A year of READS

Happy 2016!

As part of my new year's resolutions, I am going to attempt to complete a reading challenge given to me by my dear friend David Goodheart.

The challenge is to read 25 books, one per square:

I just completed my first square (technically, I started the book in 2015, but I read more than half of it in 2016 so I'm counting it.

I just finished a fantasy novel, Robert Jordan's The Shadow Rising.  This was the fourth book in his series The Wheel of Time.  It was by far my favorite in the series.  Full of action and characters I recognized and cared about, it held my interest throughout, which had not been true of the first three novels in the series (which all had great endings, but I felt were a bit sluggish in the middle).

One of the themes I thought Jordan did an excellent job with in The Shadow Rising was the notion of being an outsider.  Reflecting back on his first three books, this has been a theme throughout, but I felt it was particularly powerful in this outing.  Each of the main three male characters, Rand, Mat, and Perrin, found themselves outsiders in what could have been familiar settings.  Perrin in particular dealt with taking on a new role back in his hometown of Two Rivers.  No longer just a blacksmith's apprentice, Perrin (now called Perrin Goldeneyes) found himself looked upon instead as a military leader by the people with whom he grew up, and a suspected Darkfriend by the militant Whitecloaks who spread their own kind of terror in the name of hunting down their enemies.  Rand, who learned he was adopted in book 1 of the series, and who has now met the people from whom he is descended, is now expected to travel to the Aiel waste to visit Rhuidean, to fulfill another prophesy on his way as the Dragon reborn.  Rand is an outsider (wetlander) to the his own people, the Aiel, and feared by all because of his ability to channel the One Power.  Rand struggles to follow the path he believes he must, while the people closest to him watch for the inevitable signs that his connection to the One Power has finally driven him mad.  Mat follows along, constantly reminded that his destiny is tied to Rand, but unsure what role he is to play and whether or not he is willing to play it.  Two of the "supergirls," Elayne and Nynaeve travel to Tanchico in search of the remaining members of the Black Ajah, via a ship of the Sea Folk and find that they don't know as much about the One Power as they thought.  In Tanchico they try to blend with the local culture to find the Black Ajah, and along the way they find out that they don't know as much about a perceived enemy as they believed.  Both girls also struggle to find out where they fit within the relationships that they both desire, but both wonder if they are outsiders there as well.    

An excellent novel, and I am looking forward to part 5.  Perhaps in 2017!

Fall means football

Fall means football in Texas, and Brady and the Austin Bulldogs JV team are well into their season. They are 1-2 so far, but getting better each game.

This week was special for us because Mom came out to watch him play. It's the first time she'd ever seen him play football. We both agree that it's hard to watch him get hit, but he shrugs and says if you roll with it, it doesn't hurt too badly.

What I was surprised to see this week was that Brady had taped his wrists. I've never seen him do that before. I was worried for a minute that they might be sore, and particularly puzzled when he spotted my mom in the stands and held them up so she could see them. Mom used to be an EMT, so she's always ready to render medical aid if needed.

As it turns out, Brady had taped his wrists so he could write a message on them. "G.B. R.I.P." for my dad, George Barnett. He also wrote "Herb" below it, the name my dad used to call him. I had no idea he was going to do that, but I was so touched that he thought of it all by himself.

He went to the A&M game yesterday with friends and had a blast. KC spent the day working on a project with a friend, so Abby got to hang out with her dad (I was visiting Mom). A quiet end to a long week.

My Dad

Howdy. I haven't written much over the past 6 months here. The main reason is because of my dad's bout with brain cancer. I couldn't bring myself to write about it, but I couldn't not write about it . . . so the blank page remained.

Now that my dad's battle has ended, I owe it to him to write again. And what better topic to write about than my dad? So here goes . . .

