Sunday, November 7
We were up early this morning, making our lists and checking them twice. We got the car loaded with everything necessary for the trip (plus a few extras), had a last minute meeting with Mother and Sophie to go over the menus, schedules, etc. and to answer any questions for clarification. Then, it was off to Yantis where we enjoyed the morning Sunday school class and church service.
Since I was doing the special music this morning, I spent less time in the Sunday school class than usual as I needed to get in a few extra minutes of practice with Lisa, our outstanding pianist. We declared the arrangement good to go after a few run-throughs, and then Lisa suggested that I join the praise band in the pre-service music to play, “When the Saints Go Marching In.” We gave that selection a lick or two and then decided that I would also stick around to join the band in a rendition of. “Happy Birthday/Happy Anniversary to You” to recognize all those in the congregation who are celebrating birthdays or anniversaries this month. (Barbara: As a side note, it was special for Jim to play on the happy birthday since I celebrate my 66th this month! He's never played happy birthday for me before!)
On the top right is Jim with choir director Danette and her husband Aaron who sometimes leads the choir. Both are awesome singers! Middle one is our one and only pianist, Lisa, who can make that piano talk as well as she does!
Jim: All in all, the morning went quite well…the choir sang beautifully, David preached masterfully, and I played the trumpet for a medley of praise hymns.
When the service was over, Barbara and I put all our church stuff back in the car and began the long drive toward Lubbock by way of Knox City (that is, after Barbara called Zeke and Amanda Duke in Knox City to see if they were available to see us for a while tonight…they were available and excited for us to come visit, so that’s the way we headed.
Zeke is a doctor in Knox City…has been for several years now, but we’ve never been able to connect with the family when we traveled through the area. Tonight was the exception, and we had a wonderful time reconnecting with the boys, Daniel and Jonah, who gave us the grand tour of their house.
After the tour, we settled down for an hour of so of conversation and good food. Amanda had whipped up a great salad and Zeke was cooking hamburgers and oven-baked sweet potato French fries…great food and a wonderful visit with a beautiful young family!
As we got back into the car, we noticed that we had left the camera on the seat…one of the few times in our travels that we didn’t take the camera inside for photo sessions. That was especially disappointing because it has been so long since we last saw Daniel and Jonah and they are growing so rapidly. Oh well, we’ll just have to depend on using a facebook photo we swiped for this journal entry and on Amanda to forward us some pictures of special occasions later.
We wound down from a day of travel and an evening of visiting by checking out the TV channels (lots of channels, but nothing of interest on tonight), checking our email, and reading until we fell asleep (which didn’t take long).
Monday, November 8
With a couple of hours of driving still ahead of us before we could get to Lubbock, we got a very early start (well before the sun came up) after pulling in at the local convenience store for some coffee and something to eat along the way.
When we got to Lubbock we spent until noon helping Jimmy Clint out with some chores and some business that needed to be taken care of. Jimmy is still struggling with the blood pressure problems, but he was having a pretty good day today and we enjoyed the visit with him, short though it was.
When we were finished with our Lubbock business we headed west to Artesia, arriving at Jean’s house well before she got off from work at the funeral home. We unloaded the car and made ourselves at home until Jean finally arrived at the house with the announcement that we would be joining Jerry, Nancy, and Becky for dinner at La Fonda, this evening. In the meantime, we sat and talked, trying to get caught up on what has been going on with whomever.
Jerry, Nancy, and Becky came over around 6:30 and we all drove to town in Jean’s car to enjoy a wonderful Mexican meal and lots and lots of talking. Even though we talk on the phone regularly and email each other quite a bit, it isn’t the same as having good old-fashioned table conversation.
I have made it my goal to give Becky as much grief as I can, and tonight provided plenty of opportunities. I do have to be careful though, because Becky has learned to give as good as she gets, so I know there will be paybacks before we leave at the end of the week!
Tuesday, November 9
Today was probably one of the laziest days we’ve spent in a long time. Jean took the day off from work and we spent the entire morning just lazing around the house and visiting, I gave a thought or two to going outside to work in the yard, but the wind was blowing dust all over the place, so I decided I could just stay inside and read and visit.
