HIS HEROES HAVE ALWAYS BEEN COWBOYS

I think Cousin George would have been right proud of his sendoff. I thought it was one of the best memorial services ever -- more a celebration of his life than a mourning of his passing, with a great slide show depicting him from little buckaroo, on through his bronc riding and rodeo clown days, and right on up to his old rodeo-producing rancher days. Then it ended with this song, which he had chosen himself, and which describes him pretty much to a tee.  The most amazing part was this scene which greeted us outside the church, when the service was over...

the hordes of people who had waited patiently outside in the heat throughout the entire service, after the church had reached its capacity of about 200, just to show their respect. Guess he'd touched a lot more lives than most of us ever realized. I should be half so fortunate.

My cousin George Marshall Jr. (or Sonny, as we all knew him) passed away this weekend. He was quite the character, that boy. My Uncle George was a rancher, and we used to go up to Bogata every summer for the rodeo. My sister Gus even won a fancy belt buckle once in the kids' pig scramble! It was no big surprise when Sonny started out his career as a rodeo clown. The shock came when I heard he was traveling all over the country producing rodeos. I think, however, his true talent was as a master prankster and story teller. We'll be driving up to Dallas today, then on to Bogata tomorrow for his memorial service. Yup, a lotta people are gonna miss that man's sense of humor. Especially those rip-snorters he was forever posting on facebook!

PICK A LID, ANY LID

SHE GOT ME AGAIN!

For as long as I can remember, my daughter has enjoyed scaring the poop out of me. She was forever calling me with a quiver in her voice, implying that she had some bad news to impart and making me go weak in the knees, then she'd end up telling me something wonderful instead! You'd think I would learn, wouldn't you?

She called at around ten o'clock last night, which was unusual in and of itself. Also, she was calling from out of state, since she and her boyfriend Nate had been traveling around his home state of Minnesota this week. As soon as I answered she asked if her dad was around. When I told her he was down in the man cave, she said "you'd better go get him." By the time I'd made it down the outdoor staircase, I'd imagined just about every horrific scenario possible. Well, all except this one.

They're engaged! Which isn't horrific at all. Quite the opposite!

Nate says this is a temporary ring he got on etsy, until "the one they picked out" is ready. When I asked "The one you picked out? What's he talking about?", she replied, "Well, a few weeks back the twerp said 'Just in case we ever do this, maybe you should show me what you like,' but I had no idea it was going to happen any time soon!" Looks like she's finally met her match when it comes to being a sneaky little imp. Well, and in just about every other way too, come to think of it.

And, since her little brother Austin proposed to his sweetheart Areeg just a few weeks back, we've got ever-buddy 'round here doing the Happy Dance now. Just picture me and Hubby hooking elbows and doing the Do-Si-Do, from one end of this house to the other!

NUMBER TWO ARRIVES!

The second Circle Journal has arrived! It showed up before I had even got the first one mailed off. This one began its journey in Michigan, then made its way down to Florida, before finally showing up here in Central Texas. Hopefully, it won't take me quite as long to gird my loins and start painting this time. In fact, I've already had a brainstorm about what I want to paint, and I'm just itchin' to get started!

The owner of this journal claims she has never made one before, but I find that hard to believe. It's just way too precious!

Looks like it's made out of wallpaper scraps.

Love the way she scalloped and staggered the edges of the pages, and just look at these cute little sign-in tags she provided for us to decorate with our photos and bio info.

Let the games begin!

FOR MY BIG SISTER POODIE, AND ALL LOVERS OF COSMIC COWBOY HONKY-TONKS

Hubby and I were both in the mood to go splorin' the other day, so we grabbed our copy of Terry Thompson-Anderson's book The Texas Hill Country: A Food and Wine Lover's Paradise, and started flipping through its dog-eared pages. We were getting a late start, so we ended up choosing the town of Spicewood, only about an hours drive from here. Now, Spicewood only has one restaurant listed, but it's one we've been determined to visit, ever since we first read about it.

We just couldn't believe there was actually someone else in the world, besides my big sister, who got stuck with a nickname like Poodie! This Poodie, aka Randall Locke, happens to have a day job in addition to owning this roadhouse. For over thirty years he's been the road manager for Willie Nelson, who lives right down the road. Judging from the chainsaw statue of Poodie, proudly displayed in the corner of the dance floor, he must be a fairly colorful character.

I bet he has more that a few stories to tell, after all those years with Willie! Too bad neither he nor Willie happened to be there that day. John ordered "The Famous Poodie Burger", while I had a grilled cheese sandwich, served Poodie Style, which meant they were both filled with grilled onions, his special Hatch chili blend, and Monterey Jack Cheese...

Our Table Top

which, with all that extra grease they throw in for free, makes for a fairly rich combination. Neither of us could eat more than half, and we were both surprisingly drowsy on the drive home. Go figure.

So when's the last time you went to a Cosmic Cowboy Honky-Tonk Roadhouse? Well that's been too long!

A MESSAGE TO OUR CHILDREN

I really thought we parents had got past all that. Past that whole "Martha Stewart" thing of tryin' to run a business while raising perfect genius children, decorating perfect homes, making perfect cupcakes and party favors, raising chickens which give us perfectly dyed eggs, and growing our own perfect vegetables. I thought we'd finally figured it out -- that we can have it all, just not all at the same time. I thought we'd got over comparing ourselves to all the other parents we knew, and always finding ourselves lacking. I guess I thought wrong.

'Cause that's sure not what I'm seeing and hearing, now that my kids and all their friends are finally coming up on their 30s. Instead of learning from our mistakes, I fear they have simply replaced our Martha Stewart Complex with a Mommy Blogger/Pinterest Complex, and that facebook has just made it 100 times easier to compare themselves, not just to the other young parents in their neighborhood, but to every young parent in the entire blogosphere! And of course, they are bound to come up short somewhere, since no one person could ever have enough time to do all those amazing things they have pinned to their Pinterest boards, right? Who wouldn't feel inadequate?

If I could teach my kids just one simple thing, it would be this. Wanna go down in history as a great parent? Here's all you have to do. Turn off the TV. Turn off the stove. Turn off the computer. Most importantly, turn off that dang phone! Now get down on the floor and play with your kids. Give them your undivided attention, for at least thirty minutes. That's all it takes. Thirty minutes a day. Every day.

The glee on their little faces is all the affirmation you will ever need.