A Newborn Screenplay and Vegetable Gardening

Installed Final Draft onto my laptop yesterday, and just played around with it for a while. Before I knew it, I had 8 pages of a draft. It's my third novel I'm interested in adapting. More than likely nothing will ever come of it, besides being a writing exercise, but that's OK with me. For a few hours yesterday I had fun with writing, and it's been ages since I could say that. I'm going to take time out every day, starting today, to work a little on this. If nothing else, I'm sure I'll learn some new things.

Meanwhile, we're both getting past our recovery from the road trip. Funny how much a trip like that will take out of you. I don't remember having this trouble when I was younger. For a whole day after we got home, I just moled around, watching TV or reading magazines that had come in the mail. Today, I'm finally feeling really rested and ready to take on housekeeping again.

Vegetables are beginning to come in from the garden. I'm already overloaded on zucchini. I have made zucchini bread, a chicken/zucchini casserole, and a veggie medley featuring, yes, zucchini and it still continues to pour in. I think zucchini must be the most prolific squash type of all. Still waiting for enough scalloped squash to do something. I've got two small ones so far, and have had two yellow squash also. We did pick a mess of green beans when we got home and ate those last night. They were super good. Tomato plants are so loaded down some of them are drooping, but the tomatoes are all still green. Like years past, they're going to all come ripe at the same time -- I already see it -- and I will be desperately hunting for things to do with them or people to give them to, sigh. I wait all year for good tomatoes and this always happens. We even planted them in stages but it doesn't seem to matter. They ripen when they want to, and it seems they all want to at the same moment. I have so far picked only two that were beginning to blush and brought them in to ripen on the counter.

Bugs, bugs, bugs! I've never seen so many caterpillars as I've seen this year, and grasshoppers. My god, you walk through the yard and they're like fleas. Mosquitos are so bad we're keeping spray in the wellhouse, and it's the first thing we do if we're going to spend more than a few moments outside. And even still, they're buzzing around you and making a fuss. I moved some of the plants back out to their stands, and on the way, a big toad hopped out of one. I told him to go forth and procreate! We need lots of toads, lizards, and birds to help us thin down this bug crop we have this year. Rain is wonderful, but rain also brings out the pests.

And to think, I was only worried about armadillos before. Seems like years ago.

Onward ....

Balmorhea State Park and Home

DAY SIX AND SEVEN: Alpine and Balmorhea, Home

We had a leisurely morning in Alpine, ate breakfast at a little downtown cafe where the locals seems to congregate. Then we went to a nursery we had past to see if they might have a small ocotillo that we could carry home in the back of the Suburban or inside the trailer. The smallest they had was a three-gallon, which was larger than we wanted, aside from which, I didn't think they looked particularly healthy. I understand that they're really slow-growing so it's probably just as well we didn't find one. And now I've got my mind set on a desert willow anyway. Back at the trailer, we plugged-up the space behind the sofa with a cushion so the cat couldn't hide back there while we loaded up for Balmorhea.

We went through some really beautiful country, the other side of the Davis Mountains, which to us are even more lovely than the Chisos Mountains in the Big Bend. The Chisos are the southern-most range of the Rockies, so that means the only other part of the Rockies we need to visit are the Canadians. Someday.

We got a choice campsite at Balmorhea State Park: a pull-through so we didn't even have to unhitch the Suburban. There was also a covered picnic table with lots of shrubbery and brush around the site, making for a nice private spot. A little horny toad was under the table and he became our welcoming committee. My SO wanted to catch him and take him home with us. He said he hadn't seen a horny toad since he was a kid. There had been a couple we'd found in Yorktown, when I lived there. In fact, one day the cat had brought one home and dropped it in his waterbowl. I scolded him, told him that they were endangered, which didn't make much of an impact on him. Anyway, it had sort of sank to the bottom of the bowl on its back. I poured it along with the water outside the back door, and later when I checked, the horny toad had left for parts unknown. I understand that they're apt to play possum when agitated, a defense mechanism that certainly had me convinced.

