BACK IN MISSOURI. We got back late Wednesday night. We had planned to make it a two-day drive but decided it was easier to travel farther and sleep in our own beds. We were sure glad we decided to do that on Thursday morning. There was still patches of snow on the ground in Northern Arkansas and Southern Misouri when we went through there. It was in the high seventies here today.

We went out for dinner Monday evening with Loretta, Yvonne and Savannah in New Orleans. Yvonne ordered alligator for an appetizer which Rose, Shirley, and I all tried reluctantly. We liked it! Then Rose and I tried her crawfish. I think Rose has had this before. Brother Joe wanted to know if we ate the eyeballs or spit them out. I'm soon going to be 65 years old and just learned that crawdads and crawfish are the same thing. You really insult a Cajun if you call a crawfish a crawdad! Cajuns also call lightning bugs fireflies. Between alligator and crawDADS, I liked the alligator better, but I wouldn't want to make a whole meal on either one.

Rose and I were out walking on Tuesday and walked up an appetite. We ran across this busy little place called The Bon Ton Cafe. We figured that since it was busy it must be good. I ordered some crab dish, ate that, and then decided I would have some dessert. Their menu said they were known for their bread pudding with a whiskey sauce, so I ordered one serving and two spoons, one for me and one for Rose. The pudding was even better than Mother used to make! It was scrumptious and especially so was the whiskey sauce. Mother would never have made it with whiskey sauce. I soon noticed that Rose had given me a fork to eat my share with and she was eating hers with a spoon. Then I noticed that the fork wouldn't hold any of the whiskey sauce but her spoon would! Right away we were both eating with spoons!

I gained two pounds while we were away, but have taken up walking again since the weather has gotten nicer here in Missouri the last couple days. I did two miles on the exercycle yesterday and thought I had also walked two miles, but Rose and I decided it wasn't quite two miles. Today I did not quite three miles walking and again two on the exercycle. It was like Spring outside, but I'm afraid it won't be so nice for the next few days.

Last Sunday, over on the other side of Missouri, Joe, Donald, Vita and some of Donald and Vita's grandsons met up in Excelsior Springs where "Little Joe" played - and won - in a basketball tournament. Donald and Vita have five grandsons, and I'm not sure if they were all with them. Joe's granddaughter was "jump" cheerleading in an area tournament in Springfield.

After spending Sunday night in Plattsburg, MO, Donald and Vita dropped the boys at school and had breakfast in Smithville with Joe. From there, the three of them proceeded to the newly-built Midwest Genealogy Center in Independence, MO. Joe said a researcher could spend a long time in there and still be dumb. Then they went back to Plattsburg and met up with Mike Madden for lunch. I assume they had lunch at Julie and Jennifer's (Donald and Vita's daughters) restaurant. Mike updated them on his family, the vineyard, the farm, the house remodeling and various other topics. He has sold the horse which one year ate part of the grapes in the vineyard.

I'm going to spend the day with Margaret and Norm tomorrow. I told Margaret to get out a Missouri map so she and I could trace all the traveling that was done around Missouri over the weekend. Rose is going to take me out there in the morning, and Goldman will call for me tomorrow evening. They invited me to spend the night, but I took a raincheck for next weekend because Rose and Shirley are going to be in Chicago. On Monday Goldman is taking me to my second acupuncturist session with Maegan. He promises not to get lost this time. I want to do another Yoga session this week too but haven't arranged it yet.

Rose, my sons, and grandsons got me an Amazon Kindle, an early birthday present. Last week I didn't know what one was and now it's one of my favorite and prized possessions. It looks like a notebook and is about the size of a Reader's Digest. It's also very light weight and easy for me to maneuver. It holds 1500 books. There are 240,000 books, newspapers, and magazines available through Amazon. You can order any of these and have them on your Kindle within 60 seconds. I'm in the middle of one book and have another waiting when I finish this one. You can either read on the screen, have the Kindle read aloud, or listen with a headset. To turn a page (which I often have great trouble doing with my bad hands), you just gently push a button. If you leave it for a while it turns itself off. When you come back to it, you push a button and it turns on and goes to the page you left off. It has lots of other features that I haven't wanted or needed to use yet. Rose, Scott, and Chris had planned to get it for me for my birthday as a joint gift, but Rose couldn't wait. Boys, take it up with her. When I finish this update I'm going to go read for a while.

WE NEED UPDATES FROM OTHER PEOPLE AND PLACES!!! We have lots of pictures from Louisiana when we get them posted.