Ooops

I forgot to put the pictures from the World War I Symposium in Kansas City at the WWI Museum. Here they are. Why would I want an SLR camera when I can barely work this one. The field of silk poppies gives pause. There are 9000 poppies, each one representing 1000 people who were killed during the war. Lest anyone forget . . . . It was a moving place to remember 9/11.

I'm Baaaaaack

I can hardly believe that it's been almost a year since a sallied forth. But, good friends reminded me of the obvious. Joe and I and our favorite lap dog started out on a two-week roadtrip to points west. We hoofed it to Ruidosa with a stop in Ft Stockton, one of our favorite resting places (that was tongue in cheek) but if you live in San Antonio and want to go west, it's stop there or nowhere. We descended on Bruce and Nancy and Daisy's sister, Pali. Daisy decided to stay with them when we went to Chandler to Creative Escapes scrapbook extravaganza.


We made the yearly pilgrimage to the Heart Attack Grill and stuffed ourself with lard, cream and Mexican cokes - the really syrupy kind. Fred and Joe had found it (by accident) last year, so we invited Nancy and Bruce and we all had burgers dripping with grease. After 3 hard days of scrapbooking, we left Patty and Fred at the airport and went to retrieve Daisy.
Joe and I had decided to drive to the Grand Canyon but when we learned Nancy (another highschool friend) and Don, her husband, were back in town, we opted to have lunch with them and then the six of us could drive to Vegas instead. What a great choice.
Boys in one car and girls in the other. We told funny stories, reminisced, and just had an all around good time. Once there, we had great Italian food; bad craps tables, good Oz and Monopoly slot machines. It must have been a good time cause we never left the hotel. You just can't take for granted friendships that last over time. We have been truly blessed. And another blessing is that our husbands really appear to like each other. I'm sure sometimes they feel left our of the stories, but they benevolently hang in there. Here's to them.
After all of that, the ride home was a bit of an afterthought, but Daisy joined us in the front seat and we returned home to laundry, mail, and other assorted mundane stuff. And packing for a trip to Kansas City. Thank you Lord for friends.

Go West, Robinsons, Go West

We've begun the trek to WA state to Joe's oldest son's wedding. We've got a van packed to the gills, one dog ( a lap dog Labrador), and two geezers as our daughter is wont to say. I have to remind her that 50 is the new 30 and geezers don't start until the mid-eighties. And when I'm 80, it'll move. We're sailing through seven states. On the first day, we traveled 8 hours and were still in TX. When you look at an Atlas, TX is not to scale of the other states. We took refuge from a hail storm under the entry way to a nursing home. I'm a big off-the-freeway sort of person and we were on some less traveled roads. The wind generators that dot the landscape are wonderful to watch, rather like large herons. My observation is that the further north and west we go, the higher the gas prices and the lower the octane. Why do gas prices go up during the summer? I cannot believe it doesn't have something to do with gouging, but what do I know. More observations to come.

Sometimes your best friend . . .

turns out to be your daughter.
This year Joe gave Maggie and me a five-day trip to Ireland. Left lane driving, Guinness, Irishmen, mussels, and the love of my daughter, . . . could there be a better gift? We landed at Shannon on Wed morning and left from Dublin on Sun. In between was magic. Maggie served as navigator (she is blessed with a keen sense of direction). We had perfect weather, always sunny, no rain. We found little out of the way places, not on the "schedule" and Maggie's excitement got me to stop and enjoy things I never would have, had she not been there. It's great to see Ireland through the eyes of a twenty year-old. Through shouts of "left, left, left," we only drove on the wrong side one time.
The Dingle Peninsula was straight from the brochures. I found the B&B that Joe and I had stayed in 9 years ago. Wonderful Irish hospitality and homemade scones. Then we left the slow lane for Dublin. My mother always dragged me to things so I could say I'd done them. Maggie has now seen Dublin and had scones at Bewley's. Along the way, there was a stop at the Guinness Brewery, for medicinal purposes only.
And, we ended the trip watching Ireland win the Grand Slam Rugby play-offs. (So much better than American football.) Suffice it to say we packed a lot into four days. But the best thing, was traveling with and sharingg Ireland with Maggie. I love her dearly.