Avery Island

Got a little better photo of Casper, the friendly ghost shrimp, as Linda has named him (or maybe her). I just can't believe how much pleasure that one gallon aquarium gives both Linda and I. It is so much fun just watching the antics of both Red Rob and the three ghost shrimp, to which Linda has given the names, Casper, Buster and Tiny, in order from biggest to smallest. Sure they are merely a fish and three crustaceans, but they are still fun to watch, and besides, they come when called, and we know dogs that don't even do that.

Three guesses to where we went today, and the first two don't count. It really is funny because like many people, my first exposure to hot sauce was Tabasco, but that was a long time ago and in the ensuing years I have moved far beyond it. Still it was very interesting touring the plant that made hot sauce famous. And I have to admit that when we eat at a restaurant and Tabasco sauce is on the table, I liberally douse my eggs or pancakes with it.

I don't know if our grandson Zachary is into hot sauce or not, but if he takes after grandpa he is. Irregardless, he will get something from Avery Island, a Tabasco smashed penny. It's little things like this, the connections, that make life, Life. We may be far away in terms of distance from our grandchildren, but they are never far from our thoughts.

I don't know when Linda's obsession with a fiber optic Christmas Tree first came into being. Maybe it was a year ago, or possibly even several years ago, but today it was fulfilled, and at WalMart of all places. It wasn't as easy as you might think as they had both green and white fiber optic trees on display, but when they had only green is stock, that settled the matter. I barely had all our purchases carried into the coach before the little girl I married, and who loves Christmas, was busy unfolding "her" tree. She asked me if I had any problem disposing of our old tree, the one that was my mother's, and I told her, "Not at all, this one is our tree."

This photo does not even begin to do it justice, and all I can say is that your loss in not seeing it in person, is your loss, since we get to enjoy the real thing and I am such a lousy photographer. Plus, I must confess I was truly surprised at just how pretty that $13 dollar tree really is, proving once again that my choice in a wife was impeccable.

As with every night at Betty's we enjoyed the happy hour and a half, having a great time teasing the locals, and learning that whether we go east, west, north or south when we leave here, we will eventually end up where we are going. You really had to be there to fully appreciate all the routes we were given to leave the park and drive to our destination on Sunday, none of which we will probably take, or maybe I should say, part of all, which we will take.

Betty's is not for the faint of heart, not for the those that don't socialize, but if that is what you enjoy, if you skip Betty's you are missing one of the true highlights of Life. Most people live life, some of us live Life, Betty Lives LIFE. So if you merely want live life, skip staying at Betty's but if you want to live LIFE, it is a must stop on the never ending full time road.