GRANDPARENTS' NIGHTMARE

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g56640-d7677978-Reviews-The_Garden_Company-Schulenburg_Texas.html

                                               
It was a beautiful morning for a drive to a neighboring country town for lunch. We enjoy a
change of pace and dining at an interesting restaurant in Schulenburg. I didn't see any clouds in the sky and the sun shone brightly. I was enjoying our stereo music from our fairly new car as we drove up the highway. When we drove near the first business in the town of our destination, our cell phone suddenly rang.

I answered the ring and suspected a marketing call. We were receiving many of those that
week. At the other end of the call, there was a garbled message I could not understand. I thought I would play along with the marketer from the other end of the world.

"What?" I hollered back into my phone.  He repeated the garbling and I answered, "I can't understand you." For some reason, I thought it could be Sterling, our grandson. Maybe his grandfather had told him we were leaving town. I then said, "Is this Sterling?" The response was again in a garbled voice,  hardly in an understandable voice, "Yes, I've been in a car wreck and the airbag went off and it busted my lip and broke my nose. I can hardly talk."  I said, "Oh my God, are you okay? What happened?"

This had happened to him in Houston, three years before. I started to say, "Again?" But I didn't.

"Well, I can't talk well. You remember my friend, John, who had cancer?  He died and I went to his mother's house to pay my respect. I only had two drinks. Then on the way home, a woman in front of me ran a red light and I ran into her. The police made me take a breathalyzer test and I was only one point over the test line so they jailed me. I now need help getting out of jail."

Our grandson borrowed our extra car the last time he visited us. He left his older car because there was smoke billowing out the tailpipe. We were going to fix it. His grandfather worried all week that something might happen to his nice extra car. I turned to his grandfather and said, "Pull over into that parking lot, your worst fear just happened."

Sterling said, "Do you have a pencil and paper? I need to give you my case number and the name of my court-appointed lawyer. They said I was probably distracted on my cell phone, so they took it away from me. Now here is my case number, case: 64273775 AP. My lawyer's name is Mark Bailey and his number is 339-220-1001." I read back all the information I had written down. Sterling said, "Expect a call from the lawyer and he'll tell you what to do. Please don't tell anyone about this."

We were parked in the first drive we had come up to and it was only a few minutes before our cell phone rang.  Grandfather behind the wheel decided he better talk now. "Yes, this is Sterling's grandfather, what happened?"

The caller identified himself as Sterling's court-appointed lawyer, Mark Bailey, and said Sterling is in a lot of trouble.  He said Sterling failed the breathalyzer test and the car he hit broad-sided had a pregnant woman driver. This is really serious, the lawyer told him and that he had worked hard to scale down the cost to bail him out. They took Sterling's phone because they believed he was using it at the time of the wreck.

 Sterling's grandfather said, "That much?'

"Yes, and I worked hard to get it reduced since it was his first drunk driving offense." said the lawyer.

When he hung up I asked, "What does he want?'
     
"I knew it, I knew it. It's going to cost us a lot of money before this is over. He said I should get a cashier's check for $9500. And place it in a 9x15 padded envelope. And he would call us back in a short time and tell us what to do and where to mail it."

I could see the grandfather was visibly shaken and that one of us had to stay calm and think logically. I told myself and then him that this doesn't sound right. I needed to call son, Bryan, who was on the way to Houston.

The grandfather said, "They told us not to tell anyone."

" I don't care. No one should tell me what I can do. It's our grandson."

After relaying the story to my son in an almost hysterical voice while he was trying to find a parking place in a lot at a lawyers' office in Houston, he called me back on his cell phone. He said this had happened to a friend of his in Austin and it cost his family much money and his friend spent time in prison.

I thought, "Oh great, this is getting really bad."  Next, I thought I needed some reassurance that this story was real. I was obviously not getting anywhere, by then.  I picked up my cell phone and said, "I'm calling Sterling on his cell."

The grand-father said, "Remember, they said he didn't have his phone."

I answered that this sounded fishy to me. I knew it was a gamble, but we could maybe find out for sure what's going on. Sometimes Sterling doesn't pick up his phone because he works late hours and likes to sleep late.

I dialed his number and after two short rings, a voice answered. "Sterling, are you okay? Where are you?" I asked.

 "Nana?  Yes, I'm okay and I'm home. What's wrong?"

I proceeded to tell him what had happened. He started laughing and laughing. And said, "Nana, you got scammed."

"Oh, I'm so thankful you are okay and we don't have to empty our bank account. Here, talk to your grandfather so he knows you are okay." I next called my son back and told him what I found out. He said he started to tell me to leave him in jail because that was too much money.

