Okay well ... Violetkey and I are tired of being unhealthy ... I put on some major tonnage this last winter and it's not been just falling off during the summer. So ...

We have become fast friends with Linda and Ashley. We laugh a lot. Linda tries to get me out of the house. Linda and Billy talk at the train station. Linda and Billy are the new video team at church. (I only type up the songs for display ... well and I might take notes on things that can be edited out.) I sit with Ashley during the services at church. Ashley listens to the sermons at church as best she can. Now. This can have some interesting consequences.

I have a few announcements. Announcement #1 is that my granddaughter, Noel, was born on a temperature record-breaking day in May. Yes, I've been quietly relishing this event. Photo after Photo in my email. Do you want to see some?

MarillaAnne's Noel photoset

You see a birthday card ... I see ...

First you should know that the weather was typical for Texas. Slightly cool and a touch humid. It was always above 70 degrees indoors from the heat of the kitchen stove. And so you should be able to guess that there was no lack of food. Texans Hate to run out of food when guests are involved. No Texan ever prepares for the minimum expected guests. So ...

Yeah ummm I have a Christmas Tree. It's about 3.5 feet tall. I don't have my Christmas Ornaments. Maybe VioletKey will get the ornaments sorted and sent over. But It might just sit here and be pretty and green. My first concern is ... I think I'd like to rediscover my apartment. I wouldn't mind having a clean apartment and a simple little green tree.

Last year in NaBloPoMo there was an exemption for missing a day posting. It went something like this: If there's an emergency or some circumstance far beyond your control that prevents you from posting, AND IF you blog the following day AND talk about what happened, THEN you're still in.

I have no idea if there's the same rule this year ... but I'm going to claim it anyway ... besides ... I have something to tell you.

I'm not sure exactly what the change will look like but ... it is a foot. My little coffee shop that I love so much may morph. It's a rather huge big deal.

Well, To pick back up where I was so rudely interrupted by my Internet provider!

Yes, that's "me" riding a dragon that continuously hovers over MarillaAnne's Place. He's very friendly. Never bitten a single soul. I might talk to a scripter (someone who can make things move about and do things) and see if I can get that changed, though. An watch dragon could be handy.
This is the left side of my coffee shop. See the lightpost? It is a very special lamp. Billy made it and it only required two prims (building blocks). This is a huge big deal for another post.






This is the right side of my coffee shop. I made the bar, the stools, and the fireplace. Oh! Yes, those are my photos in there on the wall. That's also another story for another day. But, they were the beginning inspiration for the coffee shop.




Now, for a brief intro to The Upstairs Art Gallery. Brief: Amazing. This is my fourth artist. I'm beginning to understand how to do a bit of publicity. And the gallery is beginning to have a name, a reputation. You can read more about this particular artist and exhibit here on my other blog.

Now, in other news. I broke down and got a Flickr Pro account. So you can see the rest of the images that I uploaded re MarillaAnne's Place there.

Also, It seems my oldest child has been diligently keeping a big, huge secret!!!

So tell me what could the Tooth Fairy, your comments, Mary-LEU's award, 100% humidity, wounded wings, computer reloads, colds, pink eye, lightening, coffee shops, and another long assortment of events / items possibly have in common? How about the word "oops"?

Yesterday I heard from all three of my kid-o's on the phone. This in and of itself is a small miracle because usually the summer signal to my cell phone is non-existent. It was nice.

Okay so ... yeah ... I am in Dallas. Do you want to know why I am in Dallas? No, actually it has nothing to do with being homesick.

3. What are some methods you use to keep a little bit of Texas with you wherever you go?

Texas to Me

Finally!!

Well, I think we can pretty well establish that I have a proven record of struggling to remain inside the boundaries of any meme's original scope and intent. Mary of Life, Universe and Everything tagged me for a fairly harmless looking little meme. The idea is ...

1. Go to Wikipedia and type in your Birthday Month and day only.
2. List 3 Events that occurred that day.
3. List 2 important Birth days.
4. List 1 Death.
5. List a Holiday or Observance. (if any)
6. Tag 5 other bloggers.

