Sunday, September 1
A new day, a new week, a new month, and a new city from which to start a Taz Ride. After getting cleaning up, dressing, packing Taz, and having breakfast at the hotel, we left Lufkin for a two-hour ride through the southeast Texas woods to the North Hardin Baptist Church near Silsbee. After breaking away from U.S. 59 south of Lufkin, we were in new territory. Fortunately, the roads were good, the trees blocked most of the early morning sun, and the ride was cool. Barbara's GPS worked overtime (we don't have a clue how many turns we made, both right and left...without it, we would have been hopelessly lost).
We received warm and friendly welcomes even before we entered the church, and more of them once we were inside. The service was wonderful, and the preacher was spot on with his sermon. Our recommendation...if you ever find yourself in deep southeast Texas on a Sunday morning, it will be more than worth your while to share time with the folks at North Hardin Baptist Church!
Following the service, we zig-zagged our way back to U.S. 69 and headed north...that would be our route at least until we got to the toll loop in Tyler.
As Barbara has mentioned in previous writings, her job as navigator includes navigating us to new eating places. We get enough "fast food" at home and like to find new and interesting places when we travel. It looked as if Zapala would be the closest town with any food places, so she started looking up diners and restaurants. We settled on Carleen's Cafe because of the great reviews it had on Facebook, and we weren't disappointed. We opted for the buffet which offered pot roast, chicken-fried steak, all kinds of veggies, and the most remarkable collard greens I've ever tasted. The prices were great, and the food was even greater!!! (Fried green beans, Barbara's favorite!)
We soaked our shirts in water before leaving (evaporative cooling is great, but it doesn't last long in this miserable Texas heat), and headed north on U.S. 69, making one stop along the way go fuel up and water shirts, and then stopped at the Dairy Queen in Rusk for a lengthy break and some malts to cool down our innards.
After that, we just bit the bullet and rode straight through until we reached home. We were hot and tired, but had just enough energy to unpack Taz and get everything into the house...and then we showered and rested for the rest of the evening...happy to be in our home with our air-conditioning!
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Monday, September 2
Today did involve a lot of labor for us. the morning was taken up with unpacking from the weekend trip, and washing, drying, and putting away clothes.
Barbara also spent hours working on photos and collages for the August journal/blog, something that we wanted to finish and publish as soon as possible.
We hadn't done anything with the North 40 for several weeks due to travel and having the grandchildren here, so I set out to tackle the mess this afternoon. It usually takes about an hour and a half for me to mow the lot with our push mower, but because the grass had grown so high and thick due to recent rains, I was only halfway through after an hour and a half...that's when Barbara said I was through for the day, because she didn't think I needed a stroke or heart attack. Oh well, the one constant about yard work is that it constantly needs to be done again, no matter when it was last done.
Tonight I worked in an hour of trumpet practice while Barbara worked on more collages for the journal/blog, and then we both decided that this day had been long enough!
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Tuesday, September 3
Since yesterday was a holiday, I made my weekly run to Yantis this morning to help count money and make the weekly bank deposit for the church.
On the way home I stopped at Our Little Lot in Holiday Villages of Lake Fork to make sure that everything was okay with Big V, and then drove back home to get on with the business of the day.
While Barbara worked on more collages for the journal/blog and started proofreading the August writings, I worked on material and the agenda for the pastor search committee meeting this evening.
I did get outside long enough to finish mowing our side of the North 40, but I was worn out when it was done.
We were both brain dead from thinking too much and doing too much (at least in our ways of thinking), so we took a nap. Then Barbara fixed supper while I practiced the trumpet, we ate, and I prepared for another trip to Yantis for our committee meeting.
By time to go to bed, Barbara had all the photos and collages in place in the journal blog, I had it proofread, and was ready to pull the trigger on it when I discovered a glitch in the program that whited out two days worth of text. I couldn't get it fixed, so I called it quits for the night and went to bed.
