Last week in Houston, we took J. out to eat, and passed by the Houston Museum of Fine Arts. J. ran up and struck this pose spontaneously, with no prompting from me. The next second, a guard ran up and told us not to touch the statues. I don’t know, if they’re outside, they sort of invite a little participation, don’t you think? I bet the artist would have loved this.

This picture was taken with my new cell phone camera. I have a new cell phone because my old one was stolen from a chair beside me while I was sleeping in an ICU waiting room. Can you believe that? What kind of person must you have to be, really …

Matthew as Master of Ceremonies at our wedding

I lost a person who was very dear to me last week, and who I miss terribly. I had the honor of writing his obituary, which appeared in several Texas papers. While a truly complete tribute to him would always include the infamous and terrible “clown joke,” I’m not ready to write all that down just now, so I’ll post the obituary below.

MATTHEW SCOTT WOOD
May 16, 1969 - Nov. 1, 2007

Matthew Scott Wood died on Thursday, November 1, after a struggle with lymphoma. Matthew was born in Tyler, Texas, grew up in College Station, graduated from A&M Consolidated High in 1987, and went on to attend Texas A&M University, where he was president of the Memorial Student Center and a winner of the Buck Weirus Spirit Award. After finishing his BA in Political Science there in 1992, he continued his education at the University of New Mexico where he earned double Masters degrees in international business administration and Latin American studies. He then embarked on a career that combined his love of economics and foreign language and lead him to become a leading journalist in the oil and gas industry and a mentor to many of his colleagues, especially his coworkers at Argus Media Group.

Matthew loved traveling, learning languages, arts and music, and talking politics. He was an accomplished horseman, cook and storyteller; a dedicated member of his church; and a loving and devoted partner, father, son, brother and friend. He is survived by his partner, Charles Kiel Reeves, and their daughter Jordan, of Houston; his parents, Sam and Janice Wood, sister Amy McNamara and nephews Tanner Seth and Tyndall Myers of College Station; his grandparents, Norine Scott Farber of Murchison and Helen Tyndall Wood of Sugarland; as well as numerous other family members and close friends. He was preceded in death by his grandfathers, Art Farber and Sam Wood, Sr. His loss will be felt by many, many people.

Services will be held in Houston at Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church, 6221 Main Street, Houston, Texas 77030, where Matthew was a vestryman, on Tuesday, November 6th at eleven in the morning. Visitation with family and friends will follow the service. In lieu of flowers, Matthew has asked that donations be sent to Palmer Ministries at the address above, or to Casa de Esperanza de Los Niños at P.O. Box 66581, Houston, Texas, 77266.

Opening birthday presents

My grandmother turned 99 on Friday. Now, that’s a milestone! Here’s the pictures of us celebrating with her this year. I’m hoping I inherited her genes for a long and happy life. And I look forward to the big triple-digit party next year!

K.’s first Texas high school football experience

I have to say, going to my 20-year high school reunion was pretty awesome. It was a weekend that had everything: laughs, nostalgia, cheap beer, old pals, football, fist fights, rock and roll, nakedness and Mexican food. The rest of the long weekend was great too; I’ll have more pictures up later, but my reunion pictures are all here.

It’s nearly 11:30 p.m., and we’ve finally finished packing for our trip to Texas for my 20-year high school reunion in Sweeny, followed by a quick stop in Houston to see M. and K. and our lovely goddaughter, and then finally off to Wichita Falls for my grandmother’s 99th birthday. Yee haw! Our flight leaves at 7 a.m. That sucks. But other than that, I think it will be both an fun and fascinating trip.