Snow PhotosDecember 10, 2009
A Rare Thing-Snow
Top: Ashton in front of the Physicians Center as the afternoon snow was just starting.
Second Down:Snow falling at the Physicians Center. It wasn't cold enough to stay on the streets, so it looked like rain. But you could see the white in the distance and on the grass.
Third Down: Doesn't this look Christmasey! Flower bed in front of the Physicians Center. I was behind the windows here, sketching while waiting on Christopher to come out after his surgery.
Bottom: We drove home from the hospital with big snowflakes falling and everything turning more white. This continued until almost midnight and we still had some snow the next morning.
This is very unusual here. Bob French said, on the weather on tv, that our area got 1 to 3 inches. By 10 p.m., he said that we already had 2 1/2 inches. We had a little snow in the morning and that was supposed to end by noon. And it seemed to, but, before 3 p.m. it started coming down with the big flakes. A low pressure area formed over us, bringing moisture from the Gulf, after the cold front had gone through, and it just kept spinning over us. It finally headed out for Louisiana. Even Houston had snow.
People were so excited! And it felt a little more like Christmas. At the Brazos Center, KBTX was having their annual food drive, and they really looked like they had the Christmas spirit, and some winter fun, as they made little snowmen, threw snowballs, and tried to keep warm. By them being on tv out in the snow, we got to see more of what was going on.
With Christopher having ankle surgery, and having to drive home, and figure out how he was going to get up snow covered steps, with crutches that he had never used before, we didn't have much time to enjoy the snowfall. It was already getting dark when we got home. But we did catch snowflakes on our tongues and collect a little snow to put in the freezer.
Now that it is past, I just remembered that we should have made some snow ice cream! It happens so seldom that I forgot the things that we should have done. Hopefully, we will have snow again, before too long. After all these years, we're still hoping for a white Christmas, and enough snow to really enjoy.
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Another big event here happened yesterday. I couldn't go, but it was exciting, anyway. (I was busy changing ice packs, taking temperature, making sure that Christopher had plenty to drink and eat, and all those things that go with recovery after surgery.) But, above all, the event wasn't open to the public. Seniors who were graduating from A&M got two tickets each for family to attend the event in Reed Arena. They opened Rudder Auditorium for faculty, staff, and students to watch on a big screen. I don't qualify and didn't have anyone graduating, so I had to be content to watch on tv at home. Worked out just as well, I guess. It was also on live streaming through the tv station, but I was already watching tv.
It was a historic event. And, as it turned out, it was the best speech that I have heard in a long, long time. I know that these seniors will remember their commencement speaker always, and also a lot of what he said.
President George Bush chose A&M to give his last commencement address as a sitting president. And what a grand event it was, with the Ross Volunteers, the governor's guard who are an elite group in the Corps of Cadets here, lined up on each side as the president and his entourage entered. Barbara Bush, just out of the hospital after her surgery a few days ago, introduced her husband, George H.W. Bush. Bush 41 looked like he was using a longer cane and still a bit wobbly since his hip replacement. He said that the President asked him to keep it short, so he did, as he introduced his son.
Reed Arena was filled with over 11,000 graduating seniors and their guests. Everyone seemed appreciative and enjoyed seeing the President. The traditional "Whoop" was heard a lot!
That was one of the best speeches that I have heard in a long time, as I said. He showed a lot of understanding of A&M and its traditions, and Texas. His sense of humor made the speech enjoyable as he sprinkled in words of wisdom and advice to the graduates. "Listen to your mother." " If you have a job and know what you are going to do, congratulations. If you don't know what is coming next, I know how you feel." He also mentioned that there are some lasts. This was his last commencement speech. Laura had decorated the White House for Christmas for the last time. And Barney had bitten his last reporter-they hope.
He talked of some of the Aggie traditons that he would have liked to have participated in when he was younger, like dunking the senior ring. He would have liked to have taken Laura to Midnight Yell. And he would have liked to have Reville in some of his classes. (If Reville barks during a class, the class is dismissed!) He would have liked to have had her at some press conferences. He concluded his speech with a tribute to his parents, especially his father, saying that he was proud to have carried his father's name, George Bush for 62 years. He was clearly emotional as he talked, while earlier he spoke with a twinkle in his eye.
