Fired

Well if I didn't know better I can sooo see where some of y'all, my dearest internets, would think I had been fired from my own blog...

But surprise I have not been nor were we in the recent wild fires. The biggest one in Magnolia was about 20 miles away. We had some friends that were evacuated and praise God their home was spared. We did a few grass fires near by that were brought under control before leaping onto the many (hundreds) of dead trees around here. It is very sad to see so many of our woods dying. If the wind blows too hard huge limbs fall as if they were leaves in autumn. I suspect that the first ice storm / freeze (if we get one) will bring down lots of the barely surviving limbs.

I have been doing stuff that has me away from the computer often. New leisure (lol) classes at the college. I spent this past weekend in Oklahoma with a friend. We took a Healing Touch International class. OMG - I mean really OMG!!! was it ever wonderful. But the real reason I brought it up was so many of their rivers, yes rivers, were dry and had grass growing in them. ~CRAZY~

And now back to our Dryness: I know y'all have been sending prayers of rain and I personally thank you super very much, we had a shower yesterday. Please continue the prayers and please add Oklahoma to the rain request.

love y'all my dear internets

OH my!

Lions and tigers and bears! Well not really…

But HOLE E MOLE E it’s next month already.

Thanks for missing me y’all, my dear internets. I have been busy. Duh, right?

BTW It is now officially the Dog Days of Summer. Super Crap-ol’la as if it hasn’t been hot enough around here now here we are in our HOT and DRY season.

We have had several people knock on the door asking about the Solar. It has saved us $$$$$. I say that even thought this last electric bill was up…well I did run the AC in the studio almost every day. But I hate having to pay over $40 dollars now. I mean WOW the “fuel sur-charge” was like $28. It ain’t right I tell ya.

It is soo hot here that the milk turns to cottage cheese before we get home. It’s okay you may laugh if you so desire.

Speaking of cottage cheese. Oh my goodness in the month of July I bought the following items, which I seldom buy…

Cottage Cheese

Sour Cream

Ground Turkey

Guess what the Cottage Cheese was recalled! The sour cream was recalled! And now maybe even the ground turkey will be recalled!!! I feel like such a crazy a$$ because I already ate the Cottage Cheese, most of the Sour Cream and feed the Ground Turkey to my family! Oh, here’s the good news We survived. 

Well, well

WELL: The new season of True Blood started this past Sunday night and we were glued to our seats like vampires to a fresh neck…

WOW, I tell ya it was almost like a stake in the heart (of sorts) SPOILER ALERT (of sorts)

Bam -- Sookie had gone to this magical place, a place that was a big, no a huge time suck. She got away by jumping off a cliff, ok so her assumed dead grand daddy pushed her and she landed in the old cemetery. Stuff happened people lived their lives in what for Sookie was 10 – 15 minutes in that magical place was 13 months for the fine, if not twisted, folks of Bon Temps.

Whole E Mole E, there were all these unanswered questions now hanging in the thick night air. What about this and what about that and OMG why is Tommy with Hoyt’s momma? Are they “together” And what happened to the Queen of Louisiana. (did Bill introduce her to the True Death) And Sam hanging out with a group of horses and LaFayette joining in a wicca circle and Jason a cop? Now the Tara, err – know known as Toni, thang did not surprise me. See this is why is it was sort of a stake in chest. We, expected answers or at the bare minimum a continuation of the ongoing story lines from Season 1, 2 & 3. Remember when the show Dallas had killed Bobby Ewing and they opened a new season with Pam (his wife) waking up to find that it had all been a dream. Yeah sorta like that, but with a twist of lime in the coconut...

And why I think this was the best thing to do for this show…Season 1, 2 and 3 were all done as if the story lines were only taking place over a matter of weeks (maybe a few months). For example poor Andy Bellefleur had his arm in a cast almost the entire 2^nd season and all of the 3^rd and I expected him to still have it for a show or 2 for this 4^th season. And because they (writers / producers / not to mention newer technology) needed to bring the show into current time.

So I forgive them for making me wait to find out in blips of memory and flash backs what happened in the 13 months of Sookie’s magical time travel.

And my photo to go with this is outta the blue blood post…

 Ta dah Luffa Bed

Ta ta ta dah Luffas

Please leave all comments in the comment section for this post...no worries it's easy....Really just click on the word "comments" and let me know what you think about this post, the photos or what ever is on your dear internet mind. 

