On one of our walks, K.G. and I pulled up a sassafras root. When we got to the house we made tea. This was K.G.’s first time to try sassafras tea. We put the piece of root that we didn’t use in a plastic bag for her to take back home.

When Joel came home on Friday, we took a little hike on the Azalea Trail. Kathleen had walked this piece of trail with us before, but this was K.G.’s first trip.

Tommy and I fished most of the day on Sunday. It rained quite a bit, but we didn’t mind getting wet. Nothing was biting except something too little to keep. That wasn’t all bad…at least nobody had to clean any fish.

Tommy flew in on Wednesday evening and on the way home we stopped off at Cow Punchers for a little bar-b-que. Of course the evening wouldn’t have been complete without a fishing trip. We arrived at the pond just before dark and didn’t catch anything. The wild horses kept us company.

Kathleen arrived on Thursday evening about thirty minutes before K. G.

It has been seventeen years since K. G. and I have seen each other and that is far too long. She looks great. She hasn’t changed. We’ve taken walks and gone for night rides on the golf cart and of course, she has helped me feed the animals. All is good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The boys came over this morning in time to hear dawn crack. They were able to find their way with the help of their cow flashlights that light up and moo when their tails are squeezed. Joel cut up a banana for them. Of course they it on the floor. Joel said, “Watch out you dropped some on the floor and you’re about to step in it.” Hudson looked down and said, “Oh, I sorry, nanna.”

 

 

A little later we headed to the Azalea Trail, or what the boys call the big, big woods.

They know that the yellow paint on the trees means that we are on the trail.

They tried to balance on logs….

studied raccoon poop.

 

    

They learned the names of some wildflowers,

 

then headed back to the car.

Back at the Mammy house, they finished out the morning in the sand pile with Matilda.

 
 

While Joel was taking our Chinese friends back to the training center, I decided to have a nice hot candlelight bath. I turned on the water and set out to get my candles. I got the big candle and lit it. Joel had given me a wooden candle tray that holds eight tea candles. When I went to retrieve it, I noticed that all the wicks had been broken off. It looked like the work of ………HUDSON.

 
 

 
 

Well, that was alright. One big candle would do the trick. I decided to put the last of my tranquil mint stress relief oil in my water and discovered that my water was COLD. Somebody had been adjusting the knobs on the hot water heater…HUDSON. This was not the first time. It’s as if he just can’t help himself. So, I had to wait until the water heated back up. Kinda blew the whole mood. I needed enough hot water to heat up the cold water I had already drawn. There was no way that I was draining the existing water. It contained the last of my tranquil mint stress relief oil.

 
 

  

Today Joel went to Lafayette and picked up five of the Chinese students and brought them home to spend the day and cook lunch. They have chosen American names for themselves because no one would ever be able to remember their Chinese names. The ones who came were Jack, Sam, Thomas, Joyce and Amy. Jack is the only one that speaks English.

 

This is Joyce holding Abraham.

Walking in the woods behind Adam’s.

 

Joyce and Amy pose on Adam’s porch swing.

 

Sam, Jack and Thomas try the muscadines.

 

The group gets golf cart driving instructions.

 

Around eleven o’clock, we came in and they started preparing lunch. That took a while because everything was cut to perfection.

They set the table and we dug in. The food was delicious …a little hot, but delicious.

A little golf cart fun after lunch.

 

 

Good-bye until October 10.

 

This morning we took the boys for a walk on the Azalea Trail. They had a great time and didn’t want to come back to “the Mammy house.”

 

 

Along the way we stopped to show them wildflowers, mushrooms, and animal tracks. They were always on the lookout for the yellow paint on the trees that mark the trail. The mosquitoes were out and about searching for breakfast, but hopefully it will soon cool off and they won’t be a problem. Mrs. Patti said that six weeks after those red spider lilies bloom we will have a frost. That should put us having a frost about the last week in October.

 

As my favorite Frost, Robert, would have put it; the woods were lovely, dark and deep, but we had promises to keep and miles to go before we would sleep. So…we had to come back home.