 Next, we pulled up to The Garden Company-Schulenburg, Texas. We went in and ordered the day's special: wonderful snapper fish with shrimp sauce, wild rice, and green beans.  It was fabulous and a nice way to celebrate our escape from being scammed.

BIG LESSON: WOMEN, TRUST YOUR INTUITION. AND BEWARE OF SCAMS.

 

I SAW THEM TOGETHER IN BED

He's good looking, I know. But there are no excuses for this. He had just told me he was trying to get rid of her kind that morning. But there they were, he almost asleep for his afternoon nap and she curled up on the same pillow next to him. She was a brunette or redhead. I could not tell which. She looked comfortably sleeping and he lay there almost asleep with a smile on his face, as the afternoon sun shone brightly through the window. I couldn't believe I saw them together in bed, in broad daylight.

I wanted to kill her. But how? I had no weapon that was handy and I had to act fast. As he opened his eyes, he said, "Come join me for a nap." I thought to myself that I would not risk this kind of needless pain.

I knew we had to kill her, but it had to be done very quickly before she made an attempt to escape. I said, "Now don't move too fast. But you have to do it slowly and not make any noise. We don't want to startle her so that she might flee and disappear. She might prey upon some other innocent victim."

He did as I instructed. He slowly rose from the bed and then looked down as he gradually picked up the pillow, as she lay in an embryo position.

"How are you going to kill her?" I asked.

"Very carefully," he answered, as he grabbed his gimmy hat, sitting on a chair, next to the bed. He then proceeded to smash her to bits with his fingers, wrapped around the inside of his cap.

"I sprayed all around the house this morning. I can't believe I chased her inside where she decided to take a nap beside me on my pillow."

I answered, "As allergic as you seemed to be when the last scorpion bit you on the hand, I would hate to see the damage this scorpion would have done to your face."

"Thanks for alerting me."

A Deja vu Sighting At An Historical Church in the Country

                       A Deja vu Sighting At An Historical Church in the Country



We had an interesting drive through the country today. We had an unplanned visit to a couple of painted churches in central Texas, built in the nineteenth century. One was at High Hill, outside of Schulenburg, Texas. The church from the outside "does not clue you in on what is in the inside". http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/st-marys-church-high-hill-schulenburg?select=rg3nPfMmnBl1ddqyTqQZ_A It has hand painted art all over the walls and ceiling, hence, to which all the painted churches in Fayette county are referred. The alter, cabinets, and wood work are beautifully carved and constructed at the St. Mary's Church at High Hill. http://www.texasescapes.com/CentralTexasTownsSouth/HighHillTexas/High-Hill-Texas-St-Marys-Catholic-Church.htm

The churches were created by 19th century immigrants from Austria and Germany. But the art is said to have been painted by itinerant artists later around the turn of the century, who advertised in the San Antonio paper.  The other beautifully painted church, St. Mary of the Assumption, we visited is at Praha, outside of Flatonia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Mary%27s_Church_of_the_Assumption_(Praha,_Texas)

 It was Deja vu when I spotted a rock grotto, https://www.tripadvisor.co.il/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g56640-d2460464-i141062937-Painted_Churches_Tour-Schulenburg_Texas.html,  https://www.tripadvisor.co.il/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g56640-on the grounds, outside the Praha church.  St. Mary of  the Assumption's rock grotto that's on the left of the church in front, is a replica of one I sketched out on my canvass, to paint next. The grotto, I'm going to paint is to be next to the sketch of the oldest church in U.S.,San Miguel. It's in Taos, New Mexico, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecKXVHwkFJs The grotto outside the painted church is positioned in the same place, as the one in my sketch. I was just trying to fill in some space(an artist privilege) on my canvass. It was spooky because I had never seen it or planned it that way. I use the image of San Miguel church to fit my Hispanic southwest themes. The Taos church will serve as a background to other images in my painting. I am most attracted to the Spanish Colonial history and its art.

 Now, I'm beginning to think I better paint another picture of the church at Praha to have an authentic image of the Grotto and what I saw today. I don't want to get into trouble with any ghosts who may have been hanging around the Grottos that I saw today.  And I'm looking forward to visiting the other painted churches in Fayette County on other day trips. http://www.texasescapes.com/CentralTexasTownsSouth/PaintedChurchesTour.htm

Yes, it was a beautiful day.