<3 Thank you <3

Motorcycle Kids

and the price of gas

So my dear internets I’m sure I don’t need to tell you how expensive gas is, y’all know. Now due to the price lots of people have switched to riding motorcycles, which is working well for them here these days as we have no rain to worry about. Oh did I mention that motorcycles are cheaper than cars or trucks and AND the insurance on them is way cheaper too.

No I have not gone out and gotten a bike, although no, no, but I have been seeing women riding driving them and they seem very pleased. Oh I know some of y’all are hard fast believers that it’s a man’s vehicle, but I’m one of those people that believe If a man can do it, So can a woman. That’s not to say I that I think they should. Hey don’t shoot me. I think that there are some things that men can do easier, maybe even better, because they are physically built for it and likewise for women.

But back to the motorcycles, when an accident happens with a bike, it is serious even little spills can be very serious. That is why riders should wear helmets. Helmets keep the brains off the pavement. NO! I am not gonna get in a helmets / no helmets argument with y’all, it’s my opinion and as I guess I have to remind y’all…This here is Paradise Valley and WE are the Queen and we may speak as we please, without any back talk comments.

Why am I posting about this, I’m sure you are wondering…Well let me show you (I know blurry, but we were all going about 55 MPH)

 See, the driver has no helmet the rider has no helmet, heck she is even wearing a skirt. Which truthfully is what caught my eye the other day anyway. LOL No her skirt didn’t go flying up, that would have been funny (for moi). But No NO NO -- it was the little thing she had between her legs that upset me. Oh here is a cropped in view.

Can y’all, my dear internets, see that? The little bare knee sticking up, the hand gripped onto the driver’s black leather vest.

Is this legal?

Prior to September 1, 2009 there was no minimum age, height or weight requirement. HB537 passed in the 81st Legislative Session and it requires a passenger be at least five years old. No changes were made to helmet requirements: if under 21 years old a passenger must still wear a helmet, if over 21 years old a passenger can ride without a helmet if the driver meets the helmet exemption requirements.

For more information on passengers, visit: Texas Transportation Code and read Chapter 545 Section 416.

For more information on the helmet law and exemptions, visit: Texas Transportaion Code and read Chapter 661 Section 003.

Yes I was horrified! Yes the child appeared to have a helmet on…

But it sure looked like a Bicycle helmet and NOT a motorcycle helmet to me. And just an FYI you can only have 1 passenger legally on a motorcycle

Oh well, I guess children are replaceable. Right?

Last Weekend

So there we were reveling in the afterglow of graduation (I know how many times can I bring it up?) and the beginning of a long weekend…

Oh what to do; go somewhere? Sure why not, on Friday once all the sleepy heads got up and I had put a layer of stuff on a WIP (work in progress) I convinced them we simply had to go to the Fine Arts Museum. I had a free ticket for two and we weren’t doing anything else. Come let’s go fill our eyes with some culture. Bless their (& mine) poor ol’ tuckered out legs, oh but wow my head was filled with eye candy.

On Saturday we lounged and I made my little family accompany me on a trip to Michaels…I had a coupon for 20% off and they were having their canvas sale of 50% off. Bam ah Lam my dear internets what a savings.

On Sunday we lounged and then went over for a BBQ at a young friend’s home, he had just gotten married on the prior Monday. I took a pot of beans and it was hot and it was fun and it was HOT. The BBQ turned into a Crawfish boil (el yuck-o) So I ate beans…my family is still laughing their crazy a$$es off. Okay so maybe it is funny’ish.

On Monday we didn’t have cable TV so my Beloved was a bit bored and we lounged a bit then headed out in the heat to goof around. Went to the movies and saw the new Pirates in 3D. It was okay’ish. What I mean to say it is NOT horrible. Umm 3 thumbs up (outta 6)

A week or so ago we went and saw Priest, save your monies it wasn’t so good…maybe 1 thumb up because it got us outta the house.

And that’s it for today. How are things at your house? I hope y’all are doing well and enjoying your beginning of summer or for those down under the beginning of fall / winter.

Stay happy & live well take a minute to stop and smell the roses and if you don’t have any you can smell mine…

PS - I have been unable to leave comments on some of y'all's blogs. I hope the issue will be fixed soon. I'm reading y'all my dear internets even if I can't say so. {hugs}

No...Wait!