• 1608 - Quebec City founded by Samuel de Champlain.
• 1775 - American Revolutionary War: George Washington takes command of the Continental Army at Cambridge, Massachusetts.
• 1778 - American Revolutionary War: British forces massacre 360 men, women & children in the Wyoming Valley massacre.
• 1986 - US President Ronald Reagan presides over the relighting of the renovated Statue of Liberty. [Cause I wanted something I could actually claim as "Hey I know when that happened and I watched it on TV."]
  

• 1567 - Samuel de Champlain, French explorer (d.1635)[Loved to do small things on his birthday ... like establish cities in out of the way places ... like Canada.]
• 1738 - John Singleton Copley, American painter (d.1815) "... was a Boston-born American artist of the colonial period, famous for his portraits of important figures in colonial New England, particularly men and women of the middle class. His portraits were innovative in that they tended to portray their subjects with artifacts that were indicative of their lives." [Yeah ... but when the going got tough ... he took off for England.]
• 1958 - Aaron Tippin, American [country] singer [I do not mind sharing my bday with him.]
  

• 1775 - American Revolutionary War: Patrick Henry delivers his famous speech - "give me liberty or give me death" at St. John's Church in Richmond, Virginia.
• 1857 - Elisha Otis's first elevator is installed at 488 Broadway New York City.
• 1903 - The Wright Brothers apply for a patent on their invention of one of the first successful airplanes. [FYI my mom flew for the first time ever last summer to Daughter V's wedding]
• 1965 - NASA launches Gemini 3, the United States' first two-man space flight (crew: Gus Grissom and John Young).

• 1699 - John Bartram, American botanist (d.1777)
• 1924 - Bette Nesmith Graham, American inventor (d.1980)
• 1941 - Jim Trelease, American educator and children's literature author [My kids will remember The Read-Aloud Handbook and now out is The New Read-Aloud Handbook. I can say without hesitation Jim Trelease's book contributed to my children's great love of books. It is a HUGE MUST GET BOOK if you have children ... or grandchildren ... or know children ... or know anyone who has children ...]

Last week Sophie, of A Hole in the Fence, announced a new meme: Women are Fantastic Friday. Yes, I know this isn't Friday but, well, I've gotten over the fact that I'm running behind and I hope you will, too.

More lessons in web design.

Well ... Wednesday night my DaughterV IM'd me and announced that she also couldn't see my Thursday Thirteen banner (from last week).

Hmmm Well I lost grip on the good laptop and my hard drive today! I had to work on rebel and had no access to my hard drive because Billy ended up using it to run his connection to work.

What? The really short version? Billy's Windows on his hard drive closed up shop and left town. Mine still worked. So Billy used mine to work from home today. See?

So I had no access to my writing nor my photos. BUT I did have access to my email. AND one of the good things that happened this week is that my dad found a certain photo that I wanted -- plus he and my mom sat down and pulled together a whole selection for me! So ... I had more than 13 photos in my email ... and so that's what you're getting to see today. And, yes, of course, there's a story or two or three.

Each image opens a larger image. This time there is no compelling reason to open the larger image unless you want to see a little better.

At the bottom of this post you'll find a link to a photo page on my site where you can just click through the titles in order. That way you won't have to keep jumping back and forth between the images here and the larger images there.

My Dad and Me

When I opened my email, we were at Starbucks. Billy was with me and he said, "Oh wow! Look at all these old pictures! They've Got to be More than Fifty years old!" People, I'm not quite 50 yet. He got a smack in the arm.

Still, wow ... my dad sure looks young in that picture!

The next five photos are a series. My mom took them back in the days when it was work to take photos. She got busy with more kids after this day and let my dad do most of the photography. But recently she got her own digital camera. I'm very pleased about that.

Waiting for my Daddy

See, the first thing that happened when I started looking at these pics is that I keep hearing bits and pieces of ideas and conversations. So I'm going to tell you what I think is true ... and then I'll get my parents to show up and set the record straight (the way they remember).

This car is the one and only car that my parents had at the time. I think it might be the one that my dad nearly lost me (before I was born) and my mom out of because it was new and back then you were suppose to work the door handle a certain way to lock the door. Well my mom misunderstood and the door opened as they rounded a corner. My dad grabbed her by the arm and kept her!

I also think maybe my mom learned to drive in this car ... maybe ... I'm 99% sure she learned after they got married ... I think.

Also, I think it was a daily habit for me to watch for my dad. Annnnyway ... The way my dad most likely got home this day was a ride from his brother. They worked at the same place.

