September 11, never again "just another day"

Today is an exciting day personally, because I am looking forward to picking up Lyndsey tonight at the airport so she can be here for Catherine's shower Saturday. I am baking some little loaves to add to the gift bags Cath has prepared for her hostesses. Another thing that is pleasing me is that my boy is purposing to spend actual time daily reviewing German, so that he may actually pass German III, take G-IV next semester, and then be actually done with undergrad forever!! Brothers and sisters, it has been a long time coming, but my anticipatory joy is bubbling!!

However, this is September 11, and one must pause and ponder the tragic events that are being memorialized today. Most every American surely remembers their circumstances in great detail on what began as just another day seven years ago.

It took a little while for me to realize the enormous horror of the events as slowly the fear began to grow that there might be more horror in store for us. James and I were in California moving Lyndsey in to the apartment that would be her home as she started grad school at UCI. That morning James got up and walked over to the Marriott lobby to check out the breakfast offerings. I turned on the tv and saw the airplanes flying into the buildings and smoke pouring out of the side of the Towers. But I thought it was a movie and changed the channel, only to see the same "movie" running there. When James came back, he made it clear that it was very real.

Goodness, my thoughts were every where at once. What did we need to do? Catherine and Phil were at ACU and we had left Valerie at home so she would not miss school. James' mom had come over to stay with her. In the midst of the flurry of phone calls, I heard from my sister Jan that her eldest son's third son was arriving on that fateful day in Evansville, Indiana. Joy and new life in the midst of the horror and death that was consuming our senses on that day. It was good to have a reason to praise and thank God for good things. And Happy Birthday to Aiden!

We went over to have breakfast and stared at the tv in quietness with all the other Marriott guests and staff. Eventually we drove over to Lyndsey's apartment to do the things we had come to do. But virtually every store we went to had closed. People were fearful that something terrible was about to happen in Los Angeles and everyone just wanted to be at home. We were fortunate that we had our car because we began to hear soon of airports closing.

Our hearts were broken as we saw footage of frightened dusty people running through the streets of New York and heard of the heroism of some of our American citizens on those doomed flights, and the stories of the firefighters who sacrificed themselves in an attempt to rescue workers trapped in the Twin Towers. Our patriotic feelings surged as we realized the strength and courage displayed by all those who responded so quickly and made decisions which protected and saved lives of many who were strangers to them. May we never forget.

The Gala Austin Shower!

The Come before Winter participants at the shower.

The ACU buds, most of whom are now Austin and environs residents.

The shower hostesses and the honoree!

D'Ann Parker, Chez's mom, and Lindsey McCrary, two of the great hostesses!

Liz and Catherine looking just as cute as when they met in 5th or 6th grade.

The piece de resistance(please say this out loud with a Frech accent), the Vita-Meata-Vega-Mix!! Boy do those CbW women know how to get to a girl's heart!!

The hostesses served an incredible array of goodies!

Karen Alexander knows how to jazz up water and tea, not to mention arrange flowers to rival the pros!
And I somehow missed a shot of the gorgeous silver punch bowl and cups, in which was served a coffee punch that was incredibly tasty! And did I mention that Chez Dishman gave Catherine a set of dessert dishes, but opened the boxes so she could serve Tiramisu in them! That Chez, she is truly one of the smart kids!!

All in all, a delightful couple of days in Austin. I could definitely enjoy a longer visit. We went to church at Westover Hills on Sunday, dined with a group of beautiful women chaperoned by the confident and charming Cody Dishman at Carrabba's, and then I headed home.

Catherine flew back to Tucson from Austin, but she is heading back this week for another shower. It is exciting to look forward to the Prestoncrest shower, particularly the fact that all 3 daughters will be here to attend.

The Photo Shoot!

This is the one that was the leg kick, but I got it on the way down! Also this would be #11 in the chronology of photos.
Concrete cylinders, original purpose unknown to me, but now a cool photo set in the field.

