No.60: Hit Five Restaurants in Houston That I Have Never Been To

No. 60: Hit five restaurants in Houston that I have never been to...
done for real now.

I realize that I have already counted No. 60 as being done. Since I had not been in Houston much, I counted a Denver restaurant that was new to me as the fifth restaurant.

But while I was in Texas last week I managed to sneak away for breakfast with two long time friends.

Liddy had come to stay with me when she heard that my mom was having surgery. Liddy and I have been friends forever, a friendship cemented in San Miguel de Allende, as so many of my friendships have been.  Sure, we knew each other before, but it wasn't until we traveled to Mexico together when we were 13 (14?) that we became truly close. She introduced me to some of the local boys. I've been indebted to her ever since.

Anyway, Liddy lost both of her parents this last year so she knows how important a little extra support can be when it comes to those aging parents.

I was very grateful to have her company and appreciative that she drove down from her home near Dallas to stay. It's not like she lives right around the corner.

Another friend, Susan, has been living in Wyoming. But now she's got a new grand baby in Houston, so she has also gotten herself a little apartment there. I guess after many many years enduring Wyoming winters, any excuse is a good excuse to get a place down south. But a baby girl grand baby is an extra special good excuse.

Anyway, Liddy and Susan have been friends longer than I have known either one of them. But we all go back to elementary school. And while my brother was in charge of the parents, Liddy and I dashed into town to meet Susan for breakfast.

 Liddy, Susan, Me

We met at Tiny Boxwoods. And this place was one of those wonderfully trendy, precious restaurants that is just so perfect you want to gag.
Honestly.

The door to breakfast and perfection.

I could have moved into the place and lived there. The interior is my dream style. Iron casement windows. A sort of French feel. Zinc topped tables.
Beautiful gardens with - duh!- boxwoods surrounding the charming brick building.
The menu in beautiful chalk calligraphy upon the requisite oversized blackboard, described the barest of choices.
"Morning Porridge" "Simple Breakfast" "Morning Cheese and Bread Board"
It was all just too, too.
Pressed linen napkins. Simple white dishes. Perfect.

And the three of us spent a lovely morning chatting and catching up.

No. 60 is truly and positively done. For real. No cheating.

A Reunion Run Through...

Practicing for the Reunion

No. 35 on my list is Go to My 40th High School Reunion.

For my next list maybe it will be go to my 70th high school reunion!
(I have one great champion who says I need to do a 90 x 90 once I'm done with 60 x 60. )

Yesterday I drove my mom and dad to her 73rd high school reunion. She was graduated from JH Reagan High School, Houston Texas in 1941. Amazingly there were 725 kids in her graduating class. That is a huge number even by today's standards. At the time it was the largest graduating class in Texas. 

Reagan was established in 1927 as an all-white high school. Wait! You could do that?? 

Ah! Here's an explanation.  It was named after John H. Reagan (not Ronald Reagan) who was the Postmaster General and then the Secretary of the Treasury of the Confederate States. After the Confederacy fell, he became a U.S. Senator from Texas. He died in 1905 and then had a high school named after him 22 years later. 

The reunion was held at The Golden Corral on the Northwest Freeway and there were 9 attendees (7 graduates and two spouses) plus 5 drivers. Everyone in the graduating group is aged 90 or above...except for the two youngsters who are just turning 90 this next month.  This group meets every month but not everyone shows up every time. Apparently more than a few just come once or twice a year. The Christmas reunion seems to be the big one. 

Stella, Richard, Jean, Annabelle (?), Fred, Roy,  Ilene, Margaret

Roy is the interloper- he didn't graduate with these guys.

In the next room over (still at the Golden Corral) was the Lamar H.S. Men's Club which had men from the 1940/41/42 graduating years. ( The wives are only allowed to come at Christmas.)  This group had an even bigger turn out-maybe 20 to 25 men. They also meet monthly. There was a bit of visiting back and forth between the groups...some of these  people had known each other since grade school.   Lamar High School was opened in 1937and was my high school's biggest rival.

Hedley and Jean Mom

He's from Lamar, she's from Reagan.

Lamar was Robert E. Lee's rival by the time I got to high school.

Before lunch started there was a recap of the news which pretty much was a list of who was in the hospital/rehab/ground. Then everyone ate and visited. No alcohol was served. Everyone behaved.

Delivering the news.

I'm not sure I will be able to say the same for my 40th coming in September. 

Dad and Margaret.

Mom swears she always gets a pic of them hugging.

Had to carry on the tradition.

 A note: 

Robert E. Lee High School, my high school, was built in 1962 to relieve overcrowding at Lamar HS.  It is now officially Lee Senior High School and references to General Lee have been removed from the school.  Robert E. Lee was a General in the Confederate Army. 

A little revisionist history anyone? 

Follow up Friday...

Follow up Friday: Just Checking in.

Just checking in.

Amazingly I got all five girls to Texas without incident.   Score one for the mom.

The surprise was a stretch limo to pick us up at the airport and bring us to the house.
Just keeping it classy.
We'll slum it on the return trip.   Can't be the  Kardashians all the time.

