WELLINGTON, WEDDINGS AND A DOG WASH

There have been a lot of what I consider to be interesting things going on in my life the past couple of weeks.
Franklin and Beth went with the boys to Austin over Spring Break so we had the privilege of babysitting our Granddog, Harry.

When he arrived he was a little "odoriferous" so we decided that he needed a bath. I called every groomer in Arlington as well as several Vets and they could not take him for two weeks, so we decided to bathe him ourselves.

I say we, but it was actually Frank who did the honors. Once his shower was over he looked so cute and smelled SOOO good. There was no way that we could have let him sleep with us when he smelled like a dog!

And speaking of dogs, our Granddaughter's dog had pups and they are the cutest little things. We now have even more Granddogs, but I can't remember their names! Does that make me a bad Grandmother?

We decided to go to Wellington, Kansas last week and visit with Frank's cousins. Wellington is the Wheat Capital of the world.

We had not seen them for several years, so we thought we'd better make the trip while we still could. Some of their children live in the area, so we were able to have a mini reunion.

P.C is Frank's first cousin. We have had so many good times with him and his wife, Elmeree over the years. They lived in Santa Fe for several years so we saw much more of them then as we spend part of our summers there.
Their kids came over when we got there and we had a nice visit and made plans for the next few days.

I had cooked a lot of food at home to take with us so we wouldn't have to eat out all the time. Selections of restaurants are few and far between there as it is a small town. Fast food is one of the specialties of Wellington. I took a Chicken-Spaghetti casserole, Chili cheese grits, Mexican Stew, the ingredients for Huevos Rancheros for breakfast and that wonderful chocolate cobbler.

I had fixed enough food so all of us could share each evening meal.
One of our favorite things to do is play cards, so the whole family would gather together each evening and play "Hand and Foot", and we would play bridge during the day with P.C. and Elmeree.

There were dogs everywhere we went. I keep wondering if this is a sign that we need to get another pet??? Surely not! (However, Scotties are one of our favorite breeds)

One morning while we were there we drove to Oxford, KS to visit with P.C.'s brother-in-law, Jack. It was good for that part of the family to be able to get together. He was married to P.C.'s sister, Holly who passed away.

Jack also had a little dog that we visited with.

We had a wonderful visit with everyone and hated to see our time with them come to an end. However, as a friend of my Mother used to say, "House guests are like fish....after 3 days they start to stink", so we decided that it was time to take our leave before we started smelling like Harry did upon his arrival!

We had planned on getting home in time to attend a wedding in Graham, Texas, but were not able to make it back in time. A friend of mine that I used to paint with was married this past Saturday.

She has been on her own for several years and suddenly love walked into her life again. I'm so happy for both of them and so sorry that we didn't make it to the wedding. She knows that we wish them both well and hope that they have many years together.
I also received a letter from a good friend who lives in Chicago. Her daughter and her husband are in Dubai at the moment having a very exciting adventure. I'm so excited for them to be able to have this wonderful experience.
They had breakfast at the new Meydan race track which will host the Dubai World Cup - the richest horse race in the world (26 million in prize money).
They then took a seaplane tour of the city of Dubai and then were entertained on the King's yacht. Tiny little thing, isn't it!

Prince Andrew of England joined their group for the races. If you look closely, you will be able to see him behind Angela in the photograph below. How exciting for her and also for my friend, her Mother.

She tells me that there is a book out now called "The City of Gold" which is all about Dubai and I plan on reading it.

After church yesterday I came home and decided to paint. I haven't picked up a brush for a long time, but was in the mood. There is an artist whom I really admire, so I decided to paint something in his style. I'm pleased with the end results.

You know how I love wild colors and anything that reminds me of Santa Fe, so this was right up my alley. I hope to paint a companion piece soon.
This is Holy Week so we will be going to church daily. The Palm Sunday service was lovely yesterday and now we will be involved with the Passion of Christ as Easter is just around the corner.
I pray that each of you have a blessed Holy Week and a glorious Easter Sunday.
XOXO, Pcasso

DALLAS BLOOMS ON ST PATRICK'S DAY

Yesterday was St. Patrick's Day, so we decided to take a trip to the Arboretum in Dallas since Dallas Blooms is the current event there.

Dallas Blooms is the largest floral festival in the south, showcasing over 500,000 spring-blooming bulbs. The gardens are located on the shores of White Rock Lake, just minutes from downtown Dallas. The 66 acres of floral splendor afford a peaceful counterbalance to the pace of urban life. Also on grounds are two historical mansions which you can visit; the DeGolyer House and the Camp Estate, which were built in 1939 and feature 17th- and 18th-century art and furniture.

Our friend, Paul, went with us and we took photographs. We have been friends for many years and love to go on day trips photographing all sorts of interesting things. You can't have a better subject than these beautiful blooms that are just around the corner from where we live.

Here are some of my photographs that I took.

It was a beautiful day and since it's Spring Break, the gardens were full of mothers, children and strollers all picnicking and enjoying the day.

While Paul and I were searching for the exact flower we wanted to photograph, Frank sat by patiently waiting for us.

He always brings his trusty stool so he doesn't have to stand around waiting for us.
I was very proud of myself. I was able to walk a lot of the gardens with nothing but my trusty cane. It was wonderful not having to use the wheelchair.

