I had a terrific day with my daughter’s family yesterday. Didn’t worry about making a wordcount. Didn’t itch to get to my computer. I headed to Hot Springs with my camera and a credit card.

My SIL, his mom, the red-headed hellion, the 5-year-old, and 1-year-old were all loaded up, and we headed first to downtown Hot Springs. Parking was tough to find because it was a beautiful sunny day with a nice breeze and EVERYONE headed to the strip.

We started at Bubbalu’s for hot dogs and hamburgers. A woman came up to ooh and ah over the baby. The baby gave her a scowl. “She must be shy,” the woman said. SIL said, “No, ma’am, she’s just mean.” And that’s the truth. Little Girl doesn’t have a shy bone in her body, but she has a temper and she did not want to stay in her stroller.

We stopped in at several little specialty shops, the 5-year-old and I bought matching shiny pink scarfs to wrap around our necks and blingy necklaces. The girl-child got stopped several times to be told how beautiful and “fashionable” she was. The same folks chuckled at me as they passed. This was the girl-child’s last day of Spring Break, and we’d told her it was her special day. She kept remarking on how great it was that everyone showed up to help her celebrate.

While we were walking, I passed a family with this dog and had to stop them to get a picture. Don’t you know there’s a story somewhere in that picture?

The shopping was nice. Stopped in Tillman’s which is an estate sale store and saw some amazing pieces. Faberge eggs, jewelry from The French Quarter that dated back to the late 1800’s. So much bling I thought I’d died and gone to heavan. I forgot to ask if they had lay-away… But never mind. Daughter and I are already plotting our next trip there—just have to save a bit to get something special!

Girl-child’s wish was to go to the petting zoo, so off we traipsed. This is us in the goat cage, feeding bread to the goats. It’s the only shot you’ll see of me, because after I saw what the wind did to my hair that was over!

The highlight of course was the alligator house. They keep them inside in winter and the gators huddle under heat lamps in the pools. Being so close, with only a 4-foot fence surrounded by chicken wire, didn’t make me feel very safe. I know they can jump that height and that chicken wire isn’t enough to hold them back if they do attack, but they looked very well-fed and lethargic.

Thought this pic, taken without a flash, looked especially creepy.

Just another shot. Holding my arm over that 4-foot fence while I took pictures and staring down at them was mesmerizing.

These are 4-feet-long babies.

This is the fella I felt sorry for. Don’t get me wrong. Every animal there looked very healthy and well-fed, but you know this guy couldn’t be happy in such a small enclosure.

After a long day, and a coffee with the hellion before I headed home, a storm pushed me out the door. Here’s proof you never want to be on the road at the same time I am. I took these through my windshield, in between swipes of the wiper blades.

So, onto the report…

I finished a chapter and a half of the big book. Not terrific progress, but I’m on the home stretch. I took time for some more cleanup and sent it onto a friend to nitpick it to death.

Bad, Bad Girlfriend released! Thanks to everyone who took the time to let me know how much they enjoyed the story!

This next week is the final crunch week. I want to be close to finished with the draft and I have to finish the next installment of the free read. So, I won’t be going anywhere for a while.