Uncle Sid Pena loved and lived to the fullest

I remember my uncle Sid as a very kind and generous person.  Uncle Sid loved working on cars.  The best memories are of his hugs and of his rough 5'Oclock shadow.  He was so strong, he could pick me up with one arm around my waist like a duffle bag.  He could lay under a car and lift a transmission up onto his chest and install it under a truck.  And he sure loved to go fishing.  These things about him have made me realize that life is really about doing what you love to do.  Find what you enjoy and do it.  Its amazing how good we are at doing the things we love. The gifts that God has given each of us we do very well.  Its easy to find out what you like if you look at what you are good at doing.  So, live life loving what you do.  I love my Uncle Sid, and his most affectionate loving heart.
I can still say Uncle Sid. I love you, lizzy.

Prayer requests

Please lift up healing prayers for my sister Esther's husband Bill.
Also please lift up healing prayers for our cousin Doris's husband John.
Please pray for each other in this time of reflection in love.

Janie and Matt Martinez founded El Rancho on Austin's Eastside in 1952, with her in the kitchen and the genial former Golden Gloves champ greeting guests in the front of the house. Basing their operation on her family recipes and his gift for hospitality, the couple built a restaurant that is one of Austin's most enduring success stories.

During its first thirty years on the Eastside, El Rancho expanded several times and developed such a devoted following that the food was likely to be found everywhere from  
Lyndon Johnson's White House to the DKR Memorial Stadium press box. Legislators, college students, and local families all flocked to dine there. An Eighties real estate boom in Downtown Austin inspired the move to the beautiful, hacienda-style building that has been home to the restaurant since 1986 (2613 S. Lamar).

Reviewed by Virginia B. Wood, Fri., May 18, 2012 Austin Chronicle

http://www.austinchronicle.com/food/2012-05-18/matts-el-rancho

Cathy Martinez Kreitz represents the second generation of her family to oversee operations at Matt's El Rancho. She was truly born into the business. "I wasn't actually born at the original restaurant, but my parents did stop by there on the way home from Seton to show me to Lupe [Redkey, one of the original waitresses] and the rest of the staff," she says fondly. Her parents, Matt and Janie Martinez, are the legendary local restaurateurs who founded a company based on Tex-Mex food and family hospitality that became one of Austin's longtime business success stories. Matt's celebrates its 60th anniversary this July...


A link to the interview by Foodwaystexas
http://foodwaystexas.com/oralhistory/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Matts-El-Rancho-Transcript-FINAL2.pdf

http://www.google.com/mobile/blogger/
There's an APP for this blogger :-)

06-13-2013 I guess i need to journal about my aunt Janie today.  I often think about the times she would take me, my mom, and Cathy out into some unknown roads in Texas.  First of all she would drive really fast and make a huge dust cloud behind us, she hit pot holes and rocks and whatever was in the way, never any "fooling around".  Then she would ask us to look for the grapes draping over the trees along the road, she said she used to make wine with her dad? so we would drive around looking for these dark grapevines in the country.  I can't remember if we ever made any, but i do remember that she always kept Welch's grape juice in the fridge. Maybe that was her own reminder of some delicious grape juice.

Another story that often comes to mind is the time she took us, my mom, Cathy, and I, to find some watermelons, of course God knows where we were. She talks to the farmer and asks him how we would know if the watermelons were sweet.  The farmer picked up a melon and cracked it right on his knee. Popped that watermelon in half and handed to her.  I was blown away and we all sat and ate delicious watermelon and shared stories with a complete stranger.

 I hope you have a story to share and I pray that we all find comfort in knowing that we won't ever stop loving them, they are watching over us and loving us from heaven.
God Bless you and keep you.  Numbers 6:24  Aunt Lizzy.

This blog is for the stories of our lives.  A few weeks ago, the Gaitan family gathered and shared stories from our childhood. We are the children, grand children, great grand children, and great great grand children of  the late Maria (Memo) and Urbano Gaitan.  Their children Terry Pena, GG Zendejas, Raye Diaz, Joe Gaitan, David Gaytan, and Janie Martinez.

I would like for us to each write stories of our lives, as we remember them so that we may share them with those who haven't yet heard them.  These memories are to be cherished because our present would not be what it is if it had not been for these wonderful people who have struggled for our benefit.
Many blessings have been bestowed upon us and I give all the glory to our Lord Jesus Christ.