Marvelous Mom

Many of you know that Mom is in Wesley's Medical Intensive Care Unit after having respiratory failure last Thursday. Right now, she is in critical condition and is sedated and on a ventilator. The doctors performed a successful tracheotomy today to help her breathe, and my family and I believe that this is a vital step to successful recovery. Mom is a fighter, and she loves life, and we have faith that she's going to wow us all as she continues to heal.

Thanks to all of you who have shared your love, prayers and support during the past week. It's been a very difficult time, and I know we'll need the help of the people who love Mom and our family to see us all through it. While she's on all of our hearts and minds, I wanted to share some of my favorite photos of her from the past several months.

Synchronized sleeping

Brian snapped this great pic of the pups napping. It's odd, but we do often find them sleeping or resting in the exact same position (note their heads resting on left paws):

Young at heart

Sunday was the end-of-the-year bash for the church youth group that Brian & I work with. Hard to believe it's the end of the school year already: Seems like we were just celebrating the beginning of the year. Quite apropos that we played water games and got messy to wrap things up. There was a giant homemade slip-and-slide.








The tweens played in the sprinklers until the church's lawn became a muddy mess.












We dined on cotton candy and sno-cones.













And I did my best to stay out of the messy games. Exhibit A: the egg game. A youth sponsor and youth group member selected eggs to crack on each other's head. The catch? One's hard-boiled. The other's raw.


If Sunday's party didn't make me feel young at heart, this evening did: I scored a 67 percent on the "under 21" quiz in the current GQ Magazine. Score! (Brian & I do recall that such percentage is a passing grade.)

Farmers market finds

Before my late morning swim today, I visited the Kansas Grown farmers market, where it was herb day. I celebrated by buying two varieties of sage. I also found a beautiful hanging flower basket (everyone needs a May Day basket, right?), a Larkspur Loaf from Delano Bakery, sugar-free banana nut bread, cinnamon twists and some locally baked dog biscuits for the pups.

Dakota & Lilly were especially excited about the large doggy treats I brought home:

The biscuits' ingredients include whole wheat flour, applesauce, peanut butter, cornmeal and rolled oats. (I confess that I tasted one, and they remind me of Grape Nuts.)

Food, folks & fun

On Friday night, Brian fired up the grill, and Tony & Nicole joined us for a scrumptious steak dinner. Besides the chilly, windy weather, our gathering contained all the makings of a great evening. Lilly wanted to play catch nonstop. I won our poker game. We split a delicious bottle of Stephen Vincent cab. And Eric arrived in town for a weekend visit. Cheers, and happy weekend!

Wait no more

Earlier this week, I finished reading "Waiting: The True Confessions of a Waitress" by author and former waitress Debra Ginsberg. The book is part memoir, part social commentary, a la "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America" by Barbara Ehrenreich. Portions included behind-the-scene restaurant confessions, not unlike those in Anthony Bourdain's "Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly."

I enjoyed Ginsberg's book and am interested in reading several others she's recently written. For now, though, I'll share with you a few things I learned from "Waiting" ...

Don't worry about decaf coffee: "There is a general rule of thumb for every restaurant I've worked in: the more a customer protests the need for decaf, the likelier the possibility that he will receive regular ... The honest answer? No, it's probably not decaf."

Visitors don't enjoy our June heat, either: "I celebrated by twentieth birthday in the endless state of Kansas under a blistering June sun ... For hours, all we heard were songs by Toto (appropriately enough) ... To this day, I can't hear 'Rosanna' without having an instant vision of the parched grasses and endless highway running through Kansas."

Restaurant employees cook up much more than dinner. Just read Chapter 9, "Food and sex."

Big storm? Hail, yes!

We had a little hailstorm in Ta-town tonight. Let's call it Wichita on ice.












At our house, ice is a treat for Dakota, who is still on a doggy diet. (Five pounds down so far!) Bottoms up, Snoders: