Fort Worth Tradition

Cause good memories don’t fade so easy
Does Fort Worth ever cross your mind – from the words of a great song from George Strait

And Fort Worth's such a wonderful town to disappear into
On the muscle of my arm there's a red and blue tattoo
Says, Fort Worth I love you – and more lyrics, these from Michael Martin Murphy

Don’t ya love this Texas town? Embracing its roughneck history, Fort Worth preserved the brick streets and notorious buildings in The Stockyards while also promoting the fine arts in the renowned museums and performance halls. Downtown has a vibrant and safe environment for nightlife.  Classic restaurants, such as Joe T.’s and Riscky’s, have survived the tests of time and long established neighborhoods and parks coexist comfortably with the inevitable new. My true Texan husband was born here. Our aunts, uncles and cousins have called this laid back city home.

 

Something deep in my brain likes semblance of order and tradition.  It gives me balance, connection to the past and hope for the future.  A great experience in the regular Fort Worth calendar is The Colonial, the yearly local PGA tournament.  Throughout our years of living in the DFW area Darrell and I have attended the golf festivities several times and this year once again lived up to our highest expectations.  Many in the crowd, I suspect, are weekend golfers coming to the show of their pro heroes.  They are thinking or wishing, “I could do that”, as they watch great shots as well as mega flubs.  Some are just there because their parents brought them to enjoy the outdoors (or didn’t get a babysitter):  little ones in parents’ arms or toted in strollers.  Others are there to accompany family who has golf interests:  women in their lawn chairs reading books and drinking wine.  Some are there to work in concessions raising money for special groups:  Nolan Catholic booster club, Arlington High Orchestra, Knights of Columbus, etc.  Others are there to earn their pay in sports related jobs:  Randy Galloway, Landry Locker,etc. I found myself there in an imaginary field trip (the teacher/student life does not really leave you when you retire) where lessons were evident demonstrating math, science, history, literature, sociology, logistics, marketing, psychology and fashion. Ah, what a great setting to be schooled!

 

Those who know me know I am definitely NOT a golfer!  I took lessons along with my friend Cassandra with the goal of playing with my husband and sons.  This never lead to a full round of golf, though I tried.  Something lacking in my brain, hand, eye, body coordination!  Darrell and I did recently participate as guests of our friends, The Leases, in a charity golf tournament for GRACE.  It was a fun night at Grapevine Golf Course with BBQ dinner, Lexus Lemonade and glow in the dark balls.  It was a scramble and my shots were never used in the team score.  Farewell greetings ended the night with, “Darrell, you are a good golfer!  And Susan, you are a good sport!”

Now, back to the Colonial:  Thursday is the first day of qualifying where all the registered players are hopeful of a good showing.  The scene is being set, the characters introduced.  Many names are recognizable – VJ Singh, Justin Leonard, Davis Love III, Rory Sabbatini, Zach Johnson – and some clothing is recognizable – John Daly in wacky chevron plaid, Rickie Fowler in his Puma neon brights.

You might even speculate that Daly’s girlfriend was hopeful of a long term relationship – her shorty shorts matched the wild fabric of his trousers (fashion statement/commitment?). The contestants are playing out some of the classic themes of literature, man vs. nature as they battle the wind, the trees and the lie of the land, man vs. self as they manage their game within the environment knowing their own past strengths and weaknesses. Viewing from the shade trees bordering #1 fairway and then later from #9, we kept cool with sheltering breezes and enjoyed the unfolding stories.  Local Colleyville man, Ryan Palmer, ended the day in the lead.

Friday was a full day for us at home so we kept up with the proceedings through TV and internet as we continued with other activities.  I attended the hospitality room set up by first grade teachers for volunteers at Silverlake Elementary School so they would know that I appreciated their appreciation. Rains came and cut short the golfing going on so it turned out to be a good day not to be there anyway.  We prepared the boat to go out on the lake with friends for the first fireworks night of the summer, but again the rains came so we watched from the dock – all good!

 

Saturday at The Colonial:  We arrived on the transport bus from Farrington Field in time for the previous day’s play to be finished and the final cut to be announced.  Handed the new pairing sheet that was hot off the press, we headed to a spot on #9 near the tents and facilities in case we needed to run for cover from threatening weather.  There were a few showers but nothing causing mad scramble.  Attentions turned to the leader board and literary themes expanded to include man vs. man in battle of the birdies. Although I doubt anyone there was sitting and working on math problems related to quadratic functions, I could see their examples in results of combined operations of force, velocity, trajectory, distance and gravity. I’ve gritted my teeth at the T shirts and bumper stickers that proudly proclaim “I did not use Algebra today!”  You don’t personally have to use it yourself, just recognize that it underlies forces at work in the natural world that surrounds us ;)  Matt Kuchar, a likable crowd favorite, ended day 3 in the lead.

