The Best Breakfast in the World!

This restaurant, the Blue and White was a gas station/diner built in 1937 by Mid-South Oil Co, one of several built during that time along major roads in the south to accommodate people who were beginning to take road trips. It is now only a cafe with the best home cooking!! They open up at 4:00AM and make homemade doughnuts each day. We discovered it last year and it is now the highlight of any trip to this area. They also serve lunch and dinner. Last year we met the main cook who has been working here for 40 years--she makes everything from scratch--no recipes--she just "knows by looking" how much to use. She is training her granddaughter now.

Everything is blue and white!!!

This ham is one of the reasons that this place is so special to us. We can't find this good old time ham with the bone anywhere else. It is just perfect--we have found out that it comes from Sysco Foods but we have never found any like it for sale where we can shop. We even tried Cracker Barrel, but theirs can not compare to this. Fred also thinks their sausage gravy is just like his grandmother used to make.

Their coffee is so good, too!! They even have their own special cups. We saved the ham bones for Tex and he now likes the Blue and White as much as we do.

On the Road to Florida

We left Thursday for our spring trip. Up early so we could make it to Tunica mid-afternoon, but we had some trouble with the ice maker in the refrigerator leaking. We had turned the refrig on Tues and loaded the food Wed. I opened the freezer to put something in and out poured water. We got towels and a big sponge to try to get as much up as we could. The ice bucket was full of water!!!. Fred turned the water off to the refrig (or so he thought) and we took off. After a short while as we were driving down the road, I checked and the ice bucket was full again---so all day, I would get up and dump the water every hour---we stopped at a rest area for a quick sandwich lunch and made it to Tunica by 5. Then we hooked up to water and finally found out how to turn the water to the ice maker off---totally different from the way you turn water off out at your house. Then we disconnected the water line and now we think maybe the one froze this winter.
We headed for the casino at 6 and had a great time at the slots. No big winnings yet but we did have a T-Bone buffet for $1 at the Resort Casino. Believe it or not, it was a very good buffet!!! Really fresh salad bar--steaks thin but cooked to perfection and tender. Another small disaster when we got home---the door would not open--it unlocked but pulling the lever did not disengage the door. Thank goodness I had left a window unlocked as I constantly worry about little things. So Fred climbed the ladder and pulled himself in the window over the sofa. Good thing that our next stop is in Red Bay for repairs!!! (This is the second time that we have had to use an open window to get in so it is a good idea)

Last Opera Season

In January, my friend Rosa and I attended the opera for my last time this season as I am leaving on a spring trip. (She and another friend will use the tickets for the last two performances.) We have been attending the Dallas Opera for the last 10 years and have had so much fun dressing up and attending each performance. Some years, we would have as many as 5 in the group, but Rosa and I are the only 2 attending now. We have seen some great operas and heard some phenomenal voices. I always enjoy the ones that have unusual stage sets and elaborate costumes. The new Opera Hall will open for the next season so the season dates have changed---the season now runs from Oct to May instead of Nov to Feb. Since we are both busy and would miss so many performances, we have decided not to renew our season tickets. So sad!!! We still plan to buy good seats for one performance next year. We can't wait to see the interior of the new Opera Hall!!!

39th Anniversary

Last weekend, we went with our neighbors, John and LouAnn to celebrate their 39th anniversary. We had talked so much about Pappa's Steakhouse where we celebrate our anniversary each year. They wanted to go there and invited us along. What great fun!! We enjoyed wine, melt in you mouth steak, one had a fabulous looking salmon with a shrimp and crab sauce on top, and the most outstanding desserts ever. The ladies had New York cheesecake topped with fresh strawberries with sour cream sauce and white chocolate, and the men enjoyed creme brulee with fresh berries on top.


Pappas always has those little extra touches like these plates with Happy 39th Anniversary.


We each had a silver shopping bag full of takeout. What a great night!

Finally Got Those Solar Screens

Last summer, we decided that we needed to do some energy efficient measures. We had planned to get solar screens on the south and west sides of our house. We called Lone Star, the largest and supposedly best in the area. However, they would not come out as far as we live on the east side as they are in Irving. So I waited until the winter when I thought they would not be as busy and sure enough, I called one day and they were here two days later to measure, and the screens were installed two days after that!

It really makes it a lot darker in the bedrooms which Fred loves and I am getting used to.
Upstairs in my office, it has really helped block all the sun off the desk and TV screen in the mornings.

In the front, we had the screens customized with the white lines. Looks good!! Hopefully, we will see a difference this summer.

Christmas with Family

On Sunday, my nephews and my niece and her children came for Christmas Dinner. We had the traditional turkey and dressing just like Tilde used to make.



On New Years Day, we went to our cousin Greg's house. He and his wife, Judy, are always so gracious to have us. We went to Mariano's Mexican Restaurant--great food and margaritas!!!

The cousins annual photo---We do this each Christmas and Labor Day. Someday, we are going to get them all together and see how much we have changed--(won't that be a laugh)

Sam, Brooke, and Lowell arrive

My brother, Sam flew in from Chicago the day after Christmas. His son, Lowell and his girlfriend, Brooke, arrived from Houston on Saturday. This was our first time to meet Brooke, and we really liked her. We all had a great time grilling steaks and enjoying the spa. We could see so many stars as it was a beautiful, clear night.

w
Sam gave Lowell a new electronic on the market. It is a phone set that syncs
with 2 cell phones for those who only have cell. It has two handsets so you can put them in different rooms and answer them instead of the cell. Sam is really in to electronics and keeping up with what is new in the marketplace. I also got something new for my computer.
Since Lowell takes after his dad and really likes electronics, we put him to work installing our blu-ray player, setting up remotes, and fixing a problem I had on the TV upstairs.

y