Happy Birthday, ElderJB!!

Posted by missjunebug on Monday March 8th, 2010

missjunebug wants to celebrate today! Twenty-eight years ago ElderJB was born! What a baby! Plump! Smiley! Easy! Just altogether happy to be on the planet. And what a kid ElderJB turned out to be. Adventurous! Interested! Intelligent! Kind! Athletic! Ambitious! Inquisitive! Sweet! Preposterous! Impossible to wake up in the morning!

As an adult? missjunebug could not be more proud of her G-Town grad, Returned Peace Corps volunteer (Cameroon: Extreme Nord!), and country director of the awesome oneacrefund.org in Rwanda putting Farmers First! And he’s tied with TinyJB for the best son a mom could have!

Celebrate, ElderJB, like it’s March 8, 2010!!!! It’s your day!

African Animals Amaze missjunebug

Posted by missjunebug on Friday March 5th, 2010

Photo by mjb2010

Photo by mjb2010

Photo by mjb2010

missjunebug has been looking through her fab iPhoto collections recently and decided to put together a little photo essay of her Amazing Animal Finds in Africa! Mr.JB and missjunebug had the good fortune to travel to Uganda and Rwanda (with a day trip to to the lava flows of  the Democratic Republic of Congo) and view the zoo animals of their childhood on the animals’ home turf. What an experience!

Photo by mjb2010

Photo by mjb2010

Photo by mjb2010

Photo by mjb2010

Photo by mjb2010

Photo by mjb2010

Photo by mjb2010

Photo by mjb2010

Photo by mjb2010

Photo by mjb2010

Photo by mjb2010

Photo by mjb2010

Photo by mjb2010

Photo by mjb2010

Photo by mjb2010

Photo by mjb2010

Photo by mjb2010

Keep Your Friends Close, Your Family Closer

Posted by missjunebug on Wednesday February 24th, 2010

missjunebug is facing some pretty serious challenges lately that she will not bore you with in this little blog. She’s doing her best to deal with them one at a time even though sometimes it feels like they are coming at her like a tsunami–the big quake, then the deluge. Where’s her life preserver????

The answer to that non-rhetorical question is this: Family and Friends.

During this daunting period in missjunebug’s life she has had the most amazing support of family and friends. Where does she start? The sympathy cards. The get well cards. The beautiful flowers. The handmade bath soaps. The delicious soups: chicken veggie, lentil, and pisole. Yum. The Costco drink run. The good wishes candles: one for each month of the year, each with a little treasure inside! The drives to the doctor when missjunebug wasn’t fit to operate machinery. The dark chocolate hearts…so sweet! The bags of Munchos! Love ‘em. What else? Emails of concern, calls of loving inquiry, conversations of concern, prayers of healing and protection.

missjunebug knows her family and friends will recognize themselves in her little summary of support. She wants to express her deepest appreciation for all the ways, large and small, they have buoyed her up in troubled waters.

Thanks and thanks again. Love, missjunebug

Perfection Wasted

Posted by missjunebug on Monday February 22nd, 2010

Blessing to you, JBDad, from your missjunebug. Photo by mjb2010

missjunebug is borrowing a title from a really fine poem by John Updike for her little blog today. The perfection she refers to is her very own JBDad who recently passed away.

missjunebug has written previously about the angst she and brother experienced when searching for a care home for their Alzheimer’s-afflicted dad. After the initial move, things went pretty well for a while but the inevitable and tragic eventually happened in a series of falls that revealed their dad required more care than the facility they had chosen provided. So much for quality of life issues in the golden years.

Skilled nursing became the order of the day and with the hard work of her JBBro, the JBDad received the round the clock attention he needed and deserved at an excellent care facility that met all the needs of their dear dad. Still that did not ameliorate the devastating news the doctor revealed: final stage Alzheimers was the unexpected verdict.

Is it an axiom of life that we think there is always more time than there actually is? Maybe.

