Inland Shrimpfest, Reunion, and Architectural Sermon

Part I: This is apt to be a short introduction to what will ultimately be a relatively short travelogue and news story...it may evolve into Part II before, or after, this item is completed. This introduction may never see the light of day...Part II may take no time at all, or it may take weeks, months, years, decades to be completed.

On Saturday morning, my wife and I left Dallas at about 9:00 a.m., intending on reaching the fields of Falba by noon. We would visit one of my brothers and his daughter and son and their respective spouses and, if things went according to the way we hoped, one of my sisters. Only two brothers and a sister from my immediate family would be absent. And that's the way it was.

We arrived just after noon and immediately began working on the food fest, with bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches. My brother cooked vast quantities of bacon. My nephew's wife worked on tomatoes and toasting bread, and I decided to work on slicing fresh jalapeños; my brother and I like them, as does my niece's husband. Since I was working on jalapeños, I decided to try something I had tried only once before (I've written about it before, too).

That is, roll a fresh jalapeño under the ball of your hand, then bite off the tip, then dip the 'wound' in salt. Last time I tried it, it seemed very mild. I wondered at the time whether it was the process that made the jalapeño mild or whether it was the specific pepper I tried. I have now confirmed it was the specific pepper. When I did it last weekend, I felt as if my mouth had erupted in flames, melting my teeth, which then flowed slowly all over my mouth like lava, leaving deeply eroded lava-flow beds in my mouth. Bad decision...don't try it yourself, lest you discover how badly you react to pain and how much of a wimp, a cowering, whimpering wimp, you truly are.

After lunch, we talked and talked, then my niece, my wife, and I drove to Huntsville to buy ice, booze, shrimp boil, limes, and a few other odds and ends. While there, we decided we needed to buy some avocados (not at all ripe...we figured we could leave them for my brother, who can eat them when they ripen in late November or thereabouts). We also bought two pumpkins, because I had commented earlier in the day that I had never carved a jack-o-lantern...and I was, by god, going to carve a jack-o-lantern and cross it off my 'life list.' While in town, we stopped at a couple of motels so my wife and I could secure a room for the night...not enough room at my brother's place to accommodate everyone in a bed. We found an OK place that I thought was too expensive at $53 per night...but we were unwilling to go to much more effort to find a cheaper place that in all likelihood we would have found utterly unacceptable. So, we took the room, then headed north to Falba.

That evening, we had shrimp...lots of shrimp. I recently ordered an enormous amount of shrimp and we took about 7-8 pounds with us...my wife and I had stopped on the way out of town that morning and bought about 15 pounds of dry ice to ensure that the shrimp would stay frozen in the ice chest, along with the goodies we had purchased as a birthday present for my niece. Anyway, we decided to have boiled shrimp for dinner, along with cole slaw my wife had prepared the night before...and which we took on the trip. While we were away buying necessary supplied, my brother beheaded...or should that be de-headed?...the shrimp.

("The shrimp!" screamed my brother Alejandro, "he's such a stinking bastard! He stole my car, then he stole mi novia! I'm going to kill him!" With that, my brother beheaded the shrimp, laughing wildly and smearing the thick fluid that poured from the head onto the trunk of the car.) This is an Aside. You are free to forget that was included in this posting.

We started the shrimpfest by opening the liquor...tequila and triple sec and bourbon. The triple sec and tequila and limes were used for the margarita group; bourbon used for the red-neck bubba group to have bourbon and coke. I love good margaritas; that evening, though, was a red-neck bubba night for me. And for my brother. And maybe for my niece's husband...not quite sure what his drink of choice was that night.

Speaking of food...I have to thaw hamburger patties and such...and then grill them. More on this later tonight or, more likely, tomorrow or another day.

Still to discusss in a future post...finishing the shrimpfest...reunion stuff...all about architecture and why I call it 'architectural sermon'...why tiny houses are really worth looking at, particularly in conjunction with considerations of family living areas and dance halls...big breakfasts...planting tomatoes long after they should have been in the ground...myriad ways to cause regret for people who sell cars not suitable for state inspection...games involving lies, words, and laughter...Vermont Public Radio...intelligent discourse...and why it's so tiring...so debilitating...to come down with a severe case of necrophilia.

Bye for now!