Seeing Bootsie

Like clockwork, I was out of bed by 715am and fairly promptly out in the family room with David & Anita. It was cloudy and warm – already in the low 70s with widely scattered showers forecasted for the day. I enjoyed a cup of coffee and conversation before heading out on a run. Mindy joined us sooner than I thought she might. It had to be somewhere close to 8am. David checked the local radar a couple of times advising that while there was a little rain nearby, nothing too substantial.

David asked if I’d make the trip into Winsboro with him to help him pack his mom’s car for Florida move. Sure, but after my run. Thinking it was near 815am when I headed out. Decided to run south. Thinking I got about a mile out when it started to rain. Unfortunately, the rain was accompanied by a little bit of lightning and thunder which left me more than a tad nervous. Thankfully just a couple strikes of lightning. The rain, however, got much, much heavier. Not only was it was raining hard, but giant drops too. Didn’t let up at all. In fact, if anything, it intensified.

Felt good once the house was in sight. David was waiting in the garage with a beach towel. Thanks David! We laughed it off. I took just a few minutes to get out of my wet running clothes and into street clothes for the drive into Winsboro. I opted to wear what I wore the day before driving in. We left the house near 930am. I asked Mindy if she’d mind putting my soaking wet running clothes in the dryer.

All back country roads into Winsboro, and at times driving at a high rate of speed which made me extremely uncomfortable. I eventually asked David to slow down. At one point we were going 77mph on the twisting turning tow lane road. Yikes! The drive took us through the little town of Ridgeway, which is literally a one traffic light town about 9 miles from Winsboro. Having lived in Winsboro for a number of years before moving to the lake house, David showed me the town before heading to his mother’s condo. Not only did he live in town for a while, but he spent many of summers there visiting family when he was young. His father’s family grew up there.

According to David, Winsboro’s economy is dying. The local mill/plant has long since closed and there’s nothing new or nearby to feed the labor market. Sad! The effects were quite evident. Showed not only his old house but also the one his father grew up in, which I later learned is now owned and occupied by his brother, Terry.

Bootsie’s condo is situated seemingly on the edge of town and in a lovely wooded setting. Certainly nicer than most of the old housing. Bootsie’s plan was to move back to Pompano, Florida. And to accomplish the feat, two of her pals drove up to caravan back down with her. I should probably mention that she’s 85 and soon to be 86. The gentlemen that drove up looked even older.

David and I were to help load the some essentials into the small SUV, enough to get Bootsie going. David would then coordinate a moving truck with the rest of her stuff after a week or so. I hadn’t seen Bootsie for perhaps and many as 35 years. Wow, I can hardly believe it but it’s true! Anyway Bootsie looks great. I gave her a big hug. And she was most pleasant. We loaded both of her flat panel TVs into the SUV and then maybe 6 or 7 boxes, but not much more. David reminded her more than once to only take essentials. She, Gordon, and the other fella planned on sticking around Winsboro one more night and then leaving for Florida early Sunday morning. Gordon gave David a bag full of Florida mangos before we left. I’m thinking we were there no more than 45 minutes. We wished all three safe travels.

David and I made a couple more stops in town, one at the local True Value hardware store where David maintains and old fashioned account held only by his good name. There he picked up a spare condo key for his mom as well as a few tomato cages for Anita. From there we ventured down the road to the local Walmart where we picked up a few food items on Anita’s list. Back to the lake!

Happily, the cloudy skies were breaking up as we made our way back to the lake house, and by the time we got there it was completely sunny. I should mention that several enormous magnolia trees caught my eye on the drive to and from Winsboro. Gorgeous! The girls were sitting casually down by the lake. David and I quickly changed into lake wear, but before hitting the water we enjoyed some lunch. Until then I’d eaten nothing all day. I was ravenously hungry. Mindy warmed my leftovers from the Retreat – beef tips and grits. Yum!! Delicious!

Stocked the cooler then headed out to the dock and pontoon. David offered to head out on the lake, but both Mindy and I shared that we were happy to simply hang out on the dock, getting in and out of the water as we pleased. David and Anita were game for that too. Simple, fun, and relaxing.

We hung out on the dock, in the lake, and on the pontoon for 4 hours or more. Mindy made sure to lather me in spf 15 which served me well – no sunburn. Sipped beers and Jack all afternoon while enjoying tunes from our phones and jambox. Nice time! Headed in for dinner around 6pm, best guess. David whipped up a crawl fish boil in no time. He had a big bag of crawl fish, corn coblets and taters flown in from New Orleans.
Despite David’s insistence that the proper way to eat a crawl fish is to twist the fish at its neck, remove the head, then suck down the head’s contents before eating the meatier body. But neither me or Mindy could do it. However, what we ate was indeed good.

After dinner all four of us played cornhole. David got a little agitated when we beat them by a large margin in the first game. Didn’t matter a hill of beans to me. I was simply enjoying hanging out. They came back and won the second game then we called it quits – no rubber game.

Partied a bit more as the sun went down, eventually heading in and agreeing to watch a movie – Gravity. I was eager for Mindy to see it for the first time. Having seen the movie a couple of times, Anita was off to bed at the outset. And five minutes into the movie David was asleep. But I can’t be one to talk. I fell asleep too, but not until about halfway through, once the lovely Sandra Bullock made it to the Japanese space vehicle. I woke just in time to catch the final 5-10 minutes with Mindy.

Shut down the house and headed to bed.