Trying to Understand the World Around Me

Happy Anniversary!

2011-06-15T14:29:00.000-07:00

It's been ages since I posted on the blog - am baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!!! So much has happened, but I'll catch us up a little....Let's start with April 7, 2011. My parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary - wow! It's so admirable to know people who have been married to each other for 50 years. It's extraordinary to know a couple who has not only maintained their marriage for so long, but still clearly enjoy each other's company. They still laugh at each other's jokes. They miss the other when they've been apart for a few hours. They come up with new nicknames for each other. Last summer my mom was "Mamakutsi" and Dad was "Ra" all summer because they listened to the Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency stories on tape on their drive to Wyoming. I've tried many many times to take their pictures, but my Dad always looks like he's mad and my mom looks like it's a mugshot. This time (above) I snuck up on them - with a big daddy lens borrowed from my friend Shawna. I was standing about 50 feet from them which allowed my Dad to pretend he didn't see me taking a picture of him, and my mom is basically thinking "what is she doing?", SNAP!

Cambodian New Year

2009-04-17T16:27:00.001-07:00

Cambodian New Year
Originally uploaded by carladallas

For years we've been fortunate to be invited to the Cambodian New Year celebration at a local Cambodian Church. It's a joy filled, delicious, fun event with so many great memories for the girls. This year Sofia brought her boyfriend Elliott and they all participated in various games and activities and enjoyed the great food! I'm so grateful to my dear friend Sophana Kim for always including us in this wonderful Spring celebration.

Crawfish Town USA

2009-03-11T14:35:00.001-07:00

Crawfish Town USA
Originally uploaded by carladallas

I went to Louisiana for a conference and added a weekend with my family--it's the first time in years and years I'd gone alone. I had a great time visiting with my friend Renee and family in Baton Rouge, then with everyone at "home" in Lafayette. On my drive to Lafayette, from Baton Rouge I stopped at CRAWFISHTOWNUSA! May I say, it was absolutely delicious--I ate a super fresh fried crawfish po'boy, and drank an ice cold beer, woo hoo! It's the Henderson exit, 1/2 mile off the highway if you ever get the chance.

Our personal college tour

2009-02-23T19:16:00.001-08:00

Our personal college tour
Originally uploaded by carladallas

My parents were in town this weekend. We had a chance to spend some time together so long as we worked around the busy social calendar of two teenage girls. On Saturday morning, before the girls could slip off we took a little drive to see UTDallas and walk around the campus. We pulled up and it looked SO different from what it was when I took classes there. It seems a lot less "commuter school", especially now that they are building a dorm, 700 freshmen will be moving in to the state of the art residence hall in Fall 2009--including my little girl. We're so proud of and happy for her--UTD offered her a 4 year full tuition and fees scholarship, and $2,000 on-campus housing allowance. It will be nice to have her close by, yet on her own too. May will be here before you know it!

Thank You Mom and Dad!

2009-01-10T15:32:00.001-08:00

I'm not much of a shopper. About the only time I dedicate to shopping is during the holidays. Once I'm out and about though I seem to find all sorts of goodies that I'm secretly hankering for. It was so much fun to go back to one of my favorite stores after Christmas (Whole Earth Provision Company rocks!) and buy something for moi! No heels, no pointy parts, just earthy crunchy comfortable cuteness! May I add that they are very warm and pretty much match everything I own!!!! Thanks Mom and Dad!

Book with Wings

2009-01-03T23:04:00.003-08:00

Book with Wings
Originally uploaded by carlamarieweir

I got a bunch of books for Christmas!!!! I already finished the first one, The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb. All this free time after Christmas allowed me to do a lot of relaxing, ie reading. Shawna gave me two books, I've already started one...it's about a knitting club and I'm totally into it already! All you booklovers, check out the website goodreads.com, and if you enroll let me know and we can add each other as a friend. It's a cool way of learning about new books, rating books, seeing what your friends are reading, etc. www.goodreads.com/review/list/902823?shelf=currently-reading

I did make time last Sunday to have an art date with myself. I went to The Modern Museum in Fort Worth, where I snapped a pic of one of my favorite pieces there (Book With Wings, Anselm Kiefer). I've been getting out and about snapping pictures, and enjoying the cool weather.

To see my most recent pics, as well as shots of the girls, family, etc. check out my flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/carlamarieweir/

THE HALLACAS ARE READY!

2008-12-30T19:43:00.001-08:00

THE HALLACAS ARE READY!
Originally uploaded by Shawna:)

Yesterday we had an Hallaca marathon--from 9am-2am this morning we were knee deep in plantain leaves and hallaca makings. The hallaca heroes are Sofia and her friend Kim, who worked from dawn til dusk! The final count was 107, including 12 vegetarian ones and 15 "bollos". The bollos as the hodge podge of what's left of the ingredients, made into a mixed up batch at the end. We had helpers in two shifts and really appreciated everyone coming out to lend a hand! Today Gloria came to clean the house and we're officially ready for the party tomorrow. All we have left is to buy the champagne and make the chicken salad. My goal for tomorrow is to enjoy the evening outside, by the fire. It should be a perfect and chilly evening. Happy New Year everyone!

Reconnecting

2008-12-29T11:53:00.001-08:00

Reconnecting
Originally uploaded by carlamarieweir

One of the things I love about the holidays is seeing people you love, who live far away or you don't get to connect with often enough. Ricardo called the Baques when we were in Lafayette and we had a nice visit with them on Christmas day. It had been over 20 years since Ricardo saw them. He and his sister Lica were sort of adopted by them when they were in college. In fact, they were the ones that took Ricardo out for a celebratory meal after attending his college graduation. All those years past and when we went to visit it was as if it was only yesterday, that's when you know the friendship is genuine. I also got to visit with Renee and her family in Baton Rouge. I did have a regret though, our neighbor Judy LeJeune died after Thanksgiving. She was one of my "grownup friends" during high school, the kind you could talk to and know she would give good advice without judging. I hadn't see Judy in years. Over Thanksgiving I thought about her one day while walking the dog around the neighborhood, but we were only staying two days and I knew time would run out, so I thought "I'll visit with her over Christmas". When we were leaving the Baques and I heard Ricardo tell Don and Cookie, "Thank you for your friendship. It meant so much to me when I lived here." I thought of Judy and how I never made the time to tell her that.

Traditions in Transition

2008-12-27T16:17:00.001-08:00

Santa Returns
Originally uploaded by carlamarieweir

Merry Christmas everyone! Like everyone else, our Christmas traditions, like everything in life, have evolved over time. Some of the things we used to do when the girls were little have kind of fizzled out (stockings, Santa's gifts Christmas morning), or morphed into something new (they used to make gifts for their "tias", ie. Janet, Renee, Shelley, etc.--this year Hannah has been crocheting a bunch of really cool scarves for her friends). And then there's the cooking. It just wouldn't be Christmas without turning our kitchen into a major restaurant operation. Last year we made Hallacas for the first time, MAJOR, and Sofia and Ricardo really really want to make it again so we're foregoing the traditional deboned turkey in favor of making over 80 Hallacas, yikes! Speaking of last year, my brother made very clear to me over Thanksgiving that if we forgot the girls' gifts this time I was "on my own"--I still cannot believe he drove me to Dallas and back in one turn....so the girls would have their gifts under the tree.

This year we really simplified gift giving and house decorating. It seems the whole world is scaling back. It just doesn't feel right to be lavish this year. I was reading one of my high school journals the other day and found my description of the gifts I received: a sweater from my parents, a set of hankies from my best friend Veronica, lotion from her sister Victoria. Even I was surprised by the modesty of our gifts. Christmas has become this massive shopping operation, well...not here, not any more. Now that I've scaled back, I know I won't go back, it just doesn't make sense!

Parranda 2008

2008-12-22T21:29:00.001-08:00

Santa Gets His Groove On
Originally uploaded by carlamarieweir

Our Parranda Venezuela Christmas season is winding to a close. As always, it's been a huge part of our life, starting in October with weekly practice, through the jam packed holidays with presentations up to 3 times in one week. This is the second year that I've taken more of a back seat, no longer singing and serving as just a contact and supporter (and enjoying it as an audience member). This gives me a chance to be the group photographer. Hopefully in January once I take the little workshop on my camera (a year after buying the camera...) I will learn some lighting techniques that will help me take better action pictures.

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas, and Happy 2009!

Taking your picture for my phone

2008-11-30T22:38:00.001-08:00

Taking your picture for my phone
Originally uploaded by carlamarieweir

“Why are you wasting time reading that book when you could be checking your Facebook?” I bet you don’t imagine yourself asking that question! Trying to control your teen’s seemingly endless opportunities to chat, IM, text, call or email is mission impossible. And now for the good news, maybe it’s ok that they can text faster than you will ever type.

According to a recent article in the Chronicle of Philanthropy “Teenagers who spend hours online socializing are sharpening their ability to handle 21st-century communications”, based on a new study by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, in Chicago.

“It may look as though kids are wasting a lot of time hanging out with new media, whether it’s on MySpace or sending instant messages,” said Mizuko Ito, who led the study of 800 young Web users for MacArthur. “But their participation is giving them the technological skills and literacy they need to succeed in the contemporary world. They’re learning how to get along with others, how to manage a public identity, how to create a home page.”

Let that sink in...shortly afer our seniors in high school were born practicallly everyone had cell phones, before DVD’s, CD players in cars, a computer in almost every home or wifi / internet in coffee shops! The shocking pace of technological changes is normal to them.

In their reality--you don’t have to memorize anyone’s phone, that’s what caller ID is for. You can watch what you want, when you want with TiVo, DVD’s and 24 hour cable. To them, life without cable is like a combination of child abuse and lack of indoor plumbing--cruel and untenable (parents MUST be lying when they say that they only had 3 networks growing up and that their parents got to choose what the family watched on their one TV).

So, next time you tell them “you spend too much texting/surfing/emailing” go ahead and add “and don’t make that face, it will freeze that way”-- even though neither may be true you’ll be upholding a long tradition in parenting.

(Article written for the PTA newsletter, TAG High School)

Fall in Wyoming

2008-10-17T19:11:00.001-07:00

The Mamas
Originally uploaded by carlamarieweir

I'm visiting Wyoming for a few weeks. Sneaking in the summer vacation I didn't get to have this summer. This fall visit may become an annual visit though. For one thing, I'm closing down the cabin for my parents. Yes, this is the first year I'm going through with the full close out on my own. Another reason, the fall is a spectacular time to visit. It's full of dramatic weather turns, cloudy one moment, snowing the next, and then beautiful and warm sunshine. It's a pleasure to see such familiar views under light dusting of snow. The quality of light is different, and of course the vegetation and animals look different too. Lastly, I'm enjoying the peace and quiet around here, without droves of rv's, cars and motorcycles barrelling down the highway in front of our cabin. It is hunting season right now so there are a lot of orange hats, but that doesn't really affect me much other than a crowd at Dirty Annie's, otherwise they get up so early and are up on the mountain all day, way off the roads.

I brought Apra with me, to keep me company and give her the opportunity to see another part of the US she's never been to. My parents were here for a few days before we arrived so they two mamas got to spend some time together, swapping stories, recipes and bragging about their children.

Taking your picture for my phone

2008-09-29T16:42:00.001-07:00

Taking your picture for my phone
Originally uploaded by carlamarieweir

I feel so old saying this...things were SO DIFFERENT when I was a kid! I know that I was constantly on the family phone when I was a teenager, it's part of the family lore--especially the time when my dad left for the office one Saturday morning walking over me sprawled on the floor, talking to my boyfriend...and returned many hours later to find me exactly where he left me. Still, I wasn't CONNECTED to the phone in such a personal way. The girls stress out if they don't have their phone on them at all times, and are constantly checking messages, sending texts, taking pictures... we even have (way too many) rules about phone use, in an effort to curb its overwhelming presence. 1) no phone at the dinner table, and no I don't care who is calling, 2) no phone after 10pm, and no I don't care who is calling, 3)if you don't answer MY calls, I'm taking up your phone.

