Thursday, May 31, 2012

May 31 My Mom's Birthday


I thank you Momma, daily for teaching me to have faith and courage to do and be anything in the face of adversity. I thank her for teaching me that my children are undeniably my greatest gift. But mostly, I thank her for teaching me to never take sh*t from anyone. I love you Momma
Mom came to live with us in Austin 4 months before she passed away. I spent as much time as possible documenting her life story and she enjoyed every minute of it even though when I would show up with my questions she would always say '¡Que Muchacha!" She really loved it because she was a story teller. She remembered dates and events better than anyone have every met.  After she passed away I realized there were so many more questions. This is an unfinished version of my mother's story. I learned after she passed away that Billy the Kid had in fact taught her Uncle Hilario to speak and write in English. Ha! Minor outlaw detail. I wish I had thought to do this with my father too. Anyway, I worked hard to document the information that would not be available when Momma passed away. My mom and dad had had grandchildren and great-grandchildren that are not YET featured in this slide show that they loved dearly..... I will get around to it someday and hope that all of you will help me retrieve those memories.


I posted this slide show on Facebook and realized I should have posted it here to preserve the heartfelt responses from some of those who loved her most.

Camille Said:
I can still smell her cooking, line dried laundry, moth balls, clean bathroom, night cream, sopapillas/tortillas and the smell of shag carpet meets furniture laquer from my favorite big blue van, cuz it meant we were going to the zoo!! right Adriane Ethridge? I mean Adrennnn!

Derek Said:
If Grandma could've lived a while longer, I think she really would've embraced and enjoyed the social conveniences of the modern age, sitting in her kitchen with her "lappatop" computer obsessively playing solitaire and gossiping on Facebook...however, don't friend her if your not prepared for retaliation for a comment you made she didn't agree with. She would've constantly gone over her data usage on her iphone due to hours upon hours a day texting and talking and facetiming with her friends. Missing you in the 21st century Mama Luke! Happy birthday!!

Adriane said:
I'm so glad that you did this... it's like my whole side of mom's family.. I can only hope that I can keep that far along to show Dylan... how neat!!!!!! hopefully it will pass down..... 


Monday, May 28, 2012

Just Breathe

Christina and Winker
Just getting home from a night out on the town with my friends Winker, Danny, René, Stuart, Hilary, Joy, Calvin and others. We went to Jax's and then to "The Mean Eyed Cat." It was a fun night of taking funny photos and even funnier jokes. Unfortunately, none of the good photos were with my camera. A great ending to a  much less stressful Memorial Day weekend than last year.

Where do I start with the craziness of  last year? I rented a van to take Tony and his band to Ruidoso, New Mexico to play at the Bottle House Cabins. That in itself was fun. I knew the owners, my brother, Phillip had performed their wedding years earlier.  As I stepped out of my house, locking the door it dawned on me that leaving Christian, his friend Stefan and Tony's cat, George, at my house was a less than desirable decision and with that thought, I slipped off of the front door step and fell on my shoulder. I just recently stopped physical therapy for the injury. I had a migraine all the way to New Mexico. Thank God for Steve who took care of me and drove simultaneously. By the time we got to Lincoln County, I was feeling better and enjoyed the whole Billy the Kid experience that Steve, Will and I had been looking forward to. I also loved listening to the wind blowing down the mountain, through the trees every evening. Probably my biggest feat of the trip was having the guys get in touch with their feminine side in the hot tub by telling each other one thing they loved about each other. What I didn't know was that back home, Christian was having a 5 day party at my house and after George sprayed all over my new bed and every rug in the house, he disappeared for about two weeks only to be found coming out of the closet to eat at night. My cat still gets nervous when she sees me leaving.

My Peace Rose Bush In Full Bloom!
In great contrast, this Memorial Day weekend was peaceful. I painted, worked in my garden and watched "In Love And War" It's a true story set in WWI. Ernest Hemingway fell in love with a nurse named Agnes. She later sent him a "Dear John Letter." In his unforgiveness, he used her as the basis for several characters in his novels, not always flattering to her. There are a couple of morals to this story. Don't break the heart of a writer, they will write about you and .... here is the important moral.... forgiveness is essential. Hemingway never forgave Agnes. He married 4 times and then committed suicide.

Mom & Dad's grave, Llano Cemetery, Amarillo
This time of year is always bitter sweet. May starts out great with my birthday on May 12, celebrating with all my other Taurus girlfriends, we have lots of parties, cards, cakes and presents. Then Gilbert's birthday is May 21.... but then comes May 26, my dad's birthday, May 27 my nephew Jeran passed away and just 3 short years before that on May 28 is Jeran's birthday. Then Memorial Day falls in there somewhere and then May 31 is my mom's birthday.