Don’t fire me! Not from my own blog.


Ah my dear internets I wish it would rain at our house. Have I complained about this already? Matters not, my rain barrels are dry, our yard is as crunchy as Grape Nuts cereal and the same color too…okay so there is a tad of green near the tomato bed. I feel bad wanting rain when so many are flooding throughout the greater Mississippi and Ohio River valleys; Their homes and lives being devastated when here in Texas we have wild fires. Last week there was one blazing a few miles from my home, thank God the firefighters were able to extinguish it within several hours.

I have been busy this day. Really I finished writing and editing a couple of poems, I would share them but they are a bit…umm let me just say they are on the adult side.

So um, I’ve been doing an online art journaling workshop…21 Secrets. It’s purdy neat and now that I have finished up a few ATC commitments and a class at the college is winding down I can really delve into the workshop and relax.

Here is that “under painting” Brian asked to see, now mind you I drew this with the canvas in a landscape orientation and bam a lam it’s supposed to be portrait orientation. Weird a$$ed art, hum maybe I should look at my poetry from a different angle…lalala

So really that’s all I have for y’all today. Please pray for all the flood and fire victims.

Would U believe

I almost forgot to remind y’all about my – April - of Give aways in celebration of National Poetry Month – April. Yes even if you win you are still eligible to win again…but you must enter each time and by “enter” I mean comment on my April Post.

Now I feel better about that, but also I need a bit of sympathy. Yes it’s true I acquired a little boo boo while ironing one of the 2 aprons that are slated as prizes for my Stupid Blog Party on April 15. Watch for that reminder in April. Okay, So please give me a gentle hug and maybe offer to kiss my burn.

Thank you I feel much better.

So we have had a bit of cool weather show up this week. Which is funny on accounta it had been in the 80s already. It looks like after this cold, err cool snap is over I will need to plant some more luffa seeds as only 2 of the ten that I planted came up. Those luffa seeds are so picky ya know.

OMG the above ground garden system it totally kick a$$. I have great expectations for a bountiful crop of: Green Beans, Bell Pepper (yellow), Radish, Potatoes, Tomatoes & Onions. Yes that does seem like a lot of stuff in kiddie pool, but they are all very happy…see

Of course I need to plant the carrot seeds (again) as they didn’t come up, well unless they look like radish. But that’s ok as more carrots make for a happier bunch. (chuckle) In the other part of the back yard, the “flower bed” I’ll be planting more cotton seeds. Hey don’t laugh in a few years I should have enough to make…err to make a handkerchief.

Oh the upside down buckets? Yes well the potatoes are in ‘em. Really. So it’s my first time to try to grow them, they seem to be doing well. See you have to buy “seed potatoes” plant them about 4-6 inches and as they grow upwards you cover them with soil/hay and just keep going. So me, with my outstanding inventive mind (stop laughing) thought hey I’ll just use buckets. Some people use garbage cans or barrels. At one time I heard some people used old tires, yeah I know sounds bad to me too, with all that petroleum product junk so close to the food I want to eat. I’ll let y’all know how it goes.

Now onto more serious world events: Hole E Mole E! Scary stuff my dear internets. I ask y’all to pray, send out good vibes and thoughts for our planet, our Earth, our home.

Spring

Has long been in my part of Texas, okay so maybe not “long” but for a couple /few weeks anyway. The plum trees have bloomed and I think I see some teeny tiny future goodness, the pear has bloomed and it for sure without a doubt will have pears. The Apple tree is always the last to spring, but we are holding out that this year will be the year we will get apples! Oh yeah the nectarine is beautiful I’m sure the crazy a$$ed squirrels will love ‘em again this year. Humph!

I am still waiting to harvest a head of cabbage, they are growing but I need it to be just a wee bit bigger, so it will fill the pot ya know. As I write this I sit out on the wonderful breeze way with the wind chime well chiming and some yahoo making too much racket, really must you mow your yard while I’m working? Hey I’m working here!!

So did I tell you my brilliant idea to do an above ground garden in conjunction to the flower bed gardens? Okay so we have been talking about it for a few years…we can build it like this…use this material…plant this that blah blah blah. About 3 weeks ago I made a decision to stop talking about it and just do it. So I rushed out to purchase my supplies, dirt, mulch, potting soil and swimming pool. Yeah that’s right my dear internets we now have a pool in the center of our…well it’s the center of the yard between My Purple Door Studios and the fence.

