MEandering - Generic Family

Trick-or-Treat!

nospam@example.com (Annie Gabston-Howell) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 14:34:00 -0600

Halloween 2008

Merry Christmas World!

nospam@example.com (Annie Gabston-Howell) — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 08:41:40 -0700

Christmas - 2005

We wish you a Merry Christmas.

May you and your loved ones be granted all possible joy of this season and of every season.

To Write or Not to Write?

nospam@example.com (Annie Gabston-Howell) — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 08:55:38 -0700

Except as a catchy title, there exists no real question that this morning might be spent sitting here expressing my thoughts to the world at large and crystalizing them to myself.

It is nearly Christmas, and I must shop! Writing will have to wait until I have time to go along with my ideas.

Luckily, this morning I can simply link to an article by Ben's father. No need to say myself what he has already said so very well.

Please follow the link to his article.

Preparing for All Hallow's Eve...

nospam@example.com (Annie Gabston-Howell) — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 21:16:53 -0600

The costumes are shaping up...

Midna in the making.

New wings for the Ruby Dragon.

Costumes

nospam@example.com (Annie Gabston-Howell) — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 05:41:37 -0600

Halloween is coming and this year's costumes are not yet done. Yikes!
Notice how yellow the sunlight appears? There were fires in California that October also.

The photo above was taken just before Halloween in 2003. The following is from last year. The older photo is reflective of mommy's idea of appropriate costumes for the little darlings. The newer one below, is of costumes decided upon by the kids. These are probably a far more accurate reflection of the inner children.

Witch and Dragon, 2006

To My Friends in Nebraska...

nospam@example.com (Annie Gabston-Howell) — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 05:59:26 -0600

I was a rotton kid who took far too long to grow up, but I was really good at picking friends.

The Gabston-Howells, a few years back. Allan and Annie in the middle. Back Row left to right: Sherry, Janette, Katie. Front: Lia, Phillip, Anya

Around a quarter of a century ago, I decided to re-invent myself. I tossed out my old life and created a whole new one. I was self-centered enough that the world was all about me. I thought about how much I missed my old buddies, but didn't consider that they might miss me, also.

My last post caught the attention of one of those old friends and she left a comment. She didn't mention what a rotten thing it is to run out on a friend without a word. She didn't tell me off for not keeping in touch. She said, "You still have friends in Nebraska!"

I am a fortunate woman.

We're famous!

nospam@example.com (Annie Gabston-Howell) — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 19:52:55 -0600

Or maybe we're not. Famous, I mean. If you click here, and wait through about 16 minutes of boring Los Vegas school stuff, you can get a glimpse of my handsome spouse, myself and three of the four delightful children currently at home. Don't listen to what poor, deprived-of-all-outside-contact Liyah (who is highly offended that Petah spelled her nickname the way we say it!) has to say though. It's been awhile since she's seen her former classmates (except Daisy who lives down the block but isn't someone Lia wants to hang out with and Alexis who she sees fairly often and has four-hour-long phone conversations with!) not her friends. They were class mates! Only class mates. Although very aware of our civic duty to protect the free world from her, she is NOT kept in isolation. We thought of it, but duty-be-darned, if we have to put up with the darling child , so does the rest of the world!

The children are disappointed that so much of the interesting stuff that they had to say got lost on the cutting room floor. I must confess that I'm a bit relieved. The crew was here for hours and the children found them terribly interesting and Peter was really fun to talk to. I'm beginning to think that, just perhaps, my children should be seen and not heard.

On another, completely unrelated topic: Today, someone much younger than my almost half a century expressed surprise that I'd done an internet search on her name. In response, I expressed surprise that she didn't routinely do internet searches on people she finds interesting. In retrospect, I'm surprised that I have reached the age where I think about age again and have expectations based on a person's age. Had she been an age peer, I'd wouldn't have thought her surprise at all odd.

And yet another unrelated bit: I need to do some real work. I want to play. If I'm so blasted grownup now, why is playing so much more tempting than work?