Suzy

Not in this Communis you don’t! This beautiful plant is poisonous and invasive. Commonly called the Castor Bean plant, it parades around with its glossy leaves and cool berries/beans, ruining people’s lives.

BUT Maggie spotted it on the shore and after a quick Google tutorial we pulled it out.

Not today, mother____r!

Located in Sattler, which is the nearest town, just around the dam.  We’ve heard good things about this unassuming restaurant,  mostly from the various tradespeople fixing up the house. So when Maggie, Chris and I had a chance to have breakfast out we headed straight over.

Big mistake! The place was crowded—usually a good sign. They have a nice buffet set up for about $10 and also a menu. After telling our server it was our first time, we asked about the buffet. She said, “It ends at noon so you have about 40 minutes, and it’s getting down there.” Point taken, we ordered from the menu.

Fifty minutes later, after Chris had to leave to make an appointment, our food arrived. When we explained that Chris had to leave, she breezily tossed us a to-go box. When I brought up the extended wait, she said, “Is this your first time? There is usually a long wait because they make everything from scratch.” Ignoring the part about her not listening to our opening comment, I am curious as to how long cooking pancakes and eggs from scratch could possibly take.

The final blow was our check, pictured. Does it look like we owe $11.35? I admit I thought maybe they comped us some things because of the bad experience. Nope! Again, if you were a regular you would know that the “Amount” box means time ordered.

In the grand scheme of things this sub par experience is trivial but since Granny D’s is so popular I think it’s worth discussing.

Thanks Maggie!

Located around the lake, the church is on a pleasant hill with a winding, wooded driveway. It’s a modest group of one story buildings, mostly white with metal roofs. So I felt right at home! The pews are comfy padded individual chairs with book holders underneath, so you get your hymnal and other stuff from under the seat in front of you. About every other seat has a holder with pencils and brochures etc. No I was not carefully studying this because I was bored.

We were a couple minutes late so we quietly slunk in and immediately sat in the first spot available. Then a church service program magically appeared from a kind man behind us. There were 4 hymns and several readings. The main reader was a tall guy with a handlebar mustache and a strong Texas accent. The reverend is new to the church; in fact his welcoming ceremony is this afternoon. He had that cute hair that’s styled into a little peak in front, and had a stylish bow tie as well as the scarf thing  that reverends wear.

He spoke about God and such. He opened with a funny joke, even funnier than my squirrel joke. He was humble and charming and brief. Well mostly brief.

I liked the church but not because of any of these details. My reason for wanting to go there is they have actively supported a mental health center for Canyon Lake. Not just money—they are housing the center in their spare room. And they don’t have any spare room!  So on weekdays the church is the Canyon Lake Mental Health clinic.

Before the service today, a group met for a continuing ed class about racism. The reference used is a book called “Anxious to Talk About It—Helping White Christians Talk Faithfully About Racism”. Also I forgot to mention there is a lovely chime choir AND a professional opera singer lifted her voice during one of the hymns. She was just in the congregation and Boom, everything changed.