A Sunday of Visiting:

I am a deer camp widow every year.  Most times I like it and just stay home and clean, read or just do whatever I want.  And I thoroughly enjoy it.
Not this year, I have been going through a weird phase of not liking to be home by myself.  How can you go from one day, loving being home and quite content to feeling lonely, the walls are closing in on you and you need to get out.
Dwayne came by Sunday morning before I left for church.  He asked what I was planning for the day.
I told him I was going to stain the patio door.  (My anecdote for not feeling content staying home is perseverance and doing a project and liking it!  Yeah, I am kind of hard on myself)  Dwayne said it's too pretty of a day to be home, why don't you just go visiting.  I'm thinking, like who?
I go to church and as I'm leaving it is a beautiful day out.  Do I really want to go home and stain the door?  It does need done-but it has needed done for quite some time so why not wait for a dreary weekend this winter.
After stopping off to treat myself to a Sun Drop and barbecue chips, I set out to visit.
First Stop:  My good friends, Pat & Kenny Allen.  I love visiting with Pat and we seldom get to visit.  She works so hard at her job and then helping to take care of her Mother-in-law when she gets home.
Mabel Allen used to run the Vichy Tavern for years on Hwy 68.  It was more of small hometown type atmosphere where you could take your kids with you and visit with all your friends.  The kids would ride trikes (much to the dismay of the ones playing pool) around the floor, catch an occassional pool game when the table wasn't being used and just having fun together. The floor was always so dirty, our kids had a bath directly when we got home before we could even think about putting them to bed.  We all have such fond memories of Mabel's.  It was good to see Mabel up and moving around and having a good day.
Second Stop:  My friend, Susan's.  We have been friends since we married.  At first not by choice as I was from Vienna and Susan was from Belle.  Little controversial there for awhile.  But our husbands were best friends and our friendship grew from there.  I can always count on Susan whenever I need her.  We spent so much time together as our kids were growing up, almost every weekend.  We didn't have much money but we certainly had alot of fun.  We would cook whatever we had on hand, the kids would play and we often played cards.  Such good times!  Susan was getting prepared for her kids coming home for the holidays.  She has three of the most cute grand kids ever!!  We usually try to get over and visit whenever the kids are down.  Carrie's boys think Dwayne is a cowboy. They didn't even recognize him at April's wedding as he didn't have his hat on.  They've not seen Chad and Todd very much, but they are also cowboys.
Third Stop:  Mabel Carney's.  Mabel is such a treasure.  I've know her my whole life.  We went to church together and her and her husband, Don owned Carney's Market.  Sometimes when the kids were little, that would be our outing.  Just driving up to the store and visit and get a soda.  (My kids didn't like candy)  Carney's Market was Chad's first trip coming home from the hospital.  We had a good visit catching up on family and neighbors.  I stayed over two hours and could have stayed longer.
Fourth Stop:  Mom and Dad's.  I had just stopped the night before but found myself stopping again.
Dad was looking at a box of old pictures and sure brings back alot of memories seeing the nieces and nephews growing up through the years, family reunions, etc. I am cherishing these visits with Mom and Dad.

When I was growing up, Sunday afternoons were spent visiting or just going on Sunday drives.  Our society has changed so much over the years, I think we have strayed away from this old time tradition.  We need to get out more and just plain old visit with people.  I hope I keep up with this more from time to time.

I am grateful for all my family and friends and I will have more memories to add to my "memory box".