Cupcake Madness

2008-09-19T16:58:00.001-07:00

Cupcake Madness
Originally uploaded by carlamarieweir

We were going to have a nice birthday get together last Saturday, but the hurricane-like weather prognosis made us decide to cancel. When the weather turned out fine, we decided to have a mini-get together of just us Virgo's...in this case Kim, Sofia, Tristyn and myself. I sold a picture and bought myself a cake pan that makes ONE GIANT CUPCAKE, as a birthday present to myself! Our first try was a bit of a disaster because I was not very patient in letting the cake cool. You can see how we have a ribbon tied around it to hold the thing together...It was DELICIOUS though, and the cupcake was perfect for this little team of Virgo's.

The Sophomore and SENIOR!

2008-09-04T22:30:00.001-07:00

The Sophomore and SENIOR!
Originally uploaded by carlamarieweir

It's going to be a VERY BUSY YEAR around here! I can't believe I'm the mother of a 16 and 17 year old, the parent of a senior, and drivers! Yikes, what happened? Here are the girls on the first day of school. For the first time ever, Daddy got to be the one taking the traditional picture on the front step of the house. This year I had a meeting I could not get out of, and had to miss the first day of school. I'm pretty sure I was way more upset about that fact than the girls were. Luckily Ricardo figured out a way to get to his school super early (a very busy day for him as you can imagine) and then rush back to the house to snap the pic and take them in to school. Don't they look beautiful?

Sunset on Summer

2008-08-22T22:13:00.001-07:00

Waning
Originally uploaded by carlamarieweir

School starts on Monday. There's a flurry of socializing and listmaking going on around here. Somehow, even though staying in Dallas was supposed to make summer last longer, it still flew by and now it's over....

Hannah starts her senior year, and Sofia is a sophomore. We've been reading up on various colleges, and even took a drive to New Orleans this summer. Somehow, even though it seems inconceivable, between now and Spring it will be decided...where Hannah goes to college! Yikes....

Drive or No Drive

2008-07-09T17:53:00.001-07:00

Drive or No Drive
Originally uploaded by carlamarieweir

The girls are taking drivers ed this summer. As usual, they are so different in their approach to any task! Both of them want to know how to drive, but only Sofia wants to *learn* how to drive. After the first few days Sofie had pages of notes, and Hannah has a really accurate drawing of the teacher, and funny quotes from his "lectures" ("if you need to ligurgitate pull over"), perhaps this is a helpful hint for drinking and driving? I'll have to look up "ligurgitate" though, that's a new one.

We have no plans to purchase a car for these fabulous up and coming new drivers. For now, the girls of the house will be sharing one cute little volkswagon beetle...although I do have my eye on a vespa....

Ricardo Lost 70+ Lbs and Counting!

2008-06-15T21:02:00.001-07:00

Ricardo Lost 70+ Lbs and Counting!
Originally uploaded by carlamarieweir

I haven't blogged in ages, sorry! Just wanted to check in with everyone, and show off Ricardo and how much weight he's lost. He's doing really well, exercising and eating well, and is really enjoying the progress!

Happy father's day to all the Dads out there!!! Today we woke up Ricardo with presents and one verse of Las Mananitas, and then went back to sleep!! Later we got up and got things together for a little father's day shindig we hosted. The food was "Daddy's Choice" ie lots of meat! Mahnaz and Sara came over and of course we had wonderful Persian rice (YUM), along with sausage, tbone, skirt steak and grilled veggies. Carlotta and her husband came and they brought some wonderful quesillo (Venezuelan flan). Hannah's boyfriend Alex was here, and brought some fun old vinyls that made for a festive mood. Sara's boyfriend Tim was here for a few minutes too. A good time was had by all!

End of the School Year

2008-06-04T18:28:00.000-07:00

These three "happy campers" have a lot to celebrate! This pic was taken on TAG Prom Night, which only Sofia attended. Hannah played fairy godmother to Sofia and her friend Kim, putting on their makeup and reassuring them that they looked fabulous (which they did!). This has been a big school year for Hannah and even moreso for Sofia. Hannah got through some really tough classes (we're still waiting for the final grades but are hoping for the big finish!), think Advanced Placement Pre-Calculus as well as Advanced Placement Physics...yikes. This was Sofia's big 9th grade year. She discovered that she really likes computer science and that English is not so bad after all....As for Ricardo, really big news, his school "made it" to Recognized. This is HUGE, and has been 7 years in the making. So, as always, even though things often feel chaotic, out of control, and time slips out of my hands at an alarming rate....I do have a lot to feel thankful for.

Briefly a Pelican

2008-03-26T11:05:00.001-07:00

Briefly a Pelican
Originally uploaded by carlamarieweir

Spring has definitely sprung. Lots of little blooms, and green popping up everywhere. It's been such a crazy March with alternating cold and hot weather. This year, we didn't do Spring Break together, or go camping. Ricardo and the girls went to Houston for a few days without me while I worked. I then joined them for a few days and stayed in Houston while they came on home to Dallas. I took this picture at White Rock lake during my bachelorette weekend alone at home. I've never stayed home by myself and it was very quiet! I did enjoy some time alone, which was much needed and refreshing. I missed the girls and was happy to see them when we did get together. Being a mom of teenagers has been difficult lately. This alone time can help me refocus on what's important, on keeping the peace, and enjoying what time I have left with them at home.

We met Hillary Clinton!

2008-03-08T18:08:00.001-08:00

(that's Rob Reiner behind me under the no smoking sign!)

On Super Tuesday, after voting (I was number 117) I had a chance to meet Hillary Clinton! Ricardo told me that he was told she would be at Herrera's restaurant during the lunch hour. So, we went there and sure enough a bunch of supporters, photographers, camera crews and pols there there! We ate lunch, I had enchiladas, he had papas con huevos...and in she comes! It was fascinating to watch and feel the buzz of excitement in the room. It's amazing to think this is her day to day experience right now. She didn't eat, she walked in and worked the room, talking to each and every person who wanted to shake her hand, get her autograph or take a picture with her. That has to be exhausting! I saw her on the news later in the day, in the same red suit and silver necklace...in Houston in the morning and Ohio in the evening. I voted for Hillary but was really torn. I would be happy with either Hillary or Obama. I'm really curious to see who finally makes it! I'm proud to be able to choose between a woman and an African American. If either one of them won it would only be the second candidate I voted for who wins a presidential election.

Weeks 1-6

2008-02-24T22:33:00.001-08:00

Weeks 1-6
Originally uploaded by carlamarieweir

Tomorrow (Monday) marks Ricardo's 6th week after surgery. This weekend he had his first arepa and a little bit of beef for the first time. He's already lost 50 pounds! He started going backwards in his wardrobe and is wearing things he hasn't worn in years. Every Sunday I take a picture of him and as you can see from the first to the last picture...his progress is obvious!

Alamo Plaza Courts

2008-02-02T23:53:00.001-08:00

One day, trolling around in flickr, I found a picture of a postcard of the Alamo Plaza Courts! I just HAD to take this picture and show how it looks now. Aparently this was part of a 5 or 6 motel chain in the south/west. It's still a really cool building even though it's fallen into disrepair. The facade, and more importantly the sign is still in good condition. I'm hoping that someone will purchase and revive it since it's so close to the now plush Hotel Belmont.

A New Tune for Ricardo

2008-01-28T22:03:00.000-08:00

Two weeks ago today Ricardo underwent bariatric surgery. He's recovered and adjusted amazingly rapidly in those two weeks! This weekend he got to eat solid foods for the first time and today he went back to work. It has been a life changing decision that has affected the whole family. We're supporting him all the way and are already seeing progress, 30 lbs as a matter of fact! We're taking a picture of him every Sunday to document his amazing changes. I'll post pictures in a few weeks so everyone can see! Thanks everyone who dropped by, called in or said a prayer for us.

Making Hallacas Alone is No Fun

2008-01-01T22:54:00.000-08:00

Sofia and Shawna folding and tying

This year, against my better judgement, we decided to make Hallacas. I say against my better judgement because Ricardo's cousin was going to come and make them with us, we've only made them once, and when she canceled her plans to visit I felt it was too much for us to handle. Well, thanks to wonderful friends, the Anderson-Gilly family and the Ehrlicher family...we made Hallacas! Making them basically became the pre-party to the New Year celebration party. They came our very yummy, although we're going to have to tweak the masa recipe for the vegetarian version. Everyone seemed to have fun and we made over 70 hallacas!! Woo hoo!!! The next day was the 31st and we had a good little party. Smaller than in the past but a lot of fun because I actually got to sit down and visit with guests and really enjoy the party. Hannah and Sofia each invited some of their friends and a good time was had by all. Happy New Year!

Having to Keep it Simple

2007-12-21T15:44:00.001-08:00

Christmas Lights, Thermopolis Wyoming

The last few years I've found myself yearning for a little more simplicity and meaning during the Christmas season. This year we're trying to....no, having to keep things simple. More than ever before Christmas has totally snuck up on me. And even beyond that, I'm just not in the mood. We haven't done anything, no tree, no cards. I JUST started the shopping, and whittled it down to three stores. I've made a couple of things, that's been the most fun.

Several friends have reported the same "grinchy" feelings this year. I think we're all just tired of the shopping frenzy, the pressure to get things done on a certain schedule, the commercialism, and basically rebelling against all that. I've been thinking a lot lately about what my ideal would be in terms of celebrating Christmas. I think I'd like to just have a big get together with whoever is around, have a meal together and just relax! Forget about the gifts!!!!! We don't need to be buying all this stuff anyway. Oh well, there's my grinchy moment. Even though that will probably never happen, I can at least work towards it!

This year I'm proud to announce we set ourselves a budget for Christmas gifts, and are buying things cash. I mentioned that at Crate and Barrel and the checkout lady said she's seen a lot of that this year. They've noticed because they have to change out the cash register more often. Interesting!

A Thanksgiving Table for Three

2007-12-11T23:26:00.001-08:00

A Table for Three
Originally uploaded by carlamarieweir

I had long planned to go to Wyoming in October or November to close the cabin and bunkhouse down for the season. This summer I was in Wyoming for only a week and didn't have a chance to visit much with my Aunt Shirley because Sofia and I were so sick and weren't sure if we were contagious. Aunt Shirley was diagnosed with cancer in June and by the time my parents returned to Louisiana in October she had decided to enter the nursing home where she could get round the clock care if she needed it.

I am so glad I went to Wyoming in November because I got to visit her every day in her last week. She taught me so many life lessons in dignity and self awareness during that brief week. She died a few days before Thanksgiving, when my parents were on their second day of driving to Wyoming.

Her funeral wasn't until the Monday after Thanksgiving, to give family time to travel in during such a busy season. While Ricardo and Sofia went to Libbas, and Hannah traveled to St. Louis, for us, it was a quiet Thanksgiving, just three settings at the table. I have to say, it was also a gift, and a joy, and a pleasure to spend that time with my parents. I very rarely get them to myself, and I really loved cooking our little feast and spending the day together. It will always be a Thanksgiving to remember.

What does hometown mean?

2007-10-09T23:13:00.000-07:00

I spent a few days in Hot Springs Arkansas for a meeting last week. Shawna came with me and we made a road trip out of it, staying an extra night at a lake house with Peggy. It's surprisingly close, only a 4 hour drive to mountains and the wonderful Hot Springs. Both Hope and Hot Springs claim Bill Clinton as their native son, he was born in Hope and grew up in Hot Springs. That gets me to reflecting on the idea of "home town" and what that means. The word hometown conjures Rockwell like images in my mind of walking down main street saying hello to everyone you know, 4th of July picnics and parades, and knowing the people you graduate with since first grade. I doubt most people have that experience any more though, and I never did have it. I have a couple of places I consider home towns. The first and earliest home town for me is Shell Wyoming, even though I've only spent a total of a few years there over the course of a lifetime of summers. Then comes Aberdeen Scotland, where I really gained my independence and got to know the city, riding all over on the buses, and made lifelong friends. Then comes Lafayette, LA, my college home town. Lafayette represents another phase of independence, it's where I learned to drive, went to college and got married (first time). And now Dallas, it's my home town now! I love my neighborhood (see Oak Cliff blog!), and this is where I've become a mom, bought a house and started my working life. For a while I really wanted to move away, but I'm glad we've stayed. It's given the girls the opportunity to really feel at home, establish a stable network of friends and really feel like they belong somewhere. I feel like eventually we'll move away from Dallas, but it will always be a special home base for us.

