Thanks to Charles Martin for these images from the dinner party at his and Karen's house Sunday night, which included the playing of Rock Band.  Marty and I look like we should have been in a band together.

I haven't heard from her in over four years.  And we used to talk every week.  Often multiple times a week.  Suddenly one week, I never heard back from her, and haven't for over four years.  I SO miss Laura and would love to have her around at this time in my life.  Does anyone know?

In my effort to listen to all my cd collection through alphabetically has finally brought me to this effort from 2007 organized by Charles Martin as a wedding present for Charlie Bates.  Charles, Karen, Mekado, Kara, and I met here in my living room and recorded our "covers" of New Order songs.  Tom sent his in via the internet all the way from New York!

It is a ridiculously absurd thing.  But we had fun doing it.  And Charlie absolutely thrilled at it.

Preparing for my sermon this week, I came across this passage in the Christian Century in Lillian Daniel's reflection on this week's gospel passage, Mark 8:31-38:

Sometimes I hear  people say: "We can talk about anything and he never judges."  Well of course you can talk about anything to someone who is guaranteed not to argue.  But what is the point?  You'll never learn anything.  You'll never be changed.  How could this become a model of friendship anywhere but at a narcissists' convention?  I would just as soon stay home as go out to spend time with that dull friend.  Friends are who God uses to teach us what our families can't.

Yes, I was there.  There at one of the best games I've ever seen, as OU smashed Texas Tech.  The energy of the crowd was incredible from beginning to end as the team played as well as I've ever seen them play.  In a year in which Big 12 defenses have been considered weak, at least in comparison to the outstanding offenses, we completely shut down the "best offense in the country" and then destroyed their defense with an brilliantly planned and executed offense.  It was amazing to watch the stunning way we marshalled our forces in play after play.  Thanks to Bill for the ticket.  And I caught up with Charlie Bates before the game.

We were in Norman for hours, arriving about 1:45.  We went for a potato soup lunch at The Library and toured the new exhibits at the Fred Jones Museum of Art (the travelling exhibit is Russian artists in America). 

I got back to Oklahoma City just in time to shower and dress for the game.  Since the game time temperature was in the 30's I wore multiple layers and filled every pocket with things to add to the outfit to make me warmer -- like the second, even warmer pair of gloves.

About noon on Friday, I realized that I had the window of opportunity to run down to Dallas and see Debbie Williams, the office administrator at Royal Lane, my dear friend and colleague, who has been suffering from cancer and went home for hospice care on Thursday.  I got to spend some time with her and headed home early on Saturday morning.

Today as I was driving up to church in the early afternoon I received the call that she died shortly after noon today.

At church we were giving out our free flu shots.  Many people called in sick tonight, so many that we couldn't field a choir.  We also have some more folk who have bugged out on us and dropped their commitments and responsibilities without ever saying anything.  It continues to boggle my mind the complete lack of constancy and respect for others and the vows that they have made that some people show.  It makes it very frustrating to keep trying to bring your firstfruits.  In fact, it feels like many people who are still around are less precise and careful in their execution, probably because they are so frustrated with the faithless.  Okay, that's a little rant, but I've simply never experienced anything like this in all my years of church.

This year I have many unused vacation days left, so I took all of last week off.  On Monday I hung out with Jacob and Kelli.  In this picture, Jacob tries to feed his stuffed dog a cheerio.

On Tuesday, after voting, I got chores done around the house and then spent the afternoon at the Oklahoma History Center viewing the new exhibit on the art of Alan Houser and his family.  It was a nice exhibit and a good way to entertain oneself for a couple of hours for only $5.  It was really windy that day, which was somewhat annoying, because a lot of the exhibition is outdoor sculpture. 

Tuesday night we spent here at home with our friend Adrienne watching the returns. 

Wednesday morning I left early, heading for Pittsurg, Kansas to visit my friend Jason Kirksey and his family.  Knowing my desire to eat something with local flavor, we went to dinner with some of his friends at Barto's Idle Hour Club.  It is a beer and dance hall, and a great chicken restaurant.

