Fun Times

About a week and half ago I went to book club meeting and the hostess said the theme was the 50's @ the Shamrock Hotel.  The reason was because of the book she chose that we just read. It was called 
"The After Party" by Anton Disclafani. It was about the River Oaks socialites in the 50's. 

It was fun to read and recognize several of the landmarks that were mentioned. At least 2 of the girls dressed the part with their dresses, hats and gloves. 
I got the best picture of Gaye dressed for an evening at the Shamrock Hotel in the 50's.
Fun evening with great friends and great food. Most of us girls in the club have been together 20 years this year.


Saturday the 22nd our subdivision had a community garage sale. I have to laugh because apparently there's only 3 folks in our community that had a garage sale.  Maybe next year we'll have more notice and more people will participate. I threw a few things together and so did David. We got rid of a couple of outdoor rockers, flower pots and misc other items. We did make some money but what didn't sale went into boxes and straight into the back of my car to drop off at Goodwill. I wasn't taking anything back in the house.. After we closed down I found and David remember so items we could have stuck out there.  Oh well maybe we'll have another one before we move. 

We rearranged the rockers we kept and set a bench out there that matches. Looks more cohesive now. We sat down to relax before going inside and Lilley was free to roam again. Instead she jumped up on the bench next to David and went right to sleep. Garage sales are tough work. LOL






I walked out into the yard to capture a picture of our Cinco de Mayo roses. They are looking great. No smell but they look great.




Enough relaxing we had to get cleaned up and go to a Crawfish party. Yum Yum

The family had invited us for the last couple of years and something has always come up and we could make so finally this year we made it. The picture of the huge crawfish is the only picture I took while there but I should have taken a picture of how they had the potatoes, corn and mushrooms served. 
You walked up and grabbed a tray of crawfish and the sides were in what looked like row boats.
The potatoes were in one, Corn was in one and the mushrooms in another. Pretty nifty. Bad me for not taking a picture..

You could break off the some of the claws and it came out with lots of meat on it but these mud bugs were huge and so were the claws.The bugs were tasty but could have used a tad more spices for my liking but yeah who am I to complain. I think the mushrooms absorbed all the spices. There were good!
Oh and I can't forget to mention the drinks. The guys were drinking beer but their wives were drinking something that looked like chocolate milk shakes so I asked what they were drinking.  They were having Mud Slides with at least a shot of Malibu. OMG those were good too.
The mud bugs were finished and the party was winding down so David invited his co-workers and their wives out to the house. It was still early so back to the house we went and they got to meet Lilley. 

She was the star of the evening. Adrienne was trying to take a selfie with Lilley only Lilley wasn't overly cooperative


Next morning I got up and headed up to Pamela's get her pup Sophie. Pamela had a conference in Dallas so David and I were gonna babysit the Grand-dog. 

 By about Wednesday Sophie was missing her Mommy and kept looking out the window for her.
 Poor darlin.  But it's okay she was having fun with her furry Mom Lilley. 


This Saturday the 29th I headed out to see my Mom. I haven't able to see her in about 2 months but I do talk with her almost every evening even if it's only a few minutes. Check out the hazy look in these pictures. To look at it you'd think it was foggy or raining but it was a dust storm. Big time. It was cloudy but the haze is from all the dirt from the construction. 

I took Mom and Joe out to eat for Joe's birthday. Now the place had one table with about 10-12 folks at it and there were 2-3 other tables with 2-3 people at them and now us. AND ONLY ONE WAITRESS.  Really you got to be kidding. That little gal was running back and forth and all around. I think she was the only one working period. We waited almost 15 minutes before she got our drink orders and gave us a menu, then we waited another 15-20 for her take our order.  I notice that after all this has passed no one has food yet around us. I think the cook must have taken a break. It was almost an hour and half before we got our food. It was like all the food started coming out at the same time. It was good but really. We should have walked out after an hour but there wasn't much of anywhere else to eat in Plantersville. We were at the Relay Station Restaurant. Sorry but I don't think I'll be going back there again. My plan was to take them to eat and then go over to a quilt show at St Mary's Church but by the time we finish the last walk thru was about to begin. Oh and I had to almost 30 minutes for them to bring the check and another 15 to bring back my card. Not a good experience. I was gonna take a couple of pictures of all of us after this but unfortunately something got under my Mom's dentures and cut her gum really bad. She was in pain and had to remove the lower denture so pictures were out of the question or she would have shot me.

Today Sunday April 30th

We headed to the farm. Primarily we were going up to water some new trees David had up there and deliver the picnic table he built.

