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.