The West University Buzz - May 2018

Elizabeth Smith, Kirsten Galtney, Liz Walsh and Ashlee Veit

Buzz Baby: Texas EquuSearch: Lost, but Not Alone

Time to Unwind

by Annie Blaylock McQueen

Chef’s Corner: Carlos Abedrop The Lost Art of Heirloom Sewing

Houston, TX

Yes to the Dress: A Memoir in Silk and Lace A Good Hair Day: Pairing Patients with Wigs

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EDITOR’S NOTE Oh, the shame. I can totally relate to the moms who fessed up to low parenting moments in this month’s Back Porch. I was guilty of a few. The one that still stings is the time Michael and I really wanted to get out on a Saturday night. We did not have a baby sitter. I found out about a theater that served dinner, a new concept at the time. The boys were 10 and 12. The only movie playing that worked as far as timing was Sideways. It was a movie about two men on a road trip in the wine country – and apparently somewhat inappropriate. At one scene, I covered the boys’ eyes. It was more embarrassing for me than for them. They do not even remember the movie, but I will never forget what happened right after, in the ladies room. A woman approached me and said, ‘Excuse me, I just want you to know that you are a horrible parent. I cannot believe you took your boys to that movie. I should report you.’ I was completely humiliated. So to all the parents who get it right, I salute you. And to those who might make a bad decision, know you are not alone. Happy Mother’s Day. joni@thebuzzmagazines.com

THE BUZZ MAGAZINES BELLAIRE • WEST UNIVERSITY • MEMORIAL • TANGLEWOOD/RIVER OAKS Published by Hoffman Marketing & Media, LLC 5001 Bissonnet, Suite 100, Bellaire, Texas 77401 info@thebuzzmagazines.com • p: 713.668.4157 • f: 713.665.2940 Follow us on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter thebuzzmagazines.com

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Contributing Writer Account Managers

Joni Hoffman Michael Hoffman Cheryl Laird Jordan Magaziner Steinfeld John Duboise Tracy L. Barnett Deborah Lynn Blumberg Sharon Albert Brier Andria Frankfort Angie Frederickson Todd Freed Cathy Gordon Michelle Casas Groogan Dai Huynh Annie Blaylock McQueen Jennifer Oakley Cheryl Ursin Laura Carter Andrea Blitzer Leslie Little Kim Montgomery

On our cover: Elizabeth Smith, Kirsten Galtney and Ashlee Veit (from left) and Liz Walsh (standing) may be moms, but that doesn’t mean they don’t need “girls’ nights out” together.

Cover photo by Nikky LaWell, lawellphoto.com The Buzz Magazines has made all reasonable attempts to verify the accuracy of all information contained within. Advertising claims are solely the responsibility of the advertiser. Copyright © 2018 Hoffman Marketing & Media, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any portion of this magazine by any means without written permission is strictly prohibited. Printed on recycled paper. Please remember to recycle.

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MAILBAG

Your letters, thoughts, opinions Good evening back at you Laura and I were so pleased to sit with Cathy Gordon [Good Evening, Friends: Catching up with Dave and Laura Ward, by Cathy Gordon, April 2018] and share a few stories. We don't do this very often, but I was so thrilled to have an opportunity to share a few things with my loyal friends and viewers. I couldn't be more pleased with the article and the love that I felt when I read it. It was actually quite emotional in a few areas. I thank The Buzz Magazines and [editor] Joni Hoffman for affording me the opportunity to connect with my friends.

The comments and responses I've received on Facebook and on my website have been truly heartwarming. I miss the connection with my viewers, and I love hearing from them whenever possible. Once again, thank you for all you do for the community. It is appreciated by this veteran news anchor.

Laura and Dave Ward Editor’s note: Thank you, Laura and Dave, for trusting us with your story and for all you two have done for our neighborhoods.

“That voice” gets them too Dave and Laura Ward have been our best friends for decades. We literally laughed out loud when we read “It’s oddly disorienting hearing that voice in the context of casual conversation” [in Good Evening, Friends: Catching up with Dave and Laura Ward]. Indeed, even after all of these years, we’re often a bit surprised when we first hear his commanding voice.

Thank you for writing a lovely article that broadcasts the news about this kind gentleman. Thanks to The Buzz, Houstonians now know that Dave is a romantic with a heart of gold. A Houston gem!

Pamela and Jack Wright

Important conversation I loved Cheryl’s article on “Alcohol and Young Adults” [Alcohol and Young Adults: Drinking through “the quarter-life crisis,” by Cheryl Ursin, April 2018]. It was well written and informative. I really appreciate the information on warning signs and how to initiate the conversation with your loved one. Thank you for taking the time to listen and put our stories out there to raise awareness about addiction and alcoholism; it is so necessary, especially to your demographic where so many suffer in silence.

There is hope.

Morgan Tijerina, Serenity Light Recovery

Rodeo nostalgia Howdy. [The] rodeo story [Rodeo Families: Generations of volunteers, by Michelle Casas Groogan, March 2018] brought back memories. In the 1950s, our parents Asa and Alma Weldon (Weldon's Cafeteria) loved the Rodeo and bought champions. Really exciting and helpful to young FFA students raising Texas livestock!

Asa Weldon Send letters to info@thebuzzmagazines.com. Please include your name, address, phone number and email address for verification purposes. Letters are subject to editing for clarity and space. Views expressed in letters do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Buzz Magazines, and The Buzz takes no responsibility for the content and opinions expressed in them.

Props from former Bellaire mayor I have had notes, phone calls and many emails from as far north as Montana, west to California, south to Florida, East and West Coast, Georgia, my home state beautiful Ohio [about The Road Much Taken: The history and future of Loop 610, by Cheryl Ursin, April 2018]. Cheryl Ursin was wonderful. I remember your first issue. You all have the same wonderful enthusiasm for the written word that you had then.

Betty Janicek, Bellaire mayor 1991-92

What’s your story?

We are looking for residents for upcoming articles who:

Suggestion for next flower story I was inspired by last month's feature on flower arranging [In Bloom: The art of arranging flowers, by Jennifer Oakley, April 2018]. As one of the featured enthusiasts [Debbie Robinson] noted, "Floral design is no longer about mass designs and formulas…." In fact, the opportunities for architectural creativity and symmetry are endless. I think the article resonated with me due to my lifelong interest in Japanese culture and horticulture. Might we see an article on ikebana [the ancient Japanese art of flower arranging] someday?

William Trout Editor’s note: Great idea. We’d love to do a story on Buzz residents who practice ikebana as a hobby.

WEST UNIVERSITY BUZZ MAY 2018 6

• Have met a friend or significant other through their dogs.

• Have fond memories of Galveston restaurants from the past.

• Had an extraordinary teacher.

• Know a compelling neighbor to profile.

• Enjoy uncommon hobbies.

If this sounds like you or someone you know, please contact us at info@thebuzzmagazines.com or 713.668.4157, ext 12.

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NEIGHBORS

by Andria Frankfort, staff writer

Margi Levin

Texas EquuSearch Lost, but not alone

T

im Miller never wanted to start EquuSearch.

“I was fairly successful in the construction business,” he says. Starting a nonprofit was the farthest thing from this Santa Fe, Texas, builder’s mind. “Then my daughter disappeared.”

It was 1984, and his 16-year-old daughter Laura had walked down the street to use a payphone to call her boyfriend; he was coming over to have dinner with her family. She never returned. “The police said she was a runaway, but I knew in my heart she wasn’t. I’ll never forget the last time I saw her.”

In the ensuing months, Tim continued to search for answers; the police continued to be convinced Laura had run away from home. One morning, 17 months later, Tim was reading the newspaper and saw that the remains of two females had been found in a field about two miles from his house. “I took it to the police station. There wasn’t even a file on Laura because she was a ‘runaway.’” But Tim persisted, and eventually he received a call: One of the bodies was his daughter’s.

“I remember every second of that 17 months Laura was missing,” Tim says. “Every time my phone rang, every time someone drove by my house slow, I’d literally get heart palpitations thinking they’d found Laura. Once they did find her, I became obsessed with that field. Every day I’d go looking for the little cross she wore around her neck.

“Then Laura Smither disappeared. Then Shelley Sikes. Then a family called and said, ‘Our 13-year-old son is missing. How did you get through it?’ I went over to their house, and I saw the look of helplessness and fear in their eyes. I knew that’s what I’d looked like for 17 months. So I made a promise to God and Laura that I would never leave a family in that situation alone.”

Tim kept his promise. In 2000, he founded Texas EquuSearch Mounted Search and Recovery Team (now Texas EquuSearch), dedicating the nonprofit to the memory of his daughter Laura. EquuSearch’s motto is “Lost Is Not Alone.”

Today, EquuSearch has evolved from an equestrian-fueled search organization into one with more than 1,000 “members,” who volunWEST UNIVERSITY BUZZ MAY 2018 8

NOT ALONE Tim Miller, EquuSearch's founder, made a promise that no family be left alone when searching for missing loved ones.

teer to search for missing people all over the country, at no charge to the families. “We’ve never charged a family a penny,” Tim says. “We won’t allow them to pay even when they ask to, because they’ve already paid the biggest price.”

EquuSearch volunteers work in teams on horseback, foot, ATVs, boats, planes and helicopters. They use drones, sonar equipment, divers and infrared and night vision cameras to find missing people. Everything – flights across the country to search sites, equipment transfer, search coordination – is paid for by EquuSearch.

“The first month, we found a little boy,” Tim says. “We did maybe two or three searches a year at the beginning, but then people started showing up, saying, ‘I’ve got an ATV,’ or, ‘If you ever need a diver, I’m certified and I’ve got a boat.’

Now we’ve got more resources than most lawenforcement agencies in the country.”

When Buzz resident Tracy Gaedcke Smith’s brother went missing while vacationing in Hawaii, she found out first-hand how invaluable those resources are. “My brother [Dewey

Gaedcke] went to see where the lava flows into the ocean at night, because he had been told that it was really beautiful,” Tracy says. “Being my brother, he hiked in himself through a shortcut and got lost coming back. I immediately flew from Colorado to Hawaii. The police there told me I needed to go home and plan his funeral. I don’t even know how I knew to do it, but I called Tim. He coached me from Houston on how to get the media involved – we were on the Today show, all over – in order to keep the investigation going. The police had given up, so we needed pressure from the media asking questions.

“Tim instructed me over the phone what to do, while he was getting resources and people ready to fly over to Hawaii and search. He told me in the meantime to keep talking to people, and to target tourists on helicopter tours of the volcanoes. A 12-year-old boy on a tour told his dad he saw someone down there. God bless the parents for believing him. They turned around and found Dewey. He had been living off the morning dew for six days (continued on page 10)

WEST UNIVERSITY BUZZ MAY 2018 9

Margi Levin

LOST EquuSearch volunteers scour communities for missing people, often on foot through off-road areas. (continued from page 8) and had just finished

recording a goodbye video for his daughters.

“My mom and EquuSearch were due to get on the plane the day he was found. We wouldn’t have found him without EquuSearch.”

Fueled by donors and volunteers, EquuSearch is a true grass-roots organization. Buzz residents Margi Levin and Kevin Cotter have volunteered as searchers for five years. “We moved to Houston from Petaluma, Calif., down the street from where Polly Klaas was ripped out of her home and murdered,” Margi says. “Also, Kevin’s stepfather had a traumatic brain injury and would wander, so we would conduct searches, which were fortunately all successful. Both experiences gave Kevin the passion to do this. He knows what it’s like to search for a missing loved one and feel that agony. We heard about Tim, and we knew we needed to be involved.

