Another Fine Day In Texas

Our Great Grandsons, Rhys And Tommy

It's 8:30, Beth is at school, and Mitch, Rami, and I are the only ones up. It looks like another partly cloudy day, with a high near 80°.

Tuesday was another day of helping unpack when we could, but mostly relaxing, taking the dogs for a walk, things like that. I was up at 7:30 along with Mitch and Ramiro. Both of them worked on and off most of the day, so I was free to do whatever and help when needed. Evie made pancakes for everyone around 9:00, and Rami, Mitch, and I devoured them. Yum! I had a list for a shopping run at Albertsons and was ready to go, but the dogs were so insistent that I took them for a walk down to the lake and back first. I then stopped at a coffee shop just beyond Beth's street, and drove another mile to Albertsons, the closest grocery store, and picked up a few things for Thursday and Friday's dinner. It was not very crowded, so I was in and back home by 11:45.

Tin Tin And Kaia

Lunch was a toasted ham-and-cheese sandwich, and then I read for a while before taking a nice nap. I am reading Emily, Alone, a book set in Chautauqua, so it's fun because it mentions many spots I'm familiar with, such as Hogan's Hut or the Lighthouse Grocery Store's rotisserie chicken. Evie read it a long time ago, but I never got around to it. I fell asleep with my buddy, Tin Tin, for company and woke feeling more energetic. The guys were working on their computers, so Evie and I relaxed a bit, cleaned up the kitchen, and helped Rami pack some of his glass Christmas ornaments into a large box, ready for storage. Then, because the dogs kept following me around, I took them for a walk around the neighborhood.

A Coot Floating By

When I got back, Beth was home from school and showering, and Evie was prepping dinner — eggplant pasta along with some sweet Italian sausages. We sat around sipping wine and talking about what still needs to be done before dinner at 7:00. Everything was great, especially the eggplant pasta. We watched another episode of Drops of God, but by 8:30, Beth and Evie were ready for bed. I stayed up with Mitch and Rami until 10:00, watching some basketball, then went to bed.

Political commentator Ben Rhodes summed up the situation: “In the best-case scenario, Trump struck a deal to reopen a Strait that was open before the pointless war he started, with [Iran] demonstrating its control over the Strait and potentially extracting fees plus sanctions relief. Thousands of innocents—including hundreds of children—dead in Lebanon and Iran for no reason. U.S. troops killed and wounded. U.S. embassies and bases in the Middle East badly damaged. U.S. standing in the world obliterated. U.S. munitions badly depleted. Hundreds of billions spent. Prices up everywhere. More global economic fallout to come. Putin strengthened and enriched. Just a catastrophic situation even in the best of circumstances. A profoundly shameful episode in American history no matter what happens next.”