Busy, Eventful, and Fun

 Got a quilt finished up for Pamela's nursing co-worker's baby shower. Pamela picked out all the fabris for this on like so many other quilts I make.
Before I give the quilts away 99% of the time I take pictures in various locations.  This one I called Blame it on the Wine.  LOL
I took most of the pictures at Bernhardt Winery in Pinehurst.

I had 3 errands to do this day. One was a doctors appointment, take pictures of this quilt for Hailey's Baby Boy to be and go see my Mom and Joe. They live just down the road from the winery.

 Donna at Donna's Lavender Nest quilted a puppy and bone motif. It came out so cute.  Can you see the dog and bones. 
I took one picture that I have to share. LOL. It was getting late so I didn't really expect it to come but do you see my photo bomber?  I had the quilt hanging on the fence and Jerry decided to check out what I was doing and get some attention.  You can see his eyes and just barely see his ears.  LOL

Almost Creepy but it's Jerry.

 Quilt photo shoot over for this quilt. I headed down the road to visit Mom and Joe.  She was having a good day. Had her go stand in front of Joe's Garden area for flowers and trees. 

Being a little sassy.  Love this picture of her.
Joe came over and took a picture with her.

Pamela shared a couple pictures of Hailey at the baby shower opening the quilt.

 Hailey doesn't like being the center of attention but Pamela forced her to smile when she took the picture. LOL 

Poor Hailey was being tortured by Pamela. Pamela said she did like the quilt though.    

I was on FB and saw a post on my sister's page and it said "If this isn't Barbara she has a twin?"  How funny the TV cam at the Chiefs 26 vs Vikings 23 game caught Barbara at the game.  She's the one with grey hair looking off in the distance.  Told her I was glad they didn't catch her picking her nose.  LOL                 

Got a phone call from our friends the Harpers and they asked if we'd be home on Saturday (11/9). Of course we are, come by I said.  Sheryl said they'd be here in the late afternoon. That was perfect and we even fed them.  Being in the country we don't get too many visitors and it's nice to have long time friends just stop in.

 I think this is the part of Pamela's job she loves the most.  Taking care of a fellow nurse/co-worker and her new baby.

Spenser a friend of Pamela's    knows her too well and sent her this T-Shirt. At first I thought WHAT! Then I read it again. Oh yeah.  That would be good shirt for me too. Unfortunately Pamela takes after me in coordination and walking. I cracked up.

We had a couple of nights below freezing and long enough that after Lilley ate her breakfast she tried to get a drink of water the next morning. She was little miffed at first but then continued to lick the ice.. I finally chipped a hole in the ice so she could get some water.

You can see the ice on the rain chains. I don't we saw a freeze until January when move up here in December.

 The weekend of the 14th we had made plans with Larry a co-worker of David's and his wife Sylvia to go to Fredericksburg for the weekend. They had never been. But darn it poor Larry hurt his leg and walking around town was not in the picture so they had to cancel.  We rented what we hoped was a cute and comfortable Airbnb. Whew it was and the price was very reasonable. We would have payed $100-200 more if we'd stayed in a hotel. Hate that they didn't get to go this time but we'll schedule a trip again with them. We went ahead and decided to go to the Hill Country on our own.  

Our friends the Jackson's sent us a text to see if we wanted to come see their new home in Austin and stay the night that Friday. David and I laughed because we were just about to text them to see if they wanted to join us in Fredericksburg and Kerrville since we already had reservations and couldn't cancel.  We decided we would stop by on Thursday for lunch and tour their new home. And they decided they could join us for the day and night Friday but had to leave mid-day Saturday. That works.

So here's the fun part... Not!

So we get to Kevin and Pam's in Austin on Thursday the 14th and took a tour their awesome home. It's really nice and spacious. And the special touches the previous owners put into this house were awesome. In the powder room the back was made of penny's. In their closet the previous owner didn't want to lose precious storage space and cut a spot in the closet under the stairs for storage. Pam & Kevin used it for suit cases.  There was a light in that space too. The house had 3 spacious quest rooms tucked down a hallway. There was some really nice tiling on the walls. Can't say enough about this house. The backyard was small but the patio was a nice size. A wet weather creek ran behind the house with lots of trees.  