“All EquuSearch members are trained on how to search, although not everyone who volunteers searches, and that’s okay. We need all kinds of things – office work, fundraising, manning the command center, water runs during a search.

There’s a call system that pages the members, giving details of every search and what equipment is needed. Everything is done hand in-hand with law enforcement. We can get a call at midnight or 3 a.m. Sometimes the search starts immediately, sometimes it starts the next morning.”

When asked how she feels about searching for missing people, Margi says, “It’s hard knowing you are looking for a body, especially on the first search. But you see the anguish in people’s eyes, and you know you need to help them. Or when WEST UNIVERSITY BUZZ MAY 2018 10

there’s an elderly person, and you know you can find them. With our training, we know where to go and what to look for.

“Finding someone safe is amazing,” Margi says. “When a little boy camping with his family wandered off and he was found, there was such joy – tears, elation, hugging. It’s beyond winning the lottery to bring someone home safe. Even the families who know their loved one isn’t coming back alive – to be able to help them have that closure is a heck of a lot better than never knowing. That’s comforting.”

Margi is often asked, “What can I do [to keep my family safe]?” Most important, she advises, is making sure to have a recent, clear photo of all loved ones. “If we’re looking for a person who had a beard in a photo, and he’s shaved the beard off since, we have no idea how to find them without the beard.

“Also, rapid calls are so important. Time is not on our side, and we need to get out there and hopefully have a positive outcome for these families.”

To date, EquuSearch has assisted with cases in 38 states and eight countries. Tim and his crew have brought some 400 people home safe to their families, and they have recovered about 250 deceased victims. “At least 70 of those [victims] would never have been found without EquuSearch, I guarantee it,” Tim says. “We have also found many, many alive who would have otherwise been dead.”

EquuSearch is regularly called by the FBI, Texas Rangers and law enforcement across the country. Tim and his volunteers have trained people in other states and communities so that

they no longer lose two days while Texas EquuSearch volunteers travel to the search sites.

“But we’re not experts,” Tim is quick to say.

“We’ve had a lot of success, but way too many are still missing. We just do the best that we can.

“My goal is to one day not be needed. But every day, there’s something going on here.

Every day.

“It’s taken everything out of my personal life and changed everything about me,” he says.

“But at times when I just feel like throwing in the towel, and a mother calls crying on the other end of the phone, I remind myself of that promise to Laura and God. I don’t care where in America we have a missing person case, we’re going to have trained people there so that no family has to be alone. We’re changing one little community at a time.

“I think we all want a purpose in life,” Tim says. “When I was working, I think my goal was to be a big, successful building contractor. But [losing Laura] crushed my ego. It gave me a purpose in life that I didn’t have before. Before it was, ‘How good am I doing, how good do I look?’

You know what, I don’t have to look that good, and I don’t have to have that much.”

Looking back 14 years to her time in Hawaii searching for her brother, Tracy says, “I was so alone over there. The way Tim supported me – I could never do enough or thank him enough.”

Tim’s response? “Don’t thank me. Thank Laura.”

Editor’s note: To volunteer or donate, go to texasequusearch.org.

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NEIGHBORS

by Cathy Gordon, staff writer

Yes to the Dress A wedding memoir in silk and lace

WEST UNIVERSITY BUZZ MAY 2018 12

“It really hasn’t affected it much,” Shirley explains, “but I lost sight in both eyes on the left, half of my vision in both eyes.”

As if that curveball weren’t enough, Mother Nature lobbed one too.

Hurricane Harvey flooded Mary Ann and Ted’s home last August. If not for neighbor Dana Corbett and her son Peter, the dress, stored in a cardboard box under the couple’s bed, could have been ruined altogether.

They moved it to higher ground.

“Ted and I had gone to Galveston to check on our house there and stayed the night then couldn’t get back. They moved everything they could grab to HAPPY COUPLE Erica and Benjamin are all smiles with Grandma Shirley at the higher ground. wedding reception.

Thank God they for three days. saw that box under the bed!”

“I’m much better now,” she says, happily Surely the bulls-eye was off the family’s back. obeying doctor’s physical therapy instructions to “You would think,” Mary Ann says. keep on sewing. “Moving her hands, keeping “Then Mom had another stroke.” them busy is the best thing, and she does that Just weeks before the wedding, Shirley awoke anyway,” says her daughter. “Always.” to a left hand that wasn’t working. “It felt like a “Well, yes, I’m always doing something with foreign object.” The stroke impaired mobility in my hands,” Shirley says. “I (continued on page 14) her left hand and forearm. She was hospitalized Mark Reed

T

ea. It’s not just for drinking. Dip stark white lace into the hot brew and it takes on the shade of a lovely vintage ivory, explains Shirley Harper, 81, who keeps a trick or two up her perfectly tailored sleeve.

“Just dunk it in and then wring it out. If it’s a shade darker than wanted, rinse it a bit.”

Shirley muses about French Alencon lace like a poet immersed in verse. While the serial seamstress has tea-dyed many a piece of the delicate fabric, none were so steeped in love and sentiment as the trim stitched to one particular wedding gown.

On a Hill Country bluff outside of Fredericksburg, the Sunday after Easter, beaming bride Erica Reed, 24, exchanged vows with St. John’s School sweetheart Benjamin Lee in the same classic wedding dress that her grandmother Shirley created for her own daughter, Mary Ann Reed, 37 years ago.

Silk chiffon had replaced its original skirt of satin. Fresh tea-dyed lace blended with old, gently aged by time.

New beginnings.

“I know I’ll cry,” says Erica’s mother Mary Ann, blinking back tears. The three generations of women had gathered in Shirley’s small apartment at Brookdale West University senior living, weeks before final fitting.

“My mom can get emotional,” says Erica, matter-of-factly. “I didn’t want to try any other dress. I liked the idea of wearing my mom’s dress.

It looked pretty and my grandmother made it, so it’s meaningful. If she was up to the task, I was all for it.”

If not for a bit of luck and steely resilience, the evolving story of the dress could have ended mid-chapter.

Two years ago on Mary Ann’s birthday, Shirley had a stroke, losing half of her vision in both eyes.

“We didn’t even know if she’d be able to sew again,” says Mary Ann who, with husband Ted, settled her mom into Brookdale just three miles from their Bellaire home. She had been living alone in Peoria, Illinois, before.

She can no longer drive. But by golly and a miracle, she can still sew.

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point and knitting.”

Shirley can scarce remember pre-sewing days.

She started out as a schoolgirl, pumping a treadle machine in home economics classes in Peoria. Putting stitch to fabric was thrilling. She was good at it and the skill came in handy for a girl who was 6 feet tall by the eighth grade. “I couldn’t find clothes to wear. It was great that I could make them. I made a lot of skirts.”

Her mom didn’t sew. They didn’t own a machine. The elderly widow next door made an offer. “You can use my machine.” Gleeful as a kid on the first day of summer vacation, she bounded to her neighbor’s house. “I was over there all the time,” she recalls. “It was wonderful.”

“Can you just picture this?” interjects Mary Ann. “I can so picture it.”

By teen years, Shirley had stitched together a plan. She’d save babysitting money plus get a job at a department store that sold the objects of her affection. “I did that. I saved for two years. Put a sewing machine on layaway. It was $200.”

Before long she was the family seamstress, adding to her own wardrobe and sewing shirts for her dad, a tall, strapping man and former basketball player for the Chicago Bruins.

“Oh, the story doesn’t stop there,” says Mary Ann, who, with younger sister Beth, wore Shirley’s fashions from baby years on up while raised in Decatur, Illinois. “Mom was always in the basement,” she laughs, “hunched over a sewing machine.”

Cheerleader uniforms. Pom Pom girl outfits.

She clothed entire cadres of girls at local Decatur schools.

While other friends might see their prom dress on someone else, not Shirley’s daughters.

Well, there was one year that Beth insisted on a store-bought gown. “It was cute. But when she saw two other dresses that were the same as hers she said never again,” the seamstress chuckles.

Years came and went. Shirley kept sewing.

Proms. Homecomings.

Weddings.

“That’s why this is just so emotional for me,” says Mary Ann. “My wedding gown was the first one my mom ever made. To see Erica in it….”

Her voice drops off. “Really so special.”

Shirley made Beth’s wedding dress too. And the bridesmaid gowns for both daughters’ weddings.

Then came a flurry of requests.

Friends of her daughters. Their bridesmaids now getting married. Would she make their wedding dresses? Their bridesmaid dresses? “It snowballed,” says Shirley. After divorcing, she moved from Decatur back to hometown Peoria and opened a bridal shop, Custom Wedding Gowns by Shirley. Business boomed. Central Illinois clamored for Shirley’s couture-quality wedding dresses.

“I did my dentist’s daughter’s wedding, I was involved in my doctor’s daughter’s wedding, and I did my attorney’s daughter’s wedding.”

She points to Mary Ann’s updated gown. “It didn’t take much to make this work for Erica.

WEST UNIVERSITY BUZZ MAY 2018 14

lawellphoto.com

(continued from page 12) sew, but I also like needle-

NOSTALGIC NUPTIALS Bride Erica Reed models her wedding gown as grandmother Shirley Harper and mom Mary Ann look on. Shirley created the gown for Erica’s mom 37 years ago.

It’s very traditional, long sleeves. That’s a new skirt I put on for her, silk chiffon. And I did some alterations on the back of the bodice, putting some lace up where the buttons are. The base of the bodice is all illusion, otherwise known as veiling, and it goes all the way down.”

She recalls Mary Ann and Ted’s wedding.

Nov. 28 1981, a cold day. “So I made her a white velvet cape and put a fur trim boa all the way around it and made a muff. “ The piece de resistance, the veil with a hat.

“We found the hat at Marshall Field’s and they wanted $225 for it. I made it instead for $17. It’s all illusion, a little hat form with the bell turned down, and I covered it in gathered illusion and I think a roll of pearls around the crease. The veil was as long as the train on the dress. And it had some lace all the way around it.”

She goes to her closet, returning with an armful. A jacket in fine metallic brocade. A navy number in gold motif. A gold-tone dupioni silk skirt and matching jacket. “I love high quality fabric,” she says, revealing a stash in her cabinet, next to her sewing corner. A sewing machine and racks of thread, every color, takes up resi-

dence next to her kitchen. She donated $2,000 of high quality fabric to the American Sewing Guild, of which she is a member, before downsizing to her apartment here.

“My mom could live at High Fashion Home fabric store,” says Mary Ann. “Her favorite thing to do. Kid in a candy store.”

“I admit I love a good fabric,” interjects Shirley. “The silk chiffon skirt on Erica’s dress is lovely. It makes me happy and proud to see her wear it.”

Erica and Benjamin, graduates of The University of Texas, are creative types themselves. Erica, an advertising major, studies art. A beautiful bird rendering she made for her grandmother sits front and center on Shirley’s wall.

And her mechanical engineering husband Benjamin likes to dabble in all manner of artistic ventures. He made the leather belts for his groomsmen. Yep. There’s that.

“So guess what they’re getting for a wedding gift from this one?” Mary Ann asks, putting the sideways glance to her mom.

“Well, yes,” quips Shirley. “They could use a sewing machine.”

