go star wars!

mom and i spent 2 relaxing days and nights at my sister's in stephenville. the food was great, the company even better. mom was disoriented most of the time. especially toward the end.

she enjoyed being with her grandson even though she didn't know his name. that's him flashing the *hook 'em horns* sign. we were playing go fish with his star wars cards. yes, we're a real intellectual group. (doesn't that look like a norman rockwell painting?)

more pics after the jump...

she interacted well while sitting at the table playing cards.



this is a 52 second slide show of the affair...




give me all your neimoidian acclamator-class hokey pokey okey dokey solar sailers...

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Louise and I had been hitchhiking for several months. I think we were returning from New Hampshire and points between when we arrived in Denton, Texas in the spring of '70. Denton is a college town just north of Dallas. We had several friends going to school there. We spent a few days sitting in on classes and sleeping on couches. Suddenly it was spring break and time to move on.

One of our new friends invited us to go with himself and a couple of others to Port Aransas for splash day. How could we refuse? This was a 19 year old kid's dream. A Texas beach full of crazy, partying, Boones Farm Apple Wine drinking college boys. And girls!

As if that weren't incentive enough, our host was a rich kid. No, a very rich kid. I kid you not...we flew to Port Aransas in his private airplane. Our opening act was to buzz the beach from about 60 feet overhead.

If you've ever been to spring break you have some idea of what goes on. There are literally 10,000 college kids, very little sleep happens, much less sobriety and 3 days later, everyone disappears. Everyone goes back to school. Back to their responsibilities. 

Only, Louise and I had no classes to return to and our responsibility at the time was to explore. So we waved goodbye and we stayed.

With only a few dollars in my pocket, I decided to find a job. Told there was usually work on shrimp boats over at Aransas Pass, just a few miles up shore,  off we went. We went from boat to boat to boat with no luck. With only one boat in the harbor we hadn't yet asked, things were looking pretty grim. The captain was a not so friendly 30-something Yugoslavian. He was setting out at 3am the next morning and could use a "header", but I couldn't bring my dog.

did I mention Louise was my dog?

Louise was a stubby, little, curly-haired mutt named after my favorite sculptor at the time, Louise Nevelson. Louise Nevelson was famous for her black, found-object constructions. My Louise was solid black. My Louise stayed with the captain's wife and kids in town while we went out 500 miles into the Gulf of Mexico. 

I can't say what Louise did for those 30 days, but I had an adventure on a 50 foot shrimp boat with 2 crazy men, one of whom enjoyed threatening to throw me overboard daily. I started out seasick and ended up climbing on outriggers to disentangle nets in violent storms. I ate fresh snapper and moray eel and worked 20 hours a day and saw the sun rise and set on the ocean's horizon. I once saw the full moon rise as the sun set with nothing but ocean and sky and our small craft to interupt the magnificence.  When I returned, Louise and I had bucks in our pockets and we hitched to Colorado where we ended up living on a mountainside for 3 months and working in a zinc mine.

well, *i* worked in the mine. Louise stayed at home protecting the tent.

(the photo is of Louise Nevelson, not Louise the dog.)

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11-22-63

many people my age and older remember this day as the anniversary of the day jfk was shot. on november 22, 1963 i was a 12 year old kid living in dallas.

but what i remember the day for, just as much, is as the day before the 1st anniversary of the day i watched my dog get run over on november 23, 1962.

that's not her, but it's as close as i could come up with from lookalike internet pictures of my cocker spaniel mutt. (i can't tell you her name because it's my secret code. i always use it as the answer to: *your 1st pet's name.*)

what i will tell you is that as an 11 year old i rode my bicycle a lot and all over the place and that she went with me most of the time.

one day we were headed up to the shopping center a few miles from home. it was the day the dallas public library bookmobile would be there. we were less than a block away and, as it turned out, so was the bookmobile.

******* saw it and got excited.

she ran after it happy, barking. me, pedaling as fast as i could behind when...all of a sudden ******* was sucked up under the vehicle and left lifeless, almost at my feet. she had a clean slit in her side. her heart was...in the middle of lanshire street just a few feet away from me. i really don't remember how we got home.

no disrespect meant to the kennedy family, but that's what i remember this time of year.



i was also going to tell you about louise, my 2nd dog, who hitchhiked all over the country with me in the early '70s, but i think i'll save that story for later.
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]] scratchy throat [[

nothing much to say. i think i'm coming down with a cold.

so, here. read this blog today...

and yes, that good looking guy is my son.