In 1991, on my Dad's 49th birthday, my father had heart bypass surgery. This is a great legacy for Jill and I, by the way. If you want to see an internist’s blood pressure go up, tell them your father had bypass surgery before the age of 50. After his bypass surgery, while everyone else was squeezing their pillows and coughing and walking up and down the halls, Dad woke up to find he was partially blind in one eye, and so sick with nausea and headaches that he couldn’t move, much less walk down the hall. The first few doctors we talked to tried to convince us that he’d come in that way. Then they decided a piece of plaque must have broken off during the surgery and caused a stroke. Mom asked them, if they weren’t too busy, if they could go ahead and run a few tests on him rather than standing around guessing. Once they finally called in a neurologist and ran some tests, they discovered he had a benign pituitary tumor which had expanded during the bypass surgery and was now pressing against his brain and optic nerve. So one week to the day after his triple bypass, my father had brain surgery. We soon learned that brains don’t care for surgery, and they react by swelling, causing confusion and irrational behavior. That we were prepared for, more or less. What we were not prepared for was the news that he was running a fever, and had likely developed an infection. If that infection was meningitis, a strong possibility, he almost surely wouldn’t survive the night. Needless to say, we didn’t sleep that night, and we sat up and planned his funeral. Thankfully, Dad was not ready to go at that time, he survived the night and soon made a full recovery. That was 19 years ago that we almost lost him. So in a sense, every day that has passed since that day, has been a gift. The gift of my dad.

So what did Dad do with the gift of 19 years? He’s had 4 wonderful grandchildren. Technically, Jill and I had them, but he took some of the credit since he’d helped raise us. Dad actually was in Canada when KC was born. Right after she was born, she stopped breathing and was put in the NICU. When Dad called to check on her, Mom had no choice but to tell him what was going on, since we had no idea how long she’d be in the NICU or if she would even survive, but Mom told him to just finish the conference because there wasn’t anything he could do here in Houston. Dad packed up immediately and headed for the airport. He spent all day and night in airports, flying standby, until he could get home to see her. For the record, when the fourth grandchild, Abby was to be born, Mom found out she was supposed to be on a business trip to Foxboro, Massachusetts. We actually rescheduled that delivery so she would be here just to make sure everything went smoothly this time because clearly I could not do this without them.

Dad spent a lot of those 19 years travelling. He took Mom to Ireland, Hawaii, New York, Las Vegas, with yearly trips to New England, including 3 trips back east with various children and grandchildren. We also took a trip to Disney with all the children and grandchildren. When my father travels, he does detailed research, working out an itinerary that makes sure we don’t miss anything. It’s a wonderful thing to travel with Dad, because you can really just sit back and go along for the ride. In the past 19 years, my Dad has seen the ice skaters in Rockefeller Center at Christmas time, Broadway shows, Agatha Christie performed on a London stage, the Hoover dam, and the ducks at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis. In just the last six months before he got sick, he made trips to Singapore, Scotland, and took mom to the Mall of America in Minnesota. In November. If Minnesota in November isn’t love, I can’t imagine what is. Dad also spent a good part of those 19 years playing golf. Not particularly well, but he always had a great time. He carefully researched to find the latest advances in golf clubs, golf teaching aids, better golf balls. All to add a few extra yards to the drive. Which, for dad, often meant he could hit the ball even further into the woods or the water. But none of that mattered. As long as he could be out on the course, relaxing and spending time with his friends, his game could not have been better.

Over the past 19 years, Dad’s been to first Communions, choir programs, dance recitals, Astros games, Texans games, and little league baseball games. Lots and lots of little league ball games. He’s fixed ovens, built fences, closets, benches, rocking chairs, and a pitching mound. He taught my husband Bill how to put up a ceiling fan, replace a toilet, install a faucet and light fixture, and build a door frame. Over the past 19 years, Dad worked, played, fixed things, and carried countless shopping bags to the car. Dad rarely had an idle moment, aside from watching wrestling matches on television, and he truly made the most of the extra 19 years he was given. My only regret is not having him around for another 19 years to do even more. But he will always be with us in spirit, and we know that now that he is free of the wheelchair and bed he’s been stuck in for the past 6 months, that he is free again to travel and watch more baseball games, choir concerts, and dance recitals. And the next time you find yourself out on the golf course, especially on those beautiful spring days before it gets too hot, pop an extra cold one for George and know that he’s always there, along for the ride.