WEST UNIVERSITY BUZZ MAY 2018 15

lawellphoto.com

NEIGHBORS

by Andria Frankfort, staff writer

Heirloom Sewing From dress to lifetime quest

D

enise Moseley’s two teen daughters do not want their mother to make their future wedding gowns. “That is a big, fat, ‘No,’” Denise says. “We’re going to try on all the wonderful wedding dresses we can!”

That’s not to say that, given the chance, Denise would not create the most perfect gown her daughters could ever dream up. Denise, a mom of four teenagers – Jamie, 18, Caroline, 16, Matthew, 15, and Catherine, 12, all students at The Kinkaid School – has been dabbling at sewing all her life.

“When I was a little girl, my mom,” who sewed, “would just hand me a bag of scraps, some thread and a needle. I would make things and sell them for fun. I was always fascinated with my mom’s sewing machine and always drawn to beautiful fabric. I brought a sewing machine off to college. I would make the occasional sundress and these wild-colored drawstring shorts called Jams for my friends and myself.”

Long past her Jams days, and beyond her postcollege days in pharmaceutical sales, Denise found herself looking for a classic white dress for her eldest daughter’s portrait. “When Caroline was 5, we found this wonderful artist – I spent half a year researching portrait artists. Now the mission was, ‘What is my daughter going to wear?’”

In the fashion you’d expect from someone who researched portrait artists for six months, Denise went on a mission. “Caroline was going to be immortalized in this painting forever,” Denise says. “I wanted a timeless look.” The “giant lace collars” that proliferated in children’s stores did not fit Denise’s vision. So she decided to make what she couldn’t find.

“I poured myself into researching the lost art of heirloom sewing,” she says. “I read books on couture sewing techniques. I started buying antique christening gowns to see how they were constructed. I looked at paintings from the late 1800s – John Singer Sargent’s, for example.

That was the era I loved, and I loved the clothes from it.” Denise also went to the International Quilt Festival in Houston and combed eBay for fabrics, coming upon a “textile broker” who helped her find fabric that was originally intended to be used for a woman’s skirt in the 1800s.

WEST UNIVERSITY BUZZ MAY 2018 16

A LOST ART, FOUND Denise Moseley’s search for the perfect girl’s dress led her to create her own heirloom-style garments.

“It was hand-embroidered cotton lawn, a very fine cotton,” Denise says.

“From there, I designed a dress that would be period-correct. There are no buttons on the straps. It is all drawstring and ribbon, Frenchseamed, antique laces. Everything you would find in an heirloom dress.

“It is difficult to find patterns for this type of dress because they were traditionally handed down, not commercialized. So I drew it out, made a muslin mockup, tried it on her to be sure it would fit, and then the muslin became the pattern. I was determined to have a double-puffed sleeve on the dress, but I didn’t know how to make a double-puffed sleeve. I had a beautiful antique christening gown that I had to take apart just to figure out how that sleeve was constructed.

It was 12:30 at night, and I was working on it, thinking about the woman who made that dress, saying, ‘I’m so sorry! I’ll put it back together!’”

Denise spent about a month – in her spare time as a mother of four very young children – working on that first dress. “It was quite a project,” she says. “A labor of love.”

When she finished, Denise found that she

had a passion for heirloom sewing. “I couldn’t get enough,” she says. “I subscribed to magazines, collected antique gowns, bought beautiful fabrics and laces and learned all these embroidery stitches.”

Denise went on to make a dress for her younger daughter, and also made little linen shirts and John-Johns for the boys. And then, she began making dresses to give away. “I only do it for people I really love,” she says. “I’ve lost count of how many I’ve given, but it’s at least 10. The last friend I gave a dress to took it and had it shadowboxed, which was a huge compliment. It’s now hanging in her little girl’s room.”

Denise’s passion remains strong. “I still have a lot of extra fabric from each girl’s dress, so I will make christening gowns for their future children that will literally be cut from the same cloth as their mothers’ portrait gowns. As the oldest, Jamie will get the gown all four children were baptized in. And for Matthew, I have already sourced a pattern and am going to make his baby’s gown by hand.

“I just have to teach myself how to do hemstitching.”

NEIGHBORS

by Jennifer Oakley, staff writer

Pairing patients with donated wigs

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ouise Kinnersley will always remember the moment Beckie Hebert got her wig. She had driven her friend to the Afton Oaks home of Nancy Riviere, and the two women had gone into the “Wig Room” while Kinnersley waited.

Hebert had cancer, which Kinnersley also had battled, and she marveled at the sounds of giggling emanating from the room. Slowly, the door opened and Hebert appeared, transformed.

“When Beckie walked towards me with the new wig, she looked so happy,” recalls Kinnersley.

“Even though she was going through this hard battle, she was happy.”

That feeling is what Riviere aims bring to cancer patients who are struggling with the loss of their hair. The founder of Wig Out, a nonprofit group started in 2016 that pairs people with wigs, was diagnosed herself with breast cancer at 39 and again at 42 and endured hair loss from chemotherapy treatment. Today, at 45, Riviere has a mission to give a free wig to every patient who needs one.

It was during chemotherapy at MD Anderson Cancer Center that Riviere realized not every patient had easy access to wigs. “Bald is beautiful, and I get that. I rocked it too sometimes,” says Riviere, whose own dark brown hair has grown back, almost shoulder length. “But having a wig is something very powerful to have. When you wear a wig, you can assimilate and you are not being stared at in public. You are not the ‘sick person’ that day. When you lose your hair, it is a constant reminder that you are ill. And when you wear a wig, you are framing your face again.

Having that reflection look back at you and be one that you recognize is a really powerful thing.”

Kinnersley, who battled ovarian cancer a decade ago, relied on her three wigs so much during the time she lost her hair, she nicknamed her wigs “The Girls.” “The wig really is your identity,” says Kinnersley, a marketing consultant. “The wig is creating a foundation for you.”

Once she no longer needed the wigs, Kinnersley wanted to donate them to another person undergoing treatment. An internet search led her to Wig Out, and her connection with Riviere was immediate. “I delivered my WEST UNIVERSITY BUZZ MAY 2018 18

lawellphoto.com

A Good Hair Day wigs and then asked what I could do to help her,” says Kinnersley.

“Nancy said: ‘I have got 30 wigs here that need washing.’ So, I took them home and I put 10 at a time in my huge bathtub and began washing. When I was styling them and cleaning them, I was thinking about who the wigs are for and thinking about what they will do for that person.”

Riviere says the emotional and financial toll of cancer treatment can be overwhelming, and she realized that get- WIGGING OUT Louise Kinnersley (at right) and Nancy Riviere are cancer survivors. ting people wigs Louise donated her wigs to Nancy’s non-profit Wig Out, which gives wigs to patients. would be a stress works. Wig Out on Wheels, a mobile truck that off their shoulders. “There is such an enormous will take the wigs to chemotherapy centers fear for those facing chemo,” she says. “Eight around Houston, will be rolling out in 2018. “It percent of women refuse treatment because of will be a mobile unit that will go out into the the fear of hair loss.” Riviere began reaching out community,” she says. “People will be able to to friends and family and anyone who would liscontact us and send photos and then we will ten to her call for help; she needed wig donameet them at their treatment center.” tions to make her dream work. The donations “When you are going through chemo, your arrived in droves. self esteem is not No. 1 despite how tough you Today, her “Wig Room” houses more than are,” says Hebert, now in remission from stage 3 300 donated wigs, and she will ship a wig anynon-Hodgkin lymphoma. where in the country to anyone who needs one.

“It is a really wonderful feeling to have the “Clients send me photos of what they looked wig. It totally changes your look. Even people like before they lost their hair,” says Riviere, who have known you say: ‘I just love your hair.’” who considers herself an expert in what she calls ‘wigology.’ “Wigs are crazy expensive, and I try Editor’s note: Contact Nancy Riviere at and send a wig that looks most like the person’s wigout.org or 832-706-0888 to make a financial natural hairstyle.” donation or donate quality wigs.

Plans to take the wigs on the road are in the

WEST UNIVERSITY BUZZ MAY 2018 19

NEIGHBORS

by Deborah Lynn Blumberg, staff writer

J. Daniel Escareño, UTHealth

It’s a Match When med students are newlyweds

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urrounded by hundreds of expectant doctors-to-be, Alexandra Ward and Craig Thomas clutched matching cream-colored envelopes, waiting for one of the most important moments of their lives.

The newlyweds were minutes away from finding out whether they’d be together or hundreds of miles apart for the next several years.

“Craig was up very early. He couldn’t sleep,” said Ward, 28, who grew up in Bellaire.

Ward and Thomas joined more than 200 fellow med students in a packed courtyard recently in front of the McGovern Medical School at The University of Texas Health Science Center for the school’s Match Day ceremony.

Match Day is the medical world’s annual event where med students across the country find out where they’ll spend their residency.

This year’s Match Day was the largest on record, with almost 44,000 applicants. At McGovern, proud parents snapped photos, classmates embraced, and siblings cradled bouquets.

Ward, a McGovern student, and Thomas, 30, who studies at The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, hoped that at long last they’d permanently live in the same city. That’s been the couple’s goal since they met in 2013, and over these past 11 months during the grueling Match process.

It started in May 2017 when Ward and Thomas began researching residency programs. Ward, the daughter of two Houston doctors – Phebe Chen and Mark Ward, a radiologist and director of the Pediatric Residency Program at Baylor College of Medicine – decided she wanted to go into psychiatry. Thomas chose to pursue internal medicine.

What followed were months of more than a dozen interviews each with hospitals across Texas and the southern U.S. During the Match Day process, hospitals rank their interviewees, and interviewees rank the facilities where they’ve interviewed. The process is coordinated by the National Resident Matching Program.

Ward and Thomas chose to do what’s known as “coupled matching,” where couples link their preferred schools. Ward’s No. 1 choice was linked to Thomas’ top choice. Both had to receive their top choice for it to be a match.

The couple spent long nights creating 40 posWEST UNIVERSITY BUZZ MAY 2018 20

MATCHED The newlyweds will both continue their medical training in Houston. Alexandra Ward will study at The University of Texas Health Science Center, and Craig Thomas will be at Baylor College of Medicine.

sible hospital combinations. Their top choice would put them both in Houston. Choices further down the list would put Ward in San Antonio and Thomas in Austin. “We’re really hoping to stay here,” Ward said ahead of the ceremony.

It was a hot Houston summer night when Ward and Thomas first met outside a jammed wrought iron gate leading into the apartment complex they both lived in. “I say he was stuck,” said Ward. “He says it was me.” The couple soon learned they both also worked as research assistants at MD Anderson and were both applying to medical school.

Ward ended up at med school in Houston, and Thomas in Galveston, where his family lives. His father, Christopher Randall Thomas, is a psychiatrist at The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. “I’m so proud that Craig and Alex chose medicine as a calling, a career that I have found so rewarding and challenging,” said Dr. Thomas.

The couple spent two years dating long-distance. “We’d alternate weekends going to visit each other,” said Ward. It wasn’t easy.

“When we started dating, it was such a natural relationship,” said Ward. “We could take coffee breaks together. Then, we were busy at school and we were apart.”

During their third year and fourth years of med school, Thomas was able to do his rotation in Houston. One summer day in 2016, they took a

walk through Hermann Park. Thomas got down on one knee. “I was a little nervous,” he said, “but I kneeled down and I popped the question.”

They married less than a week before Match Day at Westminster United Methodist Church, where Ward’s parents married 32 years ago. In her wedding dress pocket, Ward carried a blue and white handkerchief from her Chinese grandmother’s handkerchief collection. With family and friends from around the world, the couple feasted on gumbo at Brennan’s during the reception.

