Kelly Times Two

The day after Christmas, our neighbor, Anyck, invited us over to her house for dessert and to visit. We went to church that morning, then walked over to her house which is three houses away from ours. She showed us her plans for adding a deck on to the back yard and some changes she's going to make around her swimming pool, then we came inside and had some black forest cake and ice cream and visited with her loveable dog, Marley, who is very friendly and mild mannered. The kids really were impressed with Anyck, who is French Canadian with a delightful accent, when she showed them a big award she had gotten for her work, which was heavy, similar to an Oscar. We are surrounded by people from many countries on our street, with neighbors from Argentina and the Netherlands, living two houses over, and one house over, we have neighbors from India who moved in right when we moved to Taiwan. Our neighbors on the other side of us are Americans, but Kari's mom lives in Saudi Arabi. Th...

Eventually I will get back on a roll with blogging about Taiwan, but I've had a few frustrations and I have not been motivated enough. You see, my colorful Dooney & Bourke black Wonder Duck wallet that I adore--filled with my drivers license, credit cards, temple recommend, NT $8,000 in cash and a couple of gift cards--got stolen from my purse while we were shopping on Saturday in a jam-packed store as everyone was preparing for the recent typhoon day we had AND the brand new vacuum cleaner I bought at the mall here in Hsinchu before going back to the States does not work and I threw away the box and the receipt since it was in Chinese. In the meantime, please enjoy some pictures from when I was in Austin. My good friend, Sherrie, picked me up from the airport late the night I got back from Idaho after taking Lindsey to college. The next day, I got to return a favor, and picked her kids up from school while she was in San Antonio playing in a tennis tournament so I took her swe...

A few days before Lindsey's high school graduation, my college roommate, Linda, came out to visit us from Illinois. One afternoon Linda, Lindsey, and I spent the day hanging out with my friend Jill and her son Preston. Preston is going to be a missionary in Brazil for two years starting in October, I believe. Jill's husband, Gary, owns the Big Red and All Sport drink companies. Jill told me that someone tried to sue the company for their Big Blue drink because they thought they had stolen the identity from them. Big Red won. Woo! I wish I could remember who it was, but this was about six weeks ago and I've been rather busy since then and don't have a clue. Doesn't Lindsey look adorable as a spokes-model for Big Blue? Lounging by their pool before we went out to lunch... Jill and I hit a few balls on their little putting green. I tried to hit a ball into the fire pit and was doing horribly until Preston gave me some pointers. His tips really helped! I seriously n...

Living next to a professional artist has been a pleasure since we built our house here in Austin ten years ago. Gladys is not only extremely talented and her artwork is interesting and the process is unlike anything I would have imagined--she creates miniature settings in real life in her living room art studio, then begins adding layer upon layer of acrylic paint until she is satisfied--she is also the best neighbor. Last month, I went to a downtown Austin art gallery to see her latest creations and snapped a few shots, although these amateur photos don't come close to showing how wonderful the art actually is. Here's Gladys with her oldest daughter, Celeste, who just graduated from the University of Texas. Jack, her husband, and Marielle, her youngest daughter, also attended the opening of her work on display. She also paints gorgeous family portraits, and I've always wanted to commission her for one of these, but haven't done so yet. Some day... Congratulations, Gl...