That kind of a day!

Woke up at 5:00 this morning and couldn't sleep, though I guess I did finally doze. My motor was running too fast, thinking of all the things I had to do--most of them self-imposed, none of them necessary to the well-being of the world or even my small world. But when I feel that way, my balance is off, my cheery self is off, etc. I finally worked it out, doing all the errands I had planned--vet for dog food, a fruitless search for empty atomizer bottles, bookstore, grocery times two (had to come home in between to put perishables up), and Clothes Carpenter to get them to repair the lining of a purse. With all that, I made it in time to pick up Jeannie at 11:30 for lox and bagels at Carshon's. And one final errand: we dropped off some boxes at the office. They can use them for mailing books, and I see no reason to just recycle them. Then home to write a thousand words, but I have a great puzzle. When I started I wrote down the number of words in the mss. to date, and when I finished, I'd lost almost a thousand words. Yet I did a word count on the new material and it was over a thousand. Not sure if I misread the first time or what, but it was discouraging. I  thought I'd hit 50,000, and I didn't. Hope to do another thousand tonight.
This is a cooking weekend. Four good friends are coming for supper Sunday, so I started tonight. Cooked the spinach and grated the gruyere that will go in the mashed potatoes; measured out the French bread I need for meatballs and sealed the rest to serve with dinner; washed all the lettuce for salad. Still have to get out the table settings and can't quite decide what plates to use--I'm leaning toward the red-and-green plaid, since the holiday season is upon us. I'm trying to get a jump start on it. Tomorrow morning I'll make meatballs with brown gravy--they should only get better sitting a day--and Sunday I'll make the mashed potatoes, which will leave only the salad for the last minute.
Tonight I also cooked myself a good dinner, abandoning tuna fish and hummus and hearts of palm, my usual last-minute fare. I sauteed two small filets of Dover sole I'd bought this morning, sliced about half a zucchini, topped the slices with salt, pepper, olive oil, and grated parmesan. A fine meal.
Okay, off to write another thousand words--I hope.

What I did this weekend

I feel like I'm writing one of those grade school September essays on "What I did this summer," but we had such a wonderful weekend. Now, about 2:00 p.m. Sunday, my house is quiet and empty, the dog and cat are relieved to have their space back, I have a fridge full of dabs of this and bits of that to deal with, and I can't believe the weekend went by so quickly. Plus I definitely need a nap!

The Houston Alters arrived about 7:30 Friday night, the Frisco Alters, minus Maddie, about ten, and we were late getting to bed, although Edie immediately took charge of Jacob, somewhat to her father's alarm since he didn't know she knew how to put on an overnight diaper--where has he been? But Saturday we were up early to go to Uncle John's ranch for the day. The pictures above show Kegan and Jacob with my brother, Kegan riding the pony (all four kids got to ride twice each) with his dad Colin leading, and Morgan and her mom, Lisa, by the Longhorn--Morgan does not look happy about that at all. I'll probably post more pictures as I get them if everyone can stand it. Hot and tired, we had a great lunch--I brought lox and bagels, Cindy had smoked pork, a salad, corn, and lots of fresh fruit which the kids all love. Edie had made cupcakes for her cousins and we took them to the ranch. Both Jacob and Kegan fell asleep willingly, asking to go nap--Jacob without finishing his lunch. All the others took off to "look at the cows" but took side trips and were gone a long time, so Cindy and I sat on the porch--very windy and pleasant out of the sun--and took turns checking on the sleepers.

Jamie has wanted for a long time to ride his bike from my house to the ranch, so yesterday was the day. He planned to leave at six; he left at 7:30. Most of us left at 8:30, but Mel and Edie stayed behind. They beat us to the ranch by an hour, and we arrived simultaneously with Jamie. We went to Starbucks, then to Central Market for groceries, and then got caught for 20-30 minutes at a train crossing in Cresson--well, it seemed that long to me. The train kept backing up and going forward--apparently it switches tracks right there, a lengthy process. Colin kept saying, "Look at you. Why are you so impatient? We're out for a nice drive." As Jacob will tell you, patience is not my long suit (he says, "Patience, Juju, patience.").

I had been really worried about Jamie's long ride--he turned off his odometer when he turned off the highway but we figure it was about 60 miles, much of it on 377, a busy highway. In retrospect, he said it was probably one of his dumber ideas and he scared himself badly a few times, but he was proud he did it--in three hours! Colin was telling him the new route John and Cindy pointed out to us and said that was the way he should go next time. "I'm not doing it again," he said.
Last night the Frisco Alters went home, Jordan who'd been entertaining that day, came for supper, and Jacob elected to stay overnight again with his cousins. Grilled hamburgers, sat around, and early to bed. Today lunch at Joe T.'s, with a chance to hug Christian, and now everyone is gone.
When the three little children get to playing-Morgan is almost five, Jacob will be four this month, and Kegan just turned three--it's pandemonium in the house, but I love it. I love that they will have wonderful memories of going to Juju's and being with their cousins. Edie, at seven, sort of "mother hens" them all, though she and Maddie will also I hope have good memories. We missed the Austin boys, who would have loved the whole weekend. Apparently our next get-together will be the end of July. I love it that I have family who want to be together so much! I am blessed.

Wildflowers, cows and calves

My day today was filled with wildflowers, beautiful Texas scenery, cows and calves, wine and lox and cream cheese, and most of all good companuy. Jeannie and I drove down to visit John and Cindy on the ranch outside Tolar and had a wonderfulday. We spent two hours just riding around the ranch in John's new vehicle, which is a big improvement (for passengers) over the old mechanized mule--I'm not sure what to call this one but it has a windshield, roof, two bench seats, and rides a lot more smoothly than the old mule. And mucky as it was from all the rain, we didn't get stuck--Cindy ws the only one who had on boots for the muck so she got to open and close gates. On the old mule one person could sit in the passenger seat and two others could dangle their legs over the back of the bed and duck whenever branches came by. This was a lot more comfortable.
We stopped of course to visit the cows and calves The bull, with the dark face, came up close and personal to visit, as did some of the cows. The calf above wasn't quite sure and kept his distance.  But we watched them milling around for some time--they of course associate the vehicle with food and were looking in vain--it wasn't food time! Then we drove all over the ranch--saw the headwaters of Shady Hollow creek or river, a beautiful spot I'd never been before, and John went out of his way to show us their one lovely patch of bluebonnets (we had seen quite a few bluebonnets on the way down as well as fields full of Indian paintbrush and some yellow wildflowers I don't recognize). Plus I swear I'd never seen their dumping ground before--it holds an old tin building that has collapsed, some old chairs, etc. From some points the view over the Brazos River Valley is simply spectacular. We stopped at a picnic table by a stock tank in a grove of trees and had a glass of wine. John is a great narrator telling us all about what we're seeing, though I had a bit of trouble hearing over the motor (Jeannie and I were sitting right over it) and something in the back clanged and reminded me of Jacob belting out "Who let the dogs out?" But it was wonderful just to be riding along, ducking the occasional branch, looking at the little bluestem which is still brown at this time of year.

Then back to the house to sit on the porch and eat lox and bagels. We talked geneaology, which I didn't realize John is interested in but Jeannie has recently been pursuing, and John and I got to telling old famiily stories and some not so old. It was just a lovely day, way out of the routine, and much enjoyed.