So after I put the pool where I wanted it I moved all the dirt and topsoil and potting soil and mulch; then I planted some veggies and stuck some seeds in the ground and watered said good things. Knowing we already have an impending bountiful goodness. Oh I put the tomatoes (most of ‘em) in the front flower bed they are very happy. Well all the plants are very happy…See

What? Shirley you didn’t think I meant a simming pool big enough for us to swim in. PaLLLLLeeeeese! Umm I did say above ground garden YES and this works well on so many levels. I mean come on my dear internets just look at that photo again. ah uhh you so know I'm brilliant!

1. Drainage is great, I poked holes in the bottom (although we need rain)

2. It’s right smack dab in the sun all day (a plus for growing veggies)

3. It’s not a permanent structure (in case I’m lazy next year)

4. It seems to be just the right size (I can reach the middle)

5. Weeds should not be much of a problem (I’ll kill the dirty…you know whats)

6. No moles can dig up the roots (although I could use a new moleskin journal)

7. It was very cheap to build (okay so it was really, REALLY easy to build)

I know I have wowed y’all with my Yankee ingenuity {smiling pretty} especially for a Southern Yankee {curtsey}

Now I must be off, I have a fence to jump and a neighbor to yell at! Make that two neighbors, mowing must be contagious. Ha they should mow when I do…at 7am on Saturdays before it gets too hot. What idiots!

Necturine Blossoms

Saint Patrick

As if I needed to tell y’all that yesterday was Saint Patrick’s Day. Funny thing about that is the world always seems to think it is Irish on Saint Patrick's Day. Now that’s funny…a Green Earth…hum I may be on to something.


That St. Patty was something else, I mean he chased all the snakes outta Ireland and I think they all came to Texas, well at least they always seem to fine me, but this is NOT a snake story! Really it’s not.

Last weekend we took a trip to Glen Rose Texas. This little town has the Paluxy River going though it and if you don’t know that it is a very special river. Granted it’s not the Rio Grande, whose gently rolling waters thinly separate Texas from Mexico, but nonetheless the Paluxy River in Glen Rose has a gia-norm-mas history…

Ya see in and around the river are Dinosaur tracks.

They are pretty cool to see in real life and our visit to the State Park would have perfect if had not been for all the people. No really they and their noisy kids were all over the tracks, poking them with sticks chunking rocks at them. What is up with people? Didn’t they get the memo that this is a Green Earth? And that once this type of thing is destroyed there is no mulligan no getting a second chance. So what I’m trying to say is IF y’all have not been to Glen Rose Texas to see the Dinosaur tracks and you were planning to go don’t wait too long. Bare (yea the naked kind) in mind that there is not much in Glen Rose except the tracks. Oh and they are in a state park so there is an entrance fee.

Also please note the missing tooth of this poor fellow…I think some rotten people got stuck between his teeth.


Now back to the previously mentioned St. Patty’s Day...We went to Glen Rose for a Festival, where there were some: runs, motorcycles, craft booths, kids' jumper thingies, bean cookers, music but hardly anyone wearing green and dagnabit no leprechauns! I miss Ireland, the real county with stout cows and rolling green hills, mossy green truf, crazya$$ed golf guys, crumbling castles and tons of red headed peoples including the lucky gold carrying leprechauns…the land of my ancestors


Please pass me a green beer and kiss me I’m Irish even after Saint Patrick’s Day.

Let's do it again

Only this time lets go someplace closer to our neck of the woods. No, my silly dear internets not literally “our” woods, but a few miles from us. Today’s trip-ah-long is to GW Jones State Park. I know we have lots of such places. Don’t look so surprised this is Texas, y’all. Yes I really talk like this. Yes I do almost sound like that little girl on the shake-n-bake commercial. Okay, I’ll say it, but only if you insist….It’s shake n bake n I helllped.


Nope, no cover fee, yelp the usual rules apply. Man, what y’all got sum sorta memory problem? Stay on the trail, stay quiet and stay together. Crap! Because this is Texas and we have big animals that eat little dear internets if they aren’t careful. Don’t make me Make y’all hold hands, it’s too hot for that today. Yes, this is a trip from last year, but y’all did so well with the last “pretend it’s now” trip I figured y’all could do it again. So yeah, use those imaginations of yours and let’s move out.