Eulogy for Lady Bird Johnson

2007-09-14T21:19:00.000-07:00

1969 Whitehouse Portrait

Bill Moyers' eulogy for Lady Bird Johnson, She seemed to grow calmer as the world around her became more furious. Sunday, July 15, 2007

It is unthinkable to me that Lady Bird is gone.

She was so much a part of the landscape, so much a part of our lives and our times, so much a part of our country for so long that I began to imagine her with us always. Now, although the fields of purple, orange, and blue will long evoke her gifts to us, that vibrant presence has departed, and we are left to mourn our loss of her even as we celebrate her life.

Some people arriving earlier today were asked, "Are you sitting with the family?" I looked around at this throng and said to myself, "Everyone here is sitting with the family. That's how she would treat us." All of us.

When I arrived in Washington in 1954, to work in the LBJ mailroom between my sophomore and junior years, I didn't know a single person in town — not even the Johnsons, whom I only met that first week. She soon recognized the weekends were especially lonesome for me, and she called one day to ask me over for Sunday brunch.

I had never even heard of Sunday brunch, must less been to one; for all I knew, it was an Episcopalian sacrament. When I arrived at 30th Place the family was there — the little girls, Lady Bird and himself. But so were Richard Russell and Sam Rayburn and J. Edgar Hoover — didn't look like Episcopal priests to me. They were sitting around the smallish room reading the newspaper — except for LBJ, who was on the phone. If this is their idea of a sacrament, I thought, I'll just stay a Baptist. But Mrs. Johnson knew something about the bachelors she had invited there, including the kid fresh up from her native East Texas. On a Sunday morning they needed a family, and she had offered us communion at her table. In a way, it was a sacrament.

It was also very good politics. She told me something that summer that would make a difference in my life. She was shy, and in the presence of powerful men, she usually kept her counsel. Sensing that I was shy, too, and aware I had no experience to enforce any opinions, she said: Don't worry. If you are unsure of what to say, just ask questions, and I promise you that when they leave, they will think you were the smartest one on the room, just for listening to them. Word will get around, she said.

She knew the ways of the world, and how they could be made to work for you, even when you didn't fully understand what was going on. She told me once, years later, that she didn't even understand everything about the man she married — nor did she want to, she said, as long as he needed her.

Oh, he needed her, alright. You know the famous incident. Once, trying to locate her in a crowded room, he growled aloud: "Where's Lady Bird?" And she replied: "Right behind you, darling, where I've always been." "Whoever loves, believes the impossible," Elizabeth Browning wrote. Lady Bird truly loved this man she often found impossible. "I'm no more bewildered by Lyndon than he is bewildered by himself," she once told me.

Like everyone he loved, she often found herself in the path of his Vesuvian eruptions. During the campaign of 1960 I slept in the bed in their basement when we returned from the road for sessions of the Senate. She knew I was lonesome for Judith and our six-month-old son who were back in Texas. She would often come down the two flights of stairs to ask if I was doing alright. One night the Senator and I got home even later than usual. And he brought with him an unresolved dispute from the Senate cloakroom. At midnight I could still hear him upstairs, carrying on as if he were about to purge the Democratic caucus. Pretty soon I heard her footsteps on the stairs and I called out: "Mrs. Johnson, you don't need to check up on me. I'm alright." And she called back, "Well, I was coming down to tell you I'm alright, too."

She seemed to grow calmer as the world around her became more furious.

Thunderstorms struck in her life so often, you had to wonder why the Gods on Olympus kept testing her. She lost her mother in an accident when she was five. She was two cars behind JFK in Dallas. She was in the White House when Martin Luther King was shot and Washington burned. She grieved for the family of Robert Kennedy, and for the lives lost in Vietnam.

Early in the White House, a well-meaning editor up from Texas said, "You poor thing, having to follow Jackie Kennedy." Mrs. Johnson's mouth dropped open, in amazed disbelief. And she said, "Oh, no, don't pity for me. Weep for Mrs. Kennedy. She lost her husband. I still have my Lyndon."

She aimed for the consolation and comfort of others. It was not only her talent at negotiating the civil war waged in his nature. It was not just the way she remained unconscripted by the factions into which family, friends, and advisers inevitably divide around a powerful figure. She kept open all the roads to reconciliation.

Like her beloved flowers in the field, she was a woman of many hues. A strong manager, a canny investor, a shrewd judge of people, friend and foe — and she never confused the two. Deliberate in coming to judgment, she was sure in conclusion.

But let me speak especially of the one quality that most captured my admiration and affection, her courage.

It is the fall of 1960. We're in Dallas, where neither Kennedy nor Johnson are local heroes. We start across the street from the Adolphus to the Baker Hotel. The reactionary congressman from Dallas has organized a demonstration of women — pretty women, in costumes of red, white, and blue, waving little American flags above their cowboy hats. At first I take them to be cheerleaders having a good time. But suddenly they are an angry mob, snarling, salivating, spitting.

A roar — a primal terrifying roar swells around us — my first experience with collective hate roused to a fever pitch. I'm right behind the Johnsons. She's taken his arm and as she turns left and right, nodding to the mob, I can see she is smiling. And I see in the eyes of some of those women a confusion — what I take to be the realization that this is them at their most uncivil, confronting a woman who is the triumph of civility. So help me, her very demeanor creates a small zone of grace in the midst of that tumultuous throng. And they move back a little, and again a little, Mrs. Johnson continuing to nod and smile, until we're inside the Baker and upstairs in the suite.

Now LBJ is smiling — he knows that Texas was up for grabs until this moment, and the backlash will decide it for us. But Mrs. Johnson has pulled back the curtains and is looking down that street as the mob disperses. She has seen a dark and disturbing omen. Still holding the curtain back, as if she were peering into the future, she says, "Things will never be the same again."

*********

Now it is 1964. The disinherited descendents of slavery, still denied their rights as citizens after a century of segregation, have resolved to claim for themselves the American promise of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. President Johnson has thrown the full power of his office to their side, and he has just signed the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 — the greatest single sword of justice raised for equality since the Emancipation Proclamation. A few weeks later, both Johnsons plunge into his campaign for election in his own right. He has more or less given up on the South, after that legislation, but she will not. These were her people, here were her roots. And she is not ready to sever them. So she sets out on a whistlestop journey of nearly seventeen hundred miles through the heart of her past. She is on her own now — campaigning independently — across the Mason-Dixon line down the buckle of the Bible Belt all the way down to New Orleans. I cannot all these years later do justice to what she faced: The boos, the jeers, the hecklers, the crude signs and cruder gestures, the insults and the threats. This is the land still ruled by Jim Crow and John Birch, who controls the law with the cross and club to enforce it. 1964, and bathroom signs still read: "White Ladies" and Colored Women."

In Richmond, she is greeted with signs that read: "Fly away, Lady Bird." In Charleston, "Blackbird Go Home." Children planted in front rows hold up signs: "Johnson is a Nigger Lover." In Savannah they curse her daughter. The air has become so menacing we run a separate engine fifteen minutes ahead of her in case of a bomb; she later said, "People were concerned for me, but the engineer in the train ahead of us was in far greater danger." Rumors spread of snipers, and in the Panhandle of Florida the threats are so ominous the FBI orders a yard-by-yard sweep of a seven-mile bridge that her train would cross.

She never flinches. Up to forty times a day from the platform of the caboose she will speak, sometimes raising a single white-gloved hand to punctuate her words — always the lady. When the insults grew so raucous in South Carolina, she tells the crowd the ugly words were coming "not from the good people of South Carolina but from the state of confusion." In Columbia she answers hecklers with what one observer called "a maternal bark." And she says, "This is a country of many viewpoints. I respect your right to express your own. Now is my turn to express mine."

An advance man called me back at the White House from the pay phone at a local train depot. He was choking back the tears. "As long as I live," he said, in a voice breaking with emotion, "I will thank God I was here today, so that I can tell my children the difference courage makes."

Yes, she planted flowers, and wanted and worked for highways and parks and vistas that opened us to the Technicolor splendors of our world. Walk this weekend among the paths and trails and flowers and see the beauty she loved. But as you do, remember — she also loved democracy, and saw a beauty in it — rough though the ground may be, hard and stony, as tangled and as threatened with blight as nature itself. And remember that this shy little girl from Karnack, Texas — with eyes as wistful as cypress and manners as soft as the whispering pine — grew up to show us how to cultivate the beauty in democracy: The voice raised against the mob . . . the courage to overcome fear with convictions as true as steel. Claudia Alta Taylor — Lady Bird Johnson — served the beauty in nature and the beauty in us — and right down to the end of her long and bountiful life, she inspired us to serve them, too.

********

I thought this was the most beautiful eulogy ever, I just had to find and share, Carla.

Happy Father's Day

2007-06-17T21:14:00.000-07:00

For the first time in a LOOOOONG time my dad is here on Father's Day, which this year is also his birthday! So, he kind of stole the show! We had a good day today, staying in the house and just hanging out for a change. Ricardo made his delicious baby back ribs and I made roasted potatoes and a cake for the birthday boy. Here are the dads opening presents, Ricardo got a gadget to open packages and three shirts, and dad got two books and a puzzle of a picture I took of Copeman's Tomb.

I'm really glad the girls were back for Father's Day, and my mom was back for dad's birthday, it just wouldn't have been the same without them!!! I will post a pic of their trip to Argentina, they had a really great time!

Argentine Adventure

2007-05-31T19:52:00.000-07:00

Hannah, Sofia, my Mom at DFW airport before the flight to Argentina

Hannah and Sofia are in Argentina for 2 weeks with my mom. They left at 7.35pm on Tuesday, and arrived safely on Wednesday morning after a 10 hour flight. They were so excited about this trip, even though they didn't really have time to dwell too much. School finished on Thursday and by the next Tuesday they were on their way! It's been a whirlwind of last minute shopping, laundry and packing. We needed to buy some sweaters and warm clothes because it's winter over there, in fact one of the coldest winters ever!

I'm so happy for them, they are being treated to all sorts of outings, experiences, visits and travels within Argentina. I have 5 cousins there and several have country homes as well as city homes. There are tons of babies, toddlers and even a few teenagers--between my 5 cousins they have 17 children, including two newborns!!!! Buenos Aires is a beautiful, historic, cosmopolitan city and they are getting the whirlwind tour! I can't wait to hear the stories and see the pictures!

I had been showing them a fellow blogger's Buenos Aires site so they could get a taste of the city, you might want to check it out: http://www.akworld.net/webblog/

Is it summer yet?

2007-05-21T23:04:00.000-07:00

Being a teenager's mom is so HARD! Today Hannah and I got into a big conflict, seemingly over nothing, but as always tempers flare between the two of us. She's soooooo ready for school to be over, which I totally understand. She only has this week left and needs to hang in there, but she's ready to shut it down. Last week she skipped school a day, yes, she skipped school...She got up early, took the bus to school and then turned right around and came home, first stopping at Bishop Arts to have a bite to eat (the cosmopolitan drop out....). It was NOT her lucky day though, our friend M saw her and called it in immediately....busted! This week is finals week and she wants to spend the night at a friend's house, go hang out, etc. Hello! It's finals week....

Well, it will be over soon enough, school that is. As soon as it is, she's off to Argentina though, and then to SEEK Camp, and THEN the long and lazy summer can truly begin....

Just when I get SO frustrated with her....something happens and I am reminded that she's such a good kid. She's at a very challenging school with lots of pressures and yet she's getting through it, she is so talented, she's funny. Her rebellions are more attitude than action, she's trying to do the best she can, she wants to do everything and be everywhere and is only human. I read a story about a 19 year old boy who just died of cancer...that was my reminder for today.