Shortly before noon on Match Day, McGovern school officials gave the signal, prompting students to simultaneously rip open their envelopes. Thomas received special permission to open his letter in Houston; staff clipped the couple’s letters together.

Ward took a deep breath. Her eyes scanned the page. “I got UTHouston and he got Baylor, our No. 1 choice!” She beamed, grinning earto-ear. For the next several years, the newlyweds will learn to care for patients down the road from each other.

“Phebe and I were thrilled and proud,” said Mark Ward. “Getting your first choice makes what will be a challenging journey through residency just a little bit easier.”

Thomas said, “It’s unbelievable.” Ward embraced him, tears pooling in her eyes. “You know,” she said, “I had a feeling we would be staying here.”

WEST UNIVERSITY BUZZ MAY 2018 21

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Moms, Grads & Dads

Gift Guide Perfect gift ideas for even the hardest to please

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Available in-store or custom ordered for personalization. Whether shopping for jewelry, handbags or cutting-edge fashion, you can find it here! Raspberry Rose (located in Rice Village), 2434 Rice Blvd., Houston, Texas 77005, 713.529.2260, Instagram: @shopraspberryrose

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Fly Into History

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Lone Star Flight Museum has your boarding pass to history with its vintage flying aircraft collection. Experience the sights and sounds of American airpower aboard a historic aircraft – the perfect gift for all occasions. Available aircraft include the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, North American B-25 Mitchell, North American T-6 Texan, Boeing PT-17 Stearman, Fairchild PT-19 Cornell, Douglas SBD Dauntless, and Cessna T-41 Mescalero. Certificates are available for purchase and can be shipped for next-day delivery. Our flight experiences can also serve as a unique business tool for your clients and employees. Lone Star Flight Museum, 11551 Aerospace Ave, Houston, Texas 77034, 346.708.2517, www.lonestarflight.org

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A Rose on the Wrist Beautiful and timeless. Hazen & Co. Carson bracelet with rose quartz for $72, for the perfect look on Mom’s wrist.

Bering’s, 6102 Westheimer Road, Houston, Texas 77057, 713.785.6400; 3900 Bissonnet Street, Houston, Texas 77005, 713.665.0500, www.berings.com WEST UNIVERSITY BUZZ MAY 2018 23

KIDS

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by Annie Blaylock McQueen, staff writer

Buzz Baby

Time to unwind lawellphoto.com

Buzz Baby is a column about life with little ones.

Writer Annie McQueen has three children under the age of 4.

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arenting young children can be mentally and physically exhausting. Whether you have one kid or multiple kids, are a stayat-home parent or a full-time working parent, taking some downtime to unwind and de-stress can feel like a lifesaver.

Elizabeth Smith had one of those ultimately relaxing moments this Spring Break, as she sat on the beach in The Bahamas with her husband Ben, relaxing with books while children Addison, 4, and Mercer, 2, played and made sand castles.

Trips are great, but sometimes simple moments to breathe are all you need to rediscover your happy place: curling up pretty much anywhere with a book, taking a hot bath or going on a run – or whatever works for you.

Elizabeth unwinds with exercise or a nap when her kids are away. She also likes to get together with girlfriends and says it is “crucial for her sanity.”

Her group includes friends and fellow moms Kirsten Galtney, Liz Walsh and Ashlee Veit.

They go out to a restaurant or meet at someone's house for a playdate “so the kids can run around and we can all catch up.”

Stay-at-home mom Liz Walsh has two boys, J.D., 5, and Roy, 3. She exercises while the boys are at school, to recharge her batteries. Liz attends a spin class or works out with a personal trainer.

She also enjoys traveling out of the city to kidfriendly places. “Recently, we went on vacation [to the Disney Aulani Resort in Hawaii] that had a kids’ club that both boys could attend, so we were able to go get a massage at the spa while they played in the club. That was the most relaxing moment of the vacation for me,” said Liz. She says she also enjoys grabbing dinner or drinks with her husband, James, an investment banker, or friends. Sometimes, having a late night can be hard the next day when you have young kids at home. Recently, Liz went out for a girls’ night at Coppa Osteria in the Rice Village.

It was easy to walk over, since her family is living WEST UNIVERSITY BUZZ MAY 2018 24

GIRLS JUST GOTTA Kirsten Galtney, Elizabeth Smith, Ashlee Veit and Liz Walsh (from left), who all have children under 4, take time to catch up over wine and board games.

next door at Hanover Rice Village while they finish work on their house. “We decided to stop for one last drink before going home,” she says.

“It seemed like a great idea at the time until the fire alarm for the apartment went off at 5 a.m. the next morning. I was wishing I had skipped the drink and gotten to bed earlier.”

Mom-of-two Kirsten Galtney says exercise is also her key to relaxing. She has a Peloton indoor exercise bike in her house. “It allows me to handle anything that comes my way in a calm way,” she says. She also enjoys a monthly facial at The Houstonian or a manicure/pedicure. “It’s important to remember to take care of yourself,” she says.

Kirsten and her husband Rob put their kids down to bed at 7 p.m. to have some time in the evening to watch their favorite show or just talk about their day. She encourages other stressed-out parents to remember to laugh. “Things will

inevitably not go according to your plan, and it will happen at the worst times, but just roll with it.”

Former attorney Ashlee Veit also uses exercise to decompress. Her two kids, Louise and Conley, are now 4 and 2. The stay-at-home mom unwinds through her alone time. “Grab a few minutes for yourself whenever you can,” she urges other parents. “It might mean getting up a little earlier or staying up a little later than you normally would, but I find that it’s worth it.”

Ashlee says she gets up early before the kids wake up so she has time to go on runs.

She enjoys quiet time and lounging on her back patio with a book by their pool. She says she recharges through her alone time, and also by hanging out with other adults (after being around her small children all day). “Swapping stories with parents in the same boat that you are can be really fun,” she says.

WEST UNIVERSITY BUZZ MAY 2018 25

TRAVEL

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by Tracy L. Barnett, staff writer

Travel Buzz

Great Britain: Beyond Big Ben

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ith the royal wedding around the corner, millions of eyes will be trained on Great Britain. So what better time to consult with our experts, we thought, to help you plan your next trip across the pond?

We spoke with Gerry Waters, an English native who is raising her children to fully embrace her mother country; Roseann Rogers and Aashish Shah, whose separate love for the country took on a richer element when they met and married; and Rachel Fisher, who became enchanted with the British Isles as a child, and ended up going there to study and learn – again and again.

North, south and center Gerry was born halfway between Oxford and London in the town of Beaconsfield, so she grew up steeped in the English countryside but also in the cultural life of the capital. When she was 13 her parents moved to France, so she went to school where her grandmother lived, in the medieval town of Sherborne in the southwest, famous for its historic abbey and castle – “a beautiful chocolate box type of town,” Gerry reminisces, not far from Stonehenge and the birthplace of Thomas Hardy.

For a change in scenery, she decided to go to university in the northeast, ending up in Durham, surrounded on three sides by a loop in the River Wear. Durham was said to be founded

by Divine Providence in 995 A.D., when, according to legend, the remains of the famed healer St. Cuthbert came to rest at the spot.

There he was buried, and his shrine became a pilgrimage site. It was England’s most important at the time, along with Holy Island to the north, where Saint Aidan founded a monastery in 635 that was to become the epicenter for Christianity’s spread throughout the world.

Durham is home to the oldest student accommodations in the world – The Keep, part of Durham Castle – and while Gerry didn’t live there, she would sometimes spend the night with friends. Nowadays, students give guided tours to the castle, a World Heritage Site.

Gerry was destined to marry a Texan – she and Lou exchanged their vows in Sherborne, WEST UNIVERSITY BUZZ MAY 2018 26

but they ended up living in Bellaire, and over the years Gerry has taken their three children – Sacha, 15; Thalie, 14; and Luke, 12 – for extended visits. They’ve maintained the family home in Beaconsfield, deepening in their Britishness, retracing their mother’s steps, and LONDON CALLING Buzz resident Rachel Fisher took this photo of the clock exploring new places tower known as Big Ben, a must-see for any tourist to London. together. and other celebrities.

“There’s two things they’ve noticed that are “Hey, Nikhil, I met Captain America,” she different from life in the States,” said Gerry. recently told their son, now 13 – pulling out the “There they have more independence; they can old footage to prove it. take the train in London, they can navigate and Aashish, an obstetrician by training who now get to the places they want to go. In Houston, of works in administration at MD Anderson, course, you have to have someone to drive you.” became fascinated with London in his early The other thing they have noticed is the travels. Since then, he’s gone back every chance “gentler, slower pace of life.” More time for vishe could. He loves it all – the culture, the archiiting with friends, taking classes – at film school, tecture, the gastronomy – but he especially or at Gorilla Circus Flying Trapeze School in enjoys taking a modern history approach.

Regent’s Park in London, where they’ve gained “You can’t go to London and not get a sense strength and confidence. There’s time for theof the role it’s played in history,” he said. There’s ater, museums, outdoor festivals. And there’s the Churchill War Rooms, an underground more time for walking – indeed, England has an bunker under Westminster where Britain’s leadancient law giving people the right to walk ers charted the pivotal decisions that won across other peoples’ land, so there is a vast netWorld War II. work of public footpaths everywhere. “So wherThe War Rooms are a part of the five-part ever we are, we can just go walk across the counImperial War Museums, which explore conflict tryside,” she said. and the impact it has on people’s lives.

“You have to see Big Ben, the Crown London eyes Jewels, the Tower of London – and you have Roseann Rogers, formerly an entertainment to walk the London Bridge,” said Aashish. reporter for Houston news outlets, grew up the “There’s a historical aspect to it that you just daughter of a military man, and remembers takhave to experience.” ing the ferry to Paris as a child; last summer, He never gets tired of seeing the changing of when husband Aashish Shah took her to the guard at Buckingham Palace. “It’s something London for her birthday, she took the train that’s imbued with history and pageantry,” he said. through the tunnel and on to Paris for the first As much as the museums and the monutime. She was amazed: “It’s like you just take a ments, though, he likes to just go and wander little nap, and all of a sudden you’re there.” the streets. Regent’s Park, Hyde Park, Some of their best memories are from when Kensington Gardens, Westminster Abbey – Roseann went to cover stories – for example, “one part art, one part history; the people who when the London Eye ferris wheel opened, and are buried there including Chaucer and modern she was there to interview the Fantastic Four

THE GREATS OF BRITAIN Top left: Gerry, Thalie, Sacha and Luke Waters in Durham, with the River Wear and Durham Cathedral in the background. Right: Roseann Rogers and husband Aashish Shah take a selfie pause on the Tower Bridge in London. Bottom left: Rachel Fisher was thrilled to explore Alnwick Castle and the field where Harry Potter learned to play quidditch.

WWII leaders; the stained glass…”

He likes to go downtown to the City of London, the original medieval city, where most tourists don’t tend to linger. Recently, for example, he walked through the Whitechapel District to understand the history of Jack the Ripper.

“There’s a vitality, a hum to it, if you will – just wandering, it feels like you’re a part of something bigger.”

As a person of Indian heritage, Shah feels a special sense of connection with the city as the seat of the vast empire that colonized his family’s homeland in the era of the British Raj. “It was an amazing empire that lasted for so long, and it was not so revered toward the end, but it had its time,” he reflected. In particular, excellent Indian cuisine is everywhere.

