Back To Work

 The first day back to work after a few days off is always hard, and today was no exception.  Getting up at 3:30 after sleeping in until nearly 6:00 was the worst, so I'm not too sure how coherent this post will be.  But I did want to share a few more photos from my trip to Texas.  

I had planned on going down sometime around Christmas, but I woke up Wednesday morning to a text from Cody saying he was going, and wanted to know if I could come.  Of course I'll come!  I'm always up for a trip back home. 

Since I already had vacation for Friday, all I had to do was make a quick call to the vet to make arrangements to board Jesse, and we were good to go.  Suzette, as always, accompanied us. 

For those of you who may be new to the blog and don't know the story of Suzette, I had a dear, dear friend named Suzie, who left us last year.  Suzie had multiple health issues, which meant she couldn't do all the travelling she wanted to do.  She was in end stage kidney failure and had to stay tied to that dialysis clinic -- among other things.  

A while back, she'd lamented that she missed going to fiber festivals and such, so at the last Fiber Fun In The 'Sip -- in 2019, before the pandemic -- I'd fixed her up a little gift bag with fun stuff I'd bought there.  It had yarn, and stitch markers, kudzu soap, and this little alpaca, plus a few more things.  After Suzie passed away, the alpaca was the only thing I asked to have back.  I named her Suzette, and now she goes with me on all the trips Suzie was unable to take.  

Anyway, the trip down was mostly uneventful, other than a brief traffic delay for a wreck.  I'm telling you, we certainly picked the right weekend to go, because cousins I hadn't seen in years were there.  This is Beverly's oldest grandson Steven, with all his kids.  

That's Hayden, Charlie, Decatur, Steven, Wendi, and Stormi -- who is a little camera shy. Wendi brought her baby Liam -- who was the hit of the weekend.  

Not only that, but Beverly's second grandson Richard came with his family.  

Here we have Stephanie, Richard Jr, and Lizzie (holding Addlyn -- who is Shelbi's), sitting on the floor.  Beverly and James in their recliners, with Astra (who is Anthony's daughter -- long story, and for a different day) standing beside Beverly, and Richard and his wife Sharleen in the back.  

I just realized I didn't get a picture of Diane, Steven's wife.  I have one of her back, but you don't want to see that, do you?  

I took these photos with my new Kindle, which actually has a pretty good camera.  The only drawback is that it doesn't have a flash, so it doesn't do so well in low light situations.  My phone camera is messing up, and won't flash unless I manually turn the flash on to take pictures.  That's one reason I kind of want a new phone.  The other is that I've had that one for nearly 5 years, and want a bigger one anyway.  

By the way, if you've ever seen the Matthew McConaughey movie The Free State Of Jones, Richard was an extra in it.  Just thought I'd throw that out there.  I've got a screen shot somewhere.  If I can find it again, I'll post it someday.  But not today, for it is now past my bedtime, and I must go. 

Laters.