Felipe Montoya Fajardo WWII, Normandy, France
I spent more time this Memorial Day thinking about the memory of our war heros. My dad used to take me to the cemetery, wearing his American Legion hat but he never explained to me why we were there. Now I know. I honor him way more now than I did when I was 12.

I have always said that there is a Willie song for every event in my life. This time I have a Pearl Jam song that is on Willie's new CD "Heros" perfect for what I am feeling today. "Lucky to count on both hands, the ones I love."
Watch this video,
it will make you cry, in a good way!
  -->Just Breathe<--

Just Breathe

Yes, I understand that every life must end
uh-huh
As we sit alone, I know someday we must go
uh-huh
Oh I'm a lucky man,
to count on both hands the ones I love
Some folks just have one, yeah, others, they've got none
uh-huh
Stay with me...
Let's just breathe...

Practiced all my sins, never gonna let me win
uh-huh
Under everything, just another human being
uh-huh
I don't wanna hurt, there's so much in this world
to make me bleed

Stay with me
You're all I see...

Did I say that I need you?
Did I say that I want you?
Oh, if I didn't I'm a fool you see
No one knows this more than me
As I come clean...

I wonder everyday, as I look upon your face
uh-huh
Everything you gave
And nothing you would take
uh-huh
Nothing you would take
Everything you gave...

Did I say that I need you?
Oh, did I say that I want you?
Oh, if I didn't I'm a fool you see
No one knows this more than me
And I come clean, ah...

Nothing you would take
Everything you gave
Love you til I die
Meet you on the other side...

Sunday, May 20, 2012

The Secret

The amazing synchronicities that take place in my life serve as constant reminders that we must always trust our path, everything happens just as it is meant to. I have an amazing story about "The Secret" that took place over an almost five year period and involves people in different areas of my life.

Almost five years ago, in March, I was ready for a change in my life. I put my lake house on the market, it sold to the first real estate agent that looked at it. I was trying to gracefully walk away from a job at the newspaper that I had for 15 years and still be able to pay my bills. Magically, they offered me a package and I was able to begin my dream life as a freelance artist. As if selling my house and quieting my 8-5 job weren't enough for bitter sweet endings, in May my relationship with Dan ended and my 12 year old cat, Layla died. As we do when we go through life changes, I was searching for answers to all of life's questions.

My garage apartment in Spicewood
Simultaneously, my friend George, who had rented my garage apartment for a couple of years was also going through life changes. We both picked up the book "The Secret," I saw the movie and I went so far as to get "The Secret" on CD and went to sleep listening to it every night. In October, I took a trip to  Hawaii and read it every day on the beach. I was bound and determined to call forth the highest good for my life when I returned home to Austin.

When I returned to Austin, I was staying with my sister, Nita for a short while. She and I had been at out friend Lana's southwest of Austin. It must have been November by this time. We ran into George entering the electric gate as we were leaving. He was ecstatic, he had magically gone from driving a truck to purchasing a Mercedes that he converted to bio-diesel, he had a new lap-top computer and a lap dog. I jokingly said to him "Now all you need is a lap dance George, what the heck happened?"  He reminded me that he had been reading "The Secret" and guess what, not long after that, he located a high school sweetheart on facebook and they got married!
Meanwhile back at the ranch, Lana had been urging me to stay away from musicians and "fish from another pond." This coming from the lady who is on the road with Willie 300 days a year. Of course she would say that! I argued that my most recent failed relationship was with research analyst at the University of Texas and I realized that MY pattern was to attract emotional unavailable men whether it be with a doctor, research analyst or musician. It was as if her warning had come from my mother and I took it as a dare to find a musician. She ended the conversation just as a mother would "Fine. date a musician, but only if he has his own band, owns a house and drives a nice car."

About a month later we were having a "Hormone Weekend" at Lana's and all the girls were spending the weekend at the ranch. We went to a party at my friend Pam's house. Lana went home early. Bored. Too many musicians I suppose. I stayed and Wahlah! like magic, that night I manifested exactly what I had envisioned. A musician who, like a gentleman, walked me to my car and kissed me good night. Wish granted! As I drove out 290 West to the ranch, with his business card in hand, I felt like a cat bringing home a mouse to show my girlfriends. On our first date he walked in my house and saw a painting I had been working on that day and with a surprised look on his face he said "I will be right back." He went to his car and got a copy of his CD. The painting I was working on looked exactly like the front of his CD cover.

