A Tale Of Two Visits

During late spring and the early summer Jordan and Ashley came for a short visit and then we were able to go to their house and visit them. It's always fun to get together and the cousins look forward to seeing each other as well. So, here is a tale of two visits!

The birthday boy!

Jordan celebrated his 31st birthday during their visit.  Where has the time gone?

Three of the grandkids posed with Papaw for a picture before they left.

Jordan and his Mom, who had just finished her last chemo treatment.  Weight

down to about 103.

The Abilene bunch.......

and the Hamilton bunch!

Father's day surprise from Leighton and Remington.

Two of a kind!

Push us again, Papaw!

The day is coming to a close and it's time to say goodbye.

Can you tell Jordan is in the landscape business?

Leighton demonstrating the proper way to ride the whale!

Before the landscaping and barn was built.

The little water duck!

Remington is saying "You serious Papaw?"

Just surveying where the barn will be built.

Co-pilots for the journey, Beverly and Ashley.

Leighton had a big sunflower for Bebe!

Early Summer 2016 Ramblings

We are still catching up with blog posts and wanted to include some pictures from the early part of the summer, 2016.  We tried to have a little garden while Beverly was taking her chemo treatments and it turned out pretty good since we had a lot of rain early in the year.  The potatoes were good and we had a few green beans as well.  The remainder of the summer, the garden took a back seat to more important things such as traveling to Temple pretty often.

The rains were plentiful during the early summer even causing a lot of flooding around the area.  We had some minor flooding along the creek in the park behind our house and Lake Proctor got so high that one of the major roads across the lake bridge was closed for several weeks before the water went down enough to re-open the road.

Nana and Grandad had a couple of old time metal garden chairs that we inherited.  They had about 10 coats of paint on them and most of that paint was trying to peel off!  We had the chairs sand blasted to get the old paint off and then had them powder coated in Stephenville.  They turned out beautifully and look like new. We are looking forward to using them this spring and summer.

Here's the moment.  Do they have any potatoes under them?

Yes, as a matter of fact, they do!  These were the small ones!  I just gave

these small ones away to the neighbors.  Not!  This reminded me of

the days when they grew potatoes at Munday, Texas!

We harvested all of the onions at the same time.  Not as large as usual but still

good to eat!

The proof is in the skillet.  We like to slice up the small one and cook them

in a little olive oil and eat up!

A few green beans from last year.  First time to try beans.

Farmer, time to take a break from your labors!

Like new!

We chose red for this one and.....

yellow for this one!  Sort of retro back to the early years of our childhood.

Water up over the walking bridge in our nearby park.

Rushing waters closed one street at this low water crossing.

Creek was pretty wide down by the old grain elevator.

Near the walking trail just west of the library.

Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder

Each summer, the town of Stephenville puts together a series of concerts at the Birdsong Amphitheater in their city park.  One of  the annual performers is Ricky Skaggs and his great band Kentucky Thunder.  At times he will have his wife and her family the Whites with him.  They put on a great concert which includes some of his old music combined with some gospel, bluegrass and new music.  We really enjoyed just sitting in the park and listening to his music and forgetting for a few minutes all we'd been through the past year and all of the radiation treatments ahead of Beverly in the weeks to come.  It was a much needed short break from the rigors of treatments, travel and thoughts.

A Sad Reason For A Family Reunion

Families have all kinds for reasons for getting together but a death of a young child shouldn't be on the list.  Zoe, one of my brother's granddaughters drown this past year in a very tragic accident in Stephenville.  While it was super sad, it is a rare occasion when all six of the Dale Phillips siblings get together at one time.  With two living in Oklahoma, two still living close to our hometown of Munday and two of us here in Central Texas, it's hard to get together even for family reunions.

Here are a few pictures from our time together.  Hope we can see each other again under happier occasions.

Zoe Phillips

The three best sisters a boy could ever have!  Left to right is my

youngest sister Jan Denise, two older sisters Dayle Anita and Brenda Arlene!

There was always something about using both names in my family!💝😙

Younger brother Kerry Michael (the Oklahoma brother), Lester Lee (the

elder brother) and yours truly Danny Fred.  When someone calls me Danny Fred

I know they are family or really close  friends!

Catching up on the outside world!

Kerry and my sister-in-law Joanna.

My sweet sister Dayle Anita.  She's always smiling and has

a contagious laugh!

2016 Picture Ramblings And Catching Up All At Once

As has become our habit, here we are catching up the blog.  You just don't realize how fast time goes by until you look back at your camera roll and you are way, way behind.  So, here's another attempt to get back up to date.  These pictures are from early 2016 while Beverly was taking her 8 chemo treatments at Baylor Scott and White in Temple. 

Look what I got......a new phone!

Jeremy wanted to come check on his Mama.  He's our ultra runner from Colorado!

Sam was ready to get out of his car seat after his trip up from Houston.

Chemo is a lot of fun!  You never know what it's going to do to you!

Like take all your skin off!

Later the skin on my feet began to come off, too!  We were told that this would be the easy drug!

Ha!  If there was a side effect, Beverly had it.

One of our little dolls.  Presley, do we see mascara on those long eyelashes?

Bebe and a couple of her grands!

Sam, Annie and Jeremy came for a short visit, Spring 2016.

Papaw and Bebe got some one on one time with Sam since Jane and Jack

stayed in Houston with the other grandparents.

We received this beautiful multi-colored bougainvillea from Jeanne Wright.
She has sent us several plants that have meant so much during Bev's treatments!

Our front porch became our own little get-a-way from the trials of life!

Thanks Shauna Melde for the chicken spaghetti.  She is a excellent cook

in case you didn't know it!

Fresh potatoes out of the garden can't be beat!

And fresh squash and onions!

Nearing the end of chemo treatment is a great feeling.

Flowers from Jordan and Ashley.

Spring flowers for Nana and Grandad's graves.

It's Kentucky Derby time!  It's on her bucket list but this may be a close as we get!

I think she has a little Nana blood in her veins!

You've heard of Mint Juleps?  Well, around here it's Sonic Juleps!

The end of chemo deserves a hug for all the nurses that have helped

you through all the treatments!