This was a bitter/sweet weekend. Friday night Kathy brought our two great-grandchildren with her getting here about 5:30. We got to visit with them and Lou went to bed befor Keith, Jim and Mandy came in after they got off work. Kathy got off Friday because school had the day off for Fiesta. That is a big event in SA.

We enjoyed the great-grandsons. Christopher immediately went to the toy storage to retrieve the mousetrap game that he sets up and works the ball that drops to activate all the mechanisms. One piece is missing, but he moves the metal ball around to make the man jump in the pool and drop the trap on the mice. Brent is not yet three and knows his numbers and the alphabet. He came in wearing a beatup straw cowboy hat and his cowboy boots and was pleased when I went to church this morning wearing my black cowboy boots and a straw cowboy hat.

Saturday Keith and Jim worked on my yard with mowers. Keith even found a copperhead to show to his grandsons to warn them about snakes. Kathy did her usual culinary bit for breakfast and lunch.

Then the bitter call came when Mark Kite's wife, Madge, called to say that Mark was now at home in hospice care and she didn't expect him to live through the night. Sunday morning we got a call from our son, Mark, saying that Mark Kite had died this morning. We don't know what the funeral arrangements will be.

I taught my Sunday School class this morning and went to church. Kathy had made roast beef and special potatoes for lunch. Lou has had her appetite restored and is enjoying the good meals. She gets really hungry but quickly filled. She has been taking walks and feeling a lot better. Still has back pain, but that seems to be a problem with 80% of the population.

Saturday, April 21 (muster day for Aggies) Lou attended the 60th reunion of her TWU graduating class of '47. The highlight of the day was the luncheon honoring the Distinguished Alumni and we got to sit at the table of honoree Dr. Colleen Smith, President of Cisco Junior College. Also at the table was her brother and sister and a niece who teaches English in Denton plus a TWU senior majoring in dance who accompanied Colleen to her seat. Colleen has her doctorate in dance from TWU and explained in her acceptance speech how her training in intellect and compatibility had prepared her for her administrative roles. Her brothers and sisters all have law degrees.

Her husband, Billy Smith, went to school from the sixth grade through high school with our son, Mark, and have remained friends. Billy is the artistic director of CJC and stages dinner theaters each summer in Cisco that we have attended. This summer he tells us they are repeating a musical that he created based on the Santa Claus Bank Robbery in Cisco. It occurred during the time that Lou's father, A. C. Halsell, was coaching a high school basket ball team. They had played a game the day before the robbery and had left their basketball in Cisco. A. C. let his players use his car to retrieve the ball, but they forgot it when they got involved in the robbery and subsequent car chase through Cisco. So we enjoyed the musical. As with all of Billy's creations it is an audience participation event and you get to join in by shooting ping pong balls at the robbers as they leave the bank.

Colleen remarked that when she met Billy he had more dance training than she had at the time. When he was a senior in Bryan High he opted for ballet training in place of athletics. Very unusual for the times but they needed men to dance with the women taking the course. The chancellor of TWU, Ann Stuart, also has her degrees in dance. Unusual for college administrators. Most that I have known had engineering or history degrees.

Lou joined her class for a class photo and got to visit with her former room mate and long time friend, Frances Anne Sunkel who has lived her entire life on Mockingbird street in Dallas. She is complaining about the new homes driving up her tax base. They also took photos of the class of '32 and '37. Hope we are around for the 70th and 75th reunions.

We got to stop in Weatherford on our way home and eat at Rosa's with our son, Mark, and his wife, Mary Kathryn. Still got home before dark thanks to daylight saving time.

"If you have low back pain, one of the best treatments is something you can do yourself. Exercise." This is the first sentence in the document that Dr. Endsley gave Lou when she asked him what she could do at home for physical therapy. He gave her two simple exercises that I think will really help her regain her strength and reduce her pain. She was very pleased with her meeting with him. He gave her a prescription for a better back brace that she bought and has used very successfully tonight. He also recommended a better chair for use in her office and said that the stair climbing is also good exercise. We then went to OfficeMax and she tried several chairs before selecting one that will be delivered and installed tomorrow. When we came home our road had been graded so it was a little smoother to drive on. Lou was worn out but felt good about the days activities. We ate lunch before the Doctor's appointment at the Town Crier restaurant and both of us had Teriyaki chicken that will feed us tomorrow also.

If an apple a day will keep a doctor away, what does half an apple do? We always share an apple every night although Lou forces her's down and I wondered how effective it is. Would a whole apple each be better?

We got through Friday the 13 watching the weather clobber Dallas and being thankful we had cancelled our Friday night trip to Dallas. We only got some small rain showers here. On the TV it looked like the tornado and storm area was on top of the area where the TIL reception was being held in Dallas. Lou did decide to make the TIL Council meeting at 11 a.m. Saturday morning. We found that the reception was in an old marble building built in the 1930s and they didn't even know about the storm. Fran Vick commented that she felt like the basement of that building could withstand an atomic bomb. We had an easy drive with little traffic and got there early. Lou enjoyed visiting with all her friends. She told Jane Woods that she had just reread ROSEBOROUGH. Lou now is planning to read a couple of Sandra Scofield books before she meets her at Literary Lubbock in May.

Lou did fairly well Saturday and decided if she could go to Dallas that she could go to Sunday School and Church this morning. Her comment after was that our choir is better than the St. Paul's choir in Abilene that she watched a few Sundays ago. They are good. We had a baby baptised and an announcement of a new member joining the congregation that was recruited by Jimmielee Payne in the Rising Star nursing home. We had a good number in SS and enjoyed studying Revelation 4 with all of its imagery of the throne room in heaven. We looked at all the symbolism coming from the old Testament world.

Lou still has slight pain in her back. Dr. Siadati said everyone has back pain. She gets somewhat depressed and uncomfortable every afternoon, but she is sleeping somewhat better and can turn over in bed without the pain that she has had until this week. Her appetite is returning. She checked her weight this morning and decided she needs to gain some weight back. She still get tired walking very far, but is trying to walk a little more each day. We appreciate all the prayers that we know are supporting her. Her doves are still here. The swallows have not returned to nest on either house, which is unusual. We have always had them on both houses. I haven't seen any under the bridge on the highway, which has had a colony for the last few years. The fox have been scarce. We presume that the mother will bring her kits out in a few days. The does have not shown us their Bambis yet. They still come to the feeders. I am still looking for the new Goldfish babies, but they haven't hatched.

Today Lou had her checkup by Dr. Siadati who told her to try to walk straighter and to get some physical therapy to help strengthen her spine. We plan to again visit with Dr. Endsley in Abilene to get Physical Therapy treatment. Her appointment was at 11:30 and we ate at the Harris cafeteria after. They have one of the best and lowest cost places that I have eaten. We drove straight home and got there before 3:30. When I tucked her in bed tonight I asked about the pain and she said the walking today made it worse than yesterday, but she has taken less pain pills today. She took an Aleve yesterday and only buffered aspirin today.

Another book that she has read recently and gave me a verbal review of is Jane Roberts Woods ROSEBOROUGH if I am spelling it right. Today she reread A. C. Greene's A PERSONAL COUNTRY and commented that she could have written that one, because of all the personal stories in it. I read it about 40 years ago and thought it was one of the best books to help understand the West Texas vs. East Texas personality. I really thought so after living in the Bryan area for 22 years. West Texans are unique.

Tomorrow I will take her judging of the Cross Plains students writing contest sponsored by the Cross Plains Library to town. She was impressed by one outstanding poem from a ninth grader. She was also impressed by the writing overall, except much of the essays in certain classes focussed on violence.

Lou is another Fellow! Phyllis Bridges just called from Texas Folklore Society meeting in San Antonio to tell Lou that she has been named a Fellow of the Society. That is a great honor because very few have been named. Lou was a president of the society. The disappointing thing is that this is the first meeting that she has missed in at least 30 years. A couple of years ago she was named a Fellow of the Texas State Historical Association.

