Thirteen!

When we reached the car, we were shocked at what we saw! Cher! It was Cher sitting in the front seat of a fancy black sports car! Tony and I were in shock and speechless, as Cher stared back at us—grinning from ear to ear! “Cher,” I said. “You are still so beautiful. Oh my gosh, it’s been over three years since we saw you last. This is such a great surprise! Rick, Leisa, Cher is here! I want y’all to come over and meet her and her friends!” Rick and Leisa came over to the car, and I then introduced everybody! It was hot outside, so I invited everyone to go into Outer Space.

After everyone sat down, Rick said, “No one in Port A is going to believe that we met Tina Turner and Cher, went into Outer Space several times, slept on a ‘Spirit’ mattress with pink sheets, got to take a tour of Cousin Nancy’s Space Ship, slept in Cousin Nancy’s writing cabin, and had several fun visits with Kinky! I promise, no one is going to believe us.” Everyone laughed.

Cher and her friends visited with us for a couple of hours, and then they had to leave. I asked if I could take a picture of her for my blog and she just smiled. So I ran, I mean skipped, off to get my camera. When I returned, I said, “One, Two, Three.” Here’s Cher’s picture! It’s a little fuzzy because I had it on the wrong setting.

After Cher and her friends left, Tony took Leisa and Rick fishing, down on the creek, while I started preparing dinner—zuchinni casserole and corn casserole. About an hour later, they returned. Then Leisa and Rick told us that they would be right back—they had something for us.

When they returned, Rick walked in with a couple of bottles of champagne! “It’s now time for Happy Hour! Let’s celebrate!” Then Leisa walked in with a gift bag and a card and handed them to me.

I opened the beautiful card. Leisa and Rick wrote a very sweet note to Tony and me—thanking us for inviting them to come stay here, and for all of the fun and excitement. When I opened up the bag, I found a beautiful turquoise journal for me, and The New York Times Bestseller book, “The Darwin Awards—Survival of the Fittest!” Earlier that morning, Rick had been giving rave reviews to us, about it being one of the funniest books he had ever read! The book is about commemorating individuals who improve our gene pool, by removing themselves from it! Tony and I thanked them for their gifts, and then Rick popped the cork!

“Get out your champagne glasses, Cousin Nancy!” Rick said.

“We don’t have any,” I said, as I reached up into the cabinet, and pulled out four, light blue, fifty-cent, drinking glasses—from Wal Mart. “Will these work?”

“They’re perfect!” Rick declared, as he started pouring the bubbly.

Leisa, who is a sweet, beautiful, swanky woman, grabbed her ‘Simply Orange Juice’, from the fridge and said, “Make mine a Mimosa, please.” Rick poured the champagne into her glass, and then chased it with the orange juice! I was shocked!

“What in the world is a Mimosa?” I asked. “I’ve never heard of that drink. Have you Tony?” Tony shook his head sideways.

Rick and Leisa both started laughing. “Kinky’s right. Y’all don’t get out much—do ya?” Rick teased. “It’s half orange juice and half champagne. It slows down the alcohol. Do you want one?”

“Nope,” I said. Then we went outside—and entered Outer Space. “I want to make the first toast!” I said. “To hurricanes that change directions, and bring good friends together!” I took a swallow, and felt a buzz immediately.

Our hurricane party had commenced, with Tony telling his latest joke. “There was this man walking down the sidewalk, next to an insane asylum, which had a boarded up privacy fence, so the crazy patients inside couldn’t see out, and the public couldn’t see in. As he walked, he heard the looney toons inside, saying, ‘thirteen, thirteen, thirteen’ over and over again, and getting louder and louder each time. Wondering why in the world they kept repeating the word ‘thirteen,’ he found a hole in the fence, and put his eye up to it, to see. Immediately, he was— poked in the eye, by a finger from one of the crazy people! Then he hears them saying, ‘fourteen, fourteen, fourteen...!’”

Our “We Like Ike” (because he changed directions) party lasted for about an hour, and was so much fun! When we came inside to eat, I realized that I had forgotten about the casseroles baking in the oven for an extra forty-five minutes! When Tony pulled them out of the oven, they were smoking and not the right colors—yellow (corn) and red (tomato sauce). Instead, their color was—your basic black. We had a good laugh about it, and ate the burnt casseroles anyway. Everyone lied about them tasting just fine, but I knew better. I scrubbed and scrubbed the pans.

Sunday morning, after a breakfast filled with laughter, Leisa and Rick loaded up their truck to go back to Port Aransas. Tony and I hated to see them leave, because their visit had been so much fun! We love those two!

P.S. If anyone in Port A reads this blog, please make a point, to ask Leisa to tell you about her pig-walking adventure!

P.S.S. “The Darwin Awards” book is hilarious!

Last P.S. Mari, of the NoMads—I’m blogging about you tomorrow!