 

Sunny day on Sunday:  Wearing our red for Red Cross and dropping our meager contribution into the bucket for the recent victims of tragic events, we reclaimed our favorite spot in the trees lining #9 and met the surrounding families from Stephenville, Ft. Worth and Lewisville.  Leaning over so my head was under the ropes, I craned to see Boo Weekley make his birdie and take the lead.  At this same time a course marshal came to warn me, “Be prepared to move your chair.”  The next golfer had landed way left and was planning a desperate Tin Cup shot to try to hit the green.  He and his caddie conferred in serious planning but the miracle did not happen.  By the way, Boo ended the days with cheers of “Boo!” as he won the tournament awards of a big fat check, a nice silver trophy and an audacious plaid jacket, his first win in 5 years.  I bet his wife and children were happy to welcome him home after weeks on the road and the long drought of winning finally ended.

 

Great golfers from the past have walked in these same places, Mr. Ben Hogan and Mr. Byron Nelson, who both have great life stories as well as sports acclaim.  The Colonial Country club and surrounding neighborhood carry along Fort Worth history that includes the Leonard family of Leonard’s Department stores.  Darrell and I both remember visiting the old Leonard’s in downtown Ft. Worth during our childhood Christmas outings with cousins. If any of you would like to experience the intersection of Ft. Worth charm, spectacle of sport and the microcosm of life field trip, get your tickets to next year’s Colonial.

 

And what are the life lessons out of all this? Be observant and appreciative of the beautiful world around us.  Persevere through times when things may not be going perfectly your way. Keep pursuing your given path to contribute to our world.

Galatians 6:9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

 

Spring Break

I remember some fine times from Spring Breaks of my past.  During the school year, this holiday time always came at just the right moment – when everyone really needed a break from the pressures and routine of school/work, when stamina was wearing down from long days of answering constant questions topped off by Open House night during Texas Public Schools Week where you politically, politely answer more constant questions.  I remember some relaxing spring trips to Fredericksburg and the Hill Country, to Port Aransas and Padre Island, to the St. Augustine area of Florida and an extended Spring Break trip to southern Spain when Travis was there on a study abroad semester. We took in wonderful sights, enjoyed company of lovely people, tasted some great local foods and spent some down time reading good books.

This year with retirement I thankfully did not feel the worn down need to get away from my regular life but I did spend a week away from home doing different things.  Planning well in advance, Jonathan arranged to take Erica for a much needed beach getaway during her spring break.  While they spent some time at a Cancun resort, Darrell and I lived at their house in Austin and filled our days with watching Keller.  I really do mean that literally we enjoyed our week by just watching him – watching him greet the morning, watching him eat, watching him walk by holding on to walls, furniture and toys, watching what caught his attention on TV, watching him explore and look closely at things, watching him take things apart (he’s not yet at the stage of putting things back together), watching him express his feelings – elation, curiosity, determination, satisfaction, frustration.

 

We learned his eating/sleeping routine.  We learned his likes (hugs, laps, pacifier, blueberries, broccoli and bananas) and his dislikes (getting his nose wiped, getting his face washed and waiting for a bottle).  We learned to interpret some of his babbling:  ach-O, mama, dada, de-dada, nana, hi, baa. We learned that Pinterest has good ideas for corraling a toddler in a tub. We learned that baby gates are a great invention. We learned that we do not know how to operate all modern baby technology.  When the monitor beeped and ran out of battery charge on the first night, we did not find the right button to restart it until Erica came home and showed us so I listened the old fashioned way for baby noise in the night using my mother/grandmother ears.  A few false alarms just gave me a chance to peek in on a peaceful, sleeping angel.J

 

 

 

Our days passed by lazily following the Keller schedule of eat, poop and play.  We caught up on Jeopardy in back to back daily shows, caught up on all the broadcast details of the new pope, swung in the backyard hammock, watched families do yard work as we took different strolling routes, soothed to the cooing dove noise of their neighborhood and, like all good trips, we read good books during our down time.

