the loss of a friend

Jan Berenstain died on Friday at the wonderful age of 88.  Here is a great article about she and her husband, Stan.

My goal for this month was for it to be frugal February.  I failed, nope, I failed.  It was more like stimulate the economy month here.  It is always good to have goals, is what I keep telling myself and I was somewhat aware as that credit card kept flying out of my wallet for my purchases.

So I am getting ready for March.  I might name it - Make it stretch March, In addition too- Move more in March, I mean really the name wants us to move or at least march!

They say Tangerine Tango is it!

I am such the fashion plate that I had to share what the Pantone color of 2012 is with you.  I have a sweater that is this color and I received so many compliments while wearing it yesterday!  It is AUBURN orange but we'll let that be our little secret.


I know that you want to be in the know too so go to the web site and see what 'the' colors of the year are.

Texas Trip- last days

 This picture was taken on Feb 2 but I didn't need to tell you that because you recognized the groundhog and then you noticed his shadow.  He traveled with us so we knew about the shadow before you did.  If you travel with us on Feb 2, you will be in the know with us.

 It was a foggy morning when we arrived at The National Museum of the Pacific War.  The fog made the building mysterious and then we realized the building is in the shape of a sub and the wall by the sidewalk was not straight but in the shape of a wave.  I was impressed even before we went inside.

I could go back to this museum in a heart beat and we plan to.  I want to go here with Andrew.  We spent 4 hours.  I read and took in the displays and then wrote down a few battles I had never heard of so I could read up on them.

This picture is for Andrew.  I read Andrew a book when he was 6 years old on the bombing of Pearl Harbor.  That book ignited his love of history and mine too.  Once when an older man knew that Andrew was a little knowledgeable about Pearl Harbor and was homeschooled, said older man asked Andrew "How many ships were sunk on Dec 7, 1941?"  Said older man wasn't in favor of homeschooling and wanted to prove his point with Andrew.  Said Mother here was rushing to Andrew's side when I realized what was happening- Andrew was 7 at the time.  Andrew, with the innocence of a lamb, gently asked said jerk  older man, "Do you mean ships that were lost forever or ships that we could bring up and repair?" Said Mother did her happy dance at that time!

 Here is a B-25 Billy Mitchell bomber.  I have seen the movie '30 Seconds over Tokyo' a million times and feel a kinship with this plane.  A plane like this was flown by The Doolittle Raiders in April of 1942.

 Less foggy picture of the museum.  Notice the 'wave wall'.

I rode around the museum in a hoveround.  Her name was Zippy.  Zippy and I bonded.  Carl- I want my own Zippy! Please!

 Our lunch was served in this spa. I believe it was the Herb Farm and Spa.  Would love to come here and stay.  Maybe when I go back with Andrew, we can stay here!

 The town of Fredericksburg, TX was a laid out with great thought.  It was founded in 1846 by German Immigrants.  The streets are VERY WIDE so that a horse drawn wagon could make a complete turn around in the street with great ease.

Last Supper of the Moveable Feast. We ate at Navajo Grill.  Outstanding, as were all our meals!

On Friday we were headed back to LR but we had to get this girl to the Alamo.  Kaitlin learned a song about the Alamo many years ago and going here was on her bucket list.  She was stunned that it is right in the middle of town.  Kaitlin would spout out knowledge about the Alamo that she knew from her song, as we walked around.  One thing I learned was that there are no graves from the battle.  Santa Ana burned all the bodies.

We had a great trip to Texas!  I am ready to go back again or maybe we'll head north with our next trip.

Texas Trip-LBJ

 This is the Driskill Hotel in Austin, TX.  Inside is a coffee shop where LBJ proposed to Lady Bird.  We ate breakfast here on Wednesday morning.

 Yummy breakfast!

 Here is our moveable feast group.  From front left Jim, Kathleen, Carl, me, Jullian, Kay, Nick, Susan, Kaitlin, Mary, and Dave.

