The Turner Family

At least 14 inches in 18 hours and still coming down! Spring can't come soon enough in Traverse City and there's nothing in the forecast that says it's going to warm up and all melt away. Glen has already cleaned out the driveway twice. (He says if he's not driving a truck, he'd just as soon be driving the snowblower) Our bird feeder looks like a wedding cake. Heavy, wet snow on trees. Neighbor across the street struggles with his driveway. The pink flamingos in the yard behind us wish they were back in Florida!

This past weekend, I had the good fortune (and good sense) to go to Traverse City for the ceremony to induct Cynthia into the Traverse City Bowling Hall of Fame... Of course, before you can be awarded...you have to bowl. I got to see Cyn and Glen in action with one of their regular (and favorite) groups on Friday night. Glen, his cousins Frank (Sonny) and Al with Connie and of course, Cynthia. The inductee! Everyone wanted their picture with the hall of famer! Two very handsome photos of Cyn and Glen... Cyn and fellow 2011 inductee More family photos.... Devyn, Jamie, Dennis and Cyn me and cyn (family resemblance?) the evening had a fantastic Elvis tribute singer during dinner (and a ventriloquist !! after dinner) wow. Yooperman joined us for breakfast the next day.. Thanks, Cyn for a great reason to come up to your city! It was wonderful to see how loved and respected you are by the whole bowling community...I am not at all surprised!

We took our mid-afternoon meal today at Johnson's Boucaniere in Lafayette. (We have a tendancy to eat two meals a day when we are on the road, one early, and one mid-afternoon or later.) Johnson's is a small walk-in place in an older home, situated in a nice old neighborhood. There are no tables inside, but the porch on the north side of the house has tables that could seat at least 30. That's where we feasted. They offer mostly cajun and smoked foods. They had several specials  today, including a pulled pork sandwich (Kay) and smoked pork ribs with corn bread (Bil). Everyday they prepare boudin, a cajun sausage (Bil). Boudin is a sausage made from pork, rice, onions and spices. I have had it twice before, and it's growing on me. The skin has always seemed to be like very thin leather, but steaming hot - it is inedible. The filling is ground very fine, and after cooking is like a very thick paste - actually as I write this, I ...

This past weekend, we took our Sunday evening meal at Black's Barbecue, in Lockhart, Texas. Many people view Lockhart, east of San Antonio, as the epicenter of great smoked meats in Texas. Lockhart, a town of only 12,000, is home to three restaurants that consistently rank in the top 20 in Texas, and there are at least 6 more great places within a 40 mile radius of Lockhart. The three in Lockhart are Smitty's, Kreuz's and Black's. Black's Barbecue opened in 1932 and has been operated by the Black family since that date. It's an old building, inside and out, and is decorated with many photos of local sports teams and visiting dignitaries. There was a signed photo of Lyndon Johnson with some members of the Black family near our booth. Johnson grew up about 60 miles west of Lockhart. In this barbecue house, diners pass down a short cafeteria line, choosing their side dishes, then into the meat room. All meat is cut to the order of the diner. We order...

That little girl Devyn turned 16 on Wednesday. Back when she was about 10, she developed quite a taste for lobster and ever since, we have celebrated her birthday with a family dinner at the Red Lobster. So there we went again. Dennis got her the bouquet: 15 pink roses (her favorite color) and the 16th, a yellow rose in the center of the bouquet to represent the first Man in her life, her maternal grandfather who passed away when she was very young. She was quite emotional, of course. Another family tradition at Devyn's birthday. She gets her own can of "shootin' cream" to eat as she chooses. So here she is chugging some.