The downhill to death was speedy and unexpected. missjunebug did not even make it back in time to say her goodbyes, but her dear, dear JBBro stood vigil until the last breath of their dear JBDad.

88 years. One fabulous marriage. Two pretty decent kids. Four awesome grandkids. Two spectacular great grandkids. His own successful business. A quirky and close extended family. A strong bond to his Czech heritage. Extraordinary backyard barbeque skills. Debonair Dancer. Good Friend. Fine Fisherman. Lapsed Catholic. Cussing Master. Loner. Laugher. Lover of Life.

Now reunited with his lovely JBMarie, dancing to the sweet strains of Sentimental Journey.

missjunebug will never stop missing you, dear JBDad.

Stacked Against the IRS

Posted by missjunebug on Thursday February 18th, 2010

So missjunebug is tuning in to one of her fav shows, Chris Matthew’s Hardball to get the political smacktalk for the day when what does she see? Breaking News! Some wingnut in Austin flew his little single-engine airplane into the IRS building located there inflicting maximum damage on the building. This heinous act was performed after said wingnut burned down his own house.

What’s going on? missjunebug is no great fan of the IRS but puhleeze! This “deliberate attack against a federal building” is every shade of wrong.

missjunebug’s heart goes out to all those traumatized IRS and government workers in the fiery building at the time. She also takes pause to consider the extreme mental anguish Mr. Joe Stack must have been experiencing to drive him to this extreme act of violence but that can in no way excuse it.

Thank goodness the Austin Police Department and Austin Fire Department did such a great job mobilizing against this tragic act. Perhaps in the days to come people smarter than missjunebug will be able to make sense of this tragedy after closely examining the rants of Mr. Joe Stack posted on his website. But missjunebug doubts it. How does one make sense of the insensible?

With all due respect to the tormented Mr. Stack, missjunebug’s definition of insanity? Burning down your own house, ranting on the web against the democratic government bound to protect you, then flying a plane into an IRS building to stop the “insanity.”

May God help us all if Mr. Stack represents more than his singular, demented self.

Trip of a Lifetime

Posted by missjunebug on Wednesday January 27th, 2010

oneacrefund.org Rwanda Photo by mjb2010

Perhaps you’ve noticed that missjunebug flew away for a little while. Pretty far away actually. All the way to Africa to visit her ElderJB. Believe her blog title when she says it was the trip of a lifetime. This much she knows is true:

Her ElderJB and his spectacular (svelte, sublime, super-gorgeous) MG are making history in the hinterlands of Rwanda helping farmers TUBURA their harvests and improve their lives.

TUBURA (oneacrefund.org in Rwanda) staff is dedicated, optimistic, hard-working, and forward-thinking, a powerful force for good in the Nyamasheke district.

The enthusiasm and energy and pure exuberance of the local Rwandan staff brought tears to missjunebug’s little bug eyes as they celebrated success and acknowledged the hard work of the field reps and the farmers in their care.

missjunebug was blown away by the sheer enormity of the undertaking her ElderJB has taken on in this most remote of places on the planet (at least to her!) and further blown away by the 2020 target: one meeeeellion farmers (to borrow a phrase!) Are you kidding, ElderJB? missjunebug knows how large you live when you are around the Hacienda but your plan to live large in the hinterlands of Rwanda is truly awesome.

missjunebug’s motherly advice to ElderJB and the superb MG? Go for it! If anybody can do it, you two and your incomparable staff of young, strong, savvy Americans and aspiring, inspiring Rwandans can do it!!

Here’s a little photo-essay missjunebug style:

It starts in the field. Photo by mjb2010

It's in the bag: Seeds-to-be! Photo by mjb2010

It's a meeting of the minds. Photo by mjb2010

It's all about leadership. Photo by mjb2010

It's a hand-up, not a hand-out. Photo by mjb2010

It's a time to praise success. Photo by mjb2010

It's a simple idea yielding preposterous results! Photo by mjb2010

It's oneacrefund.org Check it out for yourself online! Photo by mjb2010

Happy New Year’s from missjunebug

Posted by missjunebug on Thursday December 31st, 2009

Ring in the New Year...It's Got To Be Better Than the Old! Photo by mjb2009

missjunebug wishes a not-so-fond-farewell to 2009 and looks forward to a better 2010!

