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For LJ’s birthday, we did the coolest thing.  We took the Texas Heartland Flyer (Amtrak) from Ft. Worth to Oklahoma City for the weekend.  We met our friends in Ft. Worth on Friday afternoon and had late lunch at the Flying Saucer.   Then we boarded the train at the station and it pulled out right on time at 5:25PM.  The train was wonderful.  The seats are large and the leg room is enormous.  Even LJ can stretch out.  You can walk around, go get drinks or a snack in the cafe car, and relax and enjoy the scenery.  It’s MUCH more comfortable than a plane.

CJ & LJ on train

We arrived in Oklahoma City at about 9:15 as scheduled, and walked a short 3 blocks to the Skirvin Hilton Hotel.  The hotel was built in about 1910 or so, and renovated and expanded in 1945 and it is a grand place!  The lobby ceilings are at least 3 stories high and the fortieres would make Miss Ellen jealous.  The rooms have been completely updated and are just sleek and elegant.  We picked the right place to stay.

Saturday morning we all had a scrumptious breakfast in the hotel, and then we set out for the Oklahoma City Memorial.  As we were walking along, a city bus driver stopped and asked us if we were going to the Museum.  When we said yes, he insisted on giving us a lift because it was chilly and windy.  What a friendly thing to do!  We weren’t more than a couple of blocks away.  The memorial itself was just awe inspiring.  None of us could keep the tears from falling looking at the chairs, one for each life taken.  Of course the small chairs for the children were especially painful.  What a lot of people don’t know is that in addition to the outdoor memorial, there is a museum on the site which is a 3 story exhibit.  It’s broken into chapters such as Confusion, Chaos, Survivor Experiences, and Rescue and Recovery.  It was all quite moving and beautifully done.

We left the Memorial and walked next to the Oklahoma Museum of Art.  What a wonderful Museum!  I was so pleasantly surprised.  The first floor is for special exhibitions which is currently The Dutch Italianates.  These were Dutch painters who travelled to Italy to live and study with those masters.  We were not familiar with any of the artists (which felt really weird for us), but the paintings were interesting.  The second and third floors house the permanent museum collections, and for us the most exciting was the Dale Chihuly glass collection.  His blown glass pieces of flowers, sea shells, boats and other beautiful creations was amazing.  We took a few pictures, but it must be seen to be truly experienced.

After the Art Museum, we walked through the parks of the Myriad Botanical Gardens. 

Resting at Botanical Gardens

By then it had warmed up a little, the sun was shining, and it was just beautiful.  We just sat on the benches and took it all in for awhile, until we realized how hungry we were for lunch.  We walked on to Bricktown, which is the area of downtown Oklahoma City which they’ve revitalized and through which they’ve built a canal.  Restaurants and shops are beginning to build up along the canal, as well as some condos and hotels.  It’s on its way to becoming really special. 

We ate lunch at a New Orleans style eatery which was fine, nothing to blog about, and then we took the boat ride along the canal.  The boat “guide” (did we need a guide?) was full of bad jokes and regional put-downs and nearly drove us batty, but the scenery was interesting.  There were some pretty fantastic sculptures of people on horseback and in covered wagons depiciting the rush to Oklahoma to stake your claim to land. 

Sculptures along canal ride

I would recommend the boat ride with a different guide, but I guess you don’t get to pick.

By the time we finished, we were all ready to head back to the hotel for a nap.  We all met up in the evening, for drinks and dinner, and the Skirvin kindly gave us gratis transportation to our restaurant in the hotel limo.  We went to a beautiful little restaurant called Nonna.  We started in their bar which is upstairs and looks out onto Bricktown and the canal.  After drinks, we went downstairs to dinner.  The specials were steaks, which some of us had, but LJ had a sausage lasagna and I had duck breast with blackberry sauce.  It was all good and we were all quite happy, and pretty exhausted from our day.

