On the Road Again....

So when I went to retreat in October my quilter couldn't stay for the actual retreat but she brought my a quilt to me that she had finished quilting so I could get the binding and label on it to take to the baby shower the Saturday after I got home. Originally I had planned on totally different fabric but when the future Grandma called me and said the baby shower theme was going to be cowboys I had to switch gears and quick.   

The fabric originally picked was a car theme and that wasn't gonna work so I found some cowboy fabric and got this quilt top put together in a about 3 days and got it to Donna my quilter so she could bring it to retreat. She was supposed to stay and sew with us but things happened and she couldn't but she brought me the quilted quilt anyway. Bless her heart! And many Thanks! 

 I wanted to use Jerry as my quilt model but the day I went out he didn't want to cooperate. I got a sheet on his back and was about to lay the quilt on his back and he took off. He can be such a brat. LOL

He got his carrots and some love but he wasn't sticking around for no photo shoot. So I had to put the quilt on the gate and Blacky came up to check out what I was doing. So he got in the pictures.  The quilting theme was horseshoes and stars. The back of the quilt was a pretty brown. The color shows up real dark in the picture but it's more of a deep golden brown.
And here's the label I made and sewed on the back.

Saturday (Oct 19) I drove to Cypress to go to the baby shower for Miss Adelynn. She barely shows and she's due in December. She was only 11 when I first met her. Hard to imagine her all grown up and a soon to be Momma.

Here's a picture with her Uncle Shane, her Aunt Beatriz who is also pregnant with her 3rd. And her cousins.. Jeremiah and Gabriel.

Such good looking family and so nice. Her Aunt actually help modify and draft our house plans when we were getting ready to build.

The next picture is of my former boss from CyFair, Kim and myself with the soon to be Momma and Poppa (Sidney)

Adelyn and Sidney opened their gifts after the shower and the La Abuela to be, my friend Samara sent me this picture saying they loved the quilt.  YAY.  The quilt is filled with hugs.

Wednesday (10/23) David and I left for a short trip. Bruno and Sadie will be staying at SaPaHa Kennels in Caldwell while we're gone.  They did great the first time and they were quite happy to go back. They had big runs to play in through out the day and safe in a kennel during the night. 

Mr Paul and Ms Sally are great care givers. They didn't even bark when we left.

After dropping them off we went back by the house to load up the car and head to Little Rock Arkansas. We stopped for a quick lunch somewhere along the route. Nothing special just at a Chicken Express. 

We knew we'd want to eat after we checked into the hotel. It took us 8 hours to get there.  We got checked in and walked down the street to the Dizzy Gypsy. It wasn't bad but it was pricy. I can't even remember what we ate.  We were tired.  Tomorrow is gonna be a big day so we went back to our room and watched a little TV and went to sleep.

Thursday (10/24) we off to Moss Mountain Farm in Roland, AK. Owned and built by P. Allen Smith.  The drive was really pretty. The trees are already starting to change. So Pretty.

We took a tour of the home, property and got served lunch. We were also hoping P. Allen Smith would show up

Lunch was served in this tent.  It was a chicken salad and a buttermilk pecan pie. It was so good.

Our tour was about a 2.5-3 mile walking tour. My knee held up just fine but I think I should have put a bigger incline when at the gym on the treadmill. Poor David wasn't so lucky. His knee is giving him fits.  The farm sets above the Arkansas River and is about 600 acres. P. Allen Smith wanted to build a 3 story Greek Revival style home on the property that paid homage to the history of the farm. Great job and the grounds were amazing. I'll share a few pictures shortly. We also got to go through the home he built and lives in when there. He hasn't done any TV shows on gardening and cooking in years but he does travel. David asked if he had any plans of doing any more shows like he did on PBS channel and it was a quick no. 

Of course there is a gift shop on site and David found a sign.  "I'm so Merry I can't stand it"  Doesn't he look Merry now. LOL     Check out this tree! It's 600 years old. WOW it's amazing. There's several on the property. It's beautiful.

I was standing behind the house on a lower terrace. That's the Arkansas River at the bottom. What a view.

I Off to the left of the house he had his cooking kitchen and to the right he had an Art Studio.  Actually he had several out buildings around for drying flowers etc. 

That's the back of the house.

Inside the house you'll find all kinds of art, taxidermy, etc.

I'd hate to come home drunk one night and see this staring at me.  LOL

This is the sleeping porch. All screened in. There was even a big bath tub behind me where I was standing. And the next picture is the view from that sleeping porch. 

Flowers and greenery was everywhere. This garden area can be rented for weddings. I teased Pamela if she'd like to have her wedding here and skip the one in Texas. She told me it was beautiful but no. It's just above the river. 

Oh and we were just finishing up lunch and in walks P. Allen Smith.  The guy is super nice and funny.  Some lady asked him how he was gonna keep the deer out of his new Hosta garden he's planning.... his answer not missing a beat was Shoot them. Which I highly doubt he'd do that. His plan is to build a boundary of shrubs and fencing to deter them.

