FLASHBACK FRIDAY: A REASONABLE LIFE

Have you ever picked up a book on a whim, and had it alter the course of your life? That's what this second book in my year of reading dangerously did for me. Or, perhaps it didn't actually alter my course. Maybe it just confirmed what I already knew in my heart to be true, and gave me the confidence to act upon it. And, considering the state that our country is in right now, I'm thinking it might just be time for me to pick that book up once again, just to make sure I haven't strayed too far off the path to "a reasonable life". 

FLASHBACK 

 

FLASHBACK FRIDAY: DANGEROUS READING

If I had to choose my favorite posts I've ever done, in more than ten years of blogging, it would most certainly be the series I called "My Year of Reading Dangerously." I think perhaps it's time for me to revisit that series, not just for your reading pleasure, but also to remind myself exactly what brought us to this special place, and what we hoped to accomplish here. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

FLASHBACK

P.S. Sorry I won't be able to repeat the give-away, as I even gave away several of my own beloved books the first time, when I was unable to track down extra copies of them.
 

FLASHBACK FRIDAY

Wow. What a difference ten or eleven years can make! Go here if you are interested in seeing snippets of how it all began -- our transition from big city suburbanites to lovers and livers of "the good life" here in the Texas Hill Country, and my own transformation from total Luddite to barely adequate blogger. (Of course, you'll have to picture the story surrounded by the most generic template Blogger had to offer at the time, rather than my custom made header and fancy side bar. 😄)

THROW BACK THURSDAY

I have never really participated in the Throw Back Thursday tradition on Facebook -- where people post pictures of themselves or loved ones, in days gone by, each Thursday. I do, however, occasionally stumble across a blog I like so much that I am curious about how it all started. With one or two I even went back to the beginning and read every post, from start to finish. For some reason I woke up in the wee hours this morning, thinking maybe I should do that with my own blogs, to remind myself of all that has happened and how our lives have evolved since purchasing this place we call "Seasonality." But, sheesh, that's a LOT of blog posts to read!

So, instead, I decided to do my own version of TBT. I thought perhaps that, once a week, I would pick out a series of posts that happened on or around that same date, and then I'd read through them chronologically. I think it will be a good way to see how things have changed, how much we have learned, and to remind myself of that which may have been forgotten. After all, this blog is all about "embracing change", is it not?

In case you are interested in joining me on this journey, and seeing just what was going on here around this date in years past, here are a few posts to get you started:

2008 -- The Rule of Three

2009 -- Back to Synchronicity

2010 -- Weaving Together A Good Life

2011 -- Just Doesn't Get Any Better 'N This: Wimberley Hike & Bike

2012 -- A Budding Passion

2013 -- I Got My Baby Back

2014 -- 'Tis The Season

Enjoy!

FIRST WIMBERLEY CHRISTMAS: FINAL EPISODE

CHRISTMAS '05

John and I got up early on Christmas Eve, and headed into town for breakfast at Cypress Creek Cafe. Of course Miss Bobby, a local octogenarian, was already there in her favorite booth, as she is every morning, holding court. One of these days, I'm going to get my nerve up, go introduce myself, and ask her to tell me her story. I've always been the type of nosy person who wants to know how couples met, and that sort of thing. Now I'm dying to get the scoop on everyone in Wimberley - how did they get here, what did they leave behind, and how did they choose this particular place?

The rest of the day was spent in preparation for the big event, and introducing John and Austin to the wonder of the new Whole Foods store. We roasted a beautiful beef tenderloin and some broccoli that had been tossed with garlic and olive oil for our Christmas Eve feast, and served them with a nice horseradish sauce, mashed potatoes, hot curried fruit compote, and a luscious apple pie that John had nabbed on his quest the previous day. After dinner we headed into town to attend the candlelight service at the Presbyterian Church, then wandered over to the Emily Ann Theater to walk the Trail of Lights.