We spent most of the evening just catching up.  He also showed me the Sci Fi mini-series The Tin Man, which I stayed up late watching and finished early the next morning, before we had breakfast and I headed out for Springfield, Missouri.

I had a few hours to kill in the afternoon, so I was contemplating what to do when I saw signs for the Wilson's Creek National Battlefield.  It had been twenty-five years or so since I'd been there, so I decided to head there.  It was a lovely day and perfect weather for the driving and walking at a Civil War battlefield.  I didn't have my hiking boots with me (a shame) but I still walked about three miles of easy paths.

Completing my dose of history, I headed on into Springfield to spend the evening with my aunt Rhonda and uncle Tom.  I met their new dog.  We went for great orange chicken at a Chinese restaurant and, otherwise, simply spent the evening catching up and talking.  Tom and I went for breakfast in the morning, before I left to drive home.

At one point I had planned to head to Fayetteville, Arkansas for a brief stop, but figured that was too much in what was supposed to be a relaxing weekend.  Another plan at one point had been to drive the Talimena drive with friends, but that would have definitely been adding too much.

I stopped for lunch on Friday in Miami at my grandparents.  I had not spent time one-on-one with them in a few years, so it was nice to talk to them. 

When I got home I had to call a locksmith as one of the neighbors had broken their key off in the lock of the back door.  When that was done, Michael and I went to Full Circle Bookstore for Charles Martin's reading of his novel The Dominant Hand.

I've moved on from Bach to Be.  Be is one of those bands that you should know, but probably don't.  They come from Fayetteville.  It was a privilege of mine to be their friends, though over time we have lost touch (though just today I found their MySpace page and sent a friend request).

I got to know them through their cousin Ellen who was one of my dear friends in Fayetteville (we also lost touch after I moved to Texas and she moved to the Carolinas).  For a couple of years I got invited to their family gatherings, which always made me jealous.  They were these huge events where all the parents, aunts & uncles, and grandma hung out with all the twenty & thirty somethings and their huge group of friends.  The parallel would be like my aunt Rhonda not only knowing Marty Peercy, but knowing details about his life and even where he was living at the moment.  I can safely say that none of my family have every known such things, but Ellen's family did.  I also married Mark & Lucinda.  That wedding is its own story, primarily because of the gnats.  Remind me and I'll tell it some time.  Tal, Elizabeth, Mark, and Lucinda were all living in Dallas when I first moved there and we hung out occassionally at first.  Then we all moved again.  The last I hung out with any of them was one time when I was back in Fayetteville and Mark & Lucinda had just moved back there.

At almost 89 she's as vibrant and fun as ever. 

Back when I was in college, FBC Shawnee had an adopt-a-grandparent program for college students.  It was just serendipity, but I was assigned to Christine Reynolds. Christine was a retired high school tennis coach (and former National Coach of the Year) who still played tennis every day, painted, had a great sense of humour and enjoyed life.  We became fast friends.

When she celebrated her 80th birthday, many folk were shocked, not dreaming her age was anywhere near 80.  Shortly after that, she moved to Fresno, California where her kids live.  I had not seen her since then.

When I knew we'd be driving through Fresno, I got a hold of Christine to see about visiting, only to discover that that same week she was flying to Oklahoma for only her second visit since she moved away!  In response to this turn of events my mother commented that this was very fitting for me and Christine.

So, Michael and I altered our plans slightly and stopped in Fresno earlier in our trip.  But we only knew we could make that stop work a few hours before we were going to be there, so we called Christine and told her when we'd be coming.

When we got to her place she met us outside and was full of joy and humour.  She had planned dinner, including grilling wonderful big steaks for us.  She had already eaten, but prepared this full meal for us.

We spent about an hour and a half touring the house, seeing her paintings, and sharing about old stories.  When I asked her if she was still playing tennis, she said that she had decided to give it up at 87, that 87 was long enough!  Though she is still swimming for exercise! 