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Wednesday, September 4
With the heat building early this morning and projected to be miserably hot by noon, we spent the day inside just taking care of odds and ends of the stuff of life. I got the bugs worked out of the journal/blog and posted it on Facebook...a couple of days later than we had planned, but at least not a couple of months late as it was this time last year.
I went out for an hour this afternoon to mow the North 40 on neighbor John's side of the street, but that was the limit of any physical exertion today...just too dang hot to even think of going anywhere or doing anything!
Barbara had called Geek Squad to see why her computer was sluggish. They fixed it; but as they did, she noticed that she had over 20,000 photos on her computer!!! And, that was just from 2013 to now. So...she decided it was time to get the 2013-2015 photos on a stick!
Barbara had called Geek Squad to see why her computer was sluggish. They fixed it; but as they did, she noticed that she had over 20,000 photos on her computer!!! And, that was just from 2013 to now. So...she decided it was time to get the 2013-2015 photos on a stick!
Tonight...Work on September journal/blog and veg out in the cool living room.
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Thursday, September 5
This was another hot, hot day...definitely nothing going on outside. We went to Naturally Nails this morning for haircuts, and Barbara got her toenails repaired and refreshed...
I had band rehearsal tonight with the Lake Country Symphonic Band. Director Mike Holbrook has chosen an especially challenging program for brasses for the October concert, so putting an ice pack on the lips was the first thing that happened when I got home.
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Friday, September 6
This morning we prepared a meal for a couple of friends in Lindale who have had some extremely challenging medical issues lately. We delivered our "Take Out Special," Brown 'N" Bag Chicken with chicken breasts,potatoes. onions, and carrots, along with green beans, jalapeno bread, and Barbara's special chocolate/cherry trifle. They were lucky we didn't stop along the way to have a picnic LOL.
This evening we chose what we would need for a short weekend trip and did some packing, along with more binge-watching of Law and Order Special Victims Unit.
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Saturday, September 7
This morning we made the drive to Fairview (in the DFW Metroplex) to begin a busy weekend. When we got to the Home2Suites to check in, we realized that this was the same hotel we stayed in almost a year ago when we came to the area to see granddaughter Abby in a musical. And here we are again, coming to watch Abby perform in Frozen Jr.
Before the musical we scouted the area, one of our favorite places around here, and decided to eat at Wild Salsa, a popular area restaurant. We chose the chicken quesadillas...delicious, and large enough that when we finished all we could eat, there was enough left over for another meal at home!
Of course, there had to be photos...
We went back to the hotel to rest a bit, and then drove (because it was still over 100 degrees) the three or four blocks to the theater to watch the show and spend some time with Abby, Alexander, Heather, and Andy...It goes without saying, but we'll say it anyway, Abby is a very beautiful and talented performer!
After saying our goodbyes to the kids, we drove back to the hotel and then walked across the parking lot to Cream and Sugar, a really nice ice cream parlor, for our evening dessert.
With that ice cream under our belts and needing to work off a few calories, we took a few extra steps around the area to watch kids playing in the splash pad. I don't think we got photos of the kids, but the multi-lighted fountains were fun to watch.
And then it was back to our hotel room to read a while and then get a good night's sleep to prepare for a busy Sunday. (We no longer bring our computers on short trips! It's really refreshing!)
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Sunday, September 8
We got up early enough to do our morning ablutions (using toothpaste, toothbrushes, razor, and shaving cream we got from the desk clerk because I forgot to put the shaving kit in the suitcase before we left Mineola), packed the car, ate breakfast at the hotel, and then made the l-o-n-g drive on the Sam Rayburn Tollway/ TX 121 around the north and east side of the metroplex until we got relatively close to Crowley. Our first stop was at a donut shop to have breakfast dessert, and then we drove to Hallmark Baptist Church for a very special occasion, grandson Kaiden was going to be baptized. We joined Kaiden, Ryan, Leah, and Barbara's sister and brother-in-law Nancy and Tom, for a great morning of testimony and music, and a beautiful baptismal service.
