Time to Give Thanks...

 

Good news! I inquired about RODNEY FLANAGAN'S health and his wife Carolyn was kind enough to send me the following:

"Rodney was released from Shannon Encompass Rehab July 30, 24 days after the stroke. Seven of those days were spent in Shannon Hospital.  The remaining time was spent in rehab, which was crucial in his recovery. He spent time in Occupational, Speech and Physical therapy almost every day.  He is working to regain his strength by walking and doing exercises at home, which he does not enjoy.  He looks good and there are no obvious physical effects. There is some short term memory loss, and he gets tired easier.  He laughs and says that being 82 years old is part of the problem.  We are so thankful that he is doing so well and give God all the glory. Thank you all for the calls, cards and prayers.  The class of '57 is a special bunch of people."

Love to you all,

Rodney and Carolyn

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Back in May, NANCY BAKER'S grandson Rei suffered a serious brain injury in a skateboard accident. His sister Kara

set up a GoFundMe page for him and updated his condition from time to time. Last week NANCY told me that he was home with his mother Lynn in Winters, and accompanied them on their garage sale shopping! He is still on the path to a full recovery. His sister Kara wrote the following on his GoFundMe page:

"Rei has made a truly miraculous recovery. He was released from the hospital on July 16th. He was hospitalized for 7 weeks. 5 of those weeks he was kept deeply sedated, on a ventilator, and on a feeding tube in ICU. During that time the Doctors and Nurses could not tell us that he would ever be okay. Then once Rei's brain could handle coming back from sedation he literally started making a full recovery in 2 weeks and got to go home! Every other day my mom told me about a big milestone Rei overcame. I kept driving to the hospital to see for myself. God has been so good to us! Thank you all again for your support! We know many of you wanted to come see him but you didn't because you understood how important it was for him to have a completely calm and unstimulating environment for his brain to heal. We thank you for your understanding and for supporting us from afar! We love you and God bless all of you for your kindness!"

This truly was a miraculous recovery. 

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Back in June I wrote about my and BOB BURTON'S grandson Branch Tanner Archer and the 70-day bicycle ride he was participating in to raise money for cancer research, I Love to Ride My Bike. Last Friday the riders completed their 6,000 mile trip, arriving back in Austin. Guess who was there to greet him? As his parents were waiting in Alaska for him to join them, Papaw, aka BOB BURTON was there with a big grin and a hug! Uncle Matthew took the photos. We are all "busting our buttons" with pride for this young man.

BOB BURTON, Tanner, Aunt Amy, Cousin Kelly

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"Ask and ye shall receive." I recently asked DENNY HILL what he has been up to in recent months. I was tickled to get a quick, funny response from him. During the pandemic, he has been experiencing some of the things that we all can relate to. Stay tuned. I will share these with you in my next post!

In the meantime, if you can keep us all updated on classmates who need our attention and/or prayers, please drop me an email. I am finally able to do a little writing, and of course, I love to hear from you all!

Peace and love -- and may you all experience "good stuff"!

Marilyn

"I LOVE TO RIDE MY BIKE"

                

I never owned a bicycle as a child and I don't even recall riding one as an adult. Here in Austin you see bike riders everywhere all of the time. It wasn't surprising to me when my daughter's son Tanner started intense training for an upcoming ride, sometimes riding his bicycle 40 miles a day.

Tanner has a knack for participating in worthy causes. Last year he and a good friend held a "standathon" wherein they both stood for 24-hours while reading from pertinent books on climate change and being viewed online to raise money for "Extinction Rebellion ATX", an international nonviolent movement seeking real solutions to climate change. I wrote about their success at this endeavor on my personal blog. Standing for Change

This past weekend, Tanner and 21 other like-minded bike riders left on a 4,000 mile ride in the lower 48 states to raise money for cancer research. They are members of an organization called "Texas 4000". Started in 2004, "Texas 4000’s mission is to cultivate student leaders and engage communities in the fight against cancer." Information about the riders, their route, and why each has chosen to raise money for cancer is located on their website Texas 4000. There is also a good map of the stops they will make along the way. He is on the Sierra route.

Branch Tanner Archer is the grandson of mine and BOB BURTON. If you happened to see 22 bicycle riders touring through Ballinger last Monday, that was his group. Tanner had visited me when I lived in Ballinger for a few years before our 50th Class Reunion. He sent the following photo to let me know they went through there!

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JUNE HASH CURRY sent me the following photo of her newest great-grandchild. I am jealous that she and NANCY THOMPSON BAKER both are gifted with great-grandchildren! Although I am blessed with seven grandchildren, five of them are still attending college. This has to be the cutest photo of a toddler I've seen!