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what's your favorite groucho quote?

a blogger friend is starting a virtual book club.

"I'd love to be a member of a book club, it would kick start my old love of reading (which has to be good thing, right?) and it would be fun and fascinating to share opinions with others.
The trouble is, I just don't have space in my life to fit in book club get-togethers. So I had this idea...I will create a blog where my very own book club bloggers can meet and choose books to read and discuss. What do you think? Good idea, daft idea?
Would anyone like to join me? Any thoughts on the first book?"

hey, it sounds like a goofy enough of an idea to me. i like to read. i'm pretty opinionated. i don't have real friends...so why the heck not?

i looked at a bunch of books from this website and suggested 3:

the life of pi - because it's about the only one i've heard about before.
a short history of tractors in ukrainian - because the title made me laugh.
and rites of passage - because the author, william golding, is one of my favorites.

lily's got synopses of all 3 on her site. check it out.

oh, and my favorite groucho quote?
"outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." Read more!

♫ happy birthday to you ♪♫♪

(updated post script after the jump)

and mom says so, too...

(sorry we didn't get around to making you a card, lynn anne.)

p.s.
at mom's today we called l.a. to wish her a happy birthday, but got the answering machine. mom talked for a while and either forgot she was talking to a machine or l.a. had picked up during the call. anyway, mom said, "i'll let you talk to rick" and handed me the phone.

i took it and said, "hello. hello?...hellooo?..."

hahahahahaha. doh! i sure hope the machine was still running to catch our buffoonery. Read more!

S.O.T.D.

i should have taken a picture of my dinner. you would be sooo jealous. provided you're not vegetarian or vegan.

fried bologna and tomato(yes, also fried) with lettuce and avocado on sourdough bread.

for some reason avocados are 3 for a dollar right now and i have been in sandwich heaven. avocado and eggs, chicken salad and avocado, tomato and avocado, avocado and avocado, peanut butter and avocado...

ok. so i didn't really have a PB&A. but i just might.

what's your favorite sandwich? Read more!

No Mo NaBloPoMo

and, oh, what a relief it is.

i'm pretty stubborn. i would've slogged through the month one way or the other. shoot, i even had/have an entry about *the top 10 reasons i'm a bigger dork than you are* pretty much typed out when my internet connection went awol last night. but this isn't it...

NaBloPoMo can kiss my pasty white ass.

...speaking of mistletoe, i saw this huge sprig on a walk early this morning and just had to shimmy up and snap it off. when i was a kid i probably would have broken it up into smaller pieces and made somewhere between 15 and 20 cents. (mistletoe was a major source of income for me back then. do kids still do that? well...they should.)

instead, i brought it home and hung it up in my doorway. that's probably not the wisest thing i've ever done, considering the only people who ever come up here are harold and rupert. and they're downright UGly.


anyway, one of these days i'l finish up the top 10 dorkiest post. and there are still a dozen or so map mosaic posts in the queue. here's a teaser for one of those.



i'll be back now and again. i wouldn't want to let my 1/2 dozen faithful readers down. Read more!

adventure at the arboretum

yesterday i was one of 16 lucky individuals to go on a field trip to the dallas arboretum. we were 11 memory care residents and 5 chaperons.

our 5 hour adventure included 1 1/2 hours of walking, riding and sitting as we enjoyed the splendor of a 66 acre park filled with perennial and annual blooms, old growth and newly cultivated trees, sculpture, construction, and most importantly, human interaction.

i can't remember the lady's name on the left, but that's henry in the middle and mom on the right.
(click on the pic, lynn anne, to see yo momma's natural smile.)

although henry's daughter and i went to be with our parents, we ended spending more time chasing the more active old geezers around.



- the weather was a perfect 72 degrees.
- we only had one scare; when ms. billie fell on the pavement.
- the 2 hour adventure actually took 6 hours from start to finish.
- mom said she was surprised at how beautiful it was.
- i saw a sign advertising chicken salad sandwiches!! (and some stonework i'd forgotten doing 15 years ago.)
- joyce thought everyone there was with our group.
- everyone there wished they were part of our group.
- i am more in awe than ever of full time caregivers.

and i hope this slide show works...