So, we got the trailer situated the way we wanted it, and by then Horatio -- the name we gave the toad -- had departed into the brush. After we cooled off, we got into our swimsuits and walked over to the pool. It is a huge pool, built in 1938 by the CCC. A fresh water spring was canaled at the same time, diverting its flow into the pool, so fish and turtles swim in the pool, too. The water stays a constant 76 degrees year-round and is clear as glass. It took some chutzpah to dive in, but we both decided that easing in was not a good option.

The SO went first, and I followed. I felt like I was diving into 6 feet or less, I could see the bottom so clearly. It was really 20 feet deep. No chemicals. Just cool, clean, light water. Felt wonderful. We snorkeled for over an hour. I think we spotted some of the endangered pup fish, but we never could find a picture of one so we weren't definite about that. There were some scuba divers in there with us. They pointed out a pair of turtles scooting through the moss on the bottom.

After a while, we started to get cold, so we got out and sat on the edge with our feet dangling in the water. A gazillion little minnows congregated around our feet, taking little nibbles of dead skin. We had both seen on TV these women getting pedicures using fish to exfoliate their toes and heels. I suppose something similar was going on. It felt tickly and weird. They especially seemed to love the SO's feet. Later on, we brought back some cat treats, broke them into bits and fed the little critters. They were sure hungry. Not much to eat in the swimming pool, I guess. The larger catfish came in and began to steal the food, so we packed up our gear and went back to the trailer.

We ate supper then sat outside with glasses of peach wine I had brought back last winter from Grand Junction. It was a nice clear-sky night and we re-lived the Star Party and pointed out constellations and stars we had learned about the night before. We also decided that we were ready to head for home, and agreed to get up early to see if we could make it in one long hard drive. We figured we were about 400 or so miles.

We got up at 6 am. In record time, we had the trailer battened down, drained, and ready to put on the highway. The cat was not a willing traveler and for the first 200 miles he yowled, flipped around in his carrier, and dug at the mesh sides and the sherpa mat on the bottom. We stopped for lunch in Junction and I let the cat loose in the trailer, thinking he might need to use his litterbox. Once we'd eaten and came back, he was hiding so well, I almost didn't find him. I think the truck noise from the highway had scared him. Whatever it was, he didn't make another peep all the way home, and slept, finally, through the last half of the journey. We got home, tired and road weary, about 5:30. There had been 10 inches of rain while we were gone, so everything was green and grown tall. In all, we figured tallied the wildlife we had seen on the trip: buffalo, pronghorn antelope, whitetail deer, mule deer, javelina, rock squirrels, jackrabbits, and red racers, in addition to several varieties of fish, aquatic turtles and water snakes. Oh, and our horny toad, of course. Little Horatio.

Home. It's always a sight for sore eyes, I don't care how overgrown it might look. We'll mow tomorrow. Can hardly wait to sleep in our big king-sized bed.

Onward ....

Big Bend, Old Terlingua, and Lajitas

DAY FIVE: Big Bend National Park

The drive to the Park was not at all what I expected. In my memory this was a bleak desert-type drive. Maybe we went a different way when I was 10. Whatever the case, the road from Alpine to the Big Bend was through mountains, and sort of winding, not board-straight the way it looked on the map. We commented on the signs identifying the mountains we passed along with their elevations. Texas may not have many mountain ranges, and the mountains we do have are on the small side compared with Rocky Mountain states to the north, but we're proud of our mountains and we point them out along the highway. How many times have we both wished that the mountains in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, and Montana were identified so well. In those states all you get is a vague reference on a map, and the only time you're sure of the mountain's name that you're looking at is if there happens to be a store or some other business in the vicinity sharing the mountain's name, like Black Mountain Corner Drug, or something. Very frustrating to the traveler to try to identify mountains this way. So it pleased us that all the mountains we passed had a sign pointing them out very clearly.

That is, until we got into Big Bend National Park; then we had to go back to guessing. We complained at the visitor's center that all the way there we had been given these lovely signs, but nowhere in the park were the mountains identified. While we were there, some hikers came in with pictures of a baby mountain lion they had seen. Excitement among the rangers was evident and our silly little complaint was ignored.

