Asheville (April 2, 2022)

Not only did Piper's team win, but she was awarded a medal for being the top player on her team!

Neighbor JoJo came over after school. The Asheville Lewises were on Spring Break, but JoJo goes to a different school. 

The kids pulled the inside out of bagels to make croutons and stuffed the hollowed-out bagels to make pizzas.

Mya's drawing of JoJo as a cat.

 

April Fools Day in Asheville (April 1, 2022)

Beautiful day for a bike ride to the nearby Town Square and ice cream shop.

With 10 pounds still to lose, I opted for Diet Coke.

Piper

We took the nature trail home.  Mya's old bike was just the right size for me, as was Brandy's helmet.

Happy kids, no bear sightings, thank goodness.

Poor Banksy wears a cone due to surgery to remove a benign tumor from his leg.
 

An afternoon at Claying Around (March 31, 2022)

We spent 5 hours perfecting our pottery.  River painted a geometric fox; Mya drew Doug from "Up" on a dinner plate; and Piper painted a puppy bank.  Fred, who works at Claying Around, kindly drew 1303 Alguno Road from a photo on my phone for me to paint.

I forgot to add Zephyr to the sidewalk.  But I did remember Papa's tomato garden.

 

An afternoon with Mia (March 30, 2022)

Banksy is stopped at the Banksy gate.  We could all step over it and Mylo the cat had no problem leaping over it.

We tried to go to the pinball museum but there was an hour wait.  Instead, we went to Bee Charmer because we all love honeybees then stopped for pizza at Mellow Mushroom. Behind River is a store called Spare Chayng.  Had to look up "chayng."  No such word. Must have sprung from the hippie era "Got any spare change?"

Mya and a slice of cheese pizza

Piper

Mimi and I watched Piper at Panther soccer practice

 

A full day in Asheville. Then Mama and Daddy leave (March 29-30, 2022)

Mya, in her Picatso T-shirt, with the St. Paddy's Day bean bag netting over her face.

Mya shared funny faces with us: various family members with Banksy's face or each other's faces.

The Asheville Lewises, right before Mama and Daddy leave for Nashville. Banksy was recovering from surgery.

Bye-bye!  Let the ice cream for lunch begin!
 

Austin to Asheville (March 28, 2022)

Flying out of the Austin-Bergstrom South Terminal, separate from the main terminal, turned out to be lucky on Monday, March 28.  Maybe you heard about security lines all the way down the outside sidewalk?  Passengers abandoning rental cars at the curb? Thanks to a NASCAR event and the Texas relays, ABIA had more than 8,000 passengers that Monday morning, instead of the usual 6,000.  Meanwhile, at the retro South Terminal, where you walk up an outdoor ramp to your flight, lines were short. I flew Allegiant nonstop from Austin to Asheville, in under 3 hours. Nice!

First night in Asheville was a birthday celebration for Brandy's cousin Joseph at Outback Steakhouse. Piper, with her decorated glass, is next to Joseph. 

The Blanton Museum (March 24, 2022)

As of March 22, Austin and Travis County are no longer under any COVID restrictions.  My friend Cheryl and I visited the Blanton on the UT campus without wearing masks.  Felt like sunshine after a long, dark winter.  Guessing the artist had something about piano keys and door/lock keys being related?

Cheryl

Under a hanging sculpture of...???

 

Happy 11, Fox! (March 23, 2022)

Fox is determined to grab a prize at Dave and Buster's. 

Fox grabbed a giant boxing glove from the "grabber" game.

Amon's Viking heritage is showing with a bull's eye with the ax.

Fox models her cat cape. 

 

Butterflies are free (March 23, 2022)

Fox started her birthday celebration with us by releasing newly-emerged Painted Lady butterflies from our habitat.

Upon emergence from the cocoon, the butterflies need sugar water or fresh fruit nectar.  Their wings take about two hours to dry.  Fox released them about three days after their emergence.
 

Was the delivery great or not so great? (March 21, 2022)

The delivery driver left this photo for Ryder and Brandy. 

 

Texas tornados (March 21, 2022)

We lost the Zoomer to hail damage in March 2021.  Max will not be lost!  Max is too big to fit all the way inside the garage so Papa Tom improvised. We were fortunate to have only thunder, lightning, and heavy rain.  But tornados struck north and east of us.  You've probably all seen the video of the red pickup truck being spun around only to drive away in Elgin?  The driver was 16 years old, on his way home from a job interview.  I hope he got the job!

Papa Tom dares hail to attack Max.  

 

SXSW 2022: the last hurrah for us (March 19, 2022)

We closed out SXSW by catching live blues at an unofficial and free event at Stiles Switch Barbecue in our neighborhood.  

John Egan, a Houston musician, played soulful slide guitar.

Gotta meet this hottie!

The Hello Trouble Hall is a mobile bar.  Move over food trucks!

Hello Trouble Hall goes on the road just like musicians do.
 

SXSW in person again for the first time since 2019 (March 11-21, 2022)

Remember how SXSW was canceled about a week ahead of time back in 2020, due to COVID-19? We didn't get to use our film wristbands that year but SXSW honored them this year.  We had our traditional SXSW lunch at Guero's Taco Bar but the alley behind the Yard Dog did not feature a different band every half hour, as in past years.

Because Alamo Drafthouse South has free parking, we chose that venue for most of our films. I had to get Thomas Linton Cloninger's photo in front of the TLC restaurant: "Everybody needs some!" Indeed.
 

Happy 11, River! (March 15, 2022)

River demonstrated his chin-up skills at Amon and Fox's house in December. He turned 11 on the Ides of March. Will he be tall enough in another 11 years for his feet to reach the floor?  When River was 2 or 3, a pediatrician predicted he will be about 6'8" tall when grown. As a rule, children reach half their height at age 2.  My boys are twice as tall as they were then.  Yes, they were over 3' tall when they were 2, next to 5'2" me.

TC found our bed (March 13, 2022)

Since getting the ringworm "all clear" on March 11, TC and Collette have been exploring the house.  TC has the right idea.
 

The new normal in our neighborhood (March 1, 2022)

So many homes around us disappear in a day.  I can't picture the home that used to be there.

What is left of the old is across the street from the new.

Eight homes are being built on the site of the now-demolished Presbyterian church.

 

Fox's orthodontics (February 27, 2022)

Once a day, Fox uses a key to adjust the palatal expander.  I'm so glad she can do it herself.  I'm not sure I wouldn't accidentally poke the roof of her mouth if I tried!

TC loves Collette (February 24, 2022)

TC and Collette love to cuddle when it is naptime.  Good news: no more ringworm spores under the black light as of February 17!  Hair samples from TC were sent for analysis just to make sure.  We got the long-awaited results on March 11: no ringworm!
 

Meeting State Representative candidate Lulu Flores for Support Texas Adoptee Rights (February 19, 2022)

STAR Board President Joellen Peters and I met at the Tamale House East to discuss adoptee rights with Lulu Flores, a candidate for State Representative. Lulu is very receptive to restoring the right to unrestricted access to original birth certificates for adult Texans who are adopted.

Tom at Tamale House East with Joellen and me

One of our first times to a restaurant since the pre-COVID times
 

Dad and Aunt Jack in Harmon, Louisiana, 1936

I wonder what special occasion warranted a three-piece suit for 8-year-old Daddy and a fine dress for my Aunt Jaqueline? Twenty years later, at age 3, I would be startled by thunderclaps as I pushed a toy car around on the floor of that porch. To this day, I love raindrops misting through a screen, sprinkling my upturned face.