Christmas Miracle (edit/delete)

To everyone who has been following Lauren's saga; believe it or not, she had dinner at my house Christmas Day! She came home two days earlier and spent Christmas Eve in the emergency room, but she was there! Living, breathing, joking and playing she ate some of the Roast Beef, Yorkshire Pudding, Some of the ho-made rolls and even the Chocolate Pots de Creme. It was a true celebration of life in the best sense of the word.  

There are still some mountains to cross, memories get confused and lost, then appear suddenly. Childhood joy returns to a "grownup" teenager. There are physical issues that need to be addessed but she is laughing, playing, doing her nails and being a young woman again. All of us at that dinner were affected by her presence. It was a pleasure

I have to go back to work today.. one of the nice things about being in real estate is that when an emergency arises, you have some time to deal with it. Thank you all for your kind thoughts, prayer and patience in allowing me to vent some very scary issues here. In the 6 years I've been a professional agent, I've been constantly astonished by the kindness of my fellow agents 

Those of you who have been following Lauren's story will be pleased to know that she is slowly but surely still fighting her way out of the coma. With dialysis twice a day now, the removal of the poisons are allowing her more brain activity. She actually was able to free herself from her restraints and get out of bed, much to the surprise of the nurses at 5:45 AM! Her family is now settling into the shock of what happened and how to deal with it. The police, and others are on the case. Even if this wasn't an intentional act, it is a criminal act of some kind that needs to be addressed. Possibly someone maliciously placed the ethylene glycol into a bottle on a shelf in a store. EVERYTHING that can be tested is being tested. There will be no publicity concerning this case until we find the truth. Until then, please be careful, please warn your children, grandchildren and be vigilant. We were all young and stupid once, we survived. Ten years ago, Lauren wouldn't have.

If we find out the who's. the what's and the where's on this, I will let you know. Until then, frankly, I need to concentrate on work and the upcoming Christmas season. My only baby is coming into town next week and I haven't begun to do anything! Your continuing thoughts and prayers are constantly appreciated.

Lauren is fighting her way out of the coma! Last night, it was as bad as it could be. The family was told that if she survived, there was no way to determine what her brain function would be. All of this heartache and fear, is because she was either accidentally or was intentionally poisoned with antifreeze in a dorm room at college. Late this morning she began to respond to hand squeezes, the respirator was removed and she began to fight to regain consciousness. There is hope. It is a very very good day to be alive.

It is amazing how an e-community of complete strangers can help. Her family is so very gratefull for the miraculous gift they have been given. I haven't told them about all of you that were praying for Lauren's recovery. Thank you all.

Life is fragile.

I wrote a short post yesterday concerning my anticipated day. Nothing went as planned. I did have a nice property showing. Met some wonderful people and then was starting back towards town and Wassailfest as planned, when the phone rang. It was my friend, whom I was to meet downtown at 6. She had received the phone call that all parents have nightmares about: her 19 year old daughter was being taken to the hospital, unconscious for unknown reasons. Her tox-screens were clear. The child had to be lifeflighted to a critical care hospital in Austin, where it was finally discovered that somehow she had ingested anti-freeze. It is not yet known how this happened, there has been no history or evidence of drinking but she is a college freshman. The why's don't really matter...yet. She is now in a coma, on a respirator, on dialysis & had an EEG today to establish a brain function baseline. Day before yesterday she was cramming for finals.

We are asking questions constantly of our children, who, what where, when, how? What most of us want is for them to reach adulthood safe, happy and healthy. How do you handle the pain and guilt that an event like this is causing everyone involved?

Hug your husband, your wife, your kid or your dog today. Life is so very fragile. Let them know how you really feel about them. Right now.

So much has happened the past couple of weeks. I haven't been able to write any blog entries because my old faithful laptop had a cardiac arrest. For a while, it looked as if there was going to be a family funeral but the computer was revived and I am assured that the newly transplanted hard drive will be as good as new. I find it amazing how this relatively new form of communication has taken over my life.

While real estate work normally slows down this time of year, I decided to do something entirely for myself - well not completely myself. First, some personal history; my mother was an Army Nurse, an Ohio farm girl, just out of nursing school when she entered the Army, "for the duration". It wasn't until the Women's Movement started in the late 60's that I realized exactly how extraordinary what she had done, really was. She was shipped to Australia, but ended up in the Phillippines. Immediately became a front line duty nurse decades before women were allowed to do such things. Her group relieved the few nurses that had survived the Bataan Death march and subsequent Japanese internment camps. I grew up hearing these stories like other kids heard about their mothers' going to high school football games.

We are at war again. By some twist of fate and real estate, I was brought into contact with a newly minted Army nurse from small town Illinois. She was sent to San Antonio for training and will be deployed to Iraq sometime next year. Her fiance followed her here this month. They were planning to get married at the courthouse. It isn't often that we get an opportunity to honor our parents memory and make memories for another generation at the same time.