This is the pond at the front of the park. I suppose you could fish in it, but we did not bring any fishing gear. Did you? I didn’t think so on accounta you didn’t know about this tip-ah-long in advance, like I did and all.

Yeah the whole trail looks pretty much like this. Wide so a couple can old hands walking side by side and stopping to smooch ever now n again. Yes we do have a lot of pine trees. No, not near as many as the Pine Curtain, y’all remember that? Man, that was close. Just think I could be talking way funnier purdy layday.

Isn’t this some of the prettiest fungus you ever saw? Sorta like shells stuck to a log. H, E double hocky sticks I’m not gotta eat ‘em. No! You can’t either.

Ah, look the pond in back. I know, full of really cool cypress knees and big cypress trees. Now, if you’re not used to walking around knees, just be careful where you put your foot down. Some of ‘em are hard to see and you could twist an ankle or something. Maybe fall and slide in the water. No you don’t want to do that, it’s got gattors in it. Does so! No I don’t see any right now, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t there.

My goodness some of y’all sure are pushy. No, I didn’t. Did you bring sam-witches? Enough for everyone?

Yelp, that’s it. A small rural and woody park. A place, if you will, to just meander about and maybe sit a spell and write a poem or play fingers with your Beloved. Yes kids are allowed, just keep an eye on ‘em. You wouldn’t want them to be gattor bait, now would ya? Okay, got go. No I mean I need to leave…go find a toilet cause they sure don’t have any here.

See ya... Y'all come back now, ya hear. (statement not a question)

Yummy Ice

Cream that is my dear internets. Yes indeed yummy ice-cream. To be more specific Klondike Choco Taco. Oh my goodness and then some.

Here for your salivating pleasure is my story of discovery of this wonderful treat…

Once upon a time when we went to Big Bend, that’s in Texas, we meandered about the State Park and gazed down upon the Rio Grande. It wasn’t summer, but it was warm and when visiting the lodge store I spied an interesting sounding ice-cream in the freezer. “Humm” says I and then I promptly had my Beloved buy it for moi. Then we drove off as I ate the loverly bit of goodness. The store was closed when we left the next morning so I could not get another one. Drat! And Double DRAT!

I looked and looked and could find no Choco Tacos for my belly pleasure at any of the stores I happened to be in when I thought of those scrumptious tacos…poor ol’ me

Then on our last night in Savannah we (Beloved) was buying some lottery tickets at the little store by the hotel and I went in with him. As usual I ran to the ice-cream chest and I hoped I’d find my Choco Taco and TADAH they had one (yes only 1) Yea! It was as good as I had remembered.

I heard that Wals Marts carried them and so I wrote it on my list and guess what…you are never gonna believe this…but I found them, those wonderful cold tacos at the Wals Marts.

Have y’all had these? If not DON’T cause they are somewhat addicting. See there is the fabulous taco shell (waffle cone shaped like a taco shell) filled with creamy Klondike ice-cream that has chocolate syrup drizzled in it, then the whole thing is dipped in chocolate, nuts sprinkled on top and the top double dipped in chocolate. Oh MY GoodNESS!

So here’s what I need from y’all, my dear most dearest internets…I need your Klondike Choco Taco coupons. e-mail me for my address and they so better not be expired.

That is all and thank you for tuning in, have a nice day.

Send Cupons!

I bet I CAN

Wonder what I can Do?


Be prepared for some bragging. Yes bragging. Some people think I’m too good at it and others think I’m modest.

So like I was saying I bet I CAN… piss y’all off, that is. How you may or may not wonder?...

Our electric bill for the month of December was $4.44. Yes you read that correctly Four dollars and forty-four cents.

Those solar panels are super and duper and mighty dandy too. Y’all should get some!
This message brought to you by the letters Electric & Bragging and the number 4

So did it work are you pissed off or What? lalala

Who is ready

For a nature trip-ah-long with me? Okay come on then. And just cause I’m the boss of this I want to caution y’all to NOT wander off the trails, Keep the noise and talking to a minimum, and for heaven’s sake let’s keep together. Hole-E-Mole-E it’s like I have a class of Kindergarteners. Stay on the trails because there are critters off trail, stay quiet because said critters are not fond of noise or talking, stay together as a group so none of you yahoos get lost, bitten or ate by any critters. And if that is not good enough reasons for ya, do it cause I said so.

