Busy, busy, busy. . .

We have not been idle during our time here in Houston. We have filled our days with shopping, sightseeing and visiting with friends. My cousin Jim is in Africa for two weeks and his wife Lillian is in Florida visiting her brother, but we have managed to keep our social calendar full.

Terry's first two years at Ball State were spent rooming with Dave, who years later was in our wedding. When he graduated from Ball State, he moved to Houston and has lived here since then. Terry had contacted him some time ago and we finally connected with him the other night. We drove over to Dave's house and met him for the first time in 40 years. Wow! He lives just 6 miles away from our camp, which is really quite convenient. We like that the camp is located where it is, because it is easy to get around the west side of Houston which is where we need to be. It didn't take long to get to Dave's house. He lives on a street, one of three he tells us, which are like their very own community. They watch out for each other and know everyone on the block. Dave's house is a lovely brick home with "interesting" furnishings. Dave said they decorate with anything they find and enjoy the strange and inquisitive looks they get from visitors. They have a lot of folk art in the house and some borders on the bizarre. I think Dave would like my description of it. In the one room of the house is a three-story Christmas village. They are planning on taking it down this week. He left it up to show us, I think. He and Kirt collect vintage Christmas village buildings and have an extensive collection. They start in October to set it all up for Christmas and show it to residents of the neighborhood. The pieces were very beautiful and the display was complete with water fountains and a ball atop a building which drops to signify the "new year." They have so many buildings, they had to set up tiers, which is why it was three stories tall. It was quite unique. I didn't have my camera, so my pictures were taken with the phone, which is why they are not too good. Dave also raises Koi and shows them all over the country. They were in a backyard pond. We had to look at them through the cover because they had to be protected from the cold weather we have had. We also got to meet "Pepper" who is the resident lop-eared bunny who lives with them.

Yesterday, Saturday, we asked some park friends to go to "Old Town Spring" with us. Mike and Pat are Pebbles' parents, the little mini-schnauzer I posted about earlier. Pat is doing chemo-therapy for her second round with breast cancer which had spread, but she is determined to continue living her life to the fullest. You would never know from looking at her what she is going through and she remains as upbeat as anyone I have met. They were glad to get out of the park and do something fun for the day. Old Town Spring is an "artsy, crafty" area of town which has many old buildings reminiscent of its heyday as a railroad town. There was a shop which had Asian antiques and we saw this bed from the Chinese Qing dynasty, circa 1730. It was priced at $30,000. We enjoyed walking around and visiting many of the shops, listening to the live entertainment, and having lunch at one of the restaurants.

We had a great time with Pat and Mike and when we returned to the park, we dropped them off so I could see Pebbles. Pat brought out her pictures of her last trip to Alaska last year. While Mike was working, she drove an elderly family friend, who they liken to a father figure, to Alaska. He wanted to go and bought a small motorhome and she did all the driving, for 14,000 miles. What a woman! She certainly knows how to enjoy life. Her pictures were gorgeous.

Today we are relaxing and watching the Daytona 500. We are looking forward to that.

Till next time. . .

Dale