By Shannon Williams
I would like to know just where did October go to?? It cannot be over already, I have way too many “fall things” to do yet. I guess, I do know where it went, I spent 10 night in hotels and only one of those nights were for work, most of it was family related. A trip out to West Texas to see my mom with my son, and then into Houston a few times for fun and

By Shannon Williams
Well, after the last couple of weeks of being “sandwiched” and focused on what I needed to do for others, this week, was a Big Bucket List week for me !! So what is a bucket list, we all know it is those things that we want to do, before we “kick the bucket.” But is it a real list that we write down, and when do we start it? Is it like retirement,

By Shannon Williams
While most of us think of a sandwich as something to eat, sandwich is also a verb. It means to “insert or squeeze (someone or something) between two other people or things, typically in a restricted space or so to be uncomfortable”. The sandwich generation is the term used for when you are lucky enough to have several generations of

By Shannon Williams
“Fall is proof that change is beautiful “…… That is one of those sayings that you find at a little store and buy it to bring home and put it out with your other fall decorations. It seems that after a long hot summer we all welcome the fall with our arms wide open. Is it because the heat along with the hustle and bustle of the summer is finally

By Shannon Williams
Ok, time for true confession. I love to have a garden, but I am not a good gardener. My mother always was in the yard working, I have such fond memories of her working on her rose bushes out front and my father sitting in the porch chairs (which came from my grandmother’s home ranch and now reside here in my storage). Dad would sit

By Shannon Williams
Well, I think I need to order a Big Chief Tablet and some crayons as I need to break up with my computer!! (just a side note, I said that to my 30-year-old son and he did not know what a Big Chief Tablet was!) I have had a rough couple of weeks with computers, but computers and I go back to my college days, so I guess they are

By Shannon Williams
There is a month or a day for everything, much of the time, I let them pass but I do enjoy when it is “ talk like a pirate day”. If I am at a drive in I try to order talking like an old salty pirate and it really never turns out well. So that being said, September is “Suicide Prevention Awareness Month”. So, what is the point of having a month to

By Shannon Williams
Sometimes, the hardest thing about writing this column is not the writing, but trying to decide on what to write. If I can come up with the right topic, it writes its self. I keep a little posted note on my computer to jot down when I come up with something I might want to write about, but just because I think I might want to write about it does not

By Shannon Williams
I do my best to try and stay neutral in my writing, I have way to much drama and conflict in my normal life to add to it by upsetting people by what I write. In today’s world, it seems very important to many people that people know how they feel about a subject or a situation. I guess I want to see how people feel about something in how they

By Shannon Williams
They say baseball is American’s Pastime and it appears that is true for everybody but me, or at least for this weekend. I have a long history with Baseball or at least watching it. During my high school years (mid 70’s) my dad would love to watch the Atlanta Braves on TBS, not that he was a big Braves fan, he just loved to watch baseball

By Shannon Williams
I don’t know about you but sometimes all this technology is really too much and keeping up with how it is ever changing just wears me out. To say I have no more “bandwidth” to deal with it is an understatement. These past several days has seen me struggling with two issues that involve technology and I am at my wits end and just not getting

By Shannon Williams
It is a Monday in ever sense of the word…… It just seems like nothing is going to be easy today, including writing this. LOL. I just could not come up with something to write about, well I could, but I would be in trouble if I put some of my current thoughts on paper! So, we are still boiling water, the internet went down for a brief time early this am, but is fully

By Shannon Williams
The month of July was a month of goodbyes for me. These goodbyes were all connected with work and work friendships, but what really is a work friendship? Is it one that only lasts while you both work at the same place or is it one that carries one after a change has happened? As often happens in the work world, sometimes contracts are lost

By Shannon Williams
Crystal Beach has many things that make it, well, unlike so many other places. It starts with the ferry, what a way to arrive!! A little mini cruise complete with a water feature (just stand at the front of the boat), entertainment for the children (a few pieces of bread and stand at the back of the boat), the sound of the waves, the smell of the ocean, and

