This evening I got to go to the George Winston concert at the Paramount Theatre as my birthday present from my sweetheart. He did a great show—mixture of his melodic compositions on piano, Hawaiian slack-key guitar, other guitar, a shuffle done on the harmonica, and some good old New Orleans-style piano. He’s very versatile and extremely accomplished on the piano, and it was a real pleasure to see him perform. Last time I saw him was about 1989, on Valentine’s Day at Jones Hall in Houston with my aunt Margaret.
Been doing lots of work on the Churchett family history, corresponding with a couple of Churchetts in England also involved in research on the line. Today I put up 11 old Churchett pictures on my web site for them and whoever else to take a look at.
Jonathan might be coming down with something; he feels awfully hot. Wasn’t himself all day today as he took forever to go to sleep last night, but still had to get up for gymnastics this morning. Hopefully whatever it is will go quickly.
I did get to attend my seminar last week (Beauty and the Law, presented by Philip Bobbitt), but I’ll have to write about it later—my mind’s not up for it right now.
Last week also saw me finish The Crimson Petal and the White, one of the offerings I’d included at book group last month. I didn’t like it as much as I expected to, for two reasons: there is a narrator whose presence creates a detachment from the characters, and I generally dislike open endings. I don’t think I’d recommend it because I don’t think it’s worth the length.
Found something kind of cool today by reading the genealogy column in Saturday’s Houston Chronicle. They are the Sanborn maps, created and used for assessing risk for fire insurance purposes. They go back to 1870, and the Austin Public Library offers them—but only for the state of Texas, naturally. I was able to get ones of the Wichita Falls addresses (9th St. house, Collins house/Brook Av. office, and 10th St. house) from the time period when the Karls first moved to Wichita Falls. Now I need to find some way to access the Kansas and Ohio ones. My dad and I would love to see the map for the street that Aunt Dell (and Grandpa Jack & Gertrude) lived on to see if we can pinpoint when her house was torn down (when Daddy went by on his family history journey last September, it was just a vacant lot). The maps only go until 1970, however, so it might not help too much. Anyone know how I can get an Ohio library card?
Posted by elizabeth at February 9, 2003 12:33 AMJust great, Elizabeth! The Crimison Petal and the White is the very book "with colors" that I ordered from ebay...........I hope that I like it better than did you. You can always sell it on ebay - I think that I got it for 14.00 plus modest shipping.
Posted by: Leah on February 10, 2003 09:28 AMI wouldn't worry--it's not that I didn't like it or think it was poorly done, it just wasn't completely my cup of tea. Given that it's as long as it is, for those reasons I wouldn't *recommend* it--i.e., put it into someone's hands and say, "Here, you must read this." But it's not like I needed to warn anyone off from wasting their time reading it (like our selection for last month!).
Posted by: Elizabeth on February 10, 2003 10:19 AM