I Love Surprises!!

Annemarie surprised me with an early Mother's Day gift. Late evening, Sneed noticed a package on the front porch (why UPS doesn't alert with a ring of the doorbell is beyond me). Anyway, he asked if I were expecting something. I said, "No". But it was addressed to me. Hmmmm, from Crate and Barrel. My first thought was that it was something for Annemarie's shower from someone who can't attend on 15 May. There was an envelope, so I took a peek to see what's up. It was for me. Excitement reigned. Here is the surprise. Four Sorrento Melamine dinner plates. Sneed immediately called dibs on the berry-colored one. So festive looking. Can't wait to eat on them tomorrow night...at least 2 of them that is.

We've all had days like this

Zonked out on the way back to Katy. I didn't know I was going to be picking up the girls after their Art Class so I needed to return home to get my camera. Haven't we all felt like Olsin. Get in the car in mid-afternoon, and before one knows it, nodding off is inevitable...except not a good idea if one is behind the wheel.

Aedin preparing a sign for the Art Show.

Dylin's "Field of Dreams" is top row left in the left photo.
Aedin's "April Showers Bring May Flowers" is bottom row left in the right photo.

Dylin with an earlier art piece, "Blue Dog".

Our First Astros Game of the Season

...and what a game it was. Astros swept the series with the Pirates winning this game 10-3. Their first series sweep as they slowly overcome their 0-8 start and are now 8-10.



Today was also the Third Annual Astros Car Show and Marque accepted the invitation for a repeat showing. There weren't as many entrants as last year when there were two blocks filled with cars, Marque and my Z among them. This year the first block was hardly filled. While we were walking around, Sneed recognized Jose Cruz, former Astros great of retired number 25 and former first base coach to Lance Berkman. Soooo, I asked to take a photo with him and he graciously consented. Woo Hoo!



Now to the game.



It was such a gorgeous day the roof was open...a first for us.The birds were flying around us, a beautiful day with low humidity and a nice gentle breeze.



Bats (the Louisville Slugger variety) were flying too as first Hunter, then Lance, and finally Tommy M (the new SS) let them loose and it wasn't even bat giveaway day. Our seats were all the way up in the fourth tier right behind third base, great birdseye viewing. The most welcome sight was the Blue Bell ice cream bearing man.



Astros high fiving after a well-earned sweep of the Pirates.



After all was said and done, Marque and the red Mustang were the only entrants still hanging out.

Ready for some Soccer, Yellow Jackets?

Aedin and Dylin are playing on the same soccer team. Their Dad Terry, one of the coaches, has Dylin playing 'up' with the 7-8 year old group. She's only 6, but he felt she could handle it (and it makes going to 1 game instead of 2 a real timesaver). They flit and fly down the field at times looking like butterflies, other times like ballerinas. Only 4 players for each team are on the field at one time, but they do get some down time. Today's game was the first on the schedule at 830AM, cool but very sunny. The Yellow Jackets were playing against the Honey Bees. Gees, both teams are in yellow. Well, here goes. There was a lot of buzzin' goin' on.



Dylin, #9, (above) and Aedin, #8, (bottom photos) on the field.

Day 2 on the Natchez Trace - Florence, AL to Oxford, MS

After breakfast at the motel and a short drivers' meeting, the group took off for Helen Keller's birthplace in Tuscumbia, AL. Sneed and I, however, went to have the flat tire repaired so we would have a spare if Marque incurred any more blowouts.


We caught up with the group but didn't have time for a docent-led tour so we quickly went through the house and walked around on the grounds on our own. This is Helen's birthplace, Ivy Green. Before she reached the age of 2, she had a high fever which caused her to be deaf and blind. Just about everyone pumped some water from the famed pump which Anne Sullivan used when she spelled the word 'water' into Helen's hand.


Our next stop was Frank Lloyd Wright's only designed structure in Alabama. Built for the Rosenbaums in 1939, an addition was added by Wright in 1949. The house, built in the Usonion style, was constructed from cypress, glass, and brick.

Back on the Trace, we stopped to photograph white Dogwood blossoms and some Iris.