Ok City Train Station

The next morning we caught the train back at 8:25AM.  It left on time, and returned us to the Ft. Worth Amtrak Station about 12:15.  What a weekend.  If you’re looking for something a little different, I highly recommend it. 

It’s my birthday, and once again LJ has pulled off an event weekend that made it so special.  We had a mini staycation in Dallas.  The best way to describe it would be to say we ate our way through the weekend.

It started with lunch on Saturday at Jasper’s, Kent Rathbun’s incredible restaurant featuring, as he describes it, gourmet backyard cuisine.  It is a lovely place with a warmly modern decor.  The ceilings are incredibly high, and the tables are dark wood but the lighting and accessories are all metal and glass.  I wanted to eat something light considering I had an idea that much more was to come that day, but, alas, Mr. Rathbun is not known for light.  I had the Smoked Salmon Cobb Salad, and it was delicious.  I expected thin slices of lox-like salmon arranged in a Cobb Salad, but instead was treated to a generous portion of perfectly cooked salmon filet.  The salad had the expected boiled egg, apple smoked bacon, tomato and avacado with a rich creamy dressing over all.  What utter decadence!  LJ had what was called Grilled Chicken Breast, California Avocado.  It was a lightly grilled breast of chicken over a lovely sauce of avocado puree with avocado chunks and grape tomatoes accompanied by Paula Lambert’s specially made creamy cottage cheese.  LJ said it was perfectly cooked and delicious.

Later in the afternoon, we checked into the lovely Warwick Melrose Hotel.  The old, stately Melrose is where my parents spent their wedding night 63 years ago.  It has been lovingly restored, and it retains its old charm while being perfectly comfortable.  Our room was a mini suite on the 8th floor with windows all along the side facing downtown.  It had a homey little sitting area and luxurious draperies and bed linens.  The bathroom floor was marble and it had all the amenities you would expect from a hotel of high caliber.  The Library Bar is still warm and inviting with its dark wood walls and high ceilings.

The highlight of the evening was dinner at Rise No. 1.  It’s a tiny little place with antique French googaws filling the room, wooden tables with mismatched chairs, a circle of stone in the center, and an exposed kitchen.  The restaurant specializes in souffles, and they are remarkable.  But first, the salad.  LJ and I started with a Rise No. 1 house salad with baby lettuce, bleu cheese, toothpicks of granny smith apple, pecans, and the most amazing “Pecan Vinaigrette.”  It is like nothing I have ever had anywhere.  It’s made with fragrant walnut oil that almost makes you think of chocolate when you take the first bite.  We were overwhelmed with the salad, but Rise was just getting started.  Oh, and the bread!!!  It was without a doubt the best bread I have had since I was in France.  It made me understand why, when Jacques Pepin was asked what his favorite food is, he answered, “really good bread and really good butter.  What better can you get than that!”  This bread was perfectly crunchy on the outside and slightly chewy on the inside.  I could have made a meal of it.

My entree was Truffle Infused Mushroom Souffle and LJ had Jambon & Gruyere Souffle.  We kept going back and forth trying to decide who had the best.  Each one was intensely flavored and light as a feather, a feat I don’t believe is easily accomplished.  Whe the waiter asked me at one point how the meal was going, I believe I teared up!  Then came dessert.  I could not resist my all-time favorite, Grand Marnier Souffle, and LJ had Bread Pudding Souffle.  He insisted his was best, but for me you can’t beat Grand Marnier.  Anyway, both were flawless.

After dinner we went back to the hotel and went into the Library Bar for an after dinner drink and a little entertainment.  They had a lovely female singer who wasn’t bad, but it was glorified karioki with prerecorded background instruments.  I wonder how good she could have been if she had been accompanied by live piano and drums or bass which would have allowed her some room to express herself instead of following a pre-set arrangement.

