A Delight-filled week

I met Nellie junior year of high school--a lively red-haired cheerleader.  I'd just moved from Cochran, three hours south, and Nellie took in this newcomer and made me feel welcome.  She was the life of any party and I was happy to be part of a new group of friends. 

We graduated and went our separate ways, marrying, starting our careers, and being moms.  Then one year we both attended a Christmas Eve service at First Baptist where we'd met decades before and started a grown up friendship.  Soon thereafter, I was about to lead a writing group for a week in Tuscany, and Nellie was the perfect traveling companion. 

We rented a teeny tiny car.  Nellie was tour guide and navigator and I was the driver.

I can hardly believe I had the courage to drive said teeny tiny car all around Tuscany with Nellie and three other women as passengers.  The roads were curvy and none of us spoke Italian, yet we managed--even on the day that several Italian drivers blew their horns and gestured wildly at us to warn us that smoke was billowing out of our teeny tiny car.  Two women spoke Spanish and were able to cobble together words and communicate with the mechanics.  While they were fixing the car, we were told to go across the street and drink a little wine while they fixed whatever was wrong. 

The most magical parts of that trip were the days the two of us traveled from Milan to Florence and the Cinque Terre.  We so fondly remember walking the streets of Venice, Verona, and Florence, shopping at little markets, and feeling free to explore together or separately, each of us doing whatever we wanted.  We boarded trains and walked up and down steep stairs.  We lay on the beach near one of the villages of the Cinque Terre--and got Tiger Oil massages from a young Chinese woman.  

We've kept in touch through the years and seen each other a few times, and it's always like drinking something bubbly.  Nellie inspires me.  

This week, Nellie and Art went to Austin to see the eclipse and to celebrate her son's 50th birthday. 

Charlie, his wife and four children and dad, celebrated his fiftieth with Nellie and Art all these beautiful decorations made by Nellie! 

He designed the eclipse T-shirt and Nellie made the candle card and the banner of photos of him at different ages.

On Tuesday, Nellie and Art came here and spent four nights in the casita.  

Here we are yesterday having lunch at a place called Peggy's in the Old Kendall Inn in Boerne.

We had a wonderful time poking around San Antonio and a bit of the Hill Country, and I miss them both!