Of course there were family photos after the service...
And then we all went down the street to Jim and Joe's Pizza and Pasta for a family lunch and a special presentation from us to Kaiden for this special day. The food was delicious and very inexpensive...we'll be eating there again when we're in the area!
When we were finished eating, we said our goodbyes, hopped into the car (okay, we climbed slowly into the car) and headed for the closest entrance to I-20 East for a lightning run to Yantis for a 3:30 meeting at the church. Luckily, even though I used a fairly heavy foot on the accelerator, we made the trip with five minutes to spare, and without any state-issued documentation of our speed.
While I was meeting with the church Stewardship Committee, Barbara spent her time (with camera in hand---surprise, surprise) taking pictures of items in the church foyer (and a really nice selfie in the sanctuary).
When my meeting was over I told the pastor to please not take it personally, but we would not be at the 6:00 pm service. It was all we could to to make it back home to Mineola, unload the car, and then crash for the evening.
Other than a light meal and a good deal of quietness in the house (we didn't even turn on the TV), our only excitement was when we got a Happy Grandparents Day call from son John Colwell in San Antonio, announcing that we were the grandparents of the newest addition to the family, Bailey...meet our new grand-dog...
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Monday, September 9
We voted last night that as much as possible, this was going to be our day of rest...with a couple of minor exceptions.
Barbara was still asleep when I got up this morning to drive to Yantis to help count the tithes and offerings from yesterday, make the bank deposit, and make some preparations for a meeting tonight. I stopped to check on Big V on the way home and then drove to Mineola where we did as little as possible for the rest of the day.
Tonight I went back to Yantis to have our weekly meeting of the Pastor Search Committee. Luckily, our workload was relatively light, so we were out of there by 7:00 pm and we were able to spend a quiet evening together at home, except for a late night drive to enjoy relatively cool air and make a stop at Sonic for dessert for me and popcorn chicken for Barbara.
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Tuesday, September 10
We slowly worked our way back into the routine today. We washed a couple of loads of clothes and got them put away. Barbara paid bills balanced the checkbook, and then a few minutes later received a notice that a cost-of-living bonus from the Texas Retirement System had been deposited in our bank. Wow, those come along very rarely (maybe once every 10-12 years), but this one was especially timely...Thank You God!!!
We also began work on the children's sermon for this Sunday and actually finished the script and the handouts way ahead of schedule.
As we recapped the day's activities, Barbara found the following statement that was posted on Facebook as a reminder of the terrible incidents that occurred on September 11, 2000.
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Wednesday, September 11
In Memoriam, for the more than 3,000 U.S. citizens who died in the attack on the New York World Trade Center buildings, the Pentagon, and a downed United Airlines Flight 93 in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania 18 years ago on September 11, 2001...Never Forget!!!!!
The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center...
The Pentagon...
United Flight 93 - Shanksville, Pennsylvania
The Flight 93 Memorial...
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Barbara had a sleepless night last night, so I left her at home trying to catch a few Z's while I went out to Our Little Lot at Holiday Villages of Lake Fork to mow and trim the yards and catch up on a few odd jobs. It would have been a good morning for some photos, but without a photographer and no time for selfies, it just didn't happen.
When I got home, Barbara was working on lunch for us. We're trying to get into a new eating routine with a major meal at lunch and lighter fare in the evening...don't know how that's going to work out over the long haul, but I do know we ate like royalty at lunch.
After our mandatory nap, we both worked on odd jobs around the house, and then while Barbara fixed a new recipe of quesadillas (better than anything we've ever done before), I got some serious trumpet practicing done.
Then it was time to eat and enjoy some TV time and enjoy a quiet evening at home.
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Thursday, September 12
Our Wal Mart had decided that it is time to confuse shoppers completely! There is no rhyme or reason to where they have put the products! We got kind of tickled though as we went down one aisle after another and visited with others who were just as frustrated as we were! 30 minute shopping now takes 2 hours!
After taking everything home, putting groceries away, and eating lunch (at 3:00!) We decided to go by Angela's and look at the new patio area Ladd and Logan have made her near her garden. Angela has a awesome facebook page, The Chicken Coop! She has awesome tips, photos, and handy videos on thrift ideas. Check it out! Since Angela was gone and the guys were inside with the air conditioner repair man, we decided to use their creativity for a photo shoot. Please read the back of Jim's shirt as he leans on the chicken coop!
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Friday, September 13For a day with all kinds of negative connotations, today was pretty much normal for us (which may say more about us than we care to think). It was a day filled with regular house-related activities, but this evening we decided we'd take a ride in the car and try to get some shots of the Harvest Moon. We forgot the part about being in heavily wooded East Texas and not being able to see anything around the horizon, so we just wandered around the countryside east of here.
One of our favorite memorials is in the nearby small community of Hawkins. This park was the product of community involvement and love of country. As we drove by the park on our ride this evening, I reflected on how those dedicated helicopter crews played such an integral part in supporting our forces during the Vietnam War so many years ago.
After stopping at Sonic in Hawkins for a drink, we turned back west on U.S. 80 for the return trip to Mineola and a few late night minutes at the train station park.
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Saturday, September 14
Some days are so unremarkable that there are no words...so I'll stop here.
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Sunday, September 15
This was a very special day in the life of our church, First Baptist Church Yantis. After practicing special music with the praise band, we went to Sunday School and then back to the sanctuary for the praise and worship part of the service.
That was followed by personal testimonies from the new deacons and our newly ordained Minister of Music, Chad Ferrell, and a beautiful and inspiring ordination charge from our Rehoboth Baptist Association Director, Kent Pate.
Tonight we celebrated the ordination of these men with cake and ice cream in the fellowship hall.
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Monday, September 16
The lawnmower laid down and died while I was mowing the North 40 last week. I had
Alecia came to clean the house this morning, so we did what we could to stay out of her way. When she was finished, we didn't want to mess up the clean kitchen, so I called Pizza hut and ordered a take-out pizza for us to eat while watching a couple more episodes of Special Victims Unit.
This afternoon Barbara spent time in the kitchen making cookies for a ladies gathering at church tomorrow. However, this new recipe was a total disaster, leaving only crumbs, no cookies! Barbara quickly called Eric and Ruth (the chef and his wife at Toccoa)! Help!!! Ruth was definitely a blessing because after tossing several ideas around on how to use cookie crumbs, she named a way that we had the supplies for! Therefore, Barbara's cookies became rolled cookie balls made with vanilla icing! Texting and showing Ruth how ugly they were, she minded Barbara that powered sugar covers a multitude of sins! Yay, Ruth!!!
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Tuesday, September 17Barbara joined several of the ladies from the church this morning for their monthly get-together. Instead of a meal, this month was bring a dessert. Yummy! The program for this month was to prepare bags filled with personal items, paper, pens, etc. for the folks at one of the Sulfur Springs nursing homes who had no family or friends close by.
While the ladies were doing whatever ladies do at this sort of thing, I drove back down the road to Holiday Villages of Lake Fork and Our Little Lot to see what needed doing in and around Big V. It turned out that it was too wet to work outside and Big V was fine inside, so I did what men do under those circumstances...took a nap until Barbara called to say they were almost finished.
It was too hot this evening to ride Taz, so we went out for a ride in the car just to get some fresh air (and a Sonic drink).
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Wednesday, September 18
We made this day a busy one! After lazing around the house for a bit, we later drove up past Quitman to East Texas Optical to pick up Barbara's new glasses. With the miracle of the cell phone photo feature, she was able to take and post this photo almost immediately.
While we were there, the lady showed us some glasses straps that I needed when I ride Taz. Since the surgery that took a big chunk of my left ear, my glasses frames do grip they way they should when I put on a helmet...this was going to be much better.