The Emily Ann is another one of those unique places that makes Wimberley so special. I believe it was established by a couple as a memorial to the beloved child they had lost. It serves a variety of purposes throughout the year. In spring it is the site of a huge butterfly launch. In summer it provides an open air stage for a play about the founding of Wimberley, as well as several Shakespearean productions. And best of all, in winter it is the place where all of the different organizations in the area set up individual holiday light displays, and you can follow a walking path through them all. My favorite this year was a scene where life-sized papier mache deer sat roasting huge marshmallows over an open fire, while big possums hung upside down from a nearby tree limb, looking on. Speaking of marshmallows, at the end of the trail, you come to the fire pit where they burn a huge yule log each evening, and visitors can sit roasting marshmallows and sipping hot chocolate. We opted to come home and make hot chocolate here instead, so we could try out the fabulous homemade marshmallows that we had picked up at Whole Foods. We took it downstairs with us to sip while we watched our annual Christmas movie together. Again, you are probably picturing "It's A Wonderful Life" or "White Christmas", but no, I'm afraid not. I don't remember exactly how it started - I think maybe one year someone gave John a copy of "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes" for Christmas. Since most of my family usually spends the night with us on Christmas Eve, we often have some time to kill after all the festivities are over, but before we are ready to turn in. John stuck that movie into the VCR, primarily for the entertainment of the teenagers and the men in the family. They had such a good time watching it that the following year he went out and bought another bad Sci-Fi film for them to enjoy, and ever since, the guys have been competing to see who could come up with the most bizarre "B" movie for everyone to watch. This year it was "Reefer Madness - The Musical", which surprised us by being not terrible.

* * * * *

Well, it's finally Christmas morning, and as usual, I am the first one awake. Up until this point, I haven't really minded not having a tree up, but suddenly I miss it terribly. This is the time I always enjoyed it most. I just love sitting here in the quiet, early hours, with everyone else still asleep, enjoying the beautifully lit tree in a darkened room, with mounds of wrapped presents underneath, and each person's stocking so full of goodies that they are overflowing into the chairs around them. To me, this is the magic hour, and it's all downhill after this. Other than missing the tree, I think this has been a near-perfect Christmas. Somewhat bittersweet though, knowing that my baby girl will soon be moving off to California, and might not be able to come home for the holidays a lot of the time. As much as I enjoyed having a small, simple Christmas this year, I also love having a large and boisterous family, and will be especially thankful to have them all around me on those occasions when the kids can't be here. Either I was extra sensitive to it this year, or else Wimberley just has more retired people than I'm accustomed to, but it seemed like every time I turned around, I heard people asking each other "Where are you spending the holidays this year? Will you be with your kids?" Way too often, the answer was "No, afraid not". It made me savor this time with them all the more.

Once the last package had been ripped open, John and I went into the kitchen to prepare our traditional Christmas breakfast of bacon, eggs, and those cinnamon rolls that come in the pop-open can with a little pot of icing in the bottom - not exactly a gourmet feast I'm afraid, but all efforts to upgrade the menu are strongly resisted. When we had finished eating, John and the kids wandered off to play with their new toys, and I tried to straighten up the disaster that was our living room. Then I couldn't resist going for a long walk outside, for it was an absolutely gorgeous day (probably in the 70's!). Mid-afternoon we joined up again, in order to enjoy our final family tradition - heading out to the movies to see a newly released blockbuster. Growing up, it seemed that more often than not, it was usually the latest James Bond film. This year it happened to be "Memoirs of a Geisha". After that, we wandered around town, as we always do, desperately hoping to find at least one restaurant open, so we wouldn't have to go home and eat leftovers. One year my whole family was visiting us out in west Texas, and we ended up at a big truck stop in Odessa. We had such a good time that it sticks out in memory as one of the highlights of all our holidays together. This year the only game in town was one of those all-you-can-eat Chinese buffets, which we usually avoid like the plague, but this time we weren't so picky. I thought everyone else in the world adored eating Christmas leftovers, but this place was bursting at the seams with people who obviously felt the same way as us. It turned out to be the perfect ending to a perfect day. The only thing that could have made it better, we all agreed, would have been some strolling waiters singing "Fa-ra-ra-ra-ra", as they did in the movie "A Christmas Story". We entertained ourselves by periodically erupting in contagious snickers, just at the thought of it!

