Books and Wine! And continued Puppy entertainment

Let me start by saying Thank you to my Anonymous commenters. Since I can't reply back to y'all directly this is the best I can do. So Thank you very much for following along and the sweet comments and compliments.  FYI if you'll put your name at the end of the comment and I know you personally then I can find you and reply directly. Hugs

And thanks to all others who leave me sweet comments in case I haven't replied back to you directly. 

Now let's see what I can come up with on this post to bore I mean entertain you with. 

It's book club time. Thursday July 11th we met up at Texas Seafood and Steak for our discussion on latest reading... Fantasticland by Mike Bockoven. Talk about a crazy book where fun is guaranteed.  Well not so much when a hurricane slams into the eastside of Florida and the 326 employee's that stuck around to hold the fort down were left to their own devices for over 30 days.  The first time I read this book a real hurricane really did slam into the eastside of Florida. This book is all fiction but the audible and the way it reads you think it's a true story.  The park asked for volunteers to stay at the park with pay to keep people raiders out after the storm. Little did they (Fantasticland) expect what actually happened. Great read/listen. We met at one of our favorite places in Caldwell where everyone gets a range of choices to make them happy and service is always good....  First the good picture. Sorta. We weren't all ready.

 While service was good I had to laugh at the pictures taken by our wait staff..... this is just one.  The others were similar or the heads were chopped off of the 2 standing.  LOL

At least we got a pictures of all of us. We're missing 5 members that night but life does happen and we can't all make it out. It's a great group of ladies and we do have fun!

 So my adopted niece(kinda, long story) Hannah came in from Missouri on Thursday (7/11). Pamela had to pick Hannah up at the airport in Austin and it ended up Kaleb was having to travel out of town for

work so Pamela dropped our granddog Bri off at the house so Bri wouldn't starve and get no loves. Pamela was staying the night in Austin so someone needed to care for baby Bri, Right?  Sadie, Bri and Bruno staring at me wanting me to give them a snack.  They are sooooo spoiled.

Friday and Saturday the kids hung out in town and Kaleb found out he couldn't out drink Hannah. She broke him but they had lots of fun.

I got to meet up with them on Sunday at the Busted Oak Cellars in Carmine. Aww the link tab is working again. I haven't been able to add a link to places I've visited or talked about lately.   Nice place and some tasty wines. I only did a tasting while there. It was good getting to see and visit with Hannah.

 

There's that one in every bunch.  Kaleb...  I don't catch it until after we've split up and headed our separate directions. He's ornery for sure but you gotta love him. And we do!

 

My little couple to be... Nuptials will be here before we know it.  

Wedding Planning is coming together. I can't thank Rochelle Delong with Social Spree Events enough. She has really come through with her research, calls, planning, advice and bookings. She's not in Texas but that doesn't stop her. She can do the job! Maybe she'll move back to Texas one day.

And I shall end this post with the latest antics of the overgrown lap dogs...

Bruno is in David's lap 98% of the time if David sits in the recliner but tonight David got a surprise.... Sadie decided she would join Bruno..  

 

I guess she thought she wanted Bruno to share the attention and comfy spot on the furless Dad. It's only fair, Right?  LOL

Until the next blog...When you sell a man a book you don't sell just twelve ounces of paper and the ink and glue - you sell him a whole new life. Love and friendship and humor and ships at sea by night - there's all heaven and earth in a good book."   ~Christopher Morley

Quilts n Puppies

So in 2019 I did a round robin with my friend Margie and 3 other ladies. Each one of us created a center medallion and the other ladies would add a pieced or appliqued border to our quilt. In October I handed off my medallion to the first lady and we would meet again to hand off the quilt tops in our possession to the next lady and as the owner of the top we weren't going to see it until the last border was attached.  Of course when we started this process we never imagined that Covid would deter our process. We got to meet one time to share our progress before we were supposed to abstain from group gatherings.  Instead we met in parking lots with suitcases full of fabric and hand off to the next lady to add a border. Not sure all that makes sense but whatever... hopefully you get an idea on how it worked. In July of 2020 we all masked up and for the first time we all got to see what the ladies in our group added to our center medallion. 

This was the beginning of my Texas Snowman. I know I have pictures with his face, arms, and buttons on his tummy but no clue where.  And the next picture is what I saw at the reveal and the first time I saw my quilt top. That's our sweet Lilley who left us in 2022.
It came out awesome except not big enough for a queen size bed. So that meant I needed to add more borders. Uggh. What to do was the question... and the answer was a border of Piano keys. Oh boy. 

Now they're not hard but they can be boring, tedious and I did need to do some planning so they'd look balanced. Hence the reason I just finished the top in 2024. I procrastinated! LOL  I decided to use red plaid flannel on the back. It just seemed to say Christmas. 

