Return to the Index for 2002

On this page, I want to put some additional pictures taken during 2002 that weren't taken in conjunction with a trip (like our Arizona trip) or some some other major event (like my birthday). Some may require explanation; for others, the section heading will suffice. These pictures are not necessarily in time sequence, for by and large they are not associated with a particular time.

Remembering Mike Racke

As you may already know, our friend, Mike Racke, died last year on the morning of September 11th (and the events of that day will always fix the date in my mind). In remembrance of him, Fred took one of the photos that we had taken two years ago on a trip to Possum Kingdom Lake and sent it to a firm that transfers pictures to actual canvas, making them look more like paintings than like photographs.

One day in December, we drove out to Mrs. Racke's house in Irving to give her one of these canvas transfers. In the photo at left, Fred and Mrs. Racke are holding the picture.

Fred took another picture of me and Mrs. Racke, and that picture is below:

My Mom at Heritage Gardens

Very early in January, my Mom fell and broke her hip. She had an operation to repair it, and then needed a good deal of rehabilitation. From RHD Memorial, she was transferred to a place called Heritage Gardens up in Carrollton, north of Dallas. There, she recovered from her operation and was given daily physical therapy.

The facility was OK, I guess, but compared to The Bentley it seemed sterile and unfriendly. Mom will be here for a week or so before she can return home to The Bentley. Click on the thumbnails below to see some other pictures we took in Mom's room, the therapy room and around Heritage Gardens:

About six days after these pictures were taken, I was able to take Mom back to The Bentley.

Some Pictures From Fred

Although this is my own photo album, Fred plays an important role in it, and in early April he brought me some pictures he'd taken around his house up in Van Alstyne. I thought I would include some of them here.

Fred's House in Van Alstyne

One of the pictures Fred brought to me was a photo he'd taken of a few of the antique bottles from his collection that he keeps in the kitchen, and you can see that interesting picture here.

Click on the thumbnails below to see two views of Fred's front porch:

And if you click on the thumbnails below, you can see some pictures of Fred's house from the back:

Fred also took some very nice pictures of the spring flowers that are coming up and budding out all over his eleven acres; click on the thumbnails below to have a look at them:

Our Friend Lou

I have forgotten the occasion, but in June I accompanied Lou on a visit to his Mom and Grandmother who live down in Oak Cliff relatively near him.

To record the visit, I took a picture of the three of them, and that's the picture you see at left.

NOTE:
As of this writing in 2012, Lou's Mom and grandmother have moved to Denver to be nearer some of Lou's brothers and sisters.

July 4th at Ron's House

On July 4th, Ron and Jay had some of us to their house in Plano for the afternoon, and we were happy to come.

Usually, either Fred or I take lots of pictures at these gatherings, but this time there is only one. In the picture at left you can see Ron, Leroy, Fred and Ron D. sitting around the patio table during the afternoon and before the delicious dinner that Jay prepared. If memory serves, there were a few other folks that were invited and arrived later, but I'd put my camera away.

It was a very nice way to spend July 4th.

At Fred's House in July

On weekends, I often go up to Fred's house to help him mow or work in his garden or just get away from town, and on this particular weekend in late July we took a few pictures I want to include here.

I was doing some gardening, during which time I ran across a little garden denizen while Fred was starting work on a leaking faucet at the front of his house. When he started working on it, we had to go and turn the water off at the meter, which is out by the front gate, and he asked me to go do that. When I pulled the cover up, I got quite a surprise- a large black snake had taken up residence down in the meter well. I called Fred over and we woke it up with a garden hoe and then dispatched it with the same hoe. (We would usually have just goosed it away, since it wasn't poisonous, but then it would just have returned to its cool spot, and encouraging a snake to nest there wouldn't be the best idea in the world.)

Anyway, after we killed it, Fred went and got his camera to take the picture you see at left.

A little later in the weekend, Fred also took a couple of pictures of his two cats- Bobbie Lee, the tabby, and Tanner the yellow cat. Click on the thumbnails below to see these pictures:

Greg's House in Austin

When the work with IST had wound down, Greg went to work in Europe for a subsidiary of Phillips Electronics, and he was there for a few years, and he also had a stint with a Houston consulting firm. But recently he has left them and returned to Austin to work with the company he and Darrell Blandford founded in the late 1980s- the same company that I had done some work with down in Austin then.