This is Miss Emery Jayne Birdwoman Curry. She was born into the Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribe in Oklahoma. JUNE's grandson Braden and his wife Kennedy Curry officially adopted her on June 8th. Birdwoman is the name she was born with and they want her to remember it as well as her culture. JUNE told me: "My grandson and his young wife have been taking foster children since last year, and she was the fifth one to come into their home when she was five months of age. The other four foster children have since gone to other homes or returned to their parents, but they simply couldn’t think of letting her go and began adoption proceedings. The Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribe finally accepted their petitions, signed off on the adoption, and yesterday she legally became ours to keep. And I think our whole family would have been to bury if we had lost this precious baby since she had already become a much loved member of our clan." I can certainly see why. And I commend this sweet couple for their work with foster children!

The happy new family!

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That's it for this time. Are there any "newbies" or happenings in your life or those you love? Send me the good stuff. I love to hear from you. 

Peace and Love,

Marilyn

CATCHING UP A LITTLE

I hope this photo brings a smile to your face as it did to mine. TRUMAN CONNER is always a faithful contributor, even if I have been very slow getting the news out lately. By the way, when I told him how much I liked the photo, he's the one who gave me the priceless title: "An Old Man and His Cat"! The cat's name is Stanley. (In his lap.)

I hope this inspires more of you to send me some pictures and stories of your own. This past year and a half has not been an easy one for any of us. However, it has certainly wrought plentiful changes in our lifestyles. To date, the only times I have been away from my little cottage have been the two times my daughter Carajean drove me to be vaccinated at a COVID-19 drive-thru site. My next outing will probably be to my doctor for a way overdue checkup. Then to the dentist to do something about the tooth I broke as well as the crown I popped off while flossing. I don't look forward to these visits!

This past week I had a visit from an employee of the DPS. My driver's license expired on my last birthday in 2020. As I no longer drive, I was notified that an official I.D. would be required in lieu of a driver's license. I informed them that during the pandemic, due to my health, I would not be able to visit their offices for the necessary paperwork and photo. I was surprised a few weeks ago to hear from this nice gentleman that if I could send a photo of a certified copy of my birth certificate, he might be able to make what they called a "homebound visit". My cameras are kaput, and I do not have an iPhone. However, the small android tablet I have, thanks to my son Matthew, takes photos. I'm not very proficient, but I made more than one attempt and I finally got a good enough picture they could verify I was born in the U.S.A. 

The appointment was set and "Johnny" came promptly at 11 am this past Thursday. He proceeded to charm me and my daughter Carajean while getting all the necessary paperwork done and my photo taken in record time. I foisted chocolate chip cookies on him as he left the premises twenty minutes after his arrival. I complimented him on his professional as he was leaving and he leaned in and said, "Don't tell anyone. You'll ruin my reputation." 

This past Mother's Day was a little tough. It was the first one in many, many years I did not have a card or gift or visit from my oldest child, Craig. I teared up when I opened the gift bag from Carajean. Pictured above is a small quilted memento she had professionally made from some of Craig's ties he had left here with me. Being in new car sales for many years, he wore dress shirts and ties. As his favorites were made by Jerry Garcia, I bought many of them through the years as gifts for him. This is so lovely on my sofa, but I think it will make a beautiful wall hanging someday. (No bare walls in my house!) I plan to leave it to one of Craig's children.

A cute story about the quilted memento...When Carajean was working with the ties and how to display them, she had them laying out on the floor. All of a sudden, Floki jumped right in the middle of the ties! Floki, of course, was Craig's cat. We think that he could smell Craig on the ties. 

Floki was adopted by Carajean's daughter Audrey and her husband, but they are temporarily housed at Carajean's. (Most of you know that Carajean's dad is BOB BURTON.)

Carajean and her family attended a wedding in Amarillo recently. The young bride was her daughter Ashlyn's best friend from early childhood. Ashlyn gave the Maid of Honor's speech. BOB and Ann went as well since they knew the young woman, and it was a chance to see most of the family. This photo was taken the night of the rehearsal dinner. Sandra is a physician friend of Carajean's since they were in college together.

This is mostly news from my neck of the woods. Let me hear from you and what's going on in your lives! Photos are always welcome.

Until next time..

Peace and love,

Marilyn

HODGEPODGE

Fall has officially arrived, although until yesterday, here in Austin you would never believe it. This year was the hottest ever in the history of Austin.

"We average about 14 100-degree days per year (period of record dating back to 1898), but more recently, that number has been much higher. The average over the last 30 years (1989-2018) is 27 days of triple digit heat. The most ever (90) happened in 2011. Last year, we had 52." (CBS Austin)

I haven't found the total number of 100 degree days yet, but it is record-breaking. The month of October thus far:

Sun

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

Sat

9/29

Actual Temp

98°

77°

Hist. Avg.

87°/65°

9/30

Actual Temp

99°

80°

Hist. Avg.

86°/65°

1

Actual Temp

99°

78°

Hist. Avg.