At 11:00 I took the Vibe downtown to Forrest Tires to have them check a tire that I had bought there a couple of years ago. It seems that when I had the car serviced at the Mineola GMC shop a couple of weeks ago they found a nail in the right front tire; they even marked it with a little chalked arrow. The problem was that they never wrote it up or told me about it. I found the arrow and the nail quite by accident. Since I was in town and I’ve bought several tires at Forrest, I thought I’d just see how they handled it.
The folks at Forrest were very friendly, as they always are, and got to the car as soon as they could. Since there were others ahead of me, I had to wait about an hour. Finally, the young man who met me when I came in called and said he had the keys and I was ready to go. When I asked how much it would be, he just smiled and said, “No charge…you’ve been waiting too long.”
Now THAT’S service…and with a smile even!
After lunch and a brief nap (we were worn out after all that sitting and talking), Jean, Barbara, and I drove to town to look for a few things at Fenn’s Grocery Store and Walmart. Luckily we found most of what we needed for some planned recipes and Barbara and I even found some of the spices we need for our Puerto Rican dishes. We’ve looked through all both stores in Mineola and have even driven to Lindale, Tyler, and Sulphur Springs to find the spices, but no one there stocks them or will order them for us. So, we stocked up on several boxes of what we could find in Artesia.
Jerry grilled chicken tonight and everyone else put together specialty dishes for a great spread at the Terpening home. With a huge platter of chicken accompanied by Barbara’s fried squash, Jean’s apple salad, and our sweet potato fries (which we learned from Amanda the other night!), there was more than enough on the table to satisfy our hungry crew.
Happy Birthday today to James Francis in Hobbs, New Mexico!!!
Jean had to go to work at the funeral home today, but all that work going on by others didn’t phase Barbara and me one bit…we just took up where we left off yesterday, relaxing and not doing much of anything else.
We did enjoy some time on the front deck of Jean’s house just admiring and soaking in the New Mexico skies. Trees are nice but there’s just nothing like being able to see for miles in any direction!
Around 11:00 or so we drove into town to check out one of the stores for used books…they didn’t have any that I was interested in, but Barbara found the perfect item for Mother; that is, until we saw the price tag. Sitting on the sidewalk outside the store was an old-fashioned Price’s Creamery wooden milk delivery box, the kind that Daddy hauled daily when he was the manager and a route man for Price’s Creamery. We thought it would be a perfect complement to some of mother’s other treasures, but the marked price ($45) immediately took it out of our consideration. Maybe the next time we are in town the price will have come down…we can always hope!
We left the downtown area and went out to Walmart to look for a few things and then just killed time until we wandered back across town to join the family for the weekly Chaos lunch. Susie was over from Hobbs and we haven’t seen her in what seems like forever, so we had a good time getting caught up with her activities. She and James are doing a major remodeling of their house and that has consumed all of their time. After Susie explained all that they were doing, I asked if it wouldn’t have been easier and cheaper to just paint the walls, but that query went over like a lead balloon.
After lunch we returned to Jean’s house and whiled away the afternoon until the others got off work. When Jean got home we whipped up some apple dumpling dew for tonight’s dessert.
Dinner tonight was leftovers from last night’s meal, along with a few other bits and pieces of dishes that we all thought would be tasty. When we were finished eating, Becky got out the Chickenfoot game for a rematch and, while neither of us won the game, I managed to edge out Becky on the final hand of the game, so it was another fun and successful evening! (with Barbara once again bringing up the rear)
Thursday, November 11
Today is Veterans Day in the United States of America. It is one of the few “holidays” that is actually recognized and celebrated on the day for which it was originally named, Armistice Day.
Today I send out my appreciation to all brothers and sisters in arms who gave, and those who currently give, honorably of their time and service to protect our country and the ideals upon which it was founded. Many came home wounded in body and spirit and some were shunned and even despised by those whose freedom to express hateful and dissenting opinions was guaranteed by the selfless actions of our military personnel stationed around the globe, far from their family and friends.
I encourage all today to remember the freedoms that you enjoy and quietly offer up a prayer of thanksgiving for the men and women of our uniformed services, past and present who answered the call to service for their country.
May God continue to bless America and protect our men and women of the armed forces.
With the Terpening family all tied up with work today, we took advantage of the proximity of Artesia to Roswell to drive to Roswell for a few hours to take care of some business and visit family members who live there.
