Busy times here

I believe I am experiencing what a business traveler already knows. That is how little you can get done when you are only home for three or four days a week. We were at SSB one weekend, we came home and I began the preparation for the colon thing, then we were off to Austin for the family reunion. We will be here three days, and then it’s back to SSB to make sure nephew stays on his own place. I haven’t gotten anything done. If a burglar were break into my house, he would leave in despair because it looks like it has already been ransacked.

Our trip to Austin was really fun, but just like the 150th anniversary of Wide Spot in the Road Church, the weather couldn’t cooperate. It was chilly the day before, and cold the day after, but the day of the reunion the temperature reached 91! We were at a state park, so there was no air conditioning. But all in all it was fun, and there were more people than usual. There were so many little kids around.

I was struck by one thing at the reunion. As I looked around at our generation, my thought was "my goodness, we are old. We have become the elder generation." It is true. We are now the parents and grandparents where G’s parents and aunts and uncles had been. I can’t help but wonder what will happen to this reunion after we don’t organize it anymore. I wonder which of our children’s generation will want to take the responsibility. I hope someone. Families are flung so far afield these days. Reunions are the only way to try to bring some singleness to them, but can seeing one another once a year help?

While we were in Austin we visited my poor niece Sunday morning. She is due to have her twins any day now. When the doctor measures her belly, it makes her equal to 48 weeks of gestation for a singleton. She is so ready for them to be born. K and I have been almost voyeurs because we are so fascinated by a twin pregnancy. Neither of us have known someone pregnant with twins so intimately. It’s been an education for us too!

Sunday afternoon we took the train trip offered by the Austin Steam Train Association. We had taken the hill country trip several years ago, but this one goes out toward Manor. It was a lovely day, and the people on our car were an interesting group. The volunteers that worked the car were very entertaining. It made for a wonderful afternoon. IF you are in Austin on a Sunday afternoon, go downtown and board the train. It boards in the middle of the street at the Convention Center at 1:30 pm. They are hoping to have their steam engine back in about a year, but even the diesel puller makes a great trip in vintage railroad cars.

I just can’t get over how wonderful the weather is here in Swampland. Clear and cool, verging on cold. How wonderful. I hope you have good weather also, and by the way, make contact with someone in your family you haven’t seen in a while. It will be good for both of you!