Grandmommy

This morning my great grandmother Louise Fletcher (far right) died. This photo was from her 95th birthday party, showing five generations including my mom, daughter, and grandson with me. Because she was nearly 100 years old and lived nearly all those years with vigor, it's hard to comprehend that she is gone. The sadness with her passing is mixed with an overwhelming appreciation of her life, including her influence (and my grandfather's) on all of her grandkids including me.

Years ago they built a crazy round house with a great view of the lake that you can see in the background of this photo. A lake they owned and operated named Longville Lake, a few miles north of the city of Lake Charles in Louisiana. This was the place where all of us grandkids would visit during holidays, doing goofy kid stuff but at the same time learning a lot about both family and the great outdoors. When not cooking or otherwise tending to us, my grandmother would be out in the world's largest yard mowing or gardening, often in stifling heat and humidity. Now as I'm thinking of her influence on me and I consider my often obsessive and/or grueling adventures in Wimberley, it all starts to fit together... Thanks Grandmommy, I love you.

Happy Hammock

All the kids had some happy time in the big hammock on the back deck last weekend. Here Vanessa and Kara were joined by family friend Logan, who seemed not so sure about the hammock business but loved cruising around the back yard exploring things.

Initiation

Alex was brave enough to bring his girlfriend Yena to Wimberley this week, and she fit right into the family immediately. Like all family she was immediately required to earn her keep by performing manual labor, here helping out with a little deck reinforcement project outside. Welcome Yena, and come back often!

I can't figure out if this looks relaxing or not

What do you think? At least there's no danger of falling asleep while reading in a position like this.