Feeling rather bold, one day we ventured out to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, only a few miles from their house and just down the road from Erica’s school and Keller’s day care.  Proudly we were successful in loading a car seat and then a stroller and the possibly necessary take along items for this outing in the beautiful outdoors.  Darrell and I found some promising native plants to try in our tiny backyard inspired from the display gardens at the center and were happy to see our first bluebonnets blooming for this year. Be on the lookout, wildflowers are starting to show along the roadways, too!

 

This was the best Spring Break ever!  Gratitude for being given precious time in the life of a precious child fills my heart.

Psalm 127:3  Behold children are a gift of the Lord.

Matthew 19:14 But Jesus said, “Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

 

 

 

I Dreamed a Dream...

Dreams

For five days a dangerous fugitive was hiding out in my hometown after wounding a police officer who was transporting him to a different state to serve a life sentence in prison.  Although I didn’t consciously worry about being hurt by him, I did change some daytime habits of keeping doors open for letting in the light and enjoying the view of trees and sky.  Night time habits were followed to lock doors but now double checked.  Relaxing hot tub use was cut because the mental relaxation was not happening when you have a simultaneous possibility of being ambushed in your own backyard. Dark thirty dreams revealed a subconscious worry when my mind created a scene that made me cry out from my restless sleep – the “bad guy” was using a drill to bore through our locked door and then his arm was reaching through the door…Darrell woke me up from my screams so I don’t know what would have happened next.  Thankfully, the Grapevine police and U.S. Marshals working the case did bring it to an end so our nervous community has resumed its comfortable life.

 

 

The great Biblical character, Daniel, was known for interpreting the dreams of the kings who held his people in captivity in Babylon.  Relearning his story and reapplying the lessons has been one of my regular weekly activities through a Thursday morning women’s Bible study group at church – retirement allows participation in these opportunities without feeling too tired or too limited in time with a demanding work schedule.  My heart is happy with this new lifestyle!

 

Looking back over my Daniel notes, these are the highlights/questions of the study so far that I choose to rethink and incorporate where applicable: How do you go about breaking bad news to someone, as Daniel did for the king when interpreting a dream?  What kinds of ideas fill my dreams for the future? To whom do I attribute my prosperity? Life choices = indulgence, indifference & irreverence or faith, hope & love.  How do I react to fear and crisis? How do I react to being falsely accused?  What guides my decision making process?  What Biblical prophecies have already been fulfilled and what is yet to come? What do I do with the visions God gives me today? How do I know what is true?  What is the impact of prayer?
 

Daniel was recognized as a godly man. The angel, Gabriel, spoke to him face to face and called him “highly esteemed”.  Daniel gives us an appropriate model of prayer life – he followed a regular habit, he acknowledged God as the ultimate authority who keeps his covenant, praised Him for being great and awesome, thanked him for loving-kindness and compassion, confessed his sin identifying with the disrespect of so many of his kindred people, made requests for himself and his nation.

So lately my dreams have moved from the nightmares of the convict to reliving past scenes of my role as a mom when the boys were young.  Jonathan and Erica spent time with us on Presidents weekend and their sweet ten month old Keller entertained us with his constant movement, babble, expression, determination and curiosity.  Travis and Chelsea chose that time frame to send us all text links to a YouTube video they created to announce the development of another baby coming to join the Green family.  My subconscious mind has been pleasantly consumed with family, children and babies, most recently Travis as a toddler/preschool child running to me for comfort from some mishap and climbing into the safety of my lap. When I woke from this dream, I wasn’t fearful; just nostalgic for the days when I was able to simply pat his back and solve his problems.  I said a quick prayer for guardian angels to watch over him in my absence and in my role that has changed over time and distance.
 

“I’m so glad to be alive”, Travis reported to Darrell yesterday via cell phone. He works at Sunlight Mountain ski resort during the winter season and runs his own business, Green Landscapes, during the growing season.  In his current job as manager of lift operators, he has a certain snow mobile assigned to him for use in traveling up and down the mountain.  Yesterday, his machine was in for servicing so he was using a bigger, faster, unfamiliar snow mobile to move down the mountain after going over some training with his operators at the top of the trails.  He told of it moving too fast and the breaks locking when he tried to get it under control, flying off the trail and crashing into trees.  He could have been killed, but he walked away with bruises while the snow mobile was completely totaled.  Thank the Lord, oh my soul!

