Saturday, August 6, 2011

IT COULDA BEEN WORSE!

Sorry for the silence yesterday.  Did you think I went AWOL?  Well, I did, sort of, but that's not why you didn't get your Friday post.  You can blame that on an unlucky equipment driver over at Meyer's Construction.  You see, at about 6:00 AM I tried to get a drink of water, but nothing came out of the tap.  My first thought was that the rain tank had finally gone dry.  But then I thought, no, that can't be.  Last time I checked it was still up to chest level on me.  Then I thought, crap, there's something wrong with our pump.  I went in to break the news to hubby, who was still in bed.

I was surprised to find him awake.  He said "No, it's not the pump.  It's the power.  The whole house just went dead, including my C-Pap machine."  Ah!  That would explain why he was awake.  We hadn't heard any of the loud pops which usually accompany a transformer blowing, so we assumed they had started doing some rolling blackouts to help deal with the extra burden this extreme heat has placed on the system.  We thought surely things would be back on in an hour.  OK, then two hours.  Well surely in three!  John finally went out to cruise the neighborhood, and see if anyone knew what was going on.  Turns out somebody knocked over an electrical pole over at Meyer's, and it was gonna take some time to get it fixed.

We were due to head out to San Antonio, for a meet up with Paula and Tim, around 11:00.  I was really hoping to take a shower, wash my hair, do some dishes, maybe even flush the toilet before we left, but by 10:00 we said forget this!  No point sitting in this oven any longer, when we could be in an air conditioned car, on our way to a nice hotel and the shady Riverwalk!  We just got back a few minutes ago, and luckily, the power was back on.  Also, I don't see any giant blobs of melted and re-frozen ice in the freezer, so hopefully the power wasn't off long enough for any of our food to spoil.  Woohoo! 

More about our uber-fun weekend to come...

Thursday, August 4, 2011

NOT GUILTY!


Earlier this summer I accused this new plant of hanky-panky, because new babies with similar long, slender leaves were popping up all around it.  Turns out I jumped the gun, and the evidence was purely circumstantial.

Once the babies grew a bit larger,  and began to bloom, I realized that I had pointed my finger in the wrong direction.  Instead, it should have been pointed waaaaaaay over there, to the far opposite corner of the Cantina Garden.

It should have been pointed at this Butterfly Milk Weed plant (Asclepias tuberosa) -- a favorite food of the Monarch butterfly -- one which I planted over a year ago, but no longer have.  Neither it nor the Esperanza plant next to it survived that long, hard freeze we had in February.  Guess they caught some of those NW winds that can come in on that side of the garden.  Before she croaked, though, Momma must have sent out lots of little seedlings, told them to find a better place to live.  I think she'd be quite happy to see how well they are all doing over on the far side of the garden.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

START SPREADIN' THE NEWS...

I'm leavin' today!  Well, no, not really.  We won't be going until mid-October, but still...I want to be a part of it, New York!  New York!  I can't get over it.  We rarely even take one vacation per year, and now Dear Hubby already has us booked for our second this year!  Not that I'm complaining, mind you.

I've been to N.Y. twice before.  We went to a wedding on Long Island once, many years ago, then I went back for work another time, when my boss decided to shake things up a bit and do our winter buying trip there instead of at our usual Atalanta market.  This will be our very first time, however, to go strictly for pleasure -- to stay right in the theatre district, and go to a different show each night we are there...Warhorse...Book of Mormon...Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.  So many good options!  So little time!
Cousin Jerry at our family reunion last summer -- the handsome hairless gentleman with the goatee.  Oh wait, I guess that describes pretty much all the men in my family! (the ones with hair in this photo aren't blood relations)
My cousin Jerry just happens to be the prop manager for Priscilla, and he has offered us a behind the scenes tour before the show.  He did that for us on our first trip there (he was a set designer for the Metropolitan Opera at the time) and it ended up being the highlight of our whole trip, which we still talk about to this day!

Then, of course, we must hook up with little Kevin Hall, who has been my son's best friend ever since they started school together in Indonesia.
Little Kevin's not so little anymore.
Perhaps Kevin can take us to one of the cafes where he and his writer-cronies like to hang out!

My dear sister, who has been to NY many times, shot me a list of must-do activities within minutes of hearing the news.  Obviously, she knows me well, for her list included two foodie venues (Trader Joes, and EATALY, Mario Battali's new food hall), two great shopping venues (Fish Eddy and ABC Home, where cousin Jerry sometimes finds great props, such as a spectacular chandelier, for his shows), and two places to have tea ( Alice's Tea Cup and the St. Regis Hotel).  We're gonna be a part of it, New York!  New York!

