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First, the good news: I finally got the Spring 2010 edition of my Texas Hill Country magazine safely to the printers! There are all kinds of good things in it, including quite a few Llano-related items, and we should have actual magazines sometime next week. That’s the good news.

The bad news is that I spent almost all my waking hours (and most of my hours were waking hours!) focused on the magazine. If this week’s paper looks a little thin on community events, that’s my excuse. If this week’s paper looks better than ever, I’m just going to crawl in a hole and feel sorry for myself. (Just kidding; my boss says that’s not a viable option. I have to keep on wandering around Llano, camera at the ready, for a while longer. Hopefully, that’s good news, too.)

One of the few events I attended during this “crunch time” was the Songwriters in the Round concert last Thursday evening. That was more a personal thing than a professional decision. My birthday had been the day before, so my son and daughter took me out for dinner and then went to Fuel by way of celebration. I took pictures while I was there, because that’s what I do.

On Monday, when I was pretty sure I’d be able to finish the magazine that day, I took a break to photograph the winners of the “Desserts of Llano” voting from a week ago Saturday. I was most flattered when winner Loy Arbaugh, of Mom’s Café, told me that she’s a regular reader of this column. Thank you, Loy!

Laurie Wagner Buyer’s event at Fuel will be over by the time you read this, but that’s where I hope to be on Tuesday night. I’ve read her book, “When I Came West,” and can’t wait to see the video from her wilderness home in Montana . Dana Wright tells me that Fuel will be hosting an a capella choir from Yale University on Tuesday, March 9. I hope to have something in next week’s paper about that; it sounds like an amazing event. The reason they’re coming to Llano, I believe, is that Kaitlyn Newell (a recent LHS grad) is their tour manager. Isn’t that something?

In the meantime, there is the impressive weekly event list from Fuel (I can’t even keep up with their regular events, let alone all these special occasions). This Thursday is the Homegrown Gospel event with W.C. Jameson, George Ensle, Darrell Staedtler and Danny Brooks. Saturday morning will be a special children’s show with Greg Whitfield, and Saturday evening will be old-fashioned hymns by Jenny Taylor. That’s the event I’ve been really looking forward to; we’re making a recording, and I plan to keep a CD in my car from now on.

But that’s not all the news from Fuel. The first Sunday in March will be the beginning of a new tradition in Llano: free hamburgers from 5 to 6 p.m. for anyone who wants one, every Sunday afternoon. It’s been tried before; Mission U-Too in Kingsland started kind of slow, but they now get hundreds of takers every Wednesday. They feel that offering free food is a great way to show God’s love, and apparently Todd and Dana Wright agree. So come to Fuel, and see a little Christianity in action. Or just get a free hamburger; whatever you like, there will be no strings attached!

Not to change the subject, but one of my all-time favorite movies will be showing at the Lantex Theater this weekend. It’s “The Blind Side,” and I like it for all different reasons: it’s a great story, it has a happy ending (I hate depressing movies), and it has two of my very favorite actors in it. You all know Sandra Bullock (she’s been nominated for an Oscar for this performance), but you may not yet know Jae Head. He is a young boy from Goldthwaite who survived severe heart problems at birth, but whose growth was stunted so that he looks a lot younger than he is (I think he’s 12 or 13 now). He is the one, in my very humble opinion, who should be getting an Oscar for this movie; he is absolutely wonderful in the part of the little brother, and it’s even more special to watch him because I’ve met him and visited with him in person.

That’s all I’m going to write this week, but I promise you’ll be hearing more from me in the near future. Just keep on reading The Llano News!