I have to admit I always thought of Hazel more as a strong personality than as a great beauty. She spent most of her adult life in Dallas, where everyone in the family visited her regularly until her death in 1997. She was 5′7″ and weighed 87 pounds when she died, but her mind was sharp as a tack. I still miss her and so do my children.

After that we took our time looking at just about everything at Fresh Market, our idea of fun on a Saturday afternoon. Among other items, we bought some beautiful apples, peaches, and tangerines; a turkey and Swiss panini to share tonight; chicken breasts for Sunday; and Italian sausages for the freezer. Best of all, I stocked up on enough Fage Yogurt for the rest of the week. This is my daily treat for the perilous hour after school, and it seems to be helping. My skinny niece Samantha turned me on to this yummy stuff while I was in Little Rock, but it’s unfortunately not available in New Iberia.

DD Ashley called from Portland while we were on the way home, taking a break from the first stages of packing for her move to a new apartment at the end of October. She is really excited to be moving into a more retro apartment, downsizing from two bedrooms to one in a trade off for charm and a much larger kitchen and bathroom. She said she always wondered where people found those cute apartments you see on TV, and now she’s found one. I know I can’t wait to see it and just wish I could be there for her upcoming thirtieth birthday. By some weird coincidence, both my kids have birthdays the same week in October, so we’ll be celebrating with those both far and near in a few days.

…so we have a place to put blame for any unpleasant traits which any of us have - as the Campbells were the most successful clan in Scotland as far as expanding their holdings, because they were the meanest, most vicious of all e.g. the Glen Coe massacre, the mass hanging of everyone in another, small, clan south of them in Argyll.

I thought I had lost fifteen-year old kitty Savvy when I couldn’t find her until 1:00 o’clock in the afternoon, but then I found her sitting safe and sound by the back door. She hardly ever goes outside, so I didn’t think to look. Poor thing! She probably spent the whole night and morning out there! Somewhat new kitty MacKenzie was none too happy about Savvy’s return, having quickly moved into position as number one cat.

This is Sugar Cane Festival weekend in New Iberia, a big deal in our little town, but I am taking it easy, having had enough excitement for one month for sure. Even the school week was crazy. I only worked four days this week, and two of them were spent in all-day trainings. One on Wednesday was excellent, a presentation by Debra Pickering of Marzano & Associates, but the other on Friday was not so good. The topic was giving incompletes instead of zeros when kids don’t turn in work, in other words, eliminating deadlines, and tempers flared around the room as teachers asked hard questions of the presenters and were cut short in the process. On top of that, they kept making us dance, and I was reminded of what my niece Samantha told two scam artists who came to her door in Little Rock last week, saying their teacher said they had to talk to 200 happy people: “We’re not happy.”

My Sister Jane

My sister Jane passed away on Thursday afternoon after two and a half weeks in the hospital.

I returned home yesterday afternoon after spending Thursday, Friday, and Saturday in DeValls Bluff and Little Rock and Sunday into Monday in our hometown of Monticello. In addition to Jane’s two children and husband and his children, my two brothers and other family members were there from the West Coast (brother John and niece Marion in photo) as well as my family from New Iberia. She had a lovely service in our childhood church, right next to the old house where we grew up, and is buried in the family plot alongside our parents.

I would like more sisters, that the taking out of one, might not leave such stillness. - Emily Dickinson

I’m back from my four-day trip to Arkansas. Jane is seriously ill and still in the hospital, but I understand she is eating better and starting to complain today, two good signs.

In spite of everything, it was good to be with family, and we managed to feast on everything from steaks from Terry’s to chopped pork at Sims Bar-B-Que to takeout tamales from some new Mexican restaurant before we all caught Alexander’s stomach bug. That was rough and not fit to print, so I’ll stop.

I came home and started reorganizing my toiletries, all with good intentions of reorganizing my house, my life. I didn’t get very far, but it’s a start. I just don’t know what else to do right now, when what I really want to do is turn around and go back to Little Rock.

My sister Jane is in the hospital, and Matt, Ashley, Alexander, and I will start the eight-hour trip to Little Rock Thursday after school. Our brother Jim is flying in from the Reno area on the same day, and we’ll also see her two children, Clay, who lives in Chicago, and Samantha, who lives in Little Rock. Jane, a retired special education supervisor, and her husband Charles run a unique bed and breakfast called Palaver Place in DeValls Bluff, Arkansas, although Charles continues to work as a psychologist. We are very concerned about Jane, as she is a colon cancer survivor and experiencing multiple organ failure at this time.

My high school friend Jody keeps our class of 1966 up to date on things, and yesterday she shared a link to a little presentation you might enjoy if you remember the music of that era: Take Me Back to the Sixties.

This afternoon I accidentally deleted my WordPress database. Fortunately, I had a (somewhat dated) backup. Please leave your name and number, and I’ll get back with you as soon as possible.

What’s sad but true is that it’s not the first time I’ve done this. Just blame it on stress, namely bad news about my sister Jane’s health sandwiched in between two hurricanes and no air conditioning at work.