In Tupelo, we stopped at the Automobile Museum. The local television station came out and taped some footage of some of our cars and presented it on the local news that night. The collection contained vehicles from the 1880s to the 1990s.



Elvis' favorite restaurant in Tupelo was Johnnys Original Bar-B-Q (that's the way it was spelled on the sign out front - inside it was also spelled Johnnie's with and without an apostrophe). Sorry, once a proofreader, always a proofreader. Dennis and Kittye are sitting in Elvis' favorite booth, John and Marcy got there a bit too late to have that honor.

One can't be in Tupelo and not visit Elvis' birthplace. There was quite a setup here and for Elvis fans it was quite interesting. Gil, our esteemed RROC President, is pals with an 11 year old Elvis.

Our stop for this evening was Oxford, MS. We had to laugh at the GPS which directed us via the pink line straight through the county courthouse on our way to the motel. The square area in the center of the screen is where the courthouse, pictured to the right, is located.

Day 1 on the Natchez Trace - Franklin, TN to Florence, AL

We breakfasted leisurely at Loveless Cafe. Several of us ordered the “secret recipe” biscuits, served along with the spirit of the recently-departed Carol Fay Ellison, the cafe's famous “biscuit lady”. The jury was out, however, on whether these were any better than our mamas' own lovingly homemade biscuits. The cafe was located near the entrance to the Trace.



Along the way, we made some stops on the Trace. I talked Sandy into joining me on the 3/4 mile walk up the trail to this nice vista. We had a good chinwag as we climbed. Caught our breath at the top and took these photos and then wobbly-legged it back down. We met Hal on our descent and he asked how it was. I said, "Breathtaking" meaning it both figuratively and literally.










Dinner this evening was at the 360 Grille that rotated 300' above the ground allowing us tremendous views of the Tennessee River and Wilson Dam.

Natchez to Franklin

Evidently we were very anxious to start this trip as we were up and on the road again before 6AM this morning. Dawn broke before we were on the road an hour. We stopped at our favorite "on the road" restaurant, Waffle House, for some breakfast. The scenery was beautiful up and down the road....lots of pines and leafy trees with new foliage all covered by purple wisteria. Some wildflowers in various hues lined the road. Alabama welcomed us and had a great slogan set in stone. Good ole Piggly Wiggly - I remember that grocery store from when I was growing up in Fort Walton Beach, FL. It and Jitney Jungle were the two major supermarkets along the Gulf Coast.



I don't know what possessed me to take a photo of the speedometer as we were going down the road because less than an hour later, as Sneed was slowing down to go off onto the berm, just as he hit the rumble strips he knew we had a problem. Yep, another blowout. The tire was so hot it was smoking. He had run it all the way down to the rim.



Fortunately Sneed is pretty good at this tire changing business. But, it doesn't help that the jack that came with the car had the threads stripped so it wouldn't lift the car at all. When he tried the hydraulic jack, it would hardly fit under the car. A friendly Tuscaloosa Alabama Highway Patrolman drove his motorcycle, with the lights flashing, the wrong way on the berm to see if he could be of any assistance. There was a rest area 1/2 mile up the road that he offered to take us to but we declined in order to stay with the car. A short while later, a pick-up from TN pulled over. The man and his young son got out to see what they could do. They had a taller more substantial hydraulic jack which allowed Sneed to get the tire off and the spare put on.The man and his son continued on to a flea market somewhere up the road. See abbreviated video of the tire switching.



So we continued on down the road but at a substantially reduced rate of speed. 50mph to be exact. Here the scenery was much the same, lots of Redbud trees in bloom, wisteria hanging off any tree that would allow it, and many pastoral scenes. I assume by now that you have noticed that I like to include the Flying B when I take photos through the windscreen as we are moving down the road.



Tennessee welcomed us, and two hours later we arrived at our destination, the ALoft Hotel in Franklin quite late but still early enough to get checked in, cleaned up, meet the other participants and oooh and aaaah over their vehicles.


That evening we all piled into our vehicles and drove to Puckett's Grocery and Restaurant for our welcoming dinner. Kelly and Hal have promised a great drive with many interesting stops along the way. Marci and John are enticing us with details of the Fall Colorado Tour in 2011.