I have every confidence in the world that each and every one of you woke up this morning with your Mother on your mind. If you didn’t, shame on you. Please stop and, if possible, call her right now. I’ll wait.

***long pause***

Thank you.

My mother left us in 2001 but I still think of her every day. She is missed, and I’m sure she knows it.

We spent the morning at church, then joined four of the Walters clan for lunch at El Tapatio. I ordered the El Tapatio Burrito forgetting how huge that thing is. I did a pretty good job on it but had to take some home for tomorrow. Perhaps it will be photogenic when I dump it on a plate before putting it in the micro.

Here’s part of the church service …

That’s our friend, Nancy. She was kind of laid back during the sermon.

After lunch we all came back to the house to visit until 2:30 pm. That was the time chosen to depart for the movie that Cedric was treating everyone to. What a guy. It was for his Mom, but I was invited, so I went. It was Captain America – Civil War. Diane and her Mom aren’t so much into those kind of action movies, but I really enjoyed it. Lots of fun.

Now we must leave Lemoore, in our minds. So, close your eyes and have someone read this to you.

I think we left Lemoore around 9:30 am which seems to be our new departure time. The GPS Lady reported that the drive to Carlsbad would take about 5 hours but I don’t think she took into account that we’d be moving through Los Angeles in mid afternoon. Perhaps she did consider that and considered it a push because, as everyone in the universe knows, traffic in Los Angeles is in rush hour mode all the time. It’s quite amazing, really. Normally accidents on I-5 through LA are non-injury because no one is going fast enough to do more that dent things up and make tempers flare more than usual. Fortunately, we didn’t witness any mishaps and made it to our destination unscathed. I believe our success on freeways is due to the fact that we just get in the right lane and stay our of the line of fire. It works well and we get where we’re going in plenty of time with little stress.

On a personal note, I’m the one who drove the LA segment of the trip and I did great! I’m taking credit for that “unscathed” part mentioned previously. Diane put her book down frequently, but remained calm which helped me maintain my composure. Every once in a while, when I was behind someone going the speed limit, she would say, “take him,” so I would. But I did it gently so I wouldn’t mess up the gas mileage too badly.

The Seapointe Resort is a nice place but the photos on their website depicting the facility are a bit misleading. If you check it out the one of the pool looking toward the ocean makes one think it’s right there. What you don’t see is the four lanes of Carlsbad Blvd you have to cross. After doing that, you must clamber down a cliff (I’m sure there are stairs along there somewhere) to the beach. An easier way would be to drive and park on a low spot in the Blvd that has immediate beach access.

We didn’t do that. Instead, we drove north to Oceanside to walk their board walk. It was very restful and allowed us to get our beach fix when needed.

One day we went looking for thrift stores and/or flea markets and found one on the main road just down the street. Upon entering we were convinced that it was run mainly by children of old hippies. They were having a fashion show that was pretty entertaining. The only thing I can remember us getting was a hat for me. It’s called a pub hat and I’ve never had one. What’s interesting is that it’s 55% hemp and 45% organic cotton. I’m not sure, but I think the “organic” part means the cotton was grown in dirt. The brand name is “Hempy’s” and it’s made in the USA. I figured it would be a good golf hat. It’s very comfortable.

Mostly what we did was relax and read with no distractions. It was very nice, but a week was plenty long enough for us, then we headed back home. I won’t bore you with that part of our trip because it was pretty uneventful. Just lots of driving, something we also enjoy. We think the trip is sometimes better than the stay. It’s in our blood.

Once home my first priority was to get the lawn mowed as quickly as possible before it rained. While I was doing that out back, Diane worked on the wild parts out front. The below photo is a triangular spot, about 15 feet on a side. That’s Ziva peeking out of the jungle. She’s decided it’s kind of nice to just lay down in a bunch of foliage. Funny dog.

Now it’s time to stop. Diane said. So, of course, I will.

Bye.

First, however, I just have to say that I think Dwayne Wade, of the Miami Heat, is a totally disrespectful idiot. That’s an opinion, but it’s supported by video evidence of him taking practice shots while a young girl sang  a beautiful rendition of the Canadian National Anthem. What a shmuck. Thankfully, the Toronto Raptors won the game and is up 3-1 in the series.