After the tour we went to lunch at a restaurant just down the road. We had just put in our order and we were all talking and I was actually sitting still and square on the chair when all of a sudden I was going down. It was kinda surreal.  Needless to say the wooden chair dumped me on the floor and I landed hard on my butt and fell backwards hitting my head on the window framing.

I was stunned. The manager and I'm not sure who the other lady was but I do remember hearing her say she was a trained EMT.  David was next to me in no time. 

So that's how we started our trip to the Hill Country.  My back , butt and neck for the rest of the weekend were stiff and sore and I had a headache for about 2 days of it. Not a bad one but it was there.  Come to find out I was the 4th person to take a ride down to the floor because of the chairs being defective.

Of course and thankfully no one took pictures. Everyone worried about me all weekend. Everytime we came to a curb David would say watch out for the curb or the crack to tease me.  The one picture I did take was on that Sunday.

 

 I hadn't noticed before, but I turned just right and saw my right arm in the mirror.  Holy crap! I don't even remember hitting my arm.  

Today it's more purple and green.

After lunch we hung out for a while. Then We got on the road and headed to the Hill Country.

Well that's it for this post. I'll share the rest of the trip in my next post.

Until my next post....“Be strong and of good courage.”  Joshua 1:9

  

Love is in the Air

Exciting times. My Godchild Michelle got married on the October 25th to a nice young man named Matt.
Michelle became a Librarian a couple years ago so the table theme was a Library. It was really cute.
 
It was kinda like a family reunion at her wedding. There were several of her Aunts and Uncles that I hadn't seen in almost 20 years. And then others I got to see recently at her bridal shower.

This is her Aunt Lisa, cousin Tiffany and Uncle Terry.








And this is Tiffany's Mom. Michelle's other Aunt.  She and I did some travelling together and hanging out.  I could give you the whole family lineage. LOL But she's Lisa's sister.

This is Michelle's Dad and Mom.  Everyone looked so nice. All dressed to celebrate the union of Matt and Michelle.   

Here I go again having issues with lighting when trying to take pictures.

And here we are.  We all cleaned up pretty nice. This turned out to be a decent picture of us.

It's time for the bride and groom to say Good Night. I caught her cousin with the glow sticks on his head. Too funny.  And here they come. Ready to begin their new lives as Mr and Mrs. Michelle radiated peace, happiness and beauty. Okay I'm biased. She and Matt make a really cute couple.   And I do believe a Happy couple.I wish my pictures came out better.

My kid enjoyed the glow sticks too.

 He dipped her when introduced at the end of the ceremony and again as they left the reception.

 

 We were honored and blessed to be able to share in the celebration of their union.
And then it was time for us to drive back to the Rock'n K. Which was about an hour and half away but it was for a good cause.

On Saturday 10/26 Pamela got invited to join her high school friend Cole and his girlfriend to go to the Aggie Game against Mississippi.
Aggies won... Whoop!

 This is a rare moment. Cole had on an Aggie T-shirt and Hat.  OH MY!  He's a Texas Tech kind of guy but we won't hold it against him.  LOL.

Hopefully he didn't go home and burn them.
















Even Lilley girl showed her 12th Man spirit by wearing her scarf.










My former co-worker Letty who I call the Butterfly Whisper tried to release some butterflies recently but it was a little too chilly out and they didn't want to leave so they lined up on the back of a bench in her backyard. I mean how cool is this. They look like they are in order of size.  They are so beautiful.  Thank you Letty for letting me share your passion of raising butterflies.

Letty does this all the time not just once in a while. She would bring a butterfly container up to the office and pick people to come out to the parking lot to help her release her newest babies.
She's even enticed a few to start their own butterfly raise and release. 

