Saturday Night Birthday in Helotes

Elena made a two-tiered chocolate cake and Nathan made brownies.  The horses were out when I arrived,  so Elena ran to open the gate while Nathan stayed inside so he could greet me as the Mexican cowboy he's going to be for Halloween--just waiting for the mustache and shirt like Papa's to make his costume complete. 

Elena is going to be a giant squid.

Dinner on the porch at sunset, cake and brownies for dessert, lots of show and tell, a beautiful present from Filandia, Columbia, a colorful woven vest--it was a very happy birthday celebration! 

Elena's newest venture is making and selling earrings for a recent Market Days. (I bought four pair.) Nathan is raising a new pig, competing with his band on Saturday, and making all A's in high school.  

Thank you to my precious Texas Family for royally celebrating my 74th birthday!

Birthday Party #2

Last night Lorraine and Jan and I went to Pharm Table for dinner--a wonderful place to sit outside and enjoy healthy delicious food!  Then we came back here to continue the conversations in the casita.  

Here you can see the adorable Carma and her cute human a sari skirt, Jan. (Lorraine was reluctant to have her picture taken at the moment I was snapping my iPhone camera--but she was equally adorable!)

Lorraine asked one of the best possible questions,  "What are you  both doing to feed your creative spirits?"

Jan's been teaching herself watercolor--making impressive strides and beautiful fruits and vegetables on the page.  Also doing gel prints on fabrics and t-shirts--two of which I now own and love wearing. 

Lorraine is acting in plays and we both think she's a natural.  We ask her for monologues every time and we're in awe of her ability to switch voices and gestures and become somebody else. 

I showed them my baby armature for spirit boxes I made yesterday.  So far the two I've made are only gel-prints wrapped around the basic shapes, but it's a start. 

Now Lorraine's considering asking Janet if she can find a dog for her: "A cross between Luci and Carma." 

Birthday party #1

A big thanks to Kate and Charlotte and Janet for a wonderful birthday celebration at Kate's today.  Kate made butterbeans and cornbread and Charlotte made chocolate cake and we had loops and spirals of conversations.  Three beautiful women sang to me and had the generosity to make me have to blow out only one candle! 

Courage

Two friends in their seventies are doing something brave.  One is in the process of having her beautiful Indiana house unpacked for moving, leaving behind much that will not fit into her San Antonio condo.  It must be incredibly stressful to make the choices, what to do take, what to sell or give away!  After it's all done, she will be driving here alone, except for her cat. 

Another friend moved to The Netherlands in September. Barbel sold all her furniture, home decor and collections before she left Albuquerque, taking only the basics (clothes and art supplies) to live with the man she loves.  She doesn't  speak the language--yet--but I predict she will learn it soon.  When she moved to America from Germany as a young woman, she didn't know English--but she's very proficient in language and adventuring.   She came to Texas with no friends or family; she left with a huge circle of friends in San Antonio, Alpine, and Albuquerque! 

And I thought a cross-country trip with a tiny dog, hurting feet and a heavy heart was stressful!  

Woo-Hoo, Nellie!

Nellie is a professional artist and retired art professor.  She was the one who first inspired me to do collage and I'm always intrigued by her work.

We both love the work and classes of Lyn Belisle.  Since Lyn lives in San Antonio, I've been lucky enough to take two of her in-person classes.  But her online classes are equally wonderful.  She's generous and precise in her instructions and even a novice like me can can follow along and make good stuff.

Before I left on my trip, both Nellie and I signed up for Lyn's class, The Secrets of Spirit Boxes.  This is a photo of a Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine featuring her work and an article she wrote about spirit boxes.  

While I've only gotten through the first three lessons, Nellie has made several--and she gave me permission to post these photos:

As you can see, she's made clay faces and adorned her pieces with sticks and clay and handmade papers.  

Here is a close up of one of them--spectacular!

The "secret" in the title refers to the fact that each doll is backed with an altered Altoids box to hold secrets messages or gifts or whatever.

I'm inspired by Nellie's dolls.  As soon as I get properly unpacked and wash the car and the dog, I am going to get started.  

Some highlights of the last two weeks

Carlene turned 97, August 24th.
Part of this trip was intended as a belated birthday party

 

Nellie (who so generously offered to fly to Atlanta and drive me home after the accident)
 sent this picture of us taken in Lawrenceville
more than 20 years ago. We both look exactly the same today,
of course!
In this Christmas picture we were re-uniting after many years--since our1966
graduation from high school.  