As we got back into the car, Michael exclaimed, "I LOVE her." 

Michael and I had a wondefully summery weekend. 

You see, I have a philosophy that summer should not be wasted.  One has a short amount of time to get lots of swimming and other summer activities in, and one should enjoy summer.  It should be a lazier, more care-free, fun time of year.  I guess I was on the academic calendar so long, you see.

Friday we headed to Stillwater to see Brandi, who was visiting from Nebraska before moving to Massachusettes.  Together we went to see Wall-E, which is a splendid film.  Beautiful is the proper word for describing at least the first half, which is really an art film.  The second half, which is more children's film, is still enjoyable.  Some of these scenes will become classics -- like dancing around the outside of the space craft.  I highly recommend it: 5 popcorn kernels, 4 film reels.

Saturday Charlie Bates and Charles Martin had organized a reunion of sorts of old college friends at Turner Falls, with some of them driving up from Texas.  I hadn't been to Turner Falls since I was in high school.  But we had such a fun time picnicing, swimming, lying lazily in the falls and cascades, discussing pop culture lists, eating fried pies and watermelon, etc.  Then driving home, Michael, Hallie, Danny, and I marvelled at the most amazing skyscapes -- it was like driving through an art gallery.  No better summer day could have been imagined.

Sunday morning found me working, though we took a break in the afternoon to go see The Happening with Tarae.  What a crappy movie.  One of the worst I've ever seen.  What has happened to the promise of Shyamalan?  I really think the entire film was a dark comedy, as I found myself laughing or thinking about laughing quite often.  There were some sequences that hinted at Shyamalan's previous artistry of composition and style, but these could not save this mess of a movie.  1.5 popcorn kernels, .5 film reels.

After the film we hurried to the ER, as my uncle Glenn was admitted.  I then had to run off to church a little harried, but it was a nice service.  The sermon was primarily composed of the Flannery O'Connor short story "Revelation."  It is such a delightful story that even during my evening walk I kept thinking about it, and I'd been working with the story for days now.

When I finally got home Sunday evening I ended the weekend by reading -- a Vladimir Nabokov short story, an article on Buckminster Fuller, a essay about the Iliad, a chapter on Frank Phillips, some Byron, and a little Isabel Allende before falling asleep.

The three days of the weekend combined with the delightful intellectual stimulation of the three days before has made for a nice little run.  Happy Summer!

Michael and I drove slowly down memory lane this weekend.  We went to my hometown Miami.  This was Michael's first trip to Miami with me (two last year were cancelled), so he got the full Scott Jones tour of Miami along with meeting my high school friends and running into lots of people I know (something which easily happens in a small town).

For instance, when we were checking out of our hotel, the woman behind the counter said, "I haven't seen you in a long time."  I didn't recognize it was someone I knew at first.

Two weddings brought us to Miami.  I have not been invited to a Miami wedding in years, but this year was invited to two and they happened to be the same day but at different times.  The first was Kay Boman and Ken Harvey.  KayBo was our French teacher and Harvey our physics and chemistry teacher.  They were quiz bowl sponsors as well.  They've dated for years, but finally decided to get hitched.  It is funny to think that all those years ago when we were riding along in the school suburban, listening to oldies, and debating politics and religion that a romance was beginning.

The second wedding was two classmates of mine -- Lori Helton and Will Bailey who had not dated when we were in school.  Last year they met again through MySpace, as each was monitoring their children's on-line activities.  Their kids were MySpace friends.

At KayBo and Harvey's wedding pretty much every one of my high school teachers was in attendance.  It was quite fun seeing all them and catching up with a few.  It was also fun introducing Michael to everyone.  I'd love to have been a fly on the car window of the drive home of various of them.  "So, Scott Jones is gay."  "Is that a surprise?"

Noel Dougherty, who had been the Episcopal rector when I was a teen, came over to sit down beside me and said, "Earlier when you introduced your partner, I thought you meant your partner at the church."  I laughed and said, "No, the other kind."

More exciting Miami adventures coming in future posts.