[edit: i see it works, but the 1st half of it is the same as the 2nd half without the captions... doh!]




peace, y'all. Read more!

CAOTD

1st of all, lily , it's just funny because it's funny. (see comments for last post) 

Crazy Article Of The Day from the science world...

do i have to point out the humor in the use of "AI" for artificial insemination in that article? AI is more commonly used as an acronym for artificial INTELLIGENCE. now, am i just sick or is that ironic? (and funny, lily.)

and what about this: "Semen samples can be collected and preserved from both wild and captive (rhinoceros) populations..."

yikes! (((shudder))) that's not a job i would want.
and what would your title be? master rhinobator?

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what is wrong with this picture?

"The only countries that seem to have enough sperm are those that pay - like the U.S. and Spain - or the countries that retain anonymity..."



hahahahah. taken out of context that's downright hilarious. taken in context...it's still pretty damn funny if you ask me.


call me crass, but i think this is a Much bigger pollination problem.

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veterans day, 2008

the new g.i bill passed last may by a vote of 75-22-3, and you more than deserve it. 
 

1.) i am ashamed that john cornyn continues to represents me in congress. 

2.) i am proud of all you vets.

peace.

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you wanta know what i think the single biggest roadblock to blogging is?


depression.

*maybe* i'll update later.

update, 9:38 pm :
so, "just shake it."
right? isn't that what you were thinking?

(i owe my friend terri big time for this one. as you may or may not know, there's no audio on my pc, but this video is hilarious even without sound...)
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suck it trebek

i suppose this counts as a post, but i don't really like this NaBloPoMo crap. the title of the last post, "physical features," was intended for the next installment of the mosaic map series i'm working on. but it wasn't finished. it still isn't and i refuse to rush it. besides, i have a life. of sorts...

today i was a carpenter.

and today i was a son, and a puzzle doer, and a maid and a cook for myself, and a peace keeper for stupid fucking neighbors.

tomorrow, if i'm lucky, i'll be a "writer" again. and if not...

suck it nablopomo Read more!

physical features

i went to the junkyard today. took a bunch of pictures. there were little shoes and pictures of people and baby bottles in some of the cars. it was weird. i didn't take pictures of those things. that's all for now.

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do, a deer ♫ ♫♫

it's been months since i went with mom to her friday happy hour. i used to take her every week, but now the staff takes just about all of the memory unit residents. i'm glad i went today. they had chicken salad sandwich quarters for snacks!

besides, i thought the entertainer was interesting.

as we were leaving, mom typically started to turn the wrong way and i tried to steer her back on course. she said, "but i want to thank him for coming." that's very unlike her. i guess she thought he was "interesting", too.

turns out he was called at the last minute when the scheduled performer called in sick, and i mean that literally. he got the call 30 minutes before show time. he told us he also teaches painting at VT on saturdays and preaches on sundays at various places and is the best husband in the world because he always says "yes dear." did i mention he's kinda sorta funny?

as we walked out mom turned to me and said, "not a very good singer was he?"

ahahahahahhahahaha

true. but he was enthusiastic. and mom smiled and clapped and thoroughly enjoyed herself. he mostly sang what i call show tunes to canned music. cabaret, new york new york, exodus, south pacific, several from the sound of music that mom obviously recognized, it's a grand old flag, ain't she sweet...mom did her spontaneous hand-tapping-boogie to that one.

 

he sang stuff that ripped right through the dementia and said, "well, hello there. i know you."

my favorites were a couple of al jolson tunes he sang a capella. i think they were mom's favorites, too. i could see her grin from behind.

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"EXPLANATION"

I like maps. I especially like old maps. The Peters Colony map I was charged with rendering in tile didn't have a "legend", but the mosaic begged me to include one anyway.

So, part of the research for the project involved studying the legends of 19th century maps for style and content. (The nerd in me got off on that.)
What type of lettering and decoration did they use? What did the compass rose look like? Who and what was mentioned? And what's this??? They didn't even call it a legend. No, more often it was an "Explanation."


What follows are a bunch of not so great pictures of the "explanation" engraved into the tile of the mosaic map.

I think I solved the problem I was having in Blogger of not always enabling browsers to click on pictures to enlarge them. (It has to do with losing html code if you drag them around during editing.) So, if you want to see more detail, click on a pic and hopefully it will enlarge.