FLASHBACK: FIRST WIMBERLEY CHRISTMAS

PART IV

Two Cool Dudes

Originally, Austin was planning to spend a full week in Dallas, hanging out with his best buddy from middle school. I was shocked when he called to say he was coming to Wimberley earlier than planned. Apparently he wasn't having as much fun as anticipated. Back in the early days, his buddy had just been a fun-loving, goofy kid who made average grades, and was only interested in girls, clothes, and hanging out with his pals. His father was some kind of financial consultant to the rich and famous, and was determined that his son would follow in his footsteps. Dad kept threatening to send him to private school, so he would be around the "right kind of people". We thought that was pretty funny, since our school district was nothing but upper-middle class, and you had to have well above a 4.0 GPA to even be close to top 10% of the class. Shortly after we moved away, Dad did in fact send him off to boarding school in Switzerland, so he could begin making "contacts", with summer programs at Oxford as well, so he and Austin were rarely able to get together. When Austin found out that his buddy would actually be in Dallas while we were there, he couldn't wait to see him, but I guess his father's brain-washing campaign was more successful than any of us anticipated. Austin said the entire time he was there, the guy talked about nothing but the future of investment banking, how much he was going to hate his job, but how rich he would end up being, and whether he should buy a Mercedes or a BMW.

Now, I will admit that I have occasionally felt twinges of doubt with regard to our parenting skills. I sometimes wonder if we cheated our kids by not pushing them harder, by not filling their every waking moment with private lessons and educational pursuits, and by not demanding that they be the best at everything they do. How would they compete against kids who have? But then I usually come to my senses and think "Nah, that would suck." What could be more wonderful than having kids who not only like themselves and love what they do, but who also still like hanging out with their folks upon occasion? Besides, look what happened to all those other wunderkinds who were determined to prove to Daddy that they could run with the big dogs - they're mostly in jail! Anyway, that's what Austin is claiming to be his reason for coming home early. Truthfully, he was probably worried that we were having too much Christmas fun without him. We had Taco Soup and warm focaccia bread for supper after the boys arrived, then we all snuggled up on the sofa together to watch "The Polar Express". It just doesn't get any better than that.

 

The next day Austin and I headed to San Marcos to finish up the last of our shopping. I needed to stop in at Hill Country Humidor to get a gift certificate for John's stocking. He loves going to that place because it's run by an old hippie with a ZZ-esque beard, who's a lot of fun to gab with. This guy has definitely perfected the art of living "the good life". He posts no hours of business on his shop door because he refuses to be held to a schedule - he opens when he damn well pleases! His bookkeeping system is rather unique as well, but ingenious. To pay for my gift certificate, I pulled out a credit card, but he said "Oh sorry, no can do. Has to be cash or a check for a gift certificate." I said "Oh really, why is that?" He demonstrated by taking the $20 bill I handed him and dropping it into a little zip-lock baggie, along with the stub from the certificate. Apparently, when John comes in to spend the certificate, he will simply pull the baggie out of his file drawer and hand him the $20 to spend. Makes perfect sense to me!

While I was doing that, Austin popped into Paper Bear to finish up his list. This store is every merchandiser's worst nightmare - their philosophy is cram as much merchandise as you can into as little space - but for some unknown reason, it works. Maybe it's because this is a college town, and students aren't all that particular. Or maybe it's because it makes you feel as if you are on a safari or a treasure hunt. I think I love it because it reminds me of shopping at my neighborhood Five and Dime as a kid. All I know is, whatever you are looking for, odds are, they will have it. When we had completed our shopping, we headed back to Wimberley to meet up with John, who had spent the morning comparing the offerings of our local pie companies, of which there are at least three. Once Alexis got off from work, we headed out to participate in one of our annual traditions - attending some type of Christmas theater production. Now, most people would immediately think "The Nutcracker", or perhaps "A Christmas Carol", but I'm not married to most people. We were headed for the Alamo Draughthouse in Austin, to attend the special Christmas performance of "Mister Sinus Theater". If you were ever a big fan of "Mystery Science Theater" on TV, where they had that guy and two little robots sitting on the front row at the movies, watching old, really bad sci-fi flicks, and providing rude remarks and commentary throughout, then you would love Mr. Sinus, because it is a live, comedic spoof of the TV program. However, if you hated that show, or have never even heard of it, then you just wouldn't get this one at all! John and the kids adored it, and I adored watching them and their reactions.

To be continued....

