Juries and musicians

Sunday was Holy Communion Sunday.  We had only 24 attending but were happy worshippers.  God’s message was about how tomorrow, Epiphany is more important to us Gentiles than is Christmas Day.  I also learned that there were only 21 last week.  Perhaps the cold has kept some at home.  We are all old geezers, you know.  We came home to enjoy some jambalaya that Evelyn had made yesterday.  We relaxed during the afternoon, and then Bonny and Joe brought some ham for our supper.  We had gone to HEB to buy potato salad and cole slaw as sides.  Joe gets gifts from various towns that he does engineering work in throughout the Valley, and the ham was one of them.  We then played Hand and Foot until 10.  Evelyn was angry with me for letting it go so long into the evening.  I had begun to repack the cards when Bonny said just one more round.  That is all we had to go anyway.  I was chewed out anyway—probably justly.

Monday we were up and off to Edinburg, the county seat of Hidalgo County.  She had been summoned to jury duty, and I encouraged her to go to hear the pre-jury selection talk by a local judge.  I was able to go into the large auditorium despite having no summons and heard the filmed presentation about the importance of serving on a jury.  It is one of the things that makes this great country have a more equal court system than most other countries.  Of course there is corruption in the system (see the total depravity of man), but we citizens still have the right to be judged by a jury of our peers.  The room was full, so I had to stand in the back for a while.  There is a provision for some to avoid serving on the jury and age is one of them.  Evelyn decided to exercise her right to decline due to age.  I was a bit disappointed because she chose to leave before the judge came to explain the court system in Hidalgo County.  Instead we went to the tax office to pay our real estate tax.  We could have done it in Weslaco but were there.  Evelyn is hostess for a meeting of church women called Mary/Martha at the end of the month and will talk about our trip to Israel, especially Bethlehem.  Therefore she wanted to go to a restaurant in McAllen that might have access to Mediterranean food.  We went there but it was closed.  So back we went to Edinburg for lunch.  I had a coupon for a pizza place.  We had a minimum requirement and met it by ordering a pizza for lunch and one to carry out.  It was cold all day as was I since I only wore my heavy Purdue sweatshirt but took no coat.  Someday I may become smart.  We drove home and had John and Sue come for dominoes.  They had begun a diet that day and wanted no dinner, snacks nor beer.  We played and Evelyn finished 3rd.  Of course John and Sue have played many days for years and know how to win.  I nearly always finish last because of poor technique.  I was able to continue my streak. 

Tuesday I took items to recycle and bought some breakfast tacos for Don and me.  He came from Rio Hondo to pay for the Bose radio that I had bought on line for him before Christmas.  He brought $650 cash.  We talked for awhile before he left for Edinburg to pick up a branding iron he had ordered.   I worked on emails until lunch.  Evelyn had a therapy session at 1:15 but didn’t return home until 3.  She deposited the money Don brought in the bank.  She rested until 4:30 when she dressed for the concert tonight.  Joe and Bonny picked us up at 5 and drove to McAllen for dinner.  I had 2 coupons for Lansky and Brats, a very upscale restaurant.  We shared our coupons because the establishment allowed us to each use one for our meals.  On top of that they didn’t have a plate charge for sharing a meal.  The 4 of us shared 2 meals that were delicious and expensive.  Our bill was over $46 including the $25 discount from the coupon.  We went to the concert to listen to the DePue Brothers band.  They were all strings except for the percussionist.  They were entertaining.