Hey, i already admitted the photos suck. Basically, what they show are a bunch of hand drawn, hand engraved blah, blah, blahs to help the viewer understand the mosaic.



There is some fancy scroll work those old map makers were so fond of...





The scale.
(Meh, if you've been reading, you've already seen it.)


There's a compass rose not found in the research, but inspired by components of several of the old ones...


And of course, necessary information is included in the "explanation."


And...


Hey, wait a sec! How'd that election results map get in here? Read more!

tears of joy.

tired of people posting about the election? tough. but i'll keep it short...

the daughter called last night. in tears.
called the son. in tears.
he was sobbing, too.
got an email from a friend:
"Yee fucking haw! that is all."

it was an emotional night. and for good reason. history was made. hope was reborn. i believe america grew up in a way last night.


another email from a friend:

Although we're miles apart, I'm celebrating tonight's victory with you. We all remember the civil rights march. Growing up in south Florida, I also remember separate bathrooms and water fountains, graduating from an all-white high school, and the teacher who proudly declared that he was black...that no one had colored his skin.

I have never been more proud to be an American.

and maybe my favorite email:
"I feel like i died and went to America."

today i am more proud of america that i have ever been in my life. and by the way, i thought mccain's gracious concession speech showed real class. i also wish mlk and barbara jordan and ann richards were here to see what is happening. Read more!

wha? 2 posts in one day? again???

yep. i'm so excited i just had to tell Someone...

i'm excited because "The Campaign" is finally (almost) freaking over!

if it had gone on one more day i think was goinG to have to shoot myself. sheesh. what a bunch of ninnies. and i don't even live in a freakinG battleground state where folks are constantly inundated with all those slanderous, negative tv ads. god bless america.

enough of the rant. let me tell you how "the vote" goes in my little world.

i took this lady to vote. (pic taken today)



now, for the past 6?-8?-12? months we've gone from her saying...
"obama sounds ok, maybe i'll vote for him." and me saying, "but you're a republican, mom. dad would turn over in his grave."
"oh, i just don't know if i want a woman to be president," she'd respond.

...to her saying, "who do you like?"
and i always tell her, obama.
"oh, i'm not sure i want to vote for a black man for president," she'll say. and i always tell her she doesn't need to worry about that because she's a republican and will vote for mccain.
"who?"
"mccain, the republican. you'll like him, mom."

...to her pointing at the time magazine cover today and asking, "are you going to vote for this one or this one?"
i said, "i'm going to vote for obama," pointing to his picture.

"i think i'm going to vote for the other one," she said.

"that's good mom. we wouldn't want to mess up our 39 year old record of cancelling each others votes out, would we?"

(her laughing) "well why vote then?" she asked.
"because that would be unamerican. and besides, daddy would turn over in his grave," i told her. and she said, "ok. let's go."



i've had friends question why i help her remember that she is a die-hard republican, etc. even had people laugh AT me for it and shake their heads in disgust. but i don't think they understand what it really means to respect another person for who they are. in this case, maybe, who they "were."

GOBAMA! even if my vote doesn't count.

[and yes, i do hate, hate, hate what W has done to our country and to the world and to my kids' future and for so much more. and yes, i do believe mccain is Much less likely to rectify any of those egregious mistakes than obama is. yes, i am afraid of even the most remote possibility of a palin presidency. (((yikes)))

but i also remember sitting in the den as a 17 year old kid, watching the election returns in 1968, still under the political influence of a mindset that literally trembled at the thought of hubert humphry as president...i remember waking up the next morning with such relief that nixon had won...i wondered how nearly 1/2 the country had wanted otherwise...

and i am still amazed at the "other half." which ever side you are on, there is another side made up of real people. (true in war, too. read:iraq) they're not all good. not all bad. dumb as rocks in your or my opinion, but still human beans. and worthy of my respect. peace.]

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survey, survey, survey...who cares?

It is likely that the original settlers of what is now Dallas were a Caddoan group with seasonal camps along the Trinity River.* They would have first encountered Spanish explorers in the mid 1500s and French explorers and traders by mid 1600. By the time the Anglo settlers came there were at least 10 Native American tribes who frequented the area,** but none kept permanent camps that are known of.

