Texas Visit

I haven't blown away yet, but the wind has been mild so far. Until tomorrow. The weather people on the nightly news keep grinning about it - wind and dust and more wind. I'm looking forward to seeing it.

I've taken some pictures but don't want to fool with them on someone else's computer. These inlclude a dust devil, many cows, flat fields, a bunch of mule deer in a fence. Mike and Mama and I rode out into the country, just taking dirt roads and exploring. I wanted to see the huge tumbleweeds but only managed to see one anemic one.

The trip out here was great, considering my passengers were an 87-year-old and a fairly active dog. We stopped in Mississippi near Meridian at a rest stop where Mama said she had an excellent cup of coffee and enjoyed sitting in the sunshine talking to strangers.

Darby was a great traveler, sleeping most of the time. Her favorite parts of the trip were the McDonald's Happy Meals we got for her. McNuggets and a mermaid on Saturday and
McNuggets and a race car Sunday.

We just missed the tornadoes and bad storms that went through MS and Al on Sunday. We spent Saturday night in Lindale, TX, and thunder and lightning and really hard rain woke me up about 2:30, but Sunday morning headed toward Dallas, the sky was bright blue and the air fresh-smelling.

Mama has settled into her little room with a recliner and TV and turqoise bathroom from the 50s. She has a little refrigerator and microwave and someone to vacuum and bring fresh towels, so she's happy. Darby is happy there too and enjoys sitting in the little courtyard out front watching the birds and trucks. I spent a nice hour sitting there in the sunshine embroidering.

We went to Lubbock to look at houses and neighborhoods and realized again what a pretty town it is. I was very impressed with the new Barnes and Noble and love the Market Street grocery.

Then we had a nice dinner at Rodriguez's in Littlefield with friends Linda and Butch and met another couple, Terri and Tommy. Such a fun night. Enchilados and taco salads and lots of laughing. Sweet people. We'll get by to visit some more folks this afternoon.

I'll be sorry to leave Friday, but I guess it's time to get back to real life. It's fun to wake up in the mornings and realize you have nothing you have to do and nowhere you have to go. I needed this vacation.