low_delta

Saturday morning, we drove two-and-a-half hours to Valparaiso and visited Mike (marswalker). Then we went to a memorial gathering for Sue (mummm). We spoke with her husband Robert and her daughter christinA (she used to have an LJ, didn't she?). They had photos up, and also some of her artwork. I wish I'd spent more time looking at it - before long it was time to eat, and then time to leave. We talked with Paula (pjkerr) and her husband at the meal.

And then we jumped in the car and drove to Batesville for a family reunion. It's my dad's side of the family, but he didn't go, citing the probability of bad weather for an outdoor event. The weather was perfect. I think he was happy to have an excuse not to go. Saturday's get-together was at a park. We arrived after most people had eaten, but before the food was put away. Then a group of about twelve of us went out for margaritas.

We stayed in the historic Sherman Hotel. We put our suitcases in our spacious room before we went out. When we got back, our keycards didn't work. We got replacements and they still didn't work. It turned out to be the lock that was bad. We had to chill in a spare room while they took the lock off the door so we could get our suitcases. They gave us a new room, which was a bit smaller, but otherwise nice. Breakfast in the restaurant was good.

Then we went to the historic and touristy town of Metamora. At the venue we played a board game with a couple of cousins before most people arrived. Then walked into town - it was hotter and a longer walk than we expected. We came back to visit with people, have lunch and our auction to raise funds for the reunion.

Shortly after we left, it started raining. We had rain off and on for much of the trip, sometimes heavy. I got turned around and made a couple of wrong turns. It took us six and a half hours to get back home. It seemed longer than usual.

At the reunion, we learned of the health issues of my dad's generation. One of our favorite cousins has cancer. The prognosis doesn't sound good, but she shrugged and said, "I'm 82!" She's happy she made it this far. Another cousin has gone into a sudden decline and didn't come. Another one who had had a stroke a couple of years back, had to ask me who I was when I said hi, because she couldn't see well anymore. She still seemed "with it" though.