Wicked Weather

2007-05-07T21:31:00.000-07:00

I know this is nothing compared to what's happened in Kansas, but we've been having some weather drama around here too. A few months ago we had that freaky red dust storm, and then it was unseasonably wet and cold for a long time. Even on Hannah's birthday in late April it was still cold-ish, unheard of! Then last week we had tornados again, there had been one in Fort Worth the week prior. While we didn't get one in Oak Cliff the winds were SO HIGH, it really scared me for the first time ever. We heard sirens and 'evacuated' to the hall bathroom for about 20 minutes. The electricity went out that night and for the next day. We ended up going to bed at 8pm! I drove around the next morning and snapped some pics, including the one above a few streets from my house. Our neighborhood has so many mature trees and they were snapping left and right. You still see a lot of chopping and piles of wood but at least the streets are cleared up again. I can only imagine what it must be like for the people in Kansas whose whole town was blown away.

She's In!

2007-04-26T22:08:00.000-07:00

Sofia got her letter from TAG on Friday!!! Woo hoo! She's in! We're so happy for her and proud of the hard work she put into the application. Here she is when she won the award at the district level for her piano composition.

We're all looking forward to this summer, having some time off and taking a break especially from school! We need to recharge our batteries to come back and take on the new year, which will be Sofia's freshman year and Hannah's junior year! Yikes, next year is the year where Hannah starts seriously looking into the colleges and application process...

Happy Birthday Hannah

2007-04-24T22:07:00.000-07:00

On Hannah and Sofia's birthdays I can't help but reflect, and yes, get sentimental. It seems like a lifetime ago, and yet only yesterday that I carried Hannah in me. As soon as I came home from the hospital I missed the feeling of having her inside me, sharing my day to day with her. She was now her own little person with her own life to lead. I remember crying the whole way home from the hospital because she had to stay there a few extra days to recover from jaundice. I felt so so sad and so empty. Ricardo would shuttle back and forth from home to the hospital taking her milk and bringing back the report of how she was doing. We were so happy when he brought her home, and soon overwhelmed. I remember that being the first time I felt awash with gratitude to my mom, not only for being there to help me with colicky Hannah but for just being my mother and everything I then understood that meant.

Sixteen years! When Hannah was little I would try to imagine what she would be like by taking her baby traits and projecting them into an imaginary 16 year old Hannah. Everything I see in her now, was in her then, and yet she's a constant surprise to me too. I love her creativity, her strength, intense loyalty and sensitivity. I never expected her to be so funny! In so many ways she still reminds me of myself, only smarter and more self-assured. Every trait that exasperates me about her--impulsive, dramatic, all-over-the-map, demanding...are carbon copies of my own flaws. In her they are rawer, yet to be polished. I know that she will struggle with them as I do, and yet each of these traits belies a strength and talent. She lives life fully (dramatic) and in the here and now (impulsive). She's visionary (all-over-the-map) and knows what she wants (demanding).

Happy Birthday Hannah, I can't wait to see what lessons you will teach me next.

Prom Night

2007-04-22T20:48:00.000-07:00

Hannah went to prom with her friend Rebecca. They looked so pretty, and had a really good time. I'm so happy for them that they can make choices like going to Prom alone, with a date or with a friend. Waiting around for someone to ask you is so demoralizing! Girls are so lucky today!

Fashion report: both Rebecca and Hannah wore short dresses, and both were vintage inspired. Rebecca's looked a little like dresses in the 60's, except with an empire waist. Hannah's dress was very 50's, with swiss dots and lots of crinoline and layers.

They got ready at Rebecca's house because I was participating in the Oak Cliff Artisan's Studio Tour to raise money for their trip to Argentina (we made a dent in the ticket at least!). Ricardo picked them up and took them to Evie's house where they spent the night. All in all, a very busy weekend!

Spring Break

2007-04-15T23:53:00.000-07:00

Sofia and Hannah outside the Devil's Den cave

A few weeks ago we went on Spring Break. I didn' t have my camera on me and our computer was virus infected so I never got around to putting up any pictures . So here goes!

We invited Daniel to come with us, and he had never camped before. We went to Devil's Den, near Rogers Arkansas and got to visit with other cousins (Alicia, Tom and Mercedes) on the way. The weather was really pretty but cold so we had fires going every night just to stay warm. The best part for me was the hike we went on one day through some crevices and even got to see some little bats. The girls had a great time with their cousin and overall it was a really nice trip.

Cold Happy Easter

2007-04-07T21:32:00.000-07:00

It's been a while I know...I've been REALLY busy at work, and my camera is down so some of my motivation has slipped, but I can't let this totally disappear....

What's been happening lately in Weir-dom:

Sofia's composition won at the state level!!! We're not sure if that's where it ends or it goes onto some sort of national competition, but we're REALLY happy for her!

Hannah and her boyfriend Pedro broke up...I won't go into details because I'm sure she'd be mortified, but I thought you'd like to know

Nothing really new for Ricardo or I, just lots of work!

We all went camping for Spring Break--we invited Daniel, the girls' cousin who lives in Houston. We went to Arkansas and visited another set of cousins who live in Rogers. We camped at Devil's Den state park and really had a good time, mostly just around the campsite. Highlights were a hike to see some bats in a cave, renting a paddle boat, and having a nice campfire each evening.

On Friday we were so HAPPY to stay at a hotel in Eureka Springs and de-funkify ourselves, having a nice dinner and relaxing before heading back. As we left Eureka, we stopped to see Quigley's "Castle" which was really unique and interesting.

Now it's Easter weekend, and we went to Lafayette on Thursday after work and returned today. It was a short visit but lots of fun to hang out with mom and dad, my brother and his family. We came back to a really really cold Dallas. Tomorrow is Easter Sunday and Parranda Venezuela is performing for the second time at the Sacred Music Concert.

Visit to Denver

2007-03-01T22:01:00.001-08:00

End of the Line
Originally uploaded by carlamarieweir.

I had the opportunity to visit a HIPPY program in Denver this week, and stay with fellow HIPPY USA trainer Ozella Martinez (thanks Ozy for putting me up and putting up with me!).

Even if only from afar it was great to see the mountains!!! Woo-hoo! It was a 2 day visit with a late arrival on Sunday night and departure early on Tuesday evening so there wasn't much downtime! I did manage a quick walk outside on Monday morning while waiting for the taxi to pick me up and HAD to take this picture. The mess of snow is still on the northern sides of Denver streets and homes.

I know I would probably get very tired of snow and cold, but when you see it so infrequently it takes on a beauty that the locals just don't understand. I wonder sometimes how things would be going for us if we had relocated to Denver when we had the chance a few years back. I guess it wasn't meant to be. No regrets, just curious.

Weird Dusty Day

2007-02-24T22:48:00.000-08:00

Downtown Dallas during the dust storm, from Oxtopus' photostream on flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=401176453&size=m

The weather today was so strange. A strong wind blew in from West Texas bringing with it a ton of red dirt/dust that created a funky haze in Dallas. You couldn't see past a few blocks and even the sun was blocked out!!! This created a foul and creepy mood, people were driving crazy and Hannah and I got into a big fight...needless to say, not a great day. Hannah and I went to buy groceries, we started mending things on the drive to the grocery store and fully reconciliated right there in the toiletries aisle of Central Market, tears and all. I guess it came out ok because we ended up staying home after the grocery store and doing laundry and getting the house in order, which is good because I'm going out of town again tomorrow evening. We need hazy, crazy days sometimes, just to make the other days seem more normal.

Weir City Hall Happenings

2007-02-18T20:05:00.001-08:00

Our own City Hall!
Originally uploaded by carlamarieweir.

Here's what's been happening around here lately:

We're finally taking Christmas down...the tree and all the decorations were up until today...
Testing "season" starts very soon so Ricardo has been working on Saturdays a lot because there's a weekend tutoring program every week.
Our garage apartment is still empty...haven't had time to put the word out.
Hannah has a boyfriend, Pedro, they have been seeing each other for about 4 months. He's a very polite and nice young man who is a senior at Science and Engineering High School.
Sofia is happy and relieved to be done with the High School application process, and eagerly awaits hearing whether she got accepted

Other than that...the laundry is starting to pile high, I haven't been to the grocery store in almost 2 weeks and I'm ready for a vacation!!! That is to say, we've been really busy with work and keeping up with these two fabulous teenage girls!

The Eagle has Landed!

2007-02-12T22:12:00.000-08:00

Today Sofia and I delivered her application to Townview TAG! It's been an arduous few months but I know that she gave it her all and did her very best on the application, it's out of our hands now. She was so relieved and happy to be done with it, as we were too.

I don't think it was as stressful for me to apply to college or even graduate school as it has been for Sofia and Hannah to apply for High School. Here's what is required for the application to TAG (granted, the BEST high school in the nation, as rated last year by Newsweek Magazine, amazing!). Applications must have:

Resume with back up documentation for the activities listed
Official copy of grades and test scores
Project highlighting a talent, with essay explanation
Essay written by hand, on a prompt given to them

It really helped that we had been through this with Hannah already and knew to get started early. We're way too busy to be able to whip this up a few days before the deadline, which is the end of February.

Now the wait begins. She should find out by early to mid-April.

Corteo Dallas

2007-02-11T16:01:00.001-08:00

Corteo Dallas
Originally uploaded by carlamarieweir.

Today my mom got to use her Christmas present which was 2 tickets to Cirque du Soleil's Corteo. We got there nice and early (a change for me) and enjoyed everything from the gift shop to buying snacks and finding our seats well before the show began. Neither of us had ever been to a Cirque production so we were blown away! The acrobats, the live music, the story, the set, the costumes--everything was amazing!!!!! It was magical!

Repujado Class

2007-02-10T18:22:00.001-08:00

Student Work
Originally uploaded by carlamarieweir.

Today was the second of two Repujado classes I gave at the Latino Cultural Center. I had about 10 students and they had a really good time and made some great projects (as you can see). I've really enjoyed sharing this artform with people and there seems to be a real demand for it. I can't help but think that it could go mainstream any minute now, especially because of the boom in scrap-booking and paper arts. For now though, most of the students I get are Spanish speakers who already know about it and always wanted to learn. My mom came to the class and had a blast chatting with everyone and telling them how to do repujado--even though she's never done any whatsoever! She's hilarious!

Tomorrow we're going to Cirque du Soleil!!! I can't wait!

Cafe and Bakery

2007-02-10T05:28:00.001-08:00

Cafe and Bakery
Originally uploaded by carlamarieweir.

This is one of our favorite little places to get a snack in Dallas. I try to take out of town guests here because it's so much fun and is a little unexpected in Dallas, TX!

It has some delicious little pastries such as red bean donuts and egg sandwiches and rice flour donuts with sesame seeds on them. They also have all sorts of fruit slushies, hot and cold teas and bubble (tapioca) teas--the all time favorite!!!! The BEST part about it is the little tea-rooms you can have all to yourself. Each one is different but is like a mini-living room or dining room for you to eat/drink your goodies. It's loads of fun, the kids love it because they get their own room (although they always end up cramming into ours because they are so nosy about our conversation...)

Going on to STATE!

2007-02-08T07:42:00.000-08:00

Sofia accepting the trophy (clear star) and ribbon at the Reflections Dallas Award Ceremony

Sofia entered a composition into the Reflections Contest, which is a PTA awards contest for art, music and literature that's held statewide. They receive hundreds of entries from Dallas school students. Her composition went to the regional level, one of 32 entries in music, art and writing. And now....it was one of two selected at the regional level to go to state!! It's an original composition, in the classical style, which she has named Copeman's Tomb (after a mountain in Wyoming). I'm so proud of her, and thankful to Ricardo, for being so musically talented. I've heard it a hundred times and still love it! The best part is that she's proud of the piece herself, and yet is so grounded. She said in her artists statement that she hopes this is the first of many compositions and that she's sure she will look back some day at this piece and think it's very basic compared to others she has done.

Not a little girl anymore

2007-02-04T20:46:00.001-08:00

Not a little girl anymore
Originally uploaded by carlamarieweir.

What a great weekend! The weather was beautiful, cold and clear! We really didn't have a huge programmed agenda, for a change, and just did some spur of the moment things.