I became a Fairy Godmother last week. In my former lifetime, I catered many weddings, funerals and even a bar mitzvah. So I went to work, made a wedding cake, ordered the flowers, found the location, planned and cooked the menu. Saturday, where the Comal river and the Guadalupe river join, this young couple was joined by a few friends, a minister and one Fairy Godmother. Memories were made and and honored, never to be forgotten.

I am female. I was born more than 50 years ago, so I was raised in a traditional home where the daddy gets up in the morning, goes to work, comes home to the little wife, the kids and a hot dinner on the table. Needless to say, that's not me, BUT I do have the skilz! Since the biggest cooking day of the year is upon us next week, I want to share a story of my first pumpkin pie. I was dating my husband, he had volunteered my 21 year old baking skills to his family... guess who was making the pies?

I was in college & had no car. If you are assuming mastadons were still roaming in the Montrose area of Houston, you are correct. I had to WALK all the way to Freaky Foods on Richmond Avenue to buy the ingredients for two pumpkin pies. Since this was before the Cuisinart had been invented AND Pillsbury wasn't marketing any pre-made crusts yet, I made pie dough using the two knife method for cutting-in the shortening. Add some icewater, then chill the dough. Sprinkle flour on the countertop to roll it out, place it in the pie pans, crimp the edges like Grandma did. Set everything in the refrigerator to chill, again. Well, my day is through, right? Wrong.

Oh, yeah, I still needed to make the innards. Pumpkin did come in cans in 1971, but you still needed to add the canned milk, spices and eggs to make the filling. I was doing this up right! There was even whole nutmeg to grate into the mix. By now, the tiny apartment kitchen was totally covered in a thick layer of flour and it was beginning to cover furniture in the living room, me too probably. I preheated the oven to the proper temperature, got the chilled crusts out of the fridge. Carefully pouring the filling all the way to the top of the pans, I soon realized that it was going to take at least an hour or more to clean up the mess in the kitchen. Opening the small oven, I gingerly placed the two pie pans on the shelf, pushing it ever so gently into the oven, only to have the shelf tilt backwards spilling the still liquid custard all over the bottom of the very hot oven. It was a monumental disaster. As the custard hit the bottom of the hot oven it hissed, sizzled and smoked. Turning off the oven, I opened all the windows and doors, tried to fan the smoke and smell out, finally gave up and sat there staring at the kitchen

I was still sitting there trying to figure out where to start when my husband-to-be showed up. When he finished laughing at my mess, he kissed me and told me that he always thought the best pies came from Luby's. We left my tiny apartment, bought a couple of pies at the closest cafeteria and lived happily ever after...the kitchen did get cleaned up, but not before Christmas. 

How does this ANY of this relate to real estate? When it comes to important things like making the biggest investment in your life, hire a professional. Your time is best spent doing what you do best, let a REALTOR do what she does best. 

I checked the December Calendar for the New Braunfels Chamber of Commerce, there sure is a lot of stuff to do if you have the time and the money. This weekend the Cowboy Kringle comes to Gruene with the Craft Fair, the Christmas Tree lighting ceremony is tomorrow downtown. There are various dances & symphonies, both a Gala and a Ball, Weihnachtsmarkt, art shows, a family camp out at Cypress Bend Park, a Pony Express Run...There is something for everyone that wants to participate in something.

If, like me, you want something low key, friendly, fun and free, for everyone from toddlers & teen agers to grandparents... Make time to attend Wassailfest in Downtown New Braunfels. It is a charming celebration of the season. Locals love it and outlanders are enchanted.

Downtown is always beautifully decorated, lights are everywhere, all the downtown businesses, restaurants and stores stay open late. Traffic is closed off. All of the business have booths and tables set up on the sidewalks for the strollers to sample and vote on who's recipe of wassail is their favorite. Everyone talks & laughs, samples wassail and cookies, shops, greet friends & neighbors

Wassailfest is a truly unique example of everyone's idea of what Christmas should be. Under the fairy lights, in the dark, families stroll by, dressed in those hideous matching sweaters Grandma gave them. Young lovers are giggling and hugging. Kids are everywhere, running in the streets that are usually forbidden territory. It's a truly happy time to just be together.   

This year, Wassailfest will be held on December 6th, Downtown New Braunfels, TX, 6 PM - 9 PM

Granted, the Guadalupe River low water bridge at Gruene it isn't THAT beautiful. It was built as a utilitarian way to cross an impetuous river. Two narrow lanes more sized for Model T's than SUV's. I'm sure no great architects were ever involved in it's construction. It wasn't a graceful arch or an example of Victorian iron lacework, it was just solid concrete with some exposed re-bar here and there, barely wide enough for two pick-ups to pass slowly while the drivers gawked at the slightly tipsy bikini clad toobers try to exit the river gracefully.  

