A LITERARY EVENT TO REMEMBER
Texas Institute of Letters was pretty good and inducted Noel Parsons, director of Texas Tech Press but we really enjoyed a superb event Friday night. Literary Lubbock has a five year history. Lou was one of the featured authors last year with six new ones this year and they were all great. It was billed as A Signature Evening with Southwestern Authors, but one author Fred Nolan lives between London and Oxford in England.
The evening starts with a reception serving red or white wine from Llano Estacado Winery. When we drove in about 3 in the afternoon it looked like the vineyard was losing all of its topsoil that was blowing across the highway so much that I had to slow down. But we milled around with the hoi-poloi of Lubbock society and talked to the featured authors as well as old friends from the press. The evening always features a dinner with wine that is prepared by chef Rocky Rockwell, who this past year received recognition as an executive chef. The menu was just for me because the salad was spinach to cure my macular degeneration and it worked because I was better today. The entree was boneless braised beef short ribs with red wine reduction. Sides were mashed potatoes and asparagus with your choice of lemon or chocolate tart for dessert. Of course I had chocolate.
During the meal they had each of the six featured authors talk about their book. First was Marcia Kaylakie who drove 55,000 miles during 10 years to collect quilt stories in a book called TEXAS QUILTS AND QUILTERS. Our daughter, Kathy, ordered 3 and had them signed when the book came out so we knew ahead of time about it. The next author, Gail Folkins, took Lou back to her salad days in Kerrville with a book, TEXAS DANCE HALLS. Lou remembers doing the Cotton-eye Joe at several dance halls in the hill country. Gail's husband played in dance halls and she discovered that each one had a personality that needed to be written about. She had a photographer who helped document dance halls from Luckenbach to Lubbock.
The next author is a special friend of Lou's. Lou was asked by TTPress to review the manuscripts of Susan Miller and Lou was fascinated by this geologist who lives in Tucson and writes murder mysteries set in the fossil fields of Nevada, Idaho and Utah. TTPress had two books by her. One was A SWEET, SEPARATE INTIMACY, an anthology of western women that they reprinted. The other was her latest mystery novel, HOODOO.
TASCOSA was written by Frederick Nolan, a prolific author who resides in England and has written over 70 books in his 35 years as a writer. He started in the book business as a publisher and wrote some books that he felt needed a market. He has been very successful and has several books on the west including a book on Billy the Kid.
The next author was Karl Schlesier, a German anthropologist who wrote a novel that focused on Comanche and Kiowa indians in Colorado and New Mexico called TRAIL OF THE RED BUTTERFLY. Lou had read it as one of the 47 novel she judged for the short novel Spur award. Karl had a thick german accent.
The last author, Sharon Spinks, was at our dinner table so that we got to know her and her husband well. Her book was her first and was LAW ON THE LAST FRONTIER, a biography of her husband's grandfather, who was a Texas Ranger named Hill, his mother's father. Most Ranger books are about the old time Rangers. This was unusual in that it documents a career that ranged from 1942 to 1974 with a large part of it stationed in the Big Bend area. She points out how he worked with Mexican law officials on the narcotics traffic. Her husband manages the airport at New Braunfels that is growing like mad as San Antonio moves its boundaries out. The airport has not scheduled airlines but he is expecting two regional airlines to come in soon. In aviation the next development that I read about in Aviation Week and Space Technology is the production of small jet aircraft that will permit taxi service to local airports everywhere. The other guests at our table were Steve Scott and his wife, who was on the LL committee. Late comers were Prof. Wink and his wife. He is an Art Professor at Tech and on the committee that approves the books that the Press publishes. He is a painter and was working in his studio and almost forgot to come to the dinner. He was a true scholar and gentleman who was praised by Judith Keeling for his wise counsel on that committee.
This morning we were guests of Noel Parsons and Judith along with Susan Miller and Fred Nolan for breakfast at the Pancake House. I was blown away by the stories of Fred in his career in the book business from London. He comes to the US at least twice a year because most of his sales are in the US. I told him about finding Robert E. Howard books on sale in a small town grocery store in France. He said he has seen his books translated to Italian and doesn't remember selling the Italian rights. When I googled him I got a Parish Newsletter that had his photo as the chair of the parish committee.
For lunch at Abuleos we were joined by our Tech granddaughter, Vanessa Wilcox, and our friends Richard and Mary Ann Chaffin. Richard was our pastor for five years in Cross Plains and had purchased a two-story home to retire in CP when the 2005 fire came through and destroyed it along with our church and parsonage. They had an RV and lived in it for a couple of years before moving back to Lubbock where he had pastored one of the major churches years before. They still spend most of their time in their RV and are planning to leave in June for another trip to the West coast until September. Vanessa is working toward becoming a nurse and has is getting experience by working for a home care operation in Lubbock. She will start taking make up courses in biology and physiology this summer.
The great news is that Lou got up this morning and said that her back didn't hurt. She said that during the night she felt a little pop in her spine and was afraid that it had collapsed again, but apparently it adjusted to relieve the continual pain that she has been having. By the time we got home some pain had returned but it is much better than it has been. I am hopeful that her walking exercise and getting rid of the chemo is improving her health. Her hair is slowly returning and is now in evidence but still short. Your prayers are working!! Thanks.