Big Bend is scenic, with much interesting desert flora. We both fell in love with the ocotillo and talked about trying to find a nursery that sold it to put out by our sign back home. We drove the Ross Maxwell scenic loop to Santa Elena canyon, with many stops on the way. At the one and only restroom we came to we saw a red racer, a really rosy red snake we had seen dead on the roadside around Marathon. This one was fully alive, and we were told that they eat rattlers so the locals never kill them or chase them away from an area. I don't know, but snakes give me the creeps, good or bad.

Santa Elena canyon is quite impressive. I took way too many photographs but I'll thin them out when we get home. There were several cars parked waiting for kayakers or canoeists to come ashore. The rapids on the Rio Grande apparently get rough right before the canyon, something I thought I might like to do one of these days. We'll see. Don't think the SO is too "into" it. All in all, though, we gave the park a 6 on a scale of 1 to 10, mostly because of the lack of facilities. We've been to quite a few National Parks now, and so far, this one was the worst as far as having the fewest facilities or explanation boards describing what we're looking at or interesting facts or tidbits.

We took an unpaved road out of the park and regretted it almost immediately. It was only 14 miles but took us over an hour to traverse. However, we would have missed Luna's Jacal, which we passed on the back road, and it was definitely worth seeing. An old man lived in that hovel for over 40 years, poor thing. The roof was caving in, but there was still enough architectural detail to see how he must have lived. The interior was like a dugout, and without a single window. Probably made for cooler temperatures, but what a depressing way to live.

After we left the park, we drove through Terlingua, both the new and the ghost town. Funny, the ghost town seemed busier than the newer version, probably because of the big chili cookoff that's held there in November, touted to be the largest cookoff in the world. Back around the turn of the 20th century, people had thought there might be gold in Terlingua. Instead, they found quicksilver. The mines were active until mid-20th century. Now, there are just the leavings or bi-products that give any indication of the mining history of the place. There are many stone ruins of houses and buildings that once stood. Some in the current population have incorporated the ruins into their own dwellings. Interesting, but again, a depressing place to live. There is nothing about Terlingua that beckons me.

At Lajitas we had lunch in a swanky golf resort restaurant. Overpriced salads, but the atmosphere paid homage to the military post that had been in that town back in the days of Pancho Villa, and the waitress was friendly and gave us some interesting insights. Seems at one time developers had grand plans for the area, but many of the businesses and condo complexes lay empty and for sale. Another almost "ghost" town. We wondered later about the waitress. She'd said she was from Chicago. Lajitas seems like a great place to drop out or to hide. We decided she was running from something, and had fun speculating about what that something might be.

When we got back to the trailer, the kitty was behind the sofa, which is where he seems to live these days. I don't think he is enjoying this trip at all. The episode with the broom seems to have soured his attitude about things, although he does still come to sleep with us. The dog takes over the sofa at night. They're adjusting to life together in close quarters, but I don't think either of them are happy about it.

Onward ....

Alpine, Fort Davis and a Star Party

DAY THREE: Alpine (May 17)

The day got off to a bad start with the cat hiding behind the sofa and not coming out when we were ready to leave. I tried everything and could not get him, could not reach him, and didn’t want to let the sofa down like SO told me to do. It would not have worked anyway. But neither did the broom I used to try to sweep him out. My SO got scratched trying to help. It’s a little tiny space and you cannot reach back there because of the awkward way you have to lean your head against the wall, aside from the fact that you also need to be double-jointed to thrust your arms into the space from that direction. Hard to explain but trust me. I was so frustrated and angry, sweating like a pig before I thought to open a can of cat food. Out the silly thing trotted. I scooped him up and shoved him the carrier. We were literally idling in the driveway with everything loaded, including the dog. I stayed hot for a while, and the cat was horrible most of the way to Alpine.