We've had lots of girl drama.  Friend visits. And rain.  The main goal of the trip was to come home tan. (For the girlies, not for me.) We'll see.

Also had a car break down while Bunny was driving. This caused Belle to go on and on about how reliable her car had been until her sister BROKE it. Somehow she has forgotten how much she HATES that car. Even though she picked it out. And it's beautiful. And it has treated her well. Thank goodness she got a loaner.

Thursday was dinner with my parents, my niece, her husband and their babies. Couldn't wait to get my hands on those twins. They are almost one! Can't believe it.  But how did I get through the night without taking a picture on MY phone?

And my New Orleans weekend trip has taken an amazing turn for the better. While I love a road trip, I spend a lot of the time on the road as it is. My sweet friend that was driving me was going to come from Austin, pick me up and then off we would go.   Enter my fabulous and wonderful brother who offered  tickets to New Orleans, saving me a 7 hour drive and her a 10 hour drive. I love him. He's the bomb.

Have a lovely weekend everyone.

Happy!

HAPPY!
Happy SIXTY FIFTH wedding anniversary to my parents.
and…
Happy Spring Break to me and the girlies.


Today is my parents 65th wedding anniversary. Imagine.

They were married in 1949.

Here's a few fun facts from 1949.

On January 1 KPRC Channel 2 began broadcasting in Houston.  (There were lots of firsts in the TV broadcasting industry this year.)

January 31: The first daytime soap opera, "These are My Children", aired.  No relation to "All My Children" and Susan Lucci was not involved.

March 2: The first automatic street light came on in New Milford, Connecticut.

June 3: The first Negro graduated from the US Naval Academy. (Yep, Negro.  That was the word back in the day.)

June 23: The first group of women graduated from Harvard Medical School.   See? Equality all around was in the works.

August 14: There was a military coup under Colonel Sami Hinnawi in Syria.
Just proves that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Syria is still in the news.

August 29: Russia tests and explodes its first atomic bomb.

September 23: President Harry Truman announces that there is evidence Russia detonated its first nuclear device.   Guess everyone didn't have Smart Phones. News travelled s.l.o.w.l.y.

October 4: The American Contract Bridge League voted 58% to keep Negroes out.    Equality came in fits and spurts. One step forward, two steps back.

October 26: Harry Truman increases the minimum wage from 40¢ to 75¢. Geez- that's almost doubling the minimum wage. WTG Harry.

December 12: The American League votes to reject legalizing the spitball.  Baseball players rejoice. Or not.

And on March 25, 1949 Jean Boyd and Stewart L. (Roy) Nelson got married.

Awwww.   First kiss. 

So we are celebrating.   As we should.


And…..

It is Spring Break for the girlies.
In a momentary lapse of common sense I agreed to fly to Texas with my two girls PLUS THREE of their  Colorado friends.   One of the friends has never flown before.

Should be a total blast.
I have a special surprise scheduled for the airport.
They are planning on going to the beach and who knows what else.

Mostly I imagine these Colorado girls are going to be overwhelmed by going from a town of 6000 people to a city of about 80,000 people which is on the outskirts of the 4th largest city in the United States. (A little over 2 million people)

Once we are in Texas I will be abandoning my family for a couple of days and heading to New Orleans for a girl's weekend with some friends from High School.   There I am going to accomplish No. 21: Go to brunch by heading to Commander's Palace on Sunday.

My traveling partners for New Orleans.

And then we will be back in Colorado next week.

Sooo….
This will be the last post for a bit until I am reunited with my cabin and my big computer.

Have a wonderful week.
Pray for me.

(And I had a horrible realization. Those tiny seedlings that I managed to sprout will be left unattended for a whole week. No one around to water them. What a horrible mother I am. I'm going to try making a little terrarium but I'm not too optimistic. We'll see.)

Doomed to die?

Please don't call CPS.

(Or would that be PPS? 

Plant Protective Services)

And don't bother to try breaking into our cabin. I've put the neighbor on alert and he is packing heat most days in addition to being on pain meds for a bad back. Some days he likes to save up his meds and take them all at once. He is very protective of us. 
Fortunately. 

Back in Town: Observations on Living Two Lives

Back in Town: a few observations about spreading myself around and occupying two places....


Belle and Bunny and I went back to Texas over the weekend for a quick visit.
Carlos stayed in Colorado and went to the kennel.
Obviously one of us got a bum deal!

I had low expectations for my own entertainment since I knew I would be driving Bunny around while she got herself gussied up for Homecoming.
Homecoming in Texas is a whole 'nother ballgame compared to Homecoming in Colorado.

Homecoming in Colorado. 

No mums, no garters. 

Corsages and boutonnières instead.

Look at all those ribbons! 

Just like big Texas hair, 

the bigger the better when it comes to mums.

A garter had to be procured for Bunny's date. This is a big Texas tradition. I figured that would be easy but nooooo.
Michael's craft store would not accept an order over the phone.  Period. No way. "It's against the rules."
Okay.
A Facebook plea garnered an innocent victim volunteer: a poor friend who had NEVER ordered a mum or garter before. Michael's made her run around the store picking out ribbons and trinkets and while she had NO IDEA what she was doing- the final results were spectacular.

