Fall Adventure 2016 has come to an end.

After traveling for about 6 weeks through the hot and muggy Southeast in The Wanderer followed by another 7 weeks in warm, sticky College Station, TX, we came home to rain and mild temperatures.

The front of the house was almost as we left it, roses still blooming and the lawn, although brown, neatly mowed (Thank you, Mark.)

Inside we found three months of mail sorted and neatly stacked (Thank you, Mark.)

And then there is the back,

leaves

and more leaves,

and of course weeds. 

Without rain for about 3 months only a few of the geranium cuttings (on the rack) ABN took before we left made it. But the mother plants still have some life. (Looks as though the squirrels may have had a party on the rack.)

Not all is lost, the geraniums on the patio survived so ABN can take more cuttings. (Yeah!)

Shortly after our arrival home, our friend, Jean stoped by and not empty handed. Thank you, Jean, for the most delicious ham/bean soup, fruit salad and bread from Kirchhoff's; perfect dinner for a cool rainy day!

We had a fantastic fall adventure hanging out with friends in Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas. It is sad to see that one of our very favorite places is now being engulfed with fire. Our friends in North Carolina and East Tennessee are in our thoughts and prayers.

Now that we are home we must get busy and give The Wanderer a good cleaning and a couple of upgrades before putting her away for the winter. ABN is excited to be back in her studio in time to do some Christmas crafting. We are both excited to catch up with our hometown friends. ABN wants to continue her walking explorations. When will she ever get around to raking those leaves!? (Captain is copping out on the leave raking citing his extreme seasonal allergies. Not to worry, ABN has started a list of inside chores to keep him busy.)

Note to email subscribers, hitting reply to the email notification of a new post will send your reply out somewhere in cyber space and we will never know of your comments.  If you wish to comment, please do so in the comment section on the blog site or send a note using the email address you have in your contact list. 

from the Jannes in College Station!

Good Brews, Good News

We hadn't intended to put up a post this weekend but we had such a good time this evening we had to share.

Our Saviors Lutheran Church (our church away from home) sponsored a Good News, Good Brews event this evening at

Led by Pastor Pat,

we had a great time singing hymns

as we sipped a really good Contract Killer Porter.
(If you are reading this in your email browser, you made need to click on the link to watch the video)

Hope we are lucky to catch another Brew/Hymn Fest when we are in town again.

Life is better......

with friends; sage advice from Captain's mom as we celebrated the 95th birthday of her longtime friend, Alice.

The families met at Trinity Lutheran Church in Tyler, TX in 1952, about a year before Captain was born, and have remained close friends throughout the years. You have probably heard Captain talk about (and maybe have seen photos) of his lifetime friend, Christine.

She is the daughter of Alice. Captain was born the day before Christine turned 1-year old. Together they celebrated their birthdays, attended the one-room parochial school and played house (yes, there is a photo of Captain playing the mom.) Word has it they did their share of fussing and fighting.

Speaking of "old friends," Captain was lucky enough to be in town November 4 when a classmate received a long overdue letter jacket at the A&M Consolidated High School football game.

A really neat story, so I am posting a link here.

The CHS class of 1971 is a very special class that has remained close over the years. Twenty members of the class gathered to celebrate the event and attend the game. 

And we have new friends up in Coppell, Texas (the ones with whom we shared our Italy adventure in May.) Last week we took The Wanderer 

up to Lake Lewisville (another excellent Corps of Engineers campground)

so we could spend a bit of time catching up. It just so happened we were there on a Tuesday.

 

Tipsy Tuesday in Coppell, TX

This friend thing just gets better! One of our very good friends from home joined us in College Station over the weekend. We introduced Roger to some of our College Station friends at the 501 Club as we watched the sun set from Rudder Tower.

What is the 501 Club? It is a group of retired or almost retired folks that gather at The University Club in Rudder Tower no earlier than 5:01 p.m. on Thursday (The cost of parking drops to $1 per hour after 5:00 p.m.)

Roger joined Captain for the Mississippi/A&M game on Saturday.

Another event this week that didn’t turn out as expected.

Mom is right, life is better with friends. We are grateful our group of friends includes folks that are different from us on so many levels. May we never let differences become more important than friendship.

By the way, know anyone that is looking for tickets to the A&M/LSU game? (Can’t believe how quickly a team can fall from play-off contender to “let’s just get this season over with.”)

Note to email subscribers, hitting reply to the email notification of a new post will send your reply out somewhere in cyber space and we will never know of your comments.  If you wish to comment, please do so in the comment section on the blog site or send a note using the email address you have in your contact list.