We stopped at Langtry to go through the Judge Roy Bean exhibit. This whole trip is a sort of revisitation of a trip I took when I was ten with a favorite uncle and aunt. The Roy Bean buildings have been worked on a lot since 1963. A botanical garden has been added. We walked across the street to buy a bag of rock candy -- I had bought a bag of rock candy when I was 10. This new one was half as much candy and four times more money than the 1963 bag. Plus, the original bag had been cloth or leather with a little drawstring. This one was just cellophane and staples.

We arrived in Alpine just ahead of a hailstorm. SO finished setting up the trailer outside, maybe two minutes before the storm struck. It was full of thunder and lightning, quite exiting. We stayed under a tornado watch for the rest of the day. He watched TV, a little nervously, while I took a nap in the bedroom. The altercation with the cat this morning has changed the cat’s whole outlook. He has spent the entire day hidden behind the sofa. Poor thing. I feel bad about how ugly I was to him, shouting and sweeping him with a broom.

We went out for pizza. When we got back I did some laundry. The sun went down and the air cooled. Alpine is such a clean little town. I rarely have the feeling that I could live in a place, but I feel that way about this town. There are book stores and art galleries on nearly every corner. They're building a big new public library. My SO commented that people in Alpine must actually READ. Almost any time there's a university in a town, Sul Ross State University, it makes for a more literate population, but Alpine is still a small town, about the size I consider desirable.

Onward ...

DAY FOUR - Fort Davis & a Star Party

This was the best day yet. We got up early, had breakfast in the trailer, and drove to Marfa. The scenery was better than I have been led to believe, and we passed the place on the highway where people gather to watch for the mysterious Marfa lights. I had done some research on them and decided that they were way too irregular to count on, so we have decided to skip them.

When we arrived in Marfa the St. Mary cathedral was ringing their bells. It was noon and the bells rang on and on. I did not recognize the song, not being a Catholic or at all religious, but it was moving and I enjoyed it, reminded me of bell songs I'd heard in France.

While in Marfa we walked around the town square and into the old Paisano Hotel. It is still a lovely place with a plaza and fountain, rough hewn beams in the lobby, and a wall of signed publicity photographs of all the members of the move “Giant,” which was filmed there 50 years ago.

From Marfa we headed to Fort Davis to see the old historical park. We stopped for a barbecue sandwich at a place just outside the park gates. Was pretty good, but the service was lousy. We asked for a to-go cup for our tea and were really glad later that we did that. It is hot and dry in this country.

Fort Davis historical park was one I remembered from the trip when I was 10. They’ve done a lot more restoration since then, and even though it was hot, I think my SO really enjoyed the afternoon. We were able to take the dog with us, and she also seemed to enjoy herself. She loves to walk on a leash, and kept leading us down this path and that one. She drank a bowl full of water when we got back to the Suburban

Then tonight, around 8:00, we left for the McDonald’s Observatory to attend a Star Party. We had read about them on the internet. Anyone can attend, and it’s just $10 per person, a real bargain. I had tried to back out, being tired from our busy day, but my SO insisted we go, saying that it was something we would probably never get back there again to do. I'm so happy he persisted.

The Star Party begins in the amphitheater behind the visitor’s center. A presenter discusses the origins of the study of astronomy, and then with a powerful laser pointer, begins to point out things in the sky above us. First was Venus, then Saturn, then from there he went on to some of the better known constellations, and then to the more obscure. While he was making his presentation, the International Space Station came over, and he pointed that out to many oohs and aahs. The sky above the observatory is so huge and absolutely clear, the only light pollution came from the quarter moonshine.

After the presentation, we moved down the walkway where there were several telescopes set up, aimed at a particular object in the heavens. Lines began to form, and the first one we got to was pointed at Saturn with all its rings. Next came Venus, then two views of the moon, a star cluster, and finally another galaxy, Maffei1, a spiral galaxy that is close to ours. It was fascinating and the conditions were just perfect. We drove back to Alpine elated by the experience, dodging wild javelina and mule deer that kept trying to cross the road in front of us.

Onward .....

West Texas Trip - Catching Up

(Since we were often in places without internet connections, I blogged anyway, and am posting belatedly.)