And we were going to drop of Sophie on our way home.

It was windy as hell but a beautiful day all the same. 

We dropped off the Sophie and gave her hugs good-bye and told her furless Mom would be home in about an hour. 

Home Sweet Home. Now it's time for bed to start another work week. Yippee.

Until next blog post...“I’ll save a spot for you on the hood of my truck.” ~

 Laura Miller, My Butterfly

Okay so maybe I'll save you a spot on the porch.  Have great week everyone.

Hill Country tripping round 2

Saturday the 8th we were ready for more adventures. Check out this house's back yard. If you get drunk and go to far you could have a small fall and end up on the middle of the road. We went exploring up the hill from our hotel. Our drive up and down this hill proved very scenic and lots of deer.

Our next adventure was to a quilt shop there in Kerrville. And it has a retreat house next door. This shop was the very most friendliest shop I've ever been in. Wow. And they had beautiful fabrics and patterns available. At some point I would really like to book one of my retreats here. It's a 3 1/2 to 4 hour drive but I think it would be worth it. They had a great selection of my favorite kind of fabric. Western/Texas  

Photo by Creations

And they had the cutest stuffed animals around the shop. I haven't grown up. I could have brought them all but then I be in debt for sure. They had some great jewelry too. Pamela found something for her Mimi's birthday in August. Pamela always shops ahead for gifts. See the tuffet in the lower left corner under the table. I love it out of that striped fabric. I may call them about how to make. 

Photo by Creations

Time is up and we're hungry for lunch.

Pamela was gracious enough to let me come check out the shop but I figured I better feed her. She's not into quilting per say but she always fines things there she likes and she's a great help to me when I'm buying fabric for a project. She's gets very grumpy when she's hungry.... Love you Pammy.

Our lunch choice today was the Welfare Cafe in Welfare. It used to be a General Store and Post Office. The place was a recommend by one of David's  Bell Gang friends Tommy. I'm glad we went. It was all very tasty. Next time David and I go to the Hill Country I need to get him there.

We both ordered a hamburger. I should have ordered the one she got because it had grilled onions and candied jalapenos. This is the picture of my partially devoured pimento cheese burger.  It was very tasty but after a while I was overwhelmed by the pimento cheese.

After lunch we headed to 

Comfort, Texas to go to a couple of wineries and the Hill Country Distillery where I buy my jalapeno moonshine. On our way we came across the great shot. Big Joshua Creek. 

 First we went to Singing Waters Winery. A glass of Sweet Lupe and a relaxing moment on their patio.  

  Pamela is good at this selfie picture taking thing. I'm no good at it at all.
After a relaxing time here we went to Bending Branch Winery, a new winery tasting room called Newsome's and then we walked next door to my fav the Hill Country Distillery. Now we might have had a couple of drinks each there. We spent some time there and I picked up my jalapeno moonshine and I got some Orange Dulce (60 proof) to make a drink that tastes like the dreamcicle ice cream bar that many of us ate at some point in time. This drink can be very dangerous tasting so good.  
After this I wanted to take Pamela on a drive to Lost Maples State Natural Park and back down Hwy 16. Both are gorgeous drives. I can't tell how many crossing to the park we crossed that said watch for water across the road. 
I'd hate to get caught between these crossings in a rain storm.  We saw lots of wild life like deers and turkeys. Pamela caught this view as we coming out of Lost Maples towards Medina Texas.
Coming down the twisty curvy Hwy 16 Pamela caught the sunset. Surprising since part of it she was squealing as we traveled around all the curves.

Several hours passed and we got back to Kerrville around 8:20 pm. Imagine our tummies were thinking it was time for food so I took Pamela to the Pint & Plow for pizza and a beer. She got a beer called River Shandy. She gave me a taste and it was good and I'm not a big beer drinker.
This was our latest night out. Normally we'd be back to the hotel no later than 8:30 but tonight it was nearly 10pm. We're rebels I know but yeah we pack a lot in each day out.
Our trip was coming to an end and we still had places to go. Next trip.
Sunday we got up and headed to Fredericksburg for an early lunch at Hondo's and a couple of last minute wineries. Our final stop before leaving Fredericksburg was the Wildseed Farm. They always have great photo ops. LOL This is one time that I can actually get the kid to take pictures.

 

And so ends our trip. Oh we did make one more winery stop closer to home. It was the Texas Star Winery in Chappell Hill. They had a tasty Cranberry Wine. Again this one could be dangerous because it was like drinking Cranberry juice. mmmm Need take David here since it's not that far from home.