MANY CHRISTMAS EVES AGO

Many Christmas Eves ago, I remember going to the Koether farm for presents, food, and a fireworks display. My what a celebration it was. This afternoon as I was mixing my easy microwave fudge recipe, I thought of all the goodies Aunt Willie Mae and Grandma cooked for us. It was a mammoth table full of all kinds of candies, cakes, sandwiches, dips, potato salad, and seasonal meats. They must have had to start getting ready weeks in advance. Their fudge was not instant like mine. And their divinity was divine. The Koether family was most generous with numerous gifts for all their children and grandchildren. When the night became dark, we gathered outside to watch the outburst of color from the tons of fireworks our uncles, Bill, and El set off to the excitement of us all. Afterward, we returned to our home to collapse in bed with visions of sugar plums dancing through our heads and tummies. Oh, what Christmas Eves those were.

THE PRAYER SERVICE IN THE MALL PARKING LOT

I enjoy people watching. It's part of my sociology training. Especially interesting is watching culturally different people in the San Marcos Outlet Mall. During this time of year I've seen many Mexican Nationals shopping and interacting with their families. Today, I waited in the car while my husband ran in a shop to exchange a purchase he made before Christmas. I looked around the parking lot and saw two cars drive up close to where we parked. One man jumped out of a car and directed the driver of the other to back up several feet so the two cars had about eight feet between the hoods of their cars. They were facing each other. This small amount space provided an isolated location protected from traffic. It's where I observed their interaction.

The four men were similar in age, dress, and bearded dark faces. Their stocking caps fit closely on their heads. Three of them wore rubber like shoes without socks and one wore socks with his shoes. They were laughing and seemed to have an objective,  parking where they did. First, they pulled out 4 rugs, around 2'x4' in size. The style was not your typical type or the Mexican colorful design I have in my house. I decided the rugs were  more of an Asian influence. With my guessing, I began to suspect they were definitely not people I was used to seeing at the Mall interacting in this manner.

 One of the men picked up a bottle of water and poured it on his hands and arms. He repeated this action several times. Then he picked up his stocking feet and poured water on them  and rubbed them.  The other men who were without stockings poured the bottled water on their bare feet. They repeated this several times, as well. My husband returned to the car and I told him to drive around the cars so I could watch what they were doing. Of course he was not going to have anything to do with my being so nosy. But as we began to drive away, I looked over to the four men who were kneeling between the two cars on their individual rugs. In unison, they kneeled over and touched their heads to the ground at exactly the same time. At this point I realized I was probably observing Muslim men praying together.

This was a different experience for me to observe, since I live in a small south central Texas town and never have seen a  ritual, such as this.  But this is central Texas which has the fastest growing population in the country, according to Demographers and Census people. The site I saw demonstrates how different cultures are emerging and becoming more visible in our state.    

I researched some of the actions I observed of the Muslim interactions. First of all I found that today, January 3rd, 2015 is the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad. And although there are different ways to demonstrate the followers' veneration of their Prophet,  prayer is important.  Moreover, the washing of parts of the body before prayers is a form of cleansing and making followers more worthy. This explained the washing of the men's bodies. .http://www.islamweb.net/emainpage/articles/92744/obligatory-and-optional-aspects-of-ablution

I am so glad that I had the opportunity to see those of another culture perform a most important ritual on the Prophet's birthday. Now I understand better what the Muslims were doing. And it was so remarkable that they would exhibit their devotion in a public parking lot for anyone to see.

SHE SAVED ANOTHER LIFE

She is a quiet, composed, beautiful lady. She is intelligent, bright and doesn't miss anything that crosses her path. She speaks softly and loves deeply. Her husband is the love of her life and her children and grandchildren are the center of her universe. Her accomplishments in her career speak for themselves. She seems to always stretch her self and go beyond what common mortals  do. She taught herself computer programs and mathematical problems that were necessary in her line of work. And carried on the engineering goals, from her Father Reuben's genes and daily influence. She has been handsomely rewarded for the work ethic she diligently pursued and was demonstrated  by her role model, grandmother Nell,  since the age of fourteen,  when she worked in our grandmother's shop. My baby sister, Laurie,  recently retired from her career. She wanted to spend more time with her husband and family, but she didn't retire from her spirit of giving and her knack for observing what goes on around her.


A few years ago, my sister saved her husband's life when he had a massive heart attack at  home. She
performed CPR on him and later the EMS took him to the hospital and he recovered after he was packed in ice and brought out of an induced coma. https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2134402539885653021#editor/target=post;postID=8462564081228885629;onPublishedMenu=posts;onClosedMenu=posts;postNum=31;src=postname


Laurie and I were visiting about Christmas the other day and before we hung up our phones, she said, "I want to tell you what happened yesterday when Kenny and I were at Dillard's shopping for Christmas."