Tightening the Wheel

My husband finds it amusing (in a good way) that to this day I still like to understand what's going on with the car and I like to watch him work on them (when we own one). Often, I'm the first to know something is wrong with our car because I learned to listen to them from my dad. I also learned to smell them. I was usually first to know when the heater core was going out ... or a water hose /pump. Back when the fuel pumps were exposed, I'd smell them starting to leak long before anybody else. And this sort of day is where it all began.

What? Actually get my hands dirty working on one? No. But I'll hand you tools and hold the flashlight!

Pit Crew needs Help

My Fashion Sense

I thought this was the funniest photo in the batch because it looks like my mom was trying to make sure I still knew about girl stuff. I'm pretty sure I was making a face about the sun. I actually do like girl stuff. But I find it even more interesting because my mom has a degree in commercial art. Her portfolio is full of dresses and ensembles she drew. But she didn't go to work drawing dresses.

My Mom & Me

At first I thought I just looked tired but I also thought I looked kind of irritated with something. Then I noticed my mom was filing my nails. Which reminded me ... when I was little bitty, I crawled up to my dad and tried to blind him. Oh ok really I scratched him in the eye with one of my little fingernails. He ended up having to go to the eye doc.

Careful Consideration

So what my mom ended up doing was drawing architectural drawings for a really nice man named Mr. Bliss ... I kid you not. (I hope I'm not kidding at any rate.) When I was a baby, my mom would take me to work with her. When I first looked at the photos in Starbucks, I told Billy that's where I was.

But today I see that that is a chanell (sp?!) bedspread ... and I think that dark little box with a long tail is my dad's light meter.

So ... my mom was a WAHM? (That's "Work at Home Mom") I'll have to check the facts on that.

Anyway, would you believe that when I got married, my mom's old boss, Mr. Bliss, and his wife came? Work relationships just don't last like that anymore.

Moreover, my mother is like me (or I'm like her) in that she gets stuck on the very fine details. When she lets go, let me tell you ... it's art! So Mr. Bliss would tell her, "Every time you think of it, hurry a little." So. That's what she taught me. And I still find myself saying those words to myself from time to time.

Brushing My Cares Away

My Dad's Dad

Above and below are my dad's parents. I remember them as always working on something. My grandfather was one of the first diesel truck mechanics ever and my grandmother always had a garden and she cooked a lot. I remember their kitchen smelled of her pie crusts and meats and his coffee and cigarettes.

Have ya'll noticed yet that I do not pose well for photographs with other people? I suspect I was probably trying to get loose to go play in their yard. I loved their yard so much. Always.

My Dad's Mom

My Mom's Dad & Mom

These are my mom's parents. I still have in my possession little bitty squares of paper that I use to write letters on ... little bitty squiggles. Then I would fold them up and put them in a little bitty mail box. Then my grandmother would take them out and read them.

I have to say that I feel exceedingly blessed to have known my grandparents -- all of them. They were always "in my corner." I was spoiled. True. I also knew there rules and regs ... balances and measures -- And they helped to keep me pretty balanced.

So Cute. Asleep!

Usually I napped in my baby bed. This dog had a name. I carried that critter until it was threadbare!

My parents love to tell about how when it was time for my nap, my mom would put me in my bed. There would be some stuffed animals and toys in there. I would sit up and play until I was ready to sleep. Then they'd hear kerplunk kerplunk as I dropped each toy overboard until my bed had no clutter. Then I'd sleep. I'm assuming I did not throw the dog over though.

Posing

Oh look! I'm posing ... and no one else is in the photo ... but oh look ... I was talking ... imagine that! ooh and if I recall someone called a "professional" (whom my mother was not impressed with) took this photo ... isn't that just typical of a kid?

Teaching Sunday School -- 3yrs

This is the bonus photo. When I got to this one, I thought about how fortunate I was to have such good influences in my life -- so many people for me to model after. Obviously, I must have had an inspirational Sunday School Teacher.

But then I was looking at how I was looking at the doll in my arms and I thought for an oldest and only I was doing a great job of being concerned for my baby. LOL but then I realized ... yeah ... I'm pretty sure that's my brother's stroller over on the right of the photo. Pretty sure my mom was doing a great job of modeling baby care.

