The cousins.

A very scary group of little girls. Please note: SCARY. Not a group you’d want to meet in a dark alley.

Truxton with Grandma J. He felt very comfortable with his Grandparents J.   Comfortable – get it?

Grandma hanging out in the kitchen – which is pretty much what she does all the time. In fact, calling someone “Gretchen” has become a euphemism of sorts in the J. family. It means to come and sit down and join the festivities.

Truxton as the centerpiece. Eating breakfast can be very exhausting.

Sophie and Grandpa J. dead-heading flowers. Grandpa informed her that dead-heading flowers is one of the things old men do best.

While there are still tons of pictures remaining from our trip (over a month ago?!?), we’re interrupting the regularly scheduled programming to bring you these important messages.

Brought to to you by Barbasol Moisturizing Therapeutic Shave Cream for Sensitive Skin Gentlewood Cottage, division of anti boredom.

For more videos of our gang and this lovely sport, click here.

And here.  And here.  And here.  And here.

Thank you.  We now return you to the regularly scheduled programming.

On our second full day in Los Alamos (which was Mama’s birthday), we experienced a thunderstorm with major hail.  There’s nothing else quite like the thunder in Los Alamos – it rolls around on the mountains and echos in the canyons.  It is truly amazing.

These storms come over the mountains and are on top of the town on about twenty minutes. At about one in the afternoon, the sky suddenly darkened.

Then it darkened some more.

Then all hail broke loose, as Dan would say. I mean, we’re talking a lot of hail. Golf ball sized hail. Some people downtown said that there was even the occasional baseball sized hail.

Then, as quickly as the storm came up, it passed over us, leaving behind hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage.

That night Dan and I went to overlook park. We got there at 1:00 am and the scenery was amazing. It was a (nearly) full moon and the clouds seemed to zip across the sky as if we were watching the sky through a time-lapse camera.

Though it was dark, we could still catch glimpses of the shimmering river below. The wind howled over the bluffs in a way that could make a person think that they are the only living person for miles around.

This is what is looks like during the day. I didn’t take that picture, and I can’t remember where I snagged it from, but it showed well the amazingness of the view.

We arrived at Dan’s childhood home just before midnight on July 4th.

The girls still got up bright and early and happily began the week-long process of destroying enjoying their grandparents berry bushes.

Dan mowed the lawn, using the same mower that he used as a child.

Sophie observed.

The trip was smooth, and eventful.  We had a great time, and my appreciation of New Mexico grew by leaps and bounds.

The New Mexican sky is amazing, the storms are awesome in the truest sense of the word.  The thunder in the mountains is like nothing I’ve ever heard before.

The nieces and nephews are sweet, and we realized how much we miss Sam and Heather (Dan’s sister and brother in law).

We came back relaxed, and rejuvenated, and ready for more of life.

The pictures will be eked out slowly and added to the blog a few at a time.

DEAR MISS MANNERS:

Does a gentleman’s “tipping”  his hat look too much like a military salute? Since I seldom see any male wearing a real hat, I’d almost  forgotten this gesture. I think it had been at least twenty years since this has meant grasping the hat brim and ether lifting the hat an inch or two, or just grasping and releasing the brim.

GENTLE READER:

You have obviously not met a polite cowboy in twenty years. The rule is the same as it always was: A gentleman removes his hat when speaking to a lady or sharing an elevator with one, and lifts his hat as a gesture to a stranger from whom he receives a courtesy or thanks for a courtesy of his. As you have noticed, however, it does require a hat and is therefore seldom performed. The military salute is much more energetic, but it also comes with PX privileges.

Miss Manners~

This is where we’ll be.  We’ll be having great talks about everything, enjoying the amazing scenery, watching seven insane little cousins interact, feasting on good old New Mexican food, and in general having a grand old time!

I hope you had a great holiday, and enjoy your week.  I’ll be back next week!

To the Officers of the First Brigade of the Third Division of the Militia of Massachusetts

While our country remains untainted with the principles and manners which are now producing desolation in so many parts of the world; while she continues sincere, and incapable of insidious and impious policy, we shall have the strongest reason to rejoice in the local destination assigned to us by Providence.  But should the people of America once become capable of that deep simulation towards one another, and towards foreign nations, which assumes the language of justice and moderation while it is practicing iniquity and extravagance, and displays in the most captivating manner the charming pictures of candor, frankness, and sincerity, while it is rioting in rapine and insolence, this country will be the most miserable habitation in the world; because we have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion.  Avarice, ambition, revenge or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net.  Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people.  It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

It’s amazing what’s underfoot on any tiny little patch of ground!