She continued, "A small older lady started screaming, 'Please help me'. As Kenny and I were walking toward her we saw a man lying on the floor with his eyes closed. People were standing around staring and not making any moves to aid the lady in distress. I screamed,  Call 911. Hurray." Laurie continued and said the lady was pushing on her husband's chest. But it didn't seem correct so Laurie gently pushed the lady's hand away and took over until the EMS arrived. She said it was interesting how the man's eyes began to open and then rolled around in his head when he began to take a breath.
She said she remembered how she compressed her husband's chest a few years before.

Laurie said the man began to sit up and his wife was going to help him stand to walk away. Laurie told them not to move and stay put until the EMS arrived to check him out. Shortly, they did arrive and she and Kenny bid their ado and began to leave the scene. She said the woman didn't ask her for her name or anything. So she didn't know how things turned out. The woman had revealed that her husband had been having trouble with high blood pressure recently. When she arrived home and told her son what happened he said, "Mother, do you realize you saved another life?"

Do you know you could save a life as she did? Look at this video and you can see, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSUC0wTFAjU>

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSUC0wTFAjU> Please be observant of what goes on around you. At least call 911 and attempt to do what Laurie did. You might give someone a new life in this New Year. HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU AND YOUR LOVED ONES.

HER MAJESTY, QUEEN ELIZABETH'S ANCESTOR, KING HENRY VIII, FOUNDED THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND AND CUT OFF HIS HEAD BECAUSE HE REFUSED TO LIE

I WAS REFLECTING ON QUEEN ELIZABETH'S DEATH AND THINKING OF 

     WHERE THE WINDSORS CHANGED THE COURSE OF HISTORY:

Recently, I found a yellow, wrinkled piece of notebook paper. The three folds of the paper were pulling apart at the seams and barely held together. It looks very old. And so it is because I wrote excerpts of verses from Epictetus on it about forty-five years ago. I recorded the verses from a tiny book with gold binding I found several years before. I was so impressed with what the verses revealed of a man who wrote them many centuries ago. It was really my first encounter with a philosopher with whom I could relate, Epictetus.

The Epictetus readings became helpful in my second-semester English class at Del Mar College.  My instructor creatively taught his classes in a manner in which  Freshman students could relate. One of his favorite characters in literature was  Sir Thomas More, a 16th-century chancellor and advisor to King Henry VIII.  He assigned the play, A Man of All Seasons, written by Robert Bolt and was a featured film in 1966. It was one of our readings for the class. The play is based on the true story of More who wouldn't give in to the demands of King Henry VIII.  I used one of the verses from my little book, Epictetus, as a reference when I wrote my essay about the story. My literature instructor was quite impressed with my knowledge of this stoic philosophy by Epictetus.

More was a man with high academic skills as well as high moral ideals.  In 1534 More refused the oath which pledged him to approve the king's marriage to Anne Boleyn after divorcing his wife. Because of More's convictions against the King's unlawful actions that defied church law and custom he was imprisoned in the tower and later beheaded. His head was exhibited on London Bridge. More sacrificed an accomplished life and lost his head all because he failed to acknowledge the king's divorce and remarriage. In my essay, I quoted Epictetus, "Consider man at what price you sell your freedom of choice-if for no other reason that you do not sell it for a trifle". Epictetus was a Greek slave hundreds of years before and apparently dwelt on such matters often. I professed that in addition to More's faithfulness to the pope and the church he could likely have been a student of Epictetus's
philosophy of Stoicism. And he may have viewed his role as one not worthy of retaining, just for a lie. Or the acceptance of the king's marital position too trifle to forfeit his principles and values.

My English teacher was philosophical in his advice.  During the semester he suggested that as we read, we might find it enlightening to write down significant quotes from the literature. And reflect upon them from time to time. That is how I came to collect and record some of Epictetus's verses. I carried them around in my wallet and read them at times of boredom or at places I had spare time to wait. Eventually, as I changed wallets and purses the wrinkled paper was lost in a file or drawer, but definitely saved for my reflections. In my next post I will tell you about the other Epictetus verses I like to reflect upon and some I find relevant today.

***
Today, I think it is quite interesting that reading back to the time of King Henry VIII's reign in England,  he was purportedly responsible for the beheading of thousands of people, including two wives. Not to mention he is the one credited with founding The Church Of England which evolved as a result of the separation from Rome. During my Family research, I also found that one of my favorite lines in my genealogy, the Edwards, my ancestor, Richard Edwards is linked as an illegitimate son of King Henry VIII. One must be careful of whom he/she criticizes in history.


**Today, there are some who question Queen Elizabeth's direct descent from King Henry VIII.

 ( https://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/1334589/Royal-family-tree-Queen-Elizabeth-II-related-king-Henry-viii-Tudor-times)