An Excellent Spouse Is Someone Who Can Put Up With You

My wife is such an excellent wife. We travel 900 miles, and she is content to visit a White Castle in Northern Kentucky.

An excellent spouse is someone who can put up with you and keep smiling.

March 25, 2010 Is My Tenth Wedding Anniversary—My Wife Is The Best Person Ever

March 25, 2010 is my tenth wedding anniversary.

My wife is the best person ever.

Above you see a photo of my wife holding a bowling ball on our wedding day in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Here is a poem I once wrote about my wife.

If I Surprise My Wife With Flowers, Maybe She’ll Forget What A Bastard I Am

If I surprise my wife with flowers, maybe she’ll forget what a bastard I am.

It is nothing specific I have done. I am just no damned good.

The Things We Need To Be Creative Are All Around Us

I made the poster you see above to show that the things we need to be creative are all around us.

Our minds. Our relationships. Our beliefs.  Accessible technology.

The things we need to be creative are all around us.

Poem About My Wife—If You Want To Write A Poem For Valentine’s Day

With Valentine’s Day coming up, you might want to write a poem about your significant other.

Below is a poem I wrote a few years ago about my wife. I think it works well.

You don’t need to be all flowery and mushy—Simply write about the person you know.

My Wife.

1.

With reasonable allowance

For awkward situations

My wife is quite straightforward.

2.

If not always at first

People in time come to realize

The quality of my wife’s advice and skills.

3.

My wife reflects on her personal relationships

And tries to get them right.

My wife reflects on her responsibilities

And tries to be a good person.

4.

A left-handed Jewish woman

My wife has no illusions about what people are

And what they are capable of.

How Did My Wife And I Divide This Pizza?

How did my wife and I divide the pizza you see in this picture?

We each ate half. That’s how a good marriage goes. You share stuff.

It is good to share.

It is good to share in our personal lives and it is good to share our resources as citizens and taxpayers.

Behind the pizza, you see our fiber optic Christmas tree.

We keep it up year-round. As good as our lives are, it is always useful to have some nice colorful lights.

Just Two Months Remain Before My Tenth Wedding Anniversary

Today being January 25, 2010, I am just two months away from my tenth wedding anniversary with the wife.

The wife can be seen in the picture above.

I’m damned glad about my marriage.

My wife helps me be a better person.

My Wife Is Person Of The Decade And My Blog Is Blog Of The Decade

With my last post of 2009, I am selecting my wife as Person Of The Decade.

Below is a picture of my wife from the beginning of the decade. This picture was taken on our Wedding Day—March 25, 2000 in Las Vegas, Nevada

And here is a picture I took of my wife just a few days ago—

The wife and I have made a great life together.

The wife is kind and intelligent. Here is a poem I have written about my wife.

She is easily the best thing that has happened to me in my life

Also, I am selecting my blog—Texas Liberal—as Blog Of The Decade.

Here is the Martin Luther King Reading & Reference List. This list is the best of its kind on the web and is the signature post of Texas Liberal.

I work hard at this blog. I’m glad of the fact that within the next few weeks I’ll reach one million page views since I started Texas Liberal in July of 2006.

Thank you for reading Texas Liberal and please pass on the link to someone you value. A blog grows one reader at a time.

I wish these honors came with some prize money. Maybe I will go to the ATM, withdraw some money, and hand it to myself.

What Shall My Wife And I Do With Our Day Off?

I have tomorrow off with my wife.

What will we do?

First, as you see above, we will get dressed up. We are quite formal people.

Then, we are going to go to the U.S. Post Office to mail off some holiday gifts.

My father-in-law worked at the U.S. Post Office for many years. His work helped my wife be able to attend college.

Please support your local post office.

Here is the link to the Smithsonian National Postal Museum. The wife and I once went there.

After the post office, I regret to say that we must go to the Apple Computer Store in the Houston Galleria.

You see that iphone in my hand in the picture above?

I dropped it last night and shattered the screen.

I’m not so pleased with this fact.

I do not want to go to the crowded Galleria nine days before Christmas, but hopefully it will be early enough in the morning to beat most of the crowds.

After the Apple Store, the wife and I will have lunch at a Japanese restaurant.

We use forks. Neither of us can handle chopsticks.

When the wife and I go out to eat, we bring newspapers and magazines to read.

We read and we talk to each other.  It goes quite well.

After lunch, we are going to go to the Houston Museum of Natural Science.

The wife and I will see an exhibit called Faberge–Imperial Jeweler to the Tsars.

After the museum, the wife and I may—or may not—take a walk in Houston’s Hermann Park.

The walk will depend on the weather and what time of day we are done with all we plan to do.

My wife and I will have a great day off together.

Take some time to be with the people you value in life.

At the same time, be sure to spend some time alone.

A balance of time with people you care about and time spent alone makes for a well-adjusted personality.

That is my theory at least.

Why Are My Wife’s Arms Outstretched In This Picture And Why Is She Smiling?

Why are my wife’s arms outstretched in this picture taken last week in Cincinnati and why is she smiling?

Her arms are outstretched because she is an open and welcoming person. They are also outstretched to enable her to strike at and bat away the many things in life that she does want anywhere near her.

My wife is smiling because she is kind. She is also smiling to mask the contempt for much of what she observes in the world.

A Sunny Summer Day Walking Around Chicago With My Wife Is About The Best Thing Ever

A sunny summer day walking around Chicago with my wife is about the best thing ever.

