Part 1 of Corsicana Memorial Day trip 2011

Even when it's super duper hot, Corsicana's ALWAYS a good idea and this time it was for a girls only trip with the Monroe females gathering for the Memorial Day weekend in Texas. We had a full house and agenda, loaded with sitting, swinging, sweating, car riding, golf cart riding and visitating throughout the holiday. Otis, Whitney's pup, was the only male allowed on the property, and he knew his place. But after a glitch or two, it became obvious there's something to be said about having a male around the house because when "stuff happens" they end up turning out to be quite handy. For instance ask yourself, "What's the most important element in a shower?" If you answered water, you'd be correct. Well, the water pump decided to go on the fritz as Lydia was in the middle of a shower and none of us had ANY IDEA what to do. I have no water pump fixing skills. All's I know to do is see if it's still sitting there and once that's done......I'm out. Fortunately for Lydia as well as the rest of us, and with no help from anyone....I mean who are we kidding, no one knows anything about pump fixing......it worked sporadically over the few days and none of us had to skip showers, BUT many random peeps found themselves in a state of shower with no water. It was, as you can imagine, a problem. A shower without water is really just a stinky person wandering around naked in the well house. That's not good. But other than that, everything else went as planned. Even though we had nothing planned.

Now a couple of months ago we acquired a new resident in the pasture, a horse named Socks. I call him Buster. While Maggie was there, she decided to put him through his paces, even though he's not the most cooperative horse in the land. He had his moments though, and of course pictures had to be taken. One of my favorite things about Buster was at some point, almost every day, he'd sporadically take off running through the big pasture. It was the most magnificent sight, magical I might say. Horses are the loveliest creatures. We need more of them.

Maggie and he were having a meeting of the minds. He enjoys swishing his tail.


He agreed to let her braid his mane, didn't seem to think it girly at all.


And then she would have him run in a circle and put on a show. It was fun to see.


Poor little horses across the street came to watch and surely wished they could've joined in the fun. Poor things. I like that the white ones are flanking brownie.


Once again a friend maker Addy's not, so Olivia tried to stage a formal introduction to Buster....it DID NOT go well. To this day she remains cold and distant.


Caitlin and Emma read 9 million books. This girl LOVES her picture took.....NOT


Cute photo of a suspecting Emma.


Buster was still running in a circle.


Look at his tail flying as he runs, it's just so enchanting.


I took lots of photos because I loved seeing him run.


While Maggie and Buster were working, Lindsey was enjoying some down time reading her Kindle while swinging. Technology of any kind at the farm in Corsicana is like the proverbial fish out of water story. It just don't fit.


But Buster was beginning to fall in love with the camera.


Love this unsuspecting photo of Caitlee B.


Lindsey's now multi-tasking with phone and Kindle.


Mollie and Marlie. Marlie and Mollie.


Another one of those, "What's that I just saw?" Becky holding Buster's bridle.


Maya's life's so full of stress, she HAD to get away from it all, and find the time to recharge her batteries.


The afternoon sun as viewed from the back porch....lovely.


I think Buster knows he's handsome and turned out to be quite the camera hog.


Love his mane blowing in the afternoon breeze.


The golf cart makes the trip more wonderful. Olivia, Maisy and I know that better than anyone.


Emma took this fantastic photo of Addy doing the after water shake. I love the water droplets flying through the air but check out her tongue, ear and tail. In my opinion, this photo is brilliant.


Otis cruising the pond.


He's had enough.


He got out because he heard Maisy yell, "CANNONBALL!!!!!!!!!!"


Yep, that's what that is.


Check out a closer up of the same photo.


And then even closer. Cammie preparing for Maisy's impact.


Another try but this time they decided to walk on top of the water. Addy's joined the fray.


And the close up.


Cammie and Maisy decided to forgo a walk on the wild side but Addy decided instead of getting wet, she'd run the whole way across.


On Sunday afternoon 12 of us went on a ride. It was quite the tight squeeze.


So tight in fact, Emma had to hold her feet out the window....or maybe her feet just stunk. I'm not sure.


As you can see, Caitlin's still having a love affair with the camera.


As is Carlie.


I think the phrase that best fits this photo is....and I quote, "No pictures for problems."


Maisy's locked out of the yard and into the little pasture. She wasn't happy about the development but agreed to take a quick cute pic anyway.


And then there's the inevitable tussle over something.


Dog pile!!


And there's almost always a lovely sunset to watch.


Emma took these lovely photos.


See I told you. Anytime Olivia and I got in the golf cart for a ride, Maisy was all like, "Wait up people!! Don't even think about leaving me.!"


Addy's reflecting and surveying the farm.


Another lovely grass photo.


And a curious cow.


Love it.


Gotta love me some Buster.


This place is grand.


Black-eyed Susans in the big pasture.


Ahhhhh, Buster's living the life.


Look at him, He's a beaut.


Another Emma photo.


This guy stayed curious all week. He was always checking things out, and when I was mowing, we had more than one standoff with him right in my way and looking as if he was saying, "What you gonna do about it?" I continued into his path and finally after doing a little head bob, got out of my way.


And with the setting sun, this concludes the first in the series of Memorial Day trip posts.


There's more to come, I just don't know when.