Thank you, Clara Driscoll

My daughter and I recently attended a Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators Critiquenic (writing/illustrating critique and picnic) at the Austin Museum of Art's Laguna Gloria grounds on the shores of Lake Austin/Ladybird Lake. I primarily went to hang out with my illustrator daughter, but took one of my fables for the critique. I had cut 1,100 words the night before, trying to get it down to a picture book size writing, so it was pretty rough. I received some good tips for improving it, though, and I appreciated that.

Photo by Matthew Fuller

Afterwards, I wondered who had built this beautiful home and how did it end up a place to teach and study art. I learned that Clara Driscoll and her husband Henry Sevier had built it on land originally owned by Stephen F. Austin. Wow. The Savior of the Alamo, the founder of the Austin American [now Statesman], and the Father of Texas all had connections to this land and home.

Texas history has roots all over that place.

Mrs. Henry Sevier, Clara Driscoll

Stephen F. Austin owned the land seven years before the city of Austin was founded in 1839. He wanted to build a home there, but it never happened. The Seviers married in 1906 and bought the land to build an Italianate-style mansion in 1914, completing Laguna Gloria in 1916. The couple divorced in 1937, and Clara began using her maiden name again. In 1943 shortly before her death, Clara Driscoll deeded the villa and land to the Texas Fine Arts Association to be used as a city museum. In 1961, the site was converted to the Laguna Gloria Art Museum and soon after began offering art classes. In 1983 additional facilities were built to expand the growing art school. The mansion is also available for other events like weddings, too.

My daughter and granddaughter both have attended classes at Laguna Gloria, and on the day of the Critiquenic we enjoyed the beautiful outdoor setting as we talked about writing and illustrating children's books. I'm so grateful for people like Clara Driscoll who at such a young age had the foresight to save the Alamo and later generously donated Laguna Gloria, which eventually evolved to promote the visual arts in the Austin area. But I would venture to say that most folks who enjoy the beautiful property today have no idea of the fascinating history behind it.

I didn't either, but I appreciate it even more now that I do.

Insured, But Not Really

I've been insured all my life, but for years now it feels like I'm not. I pay almost $300 a month for a high deductible insurance policy, so unless I have surgery or have a catastrophic illness, I will have to pay over $9,000 that year before insurance kicks in outside of the wellness visit.

I just received my bill for a visit to the dermatologist. I didn't go for cosmetic reasons. I have a history of basal cell carcinoma skin cancer (the most common type) and have to get thoroughly checked each year. The doctor found three areas of concern, removing a suspicious mole, and scrapping off two other red spots. Only one had skin cancer cells, which meant scraping deeper on a second visit.

But the real tragedy happened today when I received my insurance statement. The doctor's office billed my insurance company almost $5,000 for those three simple procedures. My part is only $2,161.

Now I really feel sick.

I am presently unemployed living off of my savings, helping my father take care of my mother, who's in the advanced stages of ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease. I'm grateful that I can do this for her. I don't know how long she'll be with us, but I do know how long I'll be able to take care of her during the day, based on my savings. When it's gone, I'll have to get a job.

And although I'm paying money every month to be insured, I don't feel insured at all. What I will have to pay the skin doctor means 43 days lost of caregiver time with my mother. Last year a visit to the emergency room took away 20 more days.

As for the follow up visit with the dermatologist in six months, I don't plan to go.

When all else fails...

...start a new blog. I changed my host server for my Website, and my main blog refused to show up on the Web anymore. After trying all the trouble-shooting tips over the past couple of weeks, to no avail, I decided to just start anew.

I had dreams of re-designing my Web site with WordPress, which everyone who has any tech sense says is wonderful, but I couldn't get past the instructions to download it. That tells you something about my tech sense, doesn't it. So for now, I'll stay with what I know until someone rescues me and saves me from my ignorant tech self.

I did take the time to copy and save all 75 posts from the old Donna Van Cleve blog, and I'm going to try to do better about backing up my other blog posts. Someday when the well starts to hit sludge, and that may be sooner than later, I'll go back to writing a single blog and retire the other three.

So, this first post is about as exciting as cleaning the microwave. Sorry!