Day 3 and Thursday has been so fun and so interesting. I love learning about towns around us and historical facts. We started out this morning by planning a trip into downtown Cooper to check out a few of the antique stores and a soda fountain that JB had heard about. My finds at the antique store today were a tin ‘vase’ of some sort that would work perfectly for our camper kitchen utensils, an antique necklace that was in the ‘sale’ box, a handmade white shawl (since my honey says I am always cold), an antique flour sifter and an end table. The end table was love at first sight, matches nothing in my house, yet (meaning I agreed to re-finish all our other end tables, but planned to do that anyways). The table is an off white that has been rubbed to see the darker wood underneath in spots and has 2 surfaces of table. The top surface has music sheets, about 8-10 songs from church songbooks and the pages are transparent. I just loved it!
After visiting the antique stores we stopped by the Miller pharmacy and soda fountain shop on the square. JB and I split a chocolate milkshake, but the most interesting thing was that this is truly an old fashioned soda shop! Everything used in there to make milkshakes and mix sodas was very old, even the cash register was VERY old. No electronics to it, push in the number and the wooden drawer opens. The lady that made our milkshake is 84 years old and her name is Mrs. Maybel Wheat, she has worked behind that soda fountain for 62 years, making the same thing. They also mix the sodas the old fashioned way, if you want a strong Coke, you get 5 pumps of syrup and if you want a weak Coke, you get 3 pumps. There is no such thing as a diet anything at this soda fountain. Mrs. Maybel chatted and talked and laughed with us. She and her husband raised 2 boys and we have two boys. During our visit there Mrs. Maybel had a leak in her carbonated water fountain and got the tools to fix that stubborn washer. Armed with a screwdriver and fountain wrench, she got busy until it was running properly again, afterall, there was a precious 4 year old little girl that had been asking for Mrs. Maybel’s Coke float for 3 weeks. Oh, and the ice cream that is used is all homemade, so there are only a handful of flavors.
Our main reason for heading to Paris was that JB wanted to get his picture taken with the Eiffle Tower sporting the cowboy hat. Oh, the little things that make that man happy.We then set out to find some lunch and WATER! Not exactly in that order because those that know me well know I can’t drink while I eat. We ended up at TaMolly’s in Paris, of all places. I had posted on Facebook that we were in Paris and one of my girls, Chaun Rai, asked where we were at and shortly after, she was sitting there with us talking. She is going to PJC on a cheerleading scholarship and is an amazing young lady and I am so proud of the strong independent person she has become. We met her guy friend who treats her like she deserves to be treated, like a princess, and we very much like him.
After lunch we were so into Paris, Texas and learning about things we kept looking. JB found the old railroad depot which now has a small museum in it and went through it. It was a neat site. We then found the tombstone of John S. Chishum, a huge cattleman in the late 1800’s, who lead 60,000 to 100,000 cattle from Texas to New Mexico. It was said he was the best counter by his one time partner and always knew how many cattle he had.
We went through an old cemetery in Paris, Evergreen Cemetery, and it had some very old stones. There are over 40,000 remains there and there was so much fascination with how personal some get and how simple others get. Some people were so very loved and you can tell by the sentiments and the sayings. One preacher was buried there, and his congregation erected a monument in his memory (you can see all these pictures on my Facebook page), he was very loved and missed. Family plots range from simple to extraordinaire, and you can tell who had the money by going through a cemetery. The very old stones would say something like, ‘Henrietta Mae who was aged 12 in years, was snatched from us while she slept from the terrible fever. May the Lord watch over her’. No dates or other markings. The original reason for our visit to Evergreen Cemetery was because my crazy honey wanted a picture of the monument that portrayed Jesus wearing a pair of cowboy boots. It was during the late 1800’s and the name was Babcock.
It has been a fun crazy day and we have really enjoyed this venture! I have learned so much today, the worst being that sweet and heat don’t mix for me. I had a bad experience once before but now have absolutely gotten the message. After getting the milkshake and walking a bit, I got sick to my stomach. It was hot and some of the antique stores were not air conditioned, they just had fans placed around different areas. I was OK until I had the milkshake (only a few sips; most was thrown away) and the sweetness of that with the heat hit me. Lesson learned, to not be repeated.
We are now on our way to the Wal-Greens in Sulpher Springs to pick up the steroid medications for JB. His doctor called and it is confirmed that he has gout, so now to get his acid levels back to normal and his foot feeling better. Our bariatric surgeon said this is common after bariatric surgery since your body is being purged of the lifestyle it once knew. I have researched gout and it is a very interesting read. It is amazing how our bodies react to things, which makes it even harder to not believe in the Lord. How amazing that our body does things to fix or compensate (sometimes over compensate) for trauma or stress our bodies encounter.
I am so enjoying this “relaxing, nobody needs me and have no time restraint in our days” week and I have not missed work at all! Usually I feel guilty about being off and such and that is not even a problem. Have barely even thought about the tasks at work of what will be left for me when I get back, because this is all good! It will get done and we will have a successful week, we are having a successful week!
Still ready to go fish and might even consider trying out that game thing called golf. But I won’t volunteer that information, it will be a wait and see week!
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