DAY ONE: The Start of Our West Texas Trip (May 15)

Got up and had breakfast in the trailer. We stayed in Somerset, just outside south San Antonio, 6 miles from Lytle where SO has some business with one of his customers. They’re having a Grand Opening and he agreed to attend. I took him to the store in Lytle and dropped him there, then drove into San Antonio. It took about twenty minutes to get passed Lackland AFB. Brought back a lot of memories. I foolishly thought for a second that those were the good ol’ days, but the only thing good was that the kids were little and full of joy, but my marriage was already shaky.

Had the dog with me and we stopped at a PetSmart down Loop 410 at the Sea World exit. Sea World did not exist when I lived in San Antonio, but some of the area is familiar all the same. I swear the dog recognizes the PetSmart sign. She started twirling in circles as soon as we turned into the parking lot. There were lots of dogs inside the store, and she was just too excited to behave. But she was funny.

SO called as I was walking into Target. His back was killing him standing around the store, and he asked me to come pick him up. I went ahead into the store to get snorkel sets for our trip to Balmorhea, then drove back to the Lytle store. He was waiting out front.

We went back to the trailer and chilled for the rest of the day. I cooked ham steak because there just was not a place to eat out in Somerset. Cooking in the trailer's teensy tiny kitchen is a real challenge. I had planned ahead though and kept it simple. Opening cans, making salad, etc. Brought along a buttermilk pie I had made at home for the trip.

After supper, the dog and I walked though the nearby cemeteries. There were three all together, one Latin, one for the Barker family who were apparently a prominent ranching family in the area, and the third cemetery was mixed. I have always found folk cemeteries especially interesting. One of the headstones in the Barker cemetery had two tokens sitting on top of it that looked as if they had been there for ages. One was a metal Christmas that has nearly lost all of its paint. The other was a jolly fat man, but not bearded like Santa Claus. I picked them both up to inspect them, and wondered what the significance of them was to the person buried there, or to the person who left them.

The cat has come along on this trip and he has pretty much taken over the trailer. But he’s doing much better than I anticipated. He continues to surprise me with adaptability.

Onward....

DAY TWO: Del Rio (May 16)

Kitty was not as good with traveling today. He yowled most of the four hour drive.

We have a spot in a brand new RV Park two miles from Lake Amistad. On the way here, the sliding door on the bedroom inside the trailer fell down and pulled the runner from the ceiling. Our first priority was to get the door back up. My SO had thought out the problem and his solution required a trip to Home Depot, which we remembered passing on our way through town. Repairing the door took most of the afternoon, but we did get it done in time to make a quick trip to the lake. We took our fishing rods and the dog, found the pier right where the internet had told us it would be. We tied on our new lures, and fished for about an hour. I had one strike but it has been so long since I have fresh water fished, that I forgot all about having to set the hook. Damn! It was still lots of fun.

I had no idea Lake Amistad was the second largest lake in Texas, or that there were so many fabulous weekend homes overlooking the lake. We rode across the bridge to another spot with a pier. Border Patrol are all over the place, which is good, but it still made me feel uncomfortable. I can just imagine how a Mexican-American might feel. We found the other pier but it was occupied by a bunch of kids so we didn’t stop. The dog really doesn’t like kids, and it was too hot to leave her in the Suburban.

Ate at Luby’s for supper. I really miss Luby’s but not if this one is an example of what they’ve become. I guess I miss the OLD Luby’s. It’s no wonder they’re going broke. The food was cold and tasteless, and service was nonexistent. Pretty soon cafeterias will be relics of a past time just like some of the falling-down drive-in theaters you still see occasionally in rural areas.

The cat kept me up most of the night last night. He loves getting to sleep with me, but I’m hoping he will be so tired from the drive that he’ll lay quietly at my feet. I have felt like a walking zombie all day.

Onward ...