Saturday I taught a repujado class. Since I took some time to get organized on Friday it really went smoothly and wasn't stressful at all. Today, Sunday, Hannah and I went out all day while Ricardo and Sofia watched the superbowl. We went to the park (where I took this picture), walked up and down Jefferson Street, then off to our favorite Korean Bakery where we had bubble tea and listened in on some drama that we couldn't understand because it was in Korean (a lady and man fighting, the lady storms out and later we see her sitting in the back seat of a car, punished? banished? self-exile?). We then went to White Rock Lake where we met Shawna and Tristyn for a picnic and walk. All of couse under the guise of taking pictures for Flickr.

Hannah and I had lots of time to talk about things such as boyfriends, college, school, the meaning of life! She's maturing so fast, and is such a better person than I was at that age, kinder, funnier, more grounded. I'm so proud of who she is becoming.

Cold and Dreary

2007-02-02T21:36:00.001-08:00

Bridge to downtown
Originally uploaded by carlamarieweir.

It's been really yukky the last few days...cold, wet and dreary. It's on days like this that I HAVE to remind myself how very much I hate Texas winters, and how I really prefer winter clothes and days...

Yesterday I took Hannah out to buy a new coat. The first one she's ever chosen herself!!!! They have made do with sweaters and layers these last few years, but this cold snap has really made a coat necessary. She chose a very nice camel colored 3/4 length coat with nice details like a wide collar, a-line cut and great buttons. Hopefully this weekend we will make some time to take Sofia out to buy one too.

They will both need it this summer, when it's winter in Argentina...since I talked to my mom today and we decided to send both girls with her on the trip. It will be so wonderful for them to experience that together, and to have the opportunity to see a new country and visit our family there.

This weekend is pretty busy, tomorrow is my first of 2 repujado classes I'm teaching at the Latino Cultural Center, Sofia has a birthday to go to, and she needs to finalize her application to the Talented and Gifted High School. It's not due until the 21st, but it's best to get it in sooner.

Weir Country Storage

2007-01-31T18:20:00.001-08:00

Kick out clutter...
Originally uploaded by carlamarieweir.

I think I would be more motivated to "kick out the clutter" if this fabulous storage facility with my OWN name on it were closer to me...

We found out a few years ago that there's a town called Weir, TX and that made us soooooooooooooo-o happy! I drove Ricardo's mom there a few years ago when she was visiting and she loved it, we took lots of pics and ALMOST got to meet the mayor. The store manager called him and he was mowing the lawn so he couldn't come right over...and we really had to get back to Dallas! Mercedes (mother in law) insisted on showing them her ID card to prove that she really was named Weir. I'm pretty sure they had believed us before that...but it was fun to see the quizzical look on their face when it was a Venezuelan ID.

Today I stopped to pick up some t-shirts but they didn't have the girls' size, only for Mr. Weir, he's happy!

Dinner at Ali Baba

2007-01-29T16:18:00.001-08:00

Dinner at Ali Baba
Originally uploaded by carlamarieweir.

My friends Peggy and Ozy were visiting from Colorado this past week and we went out to dinner with some of our Dallas / Venezuelan friends, at a middle eastern restaurant! It was a lot of fun and delicious! It's called Ali Baba, and is one of the first restaurants I ate at when I moved to Dallas, and has remained a favorite.

Afterwards, some of us went to a Drag Queen show, that was a blast! Those "ladies" are really talented, especially when it comes to dressing and make-up. They put us "real girls" to shame!

It was fun to hang out with Peggy and Ozy here on the home turf, show them around and take them to favorite places. One of the things I love about Dallas is the variety of places, restaurants and cultural activities we can take visitors to.

Apartment Vacancy

2007-01-21T20:25:00.001-08:00

Apartment Vacancy
Originally uploaded by carlamarieweir.

Our apartment is empty!!! We used it a little over the holidays since we had family and friends visiting, but it's time to get it rented out. I know I need to get up there and take pics and work on it...I just never make the time. I guess I need to set a deadline for myself, and surely if I post it here it will shame me into getting it done. Ok, in the next 2 weeks I will take pictures and post them on craig's list and cityleases as well as make a little flyer to put up in Bishop Arts.

Grow Where You are Planted

2007-01-19T20:29:00.001-08:00

Tree-borg
Originally uploaded by carlamarieweir.

I saw this tree-borg looking thing today. Wow, mother nature really figures things out! That got me to thinking about life and how the biggest choice you have is how you react to the things you don't have ANY choice about...

Work has been really challenging lately because we're faced with huge budget shortfalls at the national, state and local levels. After close to 20 years of honing my programmatic skills I find myself in the situation where I have to develop a whole new set of skills to save this program that I've been working on so hard to implement.

With the newly established Texas Parent Child Initiative established to seek funds and support for HIPPY in Texas, it's time now to do just that. The next few months will see a flurry of activity as we approach foundations, private donors and corporations to partner with us to fund HIPPY in Texas. It's exciting, and scary. I feel like this tree must have felt when it was half way up the pole it's growing in...wondering if I'll ever see the sunshine.

Moon Lightswitch

2007-01-17T20:08:00.001-08:00

Moon lightswitch
Originally uploaded by carlamarieweir.

I've been so engrossed in this flickr stuff lately that I've somewhat abandoned the other artistic interests I have, making jewelry, making beads, repujado. The cold weather is partly to blame. My little studio in the laundry room is bone chillingly cold right now and I really don't want to fill up our dining room table with art stuff. While perusing flickr though I found a crafty group that posts pics of stuff they make, and I couldn't resist finding some of my past work to post. Maybe tomorrow I'll go and buy a heater for the studio so I can get back in there and let go of the computer for a while.

Today would have been a good day for making stuff as we had a snow day and stayed home nice and cozy in our PJ's. I actually got some work done and caught up on all my email.

Drip Drip Drip

2007-01-15T20:11:00.001-08:00

Drip Drip
Originally uploaded by carlamarieweir.

Another cold and rainy day but not the apocalyptic ice storm the weathermen have been predicting. After doing some work and attending a meeting I came home and took Sofia and her friend Ana to see a movie. They wanted to see Pursuit of Happyness, with Will Smith and his real life little boy playing his son in the movie. That is one adorable little boy. We really enjoyed the movie and the tear ducts got a nice cleansing, drip drip drip.

Winter Wedding

2007-01-14T22:21:00.000-08:00

La Familia, originally uploaded by carlamarieweir.

We've had a winter blast this weekend that has changed lots of people's plans, but David and Mara's wedding was ON! Luckily, all the apocalyptic prognostications were exaggerations and it was simply a very cold evening, not a blizzard and ice storm as predicted.

The church ceremony was beautiful, the bride was breathtaking, David looked puffed up with pride. The priest said that according to tradition, it was lucky to be married during stormy cold weather because it meant you would have 12 children. I'm ever so glad we were married on a sunny day...

After the wedding, we went onto the reception which was a lot of fun, with very good food, a delicious cake, and GREAT music, truly a wonderful event. Which, I should have known! I share an office with David and I've heard the wedding plans as they were made week by week and know that both of them paid attention to every little detail.

The girls had a great time, dancing the night away. It was a lot of fun to watch, and they even got us out on the dance floor a couple of times, and we have pictures to prove it! For the full album of pics that we took (all from the reception), click on this link to my flickr space: http://www.flickr.com/photos/77657818@N00/sets/72157594478260662/

Congratulations David and Mara!

Manicurist Altar and First Real Date

2007-01-12T23:25:00.000-08:00

Manicurist Altar, originally uploaded by carlamarieweir.

Today Hannah reminded me that last time she asked for a manicure I put her off by saying let's wait until a special occasion, and then she added, "What could be more special than my first real date." So, even though it was pouring rain, we went to get her the manicure. You might be thinking, as I did, what exactly constitutes a "real date" and should I be worried about this? She's been to the movies, to play paintball, and to hang out with other "boyfriends" in the past, so what's the difference? Well, she informed me it's only a real date if the boy picks you up. If your parents take you to the movies it doesn't count at all. Before you imagine a date that involves a candlelight dinner, let me fill you in on the plans. Sometime Monday afternoon, Pedro is going to pick Hannah up and they're going "thrifting" together to various second hand stores in the neighborhood. Then they're going to get something to eat. Hannah will of course be looking fabulous with her freshly manicured nails.

Six Flags for Gerald Ford

2007-01-12T14:30:00.000-08:00

Six Flags for Gerald Ford, originally uploaded by carlamarieweir.

I thought I'd share this picture with you. I'm trying out the capability of posting a picture from flickr to the blog to see how it works.

I took this picture yesterday when I was in Prosper, TX for a meeting to talk about the possibility of getting HIPPY started there.

Impromptu Photo Shoot

2007-01-07T23:25:00.000-08:00

Today, after several weeks of back to back planned fun I went for an impromptu photo shoot and then a movie with Shawna. We dropped by a nearby cemetery where Clyde Barrow is buried, and took the shot above. It was really interesting, full of old (for Texas) graves dating back to the 1800's. There's a historical marker that talks about the historical significance of the cemetery and one sentence stating that Clyde Barrow (aka Bonnie and Clyde) is buried there but it's kind of downplayed. Someone had visited recently and scattered loose change on the gravestone and left a Mexican ceramic cup with some coffee or something in it. I was reminded of my cemetery-hopping days with my friend Susan Cain when we were in graduate school. We loved to go to the local cemetery and scan the grave stones, making up histories and dramas.

Shawna and I went downtown and took a few more shots and then had to find indoor pursuits because there was no more light and it turned very cold! So, we went to see the Good American or something like that with Angelina Jolie and Matt Damon, it was ok, not great.

Now that we're both hooked on Flickr I predict more photo shoot forays, it was fun!

New Addiction

2007-01-06T23:29:00.000-08:00

Thanks to my friend Shawna I have a new addiction, Flickr. It's a photo website that allows you to post good quality, ie. resolution, photos, with comments, tags and headlines, and allows folks to comment on your pictures. You can also join and post your pictures to groups. So far I have three albums, one for Oak Cliff, one for People, and one for Places. I've been snap happy, taking lots of pics around the neighborhood. I really like my Oak Cliff group, it's given me an excuse to stop and snap a shot of a lot of little sights around the 'hood that have caught my eye. The photo above is one of my favorites so far. Check out my pictures at www.flickr.com, search for me listed as carlamarieweir and let me know what you think!

Since I have a thing for words and for images, having a blog and a photo site is a great combination! Will I have time to work and be a parent still?

No Bro

2007-01-04T21:41:00.000-08:00

Ricardo's brother was supposedly arriving yesterday but...he's still not here, and somehow we are not alarmed. Since we found out casually through their aunt that he was coming to the US to visit us I guess we'll see him when we see him...

If he is going to visit hope he's here by Saturday because Ricardo has his hopes set on having his brother join in the last Parranda. They haven't seen each other in 7 years so it would be really great if he did materialize, but he hasn't called or checked in so we're not sure what his status is.

On the other hand, we're trying to get back into a routine after the Christmas break and I know that visitors will put the kaibash on that. We'll keep you posted, bro or no bro.

Happy New Year

2007-01-03T15:32:00.000-08:00

The partying continues!!!! We had a great time getting together with friends and family to ring in the new year. Alicia, her husband Tom and sister in law Mercedes came in from Bentonville, Arkansas.

We made Hallacas which can only be fun if there are a lot of people around helping out, and there were! Mercedes, Sofia and I were in charge of cleaning and steaming the plantain leaves, and Ricardo and Alicia made the filling and masa.

This first picture shows the leaves being steamed (bright green) and then turning brown when they are cooked (at left of green leaves).

Then we all came together to assemble the hallacas, which is quite a feat: first each leaf is oiled (Tom), then the dough / masa is spread onto the leaf (Alicia) then the filling is put in (Mercedes) and the toppings are added (Sofia) and then the folding takes place (Carla) and finally each packet is tied with string (Ricardo)! We ended up making 50 or 60? You can see Ricardo holding up a wrapped one. After they are all assembled, they are steamed to cook the dough, and then are ready to eat! They came out SO DELICIOUS! Seriously, they were the best ones I've ever tasted, and were truly made the "old fashioned way"!