Darrell and I recall that this is the third time we’ve rejoiced at a call from this son, celebrating that his life continues!  Once he was in the back seat of a vehicle that slid off a mountain road during a sudden snow storm.  The second time was a mountain climbing adventure with a friend where they got caught in a thunderstorm at perilous heights. And now this one.

 

One of my personal plans to incorporate lessons from Daniel is to continue my habit of prayer when I wake in the night and to expand on my adoration and praise for God’s goodness.

 

Psalm 91:11-12  For he will give his angels charge concerning you, to guard you in all your ways.  They will bear you up in their hands, Lest you strike your foot against a stone.

Psalm 91:14-16  Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name.  He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him, and honor him.  With a long life I will satisfy him, And let him behold My salvation.

Isaiah 66:13  As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you.

 

 

 

My Playlist

February is a month full of themes and special days for celebration.  We have Ground Hog Day, Super Bowl weekend, Black History Month, Mardi Gras season, Fat Tuesday, Ash Wednesday, the season of Lent, the State of the Union, the season of love (Valentine’s Day), President’s Day and special birthdays:  mine, Chelsea’s, Ginny’s (Alyce’s mom), Abraham Lincoln, George Washington. We have unpredictable weather even though Pauxatauwny Phil tries to give us a reassuring hint, sunny days followed by gray skies and blustery winds. So this month, along with many others, is a perfect time to cozy up with a good book, drink some hot tea or toddies, spend time with friends and family and simply enjoy the daily activities that fill your life.

The multiple choices and possibilities of daily life are the music we dance to. - Stephen King, 11/22/63 (a good book!)

Every life has a soundtrack.  Music is the language of memory. – Jodi Picoult, Sing Me Home (another really good book!)

 

My Playlist (songs from life, the language of my memories)

1.      Jesus Loves Me – I think the first songs I learned were taught to me in Sunday School and Vacation Bible School…some early memories include these:  Deep and Wide, Do Lord, This Little Light of Mine, Jesus Loves the Little Children

2.     Your Cheatin’ Heart – My dad used to sit outside and play his guitar and sing Hank Williams’ songs.

 

3.     How Great Thou Art- My dad also used to be the “song leader” for church on Sundays and occasional country church revivals.  I sat on the first or second pew where he could keep an eye on me.  I heard/sang all the old hymns such as:  Amazing Grace, The Old Rugged Cross (it was a relief to know that the crucifixion happened far, far away), Bringing in the Sheets ( I mean what are sheaves anyway?), Just As I Am, Onward Christian Soldiers, Battle Hymn of the Republic, Holy, Holy, Holy, His Eye is on the Sparrow

4.     Yellow Polka Dot Bikini – my early childhood best friend had older sisters so we listened to pop songs of their choice. I also remember Sea Cruise from this genre.

5.     Gospel quartets and country – my grandparents liked weekend musical TV entertainment.  I remember the Porter Waggoner show with his young protégé, Dolly Parton, who advertised Breeze laundry detergent which gave you a pretty striped towel in the box.   The Blackwood Brothers Quartet and He- Haw were also among their favorites.

6.     Moon River – My family was excited at the purchase of a new maple finish piece of furniture, a stereo hi-fi. The first family record albums I remember are Andy Williams Greatest Hits, Alvin and the chipmunks Christmas songs and Burl Ives singing Americana/children’s music favorites.

7.     Sound of Silence – my first music purchase with my own money was a 45 record of Simon and Garfunkel.  The flip side was I am a Rock. 

8.     Mrs. Brown You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter – my first album purchase was Herman’s Hermits, a preteen crush on Peter Noone. I would play this as my background to checking off my list of chores on a Saturday morning.

9.     Little Red Riding Hood, Wooly Bully – memories of music played during summers at the Carrollton swimming pool.

10.   Sweet Baby James, Tapestry, Déjà vu – favorite albums of my teenage years

11. Harvest-Neil Young’s finest was repeated often during spend the nights at Chrystine Accardi’s house.

12. Chicago – my first concert at Dallas Memorial Auditorium

13. Three Dog Night and Rod Stewart, opening by B.W. Stephenson- first concert with Darrell at the Cottonbowl

14. Thank You by Led Zeppelin, Can We Make it Last by Bozz Skaggs – “our songs” for me and Darrell

15. Hallelujah Chorus, Rhapsody in Blue – songs we performed in high school R.L. Turner Acapella choir

16.  Sunrise, Sunset from Fiddler on the Roof- when Darrell and I first met he was performing and I played piano with the orchestra in the high school musical production; we also had this song in our wedding

17.  Court and Spark- Joni Mitchell, played throughout freshman year at OBU, WMU dorm; also Roberta Flack

18.   Color my World, You are my Love, the Wedding Song, the Lord’s Prayer – more music from our wedding

19.  Wasted Days & Wasted Nights by Freddie Fender and Behind Closed Doors by Charlie Rich- in our early married days we played on a weekly bowling league. These songs were played at the bowling alleys in Irving TX.

