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| My friend Cheryl and I visited the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in hopes that poppy plants might be on sale. Not so. The fragrant blossoms on this tree were covered with busy bees. |
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| Cheryl, and Carolina jasmine on the seed silo |
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| Thriving bluebonnets will bloom in March. |
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| Junie B. Jones is a first grader who keeps a journal of her adventures. Emma is the beloved Gladys Gutzman, the queen of snacks, who supplies the kids with sugar cookies. |
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| After the show, Emma (in her Junie B. Jones' mother's costume) introduced Fox to the actress who played Junie B. Jones. Fox's unicorn Silver (wrapped in Fox's baby blanket) and her husky Orion also got to see the show. |
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| We celebrated Kirk's 37th birthday with Indian food at their house. Jim and Lucy briefly pretended to be asleep while Jake bounded around the kitchen with a Valentine-shaped ball. |
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| Warmer temps and Carolina jasmine in bloom. Ah! So pleasant to be on the porch swing. |
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| The jasmine is ready for Spring. The pecan trees are still thinking about it. |
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| Papa Tom and I need to up our yard art game! I have Austin bat lights and other lights on the front porch, but that's it--so far! |
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| Looks like these homeowners preserved the neighborhood's original sign. Crestview has been around as long as I have! |
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| I have no words. |
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| Happy 39 to my sweet baby boy, Ryder, on February 19. Will he really be 40 next year? So proud of you, my son! |
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| Wonderful Mimi and beautiful Brandy have birthdays on February 21 and February 24, respectively. Happy, happy birthday, sweet girls! |
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| A wedding toast--now a birthday toast--why not? Amon, Micah, Anjanette, and Ramzi. |
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| We couldn't help ourselves! At least we shared a piece. |
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| First, Emma was accepted to Centenary College. Many congrats! And you look so cute in glasses, Emma. :-) |
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| Second, January 27 audition for a position in the Hurley School of Music. She sang pieces by Handel and Mendelssohn. |
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| Third, and absolutely no surprise, Emma was accepted to the Hurley School of Music! Many congratulations! So proud of you! |
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| Ok, so I was a member of the "Electric Bifocals," a nod to Benjamin Franklin, for whom our high school was named, even though we were strictly acoustic. I'm standing next to Marji Lustick, our guitarist. I believe we were performing "Get Together" by the Youngbloods, still words to live by: "Love is but a song we sing, fear's the way we die, you can make the mountains ring, or make the angels cry. . . . C'mon people now, smile on your brother, everybody get together, try to love one another right now." Later in the song are words more relevant to me as the years pass: "We are but a moment's sunlight, fading in the grass. . . ." Oh! And I love that the yearbook staff called us "talented." Indeed! |
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| Why, oh why, did P. Phil see his shadow? Will we really have winter until mid-March??? |
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| Amon dropped Fox off at 6:15 a.m. Saturday; we took her to Lala and Papa Jay's by the court-ordered 8:30 a.m. time. But first, we had breakfast at Kerbey Lane Cafe and enjoyed a walk along the trail to Drumz. |
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| Fox chose blueberry pancakes but I had to have just one beignet swirl Mardi Gras pancake. |
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| So fun to reconnect with Linda Scarborough, co-owner of The Williamson County Sun, and one of the most fun people I've ever worked for. She calls Sharon Reed and me "the two Sharons." Sharon Reed was the advertising manager there when I was a reporter. I hadn't seen Linda since 1988. |
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| Linda with husband Clark Thurmond, co-owner who also ran a sky diving school back in the '80s. Clark told the current staff about me bouncing baby Amon on my lap as I typed news stories. I suspect I'm the only Sun reporter who's ever done that. Thanks, Amon, for being an easy kid and for allowing me to get my work done! |
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| The Sun office is located on the square in Georgetown. The newsroom is still upstairs. Linda took us up to meet the current staff and to brag about the two Sharons and what we've accomplished since leaving The Sun. She's so sweet! One of the current reporters worked for a competitor back in the day. Was good to see Brad again. |
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| Not sure why the colorful mannequin waits outside The Sun. To watch over the courthouse across the street? On December 21, 1987, I walked across the street to the courthouse and became a divorcee. Walked back to work and asked the typesetter to change my byline from "Sharon Lewis" to "Sharon Hogan." He didn't even look up; simply removed and replaced type. |
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| The house on Pine Street where the boys and I lived before moving to Austin in 1988, after I became employed with the Texas State Comptroller's Public Information Office. News reporting hours were simply too random to work with child care plans. At the Comptroller's office, I met Mark Whitworth, who talked me into applying to law school, made me take the LSAT, made me turn in my application on the deadline day. Thanks, Mark. And thanks, Sarah, for driving me to the law school to turn everything in on deadline day. And thanks to the kind woman who took my application and waived the application fee when I told her I didn't have it. And thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Waters for the full scholarship created in memory of their attorney daughter Ellen Waters-Olson, who died in a car crash while in her 20s. I'd love to thank family members but I know you'll be embarrassed if I mention you. Still, I couldn't have graduated without all your love and support. I owe thanks to so many people. The rest, as they say, is history. |
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| I promised each of the grandchildren that I would be at their 40th birthday parties. I'll have to live to 99 and 9 months to make Piper's party. Could happen. My best hope is that each of you has fond memories of good times with Papa Tom and me no matter what age you are. |
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| Amon worked for a moving company for the first week in February, which required him to drop Fox off at 6:15 a.m. so we could get her to school. I am not a morning person! She was the ray of sunshine who lit up the kitchen when it was still dark outside. |
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| Amon dropped Fox off at 6:15 a.m. Saturday so he could get to work by 7 a.m. She was wide awake and ready to style my hair by wrapping the braid around my head like a crown. Here, she admires her work. There's a photo, but I look like I've been partying all night, which is sort of true, so would prefer not to post it. We got home from Emma's performance at 1:30 a.m., got to bed by 2:30 a.m., and I was up at 5:15 a.m. to get ready for Fox. |
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| Beautiful Emma performed with the Midway High School choirs and the drill team in a show that culminated with a showing of the seniors' baby photos and current photos. I had a purse full of Kleenex with me but didn't cry too hard after all. Graduation will be a different story. |
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| Okay, P. Tom is having way too much fun with his chainsaw, ax, sharp shooter shovel, skill saw, hammer of Thor, and whatever that stake thing is called. The peach tree was already dead. But Papa Tom's been using his tools on cedar trees out at Cornerstone too. Theory is that if you get rid of the cedar trees, which use a lot of water and are not native to Texas, the native oaks and other flora and fauna will come back. There's a seep on the land. We wonder if it will flow more once the cedar trees are gone. |
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| Who knew, in Dad's 90th year, that we would finally have a flying car? So many changes over Dad's lifetime, and he's kept up with them all. Love you, Dad! |
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| Isn't he the most adorable little boy you've ever seen? |
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| And the most adorable great-grandpa, grandpa, and Dad? |
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| Dad and his girls |
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| Dad with Craig, Martin, and Tom |
