CAPE CANAVERAL, FLA. — My fascination with astronauts and the space program was launched when Mercury astronaut Alan Shepherd rode on the back of a red convertible in a parade through downtown Pembroke, N.H. in 1961. He had just become the second person and the first American to reach outer space, as it was quaintly called then. The United States and the Soviet Union were on a race to the moon. I was hooked on all things to do with rockets, launches and splashdowns, and especially the brave men who were strapped in to tiny capsules and sent soaring into the heavens. (Women wouldn’t get their...
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COCOA BEACH, FLA. — Finally, the day of the wedding arrived, though it still seemed as if the appointed hour might never come. My son-in-law Matt and I spent a few fascinating hours touring the Kennedy Space Center visitor’s complex at Cape Canaveral, driving over in the Mustang convertible he rented. My Beautiful Mystery Companion, daughter Abbie and I got dressed well ahead of time, in casual attire (though the women, of course, looked stunning), and then walked over to the pier on which the ceremony would take place. At 4 p.m. my oldest daughter Kasey would marry Jeff Willett and take his last...
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COCOA BEACH, FLA. — Winter is loath to leave this year, beating back spring’s attempts to pop up in its customary time frame, which is generally by late February in East Texas. The result has been a confusion of blooming trees knocked back by ice storms and below-freezing weather, pollen falling and daffodils blooming while rooftops glisten with frost.
Just last week another ice storm swept through, delaying and canceling school. The dogs freak out when forced to go outside to do their business on a carpet of ice and snow. Rosie and Sam look at me like I have lost my mind when I suggest...
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AUSTIN — For the first time in 16 years, Susan Combs’ name was not on a statewide ballot in the Republican primary held a few days ago. After two terms as agriculture commissioner and two more as state comptroller, Combs elected not to run this time. That opened the floodgates for a bevy of candidates, since she was widely expected to run for lieutenant governor — especially if David Dewhurst didn’t run. As it turned out, the Republican primary had a crowded field of folks — most of who vied to prove they were Tea Party aficionados before that was cool in the Grand Old Party. Dewhurst...
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