Anyway, what a lovely birthday.  Great food, beautiful surroundings, lovely music - it doesn’t get any better.  How lucky I am to be married to someone who loves these things like I do, and generously lavishes me with them.

We slept in this morning after last night’s wonderful anniversay experience.  We went to the Botonist for Brunch around 10:30.  LJ had blueberry pancakes and I had scrambled eggs and smoked salmon.  I’ve certainly had my yearly requirement for salmon since I’ve been here.

Outside the Botonist

Our neighborhood

We’ve had such great luck with retail therapy over here, we don’t think we have room in our luggage for everything we bought.  So we went to the Post Office and bought a box to put our dirty clothes and some other stuff in.  We took it back to the Post Office and shipped it to ourselves.  It cost over $100 to mail that silly box!  Oh, well.  We’ve had better ideas.

Early afternoon we took the tube to Green Park Station which lets you out at St. James Street.  There we wandered through the Ritz and past Christies which had amazing artifacts in the windows.  We went to Wolsely’s at 4:00 for tea.  The building was originally the headquarters for the Wolsely automobile which went out of business during the depression.  The building is perfectly restored and looks like the set of a 1920’s movie.  It was really elegant and beautiful.

Big Ben and Parliament

After tea we went to look for a very old pub called the Red Lion, but we never found it.  Sometimes directions in guidebooks are somewhat less than perfect.  Anyway, we found a perfectly wonderful little pub called the Golden Lion and we stopped for a glass of wine.

We went back to the flat to pack and get ready for the long flight home tomorrow.  It’s been such a memorable trip.  I really hope to be back soon.

We started the day with breakfast at the Abbey Hotel in Bath.  LJ finally got his traditional English breakfast, eggs, wiggly bacon (as opposed the the American streaky kind), broiled tomato and baked beans.  Ugh!  The we took off to tour the Roman baths.  How amazing!  They were beautifully preserved and the tour is set up so you are given real insight into who used them and how they were run.  There are now two levels to look at the underground pool.  The second level walkway above the pool was added in the late 1800’s.  Here are a few pictures of the baths and museum.

We checked out and took the train back to London and arrived about 2:00pm.  Back at the flat, we cleaned up and went to tea at the Botonist.  It was just delicious.  They have a wonderful pastry chef.  One of the special pastries we had was a nutmeg custard tart that was really special.  The scones and finger sandwiches were really good.  I had no idea how much food was served at tea.  It really is a meal.  I was very glad our dinner reservations were not until 9:00.

We took the tube to Jamie Oliver’s restaurant, Fifteen.  It was 45 minutes by train from our flat.  The restaurant is really cool, as you might expect.  It had a young, hip vibe with crazy graphics and very young, beautiful servers.  Ours was a Brazilian guy named Fabio.  LJ and I had the 4 course tasting menu.  Almost the best thing we had was the amuse bouche.  It was a scallop with fresh ginger, lime juice, cilantro and a tiny something crunchy.  It really did jump in the mouth.  My first course was a salad with baby greens, a grilled peach, burrata cheese (which is an artisanal cheese made with mozzarella and cream), toasted almonds and balsamic vinegar.  LJ had prosciutto di San Danielle with Italian black figs, gorganzola dolce and pea shoots.   His next course was risotto bianco with mushrooms and truffle pecorino.  My primo was potato gnocchi with Cumbrian pork ragu.  LJ’s secundo was pot roasted pork with apricot, rosemary and white wine.  Mine was char-grilled salmon with spinach and black olive sauce.  Finally, desserts were honeycomb semifreddo with lemon sorbet and strawberry limoncello soup (LJ), and elderflower panna cotta with gooseberry compote (me).  OMG!  Yes, we took a taxi home and collapsed.  This was the actual day of our 40th anniversary and what a day to remember it was. 

