IT'S FINALLY OPEN!

Several months ago a mysterious fence went up, blocking the view of a large section of the property out back of our favorite eatery, Hays City Store. Of course, we had to go take a peek. On it was a sign saying "Coming Soon! Hays City Ice House." And, just a couple of weeks ago, the fence finally came down! You know us. We were there the very first day to check it out.

Hubby's very first comment was "Oh yeah. Me and Mr. Toad (his BFF) could have some fun hanging out here!"

The soon-to-be-open kitchen and pizza oven.

I was a bit concerned about how empty it was at the time, as we were really hoping this addition would take some of the strain off the main restaurant. I needn't have worried. The following weekend we went back with friends Julie and Phil. And, for the first time in ages, managed to walk right in and snag a table inside with no wait, and without having to be there by 5:00! However, if you wanted a table outside, well...

that might be a whole 'nother ball o' wax, especially once the pizza oven is up and running!

PUNKIN CENTER BARN DANCE

Our instructions for project #2, in Junelle's "Heartwarming" class, were simply to sketch a few old barns or sheds, maybe add some pumpkins to make them seem fallish. Scrolling through my old photos, looking for barns, got me to thinkin' about a couple of barn dances we got invited to, not long after we moved here to the Hill Country.  There was this one at Montesino Ranch...

 and then there was this one, at Fischer Hall.

Fischer Hall really had that old weathered charm that Junelle's projects are all about, so I went with that.

Usually, at some point in the creation of a journal page, song lyrics pop into my head, and then become the title for the page and subsequent blog title, but that never happened here. So, just for the heck of it, I googled "barn dance songs", and guess what popped up?

Not what I would expect from David Allan Coe, best known for songs like Take This Job and Shove It, and You Never Even Called Me By My Name. Granted, it did have sort of an evil twist, despite its old timey sound. Must've been from way, way back. Anywho, as I was coming to the end of the sketch, it felt kind of blah -- like it was missing something. That's when I thought of the Harvest Moon we'd been graced with the night before.

I cannot tell you how much I love that big ol' moon, smiling down on the scene below!

 

IT HAS BEEN DECIDED

Apparently, my role as Mima is to be the one who is always willing to get down on the floor and play; to follow one around wherever one wants to go and let one do whatever one wants to do, as long as it isn't too dangerous; and, most importantly, to pick one up and carry one around so that one can point to every single thing hanging on the walls of anyplace one goes, while one says "Unh! Unh! Unh!"

However, when one gets tired of all that running around, and just wants to chill and relax? Well, Papa John is Duh Man!

And that's that!