Bunny and date.

With mum and garter.

Both girls insisted on getting their hair done while they were in the "big city".  I was brave and got mine done in Colorado before we left and couldn't be happier. A cut and color for half what I usually pay and I can't tell you how many people told me my hair looked great.
Apparently Texas does not have a corner on the market for "perfect blonde highlights".

I truly did not think I would have time to do any visiting.
Thankfully I was wrong.
I got lunch with one friend, coffee with another and a chance encounter at dinner with yet another.
And I got to see my horse and a couple of barn friends, too.

I got to see Boy and of course, the hubs. The hubs had been in Colorado the week before and I talk to him all the time, so I hadn't really had a chance to miss him.
But Boy.  Haven't seen him in over two months and he isn't much of a phone talker. So it was nice to spend time with my oldest child even though he was possibly not as happy to see me as I was to see him. Sometimes we don't see eye-to-eye.
I did get this photo which totally warms my heart. He pretends to be gruff but he's a softy at heart.

 Me, Clara and Boy.

"Hey cuz. Can I have a bite?

The parents aren't giving me real food yet.

I won't tell."

But best of all, and totally unexpected, I got to spend time with the youngest and oldest members of my family at the same time.   My brother and sister-in-law came into town and there was a big ol' gathering at my parent's house.  This was especially lovely since it was the one year anniversary of my other brother passing away and it was a treat for the remaining ones of us to gather.

Clara and Colby (6 months) with the peeps (1075 months  and 1090 months)

My nephew in Utah had taken my brother's/his uncle's ashes up to Yellowstone and scattered them on Saturday. Brother Paul gets to spend his eternity in Wyoming, a place he never visited but always wanted to go to.  I guess it's true: It's never too late.


                                             

And some little observations.

I walked into the Texas house and thought "There is stuff here that I haven't seen or needed in 2 1/2 months. I need to purge."
There will be a major cleansing in December.

...

The second thing I noticed was that we left a LOT of animals at home for Boy and the hubs to care for.
A lot.
Three cats, one of them very old and needy.
A turtle.
A chinchilla.
A Beta fish that will turn two next month.
Every one was still alive and mostly doing great.
The old cat needed a bath and a good brushing but I am sure they will do better now that they realize he really can't groom himself.
Otherwise all was good.
We can replace that molding on the wall where someone didn't realize that chinchilla's chew.

Ruby says "YUM!"

This used to be my dining room wall. 

Well, it still is, but now it has "character".

...

Remember the little photo of the bunny footprints in the snow on my Colorado front porch?

Bunny feet prints. Must have been researching his dining options.

Well, while the dog was away, the bunny played. And ate.
That bunny systematically trimmed the flowers off of half of my chrysanthemums on the front porch.  Very neatly. Looks like he used some tiny scissors.

A very neat little bunny- with very sharp teeth.

...

Food that I was greatly anticipating didn't taste as good as I expected.
Tex-Mex!! Come to mama!
Except- meh- it was okay.   Maybe I wasn't in the mood.

Grimaldi's Pizza- a weekly favorite in Texas- must  have been having an off night.  Either that or Moonlight Pizza here has stolen my heart away.

And I brought back a present for Carlos.  An item of clothing that never in my entire life did I expect I would have a need for.  I went shopping in the "Duck Dynasty" section of my local Academy and purchased a one piece "step in, zip up, go" camo jumpsuit to wear while walking Carlos.
At 7:00 AM  I am incapable of making warm clothing decisions and am very hesitant to actually get out of my nice warm jammies. This outfit "stylishly" solves that problem. Stay in the jammies, cover up and clip on that leash. I will blend into the landscape- no one will even notice if I haven't brushed my hair. (Because I won't have....)

Nope. Not modeling this one...

So....  back in Colorado and pretty happy about it.

I'm working on No.16: Write a letter every day for a week.
First off is a note to the Colorado occasional neighbors. They stopped by while I was away from the cabin and asked Bunny some questions about who cleared our property.

And ....  I will be spending the week traveling back and forth to Colorado Springs.
One of the main reasons I bought the car that I have is that the dealership is less than a mile from my house in Texas.
Unfortunately the "check engine" light is on and it needs to see a Colorado dealer.
That dealer would be over 90 miles and two hours away from my cabin. Hopefully I can run the car in tomorrow morning, get it magically serviced while I kill time in the Springs and then retrieve it and be home by dinner. If not, I will have to come home and then do that trip again once it is repaired.  
Friday I get to go back to the Springs to see the girls cheer for their last football game.
I just drove in from the Springs last night when we came into the airport there.
So maybe I'm not so happy about this little aspect of being back in Colorado.

At least it is a pretty drive....

(OK. Yes, I am happy about being back here. I just walked into my living room and there is a beautiful doe standing about ten feet from my door, grazing away. I just LOVE that. As long as she stays away from my flowers.)

Off to write a letter...