Wednesday, May 23

I woke up this morning to sunshine and gentle breezes.  What a change from the last few days.

When I left last Saturday morning it was sunny and warm.  I stopped to see Cowboy and stayed there until after we had lunch.  I then headed for Dallas.  Just North of Waco traffic came to a dead standstill.  The interstate was down to one lane.  I had planned to be in Dallas around 2:30 but it was 4:15.  I was a little late for the birthday party but once there it was great.  Lots of multiple generations of family on both sides plus cousins, nieces, etc.  Quite a to do for a 2 year old.  They had a jump house and a lady there painting faces of the children and making animals from balloons.  Kids running everywhere, lots of food and a beautiful cake.

While I was there I bought a car from one of my grandsons that he couldn't afford.  I "took it off his hands."  It is a 1989 Maserati.  Needs work but I think it will be fun to fix it up.

I got up Sunday morning and went to Cowboy's youngest daughters house for breakfast and a visit with her family.  Then I headed for Tulsa.

Got a message from his oldest daughter that there was a bad storm brewing.  I tuned to the station reporting on this and learned I was about 2 hours ahead of it but on the same track.  Sure enough, about 2 hours after I reached her house it came rolling in.

On Monday in a suburb of Tulsa I met for lunch with my old Red Hat group.  It was a place called "Top That" where you fix your own pizza with whatever you want.  Pretty good eats.  We had a private room and spent two hours talking and catching up.  A good friend had put together an album for me of all the pictures she had of me with various other people in the group.  It is absolutely, totally cool.

Monday night in Tulsa I met with three good friends from my days working at Memorex Telex.  That would have been from 1985 to 1992.  We have always kept in touch and meet up from time to time.  We drank and ate and laughed and had a great time.

Tuesday I had lunch with a friend from AT&T.  She dates back to 1980.  We used to get together for a Yahtzee game every month with some other AT&T buds.  We did that for 25 years.  Two of the girls have passed away, one moved away to the lake and another just lost touch.  But this one has stuck and we still visit.

Tuesday night I had dinner with Cowboy's grandaughter, her hubby and two children.  The older boy is taking violin so I brought him a violin I bought a few years ago and am not using.  I told him he could keep it as long as he plays.

This morning I am feeling rested and good.  Plan to meet Cowboy's oldest at lunch and tour where she works and have lunch with her.

Tonight I am meeting some folks we have known since the 80's that we used to ride motorcycles with.  Home tomorrow.

I have been having a great time.  I have had time to drive around and see what has changed and do a little shopping.  Bought a pair of hot pink sneakers yesterday.  I drove by our old house to see how it was doing. The lady who lives there was in the front yard to I stopped and talked to her.  The rose bushes are still there and the clematis that we put in is huge and blooming.  All the shrubs are bigger and overall the yard looks pretty good.  She is a single mom with two children.  She told me the pump on the pond was broken but she planned to fix it when she has the funds.  The whole thing made me feel better that the place still has a lot of beauty and sad because we put so much of our time, money and love into the place.  We lived there 26 years.