Caddo village scene about 900 years ago (A.D. 1100) as envisioned by artist George S. Nelson. This scene is based on archeological details from the George C. Davis site in east Texas and on early historic accounts. Courtesy of the artist and the Institute of Texan Cultures, the University of Texas at San Antonio.***

The first record of permanent settlement in the vicinity is with the arrival of John Neely Bryan in 1841. Bryan surveyed an area, the heart of present-day downtown Dallas, just east of the Trinity River. (The triple underpass of JFK assassination infamy now stands in the center of the westernmost portion of Bryan's survey.) 

Using Spanish surveying convention, he laid out a plat in relation to a natural formation, in this case, the outer bend of the river (blue line). With this as the western boundary, he laid out his streets at right angles to this land form. At about this same time, two other surveys were made nearby: one, by Warren A. Ferris from Nacogdoches County for John Grigsby (red), used a grid oriented 45' west of north, and the other by Robertson County surveyors (yellow) using a grid 35' west of north with the river as its eastern boundary.

The Peters Colony survey was laid out according to English convention using cardinal directions (black grid), but also incorporated these barely earlier surveys.

This brings us to what I consider one of the most fascinating consequences of these early survey maps. Let's say you were one of the settlers given a section of land. That would be 1 square mile, or 640 acres as defined by the Peters Colony. This would be your farm. As wagon roads developed, you wouldn't want people traipsing through your fields, so those roads would naturally be confined to the section lines.

Today, 170+ years later, the major roads and throughfares of Dallas still follow this grid except where the Bryan, Ferris and Robertson County surveys dictated the odd overlay of angles in certain sections, which are also reflected in our modern-day road system.

In other words, being familiar with a few natural landmarks of the area and being given say, your grandmother's current Dallas area street address, it is a simple proposition to locate Grandma on either the original survey map of what was then virtually wilderness - or, on the mosaic map at the South Irving Transit Center.

This 1872 bird's eye view map demonstrates the various orientations of the street system in downtown and near east Dallas, and what was still farmland to the north which would eventually become a grid of streets oriented north and south. Also notable is the proximity of the Trinity River, which Bryan used as his reference point. The river is no longer where it is shown here, but has since been moved to the west. In some cases it has been moved as much as 2 miles west! More about that later...


* Albert Woldert, "Expedition of Luis de Moscoso in Texas in 1542", Volume 46, Number 2, Southwestern Historical Quarterly Online, http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/publications/journals/shq/online/v046/n2/contrib_DIVL2180.html

** the Delaware, Chickasaw, Waco, Tawakoni, Keechi, Caddo, Anadarko, Ioni, Biloxi and Cherokee.

***http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/tejas/fundamentals/images/nelson-1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/tejas/fundamentals/life.html&h=375&w=780&sz=83&hl=en&start=1&sig2=k4H7iN1jOaIqvX3tsykAow&um=1&usg=__rBQd-DXM37tNJ9hbro8JJqx1Mq8=&tbnid=Xwkzm6cTMi74rM:&tbnh=68&tbnw=142&ei=naIQSbXaOIL0MMXKgKAI&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcaddo%2Bvillage%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG  

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zzzzzzzz

i'll deal with this later...

 
that's a pic taken at mom's place today. lunch just wears them out.

back to the map story tomorrow. i'm too tired right now. in the meantime, enjoy this video i found over at 122 blog.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Read more!

The Peters Colony Survey Map of 1849

Below is the portion of the survey map used in the mosaic project. Click on the image to enlarge it. I will explain what you are looking at later in this and future posts. If history bores you, please read no further. If you are associated with this organization, hows about a job?

In 1841, the Republic of Texas contracted with an empresario group from Kentucky, The Texas Land and Emigration Company, to encourage settlement in North Central Texas. Modeled after the Spanish/Mexican colonial system, the empresario group consisted of a set of investors whose responsibility it was to have the land surveyed and to advertise for prospective land owners; in return for which, the investors were also to receive land.

William Peters led the group of twenty investors from England and the United States. The resulting map, The Peters Colony Survey Map of 1849, is the primary source for the mosaic project described in this series of posts. 

The Texas Land and Emigration Company's first contract (1841) stipulated that the investors would retain 1/2 of the lands settled on the condition that 200 families were to be settled in 3 years. Under the colonization laws of the Republic of Texas, a married man was entitled to 640 acres and single men to 320 acres* in return for which they would live on and work the land. 

