Going, Going, Gone!

We've been "going" for the past 4 days, and now we're finally at a place we'll stay put for about a week.  It has not been a very nice trip, so far, but only because of the weather.

We left home on Tuesday in the grey, windy, wet, spent Wednesday traveling in the grey, windy, wet and then it was Thursday.  Thursday we left North Little Rock in this:

 Then, after driving in nasty rain all day, we finally arrived in Louisiana to this:

When we finally arrived in Shreveport and Bossier City, Louisiana (our destination for the day) the rain was coming down so hard we couldn't even see the Red River as we crossed the rather large/tall bridge over it (we could barely even see the car in front of us but there was no place to pull over or get out of the rain until we reached Diamond Jack's Casino RV lot)
This followed or led us, not sure which, but it was like this the whole 5 hours we drove Thursday.  We arrived at Diamond Jack's Casino RV lot and wonderful Mr. C had me stay in the truck while he set up the 5th wheel.  Fortunately, since it was just an overnight, we didn't bother to set up anything but electricity, so it didn't take too long, but he was still soaked through by the time  he was finished.  We got inside and I called our daughter, B, to let her know we were there.  She said she would come get us and it was good because I'm not sure our big butt truck would have gotten through the barricade obstacle course at Barksdale AFB.
While at the Fifth Wheel, I showed B the lovely things I made at my Carol Simmons Workshop (see previous post) and the lovely egg I purchased from Carol, as she also covers eggs with her lovely cane work.  Here is the egg from the side, and from the top.  I wish you could feel it, it is so silky smooth, it is a joy to hold.

One of the most interesting things about the way Carol Simmons does her lovely canework is that the designs that are produced are quite random and so varied.


 One of the ones I produced, from my own cane, during class cropped up with what to me was a really scary looking design.  However, as soon as I saw it I knew it MUST belong to daughter, B.  It has a "voodoo-esque" look to it with mardi gras type masked figures looking out and looks like a 3 headed snake coming out of the center.  B is really into "day of the dead"/mardi gras type things and although it seemed creepy to me, I just knew she would love it.

Here is the front side of the pendant and the back side of the pendant is the following picture.  The pictures of the pendants are hard to take because they have such a wonderful glass like shine they reflect the light and/or flash.

I was correct, as shown by the following pictures where B is opening it.  She thought it was just wonderful.

Barksdale AirForce Base, in Bossier City, Louisiana, where B and family are stationed,  is one of the loveliest military bases I've seen and I think the prettiest one, by far of all the kids have been assigned to.  They are living in colonial style homes that have been made into duplexes and they are beautiful and interesting and one of the best things is that they aren't all just exactly alike, they have all been painted different colors with different darker colored trims.

The trees (in addition to being wonderfully green) are all old and gracefully arch over the streets and walks. They even had some flowers blooming.  Most of the photos were taken by B on a lovely day, I couldn't get many good photos due to the nasty weather while we were there.

Here is a picture of the family standing on the porch of their lovely home and a close up of their lovely family.






















B has her birthday in July, but we won't be with them, then.  Mr. C and I purchased her birthday gift before she moved from our house to Louisiana and it is too large and heavy to ship, so we decided to take it to her at the same time we delivered her snakes and mice to her.  We WERE planning on having her wait until July to open it, but she finally convinced us we "wanted to be there to see her open it" so she should open it NOW. . . and we gave in and let her open it.  You can see she was pretty pleased with herself and her powers of persuasion  LOL.
Below her picture is a picture of J, her youngest showing us what the gift was. B was quite pleased and says she plans to use it to store soap she has made that is ready to be sold.  She makes some wonderful real soap in many special scents and varieties, including a special scrubby soap I use to get polymer clay residue off my hands.  Her soap business is Moon Silver Soapworks, check it out for some wonderful handmade soap.

 J is all of 6 years old in this picture, he was so proud of himself that he could lift this box.  He is our youngest Grand child and youngest grand son.


His big brother, A, is our oldest Grand child and oldest grand son.



K (often called "T" as J couldn't say her full name when he was a baby and every body started calling her T, as he did) was the first grand daughter born.

She is holding their darling little puppy Sophie.  Sophie is a new addition to the family since they moved to Louisiana and she is 8 months old.  She is very hard to photograph, as she is never still.  She is sure cute, sweet, and tiny, though.






K, J, and Sophie are in the next pictue with J by himself, below that.

Shreveport and/or Bossier City, Louisiana are bigger cities than I expected them to be.  B and family really enjoy it there, they say the people are so friendly and just plain nice to one another, for the most part.

We weren't able to get many pictures while there, due to the rain, but here are a few impressions taken as we were leaving town on Friday morning.

The bridge(s) over the Red River and the skyline of either Shreveport or Bossier City, I'm not sure which one.

So, we had a lovely evening chatting, went to dinner, packed up and sent their snakes and mice and left behind belongings home, they went home, we went to bed and got up on Friday to Sunshine and a 6 hour drive to Galveston, TX.

And finally, here is a special picture for our Daughter-In-Law, M, who is from the great state of Texas and who I know misses it.  I promised her pictures and this is the first one I took.

This is long enough and since I'll have a full week at Galveston Island, TX, I'll write about our fun and interesting introduction to Galveston tomorrow.  Hope you'll check back.  Smiles, Sue C