I am still trudging my way through strep and the sinus infection it left in its aftermath. I have been very good. Sleeping mostly, drinking as much water as possible, and ignoring chores and tumbleweeds of dog hair blowing about the house. I only took the girls out for one walk since Friday, and after huffing and puffing myself around the block, I temporarily crossed walks off the list. Now there's only mournful faces and cheeseburger stomping (Margo stomps on her cheeseburger when she's mad at me).
Prior to getting sick we went on a wonderful trip to Texas. Our plan was to visit with Robert's sister, Abby and her significant other, Joseph for a day in Dallas. Then on to a small town just outside of Dallas to visit my brother, Jason. The last couple days were going to be spent hiking in Austin (conveniently on Thanksgiving when everything was closed).
Plans are really just a vague outline, right? We got to spend more time than we expected to with Abby and Joseph, which was wonderful. They are just as excited about food and books as we are so we did a fair amount of that. We then had an amazing time with Jason. During our time with Jason I told Robert I had already gotten more out of this trip than I ever expected. Enough joy, laughter, inspiration, and time with family to last us through the cold months. Robert agreed. When we left Jason's we checked the weather for Austin one more time, and it said the same thing it had been saying for the last couple days. Rain, rain, rain. We decided to come on home and have a few days to unwind and hike familiar trails.
I promptly got sick and the rest is history. But at least I made it home before I got sick this time.
This was our first long trip with the girls and I think they loved it. Unlike Rose and Ella, who cuddled with each other all the time, Margo and Josie do not really ever sleep with each other. At one point on the trip I caught them sharing the bed and captured this rare picture of them cuddling.
Margo and Josie are not allowed on the furniture at home. They have one couch in Robert's office that belongs to them and they understand everything else is off limits. Robert and I decided to let them sleep with us while we were traveling, and it was both a success and a complete disaster. We didn't expect them to sleep with us the whole night, but they did (success). Margo was a lump of love, but Josie ran at least two marathons in her sleep (disaster).
We didn't have to say anything about the couches in the rooms. They seemed to both know instinctively that the couches belonged to them.
Minutes after meeting up with Abby and Joseph, we were whisked away to H Mart, a mega Korean supermarket with a food court. We tried many delicious things, including a soup dumpling for the first time.
Then we slowly and rapturously wandered the store. I picked out some canned sardines and mussels to take home with me.
The lima beans are from a gas station. I love finding unusual food at gas stations!
Later, I tried one of the best teas in my life - a grapefruit green tea with actual grapefruit lurking in the bottom of the drink.
We paid a visit to the Half Price flagship bookstore, and I found a few books. Check out that map!
We weren't quite ready for dinner so Abby and Joseph asked if we had anything on our lists. I thought for sure they had heard of Barney Smith's Toilet Seat Art Museum, which was weirdly the only thing on my Dallas list, but they hadn't. So we went! A bucket list item for me! It was even better than I imagined. His artwork is so thoughtful, humorous, and filled with pop culture.
Check out those toilets! Perfect place for a picture!
Robert and I popped into a couple libraries, and I was really impressed with Plano's color-coded holds. Seven colors, one for each day of the week. Instead of consulting a list, the librarians just pull the expired holds by that day's color. BADASS. And so pretty. Never have I spent so much time gawping at a wall of holds.
Plano also had an assistive technology table.
And their Early Reader section was surprisingly less difficult to understand. Still feel like early readers are way too complex, but I appreciated the color-coded levels and the descriptions for each level.
On our way out of Dallas, we stopped in Denton, which is an adorable, artsy town north of Dallas. We went to Thistle Creative Reuse (recycled crafts) and Recycled Books, Records, & CDs, which had the best poetry section of the whole trip. Many shelves of poetry.
Next up on our trip was Jason! The last time we saw Jason was in 2019, over three years ago and way too long. Jason is one of those special people I can just sit back and listen to for hours. He's brilliant, witty, and is always extremely passionate about his interests. He recently got his ham radio license and is one of only a few people I can sit with and listen to music for hours. His music room is crazy!
Anyways, we took a fun stroll through the same park we went to twelve years ago when we first met, and I convinced him to climb a rock with me. Or did he convince me? The dogs didn't need convincing!
This picture is a winner for so many reasons. Mostly Josie's face. But also, as you can see, Margo promptly dumped us once we helped her up.
We didn't stay at the park long though. Jason's dad, Gordon, asked his friend who owns the bookstore in town to open it up for us at 11:00. First time in my life a bookstore has been opened up for me. I had a wonderful time browsing titles with Jason while listening to Gordon and the bookstore owner talk it up.
Gordon also gave us a private museum tour! The museum was in an old post office, and we got to see all of it. From the basement to the top, where the lookout gallery was. Here you can see Robert using one of the slots in the lookout gallery. So cool!
We spent the evening listening to and sharing music in Jason's incredible music room. I can't even describe the quality of sound he's created. No words can do it justice.
Robert and the girls managed to talk me into a compromise. The night before we wash bedding each week is now a holy holiday here, because I agreed to let the girls up on the bed for that one night a week.
We really don't have enough holidays in this house - cuddles during evening tea, every time I take the leashes off the hook, whenever Robert and I ask the girls if they want to go for a joy ride.
Allowing the girls to slumber on our expensive foam mattress while they kick the crap out of us while we try to sleep seems like something my cold heart can allow once a week.
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