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I’m not sure whether to try to blame my magazine, or Hammerfest, the commissioners court, the city council, the school administrators or my daughter, Amanda (they all took quite a bit of my time this past week), but I got a long way behind schedule, and never did find time to do a history column. Unfortunately, things may get even worse the next two weeks, with a magazine deadline approaching; I hope you’ll be patient with me.

My best moments are when I look at a publication that I’ve worked on, and really feel that I’ve done my job well. That doesn’t happen as often as I would hope for, and sometimes I just want to run and hide before anyone else sees my mistakes. This has not been one of my better weeks, so I’m in training for a good long run on Wednesday.

That’s not to say that life has been dull. I met some interesting people, went to some interesting places, and watched the very interesting Hammerfest aerobatic competition, right here in Llano. I was delighted to tell my story to a bunch of young people at the Kingsland Library’s “Career Connection” day last Thursday, and I was moved to stand with my son by the highway to salute the funeral procession of my friend’s son, Captain Jason Holbrook of Burnet. The Bible says that it’s “better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting,” and I think last Friday that I got a deeper understanding of that strange-sounding verse. I appreciated my son more (he spent a year in Afghanistan himself); I appreciated my country more, and the brave young people who defend it. And I was thrilled to see the hundreds of patriotic citizens who stood out there in the heat to honor Jason and his family.

I don’t want to get too philosophical here, but I do want to say that I am proud of a “neighborhood” that shows such self-sacrificing patriotism as does the Texas Hill Country. I’ve often been impressed by the list that Tommi Myers puts together of Llano natives who are serving in the military, and I know of quite a few in other towns around here (Mason used to have a billboard with pictures of almost fifty from there who were actively serving). This is a good part of the country to live in.

There are a bunch of things happening here in Llano that deserve mention. There’s going to be a Fifth-Sunday singing on East Main Street on the afternoon of August 29 which sounds like a wonderful event. The street will be closed off; a good number of churches and musicians will be involved, and everyone will be invited to participate in the weekly “Free Burgers” event at Fuel Coffee House.

Speaking of Fuel (which I always do), there will be a silent auction there to benefit singer Danny Brooks, the Grand Finale of the “30 Days for Danny” fund-raising drive. It will be held in conjunction with the Gospel Evening featuring the music of W.C. Jameson and Harold Castleman. Last Friday was the raffle, in which custom buckles from Tres Rios Silver were won by Mike Reagor, Joanie Castleman and Ron Stone, a pair of Corral Boots from One Trick Pony was won by Greg Whitfield and a beautiful bench from Sweet Mesquite was won by Lorritia Kaiser.

Then there’s the ongoing “Trail of the Deer.” I am regularly impressed by the way those beautifully-painted deer catch my attention at their various stations around town; I think that was a great idea for Llano (Thanks, Robin!) and I hope it just gets bigger and better as time goes on. Be sure to attend the Starving Artist Show and Sale in the middle of September. I’m sure all the deer will be there.

The Gold ‘n Gem Rendezvous the fourth weekend of September should be a really good event this year, as well. Among the many other attractions, we’re hoping to show the movie “Palo Pinto Gold” at the Lantex Theater. That’s the movie where Kinky Friedman plays the governor of Texas, Jay Novacek plays a real cowboy, and almost a dozen country music stars play various roles (I think Kevin Fowler is one of the bad guys). It’s not a really great movie, but it’s a lot of fun.

And speaking of movies, I hear that Robert Duvall is making one right now in Utopia (called, strangely enough, Seven Days in Utopia) with Lucas Black and Deborah Ann Woll. I think I heard J.R. Decker saying that he had met Duvall at the Hilltop Café this past weekend.

Well, that’s enough sensational gossip for one week. You never know what you’re going to read in The Llano News.