Lisa got some great shots at the hay bales, but I wasn't brave enough to venture out there. This shot was on extreme zoom on my camera. Cath said Lisa casually suggested that they watch out for snakes on the way out to the bales, but having committed, she did not turn back!


Just need to point out that my amateur status is intact and bleeds over into my blogging. The first five photos below actually were added after the second five, so if chronology is important to you, #6 is #1, #7 is #2, and so on. Also in the paragraph below (which I wrote first, but can't figure out how to move it to the top), I refer to the leg kick photo, which, I now realize, Lisa got that shot but I didn't, so just trust me on that. She gets in about 5 or 6 shots while my camera is still catching it's breath!

Lyndsey McCrary, a college roommate of Catherine, went along to help out, visit, etc. She has a wedding coming up soon as well!
I mentioned the veil about 47 times and then magically, Cath decided to wear it for a few shots!

Did I mention Lisa is a creative photographer?

Lisa had us meet her in the town square of Kyle, just south of Austin. Dressing Room optional, so to speak, so Cath made it happen on the square with creative modesty in tact.
Got to get the wedding jewelry just right,
and a make up check while we wait for Lisa to arrive with the bouquet.

And then Lisa arrived and we were off! She is a creative young lady with tons of suggestions for shots but totally going with Catherine's ideas as well. The leg kick shot was something Catherine did for laughs and Lisa had her do it again for the camera.

Saturday morning Photo Shoot

The hairdresser (Shelley, I think...) was really good, as you will see!
Lindsey McCrary dropped by to participate in the adventure, as well as see what is coming for her upcoming nuptials.

This is the funky little 6th Street Salon, where we see the perfect do coming together!

The Staircase Shots

Kristen's dress is a perfect fit. The dress is beautiful, and I love that veil!

This is dress #2, and quite lovely in it's own right.

These pictures are taken at Karen Alexander's home in Austin. You detail oriented folks may have noticed that Catherine has not one but two gorgeous wedding dresses. The first one is borrowed from wonderful friend and bridesmaid Kristen Franklin Brewer. Catherine was one of Kristen's bridesmaids back in 2004. The second Catherine bought on sale recently in Tucson. I enjoyed taking the staircase shots, but wait til you see the fabulous shots her photographer/friend Lisa Woods took out in Kyle Texas the next morning. Wow, that girl has an eye for great shots!

Eden Elizabeth Brooks

This beautiful little lady came into our lives August 14. Phil and I went to see her at the hospital in Fort Worth and got to spend additional quality time with Aunt Suzy. We left the hospital and went to the Dickies clothing outlet and Phil did his back to school shopping. All in all, a lovely day in Fort Worth.

Big Snake, Little Lizard

Here are a few exciting shots of the very big snake getting interested in the lizard on the log. I think it was an all act and they have been trained by the Moody Gardens staff to make it look exciting. Well, it worked for me.

The Saga continues

These are a few of the wonders of Moody Gardens. Pretty amazing, actually, and I fondly remember seeing these scenes with GS Troop 1299 back in the day.

Hey, that post showed up this time when I logged on so I went ahead and posted the two shots of Little Cath for your enjoyment. I will get to more of the details of that fabulous day, but now I have decided to go more in order, at least as far as the pictures go.

James and I got to go to Galveston, specifically Moody Gardens on a school board-related seminar. That was a really lovely trip as far as I was concerned. I did lots of reading and gazing at God's beautiful world. On Sunday morning we drove to Baytown and went to church with Steve and Denise, which we really enjoyed.

But while I was standing in the foyer after church, I got a call from Jan who was in Evansville with Michael and family. Amazingly, she was informing me that Mike had "coded" twice in the ER and she was on her way to the hospital with Mike's sons, not knowing what lay ahead. I heard reports periodically thru the day. Valerie offered to look up flight info for me and I wound up flying to be with Jan a day after we got back to Big D, or actually, Not so Big FB. Michael's recovery was not for certain for awhile, but he is healing and in fact has gone back to work. Jan has remained there to help him with child care. for riveting reports of her housekeeping, pet and child care, check out .