Okay, today my dear internets we are going down to the NASA area of Houston. I know that covers a wide span of space. Get it? NASA - Space? Heh, No we are not going to see astronauts we are going to the woods of Armand Bayou Nature Center. Yes there is a small fee, so everyone cough up your share. I know we sure got lucky on the weather, not too hot (yet) and not wet. Okay so we did this last year, but I expect y’all to be nice dear internets and pretend we are doing it now. I know you can do it, you all have wonderful imaginations.

The Entrance

The Map

One of the many huge Banana Spiders. I know it doesn’t look so big in the picture but trust me when I tell you it bigger than an adult big toe, okay so maybe about the same size as an adult toe, and that is huge as far as spiders go where I’m concerned. No don’t touch it! The spidie wouldn’t like it and you would have to leave the trail. Come on let’s move along we have sam-witches for after.

Shhh. Do y’all see the bird in there? I don’t know what kind it is maybe a crane or heron. Yeah there are lots of dragonflies they eat most of the skeeters. Are so carnivores I looked it up. Shhh, did you hear the woodpecker? I saw him but he was faster than my camera. Okay I suppose it could have been a girl woodpecker. Let’s see what’s next…

The board walk, and what a nice picture of the, tank if you are in the hill country of Texas, pond for the rest of us. Yes a bit stagnant and full of algae but that is good for the dragonflies.

See a blue dragonfly. Yeah, so what if I really like ‘em. There is method to their flight pattern. Yeah like my flittering about from here to there to over there. Let’s move on. No the only point is to move along...

A butterfly, on that purple flower that dries so well, whatchucallit. Did y’all know purple was my favorite color? Well ya do now!

A field, wildflower meadow for you romantic types.

A windmill in the reenactment of olden’ days site. There were lots of different buildings and such, but y’all are gonna have to come here to see ‘em. Well, you don’t have to get mad I had to save something for your real life trip.

This here is called an armadillo, they like Lone Star beer. Do too, my Daddy said so!

I know, that’s it, short and sweaty. Hey let’s get in the car, turn on the A/C, clean our hands with some bacty-wash do-hickies so we can eat sam-witches. Yes we have chips and some devil eggs, I know how much y’all like my devil eggs.

See y’all next time, Yes, unless you see me first I suppose.

Anyone Day Trip...

So a while back we went in to G city, not spot you nasty peoples, Galveston. The city of Galveston. It has been almost 2 years since our last visit. Things have gotten better since then and it’s starting to look like some recovery has been made since Ike.

Well y’all know how my Beloved likes to take day trips and overnighters and vacations and junk, but because we couldn’t overnight nor vacate we day tripped. So without further ado here we go, yes we, cause you get to do this virtually and that way it is practically free for you. See I do know how valuable your time is.

This is a sideways look down the side of a building.

And this is another building

Yes once more, they have a few buildings there ya know. We were just hanging out and meandering up and down The Strand.

TaDah I knew you were ready for a frontal. Can you see me in the window?

A close up of some fancy a$$ed metal work on…yes you guessed it a building

Wow-sers a Full Frontal view. Wonder where I am in this shot.

Yes I thought we should look the other way, back at where we came from. Now get in the car and let’s go home.

Thank you my dear internets for joining me on this little yet vastly eye popping architectural day trip. Who wants the answer as to which window I was in? That would be the one across the street, really my dears I was taking the picture and could not have possibly been in a window on the third or fourth story of the building I was photographing. Now could I? 'Your average practical joke you slander? Ha, there is nothing average nor practical about my joking. Was this fun for you? I guess it matters not because it was fun for moi!

So what kind of buildings have you looked at lately? Tall ones? Short ones? Skinny ones? Fat Wide Fluffy ones? Invisible ones?

So lucky to be Alive!

Yes this is the long awaited for post about our trip home from Fort Worth. Y’all know the one in which we went to the Japanese Fall Festival and met the super duper all original and organic Jai.

So there we were, driving away from the what-a-burger with happy faces and the ‘wonder how long it’s gonna take to get home’ feet.