I had told my sister to pick up some Blackberry Whiskey from Blackshire Distillery in Hermann, MO then realized they wouldn't let her ship.  I get a text from her later of Cresia holding a bottle of whiskey they grabbed while they were in Hermann and then 2 days later David comes home with a surprise....

He had stopped at Spec's and found a Bird Dog Blackberry Whiskey there. He's such a sweetie.

In the meantime I'm waiting for a visit from Barbara and Cresia. Y'all are too good to me.
David took the truck and trailer and went back into Houston on the first of November and came home with over 20 trees. They were in 30 & 50 gal. bucks. Got all of them for really great price. Now the poor guy has to figure out how to get them all planted.




He got these two planted in the front yard plus a couple of crepe myrtles and 6 potted plants. He was a busy boy. In the background is the new cattle pen to help coral and load our cows in the future.  Things are changing every time David comes home from work.

He never stops.

I was greeted with this sunrise on 11/1 on the way into Houston.  We had our first frost. That was the end of the Garden for now. 

I try not to get up that early most days trust me.

Between 8 and 9 are good.



Pamela and I were headed in to get our hair done. We don't want to give up our hairstylist Brittany @ Trendsetters in Tomball.  She does a great job.

Well that's it for now.
Until next blog...  There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved

Home Sweet Home and more

Pamela was babysitting Lilley while I was at retreat. She sends me pictures of Lilley everyday while I was gone.  Lilley is behind her baby Sophie. No telling where Brianna was. I picked Lilley up while Pamela was at work. I fed the girls before I left and sent them outside to take care of their business.
She's gonna be later than usual getting home.
Brianna is finally getting to run loose in the house with Sophie. One evening Pamela was really late and Brianna got a little bored and chewed on the window sills by the front door. She could have been mad at Pammy for getting home so late or just bored waiting. That'll teach Pamela for making her babies wait but Brianna is still pup like and growing up. 

Got home from Quilt Retreat that evening (10/10) and David was home waiting on me.

We got up Friday to run errands. As we drove down the road our neighbors cow were all lined up facing the fence.

I guess they were keeping each other warm. The cool wind was coming out of the North and they were facing South. Never seen this before.


We headed in to Rockdale to pick up David's truck from a repair shop that was recommended to us. Looks like they fixed the problem and it cost 75% less we expected. Then he treated me to Breakfast. He's such a sweetie.

I got home first and saw Stormy our youngest bull calf inside the hay ring standing on top of the bail of hay.
He's done this more than once. One day he's gonna get stuck in there and he's not gonna be happy.  LoL. He's finally starting to put some weight on. He's been so little for so long.






Saturday (10/12) mid day we headed into Cameron to the Steak Stein and Wine festival.

We now know we need to get there closer to 10 am to get in on the steak tasting part of it. We did get to check out a new Bistro opening up on Main (Hwy 77) in Cameron.  They served us a glass of wine and they had a couple of sample desserts for us to try. They provided a tour of the place and background info on all the work they did on it. They hope to provide live music sometimes.
Next we drove a few blocks down to the actual festival and parked in front of the old courthouse.



I love small towns. You don't fight the crowds, love the old architecture, and the history. We went through the vendor booths but actually didn't spend anything and next we tried out 2 of the 3 wine booths out.  Some old trucks and cars started lining up. David went to check out the cars and I went into the museum to check out the quilts on display.




Had a hard time taking good pictures. The lighting in the museum washed out the quilt colors.
But you can get the idea.

They had this quilt set up on a quilting frame. Looks like several ladies might have been hand quilting on it before I got there or maybe it was just set up to look like they had been working on it.  Again sorry for the quality of the photos.
 















This quilt was very scrappy. It had Loralie sewing ladies, UT, Western, Sports and many other fabrics were used as you kinda see.
Some of the quilts look like they were never used and newer but then some looked like they were older. I didn't touch the quilts to find a label and there was no one there with white gloves to turn them.

 
     This autograph quilt was pretty.                           Love the Sue Bonnet Sue.

And this farm quilt was pretty cool.






