We answered the call.

Our lives had pretty much returned to normal. (Wait normal is just a setting on the dryer, right? Actually we embrace being not normal.) Let’s just say we had established somewhat of a summer routine; up early to work in the garden, do upgrades and modifications on The Wanderer , tour around the county on the tandem (yes that was us you saw on South Friendship Road and yes, we knew there weren’t any shoulders. Not something normal people would do,) and we resumed Tipsy Tuesday on the porch.

Our friend, Linda, from the Tri-Cities area of Washington State broke up our routine a bit by bringing a couple of her friends, Tammi and Retta, for a visit during Quilt Week. Those gals are full of fun and adventure! In just one week they managed not only to attend the AQS Quilt Show, but saw Graceland in Memphis, attended the Grand Ole Opry and put their feet on the soil of 6 different states! So much fun!

 

A week later our good friends, Nancy and Jere from College Station, TX stopped overnight on their way to visit their son and family in Virginia. How we wished they could have stayed longer but there is no way our hospitality can compete with the draw of a grand baby.

 And then there were our seasonal visitors, the Hummers.

For reasons of their own, they chose to stop for a bit of refreshments and move on.

But not so, this House Finch gal;

she just moved right in and made her nest in the front porch light fixture! I think she knew we could not evict her with 4-5 little ones in the nest.

Needless to say, as soon as the youngsters left, we removed her little home and turned the fan on to keep her from returning.

If only she could have been as gracious as Mrs. Robin who chose an out of the way, but very visible corner of the carport to make her nest.

We will keep the light on her nest intact in case she wishes to return.

As we said, we had pretty much established a somewhat normal routine when we heard the mountains calling. This morning we loaded the tandem and took The Wanderer to East Tennessee. The plan is to return home on Memorial Day (but who knows.)

We are home!

The garden looks 1000% better than I feared

after last summer’s experience.

Thank you, Mark, for applying treflan to the paths.

Thank you, whoever you are, for watering the geraniums (was that you, Martha?)

not only did they survive but are thriving.

We found an Easter Lily from our good friends, Jean and Sandy and they provided supper this evening. (The chicken was especially good.)

Love that our friends and neighbors make us feel welcomed when we return from our adventures.

The mail is sorted, filed and discarded except we haven’t opened Christmas cards (something we didn’t want to rush through, hoping there are some notes and photos to savor.)

We are slowly unloading The Wanderer so she can have a much needed cleaning and bath before she goes to storage. It’s kind of bittersweet because we love her so much (There is a rumor she might get one more little trip before she is put away. Yeah!), but we also love our house and the friends that gather here.

Next week we will start the rounds of doctor, dentist, hair, etc. appointments. And Tipsy Tuesday will return to the porch.

We had fun, fun, fun

until Michigan took our dream away.

The fun started in a Walmart parking lot in Wichita Falls, Texas on Sunday as we watched the fightin’ Texas Aggies pull off an astounding win over University of North Carolina. Can’t imagine what folks were thinking as we strolled through Walmart in a daze with silly grins plastered on our faces. 

Monday we floated on down to Lewisville Lake near Dallas. After setting up camp in the Corps of Engineers Park,

we got together with some of our Texas friends.

(You may remember them from our Italy trip in 2016)

It goes without saying, when we are with these folks, we have fun!

You have heard us say on more than one occasion, we love the small towns we have discovered across this great country. However....we do enjoy slipping into the city from time to time. Since Dallas is where Captain began his career over four decades ago, it is always fun to return and reminisce . So we hopped on the DART (which wasn’t in existence when Captain lived there)

and headed downtown. First stop, Dallas Museum of Art.

Lady with a Red Hat, Frank Duveneck

Painting by Winston Churchill

Acrylic on Canvas

We were impressed with the museum (which had just opened when Captain worked downtown) especially the high school student exhibit. Wow, there is a lot of talent in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area!

Leaving the art museum, we strolled over to Klyde Warren Park (which was a concrete canyon of a freeway when Captain left Dallas....they decked over part of the freeway to create a green space north of downtown) where we had a choice of lunch from the food trucks.

The park is a beautiful lawn surrounded with tables and chairs, 

an innovative playground (with a really soft and squishy surface,)

a rack with magazines as well as a cart with games for folks to borrow as they relax in the park. Pretty cool! 

While eating a snack in the park we noticed a trolley

so we jumped on board and did a little touring (and Captain continued his narrative of how it used to be.) He finds it hard to believe how exponentially the city has grown over the past 25 years. 

The trolley has an interesting history.

This fun day in Dallas cost us a total of $25 ($5 each for a DART day pass, $15 for our food truck snack.) The art museum and trolley were free. What a bargain!

We had so much fun in Dallas on Tuesday, wee decided to return on Wednesday. This time we took the tandem. We started on the Cottonwood trail, riding along and under the freeways.

This may seem like a really cool ride but in reality it is somewhat risky. In cities like Dallas, homeless people tend to camp out under the freeways, leaving shattered glass along the bike paths putting the cyclist at risk for flat tires. On this particular trail, Captain was able to maneuver around the glass and we did not flat.

Following the Cottonwood Trail east, we connected to the White Rock Creek Trail and had a beautiful ride around White Rock Lake. (No photos due to our aging computer issue. Happy it held up until our last post from our Winter 2018 trip.)

Definitely plan to return and cycle more of the trails in East Dallas

We ended the week celebrating the 65th birthdays of the members of A&M Consolidated High School Class of ‘71. 

For one evening we all slipped back into the hippy days. Yes, most if not all were under the influence of drugs (for blood pressure, arthritis, asthma, etc.)

We are headed for San Antonio! That was our dream, but it was dowsed by Michigan. We will be watching the Final Four in College Station.