 

FLASHBACK: DECK THE HALLS, PART II

Part Two of a Post Written 12/05

Posted to Seasonality 12/13/07

We met Alexis in Dallas on the Saturday before Christmas, and celebrated with my family that evening. John had to go back to Houston to work for a few more days, and Austin wanted to stay in Dallas to hang out with some old buddies, so the next morning I drove to Wimberley with Alexis. Of course, our first evening there, we had to go to our favorite little Mexican joint, Juan Henry's. Actually, I guess you can't really call it a Mexican joint anymore. Originally, the proprietor owned two restaurants. One was just off the town square, looking out over Cypress Creek -- where Inoz' is now. It was called John Henry's, and served burgers, chicken-fried steak, and such. The other one, out on River Road, was called Juan Enriquez's, and was strictly Tex-Mex. One year John Henry's suffered serious flood damage, and rather than trying to rebuild it, the owner combined the two restaurants, and the two names, at the River Road location. Thus, Juan Henry's was born. Still our favorite place to eat! After dinner we went back to the house, and I just can't describe what a thrill it was to see my little house twinkling festively up on the hillside. Once we were inside, we curled up in our cozy chairs by the fireplace, with our fuzzy lap throws tucked around us, and I presented Alexis with her first Christmas present. This was no ordinary gift, however.

Years ago, when we moved to Indonesia, Austin was just starting kindergarten, and Alexis was in third grade. Although I didn't keep a journal at the time (picture me slapping my forehead and saying "Doh!"), I did try to write weekly letters home to the grandparents, filled with everything the kids were doing, so they wouldn't completely miss out on watching the kids grow up. Just for my own entertainment, I tried to make the letters as humorous and interesting as possible.

Now, fast forward about ten years, to the time when John's mother had just passed away, and we were trying to empty out her house in Odessa before selling it. The one glimmer of light in a horrible, horrible task, was to discover a little bundle of 25 airmail envelopes, with my handwriting scrawled across the front. Could it be? Oh Joy, Oh Joy! She actually saved some of my letters! Because things were in such a turmoil at that time, I didn't tear into them immediately. Instead I took them home with me, put them up on the shelf in my closet, and savored the pleasure that I knew was in store for me one day.

Funny. I thought I remembered every single thing about those years in Indonesia, but apparently there was quite a bit that had slipped my grasp, and which came rushing back as I read through those letters. For instance, I had completely forgotten about the time when Austin was six, and we were all sitting around the dinner table. Out of the blue, Austin said "Dad, do I have any ann-brothers?" John said "That depends. What's an ann-brother?" Austin replied "Well, you know how Granny has all those ann-sisters she's always talking about? Since I'm a boy, does that mean I have ann-brothers?" Now, how on earth could I have forgotten that? And what about the time when the two Hall boys had just arrived on the compound, and had come over to play? Not long after they showed up, Alexis stuck her head into my room and whispered "Mom! I think I'm in love!", referring to the elder brother. Austin, on the other hand, ended up in tears, because the younger brother, Kevin, told him that all our video games were stupid. Alexis fell out of love rather quickly, but Austin and Kevin have been best friends ever since, and intend to go into business together some day, designing video games!

Anywho, I was planning to just sit there reading my book, while Alexis read all the letters, but every time she laughed, or gasped, or said "Oh my gosh!", I had to stop and ask her what she was reading about at that point, and that would get us to talking about the various events and the people involved. By the time she folded the last letter and put it back into its envelope, it was way past my bedtime, but oh my, my, what a wonderful time we had!

 (to be continued)
 

M.I.A. AND A BLAST FROM THE PAST

We're fixin' to head up to Dallas for some festive frolicking with the Thomas clan. Meanwhile, I thought it might be fun to share a bit of history with you -- revisit the series of posts I wrote that very first Christmas that we spent here in the Wimberley house. To give you a bit of background, we stumbled upon this place in November of '04, went a bit crazy and made a lowball offer, which, thanks to a bit of synchronicity, was accepted. The following photos are the ones we took when we came here to close on the house, on our way up to Dallas for Christmas, right at NINE years ago! My transformation from Big City Suburbanite to Hill Country Character began almost immediately, even though, at first, we only came up here every other weekend. That's also when the writing bug bit me big time, and I started filling up notebook after notebook with stories of our adventures here -- though Hubby didn't convince me to transfer them to a blog until a couple of years later.

 DECK THE HALLS: PART I

Written 12/05

Posted on Seasonality 12/07

 

No matter how long I live here, Texas weather never ceases to amaze me. Yesterday it was in the mid-eighties all day, and I was wishing I had packed some shorts this time. We opened all the windows and turned on the ceiling fans before we went to bed, and still I was kicking off the covers because I was so hot. This morning I woke up to the sound of wind slamming doors shut and blowing everything in the house around, and suddenly I'm shivering and grabbing for the quilt. Obviously it has "come a norther", as my friend Paula says. Now I'm back to sitting on the porch in my flannel-lined overcoat with gloves and ear-warmers on. Oh well, at least it feels more like Christmas now. It also looks more like Christmas - meaning it's totally grey and overcast. Maybe that's why I actually like dreary days. They make me feel festive because they remind me of the holidays. Snow is so rare around here that for us it's considered a freak occurrence - about like a tornado or hurricane. Schools let out, businesses shut down, cars bounce off of one another - talk about fun! But not something we actually associate with Christmas.

