The Divot Diva

Oh my goodness, where does the time go? Well, Sheila, Joyce, Sue and I went to our Sip-and-doodle class in McKinney. Sue took a photo of her house in Les Rouret, France, with her to the class so she could paint it. Sheila, Joyce and I just picked from their stock of 500 photos. Sheila opted for a picture of a golf bag, Joyce selected a house with trees, and I selected a picture of the river with buildings and a bridge that is from Venice. Off we go, wine in one hand, and a paint brush in the other. At the end of the evening, I threw mine in the trash, Sheila, was happy with hers, Joyce was not “unhappy” with hers, and Sue was happy with hers. It was a lot of fun, regardless of the outcome. There were several couples there on their “date night”.

My Picture

(nothing here cause I threw it away)

 Sheila's Picture

 Joyce's Picture

 Sue's Picture

Thursday morning, I went to play golf with the FWGA league at Firewheel. I shot a terrible round, but the weather was nice, and I did finish 18 holes. My phone kept ringing so I turned it off. After I finished my round, I started returning calls. First Sheila, then Angie. I had 25 messages on my phone, which is a record for me. Ended up being dumb of me to turn it off. My cousin (I always have referred to her as my niece) Gay, age 51, died that morning. It just breaks your heart. Bless her, she was mentally handicapped as a result of a brain injury when she was a baby. She never passed 10 years of age, mentally. I used to go help her Mom, Evelyn, my mother’s only sister, take care of Gay so Aunt Evelyn could get a good nights rest. Gay had a lot of issues when she was younger, and cried almost all of the time. She always called me Aunt Connie. Gay also came and spent a week with me once while Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Max took a vacation. Gay couldn’t stay with most people without her parents, but she always did fine with me. She would stop eating, pull her hair out, etc. when she was away from her Mom, but never did that or anything else but have fun when she was with me.  None of us really expected her to pass, as she was really so young physically…. To me, 51 is young. Saturday, I finally called my Aunt and spoke with her. I had passed messages to her thru her sons, but I didn’t ever want to talk to her. It was too hard on her and me. She is really taking this hard. My Uncle Max (her husband) passed away about 13 years ago. My Aunt is 84, so it’s awfully hard on her.
I didn’t do much on Friday, but I did start my foods for the luau that Sheila and Mark let my grand kids have at their house. I baked a pig (explained later), creamy rice, a fruit tray, and toted in some Hawaiian beer to take with me. That was pretty much it.

Saturday, the big party day arrived. I, unlike normal, just had all kinds of cooking issues that kept me from getting to Sheila’s on time. Just had trouble focusing on the task at hand.  Same thing with Angela. Anyway, we finally arrived, and everyone did like my pig. I will say, the next time I’ll do better. Mark grilled the chicken Angie marinated, and he did an outstanding job. Think I need to take lessons from him. Angie made her signature drink, a pineapple upside down drink. Vanilla Vodka, Pineapple juice, and a shot of grenadine. It was really good. She also made adult and children Mai Tai’s. Those were good also. You see, it’s all about the food and drink. Anyway, the food and friendship was great fun. Ralph and Margie were supposed to show up, but we never saw or heard from them. Their bad! Also, their loss.

MORGAN

 MORGAN & KELLY

 PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEANN

 KELLLY & CHLOE

PRINCESS CANAKAWAKA

GARY & CONNIE ON THE BEACH

ERIC "HEMMINGWAY"

PORT O'COLES

BEACH SIDE

LAUA PIG

IT'S SO HOT IN TEXAS, IT'LL MELT THE TATTOO OFF A PIGS BUTT !

CHLOE, MASHA, & KELLY

CONNIE MADE A PIG OF HERSELF WITH THE CAKE

Sunday, Chloe came over to help me clean house. She is so sweet, though I suspect Angie put her up to it. She ended up cooking Gary and I oatmeal pancakes, Canadian bacon, and regular bacon. It was so good. Then Gary took Chloe and Morgan roller skating. While they were gone, I packed for my trip to Oklahoma. I ran to the post office, and when I returned home, the girls were alone in the front yard, selling snow cones with Morgan’s snow cone machine. Gary was off to buy more snow cone supplies. Angie and I got ready to leave, Gary still hadn’t returned, so we made their Dad, Eric, come over and watch them til Gary returned.

It turned out being a very successful day for them.  They sold 26 snowcones, earning $12.75.  We don't understand where the extra money came from, they either cheated someone out of $.25, or they were cheated out of $.25.  Probably their math.

Angie and I picked Janice (my sister from Houston) up at the airport in Dallas, and she rode with us to the funeral in Oklahoma.  Of course, we had to stop for dinner.  We found ON THE BORDER was something we'd all agree on.  I had two margaritas, as did Janice, and of course, Angie had iced tea.

THREE DESPARADOS
(OR WAS THAT THREE DESPARATE DOGS?)

Janice is going to stay there for an extra week, and visit my Aunt and our step Dad, Frank, who went back to his house in Oklahoma because of the death of our beloved Gay. I will go up and spend a week or so with her in a couple of weeks. She’ll really need someone then, after all her grand kids have gone home, and there’s not all the out of towners around.

front row left to right    Megan (my great niece) Evelyn Johnson (Gay's mom) Me

back row left to right   Dennis Burns (Megan's dad, my nephew) Brook, Jeff, and Preston Burns (my nephew and his family)

As they say, the road is paved with good intentions, and I did have them, but the death was a shocker for us all. I have to admit something out loud.  My days of being able to drive/ride on a trip for 6 hours at a whack without complete exhaustion are way behind me.  I am at home now, and just exhausted.  I am looking forward to Thursday, when the girls will all go to the theatre.  Then I believe it's the following Friday that we all do glass fusion classes.  I tell you what.... keeping up with Joyce and Sheila is a real chore!