Now what can I get into?

Well remember in my last blog I shared how my Nephew Tyler and his Fiance' Andrea told us Thank you via picture and text messages that were really cute. Well now I can share a beautiful picture of them as Husband and Wife.  On July 20th they were supposed to get married in Kansas but their venue was damaged in all the storms. But they adapted and they went to Vegas with a few friends and family to tie the knot. They sent a message to everyone to let us know what was happening and if we could please join them please do. Wish we could have.
Short of being very hot they seem to have found a beautiful spot to get married.
They have a beautiful family but the newest addition is as cute as a bugs ear. mmm Who knows how cute a bugs ear is anyway?  LOL Well this little guy my new great nephew seems to be the happiest little guy.

 Finally getting a nap in during all the festivities.  Tate has some very nice looking big brothers and a sister. I'm sure they don't have anything to do with spoiling this little guy. 
Congratulations Mr & Mrs. Bethards.


Saturday (7/20) I had the book club I belong for the last 21 years to out to the Rock'n K to discuss my book choice. "Where the Crawdad Sings:" by Delia Owens.  I knew it was a bit of a drive for most but I did it anyway. A lot of the members were actually gone on vacation but that's okay. The gal with the birthday crown has been a long time friend and has been our realtor. Of course the other gals have been my friend for over 21 years now.  Great book if you're looking for a good book to read.

So glade these gals made it out.

Play time at the Rock'n K. These guys are always entertaining us.

While Pamela had company  David & I entertained her girls.  Well Lilley entertained the girls.

They didn't like it that I was on the other side of the gate. They're so darn cute.   L-R  Sophie, Lilley and Brianna.  I couldn't have staged this if had wanted to, but they stood in height order. How funny. Bri the youngest is the tallest. Sophie is the smallest and her Mommy Lilley is in the middle between the kids. They each have their own looks and personality that's for sure.

And while outside David hollered for me to come look at this evil thing..... A Black Widow Spider.  This makes about 10th one we've killed.  We have to be careful picking up things outside or reaching in recessed areas.  See the hour glass on her butt end. She is poisonous.

We don't have a shortage of all kinds of spiders around here. The other one we see a lot of is the banana spider. While it's not poisonous it does bite and it's venom could make you sick. It's so BIG and scary.  Their webs are very sticky and very strong. Intricate too. It looks evil. This one would almost cover the palm of my hand but I don't plan on letting it get that close Thank you Very Much. LOL   And today I found this Walking Stick on the back porch. Kinda little. Not.

East Window

north window

I finally decided to go ahead and put rolling shades in my sewing room.
The west sun sneaks under the porch cover and pours into my window facing north.
And my East window gets hit full on with the sun rise until about noon.

You can just barely see the Desert Willow Tree out my North window that David planted. It's very Wispy and of course Willowy.

Didn't notice the sun so much when we were buying blinds for the bedrooms and David's office but now that it's summer it's evident just how much sun comes through. So I decided to protect my machines from turning yellow, my fabric from fading and my thread from deteriorating.

 On Friday (8/2) Pamela asked if we could go to Taylor to the Texas Beer Company and the winery Pilot Knob next door so I texted Ashley a former co-worker who had moved to Round Rock about the same time I moved to the Rock'n K if she wanted to meet us. We're 45 minutes away and Round Rock is about 30. She answered definitely she would love to meet us for lunch and an adult beverage or two. And come to find out she and her husband just moved into their new house about 10 minutes away from the Texas Beer Company. I hadn't seen Ashley since April so it was nice catching up. We all ordered the hamburger and it was really really good. It had an aioli sauce and the buns were special too. Right now I can't remember the specifics. We've made plans to go back and meet up for Ashley's birthday in September.  Spent a good hour or two here talking and having a couple of craft beers.
Then We went next door to Pilot Knob Winery to check out their wines. Of course we all found one we liked. The owner was super friendly and informative.

