As Fast As I Could!

Today has been a great day, but there's nothing much to write about, because it was quiet and peaceful.

I spent this morning taking care of business and doing a lot of paperwork. Around ten o'clock Kinky called and invited me to come over to the Lodge for a visit, so I grabbed my Apple laptop, jumped into Trigger and took off.

"Kinky, I want to show you the video I made of Belle Starr and Harry Reasoner playing together," I said, and then I showed Kink the video, that YouTube wouldn't accept because of copyright reason, which I totally understand, with Dean Martin singing "Just In Time" in the background. And it made Kinky smile. Then we went outside and sat in his rocking chairs, on the porch, as we visited with The Friedmans and talked about yesterdays great Texas Monthly photo shoot with him.

After laughing at Sophie playing with her stuffed duck toy I said, "Oh, Happy Anniversay, Kinky."

"What?"

"Nine years ago today is when Tony and I moved our trailer over to Echo Hill. Can you believe that it has been that long?"

"No. Remember that cold front that blew in that night?"

"Yes. And remember Lucky and Minnie Pearl riding over, in our bedroom closet, of the our trailer..."

This afternoon at one -fifteen, we met Kinky and Frank for lunch in Kerrville and I really enjoyed the conversation as well as the food. We talked about the Grant / Mark Twain book that I had loaned to him, that he was enjoying and Charlie Sheen, our books, etc. And it was really fun.

About twenty minutes later, I looked across the table at Tony's plate and saw it was empty. "Good grief, T.! I can't believe you ate so fast. I'm not even half done." Tony looked at my plate and shot me a wink.

"I didn't eat fast, Nance. It's because you are a motor-mouth and never stop talking," Tone joked, as Kinky and Frank started laughing. Then I looked at Frank's and Kinky's plates and they were empty, too. Then I started laughing with them.

Then Kinky smiles and says, "It's Nancy Motor-Mouth Parker-Simons." And we all started laughing again.

"No, Kink," I said. " It's—Cousin Nancy Motor-Mouth Parker-Simons." And they burst out laughing, as they nodded their heads in agreement, and I started eating as fast as I could.

After our fun lunch we headed home and just to get even with Tone's funny remark about me being a motor-mouth, which I know is absolutely true, so I decided to play a joke on Tony and give him the "silent treatment" as he kept trying to make me talk to him. "Nancy, you know I was kidding. Please talk to me. You're driving me crazy."

I gave him the "sound-of-silence treatment" for several more seconds, and I was loving it, and then I finally said, trying not to laugh, "I can't Tony. You said I'm a motor-mouth. My lips are sealed and I am never going to say another word. I promise."

"Nance! I'm sorry. I was just kidding. Please talk to me. You're not a motor-mouth..."

"Okay," I said, as we passed by the Mini-Mart on the right. And I talked non-stop the rest of the way home.

Y'all have a great evening!

On The Cover Of Texas Animal Imprints!

Today has been great. This afternoon while we were in Kerrville, we stopped by Wolfmueller's Books to say hi to Sandy and Jon and to get them to sign Lynda's soup cookbook that she won in my contest, and to show off Tony's pictures on the cover and his beautiful pictures inside the Texas Animal Imprints January / February magazine!

When we arrived at the bookstore Jon greeted us from behind the checkout counter. "Where's Sandy?" Tony asked. "I bet she's out buying more books."

No, she's not out buying books today," Jon said. "She had to go home to pick up a book." Then we started laughing. "She should be here any minute..."

"Jon, I brought Lynda's cookbook to get y'all to sign it. And if you don't mind, keeping it here until Mari can swing by and sign it, before I mail it to Lynda."

"Sure, that's fine. We don't mind..."

"Well, Tony is becoming a famous photographer, Jon. Take a look at his beautiful picture on the cover of  Texas Animal Imprints January / February magazine!" I said, as I handed the magazine to Jon, so he could look at it.

"And Joni, the publisher, also used one of Tone's pictures for Connie Strong's great story about my friend Cindy, when she interviewed her about her documentary "MANITOU-API: WHERE THE SUN RISES" and Tony also took these pictures of Pilgrim and Pumpkin for my column that I wrote! Isn't this great!" I bragged, as Jon quickly thumbed through the magazine to look at all of T.'s pictures.

"You're good, Tony. These are beautiful photos," Jon said, as Sandy walked in the back door and waved to us, before coming up to join us. "Sandy look at Tony's pictures..."

"I love these, Tony!" Sandy said. "Congratulations." Then Kathleen Keen walked in the front door. After greetings, Sandy handed the Texas Animal Imprints magazine to Kathleen and said, "Tony took these pictures..."

"Tony! I love your pictures, especially the one of the sunset."

"He took that one from our front porch," I said. "I love all of his pictures! And you can go online to read Texas Animal Imprints January / February magazine right now. Y'all will love Connie Strong's article about Cindy, too. And Kinky's column."

A few minutes later Kathleen had to take off and then some customers walked into the bookstore, so I looked at books while Sandy and Jon helped their customers. Before leaving their bookstore, I bought these two books about my hero, Mark Twain! And, I a can't wait to start reading them.

Around four o'clock today, I went over to the Lodge to show Kinky my new books, Grant and Twain: The Story Of A Friendship That Changed America by Mark Perry and Who Is Mark Twain by Mark Twain himself, that have never been published before! "I've got and already read Who Is Mark Twain, and it was good, but I would like to read this one."

"I'll loan it to you as soon as I finish reading it," I said, before we went to visit with The Friedmans in the big room.

Tonight, as soon as I finish writing this blog, I plan to start reading the Grant and Twain book. I am so happy for Tony about his photos being on the cover and in Joni's beautiful magazine, Texas Animal Imprints and I hope that you will subscribe to Joni Daniel's great magazine and check out the January / February issue online. And please read my column about...

To Be Continued...

Have a great evening and May The Force Be With All Of Us!