The first order of business was to get out to Happy Jack’s Used Books to replenish our dwindling supply of reading material. We have a used book store in Mineola, but the supply of titles isn’t particularly to our liking, and the prices are kind of outrageous when one considers the condition of most of the books. So, whenever we are in the Roswell neighborhood, we like to look through the stacks at Happy Jack’s to either fill in titles from authors we like to read, or discover new authors.
When we finished at the bookstore, we dove across town for a few minutes of shop-looking at Dollar Tree (Barbara) and JC Penney (me). Barbara found a couple of things she liked, but I struck out in looking for some new dress shirts…maybe another time and another place.
We arrived at Jerry and Jane’s house at 11:30 and got our visit underway. After a little talking, Jerry and I left Jane and Barbara to visit while we drove to What-a-Burger for burgers and fries for lunch. Then, we returned to the house to eat, talk, and generally get caught up on what has been going on in our lives since the last time we visited back in March.
While we were talking to Carol, Tonya, one of Carol’s granddaughters, came in for a bit before going to work and visited with us. Then, Carol asked if I would mind going with her to pick up a rental truck that her daughter, Lynnette, had used to move from Alamogordo to Roswell. I said I’d be glad to help, and while I did that, Barbara took the Vibe to Sam’s Club (since she could use Carol's card) to fill it with gas.
Tonight we went to Kwan Den for some outstanding Chinese food with Jerry, Nancy, Becky, and Jean. Then, we returned to Jerry and Nancy’s house to visit. We had planned to play more board games, but everyone was worn out from the day’s work and activities, so we got caught up on as much talk as possible and then we returned to Jean’s house to call it a night.
Friday, November 12
I got up early this morning to join Jerry Terpening at the Methodist Men’s weekly prayer breakfast. That was an activity I always enjoyed when we were living in Artesia, and it was especially nice to tell the group how much we have appreciated their prayers during the last few months.
When I got back to the house, Barbara and I finished our packing and got the car loaded for yet another trip. We said our goodbye’s to Jean and headed off toward Hobbs to spend an hour or so with Susie and get the grand tour of the remodeling process in her home.
Susie had told us on Wednesday that the house was a mess, and that definitely wasn’t an understatement. They’ve been without some of the rooms for eight months now and it will probably be after the first of the year before everything is completed. It really will be a beautiful place when the job is done and we’re very happy for them.
After unloading our things for the night, I left Barbara and Dandy to get caught up with each other and drove across town to a military surplus store to do some shop-looking. There were some things I wanted to purchase, but the place is a real mess due to a pending move to a larger facility down the street, so I finally gave up and returned to the house for dinner and an evening of conversation and computer time.
Barbara: It was so nice to get to Abilene early (around 3) which meant that Dandy and I actually got to visit and enjoy each other’s company. While Jim was gone, I bonded as well as I could with Candy (Dandy’s feline friend) by telling her I was going to take her picture. Once I did, she curled up as though to say enough is enough!
Saturday, November 13
We got up early this morning and ginned around, trying to get the car repacked, get in all our goodbyes, and hit the road at an early enough hour that we could get back to Mineola by 3:00.
We knew we wanted to stop at the Tangier Outlet Mall in Terrell, so after saying goodbye to Dandy, we put the pedal to the metal and drove across Texas a fast as the law would allow.
For once, I was excited about shopping at the outlet center, but struck out in every store I visited…guess it just wasn’t my day. However, Barbara found some great buys in shoes for herself, so the effort to get there and the time it took for her to look was well worth it.
From Terrell we barreled across East Texas to Lindale, where we stopped at Lowe’s to buy some more lumber to finish the window project for Big V. My shopping luck for the day held up…I found the 2 X 4s I needed, but the saw was broken today, so I couldn’t get the boards cut to fit in the car. I decided that was probably a sign that I wouldn’t have time to work on the frames tonight anyway and we left, stopping at Sonic for a bite to eat before driving the final 14 miles to Mother’s house.
When we got back to the house, we checked in with Mother, told Sophie she could leave, and we started unpacking and putting everything away.
Tonight we just kicked back and relaxed after a hard day of driving. It was great to get away for a few days to visit family and friends, but it was very nice to be back home in our familiar surroundings!
“A veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to 'The United States of America for an amount of up to and including my life.’ That is Honor, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer understand it.” – Unknown
Back at Mother’s house in Mineola,
Jim/Dad/Gramps & Barbara/Mom/Grams
