Merry December Together in Texas

Cynthia is the shorter one

15 Dec, Sunday:

14 Dec:  promises to be rainy?  Ron was relieved to sleep until 10 AM after his late bedtime last night.  Then he worked on the index a tiny bit and wasted more time on basketball videos of Marques Haynes and Lance and Lawrence Cudjoe, whose three short guards college team (6', 5'5" and 5'5") won 112 games while losing only 3.

13 Dec:  Oh, what fun! Oh, what fun! Oh, what fun!  Indeed!  We worked on the index.  Ron again wasted much of the day watching basketball videos.  We walked 5,33 miles;  Cynthia thought she lost her cell phone until she discovered it right where she left it on the kitchen counter.  We enjoyed baked acorn squash, baked potato, and baked salmon.  The Lea Book index edits are updated.  Volume II is waiting in the wings until after Christmas.  Fooey, Ron found more things needing fixes throughout the index and stayed up until 1:30 AM working on them.

12 Dec:  Today Ron WILL get Christmas cards written and into the mail.  (or at least written.)  We walked to the lake and back about noon, and we drove to Walmart to get groceries, including coffee and oatmeal.  Now Ron is back to work on Christmas cards - after adding Cynthia's index fixes.

11 Dec:  Tomorrow.  Ron enjoyed frittering away the entire day watching U-Tube basketball highlights of Pistol Pete Maravich, Dr. J, and Larry Bird.  He still thinks that Wilt Chamberlain, the Big Dipper, was the greatest of all time, and Wilt said that Meadowlark Lemon was the best player he ever played with or against.  We listened to a couple of KISS songs when Cynthia thought that Bill O'Reilly was going to interview one of those guys who dated Cher, and that led to another distraction finding out how much Cher has done in her life and that she wasn't so disrespectful of Sonny after his death.

10 Dec:  Without snow it doesn't feel like Christmas, despite all the adorable photos of great-grandchildren with Santa Claus we are receiving in emails.  Ron has Christmas cards on the counter to send.  The Smooches walked four-plus mile.  The attendant at the Fitness Club calls us “The Lovebirds.”

9 Dec:  It was a cloudy and then a sunny day in Montgomery Town.  We walked five miles, which is a good thing.  Cynthia went the weekend without her hand brace and paid the price of the pain. 

8 Dec, Sunday:  It is a rainy Sunday in Montgomery, Texas, but our brunch guests brought laughter and sunshine into the Cafe on the Green.  Cynthia forgot to take photos of her son Jon, granddaughter Samantha and her three-year-old son Noah, and grandson Steven.  Noah is a delight to be around.  When he was ready to leave, he walked around the table to pleasantly tell everyone goodbye, it was time to go.  We are very proud of granddaughter Sam who is the Director of Counseling at a school for autistic children.  Her husband Adam is an engineer with Forde Construction.  They are expecting new baby Theo in six weeks.  And wow for grandson Steven who teaches science and chemistry to eighth graders at Cy-Fair.  Fifteen rahs for you Steven!

Lunch with Jon (photographer)

7 Dec:  No schedule !!  We can and did sleep in today.  Rainy day, so we are indoors working on the index until noon or later. Uffda.  The index was completed and inserted into the book, but the concordance disappeared when Ron attempted to format a couple of lines that appeared to be in a larger font.  What a sick feeling that was until he discovered that TextEdit comes with at Revert To previous version choice.  All is well, the index is in the book with a total of 489 pages.  We went for a short walk just before dark and dined on popcorn again.  Now, after taking a couple of days off, he will add the appendices to Volume II.  Thank God! 

Cynthia is the shorter one

6 Dec:  Up early again, this time to get the car seats recovered.  At 42 degrees, this was a Brrrh motorcycle ride home for Cynthia.  After noon, when Cynthia had thawed out, we walked across the peninsula and back for our usual four miles.  The upholstery shop did a fantastic job for Cynthia, improving her seating position and lumbar support.  Ron again spent the day indexing, and since it is now nighttime, eating popcorn.  Lauren sent this photo of Lauren and Grandmother Cynthia, a memory of the last family Thanksgiving.  

5 Dec:  We had a lazy morning and went for our walk at noon.  Ron spent the day indexing; only 280 lines left to finish.  What a relief.!!  We are back to eating popcorn in the evenings to avoid calories.

4 Dec:  We did it!  We were up at five AM, exercised, oatmealed, and in the car by 7:15 for the 1.5 hour drive to the ophthalmologist in Brenham, Texas, arriving with three minutes to spare.  The Dr. dilated Ron’s eyes, but won't do the cataract consultation until 6 February.  Bummer.  It is likely he will have more lab and measurement appointments prior to surgery.  This postpones departure and scheduling indefinitely; we will know more 6 February.  We had lunch at Magnolia Diner, where the waitress remembered us and greeted us cheerfully, and we slept the afternoon away. 

3 Dec:  Ron indexed; we walked four miles, brought home a load of boxes from the storage unit, and shopped for groceries,  After some popcorn, it will be an early bedtime because we leave at seven AM tomorrow for Ron’s dilated eye exam, a prerequisite for cataract surgery. 

2 Dec.  There are only 23 days until Christmas.  We enjoyed sleeping late and having a lazy morning, although Ron continues working diligently on the Lea index.  We walked almost four miles on a lovely, warm, pleasant day.  Cynthia is re-reading Bonhoeffer’s book, The Cost of Discipleship.  A significant chapter deals with denying self by forgiving others.  

1 Dec:  Ron completed his PACEMAKER test - again.  He also announced the December blog title: I love you!  Cynthia spent the day going to the Nutcracker Ballet again, but this time with her two sons, Jon and Paul, plus Paul’s two daughters, Zoe and Fyn.  Zoe received highest honors for her MA dissertation from University of York.