Harvest

 
Today's tomato harvest. The littlest ones are smaller than dimes. I haven't gotten any really big ones yet -- the ones that will be big are still green and little. I don't know if they'll have enough time to mature. Hopefully it won't freeze until October!

The green ones in this photo are ripe. They are called Green Zebras. Fun!

Another Wedding -- with Parasols!

A couple of weeks ago, we went to the wedding of some law school friends. He is from New Orleans, so there were some elements of that in the reception. He also plays in a jazz band, often playing at other people's weddings. He played four songs with his band at his own reception. It was cool. We marched around the room in a big circle, and they gave us parasols, though not such fancy ones as the bride had. If anyone knows the meaning of the parasols, why don't you just tell me what it is?

Good Times!

 
First Hermione cursed Jason (or was he just scared of her hair?),














 
and then Sparky and I went to the Land of Oz (in matching shirts -- Jason refused to wear his teal scoop neck),
















and then Jason and I met Johnny Cash!! 

Here is what I looked like

about a week ago, with Jazz Hands. Today, I look pretty much the same.

New Furniture!!

 
 
 
Here is the chair Jason bought me for my birthday, which is great for reading in, or laptop computing. The cat loves it, too, and is shedding in there. I told him, Pack it in, Pack it out. It's just like camping. Leave no hair behind.

We also got a dining room table and chairs which we are really happy with! The table comfortably seats four, and then it has two leaves, so we can extend it for two more people or four more people. We're grownups!

Rest Stop

 
A scary rest stop sign.

Waxy Nixon

 
Hmm. For some reason, this close up didn't appear on my earlier post. It's important, doggone it!

Museums

 
 
 
 
We wanted to get some culture while we were in Dallas, so we went to the logical place: The Wax Museum!

We saw lots of famous wax people, and all of the presidents. My favorite waxy guy was old Tricky Dick. He actually looked less waxy in person than in this photo.

Then my camera battery died, so I have to wait until I get the others' photos to show you more of the trip.

art?

 


Yeah, that dragon is wearing cowboy boots. In addition to that, please note all those Segways lined up! Sparky said a lady gives Segway tours of downtown. How annoying for pedestrians!!

On the Town

 

 

 

Sparky, Jason, and I went downtown to wander around and eat lunch and see where Kennedy was shot.

In Dallas

 
 
 
 

We finally got to Sachse and got to visit Sparky, and her husband, Sparky's Problem, and their Kid. Jason and I wandered around a giant Frye's electronics, which took a while. It would have been more fun if their employees weren't so obviously working on commission. They were rather Aggressive.

Back at the Sparky house, we played Rock Band! And more Rock Band! My strength was on the drums (on Easy mode I kind of kicked serious ass). I sure sucked at guitar! But with some practice, I became adequate at it (on Easy mode, of course). The boys tired of it, and Sparky and I started our own band, the COCKAUTS!

I think we're in the South!

 
This was an intersection near our friends' house. Cotillion and Bunker Hill.

Pit Stop

 

 

On our way to Oklahoma, we stopped for lunch at Braum's Ice Cream / tiny grocery store. Jason has childhood memories of their milkshakes, and he got to relive those days with a vanilla shake. It lived up to his expectations -- how often does that happen?

Also, we saw a whole family of people with weird haircuts. Here is a shot of the dad (with a wicked Prince Valiant!) and one of the sons. I so wish we could have captured the whole family, but we felt shy about taking pictures of them.

So, we made it to Keystone Lake State Park in Oklahoma, beating the convoy by at least 2 beers (one hour). Apparently, Papa Motes had a coin go unaccepted at a toll booth and had to go back and put in another one. Still, an HOUR?

Now there are no more pictures, because none of us took any. There were about 50 people at the reunion, but probably 10 were just little guys. There was a two-month old, Wyatt, and kids ranging up to 13 from the 3rd generation. The 2nd generation started at 17 and went up into the early 40s. The first generation were 10 siblings, now just 8 living, but one doesn't go to reunions because of a feud over their parents' house (and who knows what other issues).

We drank many, many cans of beer, and some of us stayed up until 3:00 am, working hard to do so. On Saturday, we got to ride in two boats (a speed boat and a pontoon) and go to a beach to swim and hang out. One member of Generation 1 promptly soaked her cigarettes in the lake water. There was a beach ball that miraculously survived the breeze and tide of the lake. We had a great day at the lake! Some people rode on a tube pulled by the speed boat, and some were brave enough to try a new acquisition, The Air Chair. No one had too much success that day. They were too far out for me to see it, and I wished I had binoculars.

Sunday, we had a ceremony for a recently departed family member, the annual gift exchange, ate heartily, and Jason and I headed for Dallas to visit Sparky and her family.

Summer vacation 2008

 
 
 
 


First we drove like the wind (even ask the state trooper who stopped us!) from Colorado to Kansas, to Jason's hometown. With his older brother in tow, we hit the bar (where you can still smoke INSIDE -- how strange and old-fashioned seeming!). We proceeded to drink heavily, in preparation for the weekend to come. For the price of the three of us drinking sufficiently in Kansas, we could have bought one pint each in Colorado. Welcome to Kansas!

The next morning, we fueled up on donuts and coffee. While his brother looked on, Jason helped start a fight between his nieces, and then at the last second got us out of joining the convoy with his two brothers' families and his parents. We were off to Oklahoma for the Motes family annual reunion.

Is this Art?

 

Alien Eye

 

Picasa lets you play with pictures.

In the Dark