Brittany & Pamela

As we were all talking about the winery, the surrounding towns etc, the owner goes "oh here comes some of my family".. I glance up but don't really pay attention until Pamela goes "No way! Are you kidding me?!" I turn to see the girl walking up to Pamela saying I can't believe it and realize it's a girl Pamela went to High School with who now lives in Nebraska. They hadn't seen each other since graduation.  Her Aunt owns the brewery and her Mom now lives 10 minutes down the road. In fact she lives in the same neighborhood Ashley just moved too. I guess we're all getting out of Houston. LOL
Talk about a small world.
And here they are back in 2005 at Prom

L-R I think Serria, Brittany and Pamela

Such a fun afternoon. ....
Well that's it for this post. Weddings Love Friends Critters Spiders Blinds Beer Wine and more friends. Life is good.

Until next blog....Friendship is a tapestry woven through the years with threads of joy and laughter, happiness, and tears.

Quick trip for Music, Antiquing and Friends

It's August ALREADY! I'm still trying to catch up with all the goings on.  July was another fun time. Which I'm about to share as much as I can on this post.  Warning Photo overload.

 This is how we started July.  LOL The girls having fun and playing.
Pamela had to work 4th of July.
 And then there are times when the girls are down right good and so pretty. Of course all it takes is the tease of a treat.











I came out on the patio one morning to find Jerry having a good ole time with a bucket we had left in his pen. He is such a mess.



Here I thought we were taking a serious picture. I didn't realize she was making a face until she sent me the picture. Little Rat. Gotta Love her.








Brenham, Texas has this summer concert series on Saturdays in July that we like to attend. They set up a band on the town square. We generally see a band out of Austin called Suede and that's who we saw this time. One year we listened to a different band but can't remember the name now. Anyway the concert is free. All you have to do is bring your lawn chairs and set up around the square to listen. This year we took an ice chest to hold a few beverages.
We always stay at the historic Ant Street Inn. It's one block off main.  This year our friends Kevin and Pam from Austin joined us for the fun and heat. LOL
The rooms are comfortable and very pretty. We went down a day earlier and staying in a room with a king bed which obviously doesn't fit the era but that's okay. Breakfast at the restaurant downstairs is free. And best part is .... They have free blue bell cups in the fridge down the hall and free sodas and coffee. Nice! The only not so great thing is there is no elevator so you walk the long stairs up and down. I'm not fond of stairs but for Ant Street Inn I'll make allowances.

 Friday 7/12:  David and I spent the day our Antiquing. We went out 290 past Brenham to go to this strip of shops in Carmine. I managed to find some crockery bowls.  Something that I started collecting when my Step-Mother passed. I was buying her a new bowl every year for Christmas. I had one bought early for her Christmas the year she passed. It's been 4 years now.
I kept the bowl obviously and started my own collection. I think I'm out of room now so I may have to stop. Or else find a new place to display then. Hmmmm not sure where that would be right now.

Currently I have them in my China Cabinet and on a built in shelf in my kitchen. 
The crystal bowl on top in this picture was my Great Grandmothers. It's over a 100 years old. I have another one that's not pictured.  I mean my collection isn't huge but they take up space.
I was always looking for Wooden sewing spools but I've even ran out of  room for that collection. I've used the bigger spools to hold my excess binding strips or other scraps of fabric.

I've got jars of wooden spools with and without thread on them.  These days all the thread comes on plastic spools. And in the last year I seem to have collected several pin cushions. There's a few more around my sewing room.


Okay enough about my various collections.

Back to shopping


On our Antiquing spree we stopped at Burts Birdhouses to buy a Martin House. Normally this guy only makes them with red or green roofs but he made this one with an Aggie Maroon roof. His dad told him it would never sell.  Wrong! It came home with us. I need to either find a decal or tack on the little wooden ATM letters on the empty space on front.

 David's got to set up a pole to put it on. We'll see how many birds we have move in to the Aggie Inn.  Can't wait.




Burt had some really cool houses inside using all kinds of decorative pieces of metals, utensils and knobs.



That evening we went to Home Sweet Farm to listen to some music for a while and then we turned in for the night. The heat of the day took it out of us.