Jamie wishes happy 40th

We got up very early and had a toasted crumpet at the flat and were on our way to the tube station by 7:30.  We caught the train to Bath at Paddington Station and were in Bath Spa (that’s what they call it) by 10:00AM.  We had hotel reservations at the Abbey Hotel, a 5 minute walk from the station as promised.  The hotel let us stow our bag while we met up with the walking tour outside the Roman Baths at 10:30.

AND WE WALKED for 2 1/2 hours.  It was a wonderful tour!  We went by the home of Beau Nash who was responsible for the popularity of the Bath as a resort for London swells in the 1700’s.  He was interested in having all the titled folks visit, but also the middle class.  According to him, the titles had names, but the middle class had money.  We stopped in Queen’s square where there is an obelisk in the center as an homage to the Romans.

We walked on to the next park called the Circus.  It is a larger, round park with 3 crescent shaped buildings surrounding towering plane trees.  They are residences now.  The Roman architecture is awe inspiring.  We walked on to the next major architectural area which was called the Crescent.  Outdoing the Circus built before, this has one huge crescent shaped building, now townhouses.  One was purchased by Nicholas Cage for 4 million pounds (about $6.64 million by today’s exchange rate).  In our tour group we were happy to meet John (Gio The Blogger) and his wife Dana from Chicago who were traveling on to Italy (jealous!). 

After the tour, we ate lunch in a lovely little French restaurant called The Arch.  I had sea bass with a poached egg on top, and LJ had pork tenderloin.  Everything was delicious.  After lunch we shopped.  I bought two tops and a caftan and a pair of shoes, and LJ bought a T-shirt.  Fitting, right?

LJ at the Arch

We had dinner at another French restaurant called Casanis.  I had lamb chops and LJ had pork again.  Everything was beautifully prepared.  We walked back through the town to the hotel and fell wonderfully asleep.  It was a great day.

We slept in today (for us) until 8:00, and I cooked breakfast at the flat.  We ate leisurely and had coffee, then we dressed and readied for some retail therapy.

Shopping off Sloane Square and down King’s Road is some fun!  I scored two pairs of shoes and some leggings and a flowing black top.  LJ got a beautiful dress shirt.  We ate outdoors at a boutique restaurant in Duke of York Square.  We took all our purchases back to the flat and took the tube to Westminster again.

This time we visited the Churchill Center and Museum.  This is the preserved underground bunker used by Churchill and his Cabinet during the Nazi attacks on London.  It was amazing.  It has been perfectly preserved from the day they walked out of the bunker.  It has all the maps still hanging, and the bedrooms and communications rooms, strategy rooms, and conference rooms are exactly the way they were.  It certainly brought that period to life.

Very hot and tired, we took the tube back to Sloane and a wonderful new bar/restaurant, The Botonist.  It’s very modern and opens out to the square.  They serve brunch and high tea there as well.  We will definitely be returning.

Dinner Friday night was at a lovely new Indian Restaurant called Vama.  It got very high ratings in the Times, and we thought the food was really good, if somewhat pedestrian.  We had Saag Ghosht (lamb with spinach) and Chicken Korma with Garlic Naan Bread and basmati rice.  After dinner we returned to our little neighborhood pub, the Phoenix for a nightcap.

Back to the flat for a good night’s sleep before an early and busy day tomorrow.  Bath Spa!

We started the day with breakfast at a little neighborhood boulingerie on King’s Road-coffee and ham and cheese croissants.  We then made our way to the tube to Waterloo Pier to buy tickets to a riverboat cruise down the Thames to Greenwich.  The weather was picture perfect, partly sunny and a cool breeze.  The tour guide gave us the history of London on The Thames as we motored slowly down the river.  I liked the Mayflower Pub which commemorates the place where the Mayflower ship launched for America.  We de-boated in Greenwich about lunch time.  We found a local pub and had fish & chips and a cold lager. (They actually serve it cold now.)