 

 

Hard to believe it's been a whole year since we bought this house. Closing date was just a couple of days before Christmas. We loaded our truck up with the bare essentials, drove to Wimberley to sign the papers, went straight to the house, unpacked and sort of camped out here overnight, then went on to Dallas to spend Christmas with my family. So, this is our first Christmas actually spent in the house, and I get to stay for two solid weeks! We sure have managed to fill up all that empty space in a short period of time. Of course, a lot of it belongs to Alexis, but it won't be long after she leaves before John manages to fill up that space as well. Apparently my husband abhors a vacuum, and just isn't happy until every house we buy is absolutely stuffed with stuff. Personally, I liked it better when there were still some empty spaces. We didn't even bother to set up the tree this year because we couldn't find anywhere to put it! I keep reminding John that we will have to combine these two houses into one some day, but that boy just loves to shop. What a pair we are. He loves clutter, I just hate it. He likes dark and cozy, I need light and airy. He's Victorian frou-frou, I'm Arts and Crafts simplicity. In order to save my sanity, and to keep from turning into the wicked witch of the west, I suggested that he could decorate the downstairs (his office, TV room and guest bedroom) any way he chose, if he would let me decorate the upstairs (the kitchen, living area and master bedroom), and agree to keep it a clutter-free zone. I just hope there will still be space for actual guests in the guest room, by the time he's finished.

Entrance to Main Level of House

Garage/Laundry Room/ Mystery Storage Loft

When we were here for Thanksgiving, I managed to get some garland with red bows looped across the porch railing, and icicle lights strung from the eaves, but that's about as far as we got with our Christmas decorating. Alexis was right in the middle of all her final projects for school, and had them spread over every surface in the house. I didn't have the heart to make her put it all away, just so I could start decking the halls. Besides, we weren't even certain where most of the Christmas stuff was stashed. My sisters didn't really believe me when I said I was okay with not having a tree up for the first time ever. They think I must be depressed or something, but as long as I can come home in the evening and see the twinkle lights up on the porch, then come inside and light up my pine scented candle and listen to some carols, I'm as happy as a little clam. After all, I've been doing the Christmas thing at work since last August, so I've had a pretty good dose! One thing I just love about my job at the nursery is that, once I get everything set up for Christmas, there's not much left for me to do, and I can reduce my hours just when I need the extra time to do my own shopping and holiday preparations. By mid-December there is nothing left for me to do at all, so they have me take vacation until after New Year's - perfect for entertaining house guests or going out of town. This is certainly a far cry from my days working in retail and for florists and caterers, when this was their most frenzied time of all! Because I had so much time off, it only made sense to spend it all in Wimberley. It looks like John and Austin will both be able to spend time here as well, so we are all quite excited - one more step towards feeling more like Wimberleyites, and less like visitors. (to be continued...)

The View That Cinched the Deal

TIME TRAVEL

I have been keeping track of my days in notebooks and agendas for about forty five years now, and have pretty much filled up an entire cedar chest with them. The odd thing is that, other than using them to nail down the sequence of events over on my Miss Becky Goes Abroad blog, or to figure out when my last eye exam or mammogram was, I almost never go back to look at any of them. It's just way too time consuming to dig through them all. I have, however, found another way to time-travel, one that just tickles me no end. 


Once you become a home owner, as I'm sure you know, there seems to be a never-ending to-do list, and sometimes I feel a bit overwhelmed by all that still needs to be done here at Seasonality. One thing that helps me to adjust my perspective is to scan back through the photos I have posted on this blog. I feel so much better once I've taken one of these quickie trips through time, and am reminded of all that we have accomplished already, and just how far we have come. On one cooking blog that I was reading for a while, at the end of each posted recipe, there are links back to each recipe she posted on that same date in each of the previous few years. It got me to thinking, about how fun it would be to have those kinds of links on my own blog. If only I knew how to set something like that up, then on any given week -- take mid-July for instance -- at the mere click of a button, I could travel back through the last four or five years and see just what I was doing in...