We went on up to the church in Yantis to visit our friend Mary, and pick up some more resumes for the pastor search committee. We were tired by then, so we returned home, heated up some pizza for lunch, and took our afternoon nap.
It had already been a bit of a crazy day, so I got out a Moon Pie and a bottle of RC Cola to stage this photo...because some days just call for a Moon Pie and a R-O-C Co-Cola, as I used to say in my North Carolina years.
I somehow lost my new glasses strap during the day and couldn't find it anywhere. We searched the car, searched the house, searched all around. The last time I remembered having it was at the church this morning, so with nothing important going on, we drove back toward Yantis, stopping at Big V so Barbara could see how the place looked and water the Crape Myrtles that we had transplanted from Addie's yard next door to us in Mineola years ago.
When we finished at Big V we continued our drive up 154 to Yantis and searched inside the church and all around the parking lot...we even had some of the youth helping us search, but to no avail. That is, until I got back in the car and found it on the floorboard, right next to my seat...ah, the adventures we share in retirement!
There was still a little daylight remaining, so we stopped at the boat ramp on Highway 154 to get these photos of Lake Fork and evening clouds.
This was the kind of day that required a stop at the nearest Dairy Queen for a peanut butter malt (for me) and a caramel malt (for she). so the DQ sign in Quitman lured us in and the next thing we knew we were slurping on malts as we continued our slow, but sure ride back to Mineola.
When we got to town we decided to ride around a bit more and take in the sights of our pretty little town.
As we were driving past First Baptist Church, we saw this sign out front and decided to stop and take a picture.
And, we'll finish the day with this that Barbara found on Facebook today...words of wisdom for the world today...
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Thursday, September 19
After all the excitement and running around yesterday, we just took it easy today. We drove back to East Texas Optical to order new sunglasses for me, went to CVS to get our 90-day supply of meds, and tonight I went to Lake Country Symphonic Band rehearsal; all in all a quiet day, except for the rehearsal LOL!
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Granddaughter Randi and Nick are expecting their first child, a girl, in November, so today we made a flying trip to San Antonio to meet with John and Carol and the kids and play our respective parts in a baby shower.
However, on the way there, we stopped in Salado to meet a friend of Barbara's Mom and Dad. The way they reestablished connection is really pretty amazing and one reason we like fb. Barbara had commented on friend Cheryl Burton's page about Farwell and her Dad who used to be pastor there. One of Cheryl's friends is Peggy Snider who immediately wrote back to Barbara. Junior and Peggy were great friends of WT and Virginia. Small world! Anyway, after spending much time visiting on messenger, Barbara and Peggy agreed we should stop by and see her sometime. Well, today was that sometime!
We were still thinking of something else to add to our shower gift for Randi, so we stopped at Buc-ees in San Marcos to see what we could see...these two items struck our fancy...even though the sign I was holding didn't have anything to do with anything...it was just me being me...(the top photo in the collage was just before we left Mineola...we were a little fresher then LOL.
When we got to San Antonio, we met Carol, Randi, Nick, and John for dinner and then headed to the hacienda to crash and burn after a l-o-n-g day of driving, followed by hitting San Antonio traffic at 5:00 pm.
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Saturday, September 21
Today was another wild and wooly day as there were plenty of chores for the guys (John, Nick, Ryan, Kaiden, and me throughout the day and the girls were involved in the set-up, tear-down and general operations of the shower. And, we were all pleasantly surprised when we found that Barbara's sister, Nancy, and her daughter, Brandi, and granddaughter ,Keylin, were able to come down from Cleburne for the occasion.
When all was said, done, and put away, we returned to the house for a bit to rest up, and then the whole fam-damly went out to enjoy a meal and family reunion at a new (for us) Mexican restaurant. We always enjoy the time we get to share with grandson Chris and his family. The boys, Rhett and Bowman, are growing so quickly!
After eating we said our goodbyes and went back to John and Carol's house to enjoy some quiet time while we began packing for the trip home tomorrow.
