Flabbergasted

(I love that word.)

Well, I discovered that many people do not even know who Beverly Sills, AKA Bubbles, was. So imagine my disappointment when I arrived at work, ready to share my sorrow at her passing, only to be met with, "Who?" Humph.... let's just say she set a standard against which many vocalists measure themselves.

We enjoyed the 4th with my surrogate family. Seeins' how I don't get the opportunity to spend holidays with my family, I was long ago adopted by a great family here in North Texas. We are invited, let's make that expected, to attend all of their family gatherings, and there is never a shortage of food and laughter. And also seeins' how every family has at least one wild and crazy character, there is neither a shortage of head-scratchin'.

I received a brief education in Man Law yesterday. The men in this North Texas family have really impressive... grills. They strut around and show off their grilling prowess at these get-togethers, wreathed in smoke and wielding huge spatulas. When one of the men was feeling a little impotent watching the home owner get his grill on, one of the women suggested that he get a spatula and help. OMG! You would have thought she had called The Duke himself a lily-livered coward! She was promptly informed that touching another man's grill was the culinary equivalent to making out with his wife - maybe worse. Lesson learned.

We thought we'd be clever and drive to the top of one of those parking garages downtown to watch fireworks. The security guard told us to beat it. Let's see... Wednesday evening, nothing going on downtown, most of the garage empty, not hurting anyone, not breaking any known laws... guess we could have been loitering. So we drove away... and parked one level lower. We saw a nice show over nearby LaGrave field. Ha, ha!

Happy Independence Day, everyone. Pray for peace.