Texas Institute of Letters was pretty good and inducted Noel Parsons, director of Texas Tech Press but we really enjoyed a superb event Friday night. Literary Lubbock has a five year history. Lou was one of the featured authors last year with six new ones this year and they were all great. It was billed as A Signature Evening with Southwestern Authors, but one author Fred Nolan lives between London and Oxford in England.
The evening starts with a reception serving red or white wine from Llano Estacado Winery. When we drove in about 3 in the afternoon it looked like the vineyard was losing all of its topsoil that was blowing across the highway so much that I had to slow down. But we milled around with the hoi-poloi of Lubbock society and talked to the featured authors as well as old friends from the press. The evening always features a dinner with wine that is prepared by chef Rocky Rockwell, who this past year received recognition as an executive chef. The menu was just for me because the salad was spinach to cure my macular degeneration and it worked because I was better today. The entree was boneless braised beef short ribs with red wine reduction. Sides were mashed potatoes and asparagus with your choice of lemon or chocolate tart for dessert. Of course I had chocolate.
During the meal they had each of the six featured authors talk about their book. First was Marcia Kaylakie who drove 55,000 miles during 10 years to collect quilt stories in a book called TEXAS QUILTS AND QUILTERS. Our daughter, Kathy, ordered 3 and had them signed when the book came out so we knew ahead of time about it. The next author, Gail Folkins, took Lou back to her salad days in Kerrville with a book, TEXAS DANCE HALLS. Lou remembers doing the Cotton-eye Joe at several dance halls in the hill country. Gail's husband played in dance halls and she discovered that each one had a personality that needed to be written about. She had a photographer who helped document dance halls from Luckenbach to Lubbock.
The next author is a special friend of Lou's. Lou was asked by TTPress to review the manuscripts of Susan Miller and Lou was fascinated by this geologist who lives in Tucson and writes murder mysteries set in the fossil fields of Nevada, Idaho and Utah. TTPress had two books by her. One was A SWEET, SEPARATE INTIMACY, an anthology of western women that they reprinted. The other was her latest mystery novel, HOODOO.
TASCOSA was written by Frederick Nolan, a prolific author who resides in England and has written over 70 books in his 35 years as a writer. He started in the book business as a publisher and wrote some books that he felt needed a market. He has been very successful and has several books on the west including a book on Billy the Kid.
The next author was Karl Schlesier, a German anthropologist who wrote a novel that focused on Comanche and Kiowa indians in Colorado and New Mexico called TRAIL OF THE RED BUTTERFLY. Lou had read it as one of the 47 novel she judged for the short novel Spur award. Karl had a thick german accent.
The last author, Sharon Spinks, was at our dinner table so that we got to know her and her husband well. Her book was her first and was LAW ON THE LAST FRONTIER, a biography of her husband's grandfather, who was a Texas Ranger named Hill, his mother's father. Most Ranger books are about the old time Rangers. This was unusual in that it documents a career that ranged from 1942 to 1974 with a large part of it stationed in the Big Bend area. She points out how he worked with Mexican law officials on the narcotics traffic. Her husband manages the airport at New Braunfels that is growing like mad as San Antonio moves its boundaries out. The airport has not scheduled airlines but he is expecting two regional airlines to come in soon. In aviation the next development that I read about in Aviation Week and Space Technology is the production of small jet aircraft that will permit taxi service to local airports everywhere. The other guests at our table were Steve Scott and his wife, who was on the LL committee. Late comers were Prof. Wink and his wife. He is an Art Professor at Tech and on the committee that approves the books that the Press publishes. He is a painter and was working in his studio and almost forgot to come to the dinner. He was a true scholar and gentleman who was praised by Judith Keeling for his wise counsel on that committee.
This morning we were guests of Noel Parsons and Judith along with Susan Miller and Fred Nolan for breakfast at the Pancake House. I was blown away by the stories of Fred in his career in the book business from London. He comes to the US at least twice a year because most of his sales are in the US. I told him about finding Robert E. Howard books on sale in a small town grocery store in France. He said he has seen his books translated to Italian and doesn't remember selling the Italian rights. When I googled him I got a Parish Newsletter that had his photo as the chair of the parish committee.
For lunch at Abuleos we were joined by our Tech granddaughter, Vanessa Wilcox, and our friends Richard and Mary Ann Chaffin. Richard was our pastor for five years in Cross Plains and had purchased a two-story home to retire in CP when the 2005 fire came through and destroyed it along with our church and parsonage. They had an RV and lived in it for a couple of years before moving back to Lubbock where he had pastored one of the major churches years before. They still spend most of their time in their RV and are planning to leave in June for another trip to the West coast until September. Vanessa is working toward becoming a nurse and has is getting experience by working for a home care operation in Lubbock. She will start taking make up courses in biology and physiology this summer.
The great news is that Lou got up this morning and said that her back didn't hurt. She said that during the night she felt a little pop in her spine and was afraid that it had collapsed again, but apparently it adjusted to relieve the continual pain that she has been having. By the time we got home some pain had returned but it is much better than it has been. I am hopeful that her walking exercise and getting rid of the chemo is improving her health. Her hair is slowly returning and is now in evidence but still short. Your prayers are working!! Thanks.
posted by Dr. Rodenberger at 7:35 PM
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