The Foulkes in Cary, North Carolina

What a delicious weekend Mary Kay and I had: Movies, food, more food and more movies, and lovely long and meandering talks down Memory Lane. I arrived Friday night, having driven without air conditioning from Simpsonville, SC. Because of the heat, I think, I have not much memory of Friday night-- only that it took me a long time to unbend from the driver's seat. But I do recall a road adventure about an hour out from Cary.
Please, if you have not already found out the hard way, take my word for it: Taco Bell is not road food. I should have taken a cue from the woman who handed me the bag at the drive-thru window with a solicitous "Drive safely." A double-dip ice cream cone, with 90-degree temps and no air conditioning, would be far more manageable road food than a burrito. And never ever attempt driving while eating tacos-- hard or soft.
But I made it the last hour without mishap (Thank you, Guardian Angel). By the time I pulled into Mary Kay and Ken's driveway, I was near faint from the heat and weak from battling a burrito. So I don't feel the weekend started for me until Saturday morning.
Before moving into the day, Ken cleaned up a few things in the kitchen. Then he went to the grocery store while Mary Kay and I brunched at Bojangle's.
They have two of the sweetest dogs, Porkchop (aka Debbie) and Connelly, a must-be Irish fella with very red hair.
Dinner Saturday night was at On The Border (OTB), and we were joined by their daughter, Meghan, and her husband, Zack. Great dinner-- mojitos and margaritas, tamales, enchiladas, chopped salad, and I don't know what-all we had, but everything was very good and the service was great.

Back at the Foulke ranch, we watched two movies that night: The 300, and Everything Is Illuminated. Both were good, though The 300 had too much computer enhancement in my opinion. But I allow that computer animation greatly reduces the cost of special effects in many instances.
Everything is Illuminated I loved for its perception of time in this regard: The past travels alongside the present. And when Alex's grandfather took his own life, Alex philosophically comments, "Perhaps he wanted to end his present along with his past." I have never read Einstein's theories of Time, But I have read Alan Lightman's Einstein's Dreams, a very different novel employing various theories and how they might play out. For all the various theories of time, known and as yet unknown, the concept of an individual's past keeping up to the nanosecond with his present -- thus uniting personal experience and "time" -- explains for me why one can never undo anything that has been done. Why it is always necessary to try to do the right thing.

At one point, the three of us went to Barnes & Noble, but I don't recall if it was Saturday or Sunday. All I know is that we went between meals and movies.

Sunday brunch was at Golden Corral. My-oh-my. Last time I was there was the same one a year or so ago when my kids made a family week at the Outer Banks (see post further below). That time, Mary Kay and Ken treated. Seemed the very least I could do is reciprocate. If I ever decide I want to weigh 400 pounds, I will move closer to a Golden Corral. But once a year seems reasonable, and I was glad to hear that they, also, had not been to GC since spring 2008.
Sunday afternoon we watched Flawless. Michael Caine is eminently watchable, and Demi Moore probably did her best with the script, which was NOT flawless. That evening she and I watched four hours worth of The Stand (Stephen King). It's a 6-hour movie. Mary Kay would have rathered stop after the first 20 minutes, but 1) I wasn't giving up until after I've seen Ossie Davis, and 2) I was rather enjoying the variety of characters in this thing, some actual acting performances and some mere line-readers. Rob Lowe, of course, is very good. But I agreed to throw in the towel with only 2 hours left to go, mostly because it had become 1:00 A.M.

Monday morning Ken had gone to work by the time I woke up, so after gathering my things, Mary Kay and I went to -- Tah DAHHH -- Bojangle's. That repast marked the end of our visit, and perhaps the beginning of another near 50 years of friendship.