Fat Cyclist

Ok, please don’t be offended.
That is the name of a blog I read.
Fat Cyclist.

Again, I don’t remember how I found this website but I am a regular reader.  Not to read about his cycling, which is interesting but not my thing.  I read to find out about his wife Susan who has been fighting cancer.  Fatty has taken his love for his wife and cycling and raised a ton of money for Lance Armstrong’s Livestrong Foundation.  All while taking care of Susan and their four children, working full-time and dealing with what Life has thrown at them.

This morning, Fatty posted that Susan is not doing well.  They had a rough day yesterday.  Please join me in praying for Fatty, Susan and their family.  And if you would like to help him raise money to fight cancer, read more on the website and see if you are a fit for anything.  If you have friends who actually like to ride bikes, forward this post on to them and see if they would like to join Fatty.

This is some of what is good about the blogosphere.  Thanks, my friends.

All photographs and writing property of LoneStarLifer. 2009.

Talking Trash

One of the reasons I have long been drawn to the blogosphere is the sense of community I see between bloggers.  I see them writing about each other.  I see them getting on planes and going to stay with people they didn’t know before they started blogging.  They share their hurts and fears, their celebrations, their family life, their parenting flops and successes, their single lives, their everydayordinary lives.  I can keep up with the children/relatives of college buddies,  read discussions on how to save money, find where and what to shop, study what to wear,  discover different ways of cooking.  They share their faith and their  interests which become passions and passions which become their life work.

Well, I got to meet my first celebrity blogger a couple of weeks ago.  Don’t ask me how I found Deb of Talking Trash fame.  Some blogger I read put out the SOS that Deb’s new granddaughter needed prayers in the worst way.  Bella was born very prematurely and she was immediately surrounded by prayers from blogging friends all over the country.  Then The Junk Sistas organized a raffle and asked bloggers to donate something they created, drew, sewed, thunk up, whatever.  Tickets were sold online and $2500 was raised to help with Bella’s medical expenses.

The picture below was taken at the grand opening of Winnie and Talulah’s, an antique/trash/treasure grouping of vendors in downtown Athens, TX.  We were in town to celebrate my MIL’s birthday and when I realized that I would be in town the same weekend as the grand opening, I was so excited.  Meeting Deb was so cool.  I walked up, took her hand and introduced myself by saying, “You don’t know me, but I’ve been praying for Bella.”  Immediate hugs and tears.

Deb and I got to visit for a few minutes about blogging and I told her I have wanted to have my very own blog for quite a while but was afraid to make the plunge.  I didn’t know what I would say, who would want to read me, what if no one in the blog community likes me?  She told me to just dive right in, that I would find my voice the more I wrote, that bloggers are nice folks and I could come on in and be a part of the fun.  If they are all as nice as Deb, I’m in!  I am interested in finding out if there is a defining quality about folks who blog – do we need more attention than normal, is it an inexpensive way to be creative, are we talkers by nature and finally can talk all we want by blogging?   I think it’s fascinating to see all these writers coming out from behind their computers and meeting each other, going on trips to have girls weekends together, go into business together, raising prayers for those they don’t know.  Is this the new Mr. Rogers Neighborhood?  I want to hear your thoughts on this…….

Deb is a vendor at the Round Top Antiques Fair and sets up near Zapp Hall, so I’ll get to see her in the fall when I work at Royers (if I get to work again).   In the meantime, go by her blog and say hello, read about Bella, and tell her Lone Star Lifer sent you.

In the picture: That’s Jenn, Bella’s mama on the left; Cat Daddy, Deb’s hubby; me squeezed in by Cat Daddy; and Deb the Celebrity Blogger. 
      Peace to all. P
          Meeting my first Celebrity Blogger!

All photographs and writing property of LoneStarLifer. 2009.