Bye Bye Arkansas Hello Texas

So Friday (10/25) we got up and went to the complimentary breakfast but I had to pass on thee-rubbery egg omelet thing and ate an English muffin and a so so sausage patty. I probably should have just made myself a hot waffle. Those never fail to satisfy but I needed protein.  I did think ahead and pack 6 little cups of my protein powder, my Javy coffee and my own Sugar free creamer. LOL

After breakfast we headed to Lindale, TX. Gonna stay there through Sunday.  On our way down we stopped at Stryks Pit BBQ place in Linden for lunch and it was really good with nice portions and was reasonably priced.  Once we got to Lindale and checked into our Hotel we went out to explore a little.  We drove just down the road to the Old Mill Pond Museum.  It looked like a cool place to check out but we didn't stay long because they closed at 4pm but we went through a few of the buildings.  Of course I'd find old quilts and sewing machines right off.

And all kinds of old kitchen tools and cooking stuff. Wish we could have looked through a few other buildings but it closing time. From here we headed to Red 55 Winery about 10 minutes down the road. It's owned Miranda Lambert and family. The name in honor of Miranda's first candy apple red truck. The young lady who served us was super nice and helpful. I had a tasting then ordered a glass while we sat there and talked. David went for a glass and passed on a tasting. Once we finished we walked through the shop called the Pink Pistol. 

It was time to find something to eat. We chose Posado's Mexican Food just past the hotel. The food was really good.

Now after driving, walking around the buildings at Old Mill, a glass of wine and filling our tummies we were ready to get comfy and watch some TV and sleep. Big party animals here. 

Saturday (10/26) we braved the complimentary breakfast downstairs. I opted for a bagel and my protein iced coffee. 

After breakfast we decided to head to the Tyler Rose Garden first while the morning was still reasonably cool because it was gonna warm up fast during the day. October is the month the roses should be blooming nicely and they were better than 2 years ago in 100 degree weather.

  

Not as many blooming as I was hoping for but way more than the last time we walked around. The gardens would be a great place to hang out to read or relax if I lived close by as long as the weather permitted..

    

       So many pretty flowers and butterflies.  David's knee needed a break while I took pictures and looked at all the plants.

I had a quilt to take pictures of so it got to travel with us and The Tyler Rose Garden was a good place to take pictures of it.

Kaleb's sister Sarah is getting married and I asked Pamela about making a quilt for her and Ashley. Kaleb and Pamela recently met them for dinner and gave them their quilt from all of us. I like how it turned out. I hope they enjoy it.

After walking around the garden and taking pictures we headed to Gladewater to antique shop. Several fun shops to look through.

I took some selfies with various hats and sent them to Tori (Pamela's future M I L) and said I found some hats to wear for the kids wedding with our dresses... LOL

My favorite is the chicken hat. OMG  LOL

David was wearing his Made in Texas Shirt. I hadn't noticed that it also said "a long long time ago" LOL  Ain't I cute.

The next shop we hit was packed. Once you went down a path you weren't turning around and sometimes you got lost. I needed bread crumbs to find my way to the front of the store. Bought a couple t-towels here.   

We were getting hungry so we headed to the restaurant that the hostess at Red 55 Winery suggested called Skippers Pier Coastal Cajun Kitchen.  David got a big bowl of gumbo and I got 6 big shrimp.  Food was pretty darn good. No complaints from us. We made happy plates/bowl.

We Left Gladewater and went to Jefferson, TX and did more antique shopping and checking out the town. Cool Place I want to go back and spend more time exploring. So we walked into this shop and this is what greeted us. Click Here  Creepy huh? Yes I know.  Well I'm not sure what's going on with the video feature on my blog so now I have to have you click on the words with the link to get it to work. 

Further to the back of the store I ran into this guy. Isn't he cute? And the next guy must have been around a while. 

Lol, had David sit down under this clown. This town loves Halloween.  They even have a haunted walking tour in the evening but we were gone before it started. 

We've been walking so much that we walked ourselves to bones.

On our drive around the town we found Bicycle Hill. There was so many bikes and as it got darker there were lights on them. 
There's lots of B&B's in this town and we found one called The Kennedy Manor. I think us and the other Kennedy's need to go stay there for grins. The prices were reasonable. 

 

Pretty cute place.  We were both tired of walking around and driving around the town so we decided to head on to Enoch Stomp Winery in Harleton for some wine and we had dinner reservations @ 7in the Corks Restaurant. We got there closer to 6 but it wasn't a problem and they got us seated right then. So no wine tasting but we did order a glass of wine while waiting for dinner. We ordered one dinner and shared.  We had a very yummy steak. And the heck if I remember what our sides were but they were good too.  

Our weekend is coming to an end. Tomorrow we have to get up and go home and go pick up our babies from the kennel. I texted to check on them a couple times and Ms. Sally said they were doing fine and eating well. When we did pick up Bruno and Sadie they were happy to go home but they seemed quite happy.

Sunday (10/27) We passed on the yummy complimentary breakfast at the hotel and went to Cracker Barrel down the road. That was more satisfying. We didn't have any other stops planned so we headed back to the big town of Gause. 

Hope you enjoyed our trip as much as we did.

Until next blog...When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love.

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