Hi.

Man…  Mondays are a very different beast these days. Fortunately Jen has the day off today (it’s Columbus Indigenous Peoples Day), so I was spared the frenetic rushing around that will typically be parceled with my first day of the workweek.

Anyway, weekend!

After work on Friday I picked up some Brother’s Pizza on my way home, which is second only to “Pete’s Pizza,” (the one that used to be Baltimore’s Inner Harbor), as Best Pizza Anywhere.  

You can disagree about this assertion if you’d like. (You’d be wrong, but you’re welcome to do so.)

Saturday was a VERY slow day spent in recovery from last week’s barrage of vocational nonsense. Jen and Daphne spent most of the day playing together and reading, and I sat upstairs and wrecked a few Kaladesh sealed leagues on Magic Online.
Then Jen cooked us all a healthy dinner of grilled chicken and buttered squash, which is a very far cry from normal meals on Saturdays.  (Normally we just scavenge whatever’s left from Friday night’s take-out.)

Which brings us to BumbleDay.

Daphne and I got up early and were instantly on the move.  After a quick breakfast of Cheerios, Apple/Blackberry puree, and Eggos (the first few bites she actually swallowed!), we packed our things and headed out for Bumbleventures at the Katy Rice Harvest Festival.

Apparently this guy is called, “Rice Man.”  Creativity abounds…

And let me tell you, 10:30 on a Sunday is EXACTLY the time you want to go the Rice Harvest Festival.  People are either asleep, at church, or watching football.  We had the entire place to ourselves, and we strolled casually through all the booths with zero impediments.  And this was made even more pleasant by a passing cool front that dipped us to the low 70’s and dried out the “Bog of Eternal Stench” levels of humidity that Houston normally suffers.

“First ones here!”

“Onward, Jeeves.  To the funnel cake stand.” 

The side effect of this lack of crowd was that most of the booths weren’t manned either.  But since we’re not in the market for yard art, Scentsy candles or custom wooden signs depicting guns, college football teams and/or Christian proverbs, it was a fine trade.

After cruising through all the booths, we headed next door to Daphne’s first pumpkin patch.

“My God.  It’s full of pumpkins…”

“We’re going to have to run if we want to see them all, Daddy.”

“I think…maybe…this one?”

“No.  I think this one back here was better…”

“Yes, this one.”

She was not going to sit still for this.

 Simultaneously captivated and repulsed by this hay.  Much like she reacts to my beard.

We finally decided, after several test fittings, on a little pumpkin.  (The “test fittings” were for the carrying hammock under the stroller. Because there was no way I was walking all the way back to the car pushing a stroller and carrying a giant pumpkin.)

Then we headed back to the VFW Park where we’d left the Juke.  And, after a few more pictures…

…we headed home for Daphne’s scheduled play date.

And that just about sums up the weekend.  Good times all around.

Talk to you soon.

j.s.