Tag: houston

Post-Katrina AIDS relief

On Thursday, November 17, at 7 p.m., New Orleans writer Greg Herren will join Tim and me at a Houston booksigning event to raise money for the New Orleans AIDS Task Force (NO/AIDS), an agency which helps individuals impacted by HIV and AIDS. NO/AIDS has partnered with Houston’s Montrose Clinic with the particular aim of helping the Gulf Coast’s displaced and otherwise hurricane-affected AIDS population.

The event, at Meteor Lounge, is sponsored by Borders, which will donate a portion of every book sold to NO/AIDS.

We are also accepting donations from those who can’t attend. If you would like to contribute (any amount helps!), please make your check payable to NO/AIDS Task Force and send it to Timothy J. Lambert, P.O. Box 131845, Houston, TX, 77219.

NO/AIDS Task Force is a 501(c)3 organization; your contributions are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law.

And since I’m talking about artists….

….and THREE FORTUNES, a Rothko painting is featured predominantly in our novel. I have a wonderful book full of Rothko’s art that Tom gave me one Christmas, and he has asked which of Mark Rothko’s paintings belongs to the fictitious Godbee family. I have my preferences, but I think every reader should let it be whichever painting he or she imagines.
Continue reading “And since I’m talking about artists….”

Good and Bad

It’s 73 degrees and breezy at The Compound, which is our version of fall. I’ve opened up all the windows to enjoy it, and it feels wonderful.

Which is a good thing, because today I cried when I opened my power bill. Instead of going down, like it usually does this time of year, and in spite of the fact that all central air at The Compound was shut down for three days during the Rita scare, the bill was even higher than last month’s.

Usually the “winter months,” and I use that term loosely, provide my relief from high utility bills, but I’ve read that our natural gas bills are expected to be astronomical this season.

Sad, because while most people keep their thermostats in the low to mid seventies, in summer we keep it on 82 and in winter on 68. I don’t know how people with huge houses pay their bills.

P.S. I wonder what salaries and bonuses CEOs and upper management at utility companies are getting this year and if they are comparable to those of the oil company executives…

Dentophobia?

Fear of dentists? Not me. I love my dentist. His entire office staff is wonderful. Even his office is wonderful. It’s located in one of Montrose’s historic houses. The windows overlook a landscaped back yard with a fountain. The dental chairs are comfortable. The music is classical. It’s almost a treat to go to the dentist!

Until today, when I took my mother to her appointment, and Jack the Office Manager said the most frightening thing to me. I quote:

Today’s my sister’s birthday. She’s forty-nine. She recently had twins after going through her first pregnancy!

Thanks, Jack. Now I have tocophobia.

Thank you!

For everyone who’s calling and e-mailing, thank you for making me feel that we’re doing the right thing. The skies are just beautiful. The house has been safe through eighty years of tornados, hurricanes, and floods. Normally, I wouldn’t even consider leaving. But Katrina’s images from New Orleans and Mississippi took “normal” right out of my vocabulary.

Everyone be safe. =)