20.  Lay Down Sally by Eric Clapton- a club (Sweet Gemini) in the basement of the Gifford-Hill building during the late 70’s played this often; spent time there with Tom Armstrong.

21. Billy Jean and Thriller by Michael Jackson – waiting up for Darrell to come home from IBM shift work in NJ, I watched Casey Kasem count down the top music videos each week.  MJ was always on top. This was in the early 80's.

22. Family Christmas, Robert Earl Keen – introduced to us by Jonathan during his fraternity/college days at UT

23.   Greendale, Neil Young – concert with Travis before he left for college in CO

24.  Ghost Behind the Door, New Mexico Rain, Texas Cooking – all by Michael Hearne, singer/song writer, Darrell’s friend from Jr. High/High school

25.  I Saw God Today; All my Exes Live in Texas, Living for the Night, and many more - George Strait.  Alum of one of my alma maters, Texas State U; ultimate classic TX singer; we saw him in concert at the Cheyenne Frontier Days in Wyoming and again later at the first event of Jerryworld, Cowboys Stadium in Arlington.

So this is music from my life.  What’s on your playlist?

1 Samuel 18:6 …the women came out of all the cities…singing and dancing with tambourines, with joy and with musical instruments.

Colossian 3:16…sing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

The Bible (THE Good Book!)

These are a few of my favorite things!

Best of 2012

Reflections on a good year…James 1:17 Every good and perfect gift is from above.

Activity – floating in my pontoon boat on Lake Grapevine watching the sunset; poking at a campfire

 

 

 

Art – Mark &Ted’s collection, Basalt CO; here’s some artist samples from The Modern, Ft. Worth TX (Agnes Martin, how did you think of drawing pencil lines with a ruler?)

 

Accessories – scarves, bracelets, my animal print bag

Books – Firstlight by Sue Monk Kidd (inspirational), A Natural Woman by Carole King (biographical), Hearts in Atlantis and 11/22/63 by Stephen King (fiction)

Clothes – jeans, t shirts, scarves, pajamas, Uggs, flip flops

Commercial – children on the AT&T ads “Bigger is better”

Drink- chai tea, Starbucks French Roast, Corona with lime (all still the same)

Food – Ruth Chris chopped salad (Cassandra turned me on to this one, thank you, yum!)

Game – Words with Friends (unchanged)

 

Gifts – calendar of Keller pictures and The Boat (retirement gift to myself)

Live music – Michael Hearne’s Big Barn Dance Music Festival, David Crosby singing with his son the song, "Radio"

Movies – Lincoln, Les Miserables

News – first grandchild is here! Welcome Keller!  We love you so much!

 

Place – home, Grapevine Lake, Keller’s house (with Jonathan & Erica, too), Travis & Chelsea's house

Restaurant for breakfast – The Village Smithy, Carbondale CO (unchanged), Old West Cafe, Grapevine

Restaurant for lunch- La Duni in Dallas, Main St. Bakery in Grapevine

Restaurant for dinner – Café Italia, Grapevine TX (unchanged)

 

Scripture – John 10:10 I came that they might have life and live it abundantly.

Sermon – 3/8/12, Cindy Ryan speaking on Peace

Songs – The Pontoon Song, Little Big Town

 

Spa – Spa of the Rockies, Glenwood Springs CO (unchanged); pedicure from Kitty Johnson in her zero gravity chair

Sports Event – Longhorns come from behind to win Alamo Bowl in the last few minutes after a disappointing season; Dallas beats Giants in opening game of NFL viewed at Travis & Chelsea’s house

Sight – human= newborn Keller in the hospital nursery, nature = bears in Travis & Chelsea's yard, Twin Lakes CO, aspens turning in Sept. drive between Minturn & Leadville CO, wild turkeys at Throckmorton

 

 

Thank you, my sweet Lord, for answered prayers, precious moments and blessings beyond our best dreams!

John 4:7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.

Ephesians 3:20-21 Now to him who is able to do immeasureably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.