 We saw lots of wildflower displays.

This is the second boyhood home of LBJ.  His first home was in a school district that didn't have a high school and his mama wanted all her children to have the opportunity to go to high school.  LBJ and his two brothers and two sisters all graduated from college!

This home got two major improvements while LBJ lived there: screens and a pipe that ran from the well house to a bathtub.  Wow!  no electricity or heated water or indoor bathroom-except the tub.

 Here the Moveable feast had a wonderful lunch.  There is a wonderful junk/antique store next door that we visited.  A large jar of buttons came home with us.

 This is the home of LBJ's grandparents.

 I don't have any pictures of the first home that LBJ lived in but it was also a dog trot.  Jim told us that they kept grass from growing near the house because in west TX the two biggest fears, at that time, were snakes and wildfire.

 Here are the graves of LBJ and Lady Bird.  The cemetery is on the banks of the Perdernales River.  Isn't that a fun word?  Perdernales, I like the way that rolls off your tongue.

 The LBJ Texas White House is a working ranch.  I thought we were going to be hit by a huge cow that was ambling down the path.

 Kaitlin giving a presidential speech

The Texas White House has been added onto several times. Lady Bird died July 2007.  Upon her death the house went to the US government for the Park System.  The family asked the Park system if they could have one more holiday season in the house and they were told yes.  The National Park System has been working on house since January 2008.  They are taking the house back to how it looked when LBJ was president.  It was very interesting.

  

 Our Moveable Feast ate supper at the Hilltop Cafe.  It is inside an old gas station.  It had Cajun/Greek food.  The menu was fun and the list of specials on the wall was amazing.  I got a hamburger steak- outstanding.  Of course the laughter and conversation at supper was the best part.

 Nick and Susan had to leave us after this meal and they were missed.

we all enjoyed this!

Tomorrow Fredericksburg, TX!

Texas Trip V, Moveable Feast I

 

I was a bit under the weather last week. I know you have been waiting with bated breath to find out about the rest of our trip...  Here we go...

 On Tuesday night, in Austin, I went to supper with three other wives, whose husbands were also at the same meeting Carl was attending.  We went to Perry's.  Oh, my!  That evening was so much fun.  Great food and even better visiting with 3 wonderful ladies.  First the food- I had a bone-in filet.  I still think about that steak.  Kay recommended it.  It was melt in your mouth good.  We got several great sides but I couldn't even tell you what they were but I can tell you that my steak was amazing.

Susan got this fun entree.  It came 'hanging'.  She gets the prize for the best entree presentation.

I had to take a picture in the bathroom of the TV in the mirror. I was amazed and tried to act very cool like I had seen this every day.  I wish you had been there to see how smooth I acted as I casually snapped this shot.  Notice that I didn't even get myself in the shot- somewhat like MacGyver, what do you think Keith??







I had supper with Kathleen, Kay and Susan.  We have been together on several business trips.  We discussed everything from books to children to travel.  But more importantly, we laughed.  These women are all deliberate.  That really fires me up to be more deliberate in my life.

One example of deliberateness is from Kathleen.  She shared once that she wanted to read all of  Margaret Truman's mysteries.  What a cool goal!  I googled Margaret Truman after I saw her newest book Monument to Murder  at the library.  Kaitlin checked it out because her interest was piqued by Kathleen's reading goal.  Margaret Truman wrote 35 books!  25 were mysteries and 10 nonfiction.  Kaitlin enjoyed the book she checked out.  It started in Savannah and since she had been there it meant all the more to her.  All Margaret's ( I feel like we are friends with her now) books end or take place in or near Washington, DC.  I will have to add that Kaitlin didn't finish the book when her favorite character proved to be the murderer!  The first book that Margaret wrote is Murder in the White House.   It has been made into a movie called Murder at 1600.  We love that movie and I was stunned to find out that she had written it.  If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it.  You will be on the edge of your seat til the very end.  I have two of Margaret's books checked out now, First Ladies and The Presidents House. I am really enjoying them.