Baby Birds and Butterflies

Two nests of wrens have been emptied. One was in the baby's breath hanging basket right outside the sunroom sliding door. One of those babies didn't make it. We found the dead one still in the nest yesterday. SO took it out to the pen and dumped it there. It was starting to smell bad. Somehow the baby's breath is still alive, but just barely. I had been giving it sips of water while the baby birds were in there. I have a horror that I may have drowned the dead hatchling. My SO says I should not worry about it too much, that almost every brood loses one, either before they hatch or when they leave the nest. I know he's right but I still obsess over it a little.

The second nest was inside the garage, up on a high shelf, tucked between the handles on a pair of lopping sheers. For the last several days we have been shutting the door on the mother and her babies at night. I suspect that was distressing to her, but after a stray dog got in the garbage cans a week or so ago, we haven't dared to leave the garage open past dusk. Anyway, yesterday when I was letting the pets out, I heard a bunch of cheeping behind the spare fridge out in the garage. I quickly brought the animals inside so the parents could get their babies in flight. Later, when I went out to check, the nest was empty.

Other wrens have nested around me in the past. I had a couple in my Victoria home who persisted year after year to nest on the patio. At first it was inside a pot of geraniums on a plant shelf, but the last spring I lived there, they nested inside the grape ivy hanging right outside my bedroom window. I could stand inside the glass pane and peer through it into their nest. I watched in fascination through the days as the parents fed their young, then encouraged them out of the nest when the time was right. However, the fledglings had a different idea and didn't seem ready to leave the nest. The parents coaxed the five babies all around the patio for one whole day, with none of them willing to take real flight. I kept the cat in all that day while the parents struggled, only to eventually give in and leave the exhausted babies piled up inside a different hanging basket across the patio.

The next morning they were at it again, cheeping in that now familiar way they do when they're kicking out the babies. One of the adult birds would jump from the hanging basket, to the overhang on the roof, to a twiggy limb of the next door pecan, as if showing the kids the way to go. And one by one, they reluctantly followed their parent's lead, going the exact route that had been laid out: hanging basket to roof to pecan limb. All except for one who could not make it up and over the fence to the pecan limb. Each time it tried, it fell down into the side yard. I wanted to go out and help but knew not to interfere with nature. The next day I found that tiny new bird, dead by the back gate. Apparently, once they leave the nest, the parents don't consider it their responsibility any longer to feed the weakest offspring.

We have a boatload of nectarines coming ripe on the tree we thought was a peach in the back yard. The fruit has turned rosy red and ripe along the seam, so we've been picking them, trying to beat the stink bugs to the harvest. I flicked off two bugs yesterday and stepped on them. It's been an incredibly buggy spring this year. Can't say how many caterpillars I've seen, and worms. I step on them indiscriminately. I'm probably murdering would-be butterflies, but I don't trust anything right now. Almost every plant out there has leaves with holes in them from having been eaten by something. A few plants have had their leaves eaten entirely. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with all these nectarines, but whatever I decide, I had better do it quickly. We're leaving Friday on another week-long RV trip. It's supposed to rain while we're gone, so hopefully the garden will still be alive when we return.

Speaking of butterflies, I "made" one yesterday. It was my turn to host the birthday group, and so I decided to go with a spring theme. I had seen a diagram of the way to make a butterfly cake, and I followed the directions as closely as I was able. Maybe it was a little childish, but I had fun doing it. I used a lemon cake mix that I already had, cut the layer according to the directions, glued the pieces together with fluffy frosting, then laid on the decorations. I used gel food coloring and a child's Crayola paintbrush to color the sections. It wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. The rest is colored sugar, candy wafers, and halved jelly beans. My SO encouraged me to take the picture. For some reason, it uploaded darker than it was in reality.

Onward ....

Wilson's Warbler, Mother's Day

Added a new bird to my life-list: Wilson's Warbler. We were down at the Coast when the bird appeared in the live oak just off the deck. I had my binoculars handy and was able to see the identifier clearly enough to decide I had a late spring warbler passing through. It's always a kick to spot something new. I just love birds, and there are so many down there. We have our share at the house, too, but the Coast offers so many more unusual birds. At the Conference on World Affairs in Boulder, I met a renown birder who told me that I lived in Bird Heaven so near the Texas Coast. He said birders from all over the world come to South Texas on birding trips. I already sort of knew that, but it was interesting to hear it come from someone who isn't from here.