After lunch we took the boat back and got off at the Tower of London stop.  We had done the Tower tourist stuff on our first trip to London years ago, so we just took a couple of photos and tubed back to Sloane Square.  We stopped at a market and bought food for the flat - eggs and streaky bacon, beer and wine.  All of the essentials. 

We also stopped in a stationary store and bought a card to write a message to Stacey Kent and Jim Tomlinson.  She is a great jazz singer and he is a sax and flute player and their music is what caused us to make this particular trip.  We’ll see them perform tonight in celebration of our 40th wedding anniversary.  We wrote a note in the card saying how happy we were to be able to be here in London seeing them on our special occasion, and we asked them to play our song, “Never Let Me Go.”

We took the tube one full hour to Hornschurch and then walked another 25 minutes to the Queen’s Theatre.  We were pretty glowing by the time we arrived, but boy was it worth it!  Stacey and Jim and group were truly awesome!  They were more improvisational than the last time we saw them in the States.  And the highlight of the evening was when Stacey made a beautiful tribute to us and sang our song.  We both sat with tears running down our faces.  What a miraculous evening.  We made the tube trip back in a kind of romantic haze.

Oh, by the way, we heard on our walk home from the tube station that Michael Jackson has died.

We left DFW late. AA flight 50 was supposed to leave at 4:45pm, but we didn’t lift off till 5:45. The couple in the center aisle seats brought a very unhappy little boy who looked under 2 years old.  He screamed at the top of his lungs for the first 2 hours and was very fussy most of the trip. But that is just the cost of overseas travel these days. We made it and I’m thrilled to be landing at Heathrow.

It’s 10:00am and we’re at our flat at 11 Redburn Street, Chelsea, London. It’s quite small, but suits our needs perfectly. It has a small living room, one bedroom, kitchen and bath. It has a great shower (hard to find in London) and an efficient little kitchen. And it came with Scotch. Who can complain?

After we unpacked and settled in, we walked the neighborhood to get our bearings. We’re a 10 minute walk from the Sloane Square tube station and we got a 7 day Oyster Card for use anywhere in the central district. We stopped at the phone store and got a little phone for L4.95 and loaded it with minutes so we’d be able to make restaurant reservations, call taxis and make any other calls we might want to. We took the tube to Harrod’s (that’s obligatory) and had lunch at the Green Man Pub. I had a salmon nicoise salad and LJ had a roast beef club. Both were even better than they sound. Nice start. We walked around Harrod’s and down Sloane past the top flight shops and tubed back to Chelsea. We both immediately passed out. We napped at least 2 hours.

We cleaned up and left for dinner in our neighborhood at a little cafe called Blushes. I had Parma ham, mozzarella and tomato pannini, and LJ copied me. We then took the tube to the National Theatre where we saw Helen Mirren in the Greek Tragedy “Phedre”. I have never seen such beautiful acting - even on the New York stage. It was stunning. Afterward, we stopped by a little pub near our flat called Phoenix for a nightcap.

What a great first day. More to come.

It’s new year’s eve, and I’m finishing out the year exactly where I want to be - with LJ at the lake. It’s sunny, in the 50’s, and just beautiful. I’ve been pondering the year soon to be past, and like the others, there have good times and not so good.

We started the year on a very sad note, with our life-long friends Dot and Neill English dying within one day of each other in January. It was unexpected, untimely, and heartbreaking. They were only in their 70’s, and it was ironic that they died one day apart. They were inseparable in life; it’s only fitting that their end was the same.

In March, we celebrated my brother’s birthday with him and his wife here at the lake. It was a lovely weekend and made me very aware of how it seems Steve and I grow closer each year. It’s nice to have that kind of relationship with a brother.

April brought a huge thrill for LJ and me. One of our favorite jazz singers, Stacey Kent, and her husband, jazz saxophonist Jim Tomlinson, came to Edmond, Oklahoma. They headline Ronnie Scott’s in London and Birdland in New York City, and here they were coming to the University of Central Oklahoma of all places! We grabbed reservations and hightailed it. And they did not disappoint. They put on a beautiful show, and we met them and got CD’s signed after the show. If you’re not familiar with them, I highly recommend them.