Luci and I sitting on the Harris Greenway Trailhead monument at Tribble Mill Park--
a new addition since I was there last. Named after my daddy, Lloyd Harris would absolutely love this
park and seeing so many walkers, runners and dogs enjoying it!  
I can't think of a better legacy for a man who loved the beautiful outdoors. 

Carlene is in love with Luci-
and I think it's a mutual admiration thing.

Luci in Rose's lap (Rose my niece), then my nephew Micah, and Nana
At our pizza lunch in Ellijay

3309 miles from doorstep to doorstep--with some meandering miles while there--and we are now home.  I don't care to see the inside of a car for at least a week!  

Driving to Texas on Day's birthday

This is the last night of my last solo road trip for a very long time. We finally found a pet-friendly room in Palestine, Texas with 230 miles to go tomorrow.  I could have found one sooner if I'd stayed on Interstate 20, but I was determined to get away from the steady stream of 18-wheelers, the sun in my eyes. 

An accident a couple of weeks ago changed the trajectory of the visit. Almost all  plans were upended dealing with the after-effects.  It was hard to leave, but it's time to get back home.  I plan to spend a week recovering.

Luci and I stopped at the cemetery where my daddy was buried twenty years ago. He's So Everywhere for me, but he's not there.  Even so....

Then Will called to wish me a happy birthday.  I was sad about leaving Carlene.  I was sad about the trip going on an unexpected series of tangents.  

Will said, "Being on the road will help, Mama.  It always does."

At our first stop in Alabama yesterday, I heard a conversation that tapped into my sadness.  A customer in a hoodie said to a clerk,  "I tell you one thing I'm proud of.  I raised a good man.  When I see him in the morning, I think 'I just put you to bed a baby and you woke up a man.  I didn't get a chance to say good-bye to my baby.'"

I walked to the car and she followed me out.  She was a small Black woman in her forties.  "Oh, Mama, you so pretty!" she said to me.  Me--tousled and puffy-eyed and sloppily dressed! 

I thanked her for an uplifting compliment on my birthday and  told her I had overheard her story about her son and was moved by it. 

"Your birthday?" she said, leaning in to the car.  "Can I hug you?"

So there we were in a parking lot, a young trucker hugging the haggard 74 year old with miles to go before she sleeps.  

She warned me about driving.  "They is a lot of crazy people on the road.  If you see someone acting crazy, just hold back.  Get home safe."

That cheered me for quite a few miles!

Claire and Xander's wedding in Georgia

Betty--my dear friend since kindergarten--gave Claire the most beautiful wedding!  I will post more pictures as soon as I get my iCloud settings adjusted, but here they are on the day of their rehearsal.

They are clearly in love--Claire the spirited outgoing and bossy bride (I love her!) and Xander, shy and smart and good!  

There are many stories to tell about the perfect wedding--after threats of having to change the venue due to the storm--but I'll keep this midnight post short for now and add on later.

They were married at the farm of their uncles, Deron and David, and Deron was the officiant.  The farm is lusciously landscaped by David.  

Their first dance as a married couple was, 'Will you still love me when I'm sixty four,' and I'm sure he will and she will.  Their love for each other was the brightest light of the day! 

Mississippi and Alabama

It's been a wonderful day! We backtracked from Biloxi to Pass Christian and then back again and to Ocean Springs. All these towns are pet friendly, and Luci is a perfect traveler.  Whoever taught her to walk on a leash so well (whoever had her before me)  did a great job.  She was warmly welcomed in the few stores we went into and Maison de Lu (house of Lucy, really!) where I had soup and luscious lemon pie with raspberry sauce on top.

Then tonight she was welcomed into The Shrimp Basket here in Evergreen, delicious dinner of shrimp and catfish and slaw with steamed shrimp.  When I walked in, the hostess said, "She's a service dog, right?  Say yes."

Early this morning, we walked for an hour on the Biloxi beach, then spent another hour at the Bark Park where Luci got to romp with a dog named Max.  His owner was a young man, about forty, who's already had two heart attacks.  "I'm also bipolar," he said.  "And so is Max.  It's good for us both to hang out with you two, helping us learn to socialize." 

There's a wonderful bakery/book store overlooking the beach in Pass Christian.

For the hour it took us to drive to Ocean Springs, I listened to a delightful program on Mississippi Public Broadcasting by a man who calls himself The Gestalt Gardener.  

http://gestaltgardener.mpbonline.org

Sunrise in Biloxi

Mississippi Gulf Coast Travelogue

I. Biloxi Thursday Night

This is such a beautiful stretch of the South, Highway 90 right along the coast line, a short dip down from Interstate 10.  Ever since my 1967 trip to San Antonio, it's been the highlight of the southern route between Georgia and Texas. (I will take the northern route back, the one that includes The Natchez Trace.)