Cheers!

Holiday Highlights! Subtitle: Christmas Loot Galore!

Posted by missjunebug on Saturday December 26th, 2009

missjunebug's Christmas Loot! Photo by mjb2009

missjunebug is happy to report that she got everything she wanted for Christmas…and more! A gorgeous Jennifer Miller bracelet a lá Hoda Kotb from Santa, a new pair of UGGS from TinyJB, a delightful, funny, interesting and sweet x 10 phone call with Rwandan-based Elder JB, and some funny little gadgets from Mr.JB (carabiner flashlight! extra camera battery! Chinese watercolor brushes!).

But she knows what you must be thinking. What about the nutcrackers? Did she score more? missjunebug is happy to report that Mr.JB/Santa has moved on to new Christmas decorating territory with the addition of a gold-lamé, white-furred Santa and a wine-red brocade and white lace Angel with a face, well, like an angel!

After a present-opening frenzy, the junebug family knoshed on Waffle-House style Cheesey eggs, Jimmy Dean sausage, and leftover rum cake. What a feast! Then Mr.JB headed outside to trim palm trees with his nifty new 14-foot chain-powered saw/pruner given to him by TinyJB! Wow that thing can cut up some tree! Meanwhile, TinyJB read through his new beer-making library of books (3 in all!) and missjunebug slipped into her UGGS, bagged up her loot, and began working on the evening meal (Spiral-cut ham, green bean casserole and fab pineapple stuffing).

Later in the afternoon, Mr.JB busted out his new blue-ray DVD of Quentin Tarentino’s masterpiece Inglourious Basterds, cooked up some popcorn, and gathered the junebugs to settle into the Men’s Club to watch one of the best revenge stories ever! Somehow it seemed like perfect Christmas viewing material, Jesus being a Jew and all.

After a savory Christmas dinner, Mr.JB continued reading the Uganda novel with the word eclipse in the title that ElderJB gave him for the big 6-0 while TinyJB and missjunebug duked it out over Trivial Pursuit. Sadly, missjunebug was not a winner as TinyJB edged past her with the sixth and final pie piece on a lame question: What was taken in John Godey’s novel The Taking of Pelham One Two Three? Thanks to the recent remake with John Travolta, TinyJB had no trouble coming up with “a subway train.” Puhleeze.

What a family! What a celebration! What a Christmas!

A Few of missjunebug’s Favorite Christmasy Things

Posted by missjunebug on Wednesday December 23rd, 2009

This one speaks for itself! Photo by mjb2009

missjunebug hopes these images cheer you during the Holiday Season!

Go Santa Go! Photo by mjb2009

Wide-eyed Santa glistens! Photo by mjb2009

One of mjb's all time favs! Photo by mjb2009

A Sparkly Orange Orb! Photo by mjb2009

A Beary Merry Christmas! Photo by mjb2009

Merry Christmas! Happy Baking! Wonderful Wrapping! And Unwrapping! Delicious Eating! Thoughtful Praying! Exuberant Praising! Sincere Thanking!

Blessings to you and your family from missjunebug, Mr.JB, ElderJB, and TinyJB!

Cookie Madness!

Posted by missjunebug on Tuesday December 22nd, 2009

A Sprint to Finish the Spritz! Photo by mjb2009

missjunebug is way too busy baking cookies for Christmas, shopping, wrapping packages, standing in UPS lines, and eating Chex Mix to write anything other than a brief update entry. And this is it!! She hopes you, too, are enjoying the pre-Christmas frenzy of fun x 10! Excuse her while she pops those Spritz cookies into the oven!