Weekend
Friday
What a full weekend. Friday, we saw
Rumor Has it at
Alamo.
I did not think I would like it. I have friends who would say "that is
not a Kelly movie." However, I did enjoy it. I enjoyed it because I had
the opportunity to share the experience with Natalie. It was fun.
Saturday
What the hell did we do Saturday? Oh, ya. Two trips to Wal-Mart and
good beans and rice that Nat made. We watched some movies and hung out
at the lair. It was fun.
Sunday
Well, Sunday was interesting. I have some
pictures.
We got up early for a Sunday. We fell out of bed at around 8:00 and ran
down to my parent's place to pick up Elle. She had been spending the
weekend there. We then drove to the opposite end of the world. We went
to far north Houston well past the airport out 1960. Nat's
Grandmother's best friend lives out there. Maybe she is her sister. I
don't know. Anyway, she is in her eighties. She has lived out there for
a million years.
I've seen these kinds of neighborhoods before. You have a major road.
Off to the side of the road you have houses. They are highly varied.
They are of different ages. They are different distances from the road.
Rarely do you have one in front of the other. This is a plot of land
that was divided up between family. They each built houses as needed.
You almost always have huge yards. Who would not want a huge yard if
they could get it? That was this neighborhood. Many of the families
here were related somehow.
Elle Absolutely loved the yard. She ran everywhere. I will be surprised
if she is not sore today. Nat showed Elle all the different plants
growing around the property. There is one tree in particular that used
to be a Christmas tree. It was then planted and flourished. (They did
not cut it down, they dug it up.) We were far enough back from the road
to let Elle have a longer leash.
The driveway was two strips of small gravel. Elle played in the
driveway and tried to gather rocks. The Lady who lives there says
"Every kid who comes here plays with that gravel. They usually pick it
up and then start throwing it."
Nat then said "I know. I remember coming here and playing with the
gravel when I was her age. My dad had to stop me and say 'Empty your
pockets, she needs a drive way.'"
Elle never did throw it. Elle was in sight, but well far enough away
that I could not see her face. I knew the look on it though. It is that
look that I had on my face when I played in the dirt around my parent's
house. It is the look on my face when I captained star ships to alien
lands in the flower-bed.
There were trees. They are tall and proud trees planted in a row by
human hands. By the hands of the people who live on the land. Gorgeous
trees.
We all sat down to a lunch inside. I heard the most fascinating stories
of moving to that spot, growing the plants, how the whole area has
built up over the last several years, killing rabbits from the land
behind their's and selling them for a dollar each to the "N"-word (I
refuse to type it here right now) across the tracks. She is in her
eighties, give her a break. She was about forty years old in the early
sixties. She was a little girl in the depression. She was a teen during
World War II. How I would love to hear more stories from her and Nat's
mom.
I took a picture of the telephone in her house. I couldn't help myself.
It is the center piece of a shelf full of family photos, and
nick-nacks. There is a calender, notepad, pens, and an answering
machine. I'll post the picture soon. You have to see it to get the feel
of the hub of the outside world it is.
When we first arrived I could not help but notice how much stuff was
laying around. I took a photo of the garage. I commented to Nat "This
is what our place is going to look like when we are this age." You
could tell that well manicured house had been slowly built over a long
and full life.
Then, all too soon, it was time to go. We had plans for the rest of the
day. It was good timing. The lady who had been up since dawn cooking,
in her eighties, was tired and I'm sure wanted to take a well earned
nap. I thought for sure I would be board to tears all day.
Nat Elle and I left. Elle instantly passed out. On the way back to my
parent's place to drop Elle off, we passed three motorcycles. They were
in civilian cloths,but they were clearly cops. They were riding in a
line several meters apart. The whole time we were behind them I could
only think of my father who was also on a ride that day. He tells me
the ride was wonderful. He enjoyed every minute. They went to
Brenham
I believe for a burger. They chose back roads. They saw many people on
the road out only to enjoy the beautiful day on motorcycles and in
classic cars. They had a blast.
It was a magnificent day.
The weather now makes me worry about how hot it will be this Summer.
We dropped Elle off at my parent's place. They like watching her, but I
worry we will ware out our welcome. We try to keep it to a minimum.
Then came the second half of our day. We went to a restaurant called
Gringos on 59. I'm not sure how to spell it. The food was good. The
service was OK. There was some confusion on the gratuity.
Nat and I were the first one's to show up at the restaurant. We ran
into Jack, Adam's friend while waiting. Small world. I had to stop him
later at the ice cream machine and ask him his name. I have got to have
a learning disability with that. We were pretty loud and rowdy. I hope
we didn't upset his evening.
It was Ken's birthday. It was to be a surprise party. As people began
trickling in I got the best feeling of nostalgia. Some of the folks I
had not seen for years. Nat and I used to hang out with these people
years ago. There were old CB gang members and new Faire gang members.
There was no resounding "SURPRISE!", but Ken was pleased with all the
folks who showed up.
I got Ken a flashlight that takes lithium batteries. It is the size of
a pen light, but as bright as a four cell Maglight, or so the package
said. I was worried he would be a bit oblivious about it, but he liked
it. He played with it at the table and used it to "attack" the media
aka Scott and myself who showed up with cameras in tow. To be honest, I
didn't notice what else he got because were were several meters apart
on the huge table. I called him on his mobile and said "happy birthday"
as a joke.
I followed the smokers out to the back landing where they ... smoked.
We further discussed our plans for
buying the Texas Renaissance
Festival
future birthday parties and a Goblin Nation trip to the Arizona Fair.
We passed a plate around for left overs so someone could eat. Then we
bought him a fajita dinner so he could eat better. Ken dropped ice down
Missy's shirt. Mike dropped ice down Jen's pants. You would have
thought she had a squirrel in there. Someone dropped ice down my shirt.
We ate and talked and flirted. My God it was fun.
When we were to leave, we gathered in the parking lot. this is
particularly important because this group used to hang out in parking
lots. Heath let the air out of Mikes tire beforehand. While Mike knelt
down to inspect the tire, Jen dumped a cup of ice down his back. That
is, she tried. Every time she got close, he would turn and ask for a
flashlight, holler at Heath for the air hose (Heath has a compressor on
his truck) or make a comment. She finally got him though. I wish I had
taken a video of that. It was classic.
Most of us made our way to Slick Willy's over on Murphy road. We had a
toast (thanks Nat and Heath) there, and shot some pool. Nat put some
good songs on the juke-box. I won the one game I played because the
other person scratched on the 8. I've won the last couple of games like
that. I managed to keep up with him for a while, I even accidentally
sank two of my own balls on one shot. I've never done that during a
game before.
When Missy and Jamie (her daughter) had to leave, Jen and I walked them
out. I walked out to make sure Jen made it back in OK. There was a guy
driving around the parking lot in a small four door car. He made me
nervous. I noticed him again later when all of us were leaving. I hope
he was some kind of security guard, but who am I kidding. He was some
freak who likes watching drunk people leaving a pool hall.
When it was time to go, it was "good bye" and "call me soon". There
were hugs and hand shakes. Future plans and some kisses. The couples
had to leave to go get the kids. Ken and Jen said it. Nat and I said it
all at the same time. More hugs in the parking lot. Off we all go with
good memories.
We picked up Elle (Thanks a ton Mom and Dad). We went home. We put Elle
to bed. We crashed ourselves. That sounds like life to me.
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