Friday in Andalusia

I went to Andalusia this morning to spend a little time with my father-in-law, and it was a gorgeous day to be out. It's not quite late enough to see the wisteria all up in the trees along the interstate, but you could see it just beginning to blossom. Here is what greeted me when I drove into Roy's driveway:

A neighborhood cat keeping watch over the azaleas.

I don't know the names of all the azaleas, but I think this is called Formosa.

There is another smaller one that is my favorite. I'm not sure of the variety, but I'm thinking it has coral in its name. I took a lot of pictures trying to get one shot of the many bees enjoying themselves, but I think they were too fast for me.





Here is the bridal wreath, or Spirea. We had plenty of this in the yard growing up. It's beautiful, but it makes me sad, because that's the flower that we used in pet funerals. The memory of that little mound of dirt with the vase of bridal wreath and roses still makes my heart ache even though I can't remember the names of the pets.

I think the dogwood may not be in its prime right now, but it's still beautiful.

I really didn't enjoy the flowers until after lunch because Roy was ready to eat when I got there, so we drove to the favorite lunchtime spot of what seems like half of Andalusia. We met my sister-in-law Kathy there. The food was good, as usual, not my favorite menu today, but I managed to make do with turnip greens, butter beans, black-eyed peas, stewed tomatoes, and roast, and a salad. I had to pass on some things, like rice and mashed potatoes and gravy as well as fried catfish and 2 or 3 kinds of bread. Once we got the pleasantries out of the way, Kathy and I got into serious wedding talk. She's an expert, having attended and helped with many weddings of her nieces and nephews and friends, so she had some good ideas about cakes and tin tubs and just about anything I had questions about. Roy was okay letting us babble on as long as there was food. I'm not sure we let him get too many words in, but the cobbler and ice cream made it bearable.

Kathy came over later, and brought pictures and more ideas, and we had a good time discussing groom's cakes, the merits of plastic utensils over silver ones and how to decorate the above-mentioned tin tub (which I took home with me) to make it wedding-ish. By that time, Roy was sure we had lost our minds even though he was nice enough to say he enjoyed hearing us talk, so we left him to a much-deserved nap but not before I once more got proof that the blue-flowered bunny was in its usual place on the mantle. Neither Kathy nor I trust the other one not to take it home, so we keep a good eye on it. When we inherit it one day, I suppose we'll have to have a big fight joint custody.
The ride home was just as beautiful as the ride down, but I got home to a broken work computer that I've been complaining about for months. Maybe now that there is only a blue-striped screen, someone will send me a new one. Guess I won't be working tomorrow and can work on my quilt. I enjoyed talking to Sherry today on the way down (sorry my phone connection so rudely cut us off) and Debby on the way back. Pray for Sherry's dad, my uncle Olmond, who is seriously ill and for his wife, Mary Ann.

Also talked to Mike and Elise who were on their way to El Paso. Elise wasn't too impressed with what she had seen of the Pecos River, but I'm sure they'll find a lot of interesting things to see and do. While I'm not going to El Paso. But that's okay. Bleaching the sink and repotting plants is more exciting anyway.