The rest of the visit

I took the above picture at the local nursery; the flowers looked like two angels in blue to me.
More about the nursery later....

Day two of my folks visit was VERY busy! After a nice breakfast, Mom, Dad and I headed to the forest to walk the path to the lake and to look for the magnificent spiders.

The path to the woods is flat, and easy to walk along while enjoying the sights. On this particular morning, butterflies were in abundance. I can recall at least five kinds, and they were flittering along with us, stopping on the path, then flittering again. I felt like we were entertaining the butterflies that particular morning.

Dad and I kept trying to come up with reasons why the butterflies rested on the decomposed granite path instead of on the beautiful flowers that were abloom next to the path.

Where ever is a Master Naturalist when you need one?

More curiously, the dragonflies do the same thing; they fly along with you as you walk, then come to rest on the path just ahead, then they take off again before you can get a decent picture.

Not that I could have gotten a decent picture even if they had held still...what a dope, I forgot to grab my camera before we headed out for our walk.

You will just have to image a warm gentle morning breeze, fields of tall grasses and small hedges of purple flowers the size of quarters. Once we got into the forest we did spot several spiders on their golden webs (golden due to pollen...magical!) and checked out the fungi and flowers that dotted the primeval swampy landscape.

We sat at the lake on a bench and just enjoyed the view and the time together before walking back through the woods and the fields.

(Come visit me! You will love the walk. Don't be afraid of the spiders...they are very devoted to their webs and wouldn't dream of bothering you if you don't bother them!)

Once we got back and showered up, we next headed to the Kingwood Garden Center.

(Caption: Partners in Crime)

Dad was on a mission: Nematode Control. Nematodes are microscopic worm like creatures that live in the soil and attack tomato bushes. They may attack other things as well, but they are mostly hated for attacking tomatoes.

Dad had been fighting them for years; he even tried growing his tomatoes in pots above the ground. No luck with that either.
A friend of his in Florida sent him a quarter cup of Nematode control, and it did the trick!
Just adding a teaspoon to the soil solved the problem

There was just one remaining problem:
The Nematode Control product is illegal to sell in California.

(Don't get me started...California pushes my buttons all the time on what they don't allow and do allow, which generally should be the exact opposite. That is, what they are against, I usually am for, and what they are for, I am usually against.)

The way I see it is if my almost 84 year old dad wants to smuggle nematode control in his bags when he flies back to San Diego, he can go right ahead.

See that cap?

He served in WWII.
I think it will be just fine if he kills a few microscopic worms the same way we do in Texas and Florida and everywhere else.
If they arrests him, I'll get a good lawyer and visit him in prison.

Couldn't be much worse than the time he spent in the Navy.
Isn't that right Dad?

While Dad was busy with his criminal activity, Mom was studying this area.

Various seasonings and dip mixes using Texas grown herbs.
She got some for herself and as thank you gifts for the neighbors for watching their cat Rufus while they were out of town visiting me.

The garden center is always a hoot to visit. Check out these garden gnomes, dressed in Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana college team colors!

As usual, they didn't have the Texas school where I got my Masters degree represented.
Pity.
Texas Womans University...in football, we are STILL undefeated!

Nayh nayh nanayah!

If you must feed the squirrels, at least you can do it in style if you get this little treasure.
And yeah, we buy squirrel corn just like that and have it available for the furry mooches that live in our yard.

After visiting the garden center we headed over to Steinmart to see if we could find Mom a pair of shoes to wear to a wedding.
The silvery pair was a perfect match. They were real leather and half off, as were the other beige pair and the leather purse to match.
Such a steal...I shouldn't tell you...but the two pair of shoes were less than $30 together!

Next stop: The grocery store.
I was out of OJ, and Dad hadn't gotten to troll HEB for samples and local food.
I did what I now call a "Lovella" and asked a perfect stranger to take our picture out front.

Dad had fun chatting up the food sample ladies, and we got some treats for lunch as well.

I know this will sound weird, but I love visiting grocery stores when I visit people.

I just like to see what stuff is available that I haven't ever seen before.

Dad spotted a Smoothie shop before we made it out of the store parking lot, so we headed in there too.
NOISY PLACE!
Lots of Kingwood High School Girls Tennis team members.
It took a little time, but my Angel Food strawberry smoothie was divine!

I had to rush off to work right after that. We're short staffed and heavily class booked in the library, so I had to go in.
Bernie had to fly to Philadelphia earlier that day, so Mom and Dad got to have a little rest and relaxation all by themselves.
Well, almost all by themselves.
Tiggie and Hart were there to amuse them, as always.

Today?
Off to the airport.
The scene where all my family visits begin and end.
Hard to say good bye, but it was a great visit.
We were sorry there were no loud thunder and lightening storms; the weather was very mild, sunny yesterday, and gently rainy this morning.

It is just as well they did leave when they did.
Tropical Storm Huberto is coming to visit me tonight!
(Hi Bernie...I heard you got held up three hours at the airport yesterday flying out of Houston. Wonder what TS Huberto will do with your return flight? Is it just me, or is it starting to look like every time we fly anywhere there is always a huge storm going on???)

Oh and I got my hair cut right after Mom and Dad left. I just was tired of putting my hair up in a clip. Hope you like it.
(smooch) Love you! Tiggie and Hart love you too!)

PS: On our local message board here in Kingwood there was a warning for us that we have had 50 inches of rain this year already...and may get 15 inches more tonight.

The message board then posted the tropical storm weather warning, and the wags had this to say in reply:

I'll start building the boat, you gather the animals. How big is a cubit?

Make sure the dinosaurs make it on board this time cause I don't want to be digging them out of the mud next Tuesday;-)

LOL!