Okay I'm sucker and I went to buy his cook book which has that buttermilk pecan pie in it and had him sign it and got my picture with him.  It was a long day and it was warm but so much fun. I really enjoyed touring the place, lunch and meeting P. Allen in person.

We walked over to the pumpkin house for a photo. It's decorated for different holidays.  It becomes Santa's House for the Christmas season. 

  

After meeting P. Allen we walked over to Poultryville to see the chickens, turkeys, ducks and swans. He wants to conserve America's early poultry breeds and he started the Heritage Poultry Conservancy.  Check out these turkeys. They're too pretty to cook but they were plump. And the furry headed chickens were so cute.

 A view of the house from Poultryville.

We were pretty tired after all that walking. We wanted to stop at a winery going back to the hotel but they didn't open until 5 so we headed back for a rest and we'd decided to hit a taco place Pamela and Kaleb went to when they stopped in Little Rock on their way to Missouri a couple years ago. We decided we'd walk the 5-6 blocks. What were we thinking. LOL 

Good Grief a person can't go out to eat to often in Arkansas.

They have a state, local, liquor, and alcohol tax. We each has 2 tacos, a sided, 1 beer and 1 wine and our bill was almost $60.  $10 of it was taxes. Crazy.

We were ready to put our feet up and eventually go to sleep.

Friday (10/25) We pack up and head back to Texas but we'll be stopping in Lindale for a couple days. More on that in my next post.

Until next blog post... The World is a Book.  And those who do not Travel. Read only one page.

                                                                     ~ St Austine

Love is in the Air

One day during retreat Jane left in the afternoon to go to Temple quilt guild to listen and meet the author of a book called  The Wedding Dress Quilt by Jeffree Wyn Itrich. This sweet girl came back with a copy of the book for me.  I can't wait to read it.  It's a quilt mystery. I didn't get a cookie and that is okay but I took a picture because it was cute.

 It was time for G3 book club meeting while I was at retreat so Kelli ran the meeting. They discussed Three Ordinary Girls by Tim Brady. It was about 3 young girls who became part in the support/spy for WWWII. They risked their lives to save the Jewish people and aid in the war however they could. The story itself was good but sometimes the book gave you way too much specific information that overwhelmed some and made it hard to read. These 4 silly girls still had a good time!

While I was at retreat Pamela's bridesmaids gave her a bachelorette party in Dripping Springs. The girls did and excellent job of decorating and planning. Each day had a theme. They made Pamela feel very special. One of the girls got sick and wasn't able to make it unfortunately but a good time was had. I had a hard time picking pictures since there was so many cute ones but I did my best.

 

 

Monday (10/14) I ended my last blog with the comment that I would be going to a wedding the next day... So next morning I get up and continue to unpack from retreat and planned on finishing the back for my Texas Flag quilt when David hollers from his office... "What time do we have to go to Magnolia?" Huh?! Oh Crap! It totally slipped my mind. We need to leave no later than 2 because the wedding starts at 4. This is going to be a busy week.

We got ourselves together and lined out for the day. And we left for the wedding. First stop - pick up Pamela and Kaleb and we were rolling down the road. The bride, Kindra was beautiful and so was the Momma of the groom, My sorority sister and long time friend Sheryl.

Congratulations to the cute couple... Aaron and Kindra Harper. I removed the color on one of the pictures. I love the look in black and white.                  
Aaron's son Hudson was so cute. He announced who he was loud and clearly that he had a gift for his Dad and new bride.

My beautiful friend and mother of the groom, Sheryl.

 

Two of Aaron's brothers making their grand entrance.  JR very calm and then there's Richard. LOL  This boy has always been about a grand entrance. Gotta love them. There's a total of 5 Harper boys and they each have a very charming and different personality. 

   

We had a nice time. Of course we had to get some selfies

  

And these two... Future son in law and and David are trouble when together. At one point they were laughing so hard at their own jokes we thought they were going to have a heart attack or explode. You can't put them together without some kind of mischief.  

 

The Mother and Son dance.

David and I actually won a contest. They had the married couples come out on the floor and they started with anyone married under 10 years sit down then 20, 30, and 40 and we were still standing with a couple others so they asked how long we had been married. Our 46 years of marital bliss won. 

These two will be married in 75 more days. I think we're almost all ready.

I know they're ready and counting down the days.

I couldn't get video of the cows being crazy when they heard the bucket shake with cow crack but if you click on the word Cows now it will take you to the video. At least I hope it will. 

Have you ever looked at this sign in the restroom. I kinda laughed because it looks like a man grilling not a changing table. Okay I know my mind works in mysterious ways. LOL

On the October 17th the Harvest Moon was shining bright. I caught it off the patio snapping a picture through the dessert willow branches.  My picture doesn't do it justice.

I guess I better stop for now or you will be on photo overload. 

Until next blog... “To love someone deeply gives you strength.  Being loved by someone deeply gives you courage.” ~ Lao Tzu