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Sunday, September 22
There's not much to be said about this day...it was purely Point A (San Antonio) to Point B (Mineola) where we quickly unloaded car, freshened up, and hightailed it to Yantis in time for a quarterly meeting of the church congregation at 6:00. I think I was lucid enough to give a stewardship report, but don't remember much about it at this point.
We got home as quickly as possible and went to bed...too tired to even watch another episode of Special Victims Unit...which in itself shows how tired we were!
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Monday, September 23
I usually go to the church on Monday mornings to help Mary count the money and make the weekly bank deposit, but this morning she found someone to take my place, so we spent the entire day doing as little as possible except for the resting...we did a lot of that!
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Tuesday, September 24
This started out to be a repeat of yesterday until we got a phone call from CVS letting Barbara know that one of her prescriptions, which she was out of, was ready for pickup. While we were at the pharmacy. We also had a call that an order from one of the shops across the street from CVS was ready, so we made one trip and got both jobs done.
The store order was for some specialty shirts that we got for grandkids Ava, Jack, and Benjamin to remind them of their trip to Texas to spend time with Grams and Gramps this summer.
On a very sad note, I got a message from our band director, Mike Holbrook, that Lynn Alexander, my long-time friend and co-conspirator in the trumpet section, passed away early this morning. Later, I got a call from kathy, Lynn's wife, asking if I would sound Taps at Lynn's funeral on Sunday...this was not what I expected or wanted for today.
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Wednesday, September 25
This was just another quiet day around the house. It would have been a good day for mowing, but I took the mower to Tractor Supply to be sent off for repairs, so that settled that.
This evening I drove out to Yantis for praise band rehearsal, and that was the extent of anything serious that happened today.
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Thursday, September 26
Another quiet day...three in row...for us today, although this afternoon we received a visit from Carlee, one of our church youth and her boyfriend Talon and had a nice time together. We grilled Talon thoroughly and decided that they are a great couple...just need to wait awhile before becoming more serious.
Band rehearsal was very somber this evening as we each remembered Lynn Alexander in our own way, but moved ahead with the preparations for the October concert remembering Lynn's dedication, professionalism, and love for the band.
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Friday, September 27
After three days of not much of anything, today became a race from the start to the finish. I took kitchen time this morning to make a big batch of Gramps' spaghetti sauce and bake a couple of loaves of Italian bread to freeze and have in reserve. Then, we went to the post office to send off a package, went to Naturally Nails so Leslie could cut our hair, drove to East Texas Optical to have Barbara's glasses frame adjusted and order my new sunglasses, drove to Hawkins for dinner at the Ice House Restaurant as we were headed to Gladewater for visitation with Lynn's family.
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Saturday, September 28
We started the day with a trip back to East Texas Optical to get my new sunglasses, returned home to have lunch and get dressed for the funeral, and then made the trip to Gladewater to pay final respects to Lynn Alexander.
Remembering Lynn in happier times...
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Sunday, September 29
We were finally back to our usual routine this morning at FBC Yantis, with one exception. Today was the observance of the Lord's Supper, so we didn't have a children's sermon, even though we've had one prepared for a couple of weeks.
Following the service we went to the Red Dome in Quitman and had lunch with our friends Eve and Carlee
Tonight we returned to the church for a special workshop headed by our interim pastor, Danny Parker. In addition to learning about ourselves as a church, we also had some fun with long-time friend Jeanetta...
When our session was over this evening, we drove straight back to Mineola to prepare for yet another trip to Lubbock tomorrow.
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Okay, we really do know that September has 30 days, but since the 30th is the beginning of a new adventure, we ended the month on the 29th. After all, it's our story, and we can write it the way we want...right?!!!
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We love this quote and think it fit us very well...
"I think you should be a child for as long as you can. I have been successful for 74 years being able to do that. Don't rush into adulthood; it isn't all that much fun." - Bob Newhart, Comedian
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From our home in Mineola, Texas,
Jim/Dad/Gramps and Barbara/Mom/Grams/Gramsie