Saturday we went back to Carmine because there were still a couple of shops we wanted to check out.
We've been looking for a new top for my  old sewing machine base but nothing seemed right. It has had a piece of glass sitting on top of it just waiting to be knocked off and broken.

It was never attached.  But today was the day. David went into this one corner of the shop and picked up a black serving tray. It was perfect.  Not sure that I'm going to repaint it or sand it. I like the look it has now with the roughed up edges.  David has to attach it to the base so it won't get knocked off.

I really like how this looks. It sits in our Vintage Guest Bedroom. It's called Vintage because why else the items in it are old..




Saturday we got moved to a different room because I called to book Friday in the same room but couldn't because it had already been booked and hotel said they had another room for Friday but we'd have to move to the we booked for Saturday on Saturday.  Too Funny the room we got to stay in Friday was booked to our friends Pam and Kevin.
Not a big deal. We packed light. Our new room had the view of the Brenham water tower and the outdoor garden that they sometimes have weddings in.

We shopped until about 3. Pam and Kevin had arrived at the hotel so back we went. They wanted to rest up before going to dinner and heading up to the music.  I wasn't going to argue. I was hot and tired.
David had to actually wake me. They were out in the meeting hall talking and having a drink.

We went to a restaurant called Los American. It's Cuban based food.  Sooo good. I had the street tacos. Wow.
Pam had a shrimp dish that looked really good. She said it was.

We got our chairs and headed to the square for some music. It was warm but we found a spot that was shaded and the breeze would come and go making it bearable. About an hour into the music it started to lightly rain. The band stopped abruptly and apologized that they had to shut down because of the rain. Well Damn.

Hardly 10 minutes went bad and it was over but the band had
already started covering and taking down all their equipment.
So we grabbed out chairs went back to the hotel. Put the chairs back in our cars and grabbed some drinks out of the ice chest and sat out on the back patio deck. We sat in front of our room so our talking disturbed no one.

Sunday (7/14) we all meet downstairs for breakfast. The food is really good. I got pancakes that morning. We talked about what everyone was going to do after we finished eating. David and I were heading to the Antique Rose Emporium to see what they had to offer and ideas. Pam and Kevin decided to join us.
I had brought the quilt for my great nephew along in case I found some photo opts for it and I did. But I can't share the pictures because that nephew hasn't received it yet and just in case I don't want to post until he receives it.  I hope to have it to him before August is over. So stay turned on a future post for pictures.

But I can post pictures of the Rose Garden. The gardens are really pretty and were just asking for pictures to be taken.

We some different plants and ideas but right then we couldn't/wouldn't buy because the flower beds aren't ready. Keeping plants alive in those little black buckets are a bitch. They're like little ovens for the plant roots. Maybe next spring we can go back when even more stuff is blooming. At least today there is a good breeze that kept it bearable. And it was cloudy. A church on the property. It was locked so looking.
No clue what some of the plants were but they were pretty. I want both of these bushes at
 the Rock'n K

 
Great Models.

Look a mushroom tree. Actually it's trumpet vines going up  lots of rebar poles.                                   This vine was hanging down over a walkway.

Love these tiny pink sweet roses.  We might need some of these somewhere on the Rock'n K.

Look at the size of the mallow hibiscus. I had David put his hand next to it for size comparison. Love the color too.

Cute Little metal bird and garden castle

David took my picture. He goes you're never in the picture because you're always behind the camera.

We said our goodbyes and Pam and Kevin headed off to Texas A&M.  Pam wanted to go see how much the campus had changed.  We were headed to Pamela's to pick up Lilley when they texted saying they were at the Dixie Chicken. I had never been so I was game. It's A landmark in College Station. Aggies walk through the door for a cold beer of good burger.  It recently celebrated it's 45th anniversary. Pam and Kevin actually met at the Dixie Chicken. It sits across from the campus and the area is called Northgate. 

Thanks for reading and following along.

Until next Blog....A single rose can be my garden... a single friend, my world.~ Leo Buscaglia