CUSSING UP A BLUE STREAK

Early last autumn Hubby gathered up all the fallen limbs and debris from several severe storms, hauled them down to the bottom of the hill, covered them with soil, and created a berm at the entry to our driveway. He then spent a fortune on good wildflower seeds (including poppies, my favorite) and covered the berm with them.  A few days later, on Halloween, we had yet another epic storm -- one which flooded much of downtown Wimberley, and washed all of hubby's seeds over the cliff, into the creek. Or so we thought.

But then, one day in late winter, we came out to find the berm covered in green! Was it weeds, or could some of the wildflowers have taken root? Only time would tell.

Finally, I discovered a few spots with the distinctive bluebonnet foliage, but the rest looked pretty weedy. Then, just a few days ago, I came home in late afternoon and discovered this:

SQUEEE! I almost wet my pants. I was that excited.

Next morning I headed down the driveway bright and early, to check for new blooms. Instead I found that every last one of them had their heads chomped off!

I'm sure my mama was turning in her grave, over what I had to say about those stinkin' deer!

Well, guess I'd better start packing. It's almost time to head to Austin for Wedding Round #3. Please send good vibes our way, hoping for stormless weather tomorrow evening. Catcha on the flipside!

TODAY IS THE DAY

Woo Hoo! I finally got my first "Love Note" from my pen pal in Washington state.

In response to our first week's prompt, asking what kind of world we wished to live in, she wrote this:

This weeks prompt was "Today is the day...", and I just about have her next postcard ready to drop in the mail. Actually, she's getting four of them this time, but all in one envelope.

Whenever I have a problem to solve, the best thing I can do is go for a walk. Which is what I did as soon as I got the email containing this week's prompt. By the time I came back, I knew exactly how to finish that sentence, and what I wanted to put on the other side of my postcards!

Remember when I first moved up here and started making all those crazy to-do lists? The ones I decided to illustrate, even though I could barely draw stick figures at the time? Well, I finally found a use for them!

I had Hubby print a few of them up on some postcard-size matte photo paper, et Voila! 

There was just one problem with my brilliant idea. Though this matte photo paper may look and feel just like watercolor paper, it most definitely is not watercolor paper -- as you will surely discover as soon as you do all your lettering in pencil, and try to erase your mistakes. What an icky, gooey mess! Might I suggest a base layer of gesso?

CURED

Don't have much time this morning as I've got a 9:00 appointment to get my gardener's nails whipped into shape for Wedding Round #3. I can't believe the rehearsal dinner is day after tomorrow! In the meantime, I just wanted to share a few photos of the lunch spot we tried when we went for our annual meet up with our CPA over in San Antonio. I give you Cured!

A Selection Of Their House-Cured Charcuterie

Hubby's Charcuterie Selection

Oyster Po'Boy with Tarragon Aioli and Dill

So many great options to choose from now at the Pearl Brewery complex. Go see for yourself!

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE

Someone Who Loves Plants Even More Than Me

One of the best things about spring in the Texas Hill Country is getting to go to the spring plant sale at Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in southwest Austin, along with a few thousand other native-plant-lovers. And, if you were savvy enough to become a member there, you can even get in a day early, before all the good stuff is sold out!

When daughter Lexi and her hubby bought a house not five minutes away from the Wildflower Center, and discovered that it was a fantastic place to bring small children, they decided to become members too! I'm counting the days until I can meet up with her there, to take Little Goober on long walks through the demonstration gardens and children's play area. Then, maybe, if he manages to fall asleep in his stroller, we can even grab a bite to eat in their lovely little cafe.

Less than six weeks until Goober is due to arrive!

Know what the very best thing is about spring at the Wildflower Center? It's that we almost always get to see a couple of these guys nesting up in their special little spot on the aqueduct.

Gaahh! Is there anything cuter that a fuzzy baby owl?
 

LOVE NOTES

Long before I was a blogger or Facebooker, I was a letter writer. I'm one of those introverted sorts who can't seem to find her voice when speaking face-to-face or on the telephone, but has no trouble whatsoever when it comes to the written word. Hubby and I dated all through college, but things really heated up when he took a job in southeast Asia. Turns out he's pretty good with the written word as well! When I joined him overseas, I wrote weekly letters home to family and friends, and lived for the days when Hubby came home from work with a handful of their replies. Now, every time I trek to our mailbox, at the bottom of our long driveway, I get depressed. There is never anything in it but junk mail and Viking Rivercruise Catalogs. Now those we get plenty of -- two or three a day! So what's a letter-loving gal to do? Why, she signs up for Love Notes, that's what!

