SATURDAY STUDIO: WOMANLY FOOTWEAR

My hometown gal pals who visited last week came bearing gifts. Mostly they were beautiful plants from Wildseed Farms in Fredericksburg. Eventually, however, when she grew weary of my drooling, Miss Mona offered to give me the box her new cowgirl boots came in. Dig that color-mad art!

Just the footwear for a Bohemian-Hippy-Gypsy-Cowgirl, is it not? (No, her boots did not look like the ones pictured, but they were very cute nonetheless!)

I have been studying this picture all week long, and can't for the life of me figure out how it was done. I would have no problem drawing a boot like that, or painting in all the background colors, but it's all that pattern and texture that's driving me mad. It seems too perfect and evenly spaced to have been hand painted over the background, so I'm thinking it must have been stamped on. But how would you limit the stamping to just one oddly shaped section? Oh. My. Gosh. It just came to me. I bet it was stenciled on! You can see through stencils, so you would know where your perimeters were. Why didn't I think of that before?

Hmmm. I guess Justin Boots are no longer made in Justin, TX.

Yee-Haw! Time to go play!
 

LAUNDRY LOVE

Ages and ages ago, when we switched our house over to rainwater, and were able to get rid of the water softener that was hogging most of the space in our utility room, I began to ponder on how I could best use that space. The room was attached to our garage, unpainted, and had a bare concrete floor with a drain in the middle. Oh, and it had no heat or A.C. Besides being the home of our washer and dryer, it served no purpose other than being the place where we stashed anything we didn't know what else to do with. I spent as little time there as possible!

I toyed with lots of different ideas for how to use the added space. Could it be my potting shed? My art studio? But then I remembered that white cabinet at the back of the room, which houses a perfectly lovely pull-down ironing board -- one which has never been used in the almost 10 years we've owned this place. Why? Because, as I mentioned before, there's no heat or air out there! Another interesting tidbit about this laundry room is that there is both a shower and a toilet there at the back, which, like the ironing board, have never been used. Well, at least, not for their intended purposes. We store our Christmas tree in the shower.

Eventually, I settled on the goal of just creating a space that I didn't despise being in. First step was to get a nice cantaloupe color on the walls (with lots of help from muse Fiber Woman), and to make them a little more interesting.

3D Self-Portrait Created By Daughter Alexis Back In High School

Next came this nifty indoor-outdoor area rug, made from recycled polyester.

 Hubby contributed the crowning touch, his lava lamp!

Best of all, the shower and toilet (and tree and golf clubs) are now hidden by some old shutters we had, and I finally managed to get my Bountiful Sprout basket out of our living room!

Now all that's left is to work some magic on these shelves full of crapola!

If only I had a wand.
 

Afternoon Tea At The Alamo

There are four or five Alamo Drafthouse theaters in Austin now, each with its own funky theme and line-up of special events. The newest one is up in N. Austin where our kiddos live, near Lakeline Mall. When daughter Lex heard that they would be hosting a series called Afternoon Tea, she decided to treat me to the first movie in the series as an early Mother's Day present. She knows her mama well! 

We arrived to find our places set with three teacups, as well as a beautiful menu card listing all the treats that were in store for us. First were the three teas we would be served at various intervals throughout the movie, all from Austin's own Zhi Tea.

 Oddly enough, the first two smelled delicious, but tasted pretty funky. The third one's fragrance was very off-putting, so we were almost afraid to try it. How surprising then, to find that it was actually quite delicious! Best of all, it's an African Bush Tea -- the kind which the main character in my very favorite mystery series, The Number One Ladies Detective Agency, consumes in great abundance.

Next were our three "treats", which were brought out all at once just as the movie started, but which we chose to space out, eating each with a different tea.

I thought the first sandwich was pretty bland, but Alexis was relieved to find it so, as she is not a fan of salmon. We both agreed, however, that the other two items were yummy!

Before the movie started, the young woman in charge came out to welcome us and give us some interesting tidbits about the film and its cast. The most surprising thing about the day was just how much I enjoyed this film, considering it was based on a Dickens novel, which are usually so morose! In this one, all the good guys come out on top, and the bad ones get just what they deserve!

At the end of the show, the same young lady returned to tell us about upcoming Afternoon Tea features, including Much Ado About Nothing next month, and Gosford Park the one after that. When she mentioned that last one, all the women in the audience gasped and said "Ooooohhh!" I'm pretty sure you'll find us there.

EASTER GRATITUDE: Kids Who Cook

We had quite the feast here at Seasonality yesterday. Best thing about it was that I had to do so very little of the preparation myself!

I tossed together a Greek Salad, and marinated the meat for Jamie Oliver's Pork Souvlaki, or Wicked Kabobs, which hubby then grilled for me.

Oh yeah, I also charred these peppers under the broiler. Good thing I thought to pull on an oven mitt at the last second, or my hand might have been just as charred and blistered as those peppers, for at one point I noticed flames coming off the glove, and had to beat them out!

Lexie gave Caprese Salad a new spin by making it with cherry tomatoes and little "pearl" mozzarella balls, and throwing in some little pasta shells.

She also made her infamous almond macaroons for dessert, which just melt on your tongue in a sea of almondy goodness, but I was too busy eatin' em to worry about taking pictures.

Son Austin whipped up a batch of Tzatziki for us, and provided the pita bread.

Best of all, there was a granddog there for us to love on all day...

though sadly, not both of them. They haven't quite figured out how to get along just yet.

Hope your weekend was wonderful as well!

YOUTH: It's A State of Mind

 
Yesterday I spent the day with three old friends whom I've known since first grade. One had never been to Wimberley, and another had only been here once, a long time ago. So, of course, I had this huge long mental list of all the things they should see and do while here. How many things did I check off that list? ZERO!

Here's how our day went. First we met up at the coffee shop, and stayed there gabbing until we