May 15, 2016

HOUSTON

In the evening following our walk in the old neighborhood, once my emotions had settled it was time to explore a new restaurant. We chose Nino’s, an old-style mid-scale Italian restaurant a few miles away. By then it was raining and umbrella weather. I dropped GG at the front and parked in a shared lot in the back, way back. As the reports online suggested, though there are three busy restaurants in the complex, there is plenty of parking.

We began with a glass of Chianti then ordered the lasagna to share. It was really good. We have been frustrated of late trying to find good lasagna. Now we have a new standard to compare with in the future. We finished off with chocolate gelato.

Lady Anna was diligent in maintaining connections with the friends she grew up with. Sunday was a big day for us as about a dozen of them planned a get-together and Celebration of Life for her. Troy and Barbara pulled it all together at Troy’s house late Sunday afternoon.He laid out a wonderful spread of hors d’oeuvres, fine wines, beers and drinks then followed it later with beef and veggies.

We and others brought pictures, articles and other mementos of their times together which prompted many memories and stories. Geezer got filled in on stories Lady Anna’s parents never knew. We also ran the video that was played at her earlier Celebration of Life at Fresno Flats, filling them in on her later accomplishments.

Lady Anna loved to bring people together. We were pleased that we accomplished exactly that, bringing old friends together, some of whom hadn’t seen each other in many years.

NAVASOTA

Monday May 16 was Lady Anna’s seventy-first birthday. Time to take her home with her family.
It was a long and emotional day. We drove to Texas City and picked up Ethyl, Lady Anna’s sister-in-law whom we hadn’t seen in several years.

The day’s goal: We were to drive to Lady Anna’s family’s ranch “Red Hill”  near Navasota, meet up with her brother Henry, have a short service and leave half of her cremains there with those of her parents, aunts and uncles and her brother Donald.

The Red Hill is in reality a twelve acre country ranchette with a nice home, pond and a couple of outbuildings. Henry and Lady Anna’s mother Florence had lived there since her father Henry Sr. died and they sold the East Cowan home.

We had a lovely drive getting to Red Hill, with plenty of time to catch up with Ethyl.
The situation there was less than ideal. Following their mother’s death a few years ago Henry had retreated into himself and just let it go. It was a mess inside and out, physically and financially. A big mess. Henry had fallen several weeks prior and had been removed to a hospital then a rest home for recovery. Frank, a very kindly neighbor, in reality an angel, had taken charge of getting to this point and helping with bills.

It was raining. We stopped first at Red Hill where we met Frank and toured the place with much dismay. Heading for Navasota and the rest home Frank led us to a small cafe where I had the best catfish basket I’ve had since 1982. But that’s a story for another time.

We visited with Henry at the rest home for about an hour. He and Ethyl generally talk on the phone weekly but hadn’t seen each other for a dozen years or so.
Henry is gradually regaining strength and weight and is able to get around some with a walker. Mentally he is challenged, good memory of family and earlier events but difficulty finding his room.

It was raining too much for Henry to return with us to Red Hill.  Fortunately the rain let up as we arrived there. We sat on the porch, opened Lady Anna’s case and prepared about half of her cremains. I distributed them in circles around the base of two healthy cedar trees, the traditional resting place for those who preceded her. It was breezy and, symbolically, she wasn’t about to let me decide her resting place but blew in the wind to her own choices.

We left Red Hill, returned Ethyl to Texas City then found Blue Fish, a Japanese restaurant near our hotel where we had some saki and lots of sushi, sashimi and California roll. It had been another long, emotional day.

-Geezer

… and the map trail continues to be HERE.