Sib Reunion: Sunday Rituals

Whenever the sibs get together, they attend worship together, often at the church of the host and hostess. This year, we were all Baptists, at least for an hour on Sunday morning. Carol and Walt have belonged to Plymouth Park Baptist Church since 1961. It's a large congregation with a multi-million dollar budget, several choirs, a band, and many outreach ministries in the community. Although called a traditional service, this one had lots of praise music in addition to more traditional hymns.

Walt was still sticking close to home, but eight of us ventured out to a Mexican restaurant called El Fenix for lunch. The decor reminded us of the early southwestern missions. And the food was delicious. Food is the second Sunday ritual, after church.

The third Sunday ritual is the Group Picture. The sibs are fairly easy to corral for their photo. Norm, Larry and Don stood watch over Harold, Walt and Maxine. The shade helped, since it was 98 degrees outside.

To take the full group picture, Harold uses a tripod and a delayed shutter. This year, the tripod and the camera were both new. Don also wanted to try out his. It always takes a little fiddling to get the equipment to work.

While the pros adjusted the tripod, I got a group shot of my own... except I'm not in it. Harold will send us the complete photo after he gets some prints made.

Of course, at this ritual, everyone has a digital camera so all can participate.




All that hot work outside calls for something cool to eat, an afternoon snack of watermelon.












Do we eat all the time at reunions? Well that's a silly question. In Irving, the perfect close for a reunion is a Sunday evening pilgrimage to Braum's for ice cream. (We also go to Braum's in Colby, now, and in St. Louis we went to the Whistle Stop. Back when mom and dad were living, we would just raid their deep freeze.) Time enough to diet after everyone gets home.

And I think everyone is home. This evening there were visits to this blog from Colby, Garden City, and Irving. So we hope you all had a good trip. Maxine reports (via Carol) that Roy had his knee replacement surgery just after noon and was sitting up and eating supper. That's always a good sign!