Happy Thanksgiving to all.
As always, I'm thankful for my family and friends. However, this year I am also thankful for Jill. I asked her to marry me this past Sunday, and she said yes.
For those who are curious, I proposed at Sonic, our favorite resteraunt. Seriously. When our weeks are hectic, we like to go there on mini dates and relax and talk over ice teas for an hour or so.
The car-hops typically give you a couple of mints when they skate over with the order. Knowing this, I took a spare mint, removed its wrapper, and replaced the candy with an engagement ring. Then Sunday, when we ordered at Sonic, I swapped out the mint they gave us with the wrapped ring. I guess I did a good job with the disguise, because she dropped the mint, and I had to insist she pick it up before she noticed it was a ring.
Anyway, more to follow...
My sister had a legal conference in town earlier this week, so my brother and my mom tagged along for the ride. Jill asked my mom if she'd teach her how to make a traditional Taiwanese dish that I grew up with. They decided on seaweed salad, since it takes few ingredients and can be easily converted from vegan (for Jill) to non-vegan (for me).
Here we are picking up supplies at the MT Supermarket in Chinatown center. The ceiling high stacks of dry goods makes for a colorful background. It's like the Costco of Asian foodstuffs:
Most of the time was spent in preparation (as with most recipes), with lots of chopping and slicing. And here we are finishing up the salad (the roses are from Jill's garden):
Usually, my mom adds sliced ham and sliced egg omelettes, but I can add those to my portion.
The Texas State Latin competition was this past weekend in San Antonio. This year, Jill and I offered to help chaperon the trip. These are magnet middle school kids, so they don't require a whole lot of chaperoning - just an adult presence is usually enough to keep everyone in line. Here we are on the bus ride to San Antonio. Jill is flying the Latin club colors:
I did get to see my sister in action as a teacher - a side of her that I usually don't get to see. Very impressive. Her husband also joined us for the trip:
The wild flowers were in a Monet-like bloom all along I-35 heading into San Antonio:
Being a first time chaperon to the state competition, I was amazed how long the days were. The kids were in tests or other forms of competition until past 11:00 at night. Then they started up again at 8:30 the next morning. Jill and I were tasked with helping to judged the art competition. I judged models - which were very impressive - from suits of armor, to metal swords, to a mausoleum made from cake. Jill judged Latin club scrapbooks. They take their judging very seriously, and we were there for several hours.
In addition to individual prizes, the kids ended up taking 7th place overall - based on all their tests and competitions (out of 25 schools). Pretty impressive to me, but my sister tells me that's the worst they've ever done while she's been in charge of the Latin club. But the kids were still excited. This picture was taken about 11:00 at night, when we arrived back in Austin - the kids look like zombies:
Jill and I went to Houston last Thursday to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family. We left Austin at 7:AM, so we could be at the Woodlands Country Club for lunch at 11:AM. All the photos from lunch are on my mom's new camera, so unfortunately, I don't have any to share.
A nice tradition we have with Linda's mother-in-law is the gifting of treats. This is what the elder Mrs. Zappa shared with our family - peanut butter cookies, lemon bars, lemon and almond biscotti, and mini brownies with a kiss in each. I wish I could say I have some left to enjoy, but I ate my share within 24 hours.
While at my folks, Jill and I walked around the neighborhood to work off some of lunch. We passed by the enormous home of the person who developed the neighborhood and found these guys in their front yard:
Later that night, Jill and I met Ron and Jeremy at the new Houston Texans Grill to watch the UT - A&M game. Unfortunately, I declined to wager on the game and lost out on a free dinner. Jill wasn't real interested in the game, so she graded papers in the corner and would check in on us every so often. Btw, we had the worst nachos at the Texan Grill - it was basically baked tortilla chips dusted with shredded lettuce.
We spent the night at my sister's place that night and woke up early the next day to meet Jill's brother for coffee at the hotel he was staying at. In case you can't tell, her brother is a big guy:
Speaking of Jill, I finally used the potatoes she brought back from a friend's garden on one of her recent trips. Some of the potatoes were purple:
I decided to make mashed potatoes, hoping to get a purple tinted creation. Unfortunately, the purple color boils out of them.