In May, we took one of the trips a lifetime to Italy with LJ’s sister, Janet. We went to Rome, Tuscany and Bellagio. It was a beautiful journey and it was really good to spend it with Janet. I loved Rome, but San Gimignano and the surrounding area is still my favorite. I will say, though, that my only disappointment with Bellagio was that I didn’t run into Mr. Clooney. I’m sure he’s disappointed, too.

June brought our 39th wedding anniversary. We spent it at the lovely W Hotel with dinner at Lola. I still can’t believe it’s been that long. In some ways it only seems like a few years. I’m ready for many more.

October was a huge month. First, you know if you read this blog that October brought Hurricane Ike which wiped out Bolivar Peninsula and Crystal Beach. It still makes me tear up to think about it. However, we went with the Barnetts to Lake Murray, Oklahoma and had a wonderful time with them like we always do. We’re already talking about trying to get back to Galveston next year even though Crystal Beach is gone. And finally, we had the Hawkins cousins’ reunion at Country Woods Inn in Glen Rose. What a blast. And what a month!

November brought the best news of the year - the election of Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Even though the economy is tanking and the Middle East is teetering on annihilation, there is hope for the future.

I am finishing the year bittersweet. We spent Christmas with my family in Kansas City. While it was really wonderful to be with my Mom and my sisters and their families to celebrate, it is just too difficult to witness how Alzheimer’s destroys a human being from the core out. My Dad is no longer a person I know. It is painful to have your father ask what your name is and whether or not you finished college. I can only hope that this doesn’t drag on for long. As he said when we were there, “I am lost.” I don’t think he’ll be found again on this earth.

But life goes on, and tomorrow will be a new year. It will bring good and bad as it did this year, but it always brings new hopes. And that’s what keeps us all going. HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE.

My favorite new year’s dinner, Chili and Cornbread.

Beef Chili

3 T. vegetable oil
3 lb. ground chuck
3 yellow onions
8 garlic cloves
1 jalapeno
1/2 cup chili powder
2 T. cumin
1 T. oregano
2 t. coriander
1 1/2 cups lager beer
2 1/2 cups beef broth
1 can (28 oz.) crushed tomatoes
1 can kidney beans (rinsed and drained)
1 can pinto beans (rinsed and drained)

Brown ground chuck in 2 tablespoons oil. Drain thoroughly. While meat is draining, saute onions, garlic and jalapeno in remaining oil. Add meat back to pan and add remaining ingredients (through beans) and stir completely. Simmer over low heat for at least one hour or more if desired.

Where do I start? A long time ago, there was an itinerant Presbyterian preacher and his wife and 4 daughters, Betty, Teasa, Deedy, and Wee Wee. They would pack the four girls and all their possessions in the car and ride through Texas spreading the Word. In 1936, this preacher took his wife and girls to Itasca, Texas to become Director of the Presbyterian Children’s Home (I believe it was actually called an orphan’s home back then). Well, the four girls grew up, and three of them married Presbyterian ministers and the fourth, being a bit of a slacker, married a lay Presbyterian who worked at the Home. Anyway, over the years, those girls had a total of 14 children, one of which was LJ. He eventually married me, which is how it is that I’m writing this.

These 14 cousins along with their spouses, significant others, and assorted cohorts have kept in touch and close all these years. Back in 2003, they started having cousins’ reunions at a wonderful B&B in Glen Rose, Texas called Country Woods Inn. We just got back from this year’s reunion, and it was a resounding success - again.

We started as we usually do having a picnic lunch on the grounds at Grace Presbyterian Village in Dallas where the two remaining daughters, Deedy and Wee Wee, live. Sadly, the other two daughters and all of the spouses have passed away. This year, there were 12 of us who could make the trip. We came from Wisconsin, Colorado, Washington, Florida, and, of course, Texas. After we ate our sandwiches and brownies, we piled into cars and made the trek to Glen Rose.

