Top five reasons why there really is no place like home:
5. My time zone
4. My shower
3. My bed
2. My cats
1. My Studly Doright
And then there’s this:
Tag: blog
Old and Lost River
Driving on I-10 between Baytown and Houston one crosses a bridge over the “Old and Lost River.” Each time I’ve made the journey the river’s name has caused me to smile and then to wonder how it came to be called “Old and Lost,” but I could never remember to google it. Today, though, when I crossed the river I left myself a reminder note on my iPhone via Siri.
Here’s what I found on Google:
“American composer Tobias Picker (b. 1954) wrote Old and Lost Rivers in 1986. The brief, colorful orchestral tone poem was commissioned by the Houston Symphony to commemorate the sesquicentennial of Texas. Picker describes the inspiration for the piece:”
Driving east from Houston along Interstate 10, you will come to a high bridge which crosses many winding bayous. These bayous were left behind by the great wanderings, over time, of the Trinity River across the land. When it rains, the bayous fill with water and begin to flow. At other times — when it is dry — they evaporate and turn green in the sun. The two main bayous are called ‘Old River’ and ‘Lost River’. Where they converge, a sign on the side of the highway reads: ‘OId and Lost Rivers.’
And now I know the story. The google piece also included the audio of the composition written by Mr. Picker and performed by the Houston Symphony Orchestra. I think it’s lovely.
Peace, people.
Final Final Four Post
And then there were two: Michigan and Villanova. At the end of the day, only one team would prevail as the NCAA men’s basketball champions.
Ashley and I had tickets to the final game. If the Jayhawks had still been in the tourney, we’d have gladly driven back into crazy San Antonio traffic, paid a fortune for parking, and a fair amount to Uber to and from the event. Alas, the Jayhawks were eliminated on Saturday, so we elected to watch the game from our hotel room in San Marcos. Call us wusses. We can handle it.
We weighed a great many factors in making our decision besides those listed above. I still struggle to speak and even though I feel okay, it’s wearing me out. Ashley has a flight to catch and a long drive to her home in Illinois once she lands in Des Moines, Iowa. I have a thirteen hour drive ahead of me. Still, we both agonized about not seeing the biggest game of the year in men’s college basketball.
So we spent the evening watching the game in our pajamas while we tried to cram all of our purchases into our suitcases along with the stuff we brought with us. I really don’t care who wins. Right now Villanova has a hefty lead with 11 minutes to go.
Coolest things this weekend:
Just being there! We’ve watched the pageantry of this tournament for years on our respective televisions, but there is nothing like seeing it all in person.
Ashley ran into a Chicago baseball icon, Ronnie Woo Woo in the Alamodome and posed for a photo with him.
We were live on a CBS television broadcast when we stumbled into view behind the broadcasters’ table. We looked like happy dorks. I suppose that’s what we are.
We enjoyed exploring San Antonio, strolling along the River Walk, and mingling with fans from all over the country.
On Sunday night we enjoyed live music and the enthusiasm of young Michigan fans in a San Antonio pub. Oh, and it warmed my heart that these young people knew the lyrics to all of my generation’s favorite songs!
On Monday, Ashley and I explored the little town of Wimberley. We did a bit of shopping and had a great lunch at Ino’Z on the banks of Cypress Creek.
I’ve most likely mixed up my verb tenses in this post once again, but we’ve had, and are still having, a wonderful time.
Tuesday is all about travel. I’ll deliver Ashley to the airport in Houston, about three hours from San Marcos, before heading east on I-10. My goal is to get as far down the road as possible before stopping for the night.
Send us some good travel vibes if you are so inclined. And as always, peace, people.
A Moment in the Spotlight
Ashley and I made our national television debut yesterday. For one brief moment we were caught on camera during a live CBS sports broadcast in downtown San Antonio. Ashley’s middle child took a screenshot of our appearance and texted it to her mom. I’d love to say we were models of beauty and grace,
but we were closer to being doubles for dumb and dumber. What can I say? Every time I see the photo I collapse in a fit of giggles. My hair. Ashley’s expression. Priceless.
I still don’t have my voice, so I text Ashley anything important I need to say. As I write this we are sitting outside listening to live music on Saturday evening at a venue filled with Michigan fans.
What fun we are having! Thanks to the Stewarts for putting their tickets up for sale, and thanks to my Studly Doright for buying them even though he couldn’t attend. Thanks to Ashley for saying “yes” to joining me, and thanks to Ashley’s husband for agreeing to be the sole Easter Bunny at their home this year so Ashley could join me, as well.