And he’s probably laughing at your golf swing.

I love you Dad, and I really miss you . . .

New Mexico!!

We just got back from a skiing trip to Red River, New Mexico.




It was very cold (-2 on the first day - a bit low for folks from Texas) but we had a blast!

Football hero

The Austin Bulldog Freshman football team defeated the Dulles Vikings 39-6 tonight, and the highlight for us was this catch by Brady:

Here he said everything starts moving in slow motion. You turn, you wait . . .



catch it and hold onto to it . . .



turn and run for the endzone . . .

Touchdown!!! Six points!!

First catch of the season - a 40 yard touchdown reception!! Absolutely no feeling like it in the world!!

It was wonderful!! Congratulations, Brady!!

Bulldog Football

Football season has begun! Brady is playing on the freshman football team. He has never played organized football ever (most players start out on a little-league type of team when they are kids then play in middle school). He's always been a baseball guy, but our baseball coach suggested he play football for the conditioning work (much harder than fall baseball).

So he started August 10th, and he's been working out at receiver. Our goal was that he play as little as possible to avoid getting hurt, preferably on the second team (we have two freshman teams). He's grown a bit, but he's all of 5'5" and around 115 lbs, on a team with guys bigger than me. So naturally he fell in love with the sport and made the first team, backup receiver. So he plays way more than I hoped, mostly blocking for our really good running back. Thankfully, three games in and he's still standing (keep your fingers crossed).

Here he is lined up at his position. He runs to the line and points at the referee on the sidelines who points back to make sure he's up on the line of scrimmage. That's really my favorite part of the game, the pointing and pointing back - cracks me up. I'll try to get a picture sometime (they've been playing at 7pm and the light is fading, so the pictures are blurry).



His really important job (besides the pointing) is he's one of the guys who the coach tells the play to and he runs in and tells everyone else. That's a tough job because you have to actually remember the play. Not everyone can do that apparently - LOL.

When the team is on defense, he gets to do his other favorite thing - hang out at the water cart.


So far, they are a really fun group to watch. The varsity football coach says that this is one of the best freshman teams to come through in a long while. They are 0-1-0 so far, with two rainouts. They only lost 22-20 last week (our varsity lost to the same team 45-10) so there's hope for a victory.

The scariest statistic is that 7 guys went to the ER last game. From the opponents we had a torn ACL, broken finger, and a dislocated shoulder. From our team we had a dislocated/broken wrist (two separate injuries on one play - yikes), a concussion, a broken hand, and a calf injury.

I'm just hoping that he stays healthy! Go dawgs! Be nice!

A new school year!

A new school year has started!

Here's Brady on the first day of school. I had to drop the girls off, so I couldn't go with him the first day. It's really hard to get him to smile these days because of his braces.

We'll call this picture, "At least look pleasantly at me or I'll show up in your 3rd period and take your picture in front of all your buddies . . . "

The girls are much more cooperative. Abby curled her hair for the first day of school and looked just lovely. She's a big fifth grader this year - the oldest kids in her school. Very exciting!

The biggest challenge for me is getting pictures of the middle schoolers because it's hard to snap a picture while driving the car. I asked KC to make sure to smile and she suggested I just park and take a picture. So much more cooperative than her brother . . .

Three kids in three different schools - it's going to be a long year - LOL!

We've been going for almost 4 weeks now. All is going fine.

Brady is a bit overwhelmed with high school, keeping extremely busy with football and all his academic classes, but he's doing well. He's mostly at peace these days with being in school with mom and dad, but he does appreciate running by to get a snack after second period.

KC is doing very well in 7th grade, working very hard, and socializing with her 7th grade buddies. She's read 3 books already since school started, just on her own, and she has started writing her own novel!

Abby is doing well in 5th grade. This is her first year to switch between teachers, so she has to carry a big old backpack with all her school stuff in it. It's almost as big as she is! She's especially enjoying her reading class this year! They are on their first novel of the year and she's really into it. :-)

Hope everyone is enjoying the start of school!