Life little amazements

This afternoon I got a call from Harpo, Oprah's company. They wanted to know if they could quote a line from a response I sent them to Oprah's current book choice, Say You are One of Them.

The book is so interesting...set in Africa, written by an African. Sad and touching look into impoverished families who manage to care for and love each other under terrible circumstances while holding onto their faith. It is a story of children as prostitutes providing for their family accepting the responsibility without question until they are able to finally leave.
They asked me to read a line from my response which they recorded for possible use in promoting the book.
Each day I awaken grateful for whatever the day may bring but certainly would never have imagined this happening.

The Kerrville Wine and Music Festival was so much fun and even better this year having some friends come along. The music line-up was the best we have heard in a long, long time. I adored these guys, Los Texmaniacs, mostly from San Antonio...incredible accordian player and great sound altogether. I was up and screaming "more, more, more" when their set ended and they accomodated. I've ordered their CD...definitely conjunto music...geez, did I spell that right? It fed right into my love for Mexico and so reminded me of my father-in-law, born in Mexico, the son of a Methodist missionary. Dad played guitar and sang Celito Lindo and other Latin tunes. We played the Mexican national anthem at his funeral.
The Wine Seminar was great...so full of information. Four Texas wineries were represented on the panel which focused on port wines. A little plate of chocolate tidbits was served to go with each tasting. I had never enjoyed much port wine before but now think we may try serving one as dessert occasionally especially with chocolate.
The Texas hill country is shockingly brown...the severe drought is taking such a toll...trees are dying, creeks have dried up...so when it began to rain during the seminar, everyone was thrilled. As Kerrvivers, we have learned to expect the mud, the flood and the crud when at a Festival weekend so we made sure we were all prepared with ponchos and umbrellas. Unfortunately all that was in the car so I and a friend volunteered during a slight break in the downpour to walk to the car and get them. We both got pretty wet. After the evening concert, I was mostly dried off when we got to the motel but thought I would never get my feet warm.
Of course, a stop at Schoebel's for lunch coming and going to Kerrville was a must. Their buffet is loaded with lots and lots of veggies with awesome fresh green beans. Others went for their pie...especially the chess pie...not just once but over and over. I was good, darn it, only tried one piece and just ate the top off since I've avoiding wheat.
It was a great weekend and a nice celebration of our 51st wedding anniversary. I doubt when we volunteered to help the Festival out 25 or so years ago in exchange for lifetime tickets that they ever dreamed that these old folks would still be coming. Ha! ha! Here we are!

From Robert Genn's newsletter

As a sometimes teacher, I love these quotes:


"The best way to teach somebody something is to have them think they're learning something else." (Randy Pausch)

Esoterica: In the conduct of your own affairs, understate and over-prove. Give well-planned, information-rich demos. Let folks make up their own minds and take what they want for themselves. Make your comments short and precise. Tenderness and your own humility count. People are human beings first and artists second. Thankfully, some will pull themselves up by their own bootstraps, no matter what you have to say. And while there will always be those who stay put, a properly conducted workshop can be a place of miracles. "The burned hand teaches best." (J. R. R. Tolkien)

So amiss at writing...

I have been terrible about keeping up this blog since I discovered Facebook. Good grief. Now I get all these ridiculous requests for an egg in someone's basket, to tend their farm, discover my chakra color, send someone in the Mafia a new gun and it goes on and on. I have failed the Myers-Briggs so I guess I am without personality. My writing skills have gone down the tubes trying to text my pre-teen grandaughter on her phone. I try to do better but get seduced to join the American Red Cross or Artists United or some poetry group. And then when I do get to my blog, nobody has commented so I think that no one is reading so why should I bother when there is Facebook where it seems that if I sneeze, I get blessed by many. Hmmmmm......