One last picture I'll share is the quilt I made for my long time friend Brenda who became a first time Granny. I delayed this post so by the time it actually posts I'll have met up with Brenda to give her this quilt for Olivia Kate S.

I hope she likes it.  My quilter Donna @ Donna's Lavender Nest chose a rose pattern to quilt it with. She always picks the perfect quilting pattern for each of my quilts.
Until next blog post...

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE

Hill Country Bound - Mother Daughter trip Part 1

What a beautiful time to go to and be in the Hill Country. Pamela and I took off Thursday April 6th for our annual Mother-Daughter trip. We always have fun and lots of wine. Our first stop out of town was in Brenham the home of Blue Bell Ice Cream for lunch. We needed to eat before the wine tasting begins right? I took Pamela to BT Longhorn Saloon and Steakhouse. David and I went a couple of years ago and the food was yummy then and still was this time. Pamela and I both got a hamburger. Hers was the Longhorn Burger and Mine was the Southwestern Burger with chiptole mayo, avocado, roasted peppers, onions, and pepper jack cheese. 

And the buns are soft and flavor-able.  

With our tummies full we were off to our first winery not far from Brenham called the Saddlehorn Winery.  We start there every year and this time the girl recognized us. Uh oh...Is that good or bad? I was gonna pass on the wine testing this time and just get my wine called Happy Trails. Bummer they won't have any bottled for the next 2 weeks. So I did a testing and found another wine I liked.  While the young lady was getting us each a box knowing we'd need it for our trip, Pamela was looking at all the Tshirts and other gift items and she found this Tshirt for me.  Love it! All paid for and boxed up we were ready to head on down the road for our next stop.  But first we had to strap in our precious cargo. LOL  I mean we don't want it to fly off the seat if we happen to make a sudden stop. That would be prudent now would it...   As we were pulling out I stopped at a patch of bluebonnets to snap a couple of pictures of a quilt I finished. I'll take several before I decide on which one to use but I can't share the picture yet. I have to wait until I take some more pictures and I get it to the recipient.   Our next stop was in Dripping Springs at the Bell Springs Winery. We did a tasting and then got a glass of wine to drink out on the patio and enjoy the weather. Enjoyed the nice views of the property too. It has been a beautiful day so far and the patio was calling our name. From here we head on down the road toward Fredericksburg and to our hotel in Kerrville. When we got to Kerrville we decided to go straight to dinner at Mi Sombrero.  Tasty food and no margarita's. Believe it or not.                                                       To avoid the wine tours and the masses we go take off Friday morning to go back into Fredericksburg to hit some of our favorite wineries.. We shopped or basically window shopped in Fredericksburg until it was time for lunch at the Peach Tree Tea Room.  If you click on the name it will take you to their website. I saw on FB where a former co-worker was there and talked about how great the place was so I figured Pamela and I needed to check it out.  We weren't sorry. Great food and service. Pamela had a Turkey pocket and I had their fish tacos. So delicious.  After lunch you looked at couple other shops then it was time for wine. We stopped at Rancho Ponte first for a tasting and their yummy sangria. They don't bottle it they only sell it by the glass or carafe. You know what from here I don't remember where went next or in what order at this point. I guess I should have made notes. Of course it doesn't really matter. We made it to one of our favorite places.... Fat Ass Winery.  We had fun here. We got to comparing notes with 2 couples also there doing wine tastings. Then we all did jalapeno wine shots. We were expecting a burn but it went down really smooth. Didn't buy any but it was fun to try. The guy next to us was getting a sangria shot because it was his birthday. Pamela goes this is our extended birthday trip so low and behold we got one too. We just had to promise to wear out little shot glass on the necklace next time we came in.  No problem. We stopped at Pedernales Falls Winery next. 

Most of their wines are too dry for us but they had a moscato we wanted to try but the didn't see by the glass so we bought a bottle and sat out on the patio and enjoyed the view. They have one of the best views of the country side.  My picture doesn't do it justice but trust me the weather was beautiful and so was the view.From here we made our last stop at Fiesta Wineries.  No tasting for me. I ordered a glass while Pamela did a tasting.  While there I even learned of a new place to try for food but not for this trip. Has anyone been to Cultures Grill and Bar in Fredericksburg? The guy at the bar said they have the best chicken fried steak. I guess I'll have to wait until next trip.  But it is time to head back to Kerrville and check out a little Italian restaurant there this time.  We had dinner at the Bella Sera Italian restaurant. I'm not saying the food was bad, it just didn't have enough flavor. It was kinda bland. mmm they say folks go to Kerrville in the retirement years to "Wait for Heaven" And as we get older aren't we to eat bland food? NOT ME! I want flavor and spicy. So it was just the restaurant. So ends the day. Back to the hotel we go to watch TV and turn in. Wait maybe we need a dessert! We go to Dairy Queen for their special, buy one blizzard and get one free. YAHOO what a deal. Pamela got one with brownies in it but I got the Reese's peanut butter cup and pieces extreme. YUMOkay now we're done for the day. Until next day and blog..... to be continued.... 

