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Thursday, December 30, 2010

I Cruise to the Western Carribean

Whatever good can come from warm sea breezes, the gentle rocking of a large ship streaming its way from one balmy port to another, continual and constant care and provision, the mystery of an upcoming exotic encounter, and the compay of good friends came my way Saturday, November 20th, 2010 at 2:00 O'Clock in the afternoon. A fun time, great food, good companionship, and
great expectations and tremendous realizations were all to be had over the next seven, count'em, 7 days.

From boarding the Carnival Cruise Ship Liberty, berthed in Miami, Florida to castoff, to portside and excursions in and around San Miguel, Cozumel, Mexico; Georgetown, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands; Ocho Rios, Jamaica; and home again to Miami, Flolrida, there was not a bad moment to be found. Tropical breezes, marine life, ancient civilations art and architecture, progression and development through history, cultural discoveries, underwater endeavours, Carribean music, cooking, colors, and the distinct terra, flora amd fauna of the region all combined to excite the senses and to sate the anticipation of this wide eyed wondering wandering 'tourista' from the flatlands of the Texan High Plains. Some 900 pictures plus were snapped and while many did not make the editors cut, most have and there story may be viewed at the Picasa site. Please feel free to visit and view the link below:


Cruise 2010 in pics

"Blue Agave" Robert "Tortuga" Franklin "I be Jammin'" Revier

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Family Christmas 2010

Described by Momma Nell:

The Following is a recap of our Christmas week at the Revier Home


Christmas of 2010 or 164 Hours of Christmas

With most of the decorations up, packages wrapped, food bought, it was time to sit and
wait for the Happenings. Alice had prepared supper for the crowd (there was enough
Talagrina for an army) but only Paula and David M. were here to enjoy it. I must say,
Alice has now outdone the cook with the original recipe. The Mickeys arrived late Sunday
afternoon, 20th of Dec. and Robert had gone caroling with his church.
Kathy was working and Nell just being Queen of the Territory!

Monday some of us were up early but not all as sleep on vacation is a great thing. Paula
and David were resting at Holiday Inn. Pacer arrived in time to go shopping on his own
Monday while Alice, Paula, David, Austyn and Bailei went shopping also. Right size was
the important thing with clothes to be bought for Christmas Dinner wearing of the little
girls. Pacer, David M. and Robert serenaded us with guitar playing for the evening.

Tuesday found Nell going to Lockney to get Bailie's "Trunki" from a flower shop
there. Leslie was visited and trip was not long.
Supper was from Pizza Hut with two kinds of yummy Lasagna as well as pizza on the table
with Alice, Austyn, Bailei, Pacer Robert, Kathy, Nell and the Mickeys enjoying it all.

Wednesday we were pretty scattered as Paula and D.M. were getting hair cuts from Profile
Salon and eating with the Hudmans as well as sharing presents with the Mickey/Hudman
family. They told me that Garth and Gavin were adorable.

Thursday was to be our Christmas Dinner [at noon} as well as the Tree. The Katy Revier's
drove all night to get here for the festivities. Alice, Jory, Keisha and girls brought
much of the dinner to go with the turkey that Robert had prepared. The menu consisted of
Roasted Turkey (of course}, dressing, green bean casserole, potatoes, stuffed pumpkin (or
cooked fruit salad), cranberry sauce, gravy and hot rolls. Dessert was to die for:
pecan pie, choc. cake, pumpkin cake, whipped cream and most any kind of candy.
All in all we had 15 adults and two children around the two tables.
Lively and entertaining for sure.

After the dinner, we all stood up, waddled around then took a seat for the gifting of the
tree presents. Of course, Austyn and Bailei were the center of attraction with their
presents being opened first while still dressed in their new Christmas clothes to look
festive.
Jory had to be at work at 4 PM so he and Keisha left the little ones here to enjoy the
rest of the day and evening with the family. It was great! Later Alice took two very
tired little girls home, Sharon and Sarah went to same hotel that P and D were in. Pacer,
Daniel and David found places to sleep upstairs and all was pretty quiet for a few hours.

