Joyous Anniversary

from me to my Beloved Beautiful Better Half!

Thank you, Sweet Thing, for eighteen rollicking years.  

May I have a few more years with you?

We know not what the future holds, but we know Who walks with us into the future.
I love you, Grace JoAnn

 

Birthday Eve

On the eve of her 80th birthday her kids gathered 'round and BBBH was treated to a Mexican dinner.

Honoring the Spouse

 This was posted nearly eight years ago.  BBBH has put up with me, stood by me, cared for me during the intervening years and she still sings!  So in her honor here is a repost.

Several years before I met her, BBBH published a book of poems and songs she had written. I submit here lyrics to one of the songs. I particularly enjoy hearing her sing this.

Take a Look It's All in the Book

The Bible says we can be free

From all our sins and misery

That the Lord's the only way

Not many paths, like people say

Says we can claim His every word

Of His promises be assured

That we can know He loves us so

And that He just wants us to know

Says in the word that we can find

In the book He left behind

That He shed His blood for me

Took my stripes at Calvary

In His kingdom we can share

Because He'll always be there

He came to set us free from sin

So open your heart and let Him in

So take a look, take a look,

It's all in the book

So take a look, take a look

It's all in the book

John 3:16

Copyright Grace JoAnn Harrison 1995. Used by permission.

Happy Happy

On her birthday ten years ago today.

Thirteen years ago.

 Last night.

Artist

My Beautiful Beloved painted these portraits.  Oil on canvas board.  She is very talented and goes through stages of artistic expression.  These were done several years ago.

The Artist's eldest son; her granddaughter, Lisa; grandson Kris; her youngest son.

 Center: her eldest sister, Delores.  The artist's favorite painting.  It is an excellent likeness.

Second son, the artist herself in a rendering she does not much like; her late husband and father of her children; her daughter.

 How long ago?  Lisa is now a matron with four children of her own, the eldest sixteen.  Kris is Lisa's older brother.

Whoopee!

She looks happy?  You should have seen me!

TBT

All alone.  Wait.  The dog is here but he is sleeping.  The tv is on but as usual I am paying it no mind.  Inspiration for a post?  All I can think about is the fact that BBBH is a thousand miles away.  Literally.

I am left with memories.  I took this picture  ten years ago and I vividly recall exactly where and when.  I love the b & w picture but I could tell you the exact color of the peignoir, the ring, the fabric on the sofa.

The longest we have been apart in the past fifteen-plus years is two days and a night.  And now the second day of this separation is coming to a close, a new record for apart-ness.

But, ta-da!  Only twelve more days to go.  How scary is that? 

Ah, Springtime!

At dusk 

we walked 

in field behind

the house

My Love

my dog, and I.

Available light

quickly fading

borderline photography

but mood is captured. 

It is great to be

outdoors again!

Grandbabies

BBBH is today's guest writer on String Too Short to Tie.

Grandbabies

Grandbabies are always in demand

But sometimes, upon my head, I could stand 

They give us a chance to bake cookies

Which we are not supposed to eat

With the excuse made to others

This sin we won't soon repeat

We go to the show and watch Snow White

Then go high up a hill to fly a kite

Get to play games down on the floor

With beautiful little people we adore

We can go to the zoo and watch an ape

Or slithering serpents at which we gape

  

Can give hugs and kisses and say goodnight

Pull up their blanket and tuck them in tight

We sit around rocking in our chair

Glad one of our grandbabies could be there

I always wanted to see them more

But if we don't work, we will be poor

They grow up so fast, how time flies

When I look back tears fill my eyes

Hands tucked under a chubby cheek

Lying on a little pillow fast asleep

Angels watching over their souls to keep

Thank you God, I think I'll weep

Psalm 91:11    Proverbs 22:6

from Gifts from God, Grace Jo Anna Press, 1995

©Grace JoAnn Harrison Lacy 1995, 2014

One of those grandbabies is forty now, and none of them are kids anymore.  But there are great-grandbabies!

Grandma's Tea Table

The project started about three weeks ago when I went to the barn and found Grandma Piercy's tea table.  It consisted of 24 pieces of dirty dark wood wrapped in cardboard and held together with bungee cords, along with some hardware.

I reassembled, and glued and clamped, thereby making a table top, two leaves and a four-legged framework to hold the thing up.  Next I borrowed son Kent's power sander and went to work removing varnish and leveling the flat surfaces. Edges and legs were stripped by hand with glop.

Then we did the hand sanding, 150 grit, 240 grit, and if you have ever done this sort of thing you understand why nearly three weeks have passed since project's inception.  The top photo shows the assembled table, two leaves and the serving tray ready for staining.

 

The pieces have been stained.

While we were at it, we stained the library table which we stripped perhaps eight years ago.  It has been sitting naked behind the sofa all this time.  I liked it.  BBBH wanted it stained.  It is stained.  

These items are now awaiting final finish.  We are waiting for a low-humidity day before proceeding. How long we will wait is anyone's guess.

Beautiful has had her grandmother's tea table for years.  She mentioned its existence and its need for restoration many years ago.  I finally got a round tuit.

The Better to Hear You With

Wiener has been with us for five months now.  I believe we have all adapted to the new circumstances.  He is a very well-behaved dog, doing what he wants to do for the most part.  The biggest problem is that these two elderly people haven't the energy to frolic with the dog as much as he would like, and thus he gets bored.  How does he handle that?  He gets in his bed and sleeps. Then BBBH feels guilty and says, "He sleeps way too much."  I can think of worse things.

He was walking across the floor with both ears flopped back over his head, so I asked him to stop and pose.  He did.  He often has one ear or the other back over his head, but seldom both at the same time. I thought it quite funny.

What It's Cracked Up to Be

I go upstairs to get ready for bed after watching the local news.  Well, the first twenty minutes of it-- I bail when they start talking about professional sports.  So I walk into my bathroom, flip on the light, and there looking out at me as I look into the mirror. . .

AAARGH! I yell, as I rush to the railing on the landing overlooking the great room where BBBH is seated on a sofa reading, as is her wont.  She, a bit startled, starts to rise from the sofa.  "What's wrong?" in an anguished tone of voice.

"I looked into the mirror and there is this terribly ugly and hideous old man in there looking back at me!  Wrinkles, no, gullies and arroyos at the corners of his eyes, the Christmas eyes encased in purple bags, crevices in the forehead."  Long, sustained groan.

She, being who she is, attempts to reassure me with comforting lies.

And I go ahead and brush my teeth and get in bed.

Talent Gone Too Soon

2011 Commemorative stamp, US Postal Service.

February 26, 1995 before an audience of over 66,000 people, Selena gave a televised performance at the Houston Astrodome.  It was to be her last major performance.

One month later, March 31, Selena Quintanilla-Perez died of a gunshot wound inflicted by a former president of the Selena Fan Club.  She was sixteen days short of her twenty-fourth birthday.

Miramor de la Flor, a memorial to Selena in downtown Corpus Christi, was opened to the public in 1997.  BBBH and I visited this tribute to the singer in 2000.

April 16 is "Selena Day" in the State of Texas.

Selena  April 16, 1971 - March 31, 1995  RIP

Fourteenth Anniversary

 As it was, fourteen years ago today.














And still smiling today.

The ornamentation atop the wedding cake.  The little figurine was painted by Beloved Beautiful Better Half herself.  Note the reality with which she endowed the item, she the cute little blond, I the white-haired older man.