For about a year I was totally amazed that "The Secret" had worked such magic in my life. Endless nights out on the town being wined and dined, listening to great music and dancing. Then reality started to sink in when on occasion we had dinner with married friends who talked of plans they were making together. Gardening, house repairs, vacations. I too had big plans swimming around in my head yet he would sit there never saying a word. It slowly started to sink in, I had been granted exactly what I had asked for, nothing more. A musician with his own band, a house and a car. He had no intention of settling down and was just along for the ride. Our relationship lasted exactly 4 years. I had one year of total ignorant bliss, two years of thinking I could change it and one more year knowing it would never change but still hoped I could live that way.  I had fallen for his well practiced facade. Yes, he had his own band but the band members change constantly because of his lack of loyalty. To anyone. He owns a house but it's not a home because he shares it with no one. Nights out on the town and brunch in the morning was all he had to offer.


George, Victoria and Christina
Now here is where the story gets interesting. This March I attended a birthday party at the ranch for Bella, Lana and her ex-husband George's grand daughter. George was feeling a little unsettled, his sister had passed away unexpectedly the night before and so he was thinking about what she could have done differently to avoid her depression. He reminded me of when we had run into each other at the gate at the ranch more than four years earlier and spoke of reading "The Secret" and he was so grateful that he had gotten exactly what he had asked for, including his wife, Vicki. And Vicki spoke of how grateful she was to find George because she had been in an off and on relationship since high school with a narcissist. "Well that really sucks!" I said "I read 'The Secret' and ended up with a narcissist. WTF? I realized I needed to go back and read the book again because obviously I missed something!" I came home that evening and looked through all my self-help books and couldn't find it and gave up and went to bed.

Michael, Kate, Christina, René and Carole
Two months went by, the second week in May Kate and I were celebrating our birthdays all week so we took a trip to  Fredericksburg with Carole, Rene and Kate's Aunt Michael. After a full day of shopping in all the expensive little boutiques and eating German food, René wanted to stop at the Goodwill on the way out of town. As we shopped she mentioned that the best Goodwill was close to her house on Brodie Lane but as she was out running errands a couple of weeks ago, she went to one in east Austin. She had gotten a really good deal on some books.

That night after we returned from Fredericksburg, René decided to read one of the books that she had purchased at the Goodwill, a copy of "The Secret." When she bought it she noticed a Joe Ely backstage pass on the inside front cover and thought how cool it was that the previous owner it liked the same music she did. When she opened the book in bed a boarding pass from Honolulu, Hawaii to Austin fell out. On the boarding pass she read "Christina Fajardo" and then a baggage claim pass fell out that said "Christina Fajardo." She yelled out "Oh My God!" Danny, with a toothbrush in his mouth comes around the corner and says "What's wrong?" She said "I have to call Christina!" It was 11 pm. She called me immediately. I was talking to Sarah Elizabeth on the phone and said "Something must be wrong, I will call you back, René is calling." When she told me, I was in shock I kept saying "But René, I don't even know how my copy of "The Secret" got to Goodwill. I never would have gotten rid of that book!" It wasn't until the next day when I told my sister, Nita the story and she suggested that I left it at Tony's and he took it to Goodwill. Well, doesn't that makes it that much more magical that my copy of "The Secret" found it's way back to me?

Listen To The Whispers "Luna Chick"
René is still reading the book so I rented the movie on iTunes yesterday. In case you have been living under a rock and haven't read "The Secret," here's the premise. The secret teaches the law of attraction. This law states that whatever we focus our attention on is attracted to us. Our thoughts and feelings create our reality. When we consciously direct our thoughts and feelings toward the positive goals we want to achieve, we send forth a message to the universal consciousness and attract the results we concentrate on. Thoughts become things. We are constantly emitting energy that attracts what we are, not what we want.

Really? WHY with all my self examination, reading every self help book on the market, watching Oprah every day, would I attract painfully, dysfunctional relationships? I know that most of the time we enter relationships for one reason and we usually end up learning something totally unexpected. I have to admit I did manifest exactly what I asked for, as shallow as that wish was. Silly me. I assumed that just because someone has their own band, a car and a house that they worked for it would know the value of team work and integrity. After all, I had worked hard to become a freelance artist and I worked hard to own all of the houses and cars that I have had in my 50 some odd years. Even Willie, my hero had been a pig farmer.

May 20 eclipse in Santa Rosa New Mexico
The New Moon and Solar Eclipse that are occurring today marks the beginning of a new cycle that can carry our desires and intentions into manifestation. Until now I was scared to ask because I was afraid of what I would manifest .... but here goes. I'll let ya know later how it all turns out!