“It’s kind of like being Hispanic in Texas,” he explained. “There are a lot of things here that are Hispanic-centric; the same thing could be true of the British in terms of Indian culture.”

A quick list of their favorite restaurants: Gymkhana, classic Raj-era Indian; Chutney Mary, fine Indian contemporary; Yauatcha Soho, classic and contemporary Chinese; Ristorante Frescobaldi, fine Italian; and Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen, high-quality cuisine with a social commitment.

In the footsteps of her ancestors Rachel Fisher fell in love with England on her first trip abroad, at age 11, on a family vacation.

A descendant of Sir Francis Drake and a huge fan of Harry Potter, she inherited her parents’ Anglophile tendencies. She dreamed of going to live there, and in 2013, as an exchange student in Leeds, her dream came true.

“It was great to be able to interact with locals and be in a place that was more local and not as touristy,” said Fisher, now 24 and a communications specialist at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church.

She especially loved taking field trips to the places she had studied. One course was on the grand country houses; another was on the Bronte sisters, who lived not far from Leeds.

“Getting to visit these places I read about and imagined in my mind, it was such a privilege,” she recalled. “It’s even more romantic in person; they’re great authors, but descriptions and pictures don’t do it justice. You have to be there to feel the wind and see the sprawling landscape – you really can picture Catherine wandering the moors, crying out for Heathcliff.”

Her third trip was with friends from Texas A&M after her graduation in 2015. The group took a tour through Italy and France, and then

she met up with her family in England, where they stayed at a country house.

“It was just magnificent,” she reminisced.

The family stayed at Charlecote Park, a grand 16th-century mansion in the Cotswolds with its own deer park near Stratford-upon-Avon. The young William Shakespeare is alleged to have poached deer on the site.

In 2016 she went back to explore Scotland.

Among the most memorable visits was to Alnwick Castle near Northumberland, whose history dates to around 1096 and includes an important role in the Wars of the Roses. Since the 1950s it has served as the set for scores of films and television series, including Harry Potter and Downton Abbey.

“I love Harry Potter, and that’s where they learned how to play quidditch,” she said fondly.

A huge fan of the royals, Rachel remembers pulling an all-nighter to watch the royal wedding when Prince William married Kate Middleton. She doesn’t plan to travel to Windsor for the May 19 union of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, but she will be tuning in.

“If I were there I’d be one of those people lining the streets, hoping to catch a glimpse… and while I doubt that I can cross the Atlantic to be there in person, I’ll definitely be there in spirit.”

WEST UNIVERSITY BUZZ MAY 2018 27

The Junior League of Houston

FOOD

by Laura Carter, contributing writer

Cooking Buzz Kids in the kitchen Cooking Buzz is produced in partnership with the Junior League of Houston, a women’s charitable and education organization founded in 1925.

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rowing up, some of my fondest memories were spent in the kitchen with my mom and brother, baking up a storm.

We loved to experiment with recipes and had family traditions around our birthday cakes and other holiday occasions. We even baked desserts for our friends’ birthdays, a custom that continued through high school. I knew when my husband and I started having children, I wanted to make sure our home revolved around the kitchen as well. As E.B. White said, “On days when warmth is the most important need of the human heart, the kitchen is the place you can find it.”

Now that our daughter, Addison, is almost 2, we include her in making dinner and experimenting with different textures and tastes. I love getting her involved by having her bring jars of spices from the pantry or bring bowls and plates to me. And, of course, her favorite thing to do is help stir.

As a working mom, I am always looking for intentional ways to interact with Addison, and what better way than to get her involved in our nightly routine. Not only do I get to feed my family home-cooked meals, but I get to spend time with them, too. With that said, given our busy schedule, I am all for simple, quick and healthy, but balanced, meals.

One of my favorite recipes that we use as a snack throughout the weekend is the Black Bean Corn Salsa from the Junior League of Houston’s Stop and Smell the Rosemary. We love spicy food in our family, so if you want a milder flavor, leave out the jalapeños. We use the leftover salsa as a topping for chicken later in the week. One of our “go-to” chicken recipes on busy weeknights, which goes perfectly with the salsa, is the Spicy Yogurt Chicken from Stop and Smell the Rosemary.

If you are looking for sides packed with vegetables, look no further than the Vegetable Casserole from The Houston Junior League Cookbook. I am always looking for ways to slide WEST UNIVERSITY BUZZ MAY 2018 28

FOOD OF ANGELS This version of Amaretto Angel Food Cake gets an extra special presentation, dipped in chocolate and garnished with an orange.

nutritious food into our menus without hearing “No way, Mom.” For a special night, our favorite is the Grilled Pizza with Pear, Arugula and Truffle Oil from Peace Meals. We usually prepare the dough on the weekends, when we have more time, and freeze it. You can be creative with the toppings.

Some other great options are Rustic Chicken Pesto Pizza and the classic Margherita Pizza.

Having children help out can be messy but some of my favorite memories happen when we are covered in flour or making shapes in the dough.

Finally, a beloved family tradition growing up was making angel food cake for birthdays. I have fond memories of helping my grandmother make it. One of my favorites is the Amaretto Angel Food Cake from Stop and Smell the Rosemary. Our family always drizzles chocolate icing on top. If you have extra icing, you can spread it on vanilla wafers to create mini dessert sandwiches. If you want a healthier option, you can add fruit. Adding whipped cream on top takes the recipe up a notch, as I do not believe there is a child or adult out there who does not love whipped cream.

Editor’s note: To buy a Junior League of Houston cookbook, see jlh.org or call 713.871.6608.

Spicy Yogurt Chicken From Stop and Smell the Rosemary 2 cups plain yogurt 1 clove garlic, crushed 1 teaspoon ground ginger 1 teaspoon chili powder 1 teaspoon ground cardamom ½ teaspoon ground cloves ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons salt 4 bay leaves, crushed 8 to 10 pieces of chicken Mix yogurt, garlic, ginger, chili powder, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, salt and bay leaves in a plastic bag. Add chicken and marinate at least 4 hours or overnight. Prepare grill. Grill chicken about 8 minutes per side. Serve immediately.

Amaretto Angel Food Cake From Stop and Smell the Rosemary 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice 1 Tablespoon Amaretto 14 large egg whites, at room temperature 1½ teaspoons cream of tartar ½ teaspoon salt 12⁄3 cups sugar 1¼ cups sifted cake flour Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Lightly grease a 10-inch tube pan. Place cooking rack in center of oven. Combine vanilla, lemon juice and Amaretto in a small bowl. Set aside. Beat egg whites in a large bowl until frothy. Add cream of tartar and salt. Continue beating until soft peaks form. Add sugar, ⅓ cup at a time.

Continue beating until stiff, but not dry. Fold in vanilla mixture. Sift flour over egg whites and fold gently. Spoon batter into prepared pan.

Bake 1 hour, or until cake is golden brown and springy to the touch. Cool completely while inverted. Remove from pan.

MORE ONLINE See thebuzzmagazines.com for more recipes mentioned in this article.

MONDAY Garden: Farmer Day – learn how to grow your own mini-farm + take home a mini-farm to care for and consume the vegetables you grow.

Kitchen: Cooking with yellow and orange fruits and veggies for healthy eyes and immune systems.

TUESDAY Garden: Bug Wars Day – learn how the ecosystem of critters in the garden are integral to the health of the food garden.

Kitchen: Cooking with red fruits and veggies for a healthy heart.

WEDNESDAY

YOUNG FARMER’S CAMP & YOUNG CHEF’S CAMP JUNE 4-8, 2018 Ages 7-12 • UT School of Public Health • Room 104 – Lobby 1200 Pressler St. • Houston, Texas 77030

Morning Session: (9AM-12PM) Young Farmer’s Camp Afternoon Session: (1PM-3:30PM) Young Chef’s Camp Full Day Session: (9AM-3:30PM) Both Camps Information: Laura Moore • laura.s.moore@uth.tmc.edu Register: go.uth.edu/CommunityClasses

Garden: Environmental Day – a fun look at the biology of composting and why composting is essential to society.

Kitchen: Cooking with green fruits and veggies for strong teeth and bones.

THURSDAY Garden: Plant Doctor Day – learn how to diagnose and treat plants when they are sick.

Kitchen: Cooking with blue and purple fruits and veggies for a healthy mind.

FRIDAY Garden: Plant Chemistry Day – learn why plants create colors and flavors and the role they play in the health of plants and in our health.

Kitchen: Cooking with the rainbow for good health.

WEST UNIVERSITY BUZZ MAY 2018 29

Dylan Aguilar

DINING

by Dai Huynh, staff writer

Chef’s Corner

Carlos Abedrop

Find out about your favorite chefs in our Chef’s Corner column. This month, restaurant writer Dai Huynh interviews chef/owner Carlos Abedrop.

F

ate brought Carlos Abedrop and food together. As a young boy growing up in the arid colonial town of Saltillo in northern Mexico, families and friends would gather to cook steaks over a mesquite fire. With music in the background, men and women spent the afternoon eating, drinking and catching up on local news.

“Every week my father used to do this gathering,” said the 52-year-old owner of Saltillo Mexican Kitchen (5427 Bissonnet). Even after Carlos graduated from college and started working in finance, he hosted 20 or more friends for dinner every weekend. In 2000, his hobby turned into a profession. Here, Carlos talks about his restaurant in Mexico, how to grill steaks and must-visit restaurants in Mexico City.

Tell us about Saltillo.

About a million people live there now, but growing up, it was much smaller. It’s an industrial automobile town with lots of business travelers, many of whom have eaten at my restaurant, La Casa del Caballo. After 18 years, it is still there, and I am fortunate to have good people running it.

You opened a location here because your wife, Vanesa, is a native Houstonian. And then you closed it to open Saltillo in 2015. Yet you’ve kept the horse painting from La Casa del Caballo. What does the name mean?

Caballo means horse, and that was my nickname. Everybody had a nickname in my hometown. You see my nose? When I was younger, my face was skinnier, and I looked like a horse.

When my friends gathered for dinner, they would call each other up and say, “Are you going to the house of the horse?”

Saltillo is known for steaks. What’s your secret?

Our steaks come from Allen Brothers in Chicago. We bring to the steakhouses in Houston three cuts of meats that are less common: the four-pound tapa de lomo, or ribeye cap, that can feed four to six people; the diezmillo that comes from the shoulder of the cow; and WEST UNIVERSITY BUZZ MAY 2018 30

we grill a whole pork tenderloin. We serve them with salsas and tortillas. We thought by bringing a little of what we do in Mexico over here, it would bring something extra to the table.

Customers come to the restaurant and they ask, “What did you do to the meat?” I tell them, “Nothing.” We don’t age it, and we don’t marinate. We simply season with salt and pepper. However, we CARLOS ABEDROP Carlos Abedrop opened a successful Mexican steakgrill over mesquite house in northern Mexico before opening one in Houston. Named after his beloved hometown, Saltillo Mexican Kitchen in Bellaire is known for its fourembers. Now why do I pound, mesquite-grilled tapa de lomo, or ribeye cap. say embers? Because Taberna del Leon (Altamirano 46). It is very when you cook over an open flame, you burn famous for its traditional Mexican food. the steaks.