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

CURRENT CREATIVE OBSESSIONS


Yesterday was a fun day, from start to finish.  My only complaint was that it was so jam-packed, I never had more than a minute to work on my Seasonal Cooking Notebook, which has become my latest obsession, nor did I get to spend any time reading my Tana French thriller, which I must finish before I can jump into The Dirty Life, and the 100 other books that are calling to me. 

Also, I have got to get these two tea cozies finished, so I can get started on some of that fun stuff pictured above!  They are the last of those that I promised to send off, as part of a facebook meme, several months back.  The blue one was the very first one I started knitting, using yarn I already had.  I was so excited because I knew the recipient had gorgeous Mexican tile on all her countertops, in that gorgeous dark blue that ripples throughout the skein.  Unfortunately, I was half-way finished when I realized I might not have enough yarn, and none of the shops I searched still carried that particular color.  Arrgghh!  Then I remembered this scarf I knitted out of the very same yarn, which I always thought was overly long anyway.

I was just finishing up a post for Miss Becky Goes Abroad when hubby came and sat on the edge of the bed near me, and waited patiently for me to reach a stopping place.  He doesn't do that unless he has something important to say.  I stopped typing!  "You know how I was planning to go hang out with my brother in Ohio this October, while Prisi is away at some workshop?" he asked.  "Well, I've been thinking.  Since that will be so close to your birthday, and since I'd already be three quarters of the way there, what if we were to meet in New York right after that, maybe take in a few shows?"  Let's hear a "Yee-Haw 'n Heck Yeah!"

By the time we finished discussing that, I needed to throw on some clothes , clean up the kitchen, and head out to deliver Lexie's Art Chair to Arts From The Heart, which she had dropped of the previous day.  Dang, I hated to give it up.  It looked awful snazzy sittin' in my living room -- gave it a certain je ne sais quois.  I was itchin' to see what some of the other local artists had come up with, and I wasn't disappointed.  There were some doozies!  If I still had young 'uns at home, I would definitely be bidding on that rocket ship chair.

After a lunch taco to keep up my strength, a few errands, and a quick change into workout togs, I was off to my Zumba class (yes, I still love it!) and a grocery run.  I had just got everything put away, figured out what I would cook for dinner, and was settling down at the computer to work on that notebook, when hubby came to perch on the edge of the bed again.  I stopped typing.  "Ya know, if you were to hurry and get cleaned up, we could just make the 4:00 showing of Cowboys and Aliens over in San Marcos, maybe grab a bite to eat afterwards." 

Have I ever told you how much I love having a spontaneous, fun-loving hubby, who will never allow me to get too tied down to my boring schedules and routines?

Monday, August 1, 2011

HUBBY'S NEST

I've shared lots of pictures of my little nests over the last several years, but I don't think I've ever shown you my hubby's nest, down in the man-cave.

Since our house is built into the side of a hill, and his little cubbyhole is on the back side of the lower story, I guess it really is a cave, with nothing but a few cinder blocks separating him from the dug out earth!  I would feel totally claustrophobic there, without any windows or natural light, but he seems quite happy.

What about you?  What kind of nest do you have?  Where do you go when you need to think, want to create something, or just want to curl up with a good book?

Sunday, July 31, 2011

THIS MAKES ME HAPPY: SATURDAY SPLORIN' & THE OTHER SIDE OF WIMBERLEY


Most people who visit our tiny town know it only as the place with all the quaint little shops, a few good restaurants, a huge flea market once a month, and a lot of nice homes and B&Bs scattered along its creeks and river.  They have no clue what lies just a stone's throw away, hidden down behind those shops and houses -- what they might find if they were to follow that little path that leads down from the pavilion  and playground, between Inoz' and the public restrooms.

Being a city girl, born and bred, I've never spent much time in the woods.  Yesterday, though, the hubby and I decided to take advantage of a rare gift of cooling cloud cover.  We enjoyed a very pleasant lunch al fresco, on Inoz' creekside terrace, then followed that path that leads down from the square, then turns to follow the creek, showing us the other side of Wimberley's shops and houses.


The further you walk, the harder it gets to remember all the hustle and bustle up above, and the easier it is to imagine yourself walking in the footsteps of an early pioneer, seeing this lovely valley through their eyes.

I find it extremely difficult to wrap my head around the length of time it takes for trickles of water to carve a path through boulders such as these, or how that tiny trickle, in the blink of an eye,  can swell into a raging torrent that sweeps over those high ledges, carrying shops, houses, cars, and sometimes people, along with it.


How long must it take for cypress trees to reach this magnificent height, or for vines to become as thick as one's arm, and drape themselves from tree to tree?

Taking a walk on the wild side, and doing a bit of time travel to boot?  That makes me so very happy!

What about you?  What did you do to slow down this week, and enjoy the simple pleasures that life has to offer?  
Never forget: Slow + Simple = Happy!