A couple of years ago, a large section washed down stream several feet. The powers that do such things just picked up that section, put it back in place like a large piece of the puzzle and sort of smoothed some paving material around the raw edges. It has been a safety concern for years, too narrow, too crowded, too low, too old, too easy to fall off of, but everyone loved it.  Concerned citizens tried to have it declared Historic. It really wasn't, it was merely old. It's demise came about this summer after record rains and a tragic death. No one can deny that every attempt to save the old bridge had been tried, it's sad but inevitable. Another bit of historic Comal County, Gruene & New Braunfels is coming down. To be replaced by a newer, wider, higher, safer and maybe even prettier bridge...but those of us around here will remember all the fun we had at the old one.

The tear down begins 11/12/2007 and the new bridge is scheduled to be open by Memorial Day 2008. but we all know if Sra. Guadalupe has anything to say about it - the new bridge won't open until July 4th

I want to share a quick example of the true power of the internet. My laptop displayed the Error Message from H*ll this morning..."Unmountable_Boot_Volume" After working with it all day, with intermittant stops to yell and pond on stuff, that's all my laptop was saying this evening until I sent out a plea to a small circle of internet friends.

I guess you need to know that I live in New Braunfels, TX. The "first responder" to my cry for help lives in Portland, OR. He had some ideas on what to do but his backup, a wonderful lady in Northern AZ, had already talked to her nephew in Sothern CA. He happens to do this kind of stuff internationally. Luckily, he was home, since he is moving to Manhatten tomorrow, it was an especially kind act. 

Texas to Oregon, to Arizona, to California and back to Texas. In less than 10 minutes. That is an example of Power that was virtually unheard of 15 years ago.

Is that cool or what?

I recently had a conversation with one of the many people that has helped me so much in my ongoing quest to understand some of cyberspace. I was sharing with my guru some of the information that my internet friends taught me. THAT, was a revelation. Because using the internet, e-mail,  paperless transactions, new sites and services, these are all available now. 

It is my not so profound observation that just as you are beginning to understand how to use a piece of technology, something new comes along that adds to that. You need to take some time out and learn how (or IF) this can help you and your business. Sometimes it works, oft times not. This is reflective of how people continue to grow intellectually throughout life. You can't just on your website glory of 3 or 4 years ago, nor your hardware. If you are open to new hardware & new ideas, you will never grow old.

It's Wurstfest Time!

Almost anyone who attended college in Texas, knows that one of the first Thursday nights in November is reserved for a quick trip to the New Braunfels Wurstfest and the "Ten Day Salute to the Sausage". As usual, I was a bit late to the party, didn't make until 1972. In the afternoon my husband and I rented a paddle boat in the park, ate sausage, drank beer, listened to Myron Floren, danced a few polkas then OomPah'd our way back to the hotel. As a native Texan I will readily admit that I am of German heritage, but mine is of the Pennsylvania variety. However, the sausage, potato pancakes and beer taste pretty much the same.

New Braunfels is well known for it's German Heritage but it wasn't until 1961 that the annual Fall festival was instigated by the City Meat Inspector/Veterinarian, Ed Grist and the Chamber of Commerce. It has been rolling merrily along ever since. Originally, a one day affair, it soon expanded to two days then in 1963 became a week long festival. By 1967, Wurstfest had permanent facilities in Landa Park and a 10 day timetable. Attendance had risen from 2,000 to 40,000 people. Featured food varies from the original Sausage on a Stick, Kartoffel Puffers (potato pancakes) to more exotic fare such as SauerKraut Pizza.

Today, attendance pushes 150,000, the bands play every night, but the sausage is still served hot on a stick with pitchers of cold beer and it's a great way to start off the Fall season in Texas. Families attend in droves, charitable food booths abound, the atmosphere is festive, the Oma's and Opa's are dressed in Dirndles and Liderhosen. Since Schlitterbahn is closed and it's usually too cold to TOOB either the Comal or the Guadalupe Rivers, you might want to drive around to see some of the other events that are planned to capture the your attention before you hit "Das Grosse Zelt" or the "Wurst Halle". At the New Braunfels Art League Gallery, a special exihibit named "Artoberfest" is available for viewing and or purchase from 10 AM to 5 PM daily. The McKenna Children's Museum has Dino Vivo for the duration, the KC Hall, across from Gate #1 hosts Arts & Crafts exhibits. There is truly something for everyone. 

Oh, by the way, Thursday night is STILL "College Night" and if it's any indicator, most of the natives stay home then to catch their breath for the second weekend of revelry. Should you decide, like my husband and I did 35 years ago, that New Braunfels was a good place to live, give me a call. It took us over 25 years to get move here, but we wouldn't live anywhere else, plus now I can help you find a place to live, too!

Whoops! forgot to post the dates this year! Friday November 2, Music begins at 4 PM through Sunday November 11. (Admission is free after 3PM 11/11 only!) OmmmPaah!