2008:

My first ever float at the Blue Hole with the Muses,
which inspired one of my first ever mixed-media pieces - Arms Wide Open.

Pining for a gen-u-ine cistern, to replace our little green plastic rain barrels.

2009:

Attending my first ever Rain Dance.

Dealing with the heartbreak of having to move Mom into assisted living.

Brainstorming ideas for transforming this eyesore area into an Hacienda-Courtyard-Kitchen-Cantina Garden.

2010:

Going bonkers over producing my first ever little Sugar Baby watermelon.

Getting the Cantina Garden all decked out for an upcoming cousins reunion, and wondering when the heck that Mexican restaurant that went in across the street was finally going to open!

2011:

Tearing up our kitchen and bath.

Beginning my search for the perfect tomato tart recipe.

Being ever so grateful that my hubby was finally living here full-time, even if it meant having a garage packed full of stuff that needed homes to be found for, and reorganizing just about every room in the house!

Yep, we've come a long way baby, and it sure would be awesome to have some of those flashback links on my blog, so I could remind myself of that on a regular basis, don't you agree? If only I knew how to install them!

GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST

I pulled out a fresh sheet of drawing paper this morning, to start work on a new winter "to do" list.  Then it occurred to me that perhaps I should flip back through my notebook-full of these lists, to make sure I'm not repeating myself too much.  I had so much fun browsing through the old ones, I thought maybe you would enjoy them too.  (You should be able to click on the images to enlarge)

DAY TRIPPIN'

Just for the fun of it, I decided to go back and re-read the posts I have written, right around this same time of year, each year that we've had this house.  Oh my gosh, what a trip!

Do you remember this one from '05, called Happy Birthday to Me, about our first drive over to Fredericksburg?  The drive that took almost five hours!

In '06 I wrote I Won't Grow Up, which told of my discovering the Mystery at Jacob's Well.

In the fall of '07, when I wrote Lean On Me, we were recovering from all the repair work that had to be done after our roof just up and blew away, were extremely grateful for the wonderful friends that got us through it, and had just discovered an amazing little cafe, called The Leaning Pear.

In the fall of '08, we began our Year of Reading Dangerously book give-away, I was learning to appreciate Me, As God Intended, and I published my very first pictorial to-do list in She Loves Her Lists.

The next fall I gave you a Sneak Peak at my plans for a Mexican Hacienda Couryard Kitchen Cantina Garden, we learned that our precious Lexie was finally going to return, after four years of living in California, and we had to face up to the fact that the last of our four parents was going steadily downhill, and we were about to become the senior generation! 

 This time last year I was celebrating fall making concrete yard art and having tea parties with the Muses, attending my first ever dinner party held Outstanding In Her Field, and getting ready for my hubby to move to Wimberley full-time, at last!

Hard to believe another whole year has elapsed since then.  Impossible to believe almost seven have passed since we bought this house -- seven years of living the good life!  It's easy to forget, sometimes, what a truly wondrous trip this has been.  Thank goodness I have this blog to remind me!

FROM THE ARCHIVES: STARTING OFF WITH A BANG

I thought it might be fun to go back and read what was going on around this time five years ago, when we'd owned the place for a year. We've come a long way, baby!

WRAPPING UP THE FIRST YEAR (1/06)

Yippie-kai-yo-kai-yay! They're coming to pave our driveway today! I'm so excited, I can hardly stand it - even if it does mean we will probably be trapped here at the house once they start work. Now if only we had a washer and dryer here, things would be perfect.

By Monday, the day after Christmas, we were running out of food and underwear, so Lex loaded up all the dirty laundry and hauled it over to the laundromat in San Marcos, and I went to exercise and do the grocery shopping. Unfortunately, the dryers at the laundromat don't actually get things completely dry, and since Lex was going straight from there to Austin, to meet up with friends, she stuffed all the damp clothes back into the laundry bag, and it spent the night in the trunk of her car. Tuesday morning we pulled them out of the bag, and had to spread them out all over the bed, and drape them over chairs. They are finally dry now, but the wrinkles are something else! Let me think, do I even have an iron here in Wimberley?