Friday was not an early arising day as we were all pretty tired at the hostel. Daniel
and Pacer did get up to eat breakfast with Paula and David at the Hotel where Sarah
joined them. Then the San Antonio troop was off to the southern part of the state while
Pacer set off to meet up with his hunting buddies. Perhaps this time he will get a deer
or bear or whatever he is looking to find. Daniel returned to the Revier Casa for a nap.
Alice brought the girls out to play and be noticed. Then at 6 PM we all gathered at
Shadow Hills Church for the Christmas Eve Service. Robert was well represented with his
family filling a whole pew. Sarah and Daniel took over the "controlling" of
Austyn and Bailei. They both did very well for the short service. Bailei did a good job
coloring on the floor while Austyn sat between her chaperons.
We came back to the big house for tamales, chips and dips. Then we played a game of
filling in the blanks with adjectives and nouns to make an interesting Christmas story
when read orally. All too funny. Sharon had some neat things for the little girls to do
with ink stamps. Brave soul, that Sharon, with patience to help little fingers. Then
before the melt down for the girls, Sharon gave each one a large sack with special toys
in it. It was time for Alice to take two tired, excited girls home to wait for a visit
from Santa.

Saturday was pick up, fix up and get things put together that needed to be assembled.
Then at 4 PM, Kathy's daughter, Kay-Kay arrived with her son, Heath and daughters M'Kayla
and Mandy. Brad, the husband, didn't come out this year. So another dinner was on the
table with a tree to follow.
Sharon had her paint ready for Mandy to make a stained-glass hanging for our living room.


Saturday night was well slept and all were rested for the Sunday drive home to Katy. A
lunch was placed on the kitchen counter and each one "fixed" his/her own as
wanted. That took care of some of the left over turkey, ham, dressing, gravy etc. Alice
brought Chicken Nuggets to Sarah.

Soon it was time to pack the car and say our goodbyes so the Katy Reviers with Charity,
the yappy dog, could be on their way. By the way, Charity put the fear of whatever dogs
have in Jake, the fence jumper. He just wasn't sure about her. Strawberry wasn't
concerned as she is not in the house much. Each dog had a special doggy chewy treat for
Christmas.

A good visit, lots of gifts and many more memories were made during the time spent at the
Revier Home and the weather cooperating. We can all be thankful for the season of
Hope/Love that has been given for our asking.

Nell Revier
December 27, 2010

For the picture review, click on the picture below...

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Coyotes are intelligent animals

I have read in many tomes of the American Indian record of myth and folklore that Coyote was the wiliest of all god's creatures. Now I am ready to affirm that that is the case. Not long ago we, a few from my Church, (among whom are included the Rogers and the Corbins and my grandson Heath), went to Caprock Canyons State Park to camp out, swim in a lake and fish and hike for a couple of days and nights. One of the first of God's great creatures we saw was an Eagle rising to the heights from just in front of us as we bore down on him at 70 or so miles per hour. Later, as we enterd the park we were able to spy off down the canyon a Buffalo. How Noble, how serene, how bucolic and only partially prophetic.

As the others arrived, we began to pitch our tents and and wonder about the wandering about. One of the first items was to visit the small lake or large pond. A good time was had by all in splashing and wadiing even swimming in the fresh and bracing water as air temps climbed somewhere around 90' F. In the evening we enjoyed a meal of wiener dogs and beans and a round of stories and observatiojns of the wilds at night. The brightness of the stars, the normally unnoticed Milky Way, and the relieving slight breeze which seemed to keep the mosquitoes at bay.

As evening waxed into nightfall excitement was replaced with drowsiness and we all began to head for nod, But befoprehand I pulled out my pots and pnas and began to ready them for the expected use in the coming couple of days and nights, they did need a bit of curing after an extended time of disuse. cont'd later

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Mandy's 7th Birth Day 2010

Anniversary trip

So I thought I would take my wife to a nice little out of the way place...wow what a treat! First the movies at Midway Drive In Theater Near Valley 'tween Turkey and Quitaque to see Cats and Dogs, then all around Paducah and Turkey on Saturday, and a street dance to boot scoot to. But very definitely the Matador Hotel Bed and scrumdiliumptious Breakfast was one of the BEST expereinces we have had.
On the way home I had to stop at Silver Falls to see and hear the water and look for crawdaddys but alas too much summer since the rains. Yet it was green and shady!