Words Spoken Outside

A few years ago I read a few pages of an autobiography of Laurence Olivier. I’m sorry, but I don’t recall the title of the book.

(Above—Laurence Olivier with Peter Ustinov in Spartacus.)

I remember reading that when filming scenes in Spartacus that required him being outside, Mr. Olivier felt that his words were lost into the air. He felt the impact of his acting was muted off of a sound stage. As I recall from the book, one of Mr. Olivier’s co-stars in Spartacus, Peter Ustinov, felt the same way.

( Here are facts about Laurence Olivier . Here are facts about Peter Ustinov.)

Sometimes I think about this concept of effort dissolving into air. Don’t people often feel this way? We try in life and our time and effort is sometimes just so much smoke.

Being outside does have virtues. A few days ago I had dinner with the wife outside at a restaurant and it restored us to a degree. We’d had an annoying  string of days—just the hassles of day-to-day life—and being outside for a couple of hours on a nice evening brought us a measure of relief from what was bothering us.

Maybe a difference was that the wife and I were not acting.  In any case, it’s good when your words are useful to someone else. It’s good when your words reach the person you are speaking with and are not lost to the wind.

(Below—Laurence Olivier. Not at his best I suppose. Though Spartacus is possibly my favorite movie.)  

Terrible Coleslaw—Food Safety

Recently, I brought home what had to be worst coleslaw ever.

(Above—Close-up of coleslaw.)

It was ready-made coleslaw that came in a tub that I bought at the supermarket.

My father says I’m crazy to buy this stuff. He says I’m just asking to get sick when I eat this stuff.

Still—It looked like it might be good and it is so easy to prepare.

You just scoop it out the tub and plop it on the plate.

My wife and I took one or two bites of this coleslaw and we could not imagine how bad it tasted.

I don’t know that it was a bad batch since I’ve not heard of an outbreak of coleslaw related disease—It was just awful.

My wife said that instead of calling it coleslaw that it should have been called “grosslaw.”

Grosslaw–Ha! I’ve been saying that word in my mind now for days. I’m so glad that I have a blog and that I can write the word “Grosslaw” on my blog for others to see.

Here is a history of coleslaw. It seems that some variation of coleslaw has been eaten ever since the Roman times.

Here is a link to many coleslaw and cabbage salad recipes. 

Even if the batch of coleslaw the wife and I had was not enough to make us sick, it is always good to know about food safety. 

Here are some excellent food safety tips from the Department of Agriculture.

Below are four essentials of food safety—

Clean — Wash hands and surfaces often.

Separate — Don’t cross-contaminate.

Cook — Cook to proper temperatures.

Chill — Refrigerate promptly.

 Here is the Food Safety Information Center at the National Agriculture Library of the Agriculture Department. 

Here is a list of steps the Obama administration is taking to improve food safety as reported by Ag Weekly.

Please take the needed steps to be certain that the food you eat and the food you prepare for others is safe.

Wife And I Happy When Speaking To Each Other And, Also, When Saying Nothing

When my wife and I go out to dinner, we often bring something to read.

We bring newspapers and magazines.

Sometimes we bring these things to read and end up talking to each other more than reading.

Other times we discuss what we are reading.

Or, there are times when we go long stretches reading and don’t say anything to each other. 

I’m thinking about this because the wife and I went out to dinner twice over the July 4 weekend.

In our two dinners out we had a mix of reading, talking about what we were reading, and talking about stuff other than what we were reading.

I think this is pretty good in a marriage. We are content to let each other alone or to talk.

It is good to talk to people and it is good to read and have some peace.

It is very good for two people to be happy with each either when talking or when quiet.

Here is a picture of the wife on our wedding day in 2000.

Here is a list of five personality traits people would do well to have.

A Promise I’ll Keep—I’ll Never Cheat On My Wife

Republican Senator John Ensign of Nevada has announced that he cheated on his wife with a campaign staffer.

Senator Ensign is a member of the so-called Promise Keepers.

Here are the seven promises that Promise Keepers promise. 

Here is promise # 3 of the Promise Keepers—

A Promise Keeper is committed to practicing spiritual, moral, ethical, and sexual purity.

Here is promise #4—

A Promise Keeper is committed to building strong marriages and families through love, protection and biblical values.  

I’ve not reflectively dismissive of people who join this group. Life is hard and people need help getting by and doing what they feel is right. I really have no problem with the first six of the seven promises that are listed. If someone is serious about staying loyal to his spouse, more power to him.

Promise number 7 though is about trying to convert people. I have some problem with that in some contexts.

That said, what were the odds that Republican Senator John Ensign of Nevada was keeping up with any standard of morality from either the right or the left?  If the Promise Keepers had been smart they would have long ago kicked him out as a preventive move.

Just look at the picture up above. Senator Ensign is like a successful Willy Loman. Somebody who merits none of the sympathy you would offer a guy simply trying to get by in life. 

(Below–Brian Dennehy playing Willy Loman in an adaptation of Death of a Salesman.)

I’ll tell you, the blog reading public, one promise I’m certain to keep—This liberal will never cheat on his wife. My wife is the best person ever. 

It’s wrong to cheat on your spouse. It is likely that your spouse cares about you and will be hurt by your actions. Be loyal to the people who are  loyal to you.

Here is a picture of my wife on our wedding day.

(Update 6/25–I don’t believe that Republican South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford is a member of the Promise Keepers. I do however know that Governor Sanford also cheats on his wife.)