There is another place, Restaurante Antiguo You’ve had no formal training, and you’ve San Angel Inn (Calle Diego Rivera No. 50). It learned by cooking for friends. Who else has is in a very old hacienda, one of the very first influenced your cooking? built. It is huge. It can sit up to 700 people. There Oh, so many people all over Mexico. There are separate rooms and patios. The traditional is a dish on the menu, called pollo en salsa borMexican menu has a little twist of modern. But, racha, which means drunken chicken. When I you go there not only for the food, but for the was very young, I was on a ranch with no elechistory. Can you imagine the powerful Mexicans tricity, no gas. It was just fire and sunlight. One who walked through those doors centuries ago? night, the couple in charge of the ranch made You look through the windows and you can salsa borracha. They grabbed some tomatoes, almost see the people who once lived there. serrano peppers, onions and garlic. They put it Then there is Hacienda de Los Morales (525 all together in a pan over the grill, and then, Juan Vàzquez de Mella), which was built in the they poured in three bottles of beer. When the 1500s. Going to these three places is like going sauce was reduced, they used the bottom of one into a sacred old chapel. They bring you someof the beer bottles to smash the tomatoes, and thing more than food. just the tomatoes. I will never forget the taste of that rich salsa.

Editor’s note: Buzz dining columnist Dai Huynh You are a frequent traveler to Mexico City. is a James Beard food-journalism award winner and Are there some restaurants you can recommend? longtime Houston-based restaurant writer.

Mexico City is a city of almost 30 million and has one of the richest environments for food.

You have diplomats from all over the world See Chef’s Corner at thebuzzmagazines.com for there, and there are the restaurants who service Carlos Abedrop’s take on tequilas made especially them. You can find all kinds of cuisines. You can for women. go fusion or traditional. There is the timeless La

MORE ONLINE

WEST UNIVERSITY BUZZ MAY 2018 31

SPORTS

.

by Todd Freed, staff writer

SportzBuzz A

fter going undefeated in its first 10 district games, the Bellaire Cardinals softball team looked to be on its way to securing a seventh consecutive district championship. The championship would also mark the Cardinals’ 19th district title in its 21 seasons under head coach Brian Tuffley.

“The girls are definitely playing great,” said Tuffley. “We’ll often start four freshmen, so we’re especially pleased with the season.”

Beyond district, the Cardinals put forth impressive showings at the highly regarded Bryan softball tournament as well as a marquee tournament in Alabama. In the Alabama tournament, the Cardinals won five of six games in a field that included some of the top softball programs from Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi and Texas.

On the mound for virtually all of the Cardinals’ wins this season has been senior standout Jolie Duong, who amazingly had struck out 181 batters in her first 102 innings of work. If that weren’t enough, Duong, who’ll play college softball at West Point, leads the team in hitting with a .500 batting average. The second leading hitter for the Cardinals is UT-Tyler commit Hanna Fradkin, who owned a .446 average with 15 stolen bases, while freshman catcher Braidee Glenn was third in hitting with a .353 batting average.

The Kinkaid Falcons captured the SPC Girls Basketball Championship in dominant fashion with runaway victories over St. John’s School, Fort Worth Country Day and Trinity Valley in the SPC Championship Tournament. For the season, Kinkaid boasted a 27-3 record, as the Falcons finished ranked second in the state among all large private schools.

“We had a tremendous season from start to finish,” said Falcons head coach Stacey Marshall. “The girls worked well together, com-

WEST UNIVERSITY BUZZ MAY 2018 32

peted hard, and just played with one common goal.” Marshall had high praise for CHAMPS AGAIN The Episcopal Knights capped off an undefeated season by winning several of her play- their third straight SPC Boys Soccer Championship. ers, including Chalk up a third straight TAPPS Division 1 point guard Jasmine Smith, who’ll play college State Swimming Championship for St. Agnes basketball at Rice University. “Jasmine is one Academy. The Tigers put forth a magnificent of the top guards in Houston. She’s a selfless showing at the state meet to win the title by an player who just does everything you ask of her impressive 26-point margin over second-place on the floor.”

Dallas Ursuline Academy. “The girls did incrediOther top players for the Falcons included bly well and truly rose to the occasion,” said Tigers senior captain Nia Caldwell, senior guard Julia swim coach Kaitlin Kelley. “We have a super Lasater, sophomore guard Kate Petrovic, sophdeep team and scored points all over the place.” omore guard Nakeeya McCardell, junior Senior captain Bridget Hibbler led the way Onuchi Ndee and 6’5” sophomore Trinity with second and fourth place finishes, respecCurry. “The whole team just worked at a phetively, in the 100-yard breastroke and the 50nomenal clip throughout the year both in pracyard freestyle. In addition, senior Lillian Metts, tice and in the games,” said Marshall. junior Rachel Wright and Fernanda Machicao In soccer, the Episcopal Knights finished the scored points in multiple individual events. season with an undefeated 13-0-1 record, They all added to the point total in the relay capped off by the team’s third straight SPC Boys events, as did Hannah Lord, Pearson Kurka, Soccer Championship. “We’ve had the same Emelia Buckalew and Anabelle Conde. nucleus of this team for the better part of three For the second straight year, School of the years, and it really showed on the field this seaWoods brought home the Texas Christian son,” said Knights head coach Travis Smith.

Athletic League (TCAL) State Swimming Leading the way for the Knights was senior Championship. Both the boys and girls teams team captain and MVP Chris Short. “Chris is from School of the Woods finished well atop the the most reliable player I’ve ever coached,” said standings at the state meet, led by individual Smith. “He was the leader of a defense that only boys champion Jett Walker, as well as individallowed three goals in 14 games.” Also shutting ual girls champion Frankie Pink. down opponents for the Knights was junior goalkeeper Jose Reyes. “Jose was always there for Editor’s Note: Todd Freed is the Emmy Awardus,” said Smith. winning co-host and producer of the KUBE Offensively, junior Juan Rodriguez led the SportsZone, which airs Saturday and Sunday at 6 Knights in scoring with 13 goals on the season. p.m. on Channel 57-KUBE. To submit high school “This entire team remained hungry and driven,” sports news for possible inclusion in SportzBuzz, said Smith. “The coaches didn’t have to push it please email todd@thebuzzmagazines.com. out of them. They were on a mission.”

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Update on nose sprays The most popular type of preventative nose sprays for allergy contains small amounts of steroids. Examples include Flonase, Nasacort and Nasonex. For the past several years, Flonase and Nasacort have been available without a prescription (OTC). A couple years ago, Rhinocort also went OTC. One advantage of Rhinocort is its lack of certain preservatives.

Flonase contains phenylethyl alcohol (PEA), which gives it that floral odor.

Many people find the odor unpleasant, though others tell us it’s the “smell of relief.” PEA, an alcohol, can dry the inside of the nose and cause nosebleeds. Both Flonase and Nasacort contain benzalkonium chloride (BKC), another preservative that can dry out the nose. Rhinocort has neither, so many prefer it. In March 2017, Glaxo (owner of Flonase) put Veramyst OTC, renaming it Flonase Sensimist. Like Rhinocort, Flonase Sensimist has no PEA or BKC, so it too is gentler. Why would Glaxo put its superior product OTC? To sell some. They couldn’t sell much prescription-only Veramyst for $250, but OTC Flonase Sensimist sells for $28, minus the $8 coupon at your allergist’s office.

Meanwhile, Glaxo’s Flonase, which contains fluticasone propionate (along with PEA and BKC), is losing more and more market share to generics, which can sell for less than half the $20 price. Recently, Costco had a package of five bottles of its Flonase generic, on sale for $19.99!

That’s $4 each.

All these sprays contain steroids. Are they safe? For the most part, yes.

Flonase contains 50 micrograms (mcg) of fluticasone. So 2 sprays per nostril twice per day is 200 mcg. In the meantime, our adrenal glands make 5,000

mcg of cortisol each day (5 milligrams), so the 200 mcg doesn’t really add too much unless the patient is also using other forms of steroids, such as preventative asthma inhalers.

Unlike decongestant nose sprays, such as Afrin, you can’t become physically dependent on steroid nose sprays. The decongestant nose sprays go to work more quickly than steroid nose sprays, but the more you use them, the less effective they are.

Next to go OTC will probably be Nasonex, which lost its patent and is now sold mostly as generic. Interestingly, the same company that owns Afrin also owns Nasonex. Abstracts have been presented at allergy meetings testing a combination spray with both Nasonex and Afrin. Should we get ready for Nasonex-D? No one nose allergies like we do.™ Note: Information contained in this article should not be considered a substitute for consultation with a board-certified allergist to address individual medical needs.

David B. Engler, M.D., The Allergy Clinic, 7707 Fannin, Suite 100, Houston, Texas 77054, 713.797.0993, *1200 Binz, Suite 180, Houston, Texas 77004, 713.522.9911, www.allergyclinic.com, *Operating as Houston Allergy and Asthma Clinic

WEST UNIVERSITY BUZZ MAY 2018 33

SPORTS

.

by Angie Frederickson, staff writer

SportzBuzz Jr. W

elcome to SportzBuzz Jr., a column spotlighting neighborhood athletes in elementary and middle school.

Ending on a high note The Bellaire Recreation Center 12U Celtics (top photo) are division basketball champions. The girls won the championship game 27-14, capping off their flawless undefeated season. Coaches Mark Tackett and Buster Adams (top row, from left) have coached players Elisa Adams, Ainsley Pinkerton, Riley Tackett and Tunie Mullen for the last six years.

These four players have now aged out of the league, so everyone was happy to end with such a strong season and championship win. The proud Celtics are (middle row, from left): Elisa Adams, Ainsley Pinkerton, Riley Tackett and Tunie Mullen; (bottom row, from left): Chloe Lewin, Abby Lazar, Adeline Eastman and Zoe Stergio.

Precision on the green Eighth grader William Hirtz (middle photo) teed off in a recent tournament. The Presbyterian School golfer plays on the Southern Texas Professional Golf Association (STPGA) Junior Tour. After his first series on tour, he finished first in the city of Houston and second overall. He also won the local Drive, Chip and Putt competition, qualified at the Sub-Regional, and placed in the top 10 in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi in the Regional tournament. William also directs his golf talent towards charitable fundraising. With an initial goal of $500, William raised $1,810 for Texas Children's Hospital in Kids Fore a Cause, in honor of his younger brother, Shepherd, who is a regular cardiac patient at Texas Children's. Looking ahead, William is ready to finish the season strong for the Presbyterian School Panthers golf team and compete on the STPGA Prestige Tour this summer.

A complete shutout The Annunciation Orthodox School girls’ softball team (bottom photo) won the St. Francis Episcopal/Kinkaid School tournament. The seventh and eighth graders won all five games by a total score of 66-0, finishing with a 150 championship victory over The Kinkaid School. Natalie Ou, Sadie Niermeyer and Olivia Chapman were voted to the All-Tournament team, and Lily Tanner was MVP of the tournament. The champions are (top row, from left) coach Dan Muschalik, Madeline Webster, coach Brad Sanders, Helen Aulbach, coach Farzan Rhemtulla, Olivia Chapman, Lily Tanner, head of school Mark Kelly, Emma Alexander, Sela Sanders and Lauren Pearson; (bottom row, from left) Kiera Adzgery, Emma Poirot, Jenny Katzen, Leah Beach, Naya Rhemtulla, Thierry Chu, Sadie Niermeyer and Natalie Ou. Editor’s note: Send your best high-resolution photos and behind-the-scenes stories about young local athletes, in both team and individual sports, to SportzBuzz, Jr. at info@thebuzzmagazines.com. Include all contact info, names, ages, grades and schools. Featured athletes must live in Buzz-circulation neighborhoods. Items will be published on a space-available basis.