We’re still bummed that the Jayhawks lost so badly to Villanova, but there’s always next year. Might need to start making plans for Minneapolis.
Peace, people!
Too Tired and Sad to Write (much)
Our Kansas Jayhawks lost to Villanova in the semifinal game of the NCAA Final Four men’s basketball championship. Villanova set a new record in three-point shooting and dominated the Jayhawks by a score of 95-79. Even though we scored two quick points early, the first half was brutal. I’m so sad.
The Jayhawks had a great year, though, winning their 14th straight Big 12 conference championship. And I had the opportunity to be in the Alamodome with my wonderful daughter in the amazing city of San Antonio, Texas, to watch two games of one of the premier American sporting events. It was still an amazing day.
May I take a moment to praise my daughter, Ashley? She is a logistics dynamo and kept me from worrying about transportation and directions and all manner of things. I’d have been a nervous ninny without her along. Plus, she’s just a lot of fun to hang out with.
Oh, and thanks to an ongoing sinus issue I lost my voice sometime on Saturday morning. I could kind of croak sometimes and whisper other times, so Ashley had to interpret for me, as well. It’s probably best that I couldn’t yell during the KU game. There were small children around.
Now Ashley and I find ourselves with two full days in San Antonio before her flight out of Houston on Monday. What will we do? Anything we’d like, thank you very much.
Happy Easter everyone. And as always, peace, people.
Good Morning from Houston
It’s Saturday morning, and a fine one as far as I can tell. My daughter and I arrived at my brother’s home in Houston within minutes of each other around five on Friday. She flew in from Des Moines, Iowa, while I drove from Florida and, voila! Here we are.
For a good twenty minutes yesterday I wasn’t sure I was going to get here at all. My gps took me on some rabbit chasing adventure just outside of Beaumont, Texas, and soon I was bouncing along on backroads, some covered in gravel, some partially barricaded, and one completely blocked to traffic. It was obvious that the gps had lost its freaking mind and that I would most likely die alone at the end of this middle of nowhere dirt lane.
I sat and thought for a few minutes then realized I needed to backtrack and just find the damned interstate again. No need to get all melodramatic; although, part of me wondered what future archaeologists might conclude when they found my skeleton sitting upright in my Mazda hundreds or even thousands of years from now.
“Probably senile. Right age. Car had evidence consisting of junk food wrappers and plastic cups that once most likely contained diet Coke. I guess she didn’t remember her Mazda had a reverse gear. Poor girl.”
As I backtracked I realized that the gps had most likely tried to help me avoid some traffic issue on the interstate and didn’t factor in that roads around Beaumont, like the one it directed me to, had been seriously impacted by the flooding that accompanied last year’s hurricanes. Guardrails were warped and in some places lay mangled on both sides of the road, and there were places so degraded that I couldn’t drive on the correct side of the road without endangering my safety. Intense!
When I finally made it back to an entrance ramp for I-10 West, I breathed a sigh of relief and completed the rest of my journey without incident. I hugged my daughter and my brother and my sister-in-law, then we went out for drinks and dinner and more drinks and had just a wonderful evening dining alfresco in one of the best cities in the world.
I slept like a drunken sailor and am now up and ready to continue my journey, as my daughter, Ashley and I drive to San Antonio for the NCAA men’s Final Four basketball tournament starting tonight! Just to be safe, I’m putting Ashley in charge of navigation.
Peace, people!
The Road to the Final Four
If you’re expecting a recap of the college basketball season, forget about it. I’m just checking in to say I successfully navigated through torrential rains and horrendous road construction on my journey to San Antonio to attend the men’s NCAA college basketball tournament that begins on Saturday. I feel like the driving conditions should be charged with a flagrant foul or two. Maybe a technical. It was a brutal day of driving.
Before the bad stuff happened, Studly and I met friends from Illinois for a late lunch in Destin, FL, where they’ve been enjoying spring break, then I began my drive westward, and Studly returned home to Doright Manor.
I’m writing from my hotel room somewhere in Mississippi. Dinner was a grilled cheese sandwich from the kids’ menu in the hotel’s restaurant and a Guinness. Is that classy or what?
My daughter is flying in to Houston from Illinois, and then she and I will meet up at my brother’s home. He and his sweet wife have invited us to spend the night with them in Houston before we push on to San Antonio on Saturday morning.
Now I’m just trying to unwind and to keep my verb tenses straight. I wrote this on Thursday night, but won’t publish until Friday, so I kept getting confused. Another flagrant foul. (I always want to call it a fragrant foul. Doesn’t that sound more pleasant? Or maybe contradictory.)
