Photo

Cynthia asked for a recent photograph that she could hang in their new home, a photo to replace the one that I gave them twenty years ago. That was a picture from the days I was skinny as a rail, and I had had it made into a puzzle as a Christmas gift for the kids. I wasn't sure that my appearance had improved any with the passage of decades, but Tim kindly took some shots when he was visiting. This is the one I selected. (A print is on its way, Cynthia, eventually.)

If it looks terribly Texan and terribly patriotic, that is because it was taken at the employee and volunteer picnic on July 4th after I had been working at the railway all day. I thought a straw hat would be better than my railway cap. At least, it was different from what everyone else was wearing.

I know I may look solemn, but when I smile for a photograph, it always looks pretty absurd. So the best I can manage is something like complacency. Tim also tried to get some candid shots, but in most of those I look like I am whistling for a dog or doing some kind of duck imitation with my lips.

Meanwhile, we had terrible storms all night last night and I got little sleep. We are due for another line of them in an hour or so, and then it should settle down to hot and muggy. At least we did not lose power, and there are no trees down as far as we can tell.