Weekend Tales

What a weekend we have had. Saturday was submission day for photographs at the county fair. We had talked about all of us going down together Saturday morning as soon after 10 am as possible. So I was over at Dad's around 9 am with my extra picture frames to help him get the last of his photos printed, matted, and framed. We called sister Nancy to find out when she would be ready and she told us she still had to pick up her photos as she could not get them printed at the store the night before. She could not get the photos before 10 am and would come to Dad's after that. Jen called and asked if she still needed to bring a particular picture frame for Dad to use and said she would be there "ash shoon ash I finishh eashing" (exaggerated for effect).

Dad and I located the photos he wanted and after a few false starts got them printed. Jen arrived, Nancy arrived. We listened to Nancy's adventures of the night before getting her photos submitted to the photo-printing center and choosing frames and mats (frames one size, mats another, no option available) and Jen began trimming mats to fit Nancy's frames with Dad's large paper cutter. I cleaned the glass, and cleaned the glass, and cleaned the glass again after fingerprints were added during reinstallation in the frames, and cleaned the glass again. I have three small cuts from the edges of glass on the fingers of my left hand and did not even know I had them until much later. We laughed and talked and commisserated with each other about husbands and men in general as we all worked on finishing Nancy's fair submissions.

Around 11:30 we headed for the fairgrounds. We had to take the long way to get there as the 7th St entrance was closed to discourage people from using the fairgrounds as a shortcut to 12th St. As we went thru the gate at 12th St the sign hanging on the half open gate advised that the other gate was closed and no thru traffic. On the back of the gate once you are inside was spraypainted "Told you so." lol

There were only a few people ahead of us in the photo submission line and the wait was short. More people arrived after us and their wait was, of course, much extended by our submissions. When we got there the tag numbers were in the 70's. When we left, the numbers were in the 100's. Our family had over 30 photos submitted between adults and childrens categories.

Then we went home and napped.

Sunday "The Cousins", as we have called ourselves for 40 some years, went to Cameron to sing at a luncheon after church service at one of sister Beth's churches. Dad went with Beth when she left at 7:30 in the morning. She drove his Tahoe and all the equipment out and Dad got a front seat (passenger side) to allow his still tender hip room to move and adjust. The rest of us left after 10 am in two more vehicles to provide easy access and more front seats for vertigo prone (and therefore car sickness prone) passengers. It was a gorgeous day and the ride was pleasant and we all arrived with only a bit of dizziness. You have to understand that part of the trip was on Route 250 and with no other alternative route for us. 250 is famous for very few straight stretches and lots of ups and downs as it follows the natural contours of the hills. It is beautiful but a difficult ride for many people. My problem is not so much vertigo or car-sickness as it is the later effect on my fibromyalgia. I usually feel the effects the next day in aching neck, back, and shoulders. So far today, Monday morning, I am not doing too badly.

We arrived in Cameron with plenty of time to spare and no mishaps. I had remembered to take my camera and got the following pictures of stained glass in the churches.

The luncheon was wonderful. Good food. Good people. Lots of laughter. We sang afterwards for about a half hour and they enjoyed the music as much as we enjoyed doing it. Lots of smiling faces and people singing along on the familiar numbers. Thanks and congratulations afterwards. Nice people.

We had a leisurely drive home as well and cousin Barb stopped in the visit with Shamus and the other kittens before heading home herself. We were all exhausted but happy.

I am still tired this morning and this is a very choppy post. I am certain I will remember more about it later but wanted to get this much down now.