Kathleen and her husband, Jim, live in Texas and led us on a two day tour which started on Wednesday morning. We ate very well on our tour!  Kay said that we needed to call our outing a 'Moveable Feast' More on that tomorrow!!

Texas Trip part IV pink granite and Lysol please

 So on Monday morning Kaitlin and I set out to find us some lunch.  We found a hot dog truck.  yum!

 Kaitlin got the Chicago dog without the sport peppers

 I got a basic chili dog.  We enjoyed them both.

 Our hotel was about 4 blocks from the capitol building.  The building is 360,000 square feet.  I know you will be shocked when I tell you that it is bigger than any other state capitol building.  It was originally made out of limestone but it began to discolor so it was covered in pink granite.  It is beautiful.  Many of the state building are also built of pink granite.

 Here is one of the coolest Civil War statues I have ever seen.  Just under Jefferson Davis, who is standing at the top, are listed the states and when they seceded.  Below are listed the battles in order that they were fought with their dates.

Here is our hotel.  After Kaitlin and I walked around the grounds of the capitol, we headed back to the motel by way of a photography store that she had only seen online and was thrilled to walk into a store front and talk to the folks inside.  It was a Lamography store.  Ask Kaitlin about what all was in it.  I am not sure.  There were lots of pretty pictures inside!

Austin has lots of benches so I could walk awhile and then have a nice back resting sit.

Tuesday Kaitlin woke up with a 24 hour bug.  The folks in the motel could not have been nicer and she was well taken care of when we needed anything.  Thankfully, Carl and I didn't get it.  I did bring Lysol with me and I sprayed every surface that I could.

Tomorrow is part I of our Moveable Feast!

Texas Trip Part III Wildflowers and Unicorns

On Sunday we went to the LBJ library in downtown Austin, TX.  LBJ had three homes that we planned to tour after Carl's meetings so we toured his library to learn more about him.  I was 5 when he became president.  The only thing I remember from his presidency is that Lady Bird, his wife, loved wild flowers, so I was looking forward to learning more.

The library is free and it was undergoing renovation so we didn't get to see it all but what we did see we all enjoyed.  

 This is the view from the top floor.  That is University of Texas stadium.

Pictures that you take when you have an artsy person with you.

 Getting ready to watch a video on LBJ so we would know what we were seeing.  One thing that they did at the library that really helped me was as you walked along the exhibits showing what LBJ did, a timeline was above it showing what was going on in the world at the same time.

 We all enjoyed the wall of Presidents

 Kaitlin's favorite is James K. Polk

 I love TR

 Carl picked the fifth president!

 This was an interactive exhibit.  LBJ would talk as you walked by.  Kaitlin wasn't aware of this and nearly jumped out of her skin.  Sorry I don't have a picture of that!!

 The oval office as it was when he was president

 LBJ was know for having three TV's close by all the time so he could keep up with the news.  He even had a remote control for the TV's.

 Lady Bird's beautiful White House china.  Notice the wildflowers.

 Carl, Kaitlin and LBJ

This is a Olmec head.  Kaitlin learned about this art during one of her Art History classes.  

 After the library we went to the Texas Military Museum.  Very interesting.  I wrote down a few battles to read more about.  Carl walked through the museum and showed us all the vehicles he could buy off of ebay.  I won't be surprised if I drive up and I have a weapons carrier in the front yard one day!

 Some very cool dioramas.  This one of the Alamo.

This last picture is one that is taken by a girly girl with a wonderful attitude.  She has been to so many war museums and goes cheerfully.  She interprets life differently than her brothers.  When she was little and  played army with her brothers she always packed dishes and her dolls to go in her fox hole.

Here is her unicorn aka Lady Gaga posing with a tank since they both have something in common.  Get it?  Very clever!