I'd been hearing some of my artsy friends talk about "art mail" for quite some time, but never knew how to join one of the groups. Then just a week or two ago I stumbled across something on Facebook from Jennifer Belthoff, who started a group called Love Notes. She was letting everyone know that it was time for another go-round, and all we had to do was drop her a line if we wished to be included. Apparently she does this three times per year, for three weeks each time. I think it started out as letters, and I'm sure some of the more artistic people went all out, leaving others feeling a bit intimidated. This time she switched it to postcards, and it doesn't even need to be a handmade card. It can be one you got at the drugstore! The only requirement is that you be a person who loves sending and getting mail. Can't think of what to write to a total stranger? No problem! She even sends you a weekly prompt to get you started!

Our first week's prompt came last Sunday, and it was to tell the pen pal we were assigned what kind of world we wished to live in. I used a blank postcard I purchased at the craft store, and wrote a little note saying "Dear Sarah, I want to live in a color-mad, whimsical world (á la Antoni Gaudi) where thinkers and makers are valued just as much as smooth-talking wheelers and dealers. Yours Truly, Becky T. Lane."

On the reverse side, I used water color pencils to sketch this:

Oh yeah, there was one more requirement. You must get your cards in the mail by Friday of each week.  I got mine in the mail yesterday afternoon, and will probably be hovering by our mailbox until I get one in return!

NO SHAME TACOS

My daughter keeps talking about a place called Tacodeli where she loves to eat -- even now that she has gestational diabetes. She claims that she can eat two tacos here, without any spike in her blood sugars, whereas doing the same at any other taco restaurant would be bad. Very bad. I told her I'd have to see it to believe it.

Love, love, love the table art, by local hot rod artist Cindy Raschke, aka CRASH.

The Tacodeli mission is to provide delicious food, all made in-house daily, using the best of ingredients -- organic and local when available. You can even click a link on their website to see where their food is sourced. Turns out they get meat from Richardson Farms, same people I've been buying my meat from for years, via The Bountiful Sprout. They also have many vegetarian and gluten free options on their menu.

But none of that matters, if the food doesn't taste good, right?

Above you see The Heather, with grilled queso fresco, organic refried black beans, guacamole, lettuce and tomato. Below is the Frontera Fundido Chicken Taco, with grilled chicken breast, jack cheese glaze, and sauteed poblano-onion rajas. We opted to have both served on their whole wheat tortillas -- something I've never been able to convince the folks at Mima's to offer.

I just have one thing to say to my daughter. I BELIEVE! I BELIEVE!

THE PERFECT SPRING OUTING

Since daughter Lex is newly obsessed with gardening -- having a new house with a big yard and having just installed her very first herb and veggie garden -- she got pretty excited when she heard about this: 

She suggested that we all meet up there this Sunday. I kinda wondered why son Austin agreed to come, since they are limited to growing things in pots on their patio for now, but then he pointed out the bit about them having live music and a beer garden. Ah yes, his favorite kind of garden!

There were lots of booths to shop from...

Good thing Little Goober is a boy, or I might have dropped a wad of cash here!

botanical, Japanese and demo gardens to explore...

lots of things for the kiddos to do...

Loved watching this cowgirl butterfly flit around!

Making Bubbles!

Smokie The Bear was there!

and the aforementioned Beer Garden, filled with great live music and all kinds of good things to eat and drink, such as the Mediterranean Crepe from my favorite creperie.

I even got my first taste of Kombucha -- something I've been dragging my feet on for ages. I don't really like any teas but black, and the thought of a fermented one just sort of gagged me. Buddha's Brew was there in the Beer Garden handing out free samples, which I was happy to pass up. However, the kids kept pressuring me until I finally took a sip of a pineapple flavored one. Well, surprise, surprise. It was just all kinds of bubbly deliciousness! Reckon I'll be able to find it here in Wimberley?

All in all, the perfect way to spend a beautiful spring day, wouldn't you agree?