Phone call from rainy Austin, Texas

Raymond called and said it has been raining quite a few days. He said he had a good performance last night as his friends from down there, a couple, gave a dinner party and brought their friends to the theater, so altogether he had a bigger audience than usual and it was fun playing to more people. He can hit his stride better with more reacting.
He is afraid though that the closer it gets to Xmas the less people may go to the theater. He is however going to be playing some festival dates in the same theater in January which he hears is very well attended. He will also get some weekend nights. He and the guitar player from Enterprise, Utah who went to Texas with him to do the tech are playing their guitars until their fingers hurt, inspired by all the music lovers in Austin, which is known for being a Texas city of high quality country western musicians. They are both writing songs and using this opportunity to soak in the atmosphere.
He said Baby, his dog, loves the dog park. All he has to do is mention it and she goes crazy with excitement. I said you are treating that dog better than people treat their kids running her every day in the park. I think kids need that kind of exercise, too. They'd all act better if a family member took them out and ran them every day.
Raymond is getting ready for a barrage of teasing about getting compared to George Bush by a woman reviewer of his performance. I talked to his cousin Cheryl and she said they finally told Camille, his cousin, who is a republican and she can hardly wait for him to get home. She is such a tease anywway. Now she has been given fuel. He said one more reveiwer is supposed to come, but has not arrived yet. He acts like he is not even sure he wants that one to show up. His cousin Cheryl said that she was going to suggest he drop his act of doing Jimmy Stewart and polish up a George W. Bush act instead. Raymond was always imitating all the movie stars.
I remember one time when his Aunt Linda got put in jail for defying a restraining order during her divorce and she kept calling me from jail, and I kept calling him and all I could get was Johnny Cash on his answering service! And then John Wayne. He had several movie stars answering his phone at the time. His Aunt Linda needed money for bail. Our rich cousin was in the hospital but she finally called him there, and got him to agree to put up her bail money.
I wrote a one act play about that incident, too. My family has provided me with a lot of material over the years.

P.S. I love this header Connie did of dogs. Baby is the border collie on the left in the middle. McKye is his older kindly friend belonging to Kate who took this photo.