By Shannon Williams
It has been so nice to see the Cruise Ships back at the Port of Galveston!! I have a long love affair with cruising. I love to cruise, read about cruising, planning the cruise and most of all BEING ON A CRUISE! I had big plans for 2020 and had all sorts of tickets brought, I was very lucky as I got refunds or new tickets for 2021 for all of my events. I did not

By Shannon Williams
Remember this past winter, when we all said we would never complain about the heat in the summer, well I LIED!!!! I love the seasons and how they change, but does it really have to be that big of a change and so early in the summer? While we did not freeze to death during the great winter cold, it was way too cold for me. I love Spring and

By Shannon Williams
I know that as I get older, many things will change and I have tried my best to accept changes the best I can. I am having a struggle with trying to give up adding any more cookbooks to my collection! I have shared with you about my box of recipes and what a mess they are in, but it is nothing compared to my cookbooks. Twice in the past 10 years, I have taken

By Shannon Williams
I have a love hate relationship with golf!! After a trip to Top Golf this past weekend, it is more hate! People who play golf have always been a part of my life, my father spent the last 30 years of his life playing golf and my husband plays several times per week. As far as I go, I never really have caught the hang of it. I used to have some basic skills about

By Shannon Williams
Crawfish … if you look it up in Wikipedia it states …”Crayfish are freshwater crustaceans resembling small lobsters. They are also known as crawfish, craydids, crawdaddies, crawdads, freshwater lobsters, mountain lobsters, rock lobster, mudbugs, or yabbie.” But what I call them is darn good to eat!!

By Shannon Williams
Memorial Day is upon us and it is a time we all try to remember those who paid such a high price for our freedom. My Father was a career Air Force Officer and thus we were a military family. My father served over 20 years and had tours in Vietnam and several other conflicts during his service. The Military life was a good life for my family, but it was not

By Shannon Williams
Noise is defined as “a sound, especially one that is loud or unpleasant or that caused a disturbance.” I have had a lot of noise in my life as of late. When you live on Crystal Beach, you sometimes forget how noisy the rest of the world is. It is hard to listen when there is noise nearby. I love to listen, when there is no noise, when you have to

By Shannon Williams
Mother’s Day has come and gone for the year. It is one of my favorite holidays. I don’t expect much and am not fond of being taken out to eat on such a busy day. I was treated to a hamburger and ice cream at the Dairy Queen in Winnie this year! We were both very tired from spending Saturday at the Crabfest, so I really wanted a low-key kind of

By Shannon Williams
The old saying goes, they call it “Fishing” not “catching.” But guess what? I went catching and boy did we catch!!! I am not a fisherman (or a fisher woman) but I am married to a fine fisherman. We had wanted to plan a little get away as we had not been on a trip in well over a year. My husband set up the entire trip (right down to my spa reservation!) So,

By Shannon Williams
Well I did it !! I got on an airplane after not flying since late February of 2020. Is it different, yes!! But does it still get you into the arms of those you love, YES!! Of course, the biggest change is wearing a mask all of the time. While I have done well with wearing a mask when I go out, I have not been out much, so I was concerned of how I would do wearing

By Shannon Williams
Well, it is late Sunday night and I am writing this from my cousin’s house in Oakland, California. I left Thursday for the West Coast for both work and play. I flew into Oakland late that night and the next morning; across the bridge we go into San Francisco for me to get on a little plane to fly up to the northern California Redwood country to see

By Shannon Williams
It has been a Monday in every sense of the word and it is still not over. It was just crazy; a whole group of my employees got their medical insurance cancelled for no reason. As you know, medical insurance is as good as gold for many of us and to be without it is very scary. I have spent the better part of the day trying to find out who entered

By Shannon Williams
Are greeting cards a thing of the past? I love cards, I love getting them, sending them and shopping for them. But I fear that those of us who love cards are getting to be a small group and I hate that. My love of cards comes from my grandmother on my mother’s side, she only had two children, but those two daughters had 13 children

By Shannon Williams
I am currently on a work road trip that has taken me back to West Texas for work and to see family. Spring in West Texas means dust and mud (that is when the dust blows and it rains, and thus MUD falls from the sky). It got me wondering what is the difference between dust and sand? Well, both have to be cleaned out of your car, your flooring