Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Special, More Special, Most Special


It was yesterday.
 I thought it was special because I allowed myself
to sleep in, and on a real pillow.
(That means I was throwing caution to the wind
 and not trying to keep my hair looking perfecto.)
But it got more and more special!


I didn't get up until 8:52!
Before 9:00 Susan called and asked what
days this week I might be able to visit
Susannah at Baylor.
I had not been down to see her all year!
A last minute trip is called for!
Well, I couldn't go Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday.
That left only Tuesday (when she couldn't go)
and Monday--TODAY!!!


Well, my first excuse was that my hair wouldn't
look good enough.
My second?  Charleigh Girl.
Her response: "No one will see you, and
Rob will come let C-G out."
So...she gave me a short window to get myself together!


THE DAY WAS PERFECT IN EVERY WAY!!!


We arrived before Susannah was out of class.
We opted to have lunch in the Student Union Building,
which is the same building as in 1956 outside,
but quite different inside.
I felt so cool!


After lunch Susan took me up to see the beautiful
drawing rooms on the SUB's second floor.
I spotted a wall of plaques picturing donors to
Baylor and was sure my uncle and aunt,
Ralph and Bessie Mae Lynn,
would be there.  What I didn't know was
that there were hundreds of these plaques down
several halls.
We would never have found theirs had it not
been for a lady (Baylor employee) who passed by
 and asked if she could help us.
She knew Ralph (and Bessie Mae!) and
found this plaque for us in short order.






 Our new best friend then asked where we were headed next.
Susan told her that we were going to Pat Neff to see
the hall down which I worked when I was there.
She told us that the President's office was now in
that location, but that if we would wave at
the people on the other side of the "white doors"
we might be able to go in.


The "white doors" were quite formidable looking,
but brave Susan waved, turned the handle,
and we timidly walked in.
A young man approached, and he became our
second new best friend.
His name was Luke, and he is one of two special
assistants to President Starr.
He asked us if we would like to see the 
President's office.
Oh, yeah!
We saw the conference suite, then were ushered
right in to Judge Starr's office.
(He had just left for Houston an hour earlier!
Perfect timing!)
It sat on the spot where the Dean's office was
in 1956, where I worked to earn my
room and board.
(My uncle Ralph and aunt Bessie Mae paid
my tuition.)


Next step in the chain of our wonderful day:
I told Luke that I had lived in Alexander Hall when
I was there.
Alexander now houses honors men students.
But...Luke had lived there and offered to
walk across the street with us and see if we could
 get a look at my old room!


This is Luke and me standing under my window.

And here I am in front of 209 Alexander!
Unbelievable!!!


 Many things had changed.
This study area was formerly our dining hall.





 But one thing we observed that probably
had not changed was this stairway,
which ended right in front of my door.




That exit door to the left in this picture was
certainly not there!!!
Not that easy to escape in my day!
 


We left Luke and picked up what I didn't know was
an equally good tour guide:  Susannah!
The first stop I requested was her dorm room.
She lives in Collins with a darling roommate named
Aimee.




Next stop:  Common Grounds per Mimi's request.
This iconic coffee shop is practically right
across the street from Susannah's dorm.
It is so quaint.  And fun.
I had a "Lake Waco" to drink.  Yum.



We are sharing our drinks on the back patio.
To say the furnishings are "ecletic" is an understatement!



Then Susannah took us on a tour of Cameron Park
(with many questions from her mother about how she
knew this park so well!  It was from Baylor Line Camp!)
Cameron Park is huge and very beautiful.
Here we are at Lover's Leap.



We then proceeded to the new essential stop in Waco...
Magnolia.
If you don't know, this is the shop owned by
Joanna Gaines from HGTV's Fixer Upper.
The little shop!
Doesn't take long to see it, but I loved it.





Love the new (to me anyway) picture spot in Waco:

  


 Returning to the campus,
we were needing a pit stop, so 
Susannah Metzger, tour guide, suggested
that she take us to the Baylor Law School!
She informed us that she had toured
there extensively--alone--and that there were things
she wanted to show us! 
(I call Susie "mini me," but I think I'm wrong.
I'm not nervy at all like this girl.)
We walk in, down the beautiful hall, and she
punches the elevator button!!!
Noooo.  We don't belong here!
Quoting Susannah Metzger...
"I'm a Baylor student, so this campus is mine."
On the second floor we find what she wants to show us.
Courtrooms, with all the trappings!
And a big sign (yes, which we walked right past,) saying
"Quiet.  Court is in Session."
(Which it wasn't, thank goodness.)
I was fascinated.


We walked across the fabulous pedestrian bridge to
the beautiful stadium. 



Sic 'em Bears!



Look what Susan insisted that I must purchase from
Magnolia!
She had seen my prolific roses before we left.
I LOVE THIS!!!


I will always cherish this as a memento of a very
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
day.
Thanks to all for the memories.

 

Thursday, April 16, 2015

He Closed the Shutters. I Opened Them.

An eye-catching post found its way to my
Facebook page recently.
It's from Jen Hatmaker, author, blogger, television
personality.


 Jen said:

"I have observed this before and it is still true. 
This is my life with Brandon Hatmaker:
I open the blinds.
He closes the blinds.
I open them.
He closes them.
Open.
Close.
And then we die."
 


From the flood of comments identifying with Jen,
it is obvious that this situation isn't just 
hers and mine!!!
No!  It happens all the time!!! 


I guess there's not always an open blind and a
closed blind person in a marriage,
but there certainly was in mine.
Jack was obsessed with making sure no one
could see in--ever--in any way--whatsoever.  Period.