Ricardo and Sofia also made the deboned turkey with the special super rich, pork and cheese stuffing. It cooked for 10 hours...Here it is in all it's glory, trussed and ready to slice! Mercedes, Alicia and I took a field trip to IKEA that day...and got back just in time for another Parranda at Zaguan. They loved IKEA and even though we spent 5 hours there, it wasn't enough, that place is so huge and packed with good deals. We'll have to go back when they come for another visit.

Our house is almost back to normal, except Ricardo's brother Jorge and wife Cynthia are arriving today. We're not sure when they will stay until as they are considering moving here from Venezuela. I'll keep you posted...

Today was back to work and school day for us, I'm pretty tired...mostly I'm hungry! I've been used to eating and snacking all day long during the holidays, and three meals doesn't seem to be enough...

Happy New Year!

More Louisiana Christmas

2006-12-26T16:55:00.000-08:00

Here are some more pics from Christmas Eve...

Christmas morning...

John and Ricardo--hams....

Hunter and Hannah

A Louisiana Christmas

2006-12-26T16:34:00.000-08:00

Ethan and Sofia

We came to Louisiana to visit Mama and Dad, John, Shelly, Hunter and Ethan--we arrived and set up the mountain of gifts under the tree, had some nog, and got to visiting. The next night we went to see the Nativity Story, very sweet. And then yesterday we celebrated Christmas, as always, eating a great dinner together and then opening the gifts. We played Pictionary at the end of the night which was nice. It's the first time Hunter was old enough to join in the game and it was so much fun!

Today we drove to Baton Rouge and visited Renee, Jason and Nicholas. I love how we can just pick up and reconnect, no matter how much time we've spent apart. It was so nice when they lived here in my mom's neighborhood and I could just sneak off and visit for a little while.

Tonight my cousin Santiago and his wife Fini arrive from Argentina for a visit. I haven't seen him for years and years, since he lived here with mom and dad and went to school at University of Louisiana (woo-hoo alma mater). Then tomorrow we go home because Ricardo's cousin Alicia, with husband Tom and sister in law Mercedes arrive for a visit to ring in the new year!

Why I don't go to malls...

2006-12-20T00:44:00.000-08:00

Katie and Hannah earlier this year

Today Hannah met a friend of hers at the fabulous, new, Northpark Mall. Sofia and I decided to stick around and shop while Hannah hung out with Katie. I hadn't been to the mall for a long, long time--a year? It wasn't as crowded as I thought it would be, or maybe it just doesn't feel as crowded now that it's so huge! We had a good time, and actually did get some gift shopping done. It was so overwhelming though, there is just so so so much stuff, many beautiful things vying for my attention.

I figured out what it is that unsettles me about shopping at the mall. Even though we bought several items, there is just so much that we could buy, there's so much that is 'wantable'. Instead of a feeling of satisfaction, I walk away feeling somehow deprived, knowing that I could have bought so much more but didn't, knowing that the girls want so many things there, and that no matter how much we buy, there would be that many more things that didn't get bought that were just as nice. It's just too much!

For the first time this year we have actually made lists of things we've been hankering for. It's so much easier to buy for each other, and it's nice to be able to tell others in the family that "perfect gift". Otherwise, it's just a shopping frenzy, without knowing if you'll actually make the mark, and that's what I hate the most about shopping.

Well, I hope all your excursions are fruitful!

True or False?

2006-12-18T22:50:00.000-08:00

I get a lot of email...solicited and unsolicited. Whenever I get a forward, it's automatically a red flag because most of what "goes around" is just not true!!! I use a couple of websites to check things out whenever I'm not sure, one is www.snopes.com and the other is www.urbanlegends.com. I got an email the other day from an unknown source, truly a sad story about a baby dying unexpectedly, with a blog of the family including a link to a website where you can donate funds in the baby's name. Ok, I hate that I've turned into a total cynic on these things, but it just didn't feel right. The blog only had a few entries, starting in September for a baby that "died" when he was 18 months old. The parents of young children I know either don't have time at all for a blog, or if they do they really keep up with it and use it as a way of staying in touch with everyone. I don't know anyone who knows anyone who knows these unfortunates who thought I should hear about their tragedy a week before Christmas. I checked on snopes and urbanlegends and neither one had the story...so maybe it's for real, and if so I'm really sorry and sad for this family.

So, while I was on the Urban Legends site, I was browsing the top 25 recent and crazy things going around on the web, and then the list of Christmas stories, and this one that's actually TRUE is worth checking out. Can you imagine being this guy's neighbor? You would end up having a seizure by the end of the holidays with the light effects going at you each night.

http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_christmas_lights.htm

Parranda on the News

2006-12-18T07:45:00.000-08:00

We were on Fox news last night! Here's the link:

http://www.myfoxdfw.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=1803136&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1

I'm not sure how long the link will be live, if anyone knows how to save it, to youtube preferably so it can be viewed from there, please let us know!

Parranda 2006

2006-12-17T10:31:00.000-08:00

(Dulce, Carla, Paola and Maria Conchita)

Last night was our last Parranda of the season...well, maybe just one more! If it happens it will be a last minute thing. It's been a lot of fun this year, it went by so fast! Here are some of our favorite moments of Parranda 2006:

A really pregnant Venezuelan woman dancing a "tambora" with her husband--so that's how venezuelan children come out knowing how to dance! (Carla)
The abuelita (grandmother) dancing and coming to ALL of our performances (Hannah)
Ricardo acting like he was mad in the middle of a song and that he wouldn't sing anymore, and everyone sort of panicked, except the guys who were 'in on it' (ok, that's Ricardo's favorite, definitely not mine...)
Sofia playing a new instrument, tambora--although I love when she plays the furruco, but we really needed another tambor player
Renee and Shawna at Zaguan, I had so much fun that night. The energy of the audience was awesome and I had a blast watching Renee and Shawna watching everything around us!
Our Parranda Emergency when Conchita lost her voice, and Nayi came to solo at the Navidad Latinoamericana, it was great having her back!
Our new logo and shirts!!!!!! Hannah seems to think there's a danger of us going memorabilia crazy, but I just want caps, keychains, pens, sunglasses, cups, boxers...

For all the details on parranda, bookmark the blog: http://parrandavenezuela.blogspot.com/

That's my update for Parranda 2006!

What I want for Christmas

2006-12-15T14:51:00.000-08:00

Today our AmeriCorps grant went out into the ether of e-Grants....That's what I want for Christmas, funding for the next three years. Other things that would be nice:

a house that runs itself without our having to maintain it
landscaping for our yard
4 day weekends so we can run around having fun and being busy for 2 days, then lounge around the house for two days (instead of one OR the other)
electronic equipment that can read my mind and never needs recharging
a self vacuuming car (hey, we have a self cleaning oven...)
clean air every day

And of course, peace on earth, healthy friends and family, and lots of love and laughter. Did I mention funding for the next three years...

End of an Era

2006-12-14T21:32:00.000-08:00

(Sofia, Sarah, Hannah, Mary and Rebecca, l-r, on our *last* Friday night dinner at Starfish)

We rarely realize the last time we do something. For example, when the girls were little and crawled into bed with us in the middle of the night, it was always a sweet disruption, then one day they stopped doing that. I remember when Sofia used to "make" me tuck her in bed every night, and then one day she just stopped asking, I miss that! We don't realize it's the end of an era until it's long over. I guess I'm getting to an age where melancholy for how-things-used-to-be starts creeping in...

Here's the latest thing that's disappeared from our life. Since the begining of the school year we have had a fixed date at Starfish Restaurant every Friday evening. "We" is an assortment of families living in Oak Cliff whose children go to Harry Stone or Townview. Whoever showed up was meant to be there that night. We've celebrated birthdays, traded summer stories, made plans and laughed a whole lot. The food was good, with wonderful sweet potato fries, awesome desserts and a byob policy that suited us perfectly. We were pretty much regulars and thought we had started a tradition that would last forever...and then Starfish closed...WHAT? Not wanting to let go, we went to Vitto's last Friday. We're going to have to come up with some sort of plan because we can't stop getting together...it's the end of the Starfish era and the begining of....

Weekend Fun!

2006-12-11T15:40:00.000-08:00

( Renee and Ricardo on their way to cheer on the Saints)

We had a fabulous weekend! We had a good time with Renee on Saturday, including a rocking performance of the Parranda Venezuela at Zaguan. We tried to prepare Renee for how CRAZY it can be at Zaguan when we perform but it even exceeded our own expectations! I'm not sure how many folks attended but I'm thinking it was upward of 100? 150? Fortunately, Shawna came early to the house and then hung out with Renee that night. Like the typical little kid with friends in the audience I kept looking at them and stepping out of "stage presence" to talk to them during the performance. It was so much fun to have them there! Then Sunday after brunch at Cafe Jordan and a little shopping Ricardo and Renee went to the Saints - Cowboy game, and the miracle to top it off...the Saints won! The only down turn is that Ricardo lost his wallet...or it was lifted during the game...I think that even that couldn't ruin his happiness that he got to see his beloved Saints in person!!!! It was his first professional football game ever, and to see the Saints no less...and then have them win?! Wow, talk about weekend fun!

It's cold...

2006-12-08T22:12:00.000-08:00

My Texas Toes, unprepared for snow in October, when I was in Wyoming.

It's been really cold here lately, in the 30's at night, but I'm not complaining! I still remember the horribilitating heat (no, it's not a word, but it describes perfectly the horrible and debilitating heat of Texas summer....) So, yes, it's very nippy out, but I'm enjoying putting on my winter duds, including my wonderful collection of Bolivian lambswool wraps.

Today my friend Renee came to Dallas, from Baton Rouge, for a business trip. I'm enjoying having her here so much! We went out for dinner (Starfish is closing? more on that another day...) and then went to Libba's fire. It was nice but we got really cold and came home early. Amazingly, there are no plans for tomorrow during the day, so we'll do something fun and spontaneous (movie? museum? shopping?) and then tomorrow night is the performance at Zaguan. She's staying through Sunday, for the Cowboys/Saints game, and then home on Monday. What a treat!

A Christmassy Weekend

2006-12-03T23:01:00.000-08:00

Ricardo in the Bishop Arts District after our performance

On Saturday Parranda Venezuela performed twice. First was our traditional presentation at Casa Trevino here in the 'Cliff. It was really nice as always. The residents of Casa Trevino are all self sufficient older folks and they really appreciate the attention and entertainment. We sing our QUIETEST songs, which is a difficult feat with 3 drums and 10 voices....and then have hot chocolate and give them each a little gift. This year I bought mugs with some candy in them. We had a full house, with some new faces, and were happy to see some familiar faces. It's my favority performance we do, and I always want to come back later in the year, but then time flies and I never do. This year we HAVE TO.

Then we went to each at our favorite pizza joint in the neighborhood, Vitto's, and had dinner before bracing ourselves for the outdoor performance in the COLD evening! Thanks so much to our friends who came out to support us!!! A shout out to the Ehrlichers, Shawna, the Davis Family, Nayi, Pedro and everyone! You really warmed our hearts (the rest was frozen...).

Then today...the four of us went with Shawna, Tristyn and Forest out to the hinterlands of Dallas, to Quinlan Texas, to cut down a Christmas tree. Again, brrrrr, but well worth it! We took some hot chocolate and cut down our tree which is now on the back deck waiting to be put up. It won't be decorated until Tuesday or Thursday unfortunately...hopefully we can put it in water at least.

The reason we couldn't decorate it right away was that Ricardo and I went to a meeting of the musicians who will be playing at the Navidad Latinoamericana on the 16th. It was a lot of fun, we made plans for the event and then sang a bunch of other songs just for fun. It was a nice mix of Argentino's, Chileno's, a Brazilian girl and Ricardo and I. On the night of the performance all the bands will be coming together at the end to sing Silent Night/Noche de Paz in Spanish, Portuguese then English--it was so beautiful tonight, it will be absolutely STUNNING on the night of the performance with 50 voices!!!!

