I THINK I LOVE IT

We decided to give Thinkery, an evolution of Austin's Children's Museum, another go last Thursday.

It was so much better this time than last, when it was packed full of rowdy older kids and moms who were beyond ready for them to be back in school. This time the littles pretty much had the place to themselves, and Calvin got to ride his first horse!

Last August he mostly just wanted to pick up veggies in the market/garden rooms, and walk around with them in his hands. This time he was mesmerized by these magical balls that just hovered in space...

Best of all? The water room, where everyone is encouraged to get wet!

Well, that and our lunch at Youngblood's Fried Chicken afterwards, which was just a few doors down.

It was a very good day!

SANTA'S BEARD

Everyone seems to think I'm the Christmas fanatic in this family, always pushing the season and wanting to start decorating way too early. Maybe that used to be true a long time ago. But not anymore. Somewhere along the way, Hubby and I traded places. He only pretends to be Mr. Macho Bah-Humbug, when in truth he starts his shopping by summertime at the latest, has at least two grocery-bags-worth of goodies to go in every stocking, and actually enjoys watching Hallmark Christmas movies with me. But we won't tell anyone his little secret, will we? Let him keep up the charade. Needless to say, it wasn't me who came wagging this home last week!

DEAR AUTUMN...

So glad you finally made it here to Texas! At last the highs are down in the 70's, and we've even had a couple of nights where it dipped into the high 40's. Heavenly!

I don't know about you, but fall weather always makes me want to bake something yummy and aromatic. I'm thinkin' it just might have to be this mixed berry crisp that Junelle's sister Rhetta shared with us in project #3 of her Heartwarming Workshop. She added crumbled gingersnaps to her crisp's topping for a special seasonal touch.

I can almost taste it!

HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?

We took little Calvin to Mima's favorite taco joint, Mimas, last week. It was a revelation. For one thing, I couldn't get over how much older he looked with his new haircut. No more long silky curls! For another, he no longer want's to be fed. He can do it himself!

When someone came in with an infant in a carrier, I suddenly felt a bit gobsmacked. How on earth did we get from that, to this...

in the mere blink of an eye?

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!