Kelly Times Two

Have you ever been to a well-known place in the country or in the world, and you didn't realize how historically significant or amazing it was until you'd been there? That has happened to me a few times, and places that come to mind are the Colosseum in Rome, the ruins of Pompeii, the confined space of Anne Frank's house in Amsterdam, and the Alamo in San Antonio. Last month, just a mere 15 minutes approximately from where my sister lives in Kansas City, I had the opportunity to take a brief tour of an LDS Church historical site in the tiny town of Liberty, Missouri, at the Liberty Jail where Joseph Smith and a few other LDS church leaders had been wrongly imprisoned during a bitter-cold winter, more than 170 years ago from December, 1838, until April, 1839. While this site may not have world fame and popularity, I had known about Joseph Smith being unjustly confined in jail there. Last month as I stood in that exact same place, the truth of his persecution and suffering ...

Please tell me that I'm not the only one who is juggling so many things to prepare for the perfect Thanksgiving feast, that a significant ingredient is inadvertently omitted. I just took a pecan pie out of the oven and thought that something didn't seem right. Then it occurred to me that I left out the Karo syrup. Oops! So now I need to make another one, and I put a fork into it to taste it. It wasn't really that bad, quite a bit more eggy, and obviously not as sweet. With pecan pie, that's kind of a good thing. If you ever want to cut back on the sweetness of one of these classic pies, I recommend leaving out some of the sugary Karo syrup. Happy cooking!

In addition to a few who aren't pictured here, these generous, delightful women from my neighborhood treated me to a fun lunch out, six days after my birthday, making this my third daytime dining soirée of the week. The two women on each side of me are part of our cycling group, the Biker Babes, our self-titled description. Humble, aren't we? Here are Zee and Kimberly. Here are Kelley and Denise. Here is Waleska and me. Here are Donna and Kelly. You got it, one third of us that day are named Kelly or Kelley. Here are Theresa, Sherrie, and Scott. We went to Kobe Japanese steakhouse, which is conveniently close to our homes. Kelly and Theresa once more. The busy chef adding plenty of salt to our scallops, and everything else that day. This was my third or fourth birthday dessert of the week, and candle to blow out. I'm all for keeping the celebration going as long as people are willing to continue! I can't remember what I wished for, but I do remember liking th...

My cousin, Anna, was in Austin last week for work, and we had the pleasure of her company at our house for a few days. What an agreeable guest she was! No matter what prior commitments we already had on our calendars, she happily joined us. From signing up a few weeks beforehand on their schedules, on the last night before Anna went home to California, I had arranged to feed the Mormon missionaries for dinner, Sister Harris and Sister Winters, and Anna was totally hospitable and gracious about it. They weren't here for long, but Sister Winters was very excited when she heard that Anna's brother, Billie Joe Armstrong, is the lead singer in Green Day, so I asked her if she wanted to have me take their picture together, and she did. While she was here, we also had Christopher's end of the year football game and their team celebration at a local pizzeria. Again, Anna happily went right along with us (see her below in the background shot with Lindsey). These three boys, Malik, ...