Happy birthday, Paula!
I wonder by my troth, what thou and I
Did, till we loved? were we not wean’d till then?
But suck’d on country pleasures, childishly?
Or snorted we in the Seven Sleepers’ den?
‘Twas so; but this, all pleasures fancies be;
If ever any beauty I did see,
Which I desired, and got, ’twas but a dream of thee.
From John Donne, “The Good-Morrow”
Thirty-one years, one wife…
The years shall run like rabbits,
For in my arms I hold
The Flower of the Ages,
And the first love of the world.
These sorts of pictures tempt you to say something like, “Those were the days!”
It was nice to have Paula and Petra pulling on the paddles as we canoed on Town Lake this morning….
If I were in Austin today, I would invite my daughter to lunch. I’d let her pick the place, and if she were feeling nastalgic, she might go for Sbarro, since I used to take her there on our father-daughter lunches when she was a tiny little princess.
Now she’s a big princess, but she’s still mine. Happy birthday, Karen!
Sometimes the demands of work and life can be overwhelming. Then there are the boondoggles….
Next week we will head to Spain for a retreat. This is a legitimate, work-related, most-expenses-paid trip. I’m sure the meetings will be helpful and challenging. I’m certain that every night when we head to our hotel rooms we will be exhausted. I’m also convinced you don’t believe me – but this is work! You shouldn’t be so cynical, just because we will be in a luxury hotel 50 meters from the beach – that’s just a convenient location so we will have plenty of meeting space.
Still, we get a day off, and our family will be heading to the ancient city of Seville for some cultural and historical nourishment.
I’ll try to post a picture or two….
This afternoon, while sane Slovaks were nestled in their homes cooking up their kapustnica, potato salad, and carp, we (along with our friend Ande) caught a ghost train to Smolenice for a short hike in the Small Carpathians. It was misty, sleety, and muddy, but refreshing to be out in the air.
Here in Slovakia the custom is for those who have milestone birthdays (like the fiftieth) to throw a nice party for their friends. I decided to adopt this custom, and I had one objective for my party: that my guests enjoy themselves. I’m happy to report that (as near as I can tell) everyone had a blast. And, happily, my guests included some fine photographers. I’ll put a few teasers here (all from Ande), but to see all the goodies you have to join Facebook.
What do you do when you have two sons that are this good looking?
BTW, this picture was taken by our friend Ande at my birthday party last night….
