Hot time in the old town

Emerged from turkey-induced inertia to a restlessness this afternoon. There had to be a way to scratch this itch without going to the mall. My sons were all doing a late Thanksgiving at their dad's. The sun was shining, so I hit the open road up to the county seat, McKinney, Texas.

McKinney is a lovely old town with hills and many historic homes, unlike my city of Plano. The town started in 1841. I walked around the old courthouse square, as opposed to the new and already-outdated courthouse where I got my divorce. I'm kind of fond of both!

It was McKinney's annual Dickens of a Christmas tree-lighting festival, but I didn't even need a jacket. In fact, I walked around eating a butter pecan ice cream cone. Bet I haven't eaten an ice cream cone in ten years! Popped in and out of some cute antique stores, but I'm not really a cute antique mama. Got into a narrow aisle gridlock with a platoon of Red Hat ladies in one shop, and nearly swooneded from extended exposure to potpourri fumes.

Driving around looking at old Victorian and Queen Anne homes is my favorite thing about McKinney, divorce aside. McKinney's not big enough to get really lost, so I just wander. Tonight I finally found this historic neighborhood driving guide too late.

In my occasional fantasy of owning a very small older home, it is always a frame house with a front porch. I've imagined it being painted yellow with black and white trim for at least thirty years. The porch floor is light gray, of course, but lately I've been seeing the porch ceiling painted a sunset coral. The back porch off the kitchen should be screened. After cooking a big Thanksgiving dinner, the cook should be able to sit out there in a green metal lawn chair to cool off, protected from the late November Texas mosquitos and moths.