So that was our very Christmassy weekend, the holiday season is officially begun!

Time Flew!

2006-11-28T23:21:00.000-08:00

Jason, Shawna, Ricardo, Edgar and Carla at our Thanksgiving table.

Wow! What happened? Well, Happy Thanksgiving...we stayed here in Dallas for once and really enjoyed NOT having to face the drive, although we all missed the Lousiana family! Normally we don't mind driving, but Thanksgiving is just CRAZY with traffic...the 6 hour drive to Lafayette turns into 9 hours, the 3 hours to Austin becomes 5 or 6...it's very aggravating!

So, we stayed in Dallas, and had Shawna, Jason, Trystin and Forest over; as well as Nayi, Edgar, Lupe and Duli. The girls really outdid themselves making some of "Abu's" recipes, and between what we cooked and what everyone brought we had quite a feast. The best part as always was the after dinner conversation that lasted into the night!

We had a great time on the other days home, going to movies, hanging out, cleaning the house, sleeping and reading. Then the rude awakening on Monday! My grant deadline rapidly approaches....an interim deadline is this Friday and then the final deadline is December 15th--I can't wait!

Oh! and on Sunday we had our first Parranda performance! We were kind of nervous, it was an early morning event (hey, 9am is early to me...) and so the first performance was kind of shaky. By the 11am performance we were warmed up and did so much better! Thank you Unity Church for inviting us!

Ok, I'll get back to posting more regularly. I hope everyone had a great Turkey Day and is gearing up for a good Christmas and New Year!

Music and Friends

2006-11-15T16:43:00.000-08:00

(Forrest, Mr. Wright-Principal, Sofia and Cristal)

Last night Sofia debuted her composition at the Middle School Piano Recital at Harry Stone. It was a very nice recital and Sofia played three songs, including a duet with her friend Blanca and another with the piano teacher Mr. Brown. At a prior recital she aparently told Ricardo that she wanted flowers like some of the other girls have gotten after playing, so we brought her these roses. She didn't seem that enthusiastic about them, maybe she got over that! Anyway, I loved how she played, although being the expert she of course found fault with her performance...

I'm so happy for her that she loves piano so much, it seems like such a wonderful outlet to have. Even though we really didn't have room for a piano in the house, we managed to carve out a space in her room for the piano--thank goodness it's not in the living room because she's ALWAYS on the piano. In fact I know she's awake because I can hear the piano, and then know when she falls asleep because the piano stops...

This is Sofia's last year at Harry Stone--it will be my 12th year as a parent there!! She's already working on her application to the Talented and Gifted (TAG) High School, which is due in February. We should know by March or April, that's when Hannah found out and I remember that it's nerve-wracking to wait for that response!!! This year it's going to be very competitive because TAG was named the best high school in the NATION last year by Newsweek magazine. Yikes...

I Want to Gogh...

2006-11-12T19:35:00.000-08:00

I had a great time last week when Janet and I went to see the Hatshepsut exhibit at the Kimball in Fort Worth. I was really impressed with how different the style was from other Egyptian works I've seen. It reminded me of when I first came to Dallas and Janet and I went to see King Tut. It had been too long since I'd had a high brow outing with a girlfriend! Now I really want to see the Van Gogh "Sheaves of Wheat" exhibit, I apologize for the pun in the title...

Ever wonder what kind of art movement you would be? Well, I hadn't thought of that either, but found this on the web and thought it was kind of funny and interesting. I DO love impressionism, or it was one of the first artistic styles that I noticed for myself. So I took this silly quiz and found out...

You Are Impressionism

You think the world is quite beautiful, especially if you look at it in new and interesting ways.You tend to focus on color and movement in art.For you, seeing the big picture is much more important than recording every little detail.You can find inspiration anywhere... especially from nature.

What Art Movement Are You?

So, go on, find out what kind of art movement you are...you know you want to know...

Pictures and Words

2006-11-08T20:38:00.000-08:00

The moon rising over downtown Dallas tonight - one of those sights that's so much more spectacular in person!

I have just discovered the world of photo blogs and I'm hooked! Being able to capture a moment in time, or a great scene is one of life's great pleasures. Putting up pictures is one of the things that attracted me to blogging in the first place. My first love is still words though! The combination of words and pictures...as they say in the famous ad...priceless...

You have to check out the Dallas Photo blog, actually both of them:

http://dallasdailyphoto.blogspot.com/ and http://dallasdiorama.blogspot.com/

And on either of them you can see a list of other city photo blogs, the ones I saved were Edinburgh (there's no Aberdeen, so this is my Scottish fix), Mumbai (the colors!), Oulu Finland (this one captures the BEST images), Paris (for Shawna!), Port Vila (because there wasn't a Guam and this was in the 'vicinity'), Seguin, TX (for that small town TX bit), and Wailea (to remind me of my trip there with Sofia).

Earlier this year a small group of us started a sort of book club based on "The Artist's Way" book. It was so much fun! We only had a few meetings and then summer got in the way, and then our group was DECIMATED by two of the 5 members moving out of Dallas (we miss you Gretchen and Milena!!!). The goal I set myself has already come about, I wanted to write more. I set that as my artistic goal and totally internalized it, to such a degree that even though I didn't really think about the goal anymore I started writting! First one blog, then another...(home and work) and then started writing some letters...and now I have an idea for a Spanish language column I'm thinking about. That's a lot bigger committment but I'm really interested in trying it out. And then there's school....

I had left a PhD hanging a few years ago...no, I'm not going back and getting my PhD...rather than leave it as a bunch of coursework I would like to go back and turn it into a second Master's degree. That would also involve some writing....maybe not as fun as this! So, I guess I'm a writer again. Or maybe I never stopped being one, I just like to add pictures now.

Ayer Marchamos, Hoy Votamos

2006-11-06T21:09:00.000-08:00

(The "Marcha" reflected onto the windows of City Hall,

Downtown Dallas, Spring 2006)

"Yesterday we marched, today we vote". That's on a sign I saw in my mostly Latino neighborhood recently. It reminds me to VOTE TOMORROW! And that has reminded me of my strongest election memories, which I'll recount below...all six of them:

High School - I either ran for office or helped my friend run. What I remember was the smart-alec negative campaign slogan against a fellow student. Our poster had the competitor's picture with the slogan "Can you really trust this person with your vote?" This was during the era of the "tricky Dick" impeachment hearings, so we thought it was clever...needless to say "the man", ie. principal, squelched our campaign saying it was innappropriate...
College - my first service project was an idea I hatched up after reading an article about hunger in Lafayette Parish (ie. county). I went to the Clerk of Court Office and proposed that we have a canned good drive along with an upcoming election. The Clerk agreed, and to my JOY even gave me a little office and use of the copier and phone...I've always loved office supplies! Of course he got a lot of PR value out of it, and I had a great experience actually making a project happen in the community!
Before leaving Lafayette I somehow got roped into being an election judge. I thought it would be exciting to be a part of the election process. I hadn't taken into consideration the early hours (I had to BE THERE at 6am), the late hours (didn't leave until 10pm) and how BORING it would be most of the time...even in Louisiana there was no cheating, no drama...
I was so excited when President Clinton won because it was my first EVER election outcome that matched my vote! At the rate we're going, it may be the ONLY one...
Two years ago Ricardo became a citizen and a few weeks later got to vote in the presidential election. It was wonderful to witness how seriously this new American took his privilege. I hope all the new NEW Americans vote tomorrow. Yesterday they marched, now they should vote...
Earlier this year, Sofia ran for VP of the student council. She learned a lot throughout the process, she did a great job planning her speech, she made "Be Weir'd" buttons for hours, she campaigned hard...and lost...it was a disappointment I know, but she's moved on and learned from it!

Well, let me know your favorite election memory...By the way, Sofia and I went to the "Marcha" earlier this year, check out our video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjHlPIO9-ko

When do we get too old for this?

2006-10-31T20:03:00.000-08:00

From Left to Right

Hannah "Cupcake", Sofia "Ozma the Good Witch", Ana "Wonder Woman", Alexa "Devil" and Rebecca "Cat"

It's Hallowe'en and we've just been trick or treating for the past few hours. The girls wore highly stylized outfits representing a cupcake (Hannah) and Ozma the "Good Witch" from Wizard of Oz (Sofia). I keep wondering when they will tire of this epoch of childhood, but the lure of candy and hanging out with friends in the middle of the week is just too strong.

Being teenagers, this year was a little different...we had 4 girls here at the house getting dressed and putting on make up together in a flurry of laughter, advice ("You need whiskers") and self doubt ("What if people can't tell what I am?"). After much primping and fixing, we were ready and drove over a few streets to a friend's street where they go "all out".

We walked up and down three streets while it got colder and colder. As I walked I couldn't help but think through the years and their many costumes (bear, witch, bride, cat). There were so many cuties out there, and such generous neighbors who prepare for hundreds and hundreds of children from all over the area. The girls had a blast, only one wondered aloud "When do we get too old for this?" I said "when you feel too old I guess..." It seems they still feel very comfortable holding on to some parts of their childhood, that's fine with me!

I read an article in Oak Cliff People newspaper about the areas of our neighborhood who get the most traffic. They interviewed a single man who prepares for hallowe'en by purchasing 100 lbs of candy! He commented on the fact that many of the kids who come by his house are not from his immediate neighborhood. He said something to the effect of "I know alot of the kids aren't from this neighborhood, but I'm glad they come by for candy because they may not feel safe where they live." I thought that a really sweet and generous perspective.

We're growing and changing!

2006-10-28T14:13:00.000-07:00

(Hannah and Sofia on the first day of school, August 2006)

One of the themes they learned in preschool (with the BEST Montessori teacher ever....thank you Miss Margo...) was "growing and changing", whether that was with plants, or in themselves. Whenever I would assume they liked or disliked something (ex. "I thought you hated peanut butter...") they would pointedly remark, "I'm growing and changing, Mama."

Each year on the first day of school I take a picture of them standing at our front door. It's amazing to see those pictures lined up. In the first, Hannah is alone carrying a backpack that's bigger than her. Then there's their first year together in school, each of them clutching their lunchboxes. In this year's picture they look so happy and sure of themselves. I think back to my own sullen days as a teenager and am so glad to see them this way!

Of course, they are not always "happy campers". We're always having lengthy discussions (ok, I know, they are really lectures...I just can't stop myself) about all the dangers out in the world, and how easily an impulsive wrong decision can change your life for the worse in a split second, etc. etc. I tell them that I trust them, it's the world I'm scared of, but as is natural at this age they want more freedom, more choices, etc. And of course, we are the ONLY PARENTS IN THE WORLD who are this closed minded, etc. etc. Every now and then I'll have a conversation with another beleaguered parent about these things and we always end up saying something like "well, I'm glad I'm not the only one...". I get the feeling we're all recipients of that ONLY PARENTS IN THE WORLD comment ...

This morning Sofia made breakfast for us, a very new thing in this household. We had a talk about colleges and what to look for, where to go, balancing wants and opportunities, scholarships, etc. They were reacting kind of "deer in the headlights" because it seems so far away to them but it's really only 2 years away for Hannah and 4 for Sofia, and time goes by so fast.

After that conversation Sofia came to me and said "Mama, I think I want to be a jounalist" - I was so HAPPY because that's what I originally wanted to become! I told her that I thought it was a good career because it has a lot of flexibility, you can be in publishing, in newspapering, in magazines, freelance, on staff, web based, etc. And, you can combine it with your other interests, ie. music, fashion, science, medicine, politics, travel. I want her to have the world wide open to her though, and told her she has plenty of time to decide and to keep her options open.

Later today Hannah and I took Chinche (dog) for a bath at the "Dirty Dawgz Self Service Pet Wash"--an excellent concept by the way--and then had lunch together at the Cosmic Cafe. It was so nice to have lunch together just us and I started musing about the near future (next 10 years...) and how, soon we wouldn't be living together anymore...and won't share the daily routine of life together. It's a natural part of life, of growing up, and also unimaginable to me. They are indeed growing and changing.

Still Far From Home

2006-10-18T20:25:00.000-07:00

(View from the top of Capulin Volcano, NM - driving home!)