The new president of A&M talked briefly and mentioned that they still have the plot of land next door to the George Bush Library. (People would really have liked to have the two presidential libraries for father and son together, but, instead, they picked Laura Bush's alma mater, SMU in Dallas. That will form a triangle with the LBJ Library in Austin, George Bush Library in College Station, and the George Bush Library in Dallas.)
The program ended with the Singing Cadets rendition of "The Spirit of Aggieland", and the Bush family leaving through the honor guard of Ross Volunteers.
A short ride over to where several helicopters, including Marine One, waited in a field, and they were off to Waco, where Air Force One would take them back to D.C.
People were really excitied to see Marine One. I guess that our runway may not be long enough for Air Force One. I'm not sure because Tony Blair's big plane was here when he visited a while back.
You can find the President's address on the KBTX tv website here:
Or at C-Span here:
There is also quite a bit on The Eagle (newspaper) website
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I haven't posted for a few days. I've had trouble getting on the internet at times, and, when it was working, I didn't have time to post. I have some things I wanted to share with you.
Among those things was that last Wednesday was "Support Ramos and Comean Day". Of course, that was when we were busy with the upcoming surgery, snow, and all. I hope that President Bush will pardon those two before he leaves office. If they can pardon criminals and turkeys, why not do the right thing and get these two out of where they should not be to begin with. It doesn't make sense to me. But then, a lot of things don't make sense, these days.
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I don't have a lot of Christmas spirit this year. With no shopping to do, parties or programs to attend, etc., the nearest thing to feeling like Christmas was the snow. We haven't even decorated for Christmas. Usually, my daughter puts everything up on Thanksgiving afternoon, or right after. But, this year, everything is still boxed up. I always think that I am going to make my Christmas cards, or get those done early. But my calendar is still on November! I only thought that Christmas will soon be here-today!
When we still had the store, I always wanted to make some big papier mache figures to go in the show windows. Irvin, especially, liked Santa Claus, so I wanted to start with a jolly Santa figure. Then add some angels, etc. Never got that done, though. Then I decided that I would like a nice nativity scene, so maybe I should make my own. (I have this thing where I think that I should not buy things like rugs or decorations. I should be able to make my own! Of course, I know how, but doing it is something else.)
I guess I have been thinking of pictures that I need to do, events coming up next year like the Sketch Crawl January 10th, and the Plein Aire Painting Workshop February 21-22.
And other things like laundry, making sure that Ashton gets his AR Reading done, and learns the Preamble to the Constitution, that Christopher has what he needs, and trying to figure out how to work the new remotes for the tvs, and finding something worth watching on tv. (They have had some Christmas time old movies on tv, and that's helping a little.)
I hope that you and your's have a lot of Christmas spirit and are enjoying the season.
Thanks for reading and sharing. Please pass this on to others who might be interested.
If you are interested in forming a group, or doing Sketch Crawl, where you are, I'll be glad to answer any questions. Or you are welcome to join us, if you are in the area.
Also, it's time to start thinking about the Plein Aire Workshop in February. Let me, or Virginia or Sonny know, if you are interested in that. Virginia has more on her blog and website at http://www.v-vaughan.com/ or http://www.vvaughan.blogspot.com/ . Or you can click on her name in my sidebar under Artists and Authors.
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I finally got to see the episode of "Texas Country Reporter" that featured Virginia Vaughan in the wee hours of this morning as I was flipping through channels on tv. It was great to watch her paint and talk about the farm, and to see those places that she has painted and written about. If you missed it, hopefully they will rerun it again and you, too, can enjoy the program. http://www.texascountryreporter.com/show.htm
I think I recorded it. I tried, anyway, but I'm not really sure about these new remote controls. I saved it to watch while PBS is fund raising instead of showing the programs I like to watch.
Be sure to check out Virginia's website with her work and her upcoming events.
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