Airing the dirty laundry

By now we are on day 4 of our vacation and we found ourselves getting low on clean shirts. We have an inside family saying called 'Martha's here'. I had a white-haired, great, great aunt named Martha who was very well endowed and always had a little bit of what she'd eaten or drank that day dribbled down the front of her bosom. She was a very jovial, outspoken woman so I know she'd appreciate (and get a kick out of) how we call any dribbling down the front as a 'Martha'. So, needless to say with the amount of sauces, cheeses, eating while walking and driving that we'd done...Martha was making herself very welcome and it was time to do the laundry. I hate doing laundry on vacation because by the time I've guarded our clothes in the washer and dryer, sorted and folded it, a good 2 hours has gone by. So....last year we found a woman named Juanita at Jake's Laundry who does the laundry for us. We take it there and drop it off. We come back later in the day and it's sparkling clean, dried and neatly folded...including matching the socks and everything is turned right side out! When she handed me the bill that stated $4.00 for 2 loads, I didn't think it was fair and she was short changing herself. The way I look at it is...she saved me at least 2 hours of vacation time and my time is worth more than $2.00 an hour. I gladly gave her $10 and she was thrilled. "Oh thank you! thank you! si si- thank you" a beaming Juanita said and it made me feel good.

Sandra had to work that night so she didn't join us this day but we found our way to a huge flea market near Brownsville. It was 3 covered, open-sided buildings, each building being at least 500 yards (almost 2 football field lengths!)long. Both sides of each building were jammed packed with booths of people selling everything. I mean everything from oranges, underwear, puppies, shoes, cd's, food, fruits, vegetables, birds, lizards, leather goods, blankets, bras, dresses, tools, jewelry and make-up. It was quite an array of items . Here's Gary and Hannah looking at an awesome array of fresh veggies & fruits.


The market also had a wide variety of foods to purchase. Some of the facilities didn't look very sanitary for preparing food, especially the ones next to the birds, lizards and turtles. So, I'm glad Gary got this deep-fried potato thing. I'm not sure of the name of it. Do any of you know? I just figured that the hot oil would kill whatever might be on it and it would be safe to eat. It was delicious! It was a whole potato, made into a garland and skewered and fried. It was basically a large homemade potato chip. In the picture, Gary is putting salt and ketchup on it. yummy!


The next day Hannah went horseback riding on the beach. She really wanted to go but neither Gary or I wanted to subject some poor beast's back to our girth. So, Hannah said she would go by herself....and she did! I was very proud of her because usually she's unwilling to do things without us. I couldn't believe how she got right in the saddle, helmet and all and with a wave...she was gone. For an hour I waited, anxiously expecting her riderless horse to come galloping back to the stables without her, frothing and wild eyed. It's amazing what will go through my mind when my child is out of my sight. I know that when you go riding at those places, when the horses are turned back towards the barn, they are hell bent to get there. However, they must've chose the most dim witted nag in the barn for Hannah because it came back at the same speed it left. Hannah was nothing but a beaming ray of sunshine, full of how her horse named 'Sister' trotted in the water and on the beach. I'm glad Hannah got to experience this but now that she wants a horse for a pet....I'm not so sure.

We finished out our last vacation day with a great meal at Tom & Jerry's on the island. We flew out of Brownsville the next morning, through Houston and into Boston. We called the Park&Fly where our van was and they came right out and picked us up and delivered us to the van...which was as we left it.

An uneventful ride home, lots of mail waiting to be opened and a dog to be picked up at the kennel. We all collasped into bed that night...glad to be home.

I don't have many pictures of Hannah & I because I'm usually the one behind the camera but I like this one that Gary took of us at the zoo. .