In which I give you; late nights, antique malls, chocolate cake, good friends, shady gas stations, apple cider vinegar, and hats; in pictures....

Last week some friends from South TX drove up to bid us farewell before our move across country. Savannah, Rebecca, Johanna, and I took the opportunity to visit a HUGE antique mall in our vicinity; we dressed up in our hats and scarves and had tea in the malls "Secret Garden Tea Room", which turned out to be not-so-secret. There were about 25 other people in the tea room - and we were seated smack dab in the middle of them. Being the silly goons we are, we didn't have the gumption to demand  better seating, so, all the other customers got to listen to our crazy conversation.

Jo drove us, and did a very good job too. As she expertly wove through downtown Fort Worth traffic I realized that I was perfectly at ease with her driving; as to where we go when we drive, that is another matter entirely. We, "ahem", got into a bit of a problem at one point - none of which was in any way our drivers fault - I think it suffices to say that if we had broke down, pepper spray and a stiff umbrella handle would have been in order.

Some of the cars lovelier inhabitants....Aren't their hats adorable?

Some of us found books. Some of us found high heeled wizard of oz shoes in outrageous pink and even tried them on. That would not be me.

Then the aforementioned person made their best friend pose next to a wacky coat holding the high heeled wizard of oz shoes in outrageous pink, which the friend does so tastefully. I love the disdainful single finger hold - don't touch that thing!

 Some more of the wildlife the antique mall offered. Why didn't Nan come photograph the 150 year old books Jo and I were holding instead of this? I had a book, published during the civil war, in my hands!

Then we went home and ate. Actually, this may have been after church on Sunday, but, after all our adventures on Saturday, we had need of nourishment, so this has been assigned to Saturday afternoon in the chronology of events. I don't know who took this picture, but, Jo and I are obviously trying to eat - not a good picture time!

Camera, camera, go away......get the hint?

Come on camera, give us a break! Okay, the only reason I'm posting these is because they are practically the only pictures we have of Jo and I from this trip.

Johanna was determined to weasel her way back into Joel's affections.

Do you think Jo would look good with short hair? Hmmmmm, I like it better long.

Again, somebody seems to have a fixation with photographing me while I eat! You can see my half devoured tortilla on the table, the other half is tucked behind my teeth. I'm becoming quite proficient in the art of gulping down food while throwing on a cheesy grin so that the tyrannical pleasures of the one behind the lens can be satisfied.

Rebecca and a small cameo of my mom in the bottom right corner. Is she chewing her nails?

Jo. I wasn't kidding about us having few photos together.

Nan and Becca and Daniels fingers.

Ah ha! Jo and I, ignore the tete a tete going on in the background, I think they were having camera problems.

Getting ready for a girls group picture.

All looking but one.

Only one looking.

All looking except one has her eyes closed and another has a single strand of hair right down the middle of her forehead.

I'd better say the nursery rhyme or someone else is going to. "There was a little girl, who had a little curl, right in the middle of her forehead. And when she was good she was very very good, but when she was bad, she was horrid." And Caroline's eyes are still shut.

Our photographer decided to get a side view, which I am only posting so that you can see the little voodoo man on Becca's shoulder. Don't ask me why our neighbors mounted a twisty creepy metal voodoo man to their mailbox; its beyond reasoning. I myself have puzzled over the meaning of such behavior many a time, and come to ----- nothing. Anyhow, I was able to cut the voodoo figure out of all the other photos, but not this one for obvious reasons. So there he is, like those devils in the cartoons, whispering in Becca's ear. Actually, he looks like he's piping in Becca's ear. Remind me to ask her what he said sometime...

This is a photo of someone taking a photo, end of story. We did not get our traditional picture of the boys in their favorite place in front of the TV doing you know what. But I assure you, they managed to get in plenty of their favorite pastime.

I think this picture says something about our characters. I'll leave it to you to guess whose feet are whose.

The ummm, boys? Yep - I think we'll stick with our traditional title for this bunch. There is a new bundle in the picture this time. The blanket Robert is holding is named Joel.

A group shot. Now can you tell whose feet are whose?? Actually, I went and put my boots on - it was rather cold.

The sun was in most of our eyes in the last group shot, so we moved to a better location. Actually, I think that is why we moved, but I could be wrong.

Then someone proceeded to get close ups - or maybe Nan did this afterward? Not sure. You are looking at Robert Jay, Savannah, and Rebecca.

You are looking at Lauren and Johanna......


....Oh wait, I see now, this picture also has Joel, Julia, Daniel, and Calvin.

I thought this was a creepy shot. The tree is reflected really well, obstructing the vision of the driver who appears to be about to exert some sort of Darth Vader death choke on the viewer. This person is going to drive my best friend home?

Goodbyes were mournful and drawn out. (Doesn't that car look squeaky clean?) This may be the last batch of pictures like this for a long long time, though if Jo and I have anything to do with it, we may be posting pictures of ourselves in Scotland one of these days....