WEST UNIVERSITY BUZZ MAY 2018 34

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Take the toothpaste test Thanks to books like The Millionaire Next Door, we know an odd fact about wealthy people that used to be hidden. The majority of them live very frugal lives. So if you aspire to wealth (or greater wealth than you currently have), you should aspire to be frugal as well. But how likely are you to succeed?

To find out, take the toothpaste test.

No, I am not talking about a do-it-yourself pregnancy test (if you’re interested in that, Google “toothpaste pregnancy test”). What I am talking about is a measure of how frugal you can be. Toothpaste is the perfect product to test this, because of the increasing difficulty of getting the last bit from the tube. Some say there is always one more tooth-brushing left in a tube; the only question is how hard you are willing to work to get it.

And since frugality is correlated with wealth, then how thoroughly you use a tube should predict your ability to accumulate wealth. Here’s the test: Do you toss a tube as soon as the going (i.e. squeezing) gets tough?

Do you carefully squeeze from the bottom, pushing the product toward the top, where it can be easily coaxed from the spout?

Do you use an actual roller device (a number are commercially available) to help you do this?

After rolling, do you cut the top off the tube with scissors, flatten it out with your fist and force one more brushing out of it?

I have heard some pretty funny replies when I ask people about their toothpaste habits. But the humor emphasizes a larger and more serious point.

Are you willing to endure the inconvenience and effort necessary to grow

your wealth?

I have met very-high-income earners who were not. And they arrived at retirement age with virtually no net worth.

I have also met modest-income earners who were. And they arrived at retirement age very well set.

The key to wealth accumulation is spending less than you earn. That is why the most successful accumulators turn out to be surprisingly frugal, Paris Hilton notwithstanding. According to The Millionaire Next Door, the great majority of the wealthy do not engage in spending on “status” items, such as a three-story mansion on a hill, a Lamborghini or a $10,000 watch.

Frugality is not the only key to growing wealth, of course. There are many, including earning power and investment performance. It’s also important to have a trusted advisor who takes a full 360-degree view of your financial life, has your best interests at heart and is concerned with the full spectrum of your family’s resources and goals.

James Waters, CFP®, PARTNERSINWEALTH, 3400 Bissonnet, Suite 145, Houston, Texas 77005, 713.964.4028, jrw@partnersinwealth.com, www.partnersinwealth.com

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KIDS

Jordan Scheiner

PROTECTOR Abby Golub, a seventh grader at St. Mark’s Episcopal School, raised almost $3,000, mostly from selling homemade soap, to help save wildlife. Here, she’s pictured with her neighbor’s dog, Livee.

by Abby Golub, age 13

Buzz Kidz

Love for animals

I

have always loved animals. If someone was walking their dog, I could never pass it without asking its owner to pet it. I have a heart for all living creatures. One time there was a moth stuck in the subway in London, and I started crying because it couldn’t get out.

I have grown up around nature and animals.

My family’s ranch, 2 Creeks, is halfway between Houston and Austin, and we try hard to make it a nature preserve. Animals can come on our property as a refuge where they can be safe and not be hunted. At 2 Creeks, I wake up and watch the deer, bees, rabbits and armadillos. When we go fishing there, if someone does catch a fish, I always have them put it back in the pond water.

For my bat mitzvah project, I raised almost

$3,000 for WildAid, a nonprofit organization that is trying to stop poaching and illegal wildlife trade. I mostly raised the money by selling homemade soaps. My main selling spot was right outside Little Matt’s restaurant. I turned our kitchen into a soap factory for several months. I even gave a talk to 50 people at the Houston Zen Center on the dangers of poaching.

Did you know endangered animals are slaughtered for their body parts? Rhinos are killed just for their horns. Or, how about this fact – there are less than 4,000 tigers left in the wild. Oh, here is something terrifying – only 3.5 percent of our oceans are officially protected. I could go on, but here's just one more: Fins from up to 73 million sharks are used in shark fin soup each year.

I recently got a Cavalier puppy and named her Lucy. She makes me laugh and smile and fills me with joy. She has a funny waddle. It reminds me of a penguin. I wish I could help other people find the same joy in animals. My “dream” job right now is to own a huge house and fill it with rescue animals and put them in loving homes. I wish everyone could have a Lucy.

Want to be a Buzz Kid? Email approximately 350 words, a high-resolution photo and caption to info@thebuzzmagazines.com. Or mail it to The Buzz Magazines, 5001 Bissonnet, Suite 100, Bellaire, Texas 77401.

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Advance directives and an in-hospital DNR The Texas Legislature authorizes three advance directives to communicate your medical wishes and to designate your spokesperson: i) a Directive to Physicians (the so-called “Living Will”), ii) a Medical Power of Attorney, and iii) an Out-of-Hospital Do-Not-Resuscitate (OOH-DNR) Order. Lawyers include the first two in basic estate planning packages. Only doctors can complete the third.

The Directive to Physicians applies when you cannot communicate and have a terminal or irreversible condition. The standard choices are withhold life support or do not withhold life support. Custom language is allowed, e.g., let my doctor and my agent decide together.

The Medical Power of Attorney applies when your doctor certifies you are incompetent to make medical decisions. The agent is supposed to communicate the decision you would have made.

The OOH-DNR allows you to refuse CPR, airway management, ventilation, and cardiac pacing or defibrillation. It applies to nursing homes, clinics, and other out-of-hospital settings, e.g., home or a restaurant. (www.dshs.texas.gov/emstraumasystems/dnr.shtm).

DNRs are not just for the terminally ill. Skilled nursing and assisted living facilities tend to offer them to all new residents, not just the sick ones.

Cardiac patients who live at home may also have a DNR. These people have not given up hope, but are skeptical about being revived with CPR or sustained on a ventilator. Many lead normal, happy lives. They take their vitamins, see their doctor, and get flu shots.

DNR patients also go to the hospital. When transported, a copy of the OOH-

DNR must go with the patient. The OOH-DNR is effective in the emergency room. It is not effective once the patient is admitted to the hospital.

Texas has no standard in-hospital DNR form.

Each hospital can have unique resuscitation protocols, and it’s up to the patient to discuss treatment preferences with the attending physician. This is not a big issue for young, healthy patients: of course they want to live; that’s why they went to the hospital. However, older or sicker patients should think through, well before going to the emergency room, why they are going and what treatment they would refuse. A hospital is not a hotel, and the attending physician will not be ready at the front desk, clipboard in hand, waiting to record your preferences.

North Texas Respecting Choices offers a Medical Orders for Scope of Treatment (M.O.S.T.) form to supplement the DNR and bridge the in-hospital gap. (www.northtexasrespectingchoices.com/m-o-s-t/). If nothing else, the options there can promote discussion with your family and physicians.

We offer no-obligation initial interviews for estate planning and administration, so it costs nothing to hear specific recommendations that suit your needs. Foreign nationals and international families welcome.

Russell W. Hall, J.D., LL.M. (Tax), Board Certified – Estate Planning and Probate Law, Texas Board of Legal Specialization, 6750 West Loop South, Suite 920, Bellaire, Texas 77401, 713.662.3853, www.rwhpc.com

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Selecting a caregiver 713.662.2119 www.roveroaks.com

Maddison, age 12, Collie, Dryden Rd. Hi there! I'm Maddison. My people sometimes call me Mad or Big because I am both.

I am a senior collie, and my early life wasn't great, but luckily I was adopted a couple of years ago and now am ruling our house.

Generally I'm pretty happy relaxing in front of a western on TV. I don't like thunderstorms and will try to hide away from them, but I'm too big to get under the bed unfortunately. I'm getting a bit stiff from arthritis, so my walks are slower than they used to be, but I still get excited when I see squirrels and forget to limp when I chase them. I'm really fond of kids, and I like to walk right up and say hello. Collies are sheep dogs, and sometimes I even try to herd people. There are not very many sheep on Dryden, so I have to keep my skills current.

Got a cute critter? Email a picture of your pet with approximately 150 words to info@thebuzzmagazines.com or mail it to The Buzz Magazines, 5001 Bissonnet, Suite 100, Bellaire, Texas 77401. Featured pets receive two passes to Rover Oaks Pet Resort. Each pass can be redeemed for one day of lodging in a Bunk House Suite, 25 percent off your next grooming appointment or 25 percent off one obedience training class.

WEST UNIVERSITY BUZZ MAY 2018 38

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Last January, a Memorial Village man discovered his 94-year-old mother’s caregiver repeatedly striking her on the head.

That in-home helper had been selected through an online clearinghouse where any “caregiver” can post a resume. Soon after, another family came to Sid Gerber for advice after a caregiver for their parent had financially abused them for seven years. That caregiver was selected from a Google search result.

Because families are often on a tight timeline to get caregiver services, they rely on agencies and online sites to vet the people coming into their loved one’s home to provide safety and security. But the “sitter services” listed in top Internet-search results usually do little or no vetting. Larger agencies are usually just staffing entities that place a sitter and then disappear. Lack of a proper background check and follow up can lead to physical, financial and verbal abuse of the elderly client and exploitation of the family.

It’s important to seek an agency that has the time, determination and resources to do a complete background check on its caregivers, one that has the knowledge to implement caregiving in different situations. Sid has more than 25 years of expertise providing personal caregiving for hundreds of families and has built a service centered on communication, transparency and support.

S. Gerber & Associates, 9301 Southwest Freeway, Suite 250, Houston, Texas 77074, 832.564.0338, sid@personalcaregiving.com

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A minute with Maisie

Catching those zzzs

Many clients ask me, “What is a Child Advocate?” The Texas Family Code provides that a volunteer advocate may be appointed in cases involving CPS where termination of the parental rights is requested. They must be trained and certified by the court to appear as a volunteer. Once certified, these volunteers are able to speak with teachers, mental health professionals and other people important in the lives of these foster children to assist the court in making positive changes. Typically, these volunteers are indispensable champions for children in foster care, particularly when CPS is so overwhelmed by their voluminous caseloads. If you are interested in helping children in foster care, please contact Child Advocates, Inc. at www.childadvocates.org for more information. Your time and attention could make the difference in the life of a child.

Maisie A. Barringer is a partner at Jenkins & Kamin, L.L.P., a full-service, boutique, family-law firm specializing in divorce, child-custody modifications, grandparent access, paternity, adoption, and premarital and postmarital agreements. Maisie A. Barringer has been recognized as a Texas Rising Star by Texas Super Lawyers, a Thomson Reuters service printed in Texas Monthly magazine for 2008, 2009, 2010 , 2012, 2013 , 2014 and 2015.

Jenkins & Kamin, L.L.P., Maisie A. Barringer, Partner, Board Certified in Family Law, Two Greenway Plaza, Suite 600, Houston, Texas 77046, 713.600.5500, www.jenkinskamin.com

Lack of adequate sleep can affect judgment, mood and the ability to learn and retain information. In the long term, chronic sleep deprivation may lead to a host of health problems, including obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and even increased cancer risk. Here are some tips to help you catch those zzzs: Keep a consistent sleep schedule. Get up at the same time every day, even on weekends or during vacations. Try to keep a routine. Keep your room dark and cool. Take a warm shower. Relax with some essential oils and stretch. You can add a daily supplement like magnesium before bedtime and Omega 3 to reduce inflammation.

Get as much natural light during the daytime as possible (try to spend time outdoors) and avoid bright-light exposure at night. Turn off electronic devices at least 30 minutes before bedtime. The bright screens on electronics can lead to alertness due to changes in your eyes and brain. Try to read something relaxing and inspirational. Meditate and focus on thoughts of gratitude. To keep you from feeling “wired” close to bedtime, try not to eat foods high in simple carbohydrates or sugar after dinner. Exercise regularly, especially outdoors.

