A visit with Aunt Louise

As I drove through San Antonio I made a stop to visit Aunt Cile, Uncle Merrill, cousin Denise and her husband Dwight.  Can you believe that Uncle Merrill is about to turn 90 years old?  He was doing very well, though walking is difficult for him now.  We went to a really good (and incredibly busy) Mexican restaurant for dinner and Dwight was full of questions about my 'life on the road'.  Look out, Denise, I think he's got retirement plans. (BTW, What's the name of that restaurant? I want to recommend it)



Then on to Ft Worth and Aunt Louise's house where I planned to stay for a few weeks.



That is the gate to her property and over the years this fence and gate have been hit some 30 times by motorists coming around the curve in the road.  I think she should put in a moat instead of a fence--maybe only 3 ft deep.  It would baptize a few reckless drivers and perhaps provide some entertainment while they pull their cars out.  As it now happens, they wipe out the fence then drive away before she can get their names or license plate numbers. 

You can tell by the dead grass that rain is a rarity in this part of Texas.  But Aunt Louise still gets out many mornings in the summer with the riding mower and cuts her grass--acres of it!  If the weather weren't so dry she would be out there even more.  And can you believe that she is over 90 as well?

So Halcyon II was quite satisfied to sit in her driveway for a while.  It is very nice to have my own rolling guest room.  Sigh Me and I can stay out of her hair until Aunt Louise is up and ready to face the world in the morning and we can retire at night and play old rock n roll music to hearts content without worrying about annoying her with 'the racket'.

I know, whenever I get to Ft. Worth that we will be visiting museums.  This is from The Doss in Weatherford and the above painting reminded me--of me.

If I could paint I would paint flowers.

Or perhaps I would paint with fabric...

This seemed especially difficult to me--quilted portraits. 

I would love to do a quilted portrait of Aunt Louise.  Or write a poem about her.

She is a walking history book about Texas--from the pre-history of dinosaurs,  to the great ranchers of the last century,  and finally to the latest mega land deals and the pillages of the land from 'fracking'. And everywhere we go, people know her and rush to greet her. 

One day I joined her for the monthly Ft Worth Women's Club Luncheon.  It was a lively affair at the Black-Eyed Pea but the club is dwindling in size--no new members have been added in years.  The conversations all centered around the health of the members and it reminded me of one of my favorite 'Aunt Louise stories'...
One day a friend of her's asked her, "How are you feeling?"
Her reply was a bit abrupt, "I feel fine! And if I didn't, I wouldn't tell you."

So, I guess I'll just post a blog about her.