1. Big crowd. The 10th anniversary Children's Art & Literacy Festival drew more than 5,400 folks - a record. The event bounced back from missing 2020 and navigating through 2021 with the pandemic still disrupting plans. Despite the heat - it was 109 degrees June 10, folks trekked about downtown to have fun finding Winnie while trying to find shade.

2. Juneteenth begins. With the new holiday falling Sunday, many made this year a full weekend of celebration. Events wind up Sunday. The message this year was for the community as a whole to participate, not just the Black community. Juneteenth is American history.

3. Meeting the Beatles. Abilene crowds are a bit different. We typically give everything a standing ovation, appreciating the effort to entertain us. But we also are reserved at the Abilene Convention Center. Not for the Philharmonic's Classical Mystery Tour show, at which fans let loose. It was the biggest crowd of the 2021-22 season, as might be expected. Next season comes to the Eagles' tribute show. Get your tickets before they're "Already Gone ...."

4. Load up the wagon for Albany. It's that Fandangle time of year, with two more performances scheduled this weekend at the Prairie Theatre. But it's hot, you say. Well, consider how hot it was out here when Shackelford County was being settled. And they survived and thrived. Everyone should see Fandangle at least once to earn your West Texan merit badge.

5. Gotta love the name. Abilene High last week introduced its new baseball coach - Brad Harman. The Harmans have a son named Gehrig. If that doesn't tell you dad is devoted to baseball, nothing will. They also have three girls, but no, they are not named Tinker, Evers and Chance.

1. And the heat goes on. As the first official day of summer approaches we already had counted 25 days of 100 degrees or more, and eight in a row as of Friday. The dog days of summer have shifted to June. Folks' tails already are drooping due to the heat.

2. Odessa without water. If we thought not having water was bad in February 2021, imagine not having water during the heat of, well, almost summer. An Abilene intersection flooded last weekend because a cast iron pipe broke. The dry ground is going to cause these events, another reason to pray for rain. Water service was being restored at week's end.

3. COVID still with us. Don't look now but our COVID numbers are edging up again. Active cases in Taylor County exceeded 400 on Friday. This thing just won't go away.

1. How hot is it, Part 1? It's so hot that the Dixie Pig restaurant closed last week due to a lack of air conditioning. If the issue was a kitchen problem, they easily could've fried eggs and hash browns on the sidewalk and toasted bread on vehicle hoods outside. Hot coffee? No problem ...

2. How hot is it, Part 2? It's so hot that the North First Street Sonic had to import ice last week due to high demand for drinks. The ice machine there could not keep up with our demand during Happy Hour.