The Balmy South

Greetings from the balmy south. It is so warm here in Mobile Alabama that people were dining out on the patio of the restaurant where we had dinner. We opted to stay inside with the mariachi band and our giant margaritas. Today we arrived in time to tour Bellingrath Gardens. On the way to the gardens we saw an actual field of cotton. I don't know why that seems so remarkable - but to someone from the north, it is always surprising to see cotton fields and cotton plants. Anyway, Mr. Bellingrath was one of the 10 original Coca Cola bottlers - and boy did he do well during the depression! The home was built on the Fowl River and it has a little lake. (That's the reflection (at the Japanese garden) in the lake that you see in the picture.The gardens have a special light show for Christmas - and it is gorgeous. We arrived early (surprise!) but as we were leaving the gardens there was a steady stream of cars going to this garden that is in the middle of nowhere. Bob remarked that there wasn't a child left in Mobile because they were all at the garden with their parents and grandparents. We'll post a few pictures. So far we've driven 15 hours. Today there were torrential rains and lots of people (mostly trucks) on the roads. We have so much electronic equipment in the car (portable dvd, 2 digital cameras, laptop, sleep apnea machine, GPS system) that we are probably showing up on radar as a supernova glowing blip of electromagnet radiation fields. The wires from the equipment to the cigarette lighter are constantly getting tangled into a cat's cradle at our feet and Bob, who likes to keep his car meticulous, has not yet been pushed over the edge. But it is just a matter of time.........

Tomorrow we head to Houston Texas. It's about 7 hours away. It was 31 years ago this month that a strapping young lad wed a wisp of a girl and took her to Houston to start their lives together. NO, it was not George and Laura! It was Bob and I! We're anxious to see how the town has grown in 31 years - because we know how much we've grown!