I served the potatoes with an orange salad and roast chicken for lunch:
The reason I only rode the metric century at the Livestrong ride on Sunday was because I had to catch a flight to Midland later that afternoon for Glady's funeral, and I needed time to pack.
The flight to Midland was uneventful. June and Shawn (her sister) met me at the airport that night and took me over to Shawn's boyfriend's place where I'd be spending the night. After a nice dinner and some reminiscing conversation, I was ready to hit the sack.
The drive from Midland to Floydada took about 3 hours. This is what the drive in looked like (you gotta love the big sky):
June comes from a farming family with roots in the area. The area is flat, and I understand the soil is rich. June and her aunt are looking for their old farm:
And here it is:
And this is Floydada, population four thousand or so:
The funeral took place at the grave site. It was a cool, sunny day and a strong wind blew. The funeral home set up a canopy for the 20 or so people who attended. The local Baptist minister said a few positive words, as did some of her family and friends. The whole ceremony lasted not much longer than 30 minutes.
Afterward, we retreated to a local restaurant for lunch. I had a chance to say hello to Gladys' twin brother, Glenn. The twins could not have taken more divergent paths in life. Glenn grew up with polio and later became the mayor of Amarillo and a successful businessman. Gladys was always the pretty one in the family who had more difficulties in life.
After lunch, June and her aunt dropped me off at the Lubbock airport for my flight home. Lubbock is only an hour away from Floydada and offered me a chance to get to Austin sooner than if I flew back out of Midland.
I had a couple of hours before my flight, so I ordered a sandwich and a beer from the airport bar. Sitting on my stool, I saw the horizon quickly getting darker and darker. Pretty soon, the large picture windows of the bar started shaking violently, the fire alarm sounded loudly, and the warning strobes fired off. Not know what to do, I ate my food and drank my beer while the sky choked with dust and went black. I did not, however, rush to the windows to take pictures and film videos. Even I'm not that foolish. I left that to the news stations and those who post on youtube:
Well, the powers that be shut down the Lubbock airport because of the debris from the dust storm needed to cleared off the runway. I was told I would be put on the next flight out to Austin - the following morning. Understand that it was only 6:00PM when I was told this. I had a long night ahead of me in an airport with limited facilities.
After sitting around for a couple of hours, the opportunity came up for me to take the last flight out of the airport - to Dallas. I jumped on that, figuring Dallas was closer to home than Lubbock. The plane arrived in Dallas around 10:00PM. In Dallas, I found a flight to San Antonio that left at midnight. And since San Antonio is closer to Austin than Dallas, I took that one also. Unfortunately, there wasn't a flight from San Antonio to Austin at 2:00AM, so I called Jill and asked if she'd come get me. She did - and I am forever grateful. We got back to Austin around 3:30AM. But I avoided spending a night in an airport, which no one ever wants to do.
Friday afternoon, Jill and I headed to Houston for my high school reunion happy hour at Escalante's (owned by one of our classmates' family). It was good seeing everyone after so many years, but it was also a bit surreal. My favorite moment happened as we walked into the room where the party took place. A woman greeted me as we walked in. She mentioned that it had been so long since she last saw me. Then she gave me a big hug. Then she looked at my name tag. Then she exclaimed, "Oh, it's you Alvin! - how great to see you again!" Granted, there were only a handful of Asian men in our graduating class, but do we really all look alike?
After the happy hour, Ron, Jeremy, Jill and I went over to Cyclone Anaya's for a late dinner:
The next morning (Saturday), Jill and I met my family at a Japanese restaurant. Actually, Jill had already met everyone in my family at least once, but this was her first time to meet my dad. I, on the other hand, had met my dad and my family several times.
My high school reunion proper was Saturday night, but we had to drive back to Austin, so I could ride in the Livestrong ride Sunday morning in Dripping Springs. I rode with the Dell team, which had probably a hundred member riders, but the only one I recognized was Dustin. He did the 90 mile route, while I rode the 65 mile version.
I received a call from June this afternoon. She told me my former mother-in-law passed away yesterday in Midland. She had fallen and broken her hip. And with her brittle bones, she never recovered.
Life dealt Gladys some pretty shitty cards, and it seemed like she could never really catch a break. In the many years that I knew her, she may not have been the most joyful person to be around, but she was supportive when and where it counted.
And if I know her, she is not going gently into that good night. Rest in peace, Gladys.