Once we finished with that, I went with John to get his hair cut at the old-fashioned barbershop in town. It shot me straight back to the sixties, when I used to accompany my little brother for haircuts occasionally. The shops were almost identical, except for one major difference. At this one, one chair was manned by your typical good ol' boy, who just loved yakking about fishin' and huntin', but the other was manned (or should I say wo-manned) by a young gal with very long legs, and a very, very short skirt. Looks like she's pretty popular, too. I heard her taking lots of calls while I waited, and it sounded like she was booked way ahead, whereas John was able to walk right in and get a cut from the guy with no appointment at all. Hmmm, go figure? Oh yeah, there was one other big difference from the shop of my childhood. We didn't get any Double Bubble gum when they finished John's haircut, or even a lollipop. Bummer.

* * * * *

Well, I guess my excitement about the excavator was a bit premature. We waited around all day on Wednesday, and finally, sometime in the late afternoon, we heard someone chugging up the driveway. When we looked out the door, we saw a truck pulling a trailer up the hill, with a tractor loaded on it. The driver proceeded to unload the tractor, but then got back into his truck and just drove away! That was it. Zip. Nada. Well, I reminded myself, what the contractor actually promised was that the tractor would be there by Wednesday, not that they would begin working then, so I can't really say he was lying, can I? The next day, we waited in vain all morning. After lunch, another tractor showed up, but again, the driver turned around and left. Round about supper time, a piece of pipe showed up. So, we're zipping right along on this project. "Remember Becky", I remind myself again, "you wanted a slower-paced lifestyle!"

* * * * *

It is now Friday morning, and my hands are shaking so hard, it's difficult to write. I had been working in the kitchen earlier, when I heard a loud crash from the direction of the bedroom. I had all the windows open, so I assumed that something big had blown over. When I ran in there to check it out, I discovered that was not the case. What I had heard was the sound of the ceiling beam (or rather, the huge board that forms the base of an artificial one) that runs across the 20 ft. peak of our ceiling, crashing down onto our bed. In fact, one end of it was propped up on the wall at the foot of the bed, and the other was resting smack-dab in the middle of John's pillow, as if someone had aimed a huge javelin directly at his head. It's not even 10:00 a.m. yet, and if I had not awakened him early, John might well have been lying there now, with this beam embedded in his skull!

After John's third or fourth mishap here, my brother-in-law Bud said "Has it ever occurred to you that this place might be cursed, and you need to git while the gittin's good?" At the time, we just laughed, but now I'm beginning to wonder. The couple that actually built the house turned out to be friends of my sister-in-law's family. We found out from them that shortly after the house was completed, the husband discovered that he had lung cancer. I don't think they ever even moved up here full-time. After his death, the wife decided to stay in New Braunfels, and put this house up for sale. It had been on the market for at least two years before we came along. It was kind of a strange house, obviously built with their specific needs in mind, rather than an eye towards resale. However, it had everything that was on our wish list, and the price was right, so we decided to go for it.

After moving in, and learning all of this from Jack and Alma, I decided to write a little note to the wife, telling her how much we adore the place, and how grateful we are that she was willing to sell it to us. She wrote back and said that building this house had been her husband's life-long dream, and that we would never know how much love, passion, and attention to every tiny detail, he had put into it. Out next to the pump-house is a marble bench with a great view. This is now John's favorite place to sit after supper, smoke a cigar, and survey his new kingdom. I would imagine that it was the previous owner's favorite spot as well, because there is a little plaque on the ground in front of it, bearing his name. One day John and his buddy Tim were out there chewing on their cigars, and discussing how that plaque resembled a grave-marker. They went on to postulate that perhaps his family had scattered his ashes over the hillside there, if that was, in fact, his favorite spot in the world. I started imagining his spirit wandering the property. In a way, it was comforting, but it also made me a little bit nervous.

When we decided to call the place Seasonality, even though we knew he had dubbed it Fox Hill House, I couldn't help but wonder what he would think about that. When we painted the kitchen yellow, I wondered again if he would approve. One of the only things that really bothered us about the house was that the outside was totally beige - beige stone, beige stucco, beige trim, beige doors, beige porch rails... I kept trying to picture what I could do to give it a little more character. If only they had stained the porch columns a nice, natural cedar color, or if only we had room to add some rustic louvered shutters to the windows - anything to break up that sea of beige. Now don't get me wrong. I think they had excellent taste. They built a beautiful house, and we love it. It's just that John and I love color, and since we spent so many years being transferred from place to place, we always swore that once we settled down, there would be no more neutrals! Eventually, we decided to paint the porch rails a nice sage green, and that is exactly what John was working on when the beam came crashing down on his pillow. Think maybe someone didn't approve of his color choice?

Oh, by the way. It is now January 8th, and our driveway still isn't finished!