(When this deadline was not met the company was granted several extensions to achieve their contractual obligations, thus keeping the survey work alive. The Peters Colony's 4th contract (1850) required attracting 250 families per year. To achieve this, the company offerred 320 acres to married men and 160 to single men, plus a "free cabin, seed, and musket balls."**)

Seen to the right is a detail from the lower

righthand portion of the above map. Do you see the gridwork throughout? Those horizontal and vertical lines are the surveyors' section lines. Each square defines 1 square mile, or 640 acres. Therefore, each of those squares represent a potential homestead or headright. Remember that fact. It will be on the test...hahahaha...

The fact that the company retained the rights to 1/2 of all populated lands led to an ongoing conflict that finally resulted in what is known as the Hedgcoxe War. Henry O. Hedgcoxe, the civil engineer in charge of surveying and principal agent of the land company, was extremely unpopular with the settlers. On July 16***, 1852, a group of 100 armed men marched from Dallas to the land office in Collin County. Without firing a shot, Hedgcoxe was chased out of the colony.

The settlers destroyed all of Hedgcoxe's field notes and even the deeds held by him of the land they occupied. Luckily the map had been lithographed in 1849 and published the following year.

While many maps had been made of portions of the area in question by both early Spanish and French explorers, as well as by contemporary 19th century American surveyers, the Peters Colony map was the first comprehensive survey taken. It encompassed approximately 10,000 square miles including all or parts of as many as 13 present-day counties.**** It showed where there was prairie and timber and even the most minor of creeks and brooks.  It showed both major and minor contemporary trails. The decade-long project was produced from survey notes and is far more accurate in detail than maps not so constructed.

This slide of the mosaic shows the same area as the detail map above. The lines delineating the prairies (brown tile) from the timbers (green tile), though often difficult to discern, are shown on the survey. As you can see, no attempt was made by the mosaicist to replicate every little creek or even every surveyed footpath. The blue trail, shown here heading west from Dallas, is not on the survey map and will be explained later.

Now, remember the grid lines? The section lines? They are accurately reproduced in the mosaic as the 8" grid of grout lines you see here. (Again, you must remember this. It will show up on future tests...)

Teaser: Engraved tiles in the legend of the mosaic map...

* "Braman's Information About Texas", 1857, by D.E.E. BramanLands: How They Are Aquired in Texas, see chapter XIII, (pps 147-157) and "Of Head-Rights - 4th Class", (see p 147).
http://books.google.com/books?

id=hn4FAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA152&lpg=PA152&dq=1st+class+certificates+full++league+and+labor+of+land&source=web&ots=dPq94BkwuO&sig=X7yeYWPfPa6us5hCkeWTzrScj74&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=6&ct=result#PPA157,M1

** Seymour V. Connor, "The Peters Colony of Texas: A History and Biographical Sketches of the Early Settlers" (Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1959)

*** This date is somewhat in dispute. Some sources record July 16 and others July 17, but my son's birthday is on July 16... so, i'm going with the 16th.

**** Denton, Dallas, Collin, Cooke, Grayson, Tarrant, Palo Pinto, Wise, Clay, Jack, Somervell, Stephens and Young counties.

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halloween at VT

oh yes. my halloween was very exciting...i went to mom's. 

they tried to get her to dress up. wear a hat. anything. "that's never been my thing," she said. "what is your thing?" "i don't know..." (sigh)

she did seem to have a good time, though. here she is seeing a lady she sat next to 3 meals a day for 2 years up until about a month ago. she couldn't remember where she knew her from and swears she hasn't seen her for years. but she did recognize her.  

there were lots of children. some were grand and great grandchildren of residents. more were employees' children and i think quite a few were random neighborhood drop-ins.  
i don't know who this one is, but mom couldn't get over how cute he was.
 


but he didn't look so sure about her. hahahahaha. 



there were games. mom even played one.



the local fire station showed up. there was a very good four piece band and singer. hot dogs were cooked. we saw lots of people from the "other side" we hadn't seen in a while. and several of the folks from the alzheimers floor dressed up. one, Billie, even won the costume contest! all in all it was a pretty good time. the important thing is, mom got out for a change and enjoyed the experience.

here are all the pictures i took.

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