That was all very helpful.
On Easter Sunday Uber would not have made for an easy connection, and I suspect that I might have waited a long while.
Easter dinner was ham and turkey, a homemade potato salad, greens from the their backyard garden, followed with a fine piece of homemade peach pie.
At their house, I finally met my great-grand niece Dorothy. I played farm animal hand puppets with her, and we became fast friends.
Fun.
Their raised bed garden was amazing. The salad from there was delightful. Ham, turkey, German potato salad, and a nice slice of pie made the meal a grand treat. They have a watering system using a teracotta pot as described in this utube
Making & Installing Clay Pot Irrigation - YouTube
Wonderful to be talking to them and to tell old stories.
They have a very beautiful home. The pool is crystal clear. I did not swim, but maybe next time.
They are both busy and work hard, so I had to see them on the weekend.
They have 3 dogs that are well behaved.
Val fixed me a cup of coffee. She likes San Francisco coffees, so later I bought some at Walmarts and they ground it for me, so I could use it in my drip pot in my room.
Val recommended an insulated cup I might get, but I still thought a plug in cup warmer would be best, as it would work with any ceramic cup and I like the feel of a ceramic cup. So, I ordered one and have it here as I write.
A stainless steel funnel fits over the cup and boiled water from my folding electric kettle allows me to drip a cup, or a half cup if that is all I want.
I can use my own coffee.
Before my trip I bought a few items on Amazon and had them shipped to these folks, so that I would not overpack my suitcase. That worked.
HENDERSON BIRD PRESERVE
Our next visit was to the Henderson Bird Preserve. I forgot my unocular and niece Val could hot find her binoculars, but there was one section on the first pond where the ducks gathered to feed in running water that was coming from another pond.
I did not get a bird identification pamphlet from the greeter. At the end I got one, but it would have been better to have it right there. I liked best the cinnamon teal.
Across the water, Canada geese were mating in their floppy way. An egret flew by, and a blue heron.
I love the place.
I could only walk around the first pond, and then needed a rest part way around. My niece Melanie, husband Jimmy, and son Little Jimmy (although at fifteen he is no longer little) joined us and had a nice visit at the pond. Some walked the second pond seeing more birds and frogs.
There were some gourds on the ground that attracted my great grand-niece Dorothy. She seemed to have a good time.
And Brendan was there too. He is rather quiet, but always very nice to me.
Lots of stories were told there of old times with my sister and her husband Paul, when they were still alive. Many of the stories went back to the 60's.
We ordered one time from Blueberry Hill and another time from Pollo Loco. I loved that Pollo Loco chicken.
Next visit my 18 year old great-grandnephew may be playing harmonica, and perhaps if I practice, we can play together.
He likes Johnny Cash.
Two nephews played some guitar, and it was fun. Next time I will bring my harmonica, and one nephew and I will play together.
This time I tried an old guitar song, “Sipping cider through a straw” and I was pathetic. In fact, I was so embarrassed that I've ordered a barotone uke, tuner, and neck brace for my harmonica. Next time I will be better prepared.
I am clearly rusty. This was the simplest of songs, one from Carl Sandburg I think, and it requires just two chords which I could not seem to remember or perform.
Adding to my own attrition was that the nephew's guitars are all steel strings. I never did well with them, and I certainly could not do well with no hardening of my fingers. That may not change.
At home up North I have moved from guitar to barotone Uke, which is tuned like a guitar, and so all the guitar chords I once knew could be played on it, just missing one finger.
However, I have not touched the uke in probably a year.
Now I will have one up North and one here in Florida.
The smallest at the second yard gathering was Sebastian at five years old. I had only seen him as a baby. He warmed up easily and we had fun counting.
He wore a shirt with Donald Duck, so I went on my phone and showed him Dewey Duck.
He also played with a microscope.
One grand niece does fine work in custom jewelry, and she gave me a tour of her workshop and some of the pieces she is currently making. It is all impressive.
She also has a pigeon which has some physical disability. It is a beautiful bird, white with some coloring, but it can't be a bird. It rests most of the time.
This niece started the Las Vegas Pigeon rescue group on Facebook.
Pigeons are one of the passions of my youth. I had a good sized coop on the East side of Buffalo and kept a flock of birds, most of them racing pigeons, but some tipplers and tumblers.
For a while my buddy Bill took half the coop and raised his birds there.
My father had kept pigeons in that coop in the early 1900's and he got me started.
The second visit we ordered from Pollo Loco. There are none around Averill Park, NY or Crystal River, Florida.
After all the steak I had eaten, I craved chicken and it was a good treat, easy to get, and satisfied everyone.
And while I think of it as an off diet treat, there is not as much salt in this as one might expect.
I did not eat tortillas because of the salt, but after I got home, I learned that corn tortillas are low salt.
We
had another grand time of sharing stories and jokes and some
memories, and talked a bit of other common relatives who we never
see. We especially celebrated one great grand-niece who has recently
become a nurse and made a move across the country to do it.
Little Sebastian played with his microscope and engaged me whenever he could. A cute guy.
In these gettogethers everyone talks. I talk more than in any other setting. I'm uninhibited in a way I never am in my regular life.
And in this second yard visit I had a fine one-on-one talk with Little Jimmy, who will soon be 15 and generally is quite reserved with me. He had some fine insights.
One niece is looking to be back in the classroom. There is a shortage of teachers due to Covid.
They dropped me back at the Longhorn with plenty new things to think about, and I hope I can live and stay healthy enough to visit again.
I have visited these relatives off and on in my former Vegas visits, but this was the best. Having the Longhorn so close to where all these folks live made it easier to visit them. It was a grand location for that.
And it was especially delightful because I had thought in the midst of all my physical stuff that I would not be able to make a Vegas trip again because there are so many elements that make it very uncomfortable.
If I can keep my body in the state it is now, I can go again. That is a fine feeling to have.
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