May 9, 2021
Nobody can put Mother’s Day into words like a mother herself. In this case, it’s mine. The image below is of her and her mother.
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April 13, 2021
My grandma turns 92 today.
Anna Mae “Sucky” Tidwell
She’s a master gardener, a talented florist and has always been an animated personality in my life.
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April 10, 2021
After Hattie Belle let me listen in on a podcast she’s doing for a school project, it reminded me that I used to have one of those. By the way, she’s REALLY good at them. Unfortunately, her podcast isn’t public. Mine is. Here’s a short one that was cut recently.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/6eF3dqH08QNOJKDNORwE1L?si=OfOBAScVQNK4V_8AhmnPgg
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April 7, 2021
I was crowned today, but it’s only temporary.
You know that chunk of composite faux-rock that the dentist and his team will drill, saw, and plug into your head when an old tooth gives out?
King me.
What stood out about this particular visit is the immeasurable amount of angst that began to travel throughout my bones before the dentist ever got started.
He got through the series of Novocain shots alright. So did I, it seemed, though I was still shaking like Barney Fife discovering a bank hold-up.
In the end, they had to gas me.
I’m feeling much better now, though the nitrous oxide has worn off… I think.
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April 4, 2021
Easter Sunday
Their smiling faces bring gladness,
For they bloom for you and for me.”
– “Bluebonnets,” by Julia D. Booth and Lora C. Crockett
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April 2, 2021
So this happened yesterday…
Who doesn’t like a cameo appearance from Charles Durning?
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April 2, 2021
The second Texas writer that I was a fan of has died this week.
On Friday, we learned Larry McMurtry passed. McMurtry, the Archer City native who penned Lonesome Dove, Terms of Endearment, The Last Picture Show and many other well-known books and movies, was as much written about as he wrote.
Just today, word came that Houston newspaper columnist and author Leon Hale has died.
While I feel far from competent as a scribe, reading McMurtry and Hale have helped me improve over the years. Their words helped me find my own voice as I write for work or pleasure.
I don’t know if you call it an honor to write obituaries and memorial pieces for work, but the task has fallen to me while on the job quite a bit. Since arriving in Houston for my ‘second tour,’ I’ve typed up a few like Johnny Bush, Grady Gaines, Jerry Jeff Walker, Kenny Rogers, and now the latest pair.
Hale’s was a labor of love and therapy. I discovered his Houston Chronicle columns as a homesick 18-year-old freshman at Texas A&M. When I’d go to work at the radio station, I’d look for that day’s edition and immediately turn to the City & State section where Hale’s dispatches were prominent three days a week.
Instead of producing a video to go along with ABC13’s tribute, I found a most appropriate clip from his wife, Babette, who produced it 10 days ago.
https://abc13.com/society/leon-hale-texas-writer-and-columnist-dies-at-99/10452981/
Charlie Haldeman 