Busy Busy

Jan and Lulu

So picking up where I left off from last post. Retreat time had come to an end and it was time to head out. Denise and I got in our cars and headed to Round Top to visit our friend Jan. She and her husband found a deal they couldn't pass up. That Friday was only a preview day for the vendors for the big Antique show starting Monday for the Round Top area so traffic wasn't bad at all.
So Jan and her husband bought 10 acres with a house that came with furniture and dishes, a lean to and a shop. Well I think it was a shop.  I mean wow they found a beautiful place inside and out. Really appreciate the invite to see her new place.
From Jan's I headed to Pamela's to spend the night and go up to the farm the next day with David.

Pamela was going to Waco with her friends to the Silo's for some festival they were having up there. That's Laina and Thomas with Pam.
They said that the new bakery that Chip and Joanne from Fixer Upper built had a 2 hour wait to get into the shop to order anything. They blew that off.





I took Lilley and Sophie to the farm with me.

 They had fun hanging out at the pond which is now full and hanging out on the porch of the Mini Mansion. David was pulling what might have been cat-tails but actually I think it's wild onion because I found more all around the pond. I love the color of the pond. Of course once ducks arrive or the fish get bigger it will probably get a little more murky looking I'm sure but I love it now. And the shape is so much nicer. Now it looks like a real pond.
So there wasn't much I could do at the time so I pulled out my sewing machine and did some sewing on the porch. David came up on the porch sat down to relax  and said it would be great to come to the farm and not leave. One day it will happen.

 Sophie could never just relax but stayed close by. When I got off the porch a couple times to get water or take a few pictures she stayed on the porch but stayed attentive.



Then there's Lilley who followed me everywhere but after hanging out down at the pond walking around she had no problem relaxing on the porch. LOL
That sunshine and running around wore her out.

My niece in Missouri is always talking about her farm boy so I sent her this picture of David on the 4 wheeler taking a load of limbs he had trimmed off the crepes and vitex up at the front gate to the burn pile. He's a city boy turning country. I'll have to catch him on the tractor next time for her.

I left the dogs with David and I ran into Hearne to see if a BBQ place we keep seeing was opening to get lunch. And Yahoo it was. It's just on Hwy 6.just past hwy 79. At first I thought mmm looks dry but once I got back to the farm and we bit into the slice beef sandwich we were happy. And they make their own potato salad recipe that is delicious. David's not a big potato salad person but he really like theirs.  A new eating place found for March.

Isn't this beautiful? These wisteria are hanging over the road leading to the farm and covering it in purple blooms.   So ends a nice weekend after week at retreat.

I was needing some serving bowls that would work with my dishes. My current bowls are/were cream with pink and teal stripes that doesn't exactly go with red, brown and gold plates. 

Well I needed a couple of things from the grocery store and as I was walking in this clerk was putting out a variety of items when I noticed these red crockery serving bowls and they also had a couple of smaller bowls. I passed them and went about getting what I needed but before checking out I stopped and looked. Wow...only $3.49 each and the smaller bowls were only $2.49. Couldn't pass them up. They were perfect. They're in my cabinet now.

It's that lovely time of year Grrrr.... income taxes. Don't you just love it. Taxes are my chore. I already finished Pamela's Yippee.

I am excited to say that ours will be done before Pamela and I take off Thursday. All I need is a form from the bank, drop the number into the program and I'm done except for maybe the crying or a surprise. Depends on the numbers on the form. 

Thursday Pamela and I take off for our annual Mother Daughter trip to the Wine Hill Country. We'll be staying Kerrville again this year but we'll be spending time in Fredericksburg, Bandera and maybe Luchenbach. And I can't forget Comfort at the Moonshine Distillery.

Good timing since I only have one bottle of wine left. LOL
Until next blog post.... For me, life is about being positive and hopeful, choosing to be joyful, choosing to be encouraging, choosing to be empowering. Billy Porter