There and back again

Hubbyfink and I spent last week in the company of family and friends in Germantown and Arkansas. There was many a cookout, lots of time spent splashing about in the pool, playing with nephews, and a couple cut-throat games of Scrabble. We spent a fair amount of time with zipmeister. Mom and I spent an even fairer amount of time shopping. Johnny's twentieth birthday was last Tuesday and he enjoyed a pretty rocking party, complete with brand new ping pong table.

Last Thursday, we visited my dad in Arkansas for the day and then dropped in on relatives in my "hometown" of Heth (which is less a town and more a railroad crossing in the middle of absolutely nowhere). Hubbyfink met my 94-year-old great uncle Vance and great aunt Bernie and second cousins JoBelle, Bess, and Sid. I haven't seen any of them in about twenty, maybe twenty-five, years.

JoBelle now lives in my childhood home. ( Memory lane. )

zipmeister, his boyfriend, a couple other friends, and my brother beaznuts came over on our last night in town and we all stayed up very late playing Munchkin. My brother fell under Munchkin's spell and spent much of the following day searching for it in local comic book/game shops. Now he's trying to teach Mom and his wife how to play.

We got an extra day of visiting, thanks to the way the 4th of July fell on the calendar, and I am grateful for that. It still wasn't enough time with loved ones, but that's what "next time" is for.

My first cake wreck

I found these delicious confections while Mom looked for a birthday cake for Johnny last week. Behold the glory that is the ( hamburger & fries cake )