Sunday Relaxation

You would probably wonder how a couple of retired people need relaxation.  We do little other than follow our grandchildren from sports field to sports field.  Or from swim meet to swim meet.  With the much needed rain and the cold of the past winter we have stayed in our apartment more than usual.

Today, Hubby wanted  to put the top up on the Jeep so he could drive it with all the rainy weather.  As luck would have it there was a break in the rain.  Using my waning feminine wiles, he was convinced to leave the top down and just head out of the city.  We did not even have the GPS turned on so for a while we just wandered westward.  Some of streets we turned on were full of upscale homes.  They appeared to have been built in the period of time when we were building our life together.

It was interesting the emotions evoked by the home styles.  The pitch of the roof lines.  Spanish courtyards and half-timber Tudor styles with the ultra straight line contemporary homes strewn along the winding streets.  For a moment or two I thought how pleasant it would be to be twenty something.  To be starting the journey for the first time.

To be planning to go to the Plan Shoppe to look at home plans.  The sign the contract with a builder.  To be young, flexible.  To have endurance and muscles.  To have more future than past.  The emotions surprised me a little.  Not usually one to look back and wish for that time.  Partly because of the pain of the journey traveled.  Not horrible pain but enough.  No desire to stand by as friends lose children.  Or marriages dissolve.  Or businesses fail.  The struggles through caring for aging parents.

And then the Jeep turned onto a different street that led out of the area.  Into an area with few homes.  An area of a two lane road with cedar covered hills on each side.  The recent rains have allowed the wildflowers to go crazy.  Fields orange, red, pink and some white.  Flower names reflect the old and diverse cultures of the Hill Country.  Mexican Hat, Indian Blanket, Indian Paint brush, bluebonnets, Drummond phlox, verbena, wine cup and evening primrose to name what we saw.

On Nameless Road twisting and turning through the hills balance was regained.  An appreciation for the life lived thus far.  The appreciation of the past with a nod to the last part of life.  One last long trip in the Jeep taking us to a family reunion and a little beyond.   One last unsupervised adventure with the man of my dreams.  Now that is relaxing.....

Sunday Afternoon

Carpe Diem #671, Sunday Afternoon

A Sunday Afternoon - Georges Seurat

Time was Sunday afternoons were about family visits.  Most times our home was the host home.  Sometimes there were visits to others homes.  There was the occasional afternoons when Granny, Sis, Mom, Dad and I would set out on a Sunday drive.  One Sunday we 'followed the sun' west to the area I thought of as the drop off.  That was an area on hold Hwy. 24 with a hill that dropped away to the flat plains of West Texas. Seemed as if one could see to the ends of the earth.

One particular Sunday afternoon drive proved to be slightly more interesting.  The old, green 1949 Oldmobile was comfortable even with the three of us, Granny, Sis and me, in the back seat.  The Olds did not provide the luxury of air conditioning on that mid 1950's drive.  The tails of Mom's and Granny's headscarves flapped and snapped in the warm breeze of the open windows.  The vent windows were turned to catch more of the breeze.  Sis and I took turns trying to catch the air from the backseat windows in our hands.

The flat landscape revealed the distant horizon growing darker the longer we rode.  Yet Dad kept riding west, closer to the darkening skies.  Finally, due to Mom's persistent 'encouragement', Dad turned the car around and headed east toward home.  We were about 10 miles from home when the dark clouds overtook us.  Windows were quickly rolled up with one exception, the one by Granny in the back seat.  No plastic trash bag to cover up the window as they were not really available in the mid '50s.  Granny quickly scooted over to the other side of the seat.  Those last few miles baby Sis sat in her lap and I snuggled close.  That was the best Sunday afternoon ride ever!

strolling monks laughter
echoes off the cherry trees
blossoms giggle

©  Janice Adcock

Thanks to Chèvrefeuille for daily prompts on 

CARPE DIEM HAIKU KAI