Fatale Abstraction

Wow.

Saturday, Ambulance Driver was in my neck of the woods for EMStock, so I sashayed down to Ellis County and checked out his comedy routine with his charming partner (who smokes great-smelling cigars). No sensibilities were left unoffended, btw. We laughed and laughed. I was delighted when AD introduced me to the clever TOTWTYTR from Too Old to Work Too Young to Retire and also AD's comedy partner who is just such a lovely, cultured man that one has to wonder how he and AD ever managed to collaborate.

The act was really funny on a couple levels, because there was a lot of tech-speak, and I am not a trained EMT or fire rescue person, so the terminology was a little, well, uh, I felt like a housepet being talked to by a human. Lost in translation: if the flibbledy-brip goes kerbang, you may want to extibulate the feminine artery*. Yeah. I didn't get it either.

To my surprise and delight, LawDog also had come down to check out the festivities. After the floor show I cajoled he and AD to join me for a spot of supper over at 1879 Cafe on the square in Waxahachie just across the street from the 1895 county courthouse.

Side note - if you're not accustomed to driving around with LEO- and EMT-types as passengers, there's just a wee bit of pressure you feel when acting as their chauffeur. If LD was appalled and terrified by my driving, he very graciously kept it from me. AD did at one point make the pithy remark that being in the back seat, LD and I would catch the disastrous results of my driving more severely than he would. Thanks AD. *wink*

[these are photos I took in November 2006, btw]

Legend has it that among the battery of stone carvers who worked on the Courthouse, one young man fell in lust at the daughter of the owner of the boarding house at which he stayed in Waxahachie. He was rebuffed, and legend went on to say he carved rude representations of the female anatomy into the structure as an act of effrontery. Of my scores of visits to Waxahachie and the courthouse, I never saw the alleged lady bits until we visited the courthouse Saturday night. Wouldn't you know it that it would be evident in mixed company, and such distinguished company, at that. Waxahachie Sutra. *much throat clearing* We were chatting as we approached about the legend, and I pointed to one thing and said "could that be it?" and LD and AD both said "uh, yeah, that's it," and then I went around to the other side of the column and I said "uh, actually, I think this is the one," and they agreed vociferously. Actually, the two sides of the column could be interpreted as two separate perspectives on the same, uh, anatomical occurrence. Yeah, so, wow. Uh, interesting to finally see that.

The courthouse is constructed of gray and red granite from central Texas, and the high relief carvings are rendered in red sandstone from the Pecos area of West Texas. This is a spectacular structure, and it was fun to see it through new eyes in the company of such interesting folks!

We drove down the highway a bit and stopped in a little town with a few Victorian structures and stopped to look at a nice town monument memorializing the local school (now gone from the grounds) which opened in 1914. We said how nice it was that a community remembered and celebrated such landmark events.

Lots of stories were told, yes, things unbloggable. LawDog even told one story he said would never be repeated beyond the confines of my car, and I'll never tell. If you can imagine, AD is incredibly quick-witted and wry in person as he is on the page. Good times.

Yup, ladies: envy me.

*not their actual words. I'm going on memory here, people, and I'm not the medical type.