Bertram - Home to the Oatmeal Festival and perhaps to a Brit or two also?

It may not have escaped your attention that sometimes I get a bit homesick! Saturdays are notoriously bad for homesickness because even though you are still busy, the usual frenetic crazy routine of the week is gone and there is a bit of room to remember that your nearest and dearest are a long way away and that you are not in your home town doing home town things.

I think today I had a bit of a break through in this regard!!

For anybody who doesn't know, Bertram is a very small rural Texas town. We proudly boast 1122 people on the city limits sign and I'm not altogether sure that I have yet found the one horse...

However, a family trip to Bertram today gave me the warm fuzzy feeling that I might be beginning to belong here! We managed to occupy a whole morning in this town and spend only the princely sum of $11 - not including our delicious breakfast at El Rancho :)

Children 1, 2 and 3 expressed the desire to walk along Main Street and go into the Feed Store to pet the chicks that were advertised as being for sale in there. We'd never been to the Feed Store before and I can tell you that it was our loss. A lovely lady called Joanna made us very welcome and Mr. Henry showed us his luxuriant tomato and dill plants which made me very happy as I love discussing gardens even though I have no green thumb at all. It reminds me of Great Grandad and his perfectly manicured pocket handkerchief garden!

We ambled along next to the Balcones Rock and Gem Shop also on Main Street, which is Daughter #2's favorite place in the world (this from a child who has been to England, Australia and Italy!). This girl could spend hours in that shop if I let her and I think that the terribly kind and patient proprietors, Becky and Jerry would be quite okay with hosting this junior geologist for as long as it took her to agonizingly pick out the gems and rocks it takes to spend her allowance.

This shop is truly one of a kind, an experience not to be missed. It's a geologist's and jewelry lover's Aladdin's Cave and even though what sparkles may be fool's gold rather than the real thing, it is simply stunning!Take your kids! Take your Grandkids! They'll come away with treasure and a lovely poster explaining all the rocks found here in Texas!

We were feeling pretty good by now so we returned to the car to drive home for a lunch break. We parked outside the yet-to-be-revealed "Globe" theater. I hear it's going to show classic movies, perhaps serviced by a tea room in the somewhat restored cottage opposite it. I can only hope!

After lunch we bit the bullet and got children 1, 2 and 3 a haircut in Poofy Doo's. How could you resist a place with a name like that? The ladies in there showed patience beyond what was believable especially seeing as they had been fixing prom hair all day for tonight's festivities! Shout out to them!

The day came to a close with a giant ice cream cone in The Moose, where I am proud and astonished to say, works Bertram's other English daughter . The first time I heard her switch out her Texas drawl for a Scouser (Liverpudlian - think Beatles) accent, I'm sure my jaw bit the ground in a most unbecoming way!

Bertram, Oh Bertram! Famous for your Oatmeal Festival on Labor Day weekend. Thank you for your hospitality. You did much to make this gal smile today!