Friday I picked up my 15 year old niece at Dallas Love Field airport. Prior to her flight arriving, I stopped by an IMAX theater. I hoped to see one of those 40 minute short films sometimes shown at IMAX theaters. This particular unit, though, was showing a full-length commercial film on its IMAX screen. I drove on to the airport.
Friday night my wife and I took my niece to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. We arrived after 9 p.m. Our waiter was a nice young fellow from central Colorado. He impressed me by recommending that we visit Pauls Valley, Oklahoma. Pauls Valley, Oklahoma is just the kind of relatively unheralded destination that I like to visit.
Saturday we took my niece for a late breakfast at Mimi's, where we all had oatmeal from the 'Fresh n Fit' menu. Then I stayed home to meet with a glass man while my wife and my niece went shopping. Some time ago, someone--presumably an exuberant neighbor child--shot a single BB into a rear window. This BB had stimulated a bit of cracking, so it was time to replace it. A fellow named Jody showed up at 12:10 p.m., gave a reasonable estimate, and, because of Beatrice's participation in the festivity, told me about his pit bull.
Saturday afternoon I went for a walk on the hiking trail in McKinney by the community center near Towne Lake Park, where I saw lots of daisies in bloom:
.I saw a woodpecker that I believe to have been a hairy woodpecker rather than a downy woodpecker, though my level of certainty is not 100 percent. I also saw cormorants and shovellers.
I stopped by the SPCA on Stacy Road to look at the dogs available for adoption. I was pleased to see lots of
families there checking into adoption, as well as the most charming set of adoptable dogs. I put a ten dollar bill in the donation box and moved on.
Saturday evening my wife, my niece and I went to Zen Chow in Allen, where I had steamed chicken with broccoli, carrots, celery and cabbage. We watched the video of the documentary "Buck", which we had wanted my niece to see because she is very interested in horses.
Sunday morning we all went to church at Christ United Methodist Church in Plano. Then we came home and ate paninni sandwiches my niece made. For the afternoon's entertainment, I took my niece to the Allen Natatorium, where we swam for an hour. Then we went to Yogurtville.
I drove my niece for Love Field for her flight to Birmingham. While we waited for her plane to board, she used her iPad to show me photos of things she had drawn. My wife and I very much enjoyed our niece's visit, and hope she will come see us again in the future.
On the way back home, I stopped by Central Market, and had a vegetable plate of potatoes, acorn squash and collard greens, along with a carton of fruit and a wheat roll. I stopped to gas up my car on the way home.
I've finished the Margaret Oliphant novel "A Country Gentleman and his Family", in all its 970+ page glory. It proved to be a good read. Now I must figure out the next book(s) to tackle. This weekend my reading included the mid-19th-Century self-help prose of Samuel Smiles. I like that Google Books makes public domain works easy to find.