This is my third week away from home and the strain is begining to show. I have been talking to the girls and Ricardo every night but YA, enough, it's time to go home. I miss my girls!!!! I guess it's a good thing to be gone long enough that we miss each other, absence makes the heart grow fonder and all of that. It's just not the same to talk on the phone! They are growing so fast and seem almost like women to me. When I hear their voices on the phone though they still sound like little girls to me. Peggy and I were remembering the other day when I first started traveling for HIPPY, when they were little, and how I would cry every time I'd see someone with a little girl their ages. We would be at a mall or restaurant somewhere (Colorado, California, New York...) and I'd see someone with a little girl and just break down.

Well, tomorrow I go home, I can't wait!

Working in Wyoming

2006-10-09T10:49:00.000-07:00

(View of Copeman's Tomb, Big Horn Mountains, WY)

After a 3 day meeting in Denver, I drove up to Wyoming where my parents are fitting in the last days of their "summer" hiatus. The drive up was a beautiful display of fall colors and such a different view of what I thought I knew so well. The cottonwood trees are a golden yellow, and because they are so huge they can be seen from afar.

I've been getting so much work done here, and enjoyed spending time with my parents, one-on-one, cooking for them, eating together, talking and visiting. For lunch each day I've taken a nice walk, but today it's SNOWING and raining so I've stayed in, plus my back is hurting. If the rain stops I'll go out today too.

Yesterday I went to visit Cliff and Rowena, they are working on starting up a Geo-Science Museum here in Shell! I've committed to helping them. It seems that I can be most useful helping them with their board development and planning at these begining stages, and later on with developing materials for parents and children visiting the museum. It's an exciting project and even moreso to be in on it from the ground level.

I've been getting SO MUCH work done here, on projects and tasks that have been piling up, especially things that take some spreading out and quiet thinking time (neither of which do I have much of at the office). In the evening though, I miss home, and especially my girls. I've been talking to them every day, and yesterday was hard because I feel like I should have been home. Hannah is sick, I think food poinsoning, and Ricardo too, with a cold. They both sounded pretty pitiful over the phone, and are probably staying home today.

I've decided I could make this a habit, saving some heavy thinking and writing work for a trip to Wyoming, and spending time with my mom and dad here for a week or so in the Fall.

What's up ahead?

2006-10-02T15:08:00.000-07:00

(View from the porthole of a railcar from Alamosa to LaVeta)

On Saturday I embarked on a road trip from Dallas to Alamosa, Colorado, just me, with the ultimate destination of Denver and later, Shell, Wyoming. It's 706 miles to Alamosa, which is almost 12 hours with no stopping (like that's going to happen...). It didn't take me long to stop at a winery outside of Dallas, one that I'd passed by many times on prior road trips. In the past it always seemed too close to Dallas for me to stop on my way out or on the way back home. But it was just me in the car and I decided to stop anyway. I didn't spend much time there, but it was SO worthwhile. I bought a few bottles of Texas wine, and took some pictures of the grapes and the soap-berry trees that I'll put up later when I get back home.

I only stopped a few other times, for gas, snacks and a few must have pictures...a field of spent sunflowers, some beautiful New Mexico clouds in the sunset. I rolled into Alamosa at almost 10 pm, thanks to gaining an hour when I crossed into Mountain time. I stayed with friends Peggy and Wally in Alamosa, and had a chance to taste the fine Texas wine I bought, not bad at all!

Saturday we went on a train excursion, from Alamosa to La Veta, through some beautiful fall foliage. (I'll also put up pics of that when I get home.) The Aspen trees are a bright, golden yellow right now and stand out beautifully against the pine trees. It's a tourist train and there was a lot of ooh'ing and ahh'ing at the fall colors and scenery. One interesting thing I noticed is the natural human inclination to crane our necks out the window to try to see what's up ahead. After a few hours of this, my neck and I were relieved to get off the train and enjoy the sweet little town of La Veta. Check out the pictures and information on this website: http://www.sangres.com/places/laveta.htm.

We had a nice lunch and peeked into a local art gallery and before you knew it had to get back on the train to return to Alamosa. On the first craning of my neck, the twinge I felt there made me stop to ponder--why am I so focused on trying to see what's ahead when there is some BEAUTIFUL scenery right in front of me? It's such a strong human impulse, to see what's around the bend, what's in the distance, behind the door, in the box, in the future. What about what is right in front of us, why isn't that as valuable? It should be more valuable, it's ours and it's here and now. The more we focus on what's up ahead, the less we can enjoy what we have right now. I made the return trip an exercise in enjoying what I had right before me, and enjoyed it so much more. The little nap I took helped too...

Three Speeds

2006-09-29T09:10:00.000-07:00

I recently had a revelatory moment of insight into myself. When it comes to time, I only have three speeds. There's the past, that's easy, you can't really change it, either you remember it or don't and either way it's forgivable. There's the present...that's where I am at...the here and now. Sometimes the shadow of the past nudges onto me and I get sad or happy. It's when the future interferes that things go wrong...The future is my problem area...and it's easiest to explain by example. On a Tuesday someone calls me to suggest we get together on Saturday, "Great" I say, wonderful idea! On Thursday, someone else calls to ask me if I can help them with something on Saturday, "Of course" I say, be glad to...and on Friday night one of my daughters reminds me that on Saturday I promised them we would....(fill in the blank), "Ah, yes, I remember", and I am looking forward to it! You see, to me Saturday is not "Saturday, October 10th", it's "The Future" also known as "Not Now". So what happens when "Saturday" collides with "The Present"? Not a pretty sight as you can well imagine. There's a lot of hand wringing and phone calls, and me thinking "These people are asking me the impossible, I can't be at 3 places at once."...Then my husband, children and rational concience remind me, "No, you agreed to the impossible."

All that because I only have three speeds, then, now and later...and I prefer to stay in the now (unless I'm in the dentist's chair, but that's another story).

I hurt all over and under

2006-09-26T22:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went to yoga for the first time in 2 weeks, and today I'm achy all over. I should feel good! Instead I feel like the toxins that have been congregating in my joints have been released and are poisoning me. Ok, I know that sounds dramatic but that's EXACTLY how I feel.

Today I pushed around a prodigious amount of paper at work. Virtual paper of course. Maybe that made me feel worse? I know I fired off MANY emails and got some reporting and catching up done, but I don't really feel like it was productive in that "wow, I got a lot done..." way.

Tonight we had a meeting of the Oak Cliff Artisans and I agreed to do internet promotion of our November show. That means that I'll get the word out to as many internet sources as possible, get us listed on websites, and send out email notifications. I like that task because I can do a little every day or few days and on my own schedule.

The first three weeks of October are going to be busy with travel, first to Denver, then Wyoming and then Laredo. I'm going to take some intense writing work to Wyoming because I can get a lot of work done without distractions there. I need to finish the case statement and research funding prospects. I love that our cabin has internet! It makes it so easy to get some work done. I can't wait to see the weather there, and enjoy a few walks in the mountains, to the creek, and around "town".

Why Ricardo Likes Mondays

2006-09-25T10:45:00.000-07:00

This morning Keith and Milena came down for coffee. Milena and I were nursing our coffees, mumbling about it being Monday, and Ricardo pipes up "I love Mondays". I laughed, but not too energetically because I was half asleep still. Now it's gotten me thinking... That's something I love about my husband, he loves Mondays. He's such a hard worker (that's a love/hate issue) and he's so positive about his job.

I remember how outraged he was when I first suggested he apply to be a teacher, how insulted he was that I suggest he leave Urban Planning and become an educator, saying "I am a professional!" And, how much that has changed! Back then, he was talking from the cultural bias that teaching is not truly a profession. The thing is, he didn't even really believe it, he was just channelling his Dad and all the nay-sayers in his history. And now, he's so proud of his work, his staff, his kids, his school. One of the things he loves to do is to take people on a tour of his school, especially visitors from Venezuela. It helps them see how awesome the field of education is, how wonderful it can be when we invest in children and take the job to heart. That's what made it so heart breaking when we visited a public school in Venezuela, and saw how run down and pitiful it all was. I know Ricardo was itching to get in there and make a difference. But we came back to making a difference here.

I've decided, I don't hate Mondays...I just hate mornings.

Bye Keith and Milena

2006-09-22T14:14:00.000-07:00

Delectable Desserts at La Duni--Shawna, Ricardo, Hannah, Sofia, Carla, Milena and Keith
Yesterday we took Keith and Milena out for a farewell dinner and dessert. It was bittersweet, so much fun as always to hang out with them, but sad to see them go. I know that the girls will especially miss all of Milena's encouraging and positive words. It's so important for teenage girls to have strong, optimistic and supportive role models and adults in their life, above and beyond their parents. Their time here with us was brief but so meaningful to our family, we will truly miss them. We also look forward to having friends in fabulous SEATTLE! I can't wait to go visit!

Coming out of the daze of summer in Dallas

2006-09-20T18:52:00.000-07:00

Just as I was seriously considering moving ANYWHERE else, the Dallas weather has changed and become not only bearable but actually pleasant and enjoyable. This summer was the first time in the 18 years I've lived in Dallas that I spent pretty much the whole summer here and HATED it. The heat is BRUTAL, a hot slap in the face every time you step outside. The fetid, grimy air actually burns when you breathe. One outing a day is all I could handle, that is, if I went to work I'd come home and collapse. If I worked from home and had to go pick up the girls after school, then I'd collapse when I got home. Two outings into the heat would put me in the foulest mood imaginable. Sometimes when I would get up and look outside and see the trees moving in the breeze, a bright clear sky, I'd be fooled for a moment into thinkng that it was a "nice summer day", and then...step out into the inferno and quickly retreat back into the house. Today I looked outside and it looked clear and sunny and bright and I walked outside and it was TRUE! I was so so happy! I pledge to enjoy every cool day somehow, not to take it for granted EVER again. What did I do today to enjoy it? I walked to lunch a few blocks from my office, basking in the simple pleasure of walking outside for a few minutes! Tomorow morning we are doing a service project with the Humane Society, I plan on spending at least some of that time OUTSIDE! I'm glad to be coming out of the daze of summer in Dallas.

Reminding myself of the fragility of THAT age

2006-09-18T10:17:00.000-07:00

My daughters are 14 and 15 and I need to continuously remind myself of the fragility of that age. Full of bluff and bluster, they are acting casual, talking big, and sometimes reminding me of how hard I was that age. Their fragility is covered with an assuredness in their opinions.

I have to remind my self again and again that what they are doing is trying out new ways of thinking and being, not necessarily trying to drive me insane. Why is my fuse so short with them sometimes? I know I need to enjoy them because time is fleeting and before you know it they will be gone, etc. etc. Sometimes I guiltily look forward to that time of peace and quiet, when hopefully we can get together for a peaceful lunch, or go out to the movies together, but the daily drama of their lives won't overpower me.

I am grateful though, for every story they tell me of their day, for every moment that we crack up together, for every hug and hold, for their flashes of kindness and their fresh take on the world, for their righteous sense of justice, their energy and verve.

Are you out there going through the same things?

No good deed goes unpunished?

2006-09-17T20:04:00.000-07:00

What is the right thing to do when you see someone suffering on the street? The other day on my drive home through downtown Dallas I saw a man lying spread-eagled on the street. I called 911 and reported the situation. I was pulling up to my driveway and got a call from the Fire Department ambulance that they couldn't find the man and could I return and find him...OK, I decided I had started this and should see it through. I went back and found him, now he was leaning up on a dumpster a few feet from where I said he was. The ambulance was nowhere...and I called them back. 5 minutes later they drove up, took a look at him and then started questioning me. Did I know him? What happened to him? And finally, "Maam, he's just drunk and needs to sleep it off." I started driving off, then was curious to know what exactly they were going to do, if anything. They saw me watching them and began to question me again, this time with some attitude. I get the feeling they just wished I had driven by and not bothered noticing the man who was obviously in bad shape, and now were annoyed that I was "forcing" them to attend to him. My question again is, What is the right thing to do when you see someone suffering on the street?