Like everywhere else in my married days, however, we didn't stop; we just looked from the car.  We didn't walk on the beach or explore, we did what Will called his dad's "Operation Haul-Ass" style of travel: drive the whole 1100 in 24 hours, maybe grab a motel if there was a game on he wanted to watch.  (It doesn't take years of therapy to explain why I later chose Traveling Solo--or traveling with fun, compatible traveling companions.) 

I have loved Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, for the past 25 years when I first went there with Minnesota Bob.  He took his time, bought great food, went to local museums, always on the lookout for learning about the history and culture of places we visited. (Unlike me, Bob did great pre-travel planning and discovered Breaux Bridge.) 

I took Kate and Carlene there, separate trips, and Kate danced Saturday morning zydeco.  Mike and I had hummingbird cake in a bakery where the banjo players jammed and danced at a big Cajun food restaurant--then wended our way down the coast and visited Mandeville and Covington.  Betty and I didn't go as far west as Breaux Bridge on her 70th birthday trip, but we sat  in a little gazebo on the Mandeville edge of the lake, across the causeway to New Orleans.  

To revisit all kinds of personal history, I always feel compelled to stop in all these places on solo travels. 

2. Present Day

Breaux Bridge seemed changed, the bakery and art gallery gone, the antique store still welcoming but less intriguing than before. 

After the storms, Mandeville and Covington were forever changed from sleepy little towns to traffic filled cities with high-rise hotels, malls, and chain stores. Thousands of displaced people relocated to these towns after the hurricanes. 

The coast itself has been modernized with walkways and steep concrete steps, but the sight of the beach, walkers, gulls and kites always makes me happy.  The countless grand houses flattened by  the storms have been rebuilt or replaced.  Bay St. Louis to Ocean Springs is still a beautiful drive. I didn't discover Ocean Springs until a couple of trips ago, a charming town just east of Biloxi where I'm staying tonight. 

It's extremely difficult--I discovered yesterday--to get down the steep steps onto the beach.  I did find handrails at one spot in Gulfport, so Luci and I walked to the water's edge and back.  This is the only photo of that venture:

3. Traveling with A Dog

Beaumont to Baton Rouge was tricky.  Dogs are not allowed within 300 feet of the Visitor Center restrooms and it's too hot to leave a dog in the car.  The only way to make that equation work is to have a human traveling companion  to hold on to the dog while you go inside the bathroom. 

A woman outside the Mississippi Welcome Center said, "Oh, you have your baby too!  My husband has mine!"

At first, I was a little envious.  She had a sweet, jolly, helpful husband, someone to walk around with her dog!  

In a few minutes, however, I saw said husband.  A paunchy grumpy-looking man held the dog's leash and stood staring into the distance.  He was wearing a red Trump cap.

My envy evaporated. The slight snags in my day suddenly diminished imagining a day in that particular truck, leash holding notwithstanding. 

4. A Good Ending

I'm spoiled by San Antonio.  Luci is welcome almost anywhere I go except indoor restaurants.  We have enjoyed water-bowl-provided meals together on patios.  The clerks in our favorite stores call out her name when we walk in!  So I was surprised when I had phone trouble yesterday that the AT&T store (in spite of my being stranded for a while without a working phone) wouldn't allow Luci to come inside.  

San Antonio is, I now see,  extraordinarily pet friendly.

Last night I was having second thoughts about traveling with a dog.  I was tired and hungry after eating only fast food and snacks.  I took a chance.  I asked the manager of a Waffle House on the beach if he would let Luci come inside.

"Of course! She's a support dog, right?" --wink wink.

"That she is tonight," I said. 

When I left, he said, "Just walk in like you own the place and nobody will say anything.  Just say she's a  support dog.  Go to Ocean Springs tomorrow.  They love dogs there!"

That Waffle House meal--and their hospitality--made it the best meal I'm likely to have on this road trip!  

Luci--the best-behaved dog ever--sat quietly at my feet while I scarfed eggs and grits and waffles. 

My hopes returned--for a good Day Three, a stop in Ocean Springs.  I will not let one challenging day make me forget: "All dogs are support dogs; some just free-lance."  

This chalked sign on a neighborhood sidewalk where I walked Luci (Beaumont yesterday morning)--was one of the hidden treasures of the trip so far and coincided with some more--but those stories would take two or three more pages!)