Ambrose Singers which is a small ensemble, originally formed at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Arlington as the St. Ambrose Chorale in 1981. It now also has singers from the Cathedral Choir of St. Vincent's in Bedford. Their voices were amazing. There were only 9 singers, but the acoustics are so marvelous at Holy Apostle's that it sounded like many more. They sing acapella and you would think that a choir of angels was there. It was a glorious service!

After the service there was a social gathering with wine and cheese and we then went out for dinner.

One of our favorite places to eat in Fort Worth is Caro's on Bluebonnet Circle. If you remember, I mentioned this several weeks ago. It's a little hole in the wall that hasn't changed since we used to eat there over 50 years ago, but we still love it.

We were home by 9:00 and in bed by 10:00 which was good as we had to serve at the altar this morning. I'll be going back to the church this afternoon for a rehearsal of the Stations of the Cross which will be reenacted in a couple of weeks. I will be the reader.

We'll be out of town next week, so I'll have lots of travel news from the foothills of the Ozark Mountains when we return.

Until then .... XOXO, Pcasso

FROM BIRTHDAYS TO BROADWAY - CHICAGO TO DALLAS - WHAT A RIDE!

This has been quite a month at our place. Even though our family is small, there have been a LOT of birthdays in it this month. My only cousin's widow, Marian Collins started off the month of celebrationfollowed by one of our favorite cousins on the Salazar side of the family, Elmeree Oliver. She and my mother shared the same birthday and Mom would have been 101 on the 20th! Here she is as a young flapper.My Grandmother was born on the 18th of February and would have been 131 this year. I can't imagine! She was so special to me and always thought I was perfect. How can you possibly not adore anyone who thinks you're perfect. She was my guardian angel!The next day was Rachel and Nicholas' father and my son-in-law, Bill Cowley's birthday, two days later Nick's wife, Dayna, celebrated her 29th, then on the 25th Rachel and her son Ethan (our Great-grandson) shared a birthday. It's hard to believe that he turned 13 and is now a teenager! I can't possibly be old enough to have a teenage great grandchild!The very next day the latest addition to the Salazar clan, Baby Jack, had his first birthday. Here is the card that I designed for him. Two days later his Mom, Stacie had another birthday. I just wish I had a better photograph of her because she's SO adorable. Ian had a mad crush on her for a long time several years ago. SOOO... as you can see, it's a wonderful time for celebrations in our family! What a bonus for me since I'm an only child. When I was young I had no idea that I would be connected to so many special people. Praise God for family!

Ever since I was a little girl, I have always loved dance in any form. One of my favorite styles of dance as an adult is that of Choreographer, Bob Fosse. To me it is the most sensual, suggestive form of dance that I have ever seen and I LOVE his style. It's very minimalistic but each move is so important. I am a real movie buff and I have a lot of favorite movies, but one of my favorites is "All That Jazz". The storyline is based on the life and death of Fosse. The entertainment world lost a real treasure when he succumbed to a heart attack at a young age. As a choreographer, Bob Fosse changed the course of Broadway musicals with his distinctively slinky, sexy style of dancing. Then he developed into a multimedia triple threat: in 1973 he won an Academy Award for directing the movie Cabaret (which also won a best actress Oscar for Liza Minnelli), three Emmy awards for directing, producing and choreographing Minelli's TV special Liza With a Z, and two Tony Awards for directing and choreographing the Broadway show Pippin. That feat is, so far, unmatched. Fosse's other hit Broadway shows included Sweet Charity (1965), Chicago (1975) - this is the original showbill

and Dancin' (1978). We have had the pleasure of seeing each of his productions. Fosse was married three times, most famously to his dance partner Gwen Verdon, and was also famous for his extramarital womanizing and freewheeling lifestyle. He told his own story in the semi-autobiographical movie All That Jazz (1979). A 1998 revue, Fosse, collected his most famous dance works into one show. Fosse died of a heart attack in Washington D.C. during the run of a revival of his 1965 show Sweet Charity... A 2002 film version of Chicago won the Academy Award as the year's best picture; it was directed by Rob Marshall and starred Renee Zellweger as Roxie Hart, the role originated by Verdon.

On Tuesday evening we went to Bass Hall to see the revival of "Chicago" which is another segment of the Broadway at the Bass series. It was wonderful.

I had a perpetual grin on my face for two and a half hours. It runs for another week and I would suggest that if you have ANY interest in good music and superb dancing, you'd better run right out and get your tickets. The staging is minimal but the voices, story-line and dancing are beyond criticism. It was a real feast for the eyes and when the overture started, my heart was pounding so that I thought it would burst. There is nothing like a live performance with an orchestra backing it to make me swoon. That may sound old fashioned, but that's how I feel about live performances. They're unmatched in my opinion.

