Thu 2 April
April Fool's Day has come and gone with no apparent harm here in Northridge. We trust that you fared as well. And granddaughter
Maggie celebrated her 17th birthday yesterday without benefit of any sage grandparently advice, while we frittered away the
day. We hope to do better today.
Jane will do a movie shoot over the next two weekends – a student project for the USC film school. There's no pay, of
course, but it helps the kids and keeps her busy while she waits for a paid gig. Of course she skipped a paid gig audition
yesterday, because it would shoot next weekend, too. Lots of "ifs" and "if only's" in this business.
David has hunkered down now to punch our IRS data into the computer. We remember the olden days when he could do that with
paper and ink. We also remember when, after a couple of years of dumb math errors, he spent weeks building a spreadsheet
to do those calculations, and his relief when he found the inexpensive software that could do it way better and way quicker.
Thank heaven for computers and for those smart people who teach them so many clever tricks.
Those of you who watch MSNBC in the evening probably heard yesterday that our old radio pal, Ed Schultz, will join them next
Monday with his very own weekday show at 6:00pm Eastern time. He's a former sportscaster with a country boy attitude –
and accent – that are a joy to hear. Give him a listen, all you news junkies.
Sat 4 April
Jane left early this morning to start her two-weekend movie shoot. About 30 minutes later she phoned David for emergency
driving instructions. He quickly checked Google Maps and got her back on the trail of an old Pasadena nursing home that will
be their movie set. She didn't call back, so she must have found it at last.
Three weeks from now, we go to David's 54-year reunion with his Angleton High School Class of '55. The last time he attended
one of these was in 1965, so BIG name tags are his only hope of recognizing most folks, and vice-versa. His graduating class
was the largest in the history of the school at the time – 65 strong – and they all knew each other very well,
because most started 1st grade together. Of course, they have lost several classmates over the years and "misplaced" a few
more, mostly women with new last names that can't be found. David has seen two or three classmates in the past few years,
but he fears that it will be hard to connect today's faces with those young ones in his memory. Never mind studying the old
yearbooks.
Then a few days ago, friends began posting old photos of some guys he used to know but who no longer exist. They're not
photos of past classmates or former students – they are younger images of David. He remembers them. He even resembles
them vaguely. They are his ancestors.
One was terribly naive, more of a kid than many of his students. Another's enthusiasm far exceeded his musical sophistication
and teaching skills. Eventually, all gained some success as they learned from other teachers and from their amazing students.
His most recent ancestors had learned much even as innovation and enthusiasm were waning. We hope that anyone ever subjected
to one of those guys managed to learn something useful.
Today's David is amazed by what those younger guys accomplished. He would love to meet them now. Maybe offer them a couple
of suggestions. But the joy of his escape from marching shows and those %#*@ endless faculty meetings keeps him smiling. Life
as a chauffeur is good.
Mon 13 April
Well, the movie shoot is over and Jane has survived. Her first day of shooting almost did her in, as her young director kept
her on her feet from 9:am until 7:pm while he retook every scene. And retook. And retook. But her second day went better after
she explained how his leading lady would not survive another day of that. So they gave her lots of "chair time" after that
to catch her breath.
Last Saturday was the longest of all... but not so physical. Yesterday everyone got Easter morning off, so Jane recruited
David to drive her down to USC after church and hang out while they finished up there. Then, after a quick dinner of salad
and pizza, we all dashed up to a lovely hillside home in Pasadena for the final shots. Jane was done about 10:pm.
And now the interesting part: All this will be edited into a 5-minute movie! Jane explains that her "husband" develops Alzheimer's
disease, and the stress of moving him out of their home and into a nursing facility results in her own open-heart surgery.
When she is finally well enough to visit him again, she finds him snuggling in his room with some woman patient. He doesn't
even recognize Jane, and she is forced to make some major decisions about how to proceed from there. We can't wait to see
how they tell this story in the time alloted an extended commercial break.