86°/65°

2

Actual Temp

98°

77°

Hist. Avg.

86°/64°

3

Actual Temp

97°

75°

Hist. Avg.

86°/64°

4

Actual Temp

96°

75°

Hist. Avg.

85°/64°

5

Actual Temp

97°

72°

Hist. Avg.

85°/64°

6

Actual Temp

99°

72°

Hist. Avg.

85°/63°

7

Actual Temp

85°

68°

Hist. Avg.

84°/63°

8

Actual Temp

87°

63°

Hist. Avg.

84°/63°

9

Actual Temp

96°

69°

Hist. Avg.

84°/62°

10

Actual Temp

99°

78°

Hist. Avg.

84°/62°

11

Actual Temp

82°

47°

Hist. Avg.

83°/62°

12

Actual Temp

65°

54°

Hist. Avg.

83°/62°

13

Actual Temp

82°

56°

Hist. Avg.

83°/61°

14

Actual Temp

89°

71°

Hist. Avg.

82°/61°

15

Actual Temp

96°

74°

Hist. Avg.

82°/61°

16

Actual Temp

76°

56°

Hist. Avg.

82°/61°

17

Actual Temp

77°

54°

Hist. Avg.

82°/60°

18

Actual Temp

85°

51°

Hist. Avg.

81°/60°

19

Actual Temp

96°

66°

Hist. Avg.

81°/60°

20

Actual Temp

95°

65°

Hist. Avg.

81°/60°

21

Actual Temp

82°

63°

Hist. Avg.

80°/59°

22

Actual Temp

83°

50°

Hist. Avg.

80°/59°

23

Actual Temp

87°

54°

Hist. Avg.

80°/59°

24

Actual Temp

86°

49°

Hist. Avg.

80°/58°

25

Actual Temp

59°

44°

Hist. Avg.

79°/58°

Can you believe the heat? Although yesterday was so cool, I actually had to put the furnace on, today it will be 70 degrees and tomorrow 80. And they keep saying "there's no such thing as climate change". I thought Arizona was hot. I remember folks telling me, "at least it's a dry heat!" Unfortunately, we cannot say that about Austin.

I heard from GENE ROUTH. He sent the following message:

"Woke up this morning (Thursday) to 10 inches of snow. Fall/Winter is definitely here. Hope this finds everyone doing OK. See you next year, God willing."  GENE and Lenna

GENE also sent the following beautiful snow scenes at their home:

Beautiful to look at, but I'm glad you don't have to drive anywhere in all that snow. Bet the mountains of Colorado are treacherous as well.

The tornadoes that hit the Dallas/Ft Worth area and moved north into Oklahoma last week missed BOB BURTON's place in Flower Mound. JUNE HASH CURRY said the storm didn't do any damage to their home in Edmond, Oklahoma, but gave them much-needed rain. It also gave us two (2) inches of rain here in Austin. We've had such a drought of late, even the pounding on my metal roof was a welcome sound and I slept like a baby. 

Does anyone remember the snow days in Ballinger? NANCY THOMPSON BAKER said she didn't remember guys riding in a car down the park hill. They would pull an old car hood behind them with someone foolish enough to ride on it like a sled! I remember making them let me out of the car before they began that dangerous trek downhill. Also, does anyone remember riding on icy country roads on those snow days? At one time someone in the back seat had a rifle - probably a 22 caliber. The car slid off the road into a small ditch, and the rifle went off, tearing a hole in the back of a seat. It's a wonder no one was seriously injured or killed during those foolish rides. (I sure wish I still had that "pea coat".)

Nancy sent the following a couple of weeks back: "I haven't told you about our new dog named BOZO. She was found out on a country road starving.... you could count her ribs. She makes a good companion for BRANDY (another rescue dog) and our cat, BEARCAT - continuing the "B" names. BOZO escapes every chance she gets and we have chased her down MANY times. She's a Chiweenie, small and not well-behaved. She learned how to escape the yard gates quickly, and sneaks out every time I go outside."

I found this online and NANCY said "That's an exact picture of BOZO except she is dark brown and has a pink collar":

DENNY HILL has been in Rome the past week. I got a late answer to my email last night asking him what kind of plane he was flying on. (At one time he was going on one of the Boeing 737s that have been recalled. He didn't give me the type of plane, but the airline he's traveling on was on strike all day yesterday!): "Alitalia...direct flight from JFK to Rome. Meeting over today, gave my talk, and now have one day, Saturday, to walk around.  Fly back on Sunday, and teach two courses on Monday."   Busy guy!

As you can see, I took up a lot of space on some things (on weather) that may not be too interesting. I really would like to hear from more of you. The good, the bad, the stuff in need of prayer work! Unless some of us plan on living to the ripe old age of 100, we may not be around too many more years to share our news.

Peace, love, and good health,

Marilyn