Two Families and Kissing Shrimp

This morning was a retake of The Saturday Four, but it almost never was. Kim was really late and caught me on the phone as I was about to leave the parking lot. I waited for her and we hustled two miles in case her migraine came back in full force.

Spent a couple of hours by myself before getting ready to visit my aunt and my cousin Ida. It was the first day styling my hair with the new color and I have to get used to seeing myself with dark brownish red hair. Tried taking pictures, but I wasn't satisfied with them. I apologize, but I will post one or two tomorrow for Tuesday viewing...

My aunt wasn't home when I called her so I called Ida to see if she was ready for me. She had called me yesterday on the way to the salon to ask if I could help with her Internet connection. Like I was the computer whiz. Somehow one of the twins was doing research for a school assignment and they lost Internet connectivity. I think it was their fiber optic connection and a tech was supposed to call back.

Had a quick lunch with them and danced around my cousin's husband's suggestion of meeting this guy. They mean well and I didn't want to hurt their feelings so I told them I wasn't ready to date anyone, but would let them know. I'm not the kind of woman who can jump from one person to the next as quickly as others. Never had someone waiting in the wings either just in case the other wasn't working out. Just not built that way. Guys are better at it than women, I think. They are more machinelike in that sense.

Drove to my aunt's to meet Nan's sister Aunt Wilma and was surprised to see the telltale minivan parked in the front. Inside was gonna be loud with kiddies. I got excited.

Baby Colton was just a pickle today. I took almost a dozen shots and this was the best one.


My aunt with an order of Fresh Lumpia a friend was picking up.


Kristen and Carter harvested some calamondin from Lala's (that's what they call my aunt, their grandmother) tree outside. They were dressed in Chinese style clothing my aunt and uncle bought while they were in Chinatown in Galveston a few weekends ago. There is always plenty of activity at my aunt's house for them and today was no different.

Here they are making Filipino lemonade with Splenda under Lala's supervision. Kristen wanted the coconut (she would later grate using a Filipino grater) in the pic, too.


I couldn't believe they were carrying these shrimp around and making them kiss for this AGOLrazzi. They helped Lala peel them and take the heads off before she made delicious tempura out of them. With both of their grandmothers being Filipino: shrimp happens.


Kristen picked this three-pound mango from Lala's tree outside and Auntie Sarah got to take it home. My precious...


My aunt sent me home with my mango and a papaya from her backyard, too. Little Philippines is located over there. I stayed longer than I wanted because of dinner and today I didn't mind. Even traffic home with some of the road closures didn't bother me either. I drove home in the early evening storm with the radio blasting.

Two Families and Kissing Shrimp

My Aunt's Nature Preserve

My aunt and uncle live around a lake that inhabit some fish, ducks and other Florida critters. I don't know about any alligators at this time.

I was watching television with Nan when I heard birds raise a ruckus through the sliding glass doors. Sandhill Cranes were squawking right on my aunt's lawn! They are such beautiful and graceful birds. I love the way they look when they walk.

The cranes let me take this picture of them, but as you can see they had each other's back in case this AGOL did anything untoward. That or they were asking Where's happy hour? I wanted to know, too, but I was on Nan-duty.


Here's a picture of a cluster of mangoes growing in my aunt's mango tree next to her house.


It is like having Little Philippines around the house with all the fruit trees (papaya, banana, mango, calamondin, pomelo). My uncle always complains that it is hard to cut the grass around these trees that she's placed willy-nilly in the yard. Well, can you really say no to the immense joy these trees bring your honeypie? Didn't think so.

My Aunt's Nature Preserve

Bistro and Beauty

Happy Sunday! It was indeed a very happy one filled with people I care about and a lot of laughter even a little driving around the extended city of Trampa.

Picked up Tawny at her home at 11am and stopped for coffee to get us started before we made our way to my cousin Ida's on the other side of town. She needed some IT expertise; her Internet connection was not working properly.

It is not often I get my family and friends together. I am very protective of my family. Tawny is like a sister to me so I didn't mind finally introducing her to my cousin and her family. This was the first opportunity to do so. The twins also enjoyed meeting someone new.

Tawny was able to diagnose the technical problem much better than I ever could. Ida needs the tech to come back and properly connect their cable modem. We called and made the appointment the next day for her before leaving to pick up my aunt.

My aunt decided to take her own trip before we left her house....in front of her house, falling on the grass, thank God. I nearly had a heart attack watching her fall, but she didn't fall on the pavement. After making sure she was okay and didn't sprain an ankle or break a hip, Tawny and I helped her up and cleaned her clothes from the leaves on the ground. (I received an update this evening and she is still okay. Whew!)

Lunch was enjoyed at the Gallery Eclectic Bistro in the Bay Street section of International Plaza. The food and the company were great. We giggled and told stories. My aunt hasn't seen Tawny in a while so they enjoyed catching up when they were not tormenting me.

The doors gleamed a bright welcome when we arrived at Sephora. My aunt was soon hooked up with her own BareMinerals kit and a new blush as well as nail polish and this scary yet fascinating mascara called Lash Injection by Too Faced that promises extreme volume. All were presents from her daughter Angie and me. Tawny and I didn't come away empty-handed either. Are you kidding?

All this decision-making required a little treat so I took the girls on the other side of town at La Casa Dolce for gelato. We spent an extra 15 minutes trying to find it since I forgot the street it was on, but managed a hard turn into the parking lot at the back. Sigh. The girls tormented me some more. It is after all their favorite activity...wenches.

We brought my aunt home, picked some calamondin (Filipino lime) from the bush at the back of her house and made our way back to Trampa proper where I dropped Tawny back home around 6:40pm. I hustled home to let Cabal out, feed him and make it on time for my call with Yummy. It was great to hear his voice and end my weekend with him.

(As a side note, I saw that Yummy updated his blog and mentioned me coming over to England to visit him. I can't wait!)

Bistro and Beauty