NOT A BAD START: MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND

I confess. This post has a double purpose. Primarily it's to share a lovely HIll Country day with you. But I figured it couldn't hurt to remind our son Austin what he's missing out on this weekend, so he'll get his rear in gear and bring his two favorite gals to see us sometime soon!

Lex and Nate came in Friday evening after dinner, so we stayed up late talking, then let them sleep in on Saturday. Oh, ok, I admit it. I had a great book I just had to finish before I started visiting and gadding about. If you were adopted yourself, have adopted a child, or just happen to know someone who was adopted, I highly recommend a just-released book called Two Hearts: An Adoptee's Journey Through Grief To Gratitude -- a memoir written by my Story Circle Network and blogging friend, Linda Hoye. Like me, Linda is an introverted, rather private person, and I can only imagine how difficult it was for her to share her story with the entire world. She is a woman with a mission, though -- to let the world see "what it was like to be raised during the era of closed adoption, when the process was shrouded in shame." It's important that we all see how the secrecy of closed adoption hurt those the process was intended to protect. I got just one or two chapters read before the kids arrived, then got up at 4:30 am yesterday to read a little more, but didn't put it down until I reached the last page. I couldn't!

Anyhoo, once everyone was up, we headed for our favorite pizza joint/brew pub, Brewster's. Whilst there, we were reminded that Wimberley Glassworks was honoring their 20th anniversary this weekend with a huge "Glass Bash", so we decided to go check it out.

Ponty Bones and the Squeezetones -- one of my favorite local groups!

Tim has gone from making his first, thumb-sized piece of blown glass in 1980, to doing lighting installations, such as the one pictured above, in commercial building and private homes all over the country!

Great food and beverages from local brewers, distillers, bakeries and cafes.

I caught my hubby hanging around at the sales counter and went to rein him in, but got shooshed away. I'm guessing this anniversary celebration inspired him to purchase something to honor another anniversary that's coming up next week -- our 37th!

From there we headed out to Driftwood Winery. None of us were hungry for dinner yet, so we thought it might be nice to share a bottle of wine somewhere picturesque. Unfortunately, the tasting room was closing up just as we got there. Still, it was worth the trip, just for the view!

We still weren't hungry, but we were already in Driftwood, and we knew the wait for a table at Salt Lick, on a holiday weekend, was bound to be long enough to build up our hunger, so we headed on over there.  Waiting time estimate? One hour and forty five minutes! We took our buzzer and headed back to the their tasting room, which has a lovely new deck/seating area all its own.

In less than half the estimated time, they called us to our table. Would you believe me if I told you I ate only veggies? Nah, didn't think so. Just can't resist the aroma of roasting flesh!

Not a bad start to the weekend, eh? Today we're thinking perhaps Men in Black or the Blue Hole.