The Christmas Tamales

 

 

 It is always a good day when a student brings you Christmas Tamales!

She&Him Christmas in Dallas

 

This past Saturday, my wife and I went to the SMU campus to McFarlin Auditorium to see She&Him perform a Christmas concert. Zooey Dechanel (She) has legit vocal range. She is the real deal. Great voice. M Ward (Him) has been one of my favorite guitarists/singer-songwriters for a long time. His album Migration Stories, released near the beginning of the 2020 covid shutdown helped me get through that stressful and weird time. 

 

They performed some of their non-Christmas standards as well. It was quite a concert. They played both with a band and acoustically as a duo. Everything was festive and top-notch.

 

It was a great experience and we got to see the lights on the Hilltop. It had been awhile since I had been on the SMU campus. It was good to be back. The concert was actually in the same auditorium where my masters graduation ceremony happened so that room always has good vibes for me. 

 

But She&Him are the real deal. Being on stage exposes those who are just products of the studio and a good producer and who actually has talent. Zooey and Ward were amazing live. They performed a phenomenal set.

Feast like kings

While the ladies were in Galveston this past summer, me and the boy went to downtown Dallas to the only BBQ joint in DFW that serves KC style barbecue. We ate like kings.

 

The Grading

Once again this past June, the AP World History Grading was virtual due to Covid fears. It has been announced that we are indeed meeting back in person in Kansas City for June 2022. But we thought that about 2021 as well so we will have to wait and see.

I had the house to myself for about a week of the virtual grading. Kim and Ava went to Galveston with some friends. Jackson had summer band camp during the day. Only the cats were around to keep me company. Lola did not like me being on Zoom Meetings. When the family came back for the last few days of the Read I sequestered myself back into our bedroom like I had the year before. The remote reads aren't bad, but I do miss seeing my fellow graders in person.

 

Dad's Day

 

 

Still catching up. I mentioned Mother's Day a couple of posts back. These are pics from Father's Day in June. I was grading AP essays (remotely again due to COVID protocols) but the kids still made time to celebrate. We went to Rodeo Goat for burgers. I'm honored to be their Dad.

 

 

Brownies

In May I made a quick trip to Tulsa to attend a graduation luncheon for my cousin's daughter. My wife and kids had another commitment and couldn't come. It was a quick trip up and back in one day. I did had some time to drive by both sets of my Grandparent's old homes. I only have one grandparent left and she lives in an assisted living center now. Lots of memories in those homes. Makes me nostalgic. I also ate lunch at Brownie's. Brownie's was one of my favorite diners growing up. And it looks almost exactly the same as it always has. It's nice that there are a few things that don't change in this mixed-up world. 

Catching Up

Well, I wasn't planning on hibernating from blogging for eight months. This is the longest I've gone without publishing on here since I started this thing in 2006. The sabbatical was unintentional and I'm not even sure why I paused for so long. 

Guess I should spend the rest of this blog-year catching up. Even though I'm pretty sure no one reads my posts it makes me happy to publish. I find it cathartic. I shouldn't have allowed myself to lapse. May try to catch up a bit. So here's some shots from last Mother's Day as we got breakfast at Snooze A.M. in Oak Lawn...