Our entire morning was spent on yesterday’s journal entry. For Jim, it was an agonizing 8 hours (he stayed up until 1:00 AM this morning and then continued writing as soon as he woke up at 7:00 AM)…on the other hand, I spent hours and hours viewing, cropping, and trying to repair photos that were taken with no flash.
As Jim would finish a section of the text, he would save it on our flash card, give it to me; and then I would copy it to our blog page and the journal page. Then I would have to select the photos and add each of them to those pages.
By the time we finished, we felt like we had completed a college term paper! However, there was also a great sense of accomplishment and relief that it was done and on the way! We celebrated by taking a short nap!
Since we decided that we wanted to do some browsing downtown on Cary Street before we met the kids, we left the campsite around 5:30. I truly don’t know what’s happened to my conservative laid-back driver husband, because he can whip in and out of traffic, barge his way on to the freeway, and keep up with the pack without breaking a sweat now! I’ve got to get him out of this city! We were parked and walking (me with wobbly knees) on Cary Street in about 15 minutes!
Cary Street…what can I say…we love it! The bustle of pedestrians, the smells from the restaurants, the quaint shops, plus the cool evening air made for a wonderful excursion. In fact, we got a little carried away with our walking and were much farther down the street than we intended when we realized it was time to meet Mike so we could go get Kelly.
Mike had planned a special treat for us tonight. Janet, one of his co-workers when he worked at
Genworth, had arranged a “crabfest” for the evening dinner, and had invited us along. We were pleased to be invited, but a little apprehensive because we’d never eaten crabs before. We thought it might be similar to our experience in Louisiana with the crawfish, but we didn’t want to do anything to embarrass the kids in front of their friends.We later discovered though that these fears were unfounded as Janet is a natural born teacher and had us comfortably cracking those crab shells and digging out the meat like pros in no time…okay…so that’s a little exaggeration, but it is my story and I can tell it anyway I want!
Thankfully, Mike had warned Janet and her husband David that we go n
owhere on purpose without our camera and they were willing to start the evening out with some photos taken on their roof patio!How awesome is that…not only do they have a deck downstairs, but another outdoor area 
upstairs which reminded me of our deck in Liberal. Main difference though is that they have a lovely yard and tons of trees to make a setting worthy of any romance movie!
What a place! Jim coveted their kitchen so we decided that if we had a place like this, I’d spend all my time on the roof patio and just email him in the kitchen when I was ready to be served a meal! Oh, those foolish dreams we have…
Jim was thrilled to find that David is a trombonist in the Army band at Fort Lee, which is near Petersburg. Therefore, the guys had a lot in common. Top on our to-do list next time is to catch one of their concerts!
Janet had laughingly said that she thought she’d get an automatic misting machine to use when she’s enjoying a sunny day on the roof patio lounge chairs; so I quickly told her to let me know when that happened so I could join her! Can you imagine how relaxing that would be?
I finally put away the camera so we could begin our crab experience…However, since I called it quits (and cleaned my gooey, slippery hands) a little earlier than the others, I did ask for permission to document the meal with some photos.
It was obvious that Janet and David were well prepared crab hosts because we covered the table with newspapers, and trash cans were
upstairs which reminded me of our deck in Liberal. Main difference though is that they have a lovely yard and tons of trees to make a setting worthy of any romance movie!What a place! Jim coveted their kitchen so we decided that if we had a place like this, I’d spend all my time on the roof patio and just email him in the kitchen when I was ready to be served a meal! Oh, those foolish dreams we have…
Jim was thrilled to find that David is a trombonist in the Army band at Fort Lee, which is near Petersburg. Therefore, the guys had a lot in common. Top on our to-do list next time is to catch one of their concerts!
Janet had laughingly said that she thought she’d get an automatic misting machine to use when she’s enjoying a sunny day on the roof patio lounge chairs; so I quickly told her to let me know when that happened so I could join her! Can you imagine how relaxing that would be?I finally put away the camera so we could begin our crab experience…However, since I called it quits (and cleaned my gooey, slippery hands) a little earlier than the others, I did ask for permission to document the meal with some photos.
It was obvious that Janet and David were well prepared crab hosts because we covered the table with newspapers, and trash cans were
set between every two chairs so that the shells and paper towels that we used on our hands (we must have gone through a roll!) could be easily discarded.
Jim also said that I had to mention the shrimp that was any chef’s delight, the sweetest corn on the cob that we’ve ever had, and the cornbread muffins! What a menu! Then Janet topped it off with what she called “ugly” cake (won’t go into why she called it that!) or pie and ice cream. Once again, we definitely didn’t go home hungry!At the end of the evening, I set the timer on the camera (thanks again to son-in-law Jim Farnham!) so we could have a group photo…only problem though...as I ran to my place, Fritz, one of Janet and David’s dogs thought I was playing with him and we almost had a collision! However, it really was a blessing because the photo captured the essence of the whole evening in our laughter! Thanks, Fritz!
“God doesn’t want shares of your life, He wants controlling interest.” …sign on a Baptist church Jim saw as we were heading to Janet and David’s
Blessed with new Richmond friends,
Jim & Barbara