We got home yesterday morning. I had promised the county Democratic chair that I would help her with a senate district meeting that was to be held here. I like her, she's my old mentor. It was under her that I accepted my first job as a precinct chair. When I moved back to this county I told her I wanted to limit my involvement for a while. I'm not ready to reverse that decision, but it was fun to see some of my old buddies from the 19 counties that make up this senate district. I made a contribution to a candidate running for the state senate seat. She'll never win, but I liked things she said, and will vote for her. I wish this state wasn't so conservative and predictable. I wish we could get rid of our governor. He used to be a good guy but has become so partisan, it's cheapened him. Everyone thinks he plans a run for the White House.

The woman who owns the building where the meeting was held had actually read all my books. She told me it was a great honor to meet me and wanted to know if I would be interested in doing a book signing in the future. I said sure, but it is kind of odd for her to want me to do that when all my books are out of print. Later I learned she's expanding her art gallery to include books and indeed, she wants to get more into book sales. We had a lively discussion during one of the breaks. She wondered if I would be inclined to teach a writer's workshop in her upstairs meeting rooms. I told her I had done that quite a bit several years ago at Our Lady of the Lake in San Antonio and at Gemini Ink. I won't do it for free. Workshops take a lot of preparation, and time, thought. I still have my class prep notes, lectures etc. I think I've gotten really lazy -- no, I KNOW that I have, because the thought of having to do this sort of thing doesn't appeal to me in the least anymore. However, I do need to make some writing money. I have made zero so far this years. We'll see if anything develops.

Meanwhile, it's Mother's Day. We're taking SO's mom out to dinner. I got two dozen roses from my son in DC. Wonder if my other son will make contact. Doubt it, but I can always hope. And I'm sure I'll be thinking of my own mom. Fifteen years since she died. Sometimes it seems longer.

Onward ....

Decoration Day

Yesterday was my SO's family reunion of sorts. They call it Decoration Day because they all gather at the rural cemetery where most of their ancestors are buried. The first day they clean the graves. It's a scraped earth cemetery so there's no grass. They heap the loose dirt up on each grave, which makes a nice pile of soft dirt to stick bouquets of silk flowers into -- and that was done mostly on Saturday as well. A few flowers were laid yesterday, but by the time we arrived at 11:00, that had all been done. My SO took me around and showed me where his father and brother are buried, alongside his grandparents and some of their other children. A couple of them died as infants. Always sad to see. There were 11 children in that family, counting the two that died, and only one is still living. He's 91 and was in attendance yesterday, as the elder statesman. A talkative, spry man in a cowboy hat, khaki shirt and pants, a ready smile and big appetite. I liked him a lot.

I had been to this cemetery once before and seen these graves, but it was shortly after the SO and I started seeing each other on a regular basis, but before we decided we were in love, and so I didn't remember much about any of it. Odd how the mind decides to pay attention when it matters, and to disregard when it might not. I didn't know if we were going anywhere back then, nearly three years ago now. Anyway, I'm beginning to understand all the relationships now, and much better since I met a few more of them yesterday. I already knew his living brother and his family. We've been with them several times at his mom's, down on the Coast, and twice have had them here. And of course, I'm crazy about his mom, and I think she likes me, too.

The food was a lot better than the usual family reunion fare. I took a broccoli salad that was one of my best attempts, if I do say so, and a corn pudding that's always a hit. I don't think I've ever taken that dish to a gathering and had any leftover when the party was over. My lemon chess pie, however, was soupy and undercooked, even though it stayed in the oven a full hour. But, even needing a spoon rather than a pie server to dish it up, there was still only a single piece left at the end of the lunch hour. There were lots of hungry people there, and truth is, not too many deserts, which I figure is the reason most of the chess pie got eaten.

