Cinqo de Mayo!

Happy Fiesta! What a mixed bag of weather we have had this weekend. Oh my. Rainy. Warm. Sunny. And finally. Cold. Windy. And rainy, again. 

Our very own Market Street Festival was dampened but not rained out. So sorry that Friday night was a wash. Yesterday it was pretty fabulous, though. 

***

Sister, Mimi, drove up on Thursday. Mr. Macho arrived home from his business trip about 30 minutes before she arrived. We were so happy she came up. She and I had planned this mission and adventure for a few weeks. And. It was fun. I am still glowing. 

My new gurgle pitcher. Compliments of the ultimate guest = Mimi. Thank you! You should hear this thing! 

***

Mimi is a first-time-grandmother-in-waiting. Baby due middle of June. Our job this weekend was a search and rescue. The search was for an antique rocker. There was no rescue. It just sounded good with "search". 

Friday dawned and the rain held off until the afternoon. We got in some exercise then showered, dressed and headed for town. Streets were already being closed off for our city festival. But we were able to park and walk. We perused two shops with no real finds. We made a quick visit to our welcome center that is an old house and Tennessee Williams' birthplace. Then we met sister, Paulette, at a new-to-me Thai restaurant. Though they have been open for about a year, it was the first I had heard of it. It was good. Food was well done and full of different flavors. The atmosphere also gets a thumbs up.

Paulette headed back to work after our repast and we headed to Belk's. And each found a few items that we thought we needed.

Second round of antique looking brought one definite maybe. Good structure. Needed re-upholstry. We had to think on it. No purchase. We decided it was five o'clock somewhere and headed home to porch sit and sip our beverage of choice. 

Sun burned off the fog and chill fairly early Saturday morning. We headed to a neighboring town to check their wares. We found one and two stores before lunch. We thought we found THE chair. 

When we saw it we both did a quick air intake. Mimi sat in it and saw her future grandchild in her arms. Tears sprang to her eyes. Then, sadly, we examined the chair and found it wanting. There were cracks in both rungs and other structural flaws that made it un-buyable. It broke our hearts. It was a lovely chair to look at. But, alas, it wasn't meant to be. 

We moved on. We took in some lunch at the Ritz Cafe. And enjoyed every bite. Tomato basil soup, a wedge of lettuce salad, a cranberry chicken salad. Yum. 

Back to our mission. Only this time Mimi said, "Let us just enjoy looking and not worry about finding the rocker." When we walked into the next store we recognized some women that we had crossed paths with at earlier stores. And one was at the counter paying for a rocker that looked just like what we wanted! We struck up a conversation and found all kinds of connections with the woman. She was even married to the son of some good friends of our parents. Small world. She was on the same shopping mission as we were = "new grand baby on the way necessitated antique rocking chair" mission. We soldiered on in this new store. We saw old stuff. Vintage stuff. Junque stuff. Rockers. We sat in them. Some we didn't give a second look. Ugly. Wicker. Upholstered. Solid wood. Bad fabric. And then. There it was. A little Victorian walnut with caned bottom and back. We touched it. She sat. It fit. We turned it over. We check for flaws and cracks. She sat some more. She declared this rocker "The One". And we were happy. And it was on sale. 20% off. Ahh, success (insert satisfied smile here). 

It was such a good day. On our way back into town we stopped by the Market Street Festival and enjoyed looking around, mostly at the other people, ran into Paulette, then headed home. Totally warmed by our shopping prowess and full of ourselves for holding out just long enough. 

We came home to more good beverage and we tag-teamed a fiesta meal. 

It was so good having Mimi here. I totally enjoyed the weekend. 

I miss you already, Mimi. Come back soon. Please.