Country Woods Inn is a wonderful place with a big Main House on the property which has 4 B&B bedrooms with private baths, a large living room, dining room, and kitchen. On the property are several other small houses, most of which have been divided into 2 sides to rent. This year we rented the entire Main House, the Saddle House, and the Farm House. We always get the Main House so that we can use the kitchen and large patio to do what we do best, eat and drink.

Upon arrival, we started upacking food and drink in the kitchen, and you would have thought it was for a group of 12 for a week! Assorted chips, dips, veggies, fruit, cookies, brownies, cheese (from Wisconsin, of course), soft drinks, wine, beer, vodka, and tequila for margaritas. When we come to party, we come to PARTY! Then we ensconsed ourselves on the patio and proceeded to reunite. As the laughter was just beginning to get raucous, cousin Dan rolled up in his 1955 Greyhound Scenicruiser Bus. It was just amazing!

Saturday morning, we all gathered in the Main House for Breakfast. I brought my traditional Southwestern Breakfast Casserole and Judy brought tons of fresh fruit. Mary and Kalleen brought coffee and cheese from Wisconsin and Al brought juice. We feasted, and then proceeded to prepare the bus for the journey. At 11:00, we all piled into the Scenicruiser and took off for our Hawkins history tour. We first drove to Hillsboro where we had the BEST Mexican food at a little local place called Montes Cafe. This tiny place pushed tables together and welcomed us with open arms. After mounds of chips and salsa, enchiladas, tamales, chalupas, migas, and a sampling of just about everything else on the menu, we boarded the bus and headed to Itasca.

We went past the grandparents old homestead they had nicknamed “Hilltop” on the way to the Home. At the Home, we got out and roamed the grounds. It was fascinating as an “outlaw” to this bunch to eavesdrop on the reminiscing. The Home has a swimming pool and horses to ride, and, as a child, LJ thought it wasn’t fair that he couldn’t be an orphan, too. It was his considered opinion that they had all the fun. We took the traditional photo of the cousins arranged in order of age, and then headed back to Glen Rose.

That evening all of us invaded a local restaurant in Glen Rose for dinner. It was there that things started to get really goofy. The restaurant specialized (as all good rural Texas restaurants do) in chicken fried steak. A missing word on the menu started it all. Under House Special, it stated, “4 oz. hand battered, fried with mashed potatoes and dinner salad.” Someone immediately figured that we were having fried hand for dinner. About that time, a waitress who was cleaning a nearby table ran her hand between the seat and the back of the banquette and let out a loud yelp. Something had stabbed her. Martha opined that that’s where the restaurant got the hands.

We started getting really giddy over Texas street signs. We imagined cactus prancing across the road at “Plant Crossing” and at the sign warning about “Loose Cows” Martha wanted to know how they knew they were loose. (Red stockings is the give-away.) At this point, Donn, a REAL Texan, said he was getting embarrassed. I was trying to keep from spitting up when an “outlaw” from Colorado via Detroit was asking the waitress to explain the difference between a hamburger and a hamburger steak. I can tell you, if you don’t know, it has to do with buns and sweated onions. I’m just happy the restaurant let us finish our meals instead of tossing us out.

I feel privileged to be a part of this big, loving group of folks, so incredibly diverse and yet all from the same uniquely wonderful gene pool.

Recipe of the day: Mom’s Southwestern Breakfast Casserole
1 1 lb. loaf French bread, cut into large chunks
1 lb. sausage, browned and drained well
1 can green chiles
1 8 oz.package cream cheese, cubed
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
12 eggs beaten with 2 cups milk

Spray a 9 x 13 pan with Pam. Layer all ingredients in the order given. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour. Let rest 10 minutes before serving.