 
There's a small window under the stairs
which allows light to shine on plants which live there.
Before I knew it he would fold himself up,
crawl under, and close the shutters
 on the little window.
Even though it would be nigh on to impossible to
see anything inside through said window.


I, on the other hand, love light and airiness and openness.
My morning routine is to open all the shades in
our "glass room," and the shutters in front.
That might have been okay with him, as long
as all were securely shut by dark.



 I would...maybe...occasionally do a "bit of complaining" when I caught him shutting shutters!
I am reminded of what I wrote HERE about
the futility of any type of argument.
Jack wasn't just being arbitrary.
He felt as strong a need to close those shutters as
I felt to have them open.


Just a typical case of
sweating the small stuff.
I guess it happens in the best of families.










Tuesday, April 14, 2015

ABC News Caught Sensationalizing


By ME--personally!
Red handed!
Why should I be surprised?


 My ears perked up when I heard that the
upcoming story on the evening news was about
 an outbreak of illness on two cruise ships.
The ships were Royal Caribbean's Legend of the Seas,
and Celebrity's Infinity.
They both pulled into Los Angeles today.
The story was that "hundreds" onboard were ill
with the dreaded norovirus.


Well...the Legend was carrying 2076 passengers.
133 were ill on the voyage.
I got out my faithful calculator.
That is 6.4%.
93.6% were not ill.
Will we have a story about them tomorrow night?


The Infinity had 2217 passengers.
100 were taken ill.
This is less than 5%.


So the "hundreds" were 233.
I guess, technically, that is hundreds.
But I certainly pictured more.


Both Royal Caribbean and Celebrity were very
aggressive in combating these outbreaks,
as we would want them to be.
But should these two events have been shown 
on the prime time national news?
Must have been a slow news day.


It seems that even ABC might have had some
misgivings about the seriousness of these stories.
Just in case...they threw in a flashback to
two years ago when the Carnival ship lost 
power at sea and drifted in un-air-conditioned
misery for days.
How that related to the cases of norovirus is
a mystery to me.
No it's not.  It's strictly sensationalizing!


In reading reports about these recent "outbreaks"
I found the following:
"According to the Center for Disease Control,
20 million people on land in the U.S. 
come down with the norovirus every year--
1 in 15.
The odds of contracting norovirus in a cruise ship
outbreak is about
1 in 12,000."
It was stated that the CDC had sent this info
to ABC News.
Funny--that wasn't mentioned!
The balloon of sensationalism might have been burst!


By the way...I've been on both of these ships,
more than once on the Legend,
and I've never had the norovirus.  
Don't let media exaggeration and hype scare you
off from cruising! 
  

As for me, I'm thinking I need to spend much more
time on cruise ships, since the odds of
contracting norovirus are sooo much less there
than on land!




Thursday, April 9, 2015

Still Shaking Off Trauma

Yesterday I had agreed to chauffeur some of my
dear friends on a "field trip."
Their garden club was going to the
Biblical Arts Museum in Dallas, and they
were fearsome to make the hairy drive.
("Chauffeuring" is one of the callings of my
old age late stage in life.)
Besides, I had never been there and was
delighted at the prospect of going.
And...I know all the members--
I used to belong myself.
It was much like a happy reunion.


My passengers were to be at my house at 8:45.
E A R L Y!
So I was busily getting ready when I heard
lots of barking!
I had let Charleigh-Girl out earlier and was
leaving her as long as possible since
I knew I would not be back for an extended period.


It was so much barking that I had to go check
for the problem.
As I passed the front door I saw activity on the
front sidewalk, where she most
definitely was not supposed to be.
But she was.  
A lovely lady (angel) was kneeling down
attempting to get close enough to read her tag.
I had on only my sleepshirt, but I threw
open the door.
Charleigh rushed in as I stepped out onto the porch.


The lovely lady (angel) said,
"Is this where she belongs?"
I said that it certainly was.
The LL (A) said that little CG had just 
experienced extreme trauma.
She was way down our street, and two big dogs
were on top of her ("had her down.")
 I guess the LL (A) stopped and ran the big
dogs off, then I know she followed CG in her
car until she stopped at our yard. 
All I could do was blubber my thanks.
Over and over.


I just knew the gate was closed.
It is automatic, and occasionally I hit the "close"
button and it doesn't respond.
But I try to always check it in my rearview mirror.
Sure enough it was closed.
So I began to check around.
The back gate was open just a little!


I simply could not be mad at CG for escaping.
She is, after all, just a dog.
Well, not just a dog--a very special dog.  Of course.
I sure wanted to be mad at the owner of those
two dogs who traumatized her, cause they
shouldn't have been out loose!
But then...neither should she!
(If I didn't know this already, I have
certainly learned it from Judge Judy!)


So...I was just amazed and thankful.
She did not have a mark on her.
She had not been run over.
(Actually, she has zero street smarts.)
And a lovely lady (angel) stopped to help her.


I'm pretty sure she has shaken off her trauma,
but I'm still trying to "let it go."
Thank you, Lord, that I didn't see it happening.
I'm having a difficult enough time 
coping with the mental picture.


But...guess what the first thing I did this morning
was?
Yep, check the gates.
I hope Charleigh-Girl Stovall has escaped
for the last time!
Lesson learned--miraculously.
By me, of course.
I'll bet she would take off again in a 
little doggy heartbeat!


She's not nearly as tough as she thinks she is,
I'm afraid.




**  UPDATE **


We have a neighborhood email website.
I posted a request for CG's angel to contact us,
and she did!!!
Her name is Cathy, and she stopped by to see us.
She said CG was running for her life,
but the other dogs had a size advantage!
Thank goodness, they were not vicious at all.
And, God bless dog lovers.