To quote the Fort Worth Star Telegram: There's no business like show business -- or criminal justice. Both are brilliantly treated as one in Fred Ebb's, John Kander's and Bob Fosse's satirical Chicago.
The tour that opened in Fort Worth Tuesday is an unforgettable theater experience. You might even forget the terrific 2002 movie version.
Based on a play that journalist Maurine Dallas Watkins wrote after covering murder trials in 1920s Chicago, the musical sets up the story as if it's a circus attraction. Two murder suspects, scheming Velma and the even more calculating Roxie vie for the attention of corrupt-but-irresistible lawyer Billy Flynn so that they can be cleared -- and become famous in the meantime. Satellite roles include Roxie's ignored husband Amos prison matron "Mama" Morton , and pushover reporter Mary Sunshine.
The two leading ladies are fantastic, especially when together. And, as should be for a show with Fosse choreography, the dancing is impeccable throughout.

We met friends in Dallas last night at the Park Cities Club for dinner. We had a wonderful time as it was the first time that the six of us had gotten together since my 70th birthday party in Santa Fe.

Both couples live in Dallas, but did not know one another until they met at my birthday party. We met the Waldies on a Mediterranean cruise 2 years ago and we met the Cook's on a cruise to the Panama Canal two years before. Little did we know at the time that we had so much in common (besides loving to cruise!) The Cooks have a place in Crested Butte and so did we, the Waldies have a place in Santa Fe ... and so do we ... and we also discovered that Walter and Ray went to the same schools in Dallas. Talk about a small world! We had a great time comparing travel experiences and all the good times we have shared over the past few years. I'm sure that we'll continue to make it a habit of getting together frequently as a six-some since we enjoy each other's company so much.

I have a lunch date, so I'd better get ready. Frank will be going to the Stars game tonight and I'll stay home and watch the next chapter in the lives of the hopefuls on American Idol.

More to come later. XOXO, Pcasso

LANDSCAPES, DIFFA AND SKATEPARKS

This has been a very busy weekend. I started it off by going to my studio and trying to paint something that is my own work. I took the instruction that I was given in my lesson last week and this is what I came up with.

The painting that I did with Vern is much more subdued and I love the coloration in it, but once I got started on this landscape, I got really involved with bright colors and I think I like the end result.

I painted from early morning until late afternoon when the boys arrived with skateboards in hand. They wanted their Boompa to take them to a Skatepark so they could improve their skills on their boards. Needless to say, they aren't as skilled as this "boarder" and I hope they never are!

I opted to stay here and start dinner preparations instead. The park is in Kennedale, Texas, so off they went. It took them forever to find it since the driving directions on the Internet were inaccurate and the people there don't always answer their phone. Boompa is much more patient than I am. I think I would have given up and come back home!

They had a good time and when they returned, they jumped into the Jacuzzi while Frank and I finished preparing dinner for them. We had steak, corn on the cob, artichokes, biscuits and chocolate sundae's for dessert. They had worked up a hearty appetite, so it was well worth the effort to prepare this meal for them.

The reason we have the boys this weekend is because their folks are at a very worthwhile benefit at the Anatole Hotel in Dallas called DIFFA which stands for Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS. It is one of the country’s largest supporters of direct care for people living with HIV/AIDS and preventive education for those at risk. Merging care and commerce, supporters of DIFFA come from all fields of fine design and the visual arts, including: architecture, fashion design, interior design, photography and consumer product design.
With fundraising efforts bolstered by strategic partnerships and unique events showcasing innovation and creativity, DIFFA has mobilized the immense resources of the design communities and granted over $35 million to hundreds of AIDS service organizations nationwide.
The 2008 gala, dubbed Cinéma de la vie, took place last night(one month earlier than usual) at the Hilton Anatole Hotel with Neale Jones serving his second time as event chairman. On the block: More than 100 redesigned Arizona jean jackets by returning favorites such as Geoffrey Henning and Nicolas Villalba, as well as national names such as Nicole Miller, Kenneth Cole and Badgley Mischka.

Franklin and Beth both looked wonderful for the big event and I can't wait for their return so I can hear all about it. They go for the weekend every year and always really enjoy themselves. It's great fun to get all dolled up for a weekend in Dallas and this was one of those special times.

Poor little Harry spends most of his time at the window just waiting for his folks to come back. It's been a long wait. We gave him some steak to help pass the time and so how I don't think he really cares when they return if he keeps getting special food!

I'm going to fix breakfast for the boys and then get ready for church. I hope that you have a great rest of the weekend and a good week ahead of you.

XOXO, Pcasso