I'm Thankful For...
...a houseful of family, including all three of my kids...blue skies and mild temperatures perfect for opening windows, walking through the woods and up to the top of the hill, and playing ping-pong...my mother's cornbread dressing recipe and Thanksgiving Day dinner instructions...double ovens and Chinette plates...in-laws who chip in and help out... I'm grateful for friends and family...for the internet and telephones that allow Happy Thanksgiving wishes to travel back and forth, erasing the miles in-between us, especially those between my parents and me. I'm thankful the University of Texas pull

A Not-Quite-Treasure Hunt and My Favorite Color, Gruene...
I have a million things to do before company arrives this afternoon, but I have done a wonderful job ignoring them so far...I slept in, and then it was such a gorgeous morning that Tom and I had to take the critters for a walk (these days, with Charly, there's no way to rush that.) And now, here I am blogging... Do I qualify for Procrastinator of the Year yet? Tom took Max and Charly to the vet yesterday for their shots and check-ups...Max passed with flying colors, and except for being old, skinny and lumpy, Charly did, too. There was one thing they didn't check on Max, though, because he goes berserk if you go near hi

Cribbage and...St. Frances?
It's like magic...whenever Shallue families gather in one place, you can count on a cribbage board and several decks of cards materializing on a nearby surface. Tom's mom and dad arrived Saturday evening and already there have been dozens of cribbage games, 3-13 matches (a kind of rummy), and the curses, whines, excuses, (and pages and pages of scratch paper full of scores and hex symbols next to the winners' names) that go along with them. Before I left for work this morning, my wonderful mother-in-law had already dusted the upstairs and was asking "what else can I do?" How did I get so lucky? That's one reason I'm not really

Love justice, you who judge the Earth...
...think of the Lord in goodness and seek Him in integrity of heart. (Wisdom 1:1) Tom has been sleeping in starts and stops in between hours of lying in bed, wide awake. Last week he spent hours on a jury faced with a child abuse case - he was inundated with the kind of details that sink into your soul and aren't easy to shake...the kind that wake you up at night wondering if there was anything else you could do...wondering how you and another person can look at the same details and come away with polar opposite impressions and opinions. They saw the X-ray of this two-year-old's femur, snapped completely apart - an 'X

Just Me and Stoney, Dusting and Thinking
I think Kendall's graduation cap and braided ropes hadn't been touched since she placed them on that chest right after the ceremony last June. I untangled the cords, hung them on a hook, and propped her cap up on her dresser. Stoney LaRue's voice floated in from the livingroom speakers..."May God bless you and keep you always, may your wishes all come true. May you always do for others and let others do for you. May you build a ladder to the stars and climb on every rung. May you stay forever young, forever young, forever young..." I dusted the wooden souvenir box fro