Big Brother

 

Along with Jesus and Beethoven, December is also the birth month of my brother, the very one and only second Matthew Bryson Roberts!!  On a recent Halloween post I shared my penultimate favorite picture of us; and, in honor of today, I share with you the ULTIMATE picture…  it pretty much sums up our dynamic to a “t” If I do say so!

J.D.: “Listen to me play a scale!!!!”   Matt: “Um J.D., can’t you see I’m working here?”

 

But let’s be honest: really, not much has changed over the years…

 

Joseph:  “Hai, gia vinta la causaaaaaaaaaa!!”     Dr. Roberts: “Um Joseph, can’t you see I’m working here?”

 

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Artist: Stevie Wonder / Album: Talking Book

You’re So Vain

 

Catherine is a huuuuge fan of Twitter here at the gallery and as such can be found tweeting blips of our conversations every now and then.  I find most of these the next morning when checking the email and her feed shows up in a Google Alert—it’s like a little present!  I got a shout out yesterday that reminded me of a picture my friend Jamie drew way back when I was still JD!

OF COURSE I don’t actually mean that by any stretch of the imagination.  I know I’m not better than everyone… just mostones.  ;)

 

Artist: Carly Simon/ Album: The Best of Carly Simon

Myths and Hymns

 

This last Sunday I had the pleasure of meeting up with my old youth director from First Baptist Crockett, or as I like to call people like this: those who are allowed to call me J.D.  Jeff is now located in Houston working for Jersey Village Baptist church and he and his wife Marcy were kind enough to take me out to lunch and catch up.  I’ve gotten to see them randomly over the years but it’s nice to know they are so close!

As I don’t really know any of the restaurants in the area (starving artist, remember?) they suggested Yia Yia Mary’s, a de.licious Greek restaurant that is part of the Papa’s family.  Now, for those of you who aren’t aware, Papa’s family of restaurants includes, but is not limited to a Tex-Mex restaurant (Papasito’s), a sea food restaurant (Papadeaux’s), a steak restaurant (Papa’s Bro’s) and a Papa’s Bar-B-Q. YUMMM!

 Look how excited they are to serve me food!

 

I also thought this would be a great opportunity to retroactively blog about my trip to Greece when I was studying abroad.  During our Fall break from classes in Florence I decided to take a trip to Athens, Delphi and the buh-eutiful island of Santorini (or the Greek Pompeii as it is often called).  When I was younger I was extremely enthralled by Greek and Roman mythology and must have read Edith Hamilton’s Mythology at least a dozen times, and there I was in the midst of it all!

Athens:

The Temple of Zeus with the Parthenon in the background

 

At the Parthenon! (Btw… someone stole that scarf while I was living in Michigan and I’m still bitter.  I got it in Maastricht when I went to visit Mallory.  BITTER I tell you!)

 

The Porch of the Caryatids

 

The Athens Olympics were just a couple of months before I went to go visit!

 

 

Delphi:

Temple of Apollo

 

 

The “prophets” would suck on natural gas being released from holes in the ground like this and then use the hallucinations they had to tell the future.  You know… and base wars on them.

                                               Olive tree near the temple for Athena                                              

Wikipedia: Athena competed with Poseidon to be the patron deity of Athens, which was yet unnamed, in a version of one founding myth. They agreed that each would give the Athenians one gift and that the Athenians would choose the gift they preferred. Poseidon struck the ground with his trident and a spring sprang up; this gave them a means of trade and water but the water was salty and not very good for drinking. Athena, however, offered them the first domesticated olive tree. The Athenians accepted the olive tree and with it the patronage of Athena, for the olive tree brought wood, oil, and food

 

Temple of Athena.  She was always my favorite goddess

 

Santorini:

The overnight boat ride from Athens to the island

 

 

My hostel

 

Greek chirenz

 

A church near the center of the crater

 

Me at the top of the crater…

 

This crater!

 

Album: Myths and Hymns (admittedly this isn’t song name but an album name.  I thought it was perfect for the post, though, so deal.with.it!)

Back to School Again

So first things first. Today I'll be blogging about my friend JD. Now you might know him as Joseph, but for me, I just can't make the switch to using what I like to refer to as his "stage name". (And yes, he's reminded me time and again that Joseph is his actual name.) But I'm a bit like The Cosby Show's Rudy when she would only refer to Kenny as 'Bud'. So as much as "Joseph" may not like JD, can you imagine the reaction he'd have to Bud?!

I first met JD back at Crockett Jr. High where he was one of my students. It took about two seconds to figure out JD was not like the other kids. But what you might be surprised to learn is that he actually did look like the other kids. I do not lie when I say I have seen our beloved fashionista wearing wind pants, Nike T-shirts, and jackets that weren't pea coats. There were no scarves, no accessories, and most shockingly...no hair product! (Seriously. I remember getting water out of the water fountain to try and do something with his hair.) I promise I have a picture of him wearing blue jean shorts and a CJH Bulldogs T-shirt. Unfortunately for me, that picture is at my parents' house in Texas.

But talking to JD was more enjoyable than talking to most adults. (Obviously we weren't talking fashion in those days.) It was like he was a an adult...just trapped in the body of a 7th grader. He went to Shakespeare camp, traveled to New York to see Broadway productions, and could have cared less what the other kids were doing. JD and I went to movies together, ate at Lee's China Inn, and he was great entertainment at football games. (I had to go as the drill team director, and goodness knows neither of us was interested in watching the game!) And though I have a few former students who have friended me on Facebook, JD is the only one I talk to at least once a week. I tell him he's my most famous friend, and love being the coolest mom at playgroup when I work "my friend, the opera singer, said" into conversation.

So, Most-Famous-Opera-Singer-Friend-JD, I hope you're having a fabulous time at camp, and I'm going to show off this picture of us to your loyal readers since I'm in charge of this post and, frankly, I look a-may-zing!
 
 

NOTE FROM JD JOSEPH: Check out Jan's fantastic blog here.  DO IT! Oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MIZ REYNOLDS!