Fredericksburg and Meeting Joe and Nellie

Yesterday we decided to go to Fredericksburg ,which is about 25 miles north of Kerrville. In the late afternoon, after I had been working on stained glass crosses, we drove up there, quickly found a parking place, and walked to the nearby convention/park to enjoy Octoberfest. We paid our admission and learned that the event opened at 6 pm. So we turned around and walked down main street, which is a large tourist attraction with many shops full of stuff to buy. We managed to buy only one thing, which was a rack which could hold a large piece of stained glass such as a fireplace screen, since we thought it might be useful at the show in November. I kept saying to HW2 that we needed to find a pub because Digger needed a beer (Octoberfest, you know). When we crossed the street we saw a brew pub and naturally went in, only to find that many of the other folks on the street had the same idea, and the place was very full.

HW2 spotted a table near the bar that had a couple of empty chairs and asked the couple there if the chairs were taken and could we sit there. They kindly invited us to join them, and I went in search for two beers. When I returned I found HW2 enjoying their company and at some point in the conversation, we formally met Nellie and Joe, from Socorro, NM. Now imagine, since we had lived in NM for many years, finding fellow New Mexicans, in a brew pub in Texas. Joe had worked for many years at White Sands and had been at a demonstration that our son worked on when he was 'making better bombs.' It was quite a powerful explosion and intimidating, since it was nearly like an atom bomb explosion, but from fertilizer and oil, as is used in some truck bombs. Joe and Nellie have been married for 54 years and have four kids, one of whom is a medical doctor, and the two of them have just built a new house on a hillside and are taking a break from cement work around the house. They are on their way in their motor home, vacationing, and then going to see another kid who raises pecans near San Antonio. The conversation never lagged, and it quickly became time to go to Octoberfest. Our Christmas list is getting longer, I think. We wondered when we parked the car who we would see that we know, and, instead, made new friends. Cin, cin!