But see ... here's something else. Even if I'm off and that's not my brother's stroller, the other thing that came floating back to me is that my mother and her mother both made sure that we kids KNEW how to play.

They played with us and gave us ideas and help and above all ... once we got into it, they didn't mess us up ... they got out of the way.

~~~
In the final summary, I realized I'm still me after all this time. I still love the mechanical and the artistic and the photographic ... and I love to learn and love to teach ... OH and I still love having an audience!

Ok alright! If you want, go see the larger images. There's a link on that photo page so you can come back and leave a comment.

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It's easy, and fun!
Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

What you probably don't know about how I function in the PC world: My husband and I share one laptop by swapping two different hard drives in and out. The monitor on my otherwise perfectly good pc went out.

• We ordered a monitor.
• It was scheduled to come in today or tomorrow from OfficeMax.
• Billy needs to pick up a cable and a power cord for it.
• We are having a snow/ice storm.
• I kind of don't expect delivery of the monitor until this thaws ... next week.
• No way Billy is going to go trapesing around to find a cable, etc.
• Billy can work from home using his laptop
• I can't use his laptop with my hard drive in it at the same time he's using it.
• I have an old rebel laptop that refuses to die.
• Rebel is slow and it's pixels are going gray. In fact this very line has a horizontal gray line straight through it.
• Most of my writing is on the other hard drive.
• It is possible, with effort and searching, to create an ensemble that will allow me to access the files on the other drive via Rebel.

• I've been kicked off my favorite / speedy pc.
• I'm limping along.
• I'm building a contraption that will let me access all my files.

His real question is: How is Billy doing walking to and from the train?

So ... what I really have to tell you about is "the unfriendly New Yorkers."

Did you notice that I wasn't here yesterday?

A story of an icy irony. And a small interruption between the movie and the credits ... but don't worry the credits are still coming.

[15:19] marillaanne: meghan just IM'd
[15:19] Billy: Yes and ?
[15:19] marillaanne: it's snowing
[15:19] Billy: NO@@@@
[15:20] Billy: We have chance of snow on Sunday night
[15:20] marillaanne: oh really
[15:20] Billy: This is freakn unfair!

[15:43] Meghan: ok it stopped snowin its been doin it off and on
[15:44] Meghan: ok ready for summer now
[15:44] marillaanne: LOL

A story of Accompaniment. This is to acknowledge the people who came and kept me company on this journey.

The bulls are saying, "One more step and your dead meat."
---
If we could read Shelbie's mind after Matthew [Daughter V's husband] put her on the plane, it would be something like this: "I thought that boy and I were getting along pretty decent ... I mean all things considered ... maybe I shouldn't have gotten into that fight with Z [their cattle dog]. But I must admit to myself, it took two dogs to replace me. I must be
pretty good. I will make it no matter where I land,- if this trip doesn't kill me."
.....Hours later....
THERE'S BILLY BOY! Now, there is a nice guy!
Yes, he sees me! He is coming this way! IT'S TRUE, ALL DOGS DO GO TO HEAVEN!!
---
As to the family huddle on the beach. It looks like they are taking a vote as to who is going in first to test the temperature of the water.......Poor Pamela.....

oddmix
Daughter V (My middle child)
elaine (meebo)
meghan (My niece)
Sarah (She's my oldest)
Kit (Food and Family)
Melanie Watts (Caffinara)
Kim (Knitten Kittens)
Mary-LUE (Life, the Universe and Everything)
Tonyette (Random Spewings)
johnmoore (from Brand Autopsy)
Barbara Heaney (Here at my Desk)
sari (The Geek Inside)
Vicki (Victoria Gaines)
Kris (to-Breathe)
Darren a/k/a Clare's Dad
Kathy B. (My Empty Nest)
e-Mom (Chrysalis)
Susan (Susan's Musings)
The Husband (Who says he loves me and I should keep writing :-) Any wonder I love him?
Sophie (A Hole in the Fence)
Dirk_Star
daisies (Pluck the Petal)
Liz (Looney Mom)
Barbara (Here at my Desk)

oddmix
Mary-LUE (Life, the Universe and Everything)
Sophie (A Hole in the Fence)
Darren a/k/a Clare's Dad

• M. Kennedy aka Fussy.org for creating NaBloPoMo
• Schmutzie of milk money or not, here I come for her coaching
• Lane of Pink Elephants for the randomizer
• Merseydotes of Elevated Umbrella for being an encourager of many