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Tuesday, May 15, 2012

May - My Favorite Time Of The Year!

Today Willie Nelson has a new CD being released
appropriately title
"Heroes."
Here's a video of
Micah, Lucas and Willie singing 
"Just Breathe"
Watch for a video
produced by Lana Nelson
and David Anderson
called 
A Horse He Called Music"
Click here to see Willie on Jimmy Fallon

I always look forward to May. My flowers are in full bloom, my birthday and Mother's Day are a double whammy of phone calls from children, grandchildren and siblings singing happy birthday and phone calls and e-cards from those who consider me their mother (don't ask me why I have children all over the world)  I love all my friends and family for always reminding me that I am always and forever surrounded by love.

I am pretty sure the party at Jax's last night was the last of the flurry of Taurus birthday parties, birthday cards, presents and chocolate cake and I promise not to do it again.... until next year. I didn't even eat cake last night because I had a sugar hang over from the night before.
May 5 Party at Jenna's - Liberty Hill Mary, Christina, Beth, Jenna and Sarah. This was actually Jimmie Dale Gilmore's party but it was a Taurus party none the less.
May 11 Trip to Fredericksburg with Kate, Kate's Aunt Michael, Rene and Carole

May 12 Birthday Girls Christina, Cash and Sherry Celebrating at Z Tejas


Sarah and Christina's Birthday Party at Sarah's on Mother's Day, May 13

Van with two birthday girls Christina and Kate
One of my very favorite birthday presents was from Dean, my friend, Martha's 12 year old son. He drew a portrait of me by candle light on the back porch at the ranch. As synchronicity works, Lana called right when he finished the drawing to wish me a happy birthday from New Jersey, so I sent her the brilliant drawing by her grandson, by text. Technology is a wonderful thing!

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Tonight is the Scorpio/Taurus Super Full Moon



Tonight is a very powerful full moon known as a "Super Moon." The the moon will be 17,000 miles closer to the Earth than the average full moon therefore exerting a stronger pull than usual. I am going to guess that a lot of babies are going to be born tonight and if you aren't pregnant, this full moon will just be calling on you to give birth to the destiny seeded within you.

Get out your candles and affirmations, it's time for a powerful life-transforming Taurus/ Scorpio full moon ceremony and dang it, two of my most powerful Scorpio girlfriends are on tour and I can't find my Maypole. LOL  I can say for sure that there is an energetic opposition between Taurus and Scorpio that I have witnessed first hand. My birthday is May 12 and one of my best friends birthday is November 11, almost exactly across the astrological wheel from me. We, like any other Taurus/ Scorpio union, create amazing magic.

Even if you aren't a Taurus or Scorpio, this Taurus/Scorpio full moon is a time to let go of fears that keep us caught up in the delusion of our patriarchal society and look at the emotional traumas that keep us apart. It's time to band together with like-minded people. It’s time to question our values and beliefs about money, power, happiness and our connection to each other.

There are so many issues that come to the surface with this full moon in Scorpio /Taurus. Many of them have been highlighted in the past few months. Have you noticed you have made plans and for some reason when it’s time to actually manifest, your plans are defused? Are you angry and don’t know why? Do you want to change things and don’t know where to start? Have you lost the trust with yourself and with the world? Not to worry. This Scorpio Full Moon stresses truth. Scorpio rules what is hidden. All souls, structures and systems must recalibrate to a higher calling of truth. We are entering the Age of Truth, the Age of Empowerment.

Pluto, Scorpio’s ruling planet teaches us about power. How we use power. How we get power. How we own our power and how we give our power away. The Scorpio Full Moon is revealing the hidden motivations, hidden agendas and important truths about the misuse of power and our resources. We are changing from short-term, shortsighted gains to long-term, life-enhancing goals.

And here is the secret..... the power is with individuals coming together in teams.
Watch this video --->>     TEAM

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Yet Another Rally at the State Capitol

After the The Sunset Vally Art Show on Saturday we all headed
to the Seeing Red Rally
At the State Capitol
Held on the same day as other
There was a huge crowd on the steps of the Capitol

 
Kate, Nita, Carole, Dylan and Christina


Teaching my grandson that church and state are separate!
Carol, Dylan, Joy, Stephen, Carole, Kate and Nita

Then Nita, Dylan and I walked over to take a look at the Tejano Statue.

Wait Gramma, it says right here that this monument pays tribute to Spanish-Mexican heritage in Texas culture. Then why is the government still trying to kick them out? Just wondering.

The War On Women In 6 Simple Tweets From Sen. Barbara Boxer

From MoveOn.org