Pastry chefs must be drawn to Delay by some pastry mecca magnet.  The choices were mind boggling when Ika, Joann and I went to shop a bit while the guys were offshore fishing.  There were street vendors set up to tempt you with breads, fruits, international cuisine, and best of all, pastries!  All to the tune of a steel drum and a bit of island music.  It was a pleasant surprise as we thought we were just going to discover a quaint little shopping district like The Strand in Galveston.  I’m afraid it put The Strand in the shade.  There were, of course, some great little boutiques.  We girls all came away with a prize or two.  The biggest prize came when Ika found a fruit she had been searching for since discovering it on a trip to Mexico with Matt:  dragon fruit.  It was so sweet, like a cross between a pear and a grape.  We came back with bags of edibles, so many that I’ll bet Ika and Matt are still munching on them!  I can’t live there ~ I would never stop eating.

Of course I’ve seen Florida many times before. Robert and I lived in Orlando for the last three years of his life. It has always been the most magical state for our family.  Sharing some of that magic with our good friends, the Dicksons, has been a wonderful memory for the Wilcox’s.  Starting with the Art District of South Beach Miami, to viewing the International Boat Show via Captain Matt’s Water Taxi, it was an amazing adventure.  The guys valiantly tried to enjoy the art and shopping:)  They were paid back with two full days of offshore fishing while Joann, Ika and I shopped till we dropped.  We covered most everything of importance from Del Rey Beach to Key West, in less than a week.  We could spend a month there and not see it all!

Their back!  For the Clear Lake neighbors, it’s a tradition, like celebrating the first fall cool front.  Inevitably the cool weather moves in just in time to bring out the lawn chairs, bar-b-q pits and coolers for a day of skyward entertainment.  The locals know the drill.  Gather your family, baseball gloves, soccer balls, pets and all, to head for Sylvan Park for a freebie look at the show.  The Confederate Air Force puts on a re-enactment of WWII, complete with bombings over Ellington Field. The F16’s usually start the show off and the Eagles fly in the middle, just to keep the kids interested. Some years the Blue Angels perform, some years the Canadian RAF; this year it was the Thunderbirds!  Never disappointed, after three hours of ground-shaking jet engines, we all head home to talk about our favorite planes.   I’m sure the close proximity to the airfield played no small part in Matt’s decision to become a pilot.  It was a great place to raise our kids!

Twelve years ago the Wilcox clan added a new family member; a furry little bundle of joy that originally fit neatly in my handbag.  Matt was going to college in Daytona Beach, and needed a companion to keep him company in his litte river-front house.  He called her Maui.  Several hurricanes later, he moved to a hi-rise condo that wouldn’t flood.  Of course, Maui wasn’t allowed there, so she came to her permanent human mother in Houston.  That would be me.  Robert and I raised her as our own for five years until Tres and Laura married and moved into a new house.  They had no kids yet, so they needed a dog.  Maui was such a well-trained dog, and easy for a new family to care for.  It was a no-brainer.  She became their fur baby in Austin. Now, two young toddlers later, Maui is approaching 12 years young.   The grandbabies love their dog, but she’s pretty small to handle toddler-abuse.  On my last grandbaby visit it became apparent that Maui needed to come full circle, back to her original human mother.  As you can see from her smile as she settled onto my bed for the night, she’s adapting well.  She will miss picking up the scraps from under the hi-chair tho:)

On special occasions, like Tres’ birthday, I get to babysit the grandbabies.  Since I don’t live in Austin, it’s always a surprise how big they are when I come to visit.  They grow and develop so quickly while I’m away.  Ivy (now 2 1/2) has her own breakfast table now; she’s outgrown the high chair.  Every weekday morning, while she eats breakfast, her mom brushes her hair and makes her beautiful for a half-day at school. So far she seems to want to go, no complaints.  Of course, this will change about the time homework rears its ugly head:)

Hazel (now 1) still gets to lounge around the house with Mamou (that’s me) and Maui (her overprotective dog mother).  Hazel, Maui and I watch lots of Einstein DVDs together in the “baby play room” Laura designed.  Love that they have a special room full of blackboards, chalk, crayons, books, and toys.  They seem to love it too.  As you can see, I caught Hazel hiding behind a bench reading herself a story.  They grow too fast.