This one was quilted by Jane Plisga from Katy. She did a nice job.  It turned out pretty nice if I do say so myself.

I follow a page on FB called "Quilt Retreat Community" and it's where you can ask about quilt retreats in your area or learn of those not in your area but this request caught me off guard....  When I saw it I thought a 420 retreat and then it dawned on me.. I'm not judging.. to each his own. I mean I may drink a glass of wine or two at the retreats but I never thought of someone wanting one that was 420 friendly. Interesting though. I would say look in Colorado.

Monday (7/01) was Sassy Stitchers Bee time. Marilyn finished her panel quilt top. Love the borders and colors.  We also celebrated Coco's birthday with some cake at lunch time.  Yum

 

Pamela's fellow nursing friend and now PA came up from the Woodlands to visit Pamela in Bryan but Bri was sure she came to visit her. Gotta love the Bri Bri

 

While watching some TV Sadie and I decided to have some fun with Snapchat. Well I had fun but not so sure Sadie did. Ba Ha Ha It's like what you want Willis? Thennn... She looks lovely with flowing blonde hair with pink accessories.

 

Okay so we'll tone it down a tad.  She only thought it fair to capture me.. Right

 

And she was gone. She was done with me putting the phone in her face.  

Went shopping for some tennis shoes with Pamela and Kaleb. It was a fun and entertaining day. Kaleb kept us on our toes. I found me a new pair of Hoka's but the kids kept saying to get a pair of Hey Dudes. I tried a pair on but they didn't fit my foot right but I tried on a pair of Ariat shoes and I love them.  Check them out. They're maroon with chickens on them. Can't believe I bought them but they were on sale and cute.

A couple of years ago I posted on FB market that if you wanted some free crepe myrtles, just bring your shovels and dig them up. I need to do that again but we need to wait until we've had a rain because the ground is as hard as a rock right now. We got rid of probably a 1000 but we still have that many left in the pasture.  

Our place used to be a tree farm. I took pictures the other evening about dusk of the crepes. Many are blooming so you can see the colors. I now know we have several white ones. My pictures didn't come out as good as I had hoped. I'll have to try again. But you get the idea of how many we have. It'll take some work because the roots are big.

I'll end this post with some puppy loves. LOL  Sadie loves to give Bruno kisses and lovies.

Until next post..The mind is its own place, and in itself

Can make a heav’n of hell, a hell of heav’n. John Milton

Enjoying Life one day at a Time

We had a couple of evenings that was pleasant enough that we sat outside while the pups ate their supper. Sadie is usually so hard to catch in a calm space and the lighting wasn't the best but she was laying so pretty.  She's such a pretty golden red.  It was a really pretty night.

Forgot to post a recent Bee with the Sassy Stitchers show and tell. I love these colors.  Brenda has been making quilt tops left and right and they're sew pretty. She got her quilting machine adjusted and she quilted this one herself.

 I had to take a picture of Carolyn and her T-shirt.  Love it. We all know those people where their cornbread isn't cooked in the middle. LOL.   Next was a wonky star by Connie. Love the fabric.   Judy showed off her sweet butterfly and kite quilt. She needs to put the kite tails on. I hope she brings it back once she does.

 

  And I finished another quilt top that week for a Haley a fellow nursing friend of Pamela's.  She had a cute baby boy named Colsen.

Pamela helped me pick out the fabric. She's good with colors and coordinating fabrics. 

 

If you look closely at this picture you can see the quilting of zoo animals.  Giraffe, elephant and a lion.  Donna @ Donna's Lavender Nest did a awesome job.

Here's the crepe myrtles at the front of the sidewalk to the front door in 2023 and Now June 2024. They're flourishing.

 

David took pictures of the wildflowers in the pasture before he mowed most of them down. The cows won't eat them and they're so thick that they can't get to the grass.

  Our property used to be a tree farm as I've said before and we have 1000's of crepes in our North pasture. Three years ago we posted on FB market to bring your buckets and shovels and take as many as you want. We're gonna do it again but the ground is so hard that until we get some good rain it's rough. 60% of them are the watermelon pink, a few are white and maybe a couple are the purplish color. An the rest haven't got color on them yet.       I do have one that no one is touching. It's a crimson color and the darker leaves. Right now it's growing right on the fence line. I'm keeping this one.

We have people who've already said they want to come and dig some up but we told them to wait until the ground is softer. Whenever that might be.

The other day Bruno was sleeping in David's arms and Sadie came up over the arm of the chair to get attention. Can you see her paw wrapped around Bruno and getting as close to David as possible. And look at the looks on Bruno's face. LOL

She got the upper portion of her body between Bruno and David. LOL

Well that's enough for this post.

Until the next blog...The friend is the man who knows all about you, and still likes you. ~Elbert Hubbard