We stopped on the way home at SO's mom's house and sort of revisited the day together. She clearly had a great time, and was one of the oldest there -- she's soon to be 87. I took some of her leftover chicken casserole with us when we left, promised her copies of the pictures I took with my Nikon. We made another stop at our friend's house since we were so close. We're all planning an RV trip in July to the mountains of New Mexico, and we talked that over a little while. SO seems to think they'll fink out in the end, but I'm hoping they really will join us. I like these people and think we'll have a great week together if they do go.

Then it was over to see Dad for a couple of hours. I felt like the old Sunday gone a'callin' when we finally got home to let out the dog and cat. We threaded a soaker hose through the garden. Daddy's veggies are so much farther along than ours are, and the only thing I can figure out is, he's putting more water down than we are, so we have to rectify our situation. I discovered I have an allergy to the pricky leaves of the squash plants. I came inside and took a shower, then slathered my red, bumpy arms with Benedryl.

A nice day. We watched HBO all evening, then turned in pooped and sleepy. SO has become a big fan of "As Time Goes By" on PBS. Comes on here at 10:30 Sunday night. As soon as it was over -- lights out.

Onward ....

May Day - Derby Day

Gosh -- May already! We are just home from the Coast. Stopped on the drive home and bought four pounds of large shrimp, which the SO is in the kitchen as I write this getting them ready for the boiling pot. We dropped the animals off at the house and went immediately to the store for the boiling spices, new whole potatoes. We already had the corn on the cob. We've decided to forego the sausage. Can't wait. He knows how to do this very well.

There was smoke from Mexico in the air the whole time we were down there, so we didn't spend as much time outside as usual. I went to have a pedicure and the girl talked me into getting a manicure while I was there. It's been years and years since I've had my fingernails done and I'm already regretting it, since I find myself being careful doing things I love to do that involve my hands. I've never been able to keep a pair of gardening gloves on, but I forced myself to wear them yesterday, after paying so much for these fancy nails. I'm sure they won't last a week. Can't use the computer keyboard as well as normal, and the guitar will be out altogether since my left hand needs short nails to fret properly. It was the Decoration Day thing tomorrow that prompted me to do any of it, since I'll be meeting some extended members of the SO's family and want to look my best. Ha ha! I've never been good at being a girly girl.

The fences around the flowerbeds seems to have worked to keep the armadillo out -- at least so far. But everything is dry and we need rain. There's a slight chance tonight, but super slight so I'm going to go out later and set up the soaker hoses in the tomatoes, peppers, and squash. Back to our regular life. It's always fun to go down to the coast and socialize with friends, have drinks and dinner out and about, but I'm always ready to get back to my normal life after three days. The good news is the cat has really adjusted to going along with us. The bad news is, the dog resents not being the ONLY pet and pouted for a good part of the time we were there.

I'm blogging and watching with one eye the Kentucky Derby. I've had the Derby on my 'bucket list" for several years, since I did a book event there several years ago. It was a Monday on Derby Week. My publisher couldn't find me a hotel, so I stayed in a B&B, which turned out quite nice. Although the owner was a clock collector and there was a cacophony on the hour, every hour. But the breakfast the next morning made up for the poor night of sleep. The most succulent banana bread I've ever put in my mouth, English tea, fruit, gorgeous flowers ... but I digress.

Louisville was all a-clatter with Derby fever. I had a car rental and drove around town. There were all sorts of races going on that week, from paddlewheeler races up the river, to foot races through downtown, hot-air balloon races. It seemed like such fun and was easy to catch the fever while I was there. I decided then and there to some day attend the horse race known as the Kentucky Derby. That was probably mid-1990s. Well, things have changed.

As we watch this telecast today the Derby has turned into a style show a la the Oscar's Red Carpet, and doesn't have much to do with the race itself anymore. They have been interviewing celebrities, asking who is their hat "stylist," who did their hair, and on and on. We have visited "millionaire's row" over and over. So, I have decided that I will take the Derby off my list. This kind of snobbery, hobnobbing with the wealthy, putting on the dog, and shallowness is a major turn-off for me. So "X" The Derby. I'll be looking for a replacement soon.

But I am still interested in the horses, in their stories, and in the race, which is about to start. So I'm closing for today.

Onward ....