Here is a link to a few pics.

http://picasaweb.google.com/RobertFRevier/4Matador2010#

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Remembering the Smile

Remembering the smile
I had a friend. We were not always on speaking terms, because of time, distance or an infrequent disagreement, but I had a friend. His name was Smiley. Short for Ismael Garcia. He showed up around the front porch sometime after my brother Tommie died and God told me I could live with that. God had already put Smiley in my path.
His father left Ft Stockton before Smiley was born, and Smiley was a couple of years older than I am, and brought his mother and siblings up North to Lubbock. There Arturo, his father, could be observed by my dad plowing the straightest rows and keeping the cleanest fields dad had ever seen. His mother Mary could come to my grandmother's house and help her out there, and his sisters, Patsy, could come over and babysit some cousins, or help with the furniture dusting and such as might be around, or Nancy might ride by way out back on her way to find Mandy and Arthur at the Mercado's, and there he was, in my Grandmother's front yard, inspecting a hummingbird nest, or old rusty broken piece of metal.
Smiley was inquisitive, observant, laughing, respectful, creative, knowledgeable, going somewhere. Did I say respectful? I knew we would be friends. And so we were. Regular adventurers, you know Roy and Gabby, Lone Ranger and Tonto, Mutt and Jeff, I think I recall hearing the most. My new older brother taught me all the things a young man child needed to know to get along in an outside countryfied world of dirt and trees and cotton fields. We kicked rocks, we threw rocks, we sticked rocks, we fought ant hills and poked ground squirrel holes, observed horned toads, and stepped ever so carefully, expert style, down into full irrigation ditches, and packed mud and dirt and rocks and sticks and every combination and composition we could think of, until at last he, yes he alone (except me later) was able to plug up that irrigation tube so it would not run water without a good scrubbing. We, wisely beyond our years and experience, if you know what I mean (wink wink nod nod) called that 'plugging holes'.
You know through all of this, we talked and wondered aloud and figured and surmised and shared and planned and schemed, and until today I never thought there might be a time when we would not be able to talk together, over coffee, over the phone, in front of the TV, or somewhere. But now he has gone on ahead of me to that great gathering behind the sky, and I guess I will have to wait for his excited revelations such as 'Hey there Mr. Dillon, you know if we get to the gun show in the first hour we can get in for a discount', and his short storied inanities 'Hey Rhobert, you know down there in Ft Stockton they don't mess with mowing the grass 'cause they don't have enough H2O to make it grow.', and his amazing dialectic mimicry 'Yavold mein fuhrer, ein spregen ze deutch!' or 'I say old man, is that a high water trowser or a short pant you have on there?', or some Bombay Indian voice and an Irish leprechaun I cannot get anywhere close to, and a dozen others, and that hardly scratches the surface of his repertoire, his talent, nor his spirit. But now I will have to wait.
You know we grew up and found our separate interests, he became Mel, Mel finished 30 years with the same company(Tech U) when most just float around, here and there changing jobs like underwear. So when we got back together a few or more times it was amazing how little had actually changed, and how great it was to have a buddy who could respect the history of the place where I grew up, and knew most of the ghosts who came floating around, and if not by name at least by sight or sound or smell. So to hear and enjoy that voice full of cheer and awe and obscure facts and curious musings, I will have to wait, wait 'til that day when, ready or not, I go to that great gathering behind the sky.
Hopefully, if not the first voice after arriving, at least sooner than most, I will hear Smiley ask something like, 'You ever watch geese flying, you've seen that lopsided V they make, they always fly in a lopsided V? Why is that?’...and I will fall for it--cause timing is the key and Ismael had timing, 'I don't know why?', I’ll say. Then he’ll proffer,‘They fly in a lopsided V because there are more geese in the one side than the other!' followed quickly by, 'Sheesh! dont ya know anything?!'
Smiley was ready, he might not have wanted to go just now, but he was ready, I know ‘cause I asked him a while back. Ya know what he told me? He told me Jesus was the Lord and Saviour of his life, and that Jesus had forgiven him his sins.
Are you ready? Have you found Jesus in your heart? Have you looked? If you have, have you told somebody? Why dont you admit Jesus, and you (maybe you in New York, or California, or Dallas, or even Europe, and me here in Lubbock), we’ll wait and we'll see that smile again, we'll hear that laugh again, we'll be lifted by that immutable spirit that only God could give to Ismael Garcia my friend, my brother.

Run long and hard Wolf Paw. May the grass pad your path, the breeze fill your nostril, the wind be at your back, the dew be fountain for your thirst, the sun keep the chill from your hide and meat slow and easy to catch.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Snow Pics before the Snowstorm 1/28/2010

 
 
 
 
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these and many more at the is copy and paste site below!
http://picasaweb.google.com/RobertFRevier/Jan28snow2010#

Sleet+Snow+Wind:::>Damage

 
These trees have been here all my life, I climbed them as a child 50 years ago-never quite reaching the top, it just seemed too far up-and while they have on occasion lost a limb or two, I do not think there has ever been this much damage all at once. Now I can bend over and touch the top.
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