Depart From the Summer Fun Theme...

Just for a minute. I usually try to keep some kind of thread that ties all this together going, and I guess this fits in the pictures of people playing music category so there you go.

A picture snapped by Cathy's cousin Doug at the choir of cousins gathering for Karl Dutt's funeral Mass. Just received this week by email. Had I known he was taking pictures I would have posed at the big pipe organ in the background. Always wanted my picture taken at the organ. Anyway, pay Doug a visit at the Classmates Band web link on the side bar.

Someone that did not quite grasp this blogging thing asked me the other day, "but what is it about?"

I said, "It's about me."

Music...

Here are pictures Mary made on the World Youth day trip of people playing music. With 400,000 or so in attendance a great number were bound to be musicians. Seems to have been a lot of playing in the streets.






A band set up on a Sydney street.












Always the unique to be found . I know I am always on the look out for the musical thing I haven't seen before and Mary carries on with that curiosity with this picture of a man with a home made bottle instrument, tuned by the amount of liquid in the bottle to different pitches and assorted drums to keep time.
In the streets. How many acoustic guitars in this picture?

Cathy is currently at work arranging the World Youth Day theme song, Receive the Power.

Summer Fun...

More pictures from the various days at the lake. First two made by Janet, got to give credit where credit is due.

Me showing off. At least there is not a picture, me falling off.


Us showing off, you know, the older you will get...

I think Miguel is getting the hang of it, big fish of the day yesterday.

You know the rest, swimming in our bellies.

At the Lake...

Had some old friends visit, Janet and kids Veronica and Adam, (dad John is stuck at home, hey John, maybe next time) so we went to the lake. Only the second lake trip for us this month, we need to do something about that. Here is Mary and Veronica on the tube.
Mary and Adam.
A little blurry, but too good to not post. I think they call this manuver bottoms up.

From the Other Side of the World...

Mary attended World Youth Day with the Pope, a pilgrimage to Sidney Australia. Should be an interview in today's' Lufkin paper with various travelers, I haven't seen the paper yet because sometimes the dogs get it.

Here' Mary with the Sidney Opera house in the background.



400,000 attend the Mass and marched in the streets. Sometimes it seems that more news time is devoted to the march of the few protesters that were there than all the good things these young people were doing.






Are we starting to dress local,or just looking more tourist?










Some of the Lufkin kids and friends from around the world they made. They were all encouraged (all 400,000 of them) to bring something from their country to trade to a person from another country. Mary had just replaced the plates on her truck so she traded an old Texas truck plate for the Australian flag she holds.

Here's the Beefcake Shots...

Here's Cathy all dressed up. I liked the dress dinner up evenings on the cruise. Sometimes when we dress up to go to certain local events folks ask, "who were those art people?"


Here I am, waiting to meet the woman in the previous picture.
Clear water in Grand Cayman.
Hey, just thought of something, is this water making my butt look big?

Families...

Some photos of the families that cruised together.

Here is John and Mari with Megan and Catlin (how many ways can you spell Catlyn?) at the ships rail.



Margaret, Grayson and Kevin at dinner. The sit down dinners were nice on the ship. Table service was good and you got to dress up a bit.
Jim and Sandy with Chandler and Samatha.
They are in one of the lounge areas and behind them is a stage when music was often being performed.
Pop and Geneva.

I'm Back...

Just back Last night from a cruise visiting Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Belize and Rowatan Island which is part of British Honduras.

The cruise was a family affair, along for the ride were various members of Cathy's family, her dad, Bill and wife Geneva, brothers Jim, wife Sandy daughters Samantha and Chandler, brother John with wife Mari, daughters Megan and Catlin and sister Margaret, husband Kevin and daughter Grayson.

You see Cathy with the ship, here's me in the bottomless pool. It's real deep.











I'll get letters, calls, emails for this I know. They will all ask the same thing. "On a cruise, don't you stay on the ship? How did you get so far out in front?"

It's one of those secrets, like what I did when the plane was going down, what I said when I was landing the space shuttle and how I reacted to the elevator not going all the way to the top.

Anyway, I took 336 pictures. Cathy leaves in a moment to pick up Mary and the St.Pat's youth group, landing in Houston after a week in Australia for World Youth Day with the Pope.

Travels, vacations, it's the season...

Last post here for a few days all are traveling.

Here are members of the St Patrick's Youth Group. They departed this morning for World Youth Day with the Pope in Sydney Australia.

Mary is included in this group, third from the left.
A good crowd of a parishioners was on hand to see them off.

We leave on vacation ourselves tomorrow.
Updates soon.

Happy Birthday Mary...

17 years old today!

Once up on a time she was a little pretty baby.

Now she would have you believe she sprang from the womb full grown and raising cain.

Water...

A storm coming up yesterday on Big Sam.
Five minutes later this was all white cap with big jagged streaks of lightening. Ran out to the fishing hole and then turned around and headed back. Did not even wet a hook.

Cathy was the only one that got to have fun. Her hobby is running the boat on the trailer with a big crowd of bass fishermen watching while a storm comes up and the wind howls. She can really stick it. She like to make those guys wonder why they did not bring their wives.

Looking north on the Mississippi, some where between the little Arkansas towns of Oceola and Wilson. Made on our recent trip, my mother says when she was a little girl they would go to the market and buy one catfish, caught in this area and it would be big enough to feed the whole family.

Washing their feet in the big muddy. Some kind of perverted baptism ceremony, they think it will bless them with large catches next time they fish.






More water, this time a picture sent by brother in law John. Claims this was a business trip to Alaska and he just had time to go fishing.

That's a 31lb King Salmon caught on the Little Susitna River. Things are kind of backward up there, close to the Artic, time of the picture is 10:30 at night.

Mary's Form on youtube...

In this photo feet are just a blur.

Check the youtube site for a clip of her form, 1st place in the 17-29 year old 2nd and 3rd degree black belt ring. Pretty good start stepping up in the adult rings.

http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=theolderyouwillget

The youtube link on the side bar is working for the time being. I have trouble keeping it fixed.

Here's a First...

Wait a minute, shouldn't that deer be on the other side of the fence?
Hey, off my lawn, stay away from the tomato cages!
No animals in that barn, not equipped.

Hey guys, I'm out here, let me back in.

Got home from work the other day to find Cathy stalking a deer in the yard camera in hand. She sure was acting strange, may be slipped out of the game fence and now has a fawn on the other side somewhere.

I have seen her once since these pictures were taken. Standing in the drive one evening I hear the sound of hooves pounding down the black top. There went the deer with Buford and Brenda's border collie/cow dog mixes in chase. Trailing this action at a safe distance was El Guapo.

I called to El Guapo, "Come here, quit chasing the deer." He obediently came to my side. I could see from the look on his face he was readying the story he would tell his dog buddies. "The man called me. I had to come, I mean he feeds me, built the dog house, scrubs my belly till it's plumb pink. I owe him everything."

That look on his face was relief. Relief from the tired thirsty work of deer chasing on a hot summer afternoon.

For Your Viewing Pleasure...

My form as performed at the tournament last weekend:
http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=theolderyouwillget&p=r

It's the first one. This video channel is growing with 15 posted and I have several more to post from world.

My Form...

Part of the Taekwondo thing is when you do your form, kind of a stylized fight,a series of perscribed moves and all are judgement on technique and presentation.

No, I am not falling down, thats a circle low block.



One foot high low block.
The move that preceded this was a jump spin knife hand strike in the air ending in a punch. Don't know how that looked, most likely ugly, but at least I landed neatly.