Sometimes you need to go on an adventure.

This past Wednesday, i had a rare opportunity to meet up with a friend who lives far away so i don't see her often.

Every autumn, a group of us who met on a website try to meet up together on what i call my yearly sanity retreat.  Script is one of the members of the group, but she hasn't always been able to get together with us.

When i found out she and her husband were going to be in Natchez, which is less than two hours from here, i had to try to get to see her.  Natchez is a lot closer than Toronto.

Wednesday morning i went to the cat shelter for my usual cat duty, then plugged in Carmen the Garmin for the drive up.  It's a four lane highway, but not an interstate, so the drive took me through small towns and past cow pastures and farms.

Those occasions when i travel and it's not on an interstate, i'm a stickler for staying at the speed limit.  This proved to be a very good thing, as it seems there are many small towns where the officers spend most of their time simply running speed traps.  It helps to slow down as you approach a town even before you see what speed limit they set.

Arriving in Natchez at 11am, i found Script and Mr. Script, whom i'd never met, in the lobby of the hotel waiting for me.  There were lots of hugs, and Mr. Script left to give us time to talk and catch up.

We did catch up a lot.  She showed me tons of pictures and told me about family doings.  Cruises, trips, events at her mother's senior residence, the best wedding anyone in the family had ever thrown (as she put it, when two gay men who both have taste and a bit of money put on a wedding, it's going to be a doozy!).  We talked about all the crazy things my kids are up to.

Script had made a reservation at a locally owned restaurant for our lunch, and as she and Mr. Script had eaten there before, the staff greeted her by name and said how glad they were she had come back.  The whole time we ate and talked locals were coming in and being greeted by name.  Yes, such places still exist.

The plan after lunch was to walk and perhaps see one of the beautiful homes for which Natchez is famous.  There was a specific one that is famous for its garden, and though the house was closed with no tours offered that day, the owner, as he was leaving, said we could take a peek in the garden.

We peeked for about 10-15 minutes, with Script snapping her beautiful pictures with her proper camera (she's an artist), and i took a few with my phone, because no matter what i use they mostly all turn out alike anyway.

Camelias were everywhere, with the prettiest always just out of reach.

Wisteria makes even the mundane lovely.

Fallen petals make a beautiful carpet!

This azalea hedge was so long, i couldn't get it all in.  At least 10 different colors of azaleas!

Another place we stopped was the cathedral.  Inside was grand and lovely, but the best thing i saw in there was a card that looked similar to this:

Every church needs these!

There was a prayer garden outside.  It looked like a beautiful place to sit and meditate, except at that moment when there was tree trimming going on at one side.  As Script did point out, that maintenance is part of working for the Lord, too.

Part of the prayer garden.  Tree trimming was too the right, next to the parking area.

After walking back to the car and then driving back to her hotel, we went up to find Mr. Script in the room.  It was nice to visit there a while as i drank some tea, then they walked me out to the car and i got back in town just in time to meet Sweetie at church for his choir practice.

Such a lovely day as i will remember for a long time.

Today is:

Daylight Saving Time begins -- Palestinian Territories

Day to Mourn Victims of Biological Weapons -- commemorates the day they were outlawed in 1975

Edinburgh International Science Festival -- Edinburgh, Scotland (massiver celebration of science and technology; through Apr. 10)

End of Zimbor-Quattor's Revenge Week and Day of Reconcilliation with All Those Whose Hats Have Been Damaged -- Fairy Calendar

Fiesta del Arbol -- Spain (Tree Festival or Arbor Day)

Holy Saturday -- Christian (a/k/a Black Saturday, Holy Saturday, Easter Saturday, or Easter Eve)

Independence Day and National Day -- Bangladesh(1971)

Khordad Sal -- Zoroastrian (Birth of the Prophet Zaranhushtra)

Legal Assistants' Day

Make Up Your Own Holiday Day -- Wellcat Holidays, which has made up a bunch, wants you to do the same today!

Martyr's Day / Democracy Day -- Mali

National Nougat Day

Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianole Day -- Hawaii, US (Hawaiian Royal who worked to preserve the Hawaiian culture)

Purple Day -- International (supporting epileptics around the world)

Spinach Day -- on this day in 1937, spinach growers in Crystal City, Texas, erected a statue of Popeye in honor of their favorite veggie

St. Braulio's Day (Patron of Aragon, Spain)

St. William of Norwich's Day (Patron of kidnap and torture victims)

Synaxis of the Archangel Gabriel -- Eastern Orthodox Christianity (celebration of his role is the Annunciation)


Anniversaries Today:

Ricki Lake weds Rob Sussman, 1994
Founding of the University of Utrecht, 1636


Birthdays Today:

Keira Knightley, 1985
Amy Smart, 1976
T.R. Knight, 1973
Josh Lucas, 1972
Leslie Mann, 1972
Kenny Chesney, 1968
John Stockton, 1962
Marcus Allen, 1960
Jennifer Grey, 1960
Catherine Keener, 1960
Leeza Gibbons, 1957
Curtis Sliwa, 1954
Teddy Pendergrass, 1950
Martin Short, 1950
Vicki Lawrence, 1949
Steven Tyler, 1948
Diana Ross, 1944
Bob Woodward, 1943
Erica Jong, 1942
James Caan, 1939
Alan Arkin, 1934
Leonard Nimoy, 1931
Sandra Day O'Connor, 1930
Pierre Boulez, 1925
Tennessee Williams, 1911
Viktor Frankl, 1905
Robert Frost, 1874
Jane Arminda Delano, 1862
Nathaniel Bowditch, 1773


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Fences"(Play), 1988
"The Young and the Restless"(TV), 1973
"Cannon"(TV), 1971
"Funny Girl"(Musical), 1964
"Die Ehe des Herrn Mississippi/The Marriage of Mr. Mississippi"(Play), 1952


Today in History:

William Caxton prints his translation of Aesop's Fables, 1484
The first British Sunday newspaper is published (British Gazette & Sunday Monitor), 1780
The US Congress orders removal of Indians east of Mississippi to Louisiana, 1804
An earthquake destroys 90% of Caracas, Venezuela, leaves 20,000 dead, 1812
The Book of Mormon is published in Palmyra, NY, 1830
Eastman Film Co manufactures the first commercial motion picture film, 1885
New Delhi replaces Calcutta as capital of British-Indies, 1931
William H. Hastie becomes the first black Federal Judge in the US, in the US Virgin Islands, 1937
Jonas Salk announces the first successful test of his polio vaccine on a small group of adults and children, 1953
East Pakistan declares its independence from Pakistan to form People's Republic of Bangladesh, 1971
Anwar al-Sadat, Menachem Begin and Jimmy Carter sign the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty in Washington, D.C., 1979
The "Melissa worm" infects Microsoft word processing and e-mail systems around the world, 1999
A jury in Michigan finds Dr. Jack Kevorkian guilty of second-degree murder for administering a lethal injection to a terminally ill man, 1999
The Taiwanese government calls on 1 million Taiwanese to demonstrate in Taipei, in opposition to the Anti-Secession Law of the People's Republic of China, 2005