When we three were first working together (along with another contract programmer), it was a little cottage industry, and the result was a shrink-wrapped $99 piece of software- Data Junction. In the years since, while Greg and I have been off doing other things, Darrell has been slowly building the company, and now it has about 75 employees and revenue of a few million dollars a year. Greg and Darrell still own most of the company, and I have a stake as well. Greg decided to return and help Darrell take Data Junction to the next level, and so moved to Austin.

When my own work with DRT International tapered off, I left them and contacted Darrell and Greg to see whether there was something I could do for Data Junction as well. I got hired as one of the three people who travel to client sites and train them in the use of the software suite, which, by this time, had become a complete data transfer and manipulation tool, with each sale resulting in many thousands of dollars of revenue. I enjoyed getting back into teaching and away from consulting.

The nice thing was that I could stay in Dallas and travel to client sites, just as I'd done for the previous twenty-five years. I did have to drive down to Austin frequently, but that was a small price to pay for keeping my house in Dallas and all my friends.

Greg got a nice house in northwest Austin just off Spicewood Springs Road (if you know the city). Here is about where it is located:

The house is actually located in a small, new development that is pretty much surrounded by open land and white rock ravines, much of which can't be built on. Greg has the only house in the small wooded area that is in the center of the semi-circle of homes right off Spicewood Springs:

It is a really nice house, very secluded and quiet. I have come down to Austin on one of my frequent trips to the office; this time I am doing a public training course (we do that when there are clients who don't have enough people to train to justify bring one of us to their own site). Greg suggested that I just stay with him (thus minimizing cost to the company or to me) and I am happy to do that. It's my first visit to his house, so I brought my camera. The house is very nice inside, and has a beautiful deck in the back that looks out over the wooded area behind his house. I took some good pictures, and you can have a look at them by clicking on the thumbnails below:

Staying with Greg was something I began to do frequently whenever I came down to Austin, and I was very appreciative of Greg's hospitality.

With My Mom at The Bentley

One weekend in October, there was a performance going on for the residents at The Bentley, and so I went over to join my Mom to watch it.

I often spend time with my Mom at least once each weekend, and more often if I haven't had to travel somewhere. The Bentley is a really nice retirement place, and my Mom seems very happy there.

Here is where it is located in Dallas:

The Bentley is about four miles from my house and easy to get to. The trip takes about fifteen minutes.

Mom has a one-bedroom apartment on the second floor in the east building. Residents take their meals in the dining room, although the apartments come with microwave ovens and little refrigerators.

Click on the thumbnails below to see a couple of the pictures I took during the gathering today:

I've started going up to The Bentley frequently, so beginning with the next album year, I'll starting putting all the pictures I take of my Mom on their own album page.

Some Pictures From Fred

In late October, Fred brought me some pictures he'd taken up at his house with some of the Fall color on his property. If you will click on the thumbnails below you can have a look at them:

At Ron D.'s House in Irving

I have only a single picture in this section.

As I have said, Ron D. and Leroy are currently living out in Irving, and one Saturday in September they invited some of out to their house to swim and have some burgers.

The picture at left, taken by Fred in their living room, doesn't show everybody, but it does show (from left) Ron M., Brad, Lynne, Lou and, seated on the floor, myself.

Jay, Ron and Leroy were there, of course, but in the kitchen if I remember correctly.

Fred at the Greenhouses

I'm not sure when these two pictures were taken, but Fred tells me they were probably eary in the year. (Fred doesn't set the clock on his digital camera, so I can't tell from the metadata when the picture was actually taken.)

One of the pictures Fred gave me shows him in one of the greenhouses at Crumps Garden up in McKinney. He is standing in the midst of one of their crops of cyclamen.

The other picture he gave me shows some of the "pocketbook plant" flowers that he grows, and you can see that picture here.

You can use the link below to return to the Index for 2002.

Return to the Index for 2002