John in China and other things

Here's a most recent photo of John taken last Saturday in Shanghai old town. Interestingly they have Dairy Queen, Subway, Burger King, and WalMart all in Shanghai. There really isn't any safe water, though,...even the local people have told him that. So, he has to brush his teeth and clean contacts with bottled water, as well as drink it. He has the rest of this week in classes at Shanghai University, and then the rest of the time will be spent working in a Chinese company as an intern.

If you have kids, grandchildren, friends, etc. who are going to be away, but if they and you have computers, you can communicate with them wonderfully through Skype. This is free. You can text in real time, talk, and if you have a camera you can see each other. Raf and I were musing about how this could not have happened in the 1960's when we were John's age and how wonderful it is now. Funny how much better I feel when I can hear John's voice. I believe a lot of our servicemen use this to communicate with their loved ones back home, too.

Sunday, after church, Raf and I went to Bass Hall in Fort Worth to see the opera, Lucia di Lammermoor. It was a wonderful performance. Then we ate at an Italian place, Taverna, in Sundance Square. The Vault is one we wanted to try, but it wasn't open on Sunday evening.

Right now I am in the midst of typing a memoir of my aunt's, Bessie Mae Ficke Clark, so our family can share it. It tells tales from my father's growing up with his 7 sisters in Wheeler, Texas, and in Braymer, Missouri, in the 1920's and 1930's. It's been very interesting so far, and it's astounding that my aunt typed this 7 times, one for each of her siblings.

Well, that's all the news that's fit to print. See ya in the funny papers!