Lou's health is improving, but she still has back pain. The good thing is that her appetite has returned. That may be because she is eating Kathy's cooking in place of mine. She slept better last night because she took buffered aspirin rather than the back pain formula that had caffeine added that kept her awake the night before.

I have failed to report what books Lou is reading. She reads the Bible and Kathleen Norris every morning. Recently she has finished two of Elizabeth Crooks novels.

The weather reminds of us of 1996 TFS meeting here when a record snowfall hit Abilene. Today it is snowing and the temperature has fallen to 31 degrees. So far it is light, but the radar show a new batch of weather coming our way.

Lou is another Fellow! Phyllis Bridges just called from Texas Folklore Society meeting in San Antonio to tell Lou that she has been named a Fellow of the Society. That is a great honor because very few have been named. Lou was a president of the society. The disappointing thing is that this is the first meeting that she has missed in at least 30 years. A couple of years ago she was named a Fellow of the Texas State Historical Association.

Lou's health is improving, but she still has back pain. The good thing is that her appetite has returned. That may be because she is eating Kathy's cooking in place of mine. She slept better last night because she took buffered aspirin rather than the back pain formula that had caffeine added that kept her awake the night before.

I have failed to report what books Lou is reading. She reads the Bible and Kathleen Norris every morning. Recently she has finished two of Elizabeth Crooks novels.

It is great to have my daughter, son-in-law, and two granddaughters here for Holy weekend. And the meteorologist is predicting rain, sleet and snow for tomorrow. We are missing Texas Folklore Society for the first time in about 35 or 40 years. But we remember the Abilene meeting in 1996 when there was a record snowfall of 9.3" on Good Friday and we were commuting to the meeting, got trapped got a hotel room and spent more money on cosmetics and night clothes than the room. Lou says we always have an Easter "spell" of cool weather. Lou is doing a little better, but still in pain.

I got to attend my first Maundy Thursday service since we started with TFS. I knew it focused on the Last Supper, but I wasn't familiar with the "stripping ceremony" where the preacher removes everything from the church and everyone files out silently.

Keith is helping me with my chores. He has done a lot of things including the first mowing of the season. The riding mower started, but the walk behind won't start. I guess we will have to wait for my mechanic grandson, Jim, to come in a couple of weeks and start some old engines. I couldn't start my DR trimmer either.

Keith is just finishing Blakely's last book, COME SUNDOWN. I am glad someone appreciates Blakely. My daughter has her new copy of Carol Walt's DREAMING IN ITALIAN. So much for literature.

The Lord is back in his heavens. Swallows showed up today, a little later than usual. Hummingbirds are using the new feeder I got for Christmas. And the weather is beautiful. Lou is still having back pains, but thinks it may be getting a little better. She has quit the prescription pain pills and dropped back to buffered aspirin. She walked yesterday and today to the pond and back with me. She is worried about falling. She can't understand why the pain doesn't go away. I tell her it will be gradual. At least nature is enjoying the rain. I was disappointed that 6+" of rain didn't start the streams running. But the earth was dry and it soaked in.

Today I did my usual Tuesday. Got a haircut and talked to the Mayor. Visited with Lois Garrett, who has had cancer for years, but says she has no pain. She looks good. At noon enjoyed Kiwanis.

Lou just got a great phone call from Candy Moulton with the Western Writers of America informing her that she will receive the prestigious Stirrup Award at the annual meeting in Springfield this summer. This award is for the best article published in the Roundup, the WWA member magazine. As I remember the August issue published her essay on Tom Lea with the cover using a Lea painting and the article had a number of photographs from the Lea museum in El Paso. When it was published I sent an email to Laura Bush asking her to show the article to her mother, Jenna Welch, who we met in Midland at the Haley Museum and in El Paso at a Tom Lea event. She was a good friend of Tom Lea. I was a good friend of Tom's brother Dick, who was an Aggie graduate who worked for Lockheed in Colorado. I used to have him talk to my classes in Aero at A&M.