• and thanks to The Odd Mix for really getting me mixed up in it all!

Launching into the holidays ... I wonder ....

I'm not sure how that story got started (and don't ask my dog whom I forgot outside ... and yet she is so forgiving!) but ...

A story for bringing in the holidays.

A story about what happens when life makes MarillaAnne sad.

I have a 22 23 yr old daughter.
My oldest brother had a 22 23 yr old son.
My daughter and my nephew were
born two days apart.
He came first.

Thanksgiving day was the beginning of
my daughter's glory as a keeper of family-feast traditions
even though she is far from the family nucleus.

Thanksgiving was my nephew's first day
in the presence of our Father's glory ...
far from the family nucleus.

It takes me, still, a long time to let those words out and
I cannot let them out in one blunt sentence ..
I need a cushion for them ...
I still cannot just say:
My nephew died on Thanksgiving.
I may never be able to.

A story of children growing up and time for change.

This note is for my RSS Feed Readers ... Just come here and see what's up.

(Image opens Shelbie's photo album at Flick'r)

I was so full of trepidation about the whole process but now Missy Prissy Shelbie is here safe and sound and very happy.

(Image links to my photos on Flick'r.) This is my Shelbie dog one yr ago. Right now she is in Portland, OR with my daughter. On Oct 7, I get to ship her here! For her sake and our sakes pray everything goes smoothly!

This has also been a test of Flick'r/ Flock/ MarillaAnne interaction.

A note I sent out today to some close friends ...

Dear Everybody,

I haven't sent out a "Dear Everybody" letter since ... a Christmas letter in my 20's ... oh no wait ... I use to send them to the Wacky Pack ... one of you will remember the Wacky Pack. Wow how time flies.

Anyway, in general, I hate "Dear Everybody" letters. They're so ... ... ... well there's about three different ways a body can turn with that idea ... pick your own path. But I also love writing in forums ... where friendly types I like hang out .... and I love writing comments on blogs ... so let's pretend I'm sending a very private message to my own very private forum group.

9"Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone?
10"Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he?
11"If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!

Billy and I trade text messages via cell phone ... it looks like this ...

"I start the 5th. I love you."

"I just want you to know I think this may be only covered under the "extenuating circumstances" of our marriage vows ... It definately was not in the bold print! NEW FRIGG'N YORK?! I must love you!"

"It was hidden in the fine print. I just found it myself."

One day Someone decided Someone wanted fresh milk. Someone bought the cow. Someone bought hay for the cow.

Good Stuff
Tense Stuff

Well the wedding planner sister and her husband (my son-in-law) arrived safe and sound today. We are all relieved!

And Billy had a very long money adventure today ... bottom line I told my dad I'd rather have my husband at the wedding than have a camera.

My dad said:

tuesday night
wednesday day
wednesday night
thursday day - 18 member family careening trip to the beach and back
thursday night - bachelorette party ... but I don't get to go.
friday day - i'm going to talk someone into taking me to Multnomah Falls and up the mountain one more time!
friday night - Rehersal dinner and then Billy arrives
saturday day - Valerie's wedding
saturday night - We leave
sunday day - We pitch camp

So Wow! There's over a week I need to catch ya'll up on. Ok well ... Let's see ... so much so fast ...

One thing I failed to mention about Tuesday ... my family landed in Seattle and the temps shot into the 100's in Portland ... and ... they stayed there all week.

Saturday morning Matthew and Sam went and fetched Billy from the airport. Then they ran a whole bunch of errands while Billy and I got ready and finished the packing for our move. (Ok and we did squeeze in one bodacious hello kiss.) I was surprised by how much we were able to accomplish! I was especially surprised by how many errands Sam and Matthew ran.

After much running
back and forth
between V's apt
with packed boxes and
wedding gifts and
bubbly and
dog,
we took off for the wedding.
Luggage in the back.
Luggage in the floor.
Luggage in our laps.
Zoom!
Off to the Woodland Recreational Area!

There comes a time when you just have to say, "Okay, God, WhatEver! Just provide our needs." It comes at the end of your wits – when there's no doubt that what follows is "a God thing."