- May 6th was the 50th Anniversary of my birth, and, thankfully, it passed with little fanfare except for remembrances from some family and friends (especially those of you on FaceBook – thanks.) I am not overly concerned with passing the half-century mark – it certainly beats the alternative – but I also am not thrilled with actually “being 50″. I keep wondering when I’ll feel like I’m getting older, and when I’ll stop having dreams where I’m dealing with some 20-year-old’s problems.
- The prettiest flowers in the Hill Country seem to associated with the most noxious plants. The flowers of the wild “Prickly Pear” cactus are a gorgeous yellow or orange – a wide, bright bloom that can be seen from quite a distance, which is good, because up close their tiny little thorns seem to jump at your hands and stay embedded in your skin for days. The large, white bloom shooting up higher than its neighbors in the pasture is on top of the “Stinging Nettle” bush – one you’ll not tangle with twice, I can promise you. There are plenty of other wild blooms, too, but not very many of Lady Bird’s famous blue bonnets. I think it’s been too dry.
- I’ve only about 7 classroom days of teaching left, which is just fine with me. The kids and I have pretty much reached an uneasy truce – I don’t make too many demands and they don’t make me feel too much like an unwelcome guest. I’m not looking forward to facing the several students who will be receiving ‘zero’ on their end-of-term papers due to blatant plagiarism. I think the little buggers thought I couldn’t use Google.
- I got the chance today to burn some of that mesquite tree in our smoker, spending more than six hours cooking pork spare ribs, a small beef brisket and a chicken. Jane accused me of channeling her father’s tendency to fix far too much food – but as Buddy told me more than once, you don’t want to fire up the big smoker for anything less than a small mountain of meat. The pork was delicious, but I don’t think I’ve got the brisket down yet – it was tough. Maybe a few more hours of ‘low and slow’ were needed.
- I start rehearsals next week for a production of 1776 in which I’ll play South Carolina slave trader Andrew Rutledge (historically, the youngest member of the Continental Congress ?!). I’ll be sure to let you know how it goes. I saw, today, an ad for a production of The Man of LaMancha that I wish I had known about for auditions – Don Quixote is one of my ’someday’ roles, and you don’t see this one getting produced very much any more.
- Jane and the girls are about to pass their one-year marks here in Comfort – they moved last May and I stayed behind alone for a couple of months. It’s been an eventful year filled with opportunities, though I sometimes have trouble seeing them. My own “Year in Comfort” will be complete soon, and we’ll assess the future of the blog when the time comes.
Yes, I’ve been passing some milestones. And, though that sounds vaguely painful, all of them have fallen by with little, if any real damage. Thanks for following along.
JB