When we left the gardens, we went to Deep Elm in Downtown Dallas and Franklin, our son, joined us for lunch. There's a little Mexican restaurant near his office that I had not visited and so he and Frank thought it was time for me to try it out.

It looked like a little hole in the wall, but once you got inside, the place was quite large and filled with business people.

It's in an old warehouse and the food was great.
It's a beautiful time of year here in Texas. All the fruit trees are in bloom. Here are a few Bartlett Pear trees that are in the neighborhood. I wish they could stay like this all year long.

After we dropped Paul off, we came home and our son and his family came by to wish us a Happy St. Paddy's Day.

They were on their way to a Muse concert. Muse is an alternative rock band from Devon, England and it's Ian's favorite band. Two years ago on St. Patrick's Day he was playing guitar with his own band at J. Gilligans which is a local pub.

He's grown so much since then .... almost a teenager! Time flies when you're having fun!

All in all it was a wonderful day. It was also my Father's birthday. If he was still alive, he would have been 106 years old yesterday. That's hard to imagine! Seems like only yesterday when this photograph of our family was taken but it was oh so many years ago.

We're planning a trip to Kansas next week to visit our cousins. I'll check in with you when we return.
XOXO, Pcasso

SANTA CLAUS AND THE LAST HURRAH

We are now on our way home. Before we left Jamaica yesterday, they took the life boats out for a checkup before we will be spending the next 2 days very far from land. It always makes me feel good to know that they are up to speed in case of an unexpected emergency.

They wanted to make sure that everything was ship shape before we sailed away into the deep blue sea.
After breakfast, we went back up to the pool deck where we were playing cards. There was a couple on board who each had brought their own scooter to get around the ship. Not a bad way to travel!

While playing cards, Mark and Beverly came by and we decided to meet at Johnny Rocket's for lunch. They had not eaten there and we decided to have one last hamburger fling before reality set back in. Santa Claus was even dining there today! It's amazing what some people will do to get attention!

We decided to splurge, so after we had finished our burgers, we ordered two ice cream sundaes to be shared between the four of us. They were unbelievable. This young woman was in charge of making all the sundaes and milk shakes.

They were loaded with Oreo cookies, cherry and chocolate sauce not to overlook the whipped cream.

She topped them with crumbled cookies and then served them to us. What a treat!

We don't allow ourselves this indulgence when we're at home!

As we were about to leave, this gentleman came in and sat down at the counter. I don't believe that I have ever seen a worse toupee. I though he had brought his poodle along with him.

Do you think he honestly thinks he's fooling anyone besides himself with this hairpiece???
What we really needed after lunch was a nap, so we decided to take one last turn around the ship instead, just in case we had overlooked something.
We went up to the Peek-a-Boo bridge and discovered several things we had not seen before. There was a place where you could send you small children where they we well taken care of as you enjoyed some of the amenities of the ship.

And speaking of children, we were told that next week there would be 2,000 young people on board and a little more than 1,000 people in their 30's. It's Spring Break. I made a mental note never to cruise during spring break. You know that the ship will be like a zoo for a week!
We also discovered another card room and a basketball court on that deck.

There was a bar that we had never seen before that was called the 19th Hole. It was located adjacent to the putting green.

The decor was fun and appropriate. Frank tried to get a tee time but it appeared that there were no slots open when he wanted to play.

There was also a small piano bar in that room where Frank did his Ray Charles impersonation for me.

After our final exploration of the ship, we went back to our quarters and dressed for dinner. They had some special lighting going on in the Promenade and Frank said, "My word ... you're glowing". I had no idea what he was talking about until I saw this photo that he took of me.

This is our last big night, so we went to the show before dinner. It's really nice to have the late seating for dinner so you aren't rushed and can see the entertainment early in the evening. We're both early risers as well as early to bed people (and I thought that would make you healthy, wealthy and wise!), so with this plan we can be in bed by 11:00 at the latest.
The show tonight was called Broadway Rhythm and Rhyme starring the Royal Caribbean singers and dancers. It was another great show.

It featured all the great show tunes from popular Broadway shows and we really enjoyed it as that was right up our alley.
After the show we went to dinner and had a great meal. It was lobster night and Frank said that it was very good.

Our table mates had missed the crab cakes, so they made up a special order for us as starters which were as good as the first ones.

I opted for a steak instead of the lobster and we had the usual delicious deserts.

Our handsome waiter, Robin, bid us farewell as did Erroll Flynn.

One of Erroll's favorite things to do was to push me in my wheelchair and see just how fast he could go. It would frighten me to death, so on this final night I told him NO MORE! I wanted to get home in one piece.
When we arrived back in our suite, this silly monkey was waiting for us.

We will be in Galveston around 4:00 a.m. tomorrow and then on our way home. I will miss all the special things about this trip ... fresh linens daily, delicious meals, the nightly towel animals waiting for us when we returned to our room, the wonderful service that we were shown and the new friends that we made. We're looking forward to our next cruise and hope that if you will be sailing soon you will have as great an experience as we have had. Be sure and check out the following slide show to see what can happen to you if you spend too much time at the buffet tables. Thank you for traveling with us.
XOXO, Pcasso