THE THINGS WE DO FOR OUR GRANDKIDS

 

Ack! The Caterpillar Got Me!

Sometimes A Cowboy Just Feels The Need...

To Take All The Shoes Out Of The Closet...

And Move Them Across The Room.

Move Shoes Mimi? Sure, why not?

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 

 

GOING BACK TO BLANCO

Several years ago, when Hubby finally retired and joined me here full-time, we fell into the habit of going out to lunch and to a movie each Friday. We call it "Date Day", and both believe one of the very best things about being retired is being able to go see all the brand new releases on a Friday, during the day, thus avoiding the weekend crowds. The only problem is, the longer we've been doing this, the harder it has become to find a movie we both want to see, and this last Friday, it ended up being downright impossible. Which is why I decided we'd go on an adventure instead!

We used to love driving over to Blanco on a regular basis, stopping off at the Arnosky's blue barn on the way, then visiting the health food store and the Brieger's pottery/lavender shop next to it, eating at one of several favorite cafes around the square, and finishing up at McCall's farmstand (now Pink Tractor Farms) afterwards to check out their fresh produce and homemade peach ice cream, or maybe even a stop at the Blanco Bowling Club Cafe for a piece of pie with mile-high-meringue. But then those shops and cafes started shutting down, one by one, and our visits got further and further apart until, one day, I realized it had been a couple of years since we'd been there!

Is it a cafe, or someone's homestead?

On that last visit, we stopped off at the biker shop on the square, and chatted with the owner for a while. When we mentioned our sadness at all the closures, she told us about a couple of other local favorites that we never even knew about, and probably drove right past dozens of times without realizing what was there.

So that's where I decided to take Hubby on this adventure. Welcome to Blanco's Chess Club Cafe!

The Welcoming Committee

Best Sandwich Ever, On Homemade Bread That's To Die For!

And, because we couldn't make up our minds which of the cafes to go to, we went to both! OK, true reason? Well, I showed Hubby both websites, so he could help me make up my mind. He figured the food at Chess Club was probably better, but then he spotted this on Josie's Kitchen's site...

a picture of their chocolate cream pie that looked just like the one he always got at the cafeteria, growing up in Odessa! So, of course, we had to go get him a piece.

Next Door To Josie's

 It was a mighty fine adventure, and we didn't miss going to the movies one iota!

OUT MY WINDOW AND ON MY TABLE

First I spotted this out my desk window, just a couple of days ago...

two little foxes cavorting around our almost empty water tank.  Unfortunately, I could never catch them together in the same photo.

And then, this morning? Rain, glorious rain! Filling up that tank and, hopefully, our bone dry creek.

Do you see our little yoga fox? Every  time Calvin passes her, he pats her on the head and says "Hehwo Fox!"

A perfect day to stay inside, enjoying the steady pitter patter of raindrops on our metal roof , while working on my next "folk art" journal page, wouldn't you agree?

We are not catholic, but we do love our trips down to San Miguel de Allende, where La Virgen de Guadalupe is the Mexican queen -- the mother of the hungry, ill, unemployed, and everyone from singers and soccer players to politicians and taxi drivers. I loved seeing her image everywhere we went, because each one was unique to the artist who created it. Mine will be a conglomeration of them all!

FLASHBACK: THE BRAVEST THING I EVER DID

Right around the same time that I started my "Year of Reading Dangerously", I began something else rather brave, even epic, for me. I started drawing. And, I actually showed it to people! I know most of you think I have always been an "artsy" person, but that just isn't true, and you are about to see visual proof of that -- the very first page of what was to become my very first art journal. I just didn't know it at the time.

FLASHBACK

They say every journey starts with taking that first little step, and that post is living proof! Illustrating that one little to-do list, and being brave enough to share it here on this blog, caught the attention of high school Debbie and led her to tell me about some art journaling classes she'd been taking on line. Who knew such a thing even existed? Which then led me to Art Journaling magazine. When a whole pile of those illustrated to-do lists had mounted up, I finally realized I had created an art journal of sorts, and the positive feedback I had received from all of you, combined with the things I was learning in my year of reading dangerously, finally gave me the guts I needed to submit them to Art Journaling magazine, where one of them ended up being published. And, well, things just blossomed from there!

JUST THE THING

When you're not all that hungry come dinnertime and just want something light, but the bread you were going to make grilled cheese sandwiches with turns up moldy, then you wander into to town trying to think of something good, but it all just seems so heavy, well...

a little of this...

and a little of that, at the gorgeous new wine bar which just took over the spot formerly known as Tastebuds...

might be just the thing you didn't even know you needed!

Los Olivos Market. Check it out!

THIS OLD TRUNK

When we moved back to Dallas for a few years in the late 90s , my sisters got me hooked on "Friday Nights at the Auction House" as a new form of entertainment. The place just happened to be owned by two brothers we went to high school with, and was more of a social event than a serious shopping endeavor. I did, however, manage to snag a few treasures over the years. One of my favorites was this old trunk -- a trunk filled with mystery!

It looked like it had been made long, long ago, by someone who was heading off to a new life in a new land, with all their worldly possessions tucked inside. I was fascinated by the amazing hardware...

and the fact that it had several religious images glued inside the lid -- perhaps something their mother put there, to protect them on their journey?

At first it had pride of place in our living room, as our coffee table, but my hubby has never really shared my passion for rustic beauty. So, with each move and each addition of newer, glossier stuff, it got relegated to ever more obscure locations, until it finally ended up out on the porch, filled with Hubby's gardening stuff. So sad.

Anywho, this week I decided to start on another project from my new Folk Art Fusion book by Heather Galler. This one was to be based on Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Only, her image didn't really look anything like the ones I remembered from our wonderful trips to San Miguel de Allende, so I decided to gather some images and just do my own thing.

I had just spread all of these out on my work table, to ponder over for awhile, when I spotted Hubby opening that old trunk on the porch. Some flash of color grabbed my attention and drew me out there to take a closer look, since I hadn't been inside it for 10 or 15 years. Guess what I found?

Our Lady of Guadalupe, of course!

After doing a little research on Wikipedia, I discovered that the most famous phrase relating to Our Lady of Guadalupe is, "Am I not here, I who am your mother?"

No wonder she was plastered inside this trunk!