After  I finished looking around I went outside to find David. David suggested we go over to take a picture in front of the 44 Farms truck.  We keep hoping to catch their meat market open just outside of Cameron and try out their meat selection. Then I guess if we'd got to this event before one we might have gotten to taste some. oops.

Nice afternoon.

 Had to laugh at the pictures taken at the groomers of Sophie and Bri. Lilley didn't go this time. The girls went camping. LOL That's the back drop for the month. Cute. Sophie is a pillow princess so a camping trip would be unlikely for her but Brianna loves the outside. She's all about running wide open and checking everything out when she's at the Rock'n K.

I seem to have started a new collection on accident..... Tea Towels. Several have been given to me and David when we moved to the farm and a couple I bought and one of my Quilt retreat gals. I can't bear taking them down so I just display them on my oven doors and the fridge door. I realize one day I'll have to many and will have take some down or find a new spot to display. They've got some great sayings on them that totally reflect me/us.

     

About the middle of October I notice this yellow patch of flowers in the pasture just outside the yard. I don't remember seeing them before there they were.  They were really bright and pretty. No cows in the back pasture to eat them.

 When I walked back to the house Jerry came up to the fence and stuck his head through the gate for some attention and if he's lucky I have carrots.  And he was in luck
 


Check out this little cutie. This is my great nephew Preston. He just celebrate his first birthday.  He's grown. I saw him on our trip to Missouri in May and he was still so little.

 David and I made a day trip to Austin to check out the plant sale at Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. We thought it was gonna be cool so we wore long pants. Dang we needed shorts or for me Capri's. It got warm in a hurry.  Most of the plants were non-flowering or just not flowering. David bought a small Oak Tree and some small potted plants. Had to fit in the 4-runner.  Took quick selfie on one of the paths.


From Austin we stopped at the Rockdale Rodeo to see what it was all about.. It was close to maybe 5ish and the vendors and quilt exhibit was already packing up and closing down. Next year we'll know better. My neighbors little girl was showing rabbits so we went to look at all the show animals and found Kate's Bunnies. There was lots of bunnies and she came in 13th and in the end someone bought them. Didn't realize another neighbor's son Garrett had the Reserve Champion Lamb, and her daughter got 2nd with her lamb and 7th with her heifers and ran barrels and made it back to the next night  won the youth with a smoking run. Country Living is grand.  Love small town events I tell ya. It was active but it was a comfortable size crow. 

 If we could have convinced David to relax the next day we would have had him join Pamela and I as we headed towards Temple to 3 wineries. One of them is only open on certain dates and 10/20 was one of them. So off we went.
Our first stop was the Dancing Bee just outside Rogers.  We had been there before but we stopped this time since it was on the way to 2 of them that we hadn't been too.
The young lady serving us was fun and informative.












We drove 12 miles down the road to the next place.  The Moose & Goose isn't always open.  You have to look at their website to determine when that is. It's out in the country side. It's pretty out there. They had a couple of dogs who acted like the official greeters. And Kittens provided entertainment  while we sat inside and tasted the wines.

Cheers to a pretty day for an outing.





We drove another few miles down the road to the 3 Texans. Out in the middle of the country side again. A pretty setting and some tasty wine.



First thing you see as you walk into the building is this sign. Made me laugh and think "Yep that's right"

While paying our bill I was walking around the shop and found the ... Wine-opoly Board Game!  Just a couple of days early my former neighbor Deborah W. tagged me on FB with the caption "Not sure why this made me think of you".  LOL.  No Clue..  

 Time to go home.  Wine Tasting Run is over.

 
A couple days later I was driving home from LaGrange and finally saw these cows again. Check out those horns. They are huge.  I think they are a breed called Watusi.

And then this poor gal can hardly hold her head up while eating grass. I'm easily amused while driving down the road. They're actually a pretty cow.

 My next blog will feature this young couple. The girl is my Godchild Michelle and she recently married Matt. So happy for her. They just got they're marriage license in this picture and 2 days after they'd be getting married.






So until then....Whatever things are true, just, pure, lovely.  If there be any praise. Think on these things.” Philippians 4:8