The van was shifting funny, but not in a laughing sort of way. It would go into overdrive then after a few minutes it would shift back down then back to overdrive. Humm. We had just make it outside of Dallas and back on to our familiar I45 when…are you ready?...someone had to pee and someone else was hungry and well you get the picture. We stopped at a gas and eat station. Did our business and purchased some subway samwitches (is too spelled wright)

Back on the road, eating while Beloved was driving and commenting on how the sky looked, figuring we would be getting rained on just any minute…then I spotted a rainbow. We chit-chatted about rainbows and how scientifically they come about, yeah, we are that kind of family. Then Beloved says “hey does that cloud look funny.” Y’all know not the laughing way, but OH $hit kind of funny.

I already had my camera out on accounta of the rainbow and junk. So Hey I though take some pictures. Cars had pulled over and we keep on going and taking pictures, most were blurry. Sorry the rainbow didn’t come out, but this one did

We did not know it was crossing the freeway a mile or so ahead of us. It came down on a school blew the roof, knocked the field goals about in the football field, tumped over a train car behind the school.

We saw two different cars that has spun around in the ditch (people okay?)

An ambulance and a couple of cop cars went flying off, we can only assume they were taking family members to the hospital (?)

Then we got to it there in the middle of the freeway on the south bound, our, side of I45 was an 18 wheeler, torn up and laying on its side facing the wrong way (Driver?) Debris was strew all over the road from the truck and the school, insulation was in the trees across the freeway from the school.

Once we got past that, about 7 to 10 miles we ran into hail, it hailed on us for some miles, nowhere to take cover. The hail ranged from pea sized up to large marbles, y’all know the shooter size. But we made it through; I know you were beginning to wonder.

Do you know we still believe this was a good weekend. We were together, saw a really neat drum performance, meet a wonderful dear internet and lived to tell about it. I mean, come on, how much better can it get? No don’t answer that it was a hysterical question and those required no answer.

Dear Internets, I have a surprise!

Okay, so y’all know that it was our anniversary, but what you don’t know is where we went. Now don’t get too excited, stop clawing at your mouse (mice). We went up to Fort Worth, Texas, to attend the Fall Festival in the Japanese Garden, which is held at the Botanical Gardens. The drive up we uneventful, unless you count our being sleepy as an event.

We had a backpack with some waters, snacks and umbrellas as I expected rain. The mid morning was pretty good, not hot and not raining. We walked around and took photos, you knew I would…See

We watched some great drummers! Their performance was very physical, highly energetic and super entertaining. Dondoko Taiko Drummers

Then some fellas demonstrated the Dojo of traditional Japanese Martial Arts. For those of us that don’t know that is where they remove the samurai sword from the sheath and put it back after making a few whacking wind slapping moves through the air. Don’t get me wrong it was very fancy a$$ed wind whacking, but some fellas had orgasmic looks of pleasure on thier faces. So we felt like we were intruding on a personal moment and we took off to roam around the garden.

That’s when it happened. The wind got angry at those fellas and it began to twitch and cry and howl. It was mad as hell and wasn’t gonna take it anymore…they canceled the rest of that day’s festivities. I’m not saying it was those fellas fault, but talk about a co-winky-dense.

The rest of the a day was spent at the hotel, napping The next day we had planned to met and have breakfast with a dear internet. This is the surprise part! Hold your breath and squeeze your eyes tight, okay so just image your eyes are shut (otherwise you cann’t read this-duh)

We were meeting at  a Swiss Pastry & Cake shop (please note the word CAKE). Ha the nerve of them to NOT be open on a Sunday! Their loss. Anyways our secret dear internet arrived and we convoyed over to the what-a-burger. We had the best visit and what a darling she is, more loverly in person, if you can image, then online. Hey hold your horses, I’m getting there.

We talked of everything…writing, reading, world poy-tricks, medicine, music, movies, museums, traveling and we came to the utmost conclusion that to solve all the world’s problems we just need to love each other. I know CRAZY right? We chatted and laughed and laughed and chatted till time actually stood still. Then bam my dear internet wondered what time it was. Would you believe that we had sat there for like 6 ½ hours! Hey you would have too if you had the pleasure of meeting the one and only incredible Jai Joshi. I know don’t hate me. She is a very pleasant, intelligent and personable person. I only hope her mom will forgive us for keeping her so long.

Ya know she figured that we have been communicating online for at least 4 years, but most likely {wink} it’s been more like 5 or 6 Don’ t you think? Okay if you insist is a photo to prove I’m not making this up

TADAH

Oh this may look like the end of the story, but it’s not. Wait till I show and tell y’all about our-So lucky to be alive- trip home.