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You might not be able to tell by reading the rest of this week’s paper, but I had a great week last week. The reason you might not notice is that I was feeling pretty mellow (exhausted, actually) after I finally got my Spring magazine done, and I did not really get much work done. Instead, I tried to catch up on my sleep, attend a few events, and try to remember some of the things that I had put on the back burner during the last few busy weeks.One thing you may notice is that I finally got back to the library to look at the old issues of The Llano News. Anything that has happened during my lifetime doesn’t really seem like history, but I realized after some thought that 1970 is forty years ago now, and even though I was already in high school, it qualifies as history (when I was quite young, I loved reading about World War II, and it definitely seemed like history even though it had ended less than twenty years earlier).

So I looked at copies of the 1970 papers, and learned some very interesting things that may bring back memories for many of my readers. If I live long enough to “retire,” I think I’ll spend most of my time reading old newspapers. Maybe I’ll even make my findings into a series of books; it really is fun to discover pieces of history, and I know there are others who would enjoy my discoveries as well. Right now, I have a backlog of history columns in the works; I’ll try to get something in the paper as often as I can.

The flood plain meeting at the Lantex Theater last Thursday was very interesting as well. The gentlemen from FEMA, Halff, and NFIP seemed very nice, and a lot of what they said made sense, but two things seemed quite clear to me: FEMA has a huge job trying to map the whole country, and hasn’t spent the time or money necessary to really do a good job on Llano County. AND, the pre-determined result of this new map is a huge increase in flood insurance premiums. (Thanks to Jeff Hopf, for asking a few pointed questions!). It may be necessary, and it may be fair (I’m not exactly sure), but it’s going to be painful for quite a few Llano County residents. I appreciate the efforts of our city government to make things as fair as possible, and I think they have already had a positive effect.

One thing that I didn’t really appreciate about that meeting was that it made me late to the “Home Grown Gospel” concert at Fuel Coffee House! W.C. Jameson is outdoing himself lately with all the quality events he’s been hosting, and Brandy Sanderson, Darrell Staedtler and George Ensle each helped to make it a great concert. There have been so many great events at Fuel lately that I’m really starting to worry about the health of Todd and Dana Wright, who spend an awful lot of hours there for very little pay (I think Dana does get a small salary; as far as I know, Todd doesn’t). Fortunately, Justin Simpson does a great job filling in when they can’t be there.

Last Tuesday night, Laurie Wagner Buyer made a believer out of me. She kept a capacity crowd on the edge of their seats just by reading from her book and telling a few book-related stories. I was perhaps even more interested because I had read the book, and knew some of the background. The short film that followed her presentation was fascinating, too, and I met a couple there from Colorado who had heard Laurie’s fame up there. They made a special point of timing their travels so they could be here! They, and I, got an autographed copy of “When I Came West.” If you missed the event, you can still get a copy at Fuel.

And Saturday, while most folks were enjoying a day off, Todd and Dana spent about 15 hours at Fuel. In the morning, there was a great children’s program by Greg Whitfield, of Austin. In the evening, Jenny Taylor (with help from her father and brother, Don and Justin Simpson) showed a delighted crowd why she was named “Best New Female Vocalist” by the Country Gospel Music Association last spring. Her “Old-Fashioned Hymns” concert was the highlight of a very good week for me; It was recorded, and I’m hoping that soon CDs will be available at Fuel. Anyone who was raised singing those “old-fashioned” hymns will thoroughly enjoy it.

Next week, Fuel will begin its “Free Hamburger Sunday,” a new tradition of neighborliness on East Main Street in Llano. Anyone who wishes may stop by and get a free hamburger (with all the fixins’ but with no strings attached). Thomas Scott and others will be cooking out on the street; I’m planning to be one of the associate errand boys. “Customers” are welcome to eat inside or take their hamburgers with them. There will be some sort of beverages provided.

Earlier in the day last Saturday, I had attended a “Texas Independence Day” party with a few hundred proud Texans at Terry Boothe’s ranch in Cypress Mill. I had pictures taken of myself with Terry, with Moody Anderson, with Guich Koock, and with a few members of the “Spoiled Doves” re-enactment group. That’s a story for a future magazine, but it was a great part of a great week. I hope yours was good, too!