I would apologize for the randomness of this post, but I’m too tired. ‘Night all.
Peace, people.
Quick Studly Update
Our day at the pain management clinic yesterday didn’t go quite the way we planned. For those who aren’t regular followers of my blog, my husband, Studly Doright, has been battling severe sciatic pain for nearly a month now. He hasn’t been able to sleep and his appetite is out of whack. He’s not been a happy camper and to paraphrase a popular saying, if Studly ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.
He’d gotten to see a highly regarded neurosurgeon on Monday who recommended that Studly give the pain management route a try before resorting to the surgical option, and subsequently scheduled an appointment for Studly with his colleagues in that office. Both Studly and I thought that he’d be getting an injection at the pain management appointment on Wednesday morning.
Wrong. It was merely a consultation. I thought I might cry when the pain management doc said he’d be able to schedule an appointment for next week. But my Studly wasn’t going to be put off that easily. He asked what it would take to push the procedure through on that day.
It didn’t look promising. There were insurance pre-approvals to consider as well as scheduling issues. It seemed impossible, but Studly convinced them to try. Lo and behold the surgical center had a cancellation for that afternoon, leaving a spot open. But they still didn’t think the insurance pre-approval could happen. Studly said it didn’t matter. He wanted to proceed regardless.
So at three yesterday afternoon Studly went in for a minor procedure that lasted approximately 10 minutes and has already offered relief; although, he’s been cautioned not to expect the full effects of the procedure to kick in for another few days. Oh, and miracle of miracles, the insurance company approved the procedure. Unheard of!
As I typed this yesterday evening, he was in bed snoring happily. That was the best part of the day. I never thought his snores could sound so sweet. Thanks for listening to our saga. I needed to write it even if it’s not the most spine-tingling story.
Peace, people.
Back to Studly
Today we hope Studly Doright gets some relief from his agonizing sciatic pain. It’s been 24 days now since he’s gotten more than 30 minutes of sleep at a time.
Studly is a man’s man, but when he’s in pain, all bets are off. After both of his knee replacement surgeries I was ready to trade him in for a less abrasive model. It didn’t help that he had a persecution complex and severe paranoia brought on by the pain meds he was on. He accused me of posting his post-surgical photos on Facebook! I promise, I never even considered doing such a thing. Well, it might’ve crossed my mind, but I wouldn’t have done it without his permission. They were seriously grotesque.
I’ve been pleasantly surprised that he’s kept his sense of humor and his sunny disposition throughout this whole sciatica ordeal. He hasn’t taken a day off work even when I thought he should have, and he’s cracked a few jokes during even his worst moments. Some of the jokes might have been amusing, so I laughed just in case.
But today, we see a pain management specialist. Hoping our prayers will be answered because, all kidding aside, I hate seeing my Studly Doright in pain. He’s my rock, you know. Positive vibes appreciated.
Peace, people.
Are the Planets Aligning or Am I Just Tired?
Yesterday I wrote about getting tickets to the NCAA Final Four basketball tournament in San Antonio, TX. It was an impulsive buy, and I suffered some angst once I realized that I now had to plan a quick trip to San Antonio and find someone to attend the tournament with me.
My husband, Studly Doright, bought the tickets for me even though he knew his sciatic nerve wouldn’t allow him to drive 26 hours round trip, sleep four nights in hotel beds, and navigate the crowds at the Alamo Dome where the tournament will take place. He’s a helluva guy.
Our son lives in Dallas, not terribly far from San Antonio, and he’s a University of Kansas grad, so we called him immediately upon getting the tickets. He had already made some important plans for the upcoming weekend, so he was out. I was bummed. I didn’t sleep much on Sunday night wondering if I should even keep the tickets.
Then a couple of things happened. On Monday morning my brother in Houston encouraged me to come and stay with him and his wife on my way to San Antonio. I couldn’t say no to that.
And then my daughter in Illinois, who also studied at KU and is a die hard Jayhawks fan, texted me that she thought she could get relatively inexpensive plane tickets to Houston for the long weekend. She’d fly in there, Uber to my brother’s home, and drive to San Antonio with me for the tournament! I’ll drop her off at the airport on my way through Houston on Tuesday morning. And voila! I never dreamed she’d be able to enjoy this event with me, and I couldn’t be more excited.
All of a sudden my angst disappeared. The planets seem to be aligning because I slept like a rock last night. Either that, or I’m just exhausted from lack of sleep. Rock chalk, Jayhawks, baby! It’s on!
Praying for Eyebrowz 