                                          As we watched my sister leave to see her daughter, Katie, for the last time before the six-week trip to Goa India; Sumo and I stood waving goodbye.  He was sad for about a minute, until he realized that Aunt Rita could be coerced into handing out treats for just about anything he would do.  He also knew he would be sleeping in a human bed, because Aunt Rita doesn’t mind his snoring (pugs are the worst).  He was once a solid black young pug, but over the years he has grayed to a beautiful salt and pepper.  People on the beach are drawn to him like bugs to a light.  He’s still so puppy-like with his tiny stature.  Children just have to reach out and pet, there’s no stopping them.  I’m never bored when walking this one.  I will be the sad one when I hand him back to his mom!

                                       Matt & Ika did an amazing job of transforming the 25 year old house into a tribute to Swedish minimalist style and grace, on the inside.  They added wide-planked wood floors, marble and granite in bathrooms and kitchen, new gleaming stainless light fixtures, etc.  Then life happened and they were called away to a new location ~ Fort Lauderdale ~ before the outside renovations were started.  No worries, that’s what my retired self is good for.  Mauricio, the jeffe (boss), and his crew came highly recommended by several friends.  He spoke perfect english but his crew got to suffer through my very bad spanish (I LOVE to practice).  As you can see they would do anything I asked, even tie a rope to themselves and clean the roof. Incidentally, the roof is high and steep; it makes bungee jumping look tame.  After four days together, we got to know each other pretty well.  They were very respectful, honest to a fault, and grateful for the work.  All they really want out of life is a chance to make a better life for their families.  As I listened to Marco Rubio last night, I thought to myself that he would be one to understand their plight and make fair decisions.  I will always feel in my heart..”give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore.  Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me:  I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”

Hard to believe, Ivy starts school this week.  I mean just yesterday I rushed to Austin to see her laying on her Mom’s tummy, new to the world, blinking sleepily at her Nana, Mamou, Uncle Matt and proud Dad.  She’s ready for this, I’m not sure that I am.  I watched her kindly hand a toy to a young friend who was crying last week, and realized she is more than ready to make the transition to the daily routine.  She’s bright enough; counts to 10 in English, Spanish and Korean.  She knows her alphabet backwards and forwards.  Of course, her Mamou suspects she will wow them all since she will now have an audience.  Now Laura will have some one-on-one time with little sis Hazel too.  I don’t even want to think about her starting school:)  They didn’t even HAVE school for 2 year olds when I was growing up.  What’s this world coming to?  Smarter kids than we were I imagine.

It was a beautiful ship “Majesty of the Seas”.  She had two pools, multiple dining rooms, restaurants, a casino, too many bars to count, a climbing wall, a gym, and so on.  Of course I am a salt-water soul so one would assume it would be the trip of a lifetime.  There were some wonderful moments, mostly shared with my friend Brenda.  She was the instigator of the trip, as we were celebrating her 60th!  The best part was time spent with her.  We learned to play the roulette table, met a wonderful couple from Quebec who could barely speak english (I kept forgetting, slipping into a bit of Spanish until they reminded me they are French:), and drank many coco-locos on multiple beaches (mine were virgin of course).  The food was extraordinarily good, but the snorkeling excursions made the trip.  First a trip to Cococay, an island owned by Royal Caribbean.  They had a sunken WWII plane near the shore and an old civil war ship wrecked close enough to it in shallow water.  Amazing to snorkel two wrecks in the same location!  The second trip was 10 miles due east off the coast of Key West.  An old circa 1800s lighthouse was sitting atop a beautiful reef rising out of the Atlantic.  The fish were more than a little friendly, having been fed by divers obviously.  Such an amazing experience to become part of this strange other-wordly scene, and to be so readily accepted as friendly by such beautiful creatures.  Overall a memorable experience, however by day 5 I was ready to set foot on some terra firma.  It was nice to be in a bed that didn’t rock:)