The Butterfly

My OTHER cousin, Shirley, died of lung cancer many years ago (another heavy smoker). When the end was near, she told Peach, with whom she had a special relationship, that whenever she felt a cool breeze or saw a butterfly, she would know that Shirley was around.

So when I saw this this morning...

...I naturally thought of Shirley and said hello to her. I decided later that Shirley was with me today. She proved that twice.

The first was when I went to take a picture of the butterfly. If I hadn't decided to take a picture I don't know how long it would have been or how far we would have driven before I realized that I had left my camera -- and the baby shower gift we were supposed to be bringing -- in the house!

So I thanked Shirley for being trapped on the hood of our car and saving me the anguish of not having a camera around Bri and around Jocelyn (the new mom whose shower we will be attending).

But Shirley didn't stop there. She would prove to be an additional help later on. First we wended our way south, stopping at all the usual places, like the stand where we get huge delicious Bing cherries at this time of year.

And, of course, lunch at the Burger Queen.

We were listening to a Lee Child book and trading off driving. Walt did the lion's share, but I took over after we stopped for gas and drove until I couldn't keep my eyes opened (I'd only had about 3 hrs sleep the night before), then he drove again, but it was making me nervous, so I asked him to pull off at a McDonald's so I could get an iced mocha. That really did wake me up and I was fine for a long time and didn't think I was sleepy at all, until Walt's screaming "woke me up" -- I didn't realize I had dozed off and I was about to run off the road. I swerved and thank GOD there was no car in the lane next to me as I careened back and forth across the road until I got the car under control. Those butterflies are amazingly strong, I've decided! Thanks, Shirl!

Walt took the car after that and drove the rest of the way into Santa Barbara.

We spent some time with Tom, Laurel and Bri, who had just finished eating a cupcake. Can you guess what color the frosting was?

I had a good time watching Walt and Tom toss a football around.

And then enjoyed watching Grandpa playing football with Brianna.

We ended the evening back at Joe and Alice Nan's, talking about our trip to China and their trip to Africa. Sometime this week end, we hope to look at all of Joe's photos.

...more than 700 of them.