Avoid consuming caffeine in the late afternoon or evening.

Wishing you great health and well-being!

Bhardwaj Health, Primary Care Physicians, Rishi Bhardwaj, M.D. and Manoj Bhardwaj, M.D., 6800 West Loop South, Suite 228, Bellaire, Texas 77401, 832.412.1600, www.BhardwajHealth.com

Point. Click. Win. Enter The Buzz 2018 Photo Contest DEADLINE MAY 15TH The Buzz Magazines is pleased to announce our thirteenth annual Photo Contest.

Winning photos will be published in our July issue and on our website beginning July 1.

Our grand prize winner will receive an Olympus TG-Tracker Action Camera.* To submit photos, and for contest rules, visit thebuzzmagazines.com and click on the banner at the top of the home page.

You can also view our 2017 winners online.

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Grand Prize, Olympus TG-Tracker Action Camera (*or camera of equal value)

WEST UNIVERSITY BUZZ MAY 2018 39

NEIGHBORS

.

by Annie Blaylock McQueen, staff writer

Buzz About Town Children’s Therapy Program. A fashion show was presented by Neiman Marcus Galleria. Elise Hough, the nonprofit’s CEO, shared how every attendee had assisted clients impacted by Hurricane Harvey. ABC13’s Gina Gaston shared stories of the selfless service of 2018 honJenny Antill

Weather guy

Awareness for premature babies The 2018 March of Dimes Houston March for Babies will take place on May 6 at 8 a.m. at the University of Houston campus. West University resident Ashley McClellan (pictured with the March of Dimes March for Babies ambassador family), CEO of The Woman's Hospital of Texas, is chairing the walk. HCA Healthcare's Gulf Coast Division is a signature sponsor. Pictured (from left, previous page) are Chris Alexander, McClellan, Shannon Alexander and Christian Alexander. The goal of the walk is to educate women and their families on how to avoid premature birth. See marchforbabies.org.

Priscilla Dickson

Take the stage

Fourth-grade students from West University Elementary were visited by ABC13 meteorologist Travis Herzog, who talked with the students about weather patterns. The speaking event accompanied a weather unit in their curriculum, which also included making a watercycle project. Pictured with Herzog are (front row, from left) Kate Jurkash, Cole Moorhead and fourth-grade teacher Shelby Wood.

orees Laura Davenport, Lisa Holthouse, Dr. Sippi Khurana, Marie Louise Kinder, Alissa Maples, DeeDee Marsh, Roberts, Smith, Brenda Watts and Judge Clarease R. Yates.

Over $180,000 was raised at the event.

Volunteer mothers

All for Eric

Hundreds, including honoree Warner Roberts, Deborah Duncan and honoree Alicia Smith (pictured, from left), filled the River Oaks Country Club with their best hats on for the 19th annual Hats Off to Mothers Luncheon in support of Easter Seals Greater Houston. The event was chaired by Jordan Fein, Dr. Kelli Cohen Fein, Carson Sherman, Julia Sherman and Millette Sherman, in support of veterans, children and adults with disabilities. The event began with a prayer by Julia Sherman and Eunice Najera, a client of Easter Seals’ WEST UNIVERSITY BUZZ MAY 2018 40

Everyone is invited to participate in the third annual Eric M. Suhl Foundation Memorial Golf Tournament on May 20 at Wildcat Golf Club.

The tournament will be held in honor of beloved community member Eric Matthew Suhl, who passed away in February 2016. The foundation was created by three of his close friends, including Eric Horvitz, Brett Luskey and Jeff Magids. The foundation raises money for charitable organizations relating to Eric. Last year, they were able to donate $50,000 to the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation. See ericmsuhlfoundation.com.

Brenda Jones and George Lancaster (pictured) mingled at the Stages Repertory Theatre Gala, Off the Ball: A Stages (continued on page 42)

WEST UNIVERSITY BUZZ MAY 2018 41

Cinderella Story. The event marked the theater’s 40th anniversary and was chaired by Ray Messer and underwriting chairs Judy and Jim Nicklos; it raised more than $440,000. This year, the event honored Sally Edmundson, longtime actor, director and board member, with the Theodore Award for Visionary Leadership for her leadership and advocacy.

Managing director Mark Folkes recognized Isla and Tommy Reckling for their success as honorary chairs of Stages’ ongoing capital campaign.

(continued from page 40)

London calling Veritas Christian Academy eighth-grade students (pictured, near Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre) recently took their eighth annual trip to London and Oxford as part of the school's Cultural Expeditions program. The students included Jacob and Luke Mueller, Andrew Kern, Eva Veeningen, Catherine Fenz, and Kennedy Smith. The students have traveled together to Texas spots like San Antonio, Austin and Fredericksburg along with Washington D.C., WEST UNIVERSITY BUZZ MAY 2018 42

Williamsburg, Yorktown, Charlottesville, New York, Boston, Concord, London and Oxford.

Scouts from many decades More than 140 guests came to celebrate Troop 266’s 75th anniversary of its charter at West U

Methodist John Collier High Court. Guests at the annual Baden-Powell dinner included former scouts, former troop leaders and West University Mayor Susan Sample. Memorabilia related to camping, advancement, Eagle Scouts and troop history was displayed. (continued on page 44)

Watch Their Smiles Grow

Oral healthcare for the growing & developing child Joel J. Vela, D.D.S. Bellaire Pediatric Dentistry, P.A. 6750 West Loop South, Suite 795 713.661.1100 • www.bellairesmiles.com

WEST UNIVERSITY BUZZ MAY 2018 43

Pictured (previous page, from left) are Chris Brombacher, Brooks Brickley, Alex VanManen, Ajay Ramsunder, Michael Engelhardt, Eric Engelhardt, Cameron Lewis, David Cheek, Cadesman Brickley, Ben Willcockson, Noah Ryan, Michael Brombacher, and Thomas Thompson.

(continued from page 42)

Carl Cramer

Musical chairs

Co-chairs Dr. Ishwaria Subbiah and Dr. Vivek Subbiah (pictured), along with 160 people, gathered at the JW Marriott Hotel downtown for the Houston Chamber Choir’s lively 2018 gala, All That Jazz. The event honored long-time patrons Sally Anderson Clark and husband Michael Clark. The couple share a love of the Houston Chamber Choir and have offered ongoing financial support. See houstonchamberchoir.org.

Texas adventure A group of 25 West U seniors took an adventure to Round Top. Pictured (from left) are Bill and Ann Hornbeak, Sandra Smith, Julia Lever, Dick Anderson, Frank Carlson, Joanne Go, Ginger Bown, Penelope Jank and Nan Beisner.

WEST UNIVERSITY BUZZ MAY 2018 44

They visited Hodges Farm and La Bahia, and had lunch at The Kenney Store. They also stopped at the store Junk Gypsy, where the owner, Jolie Sikes, was on hand to welcome them. They finished the excursion with a stop at Royers Pie Haven. The weather was beautiful for their outing, and Harris County Precinct 3 provided free bus transportation from Houston. The next trip will be to Pearland to a daylily farm on May 24.

See westutx.gov or call 713-662-5895.

Sam Houston Park. The guests listened to speakers Stephen Fox and Alex Brennan-Martin recount the history of the historic Brennan’s building as they enjoyed turtle soup, shrimp and grits, boudin-stuffed pork tenderloin and a bananas foster presentation. The Heritage Society Museum is located at 1100 Bagby Street, Sam Houston Park. It was founded in 1954 and includes 10 historically restored houses to tour (documenting Houston history from the early 1800s to the mid-1900s). See heritagesociety.org.

Houston history More than 75 guests, including (pictured, from left) Alison and Chris Bell and Jo and Jim Furr, gathered at Brennan’s for An Evening of Heritage, supporting The Heritage Society at

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NEIGHBORS

by Andria Frankfort, staff writer

Back Porch

Parenting slip-ups

T

here’s no shortage of low parenting moments. According to my 15-year-old daughter, my lows are tied. It’s between the time she told me she couldn’t see, and I said, “Oh, just blink a few times, you’re fine,” and six months later we found out she really couldn’t see (making things worse, my dad, her grandfather, is an ophthalmologist), and the time she told me she had bed bugs, and I said, “Oh, there’s no way you have bed bugs,” and two weeks later we got the bed bug diagnosis (see the August 2017 Back Porch, Airing our dirty laundry).

But I think the lowest one ever in the history of my family is one that my sister calls “the one we do not talk about.” She doesn’t talk about it because she’s the mom. But I’m the aunt, and I was there. And also my mom, the grandmother, was there. Along with seven more of us. So really and truly, we all were culpable. Short version: We left my 10-year-old nephew in a bookstore in another town in Maine and didn’t realize he wasn’t with us until 30 minutes later, outside of that town, when we got a call from the bookstore lady wondering if she should give my nephew some cookies while he waited for his whole family, who forgot him, to come back. It’s one of those laugh-until-you-hurt things, and also a sore spot for my nephew that’s not going away anytime soon. Maybe never.

So while the world is getting ready to celebrate moms and dads, I thought it might be fun to ask people about their not-so-successful moments. Of course everyone asked for anonymity but still fessed up – because none of us can claim to be June Cleaver.

“When [my son] was around 6 years old, we took [him and his sister] to Cheesecake Factory. He ordered taquitos, and upon their arrival, he noted they were lightly decorated with sour cream. He refused to take even a bite.

I was exasperated by that time and finally said, ‘I’m going to stick them up your a**.’ End of discussion.” – Physician and father of two twenty-somethings “Hands down, my worst moment was when I ran over my kindergarten-aged daughter’s finger with an ice skate while trying to teach her how to skate. Blood everywhere on the Galleria ice WEST UNIVERSITY BUZZ MAY 2018 46

behance.net/runamokstudios

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rink. Then a trip to the pediatrician to reassure me so that I could stop crying.

There’s a scar on her finger, 14 years later.” – Physician and mother of two teenagers “We ran out of gas on the highway. It was really cold, and a policeman stopped because I put the three little kids on top of a hill to get them out of the way while [my husband] dealt with the gas. Of course [my middle son] had on shorts. First the policeman was checking to be sure the kids weren’t abandoned, and then he realized they weren’t and started giving me grief because my child was wearing shorts. I really was WE’RE ONLY HUMAN With kids, you never know when you'll get pushed into the on my way to get zone of parenting lows. them sweaters out So we’re finally at Epcot, and I’m so happy of the car while they were on the hill, I prombecause not only do they have different counise.” – Oil executive and mom of three tries, they have margaritas in Mexico, Chianti “The other day I told my kids the only reason in Italy. So we have one of those strollers I had teenagers in the house was so they could where the kids are both in it – they’re 4 and 7 carry things. I actually said it.” – Mom of two – and they start fighting and pushing each teens and one tween other and being a nightmare, so I started “We did tell [our son] that Chuck E. Cheese was yelling, ‘Be quiet!’ But my best moment was only open for birthday parties. We still feel guilty yelling, ‘Children for sale, fresh children for for out-and-out lying to him, but we just couldn’t sale,’ with my margarita in the cup holder handle the place.” – Parents of two teenagers walking through the park. And I was so happy, “We were at Disney, and I’ve had it, because because I meant it.” – Mother of a high school we’ve done It’s a Small World so many times I and a college senior just wanted to rip those things out of the wall.