Now we have a week to tackle the taxes and pack for Texas. David has scheduled us a swing through Lockhart for our ritual
BBQ fix – probably just one of several. There's no better place for great Texas Q than the Lockhart/Luling area. We
just wish some of the LA places that promise "Genuine Texas-Style Barbecue" would run on down there and check out the real
stuff.
Tue 15 April
David wrapped up the taxes last night and fired them off to the IRS, thanks to TurboTax. The damage was slight, and the relief
was audible. Why does it always seem less of a chore looking backward that it did going in? By the way, we're not buying any
extra tea bags, thank you very much.
A recent LA Times article has Jane depressed. Productions of movies and TV ads are down by 35% or more, due to the economic
crunch. Makes sense, of course – every business is tightening its budget. But it hasn't slowed the auditions too much,
only the number of people getting hired. That seems odd. What are they doing with all those audition tapes? Jane believes
they are gettin' all these commercials ready to go for the moment the union finally settles the new contract and the advertisers
turn loose some loot.
Meanwhile we're leaving town for 8 days. Buh-bye!
Fri 17 April
It's almost midnight in Riverside CA, where we have come for their Internationall Film Festival. After a twilight gabfest
complete with portable food, we entered the theater and saw For the Least of These, a feature length film starring
Louis Gossett, Jr. and William Devane, among others. As soon as they sign a distributor, it might come to your town soon.
Now we're at a nice motel in Corona just a few miles south of Riverside, because Jane's film, Bureaucracy debuts tomorrow
at 1:00 and we couldn't face two 160-mile trips back to back. The one today in Friday rush-hour traffic almost did us in.
It's bedtime. We'll be back soon with a Bureaucracy review.
Sat 18 April
We're back in our wee Northridge bungalow tonight with 195 new miles on our newer Regal and Granny all proud and happy after
being made over at the Bureaucracy premiere. It's a good movie. It was fun to see good ol' Monty again in so many of
the scenes. And Jane's character is the key to the movie's ultimate outcome. If you Google "Bureaucracy movie" you can read
all about it.
 We love getting away from home every now and then to enjoy a night in a nice motel. The Ayers Suites in Corona certainly
fit that description – rustic western decor, restful sleep and a wonderful free breakfast. As we drove home tonight,
David thought of a photo he found that really makes him laugh. He swears that it doesn't reflect any personal experience of
his own, but he can definitely relate to the attitude, possibly after supervising 40 years of band trips. Click the picture
for a closer look. See what you think.
Tue 21 April
We arrived in San Antonio yesterday afternoon, chose our rent-a-chariot for the week – an electric blue PT Cruiser –
and then moseyed out I-10 to Comfort TX and the Comfort Common, our home for the next three nights. Before moving in, we drove
around to check on some former haunts. You may remember that David was band director here during the 1964-65 school year,
and that we loved the town. We might still be here if not for some very confused school administrators at the time. But the
townspeople and kids were wonderful. We left after a year. So did the next director. The guy after that lasted one semester.
This morning started a little late. The Comfort Common is a bed and breakfast inn, and breakfast is at 9:00am. Jane just loved
that. These restored cottages and outbuildings are cute, but the main building was a hotel in this German community from the 1800's. Right next to it was the oldest continuously
operated general store in Texas... until it burned in 2006. Behind that, the old Comfort Opera House drew top performers in
the early days of the State of Texas.
The town of Comfort has quite a history. It was founded as a German intellectual utopian community with strict rules about who would be
admitted. That list did NOT include lawyers, preachers or several other dangerous professions who gave them grief in their
native land. Fortunately, by the time we arrived they had greatly relaxed their citizenship requirements.
Perhaps the most notable thing about Comfort is that, as the Civil War began heating up, its citizen chose to side with the
Union against the Confederacy. As a result, they suffered a massacre by fellow the Confederates in 1862 by traveling through
Mexico. A monument in town to their deaths is one of only a handful of places in the US where the Stars and Stripes is allowed
to fly continuously at half-mast.
We spent today snooping around Kerrville as a potential home for some point in the future. Since we don't know when or if
this might happen, and since our current lease in LA runs through the beginning of October, we don't offer much to excite
a realtor or landlord. We did visit with Doyle and Lee Malone, David's former AHS classmate and his wife. He was a pilot with
Delta Airlines for many years, and their huge home is lovely. We also found a couple of nice restaurants, a city park on the
blue Guadalupe River, and a scenic backroad winding past field after field full of deer after deer at dusk. Some things stay
the same.
This morning, David's Aunt Eleanor sent a link to an entertaining video with this preface:
"On a Monday morning in Antwerp, Belgium, with no warning to the passengers moving through the central train station, a recording
comes on the public address system – Julie Andrews is singing "Do, Re, Mi." As the bemused passengers watch in amazement,
some 200 dancers begin appearing from the crowd and the station entrances. Turn up your sound and click HERE to enjoy."
Tue 28 April
We're back home in Northridge tonight, and the gremlins that blocked our blogging last week have gone at last. Sadly, so have
the clever and interesting updates we tried to add. We typed 'em all, but they refused to be published, so we finally gave
up. But here in California things are working again. Must have been the Texas humidity. Read on...
Let's see... maybe we can recap this week of excitement:
Wednesday we drove up to Fredericksburg for lunch, spent a second afternoon in Kerrville looking at rental homes, took
some more back roads to Comfort, and packed for our departure next morning.
Thursday we cruised over to Austin, took grandson Tyler to lunch, met his mom there, and decided to stay over after
a BBQ dinner at Kreutz's place in Lockhart – real smoked brisket, ribs and sausage all slow-cooked on a serious bed
of liveoak coals that scorched our ankles as we walked past. Jen-you-wine.
On Friday we made our longest haul – 200 miles to Pasadena TX. David swears he will never again accept a rental
car with no cruise control. The boy is totally spoiled. We arrived about 4:00pm as dark clouds closed in. As we visited with
Jeanne and Lyle, the rain cut loose and thunder-blasts made it all the more fun. After a while we looked out front and our
PT Cruiser had water over the axles in a flooded street that was still rising. David waded out and moved it to the garage,
but there was already an inch of water the floorboards.
Saturday morning after 3 hours of bailing and wringing out wet towels, the carpets only squished a little around the
edges. So we drove to David's high school class reunion, figured out who everyone was, and enjoyed a great lunch. Folks really
don't change that much if you ignore hairlines, waistlines and face lines. It was a fun afternoon. Driving home, we ran the
AC on BLAST, opened all the windows and prayed in vain, but the 98% humidity continued and the rains returned. Everything
was still squishing. We spent that night at Angleton's brand new La Quinta.
On Sunday we skipped church and ate a late breakfast at the motel while still airing out the car. Not a chance. Then
off to Lake Jackson for an impromptu Columbia Band reunion at Denise Wolfe Honea's lovely home. We both loved seeing these
"kids" that we knew almost as well as our own, and who are now as old as we were when they became such vital parts our lives.
Monday was another Pasadena day. David got the carpets deep-vacuumed and kept the doors open most of the day. If you've
ever been to Houston, then you know that things take forever to air-dry. The truth is that before most things can dry,
they mildew, and our carpets were smelling pretty rank. Finally the thunderstorms and cloudbursts returned. We gave up and
went to eat the Mexican food. That's how we deal with adversity.
So this morning we returned a dank, smelly PT Cruiser, made our damage report, and now await what we assume will be a hefty
bill for new carpets and pads. But all that couldn't spoil our visits with so many friends, both old and new, especially Jeanne
and Lyle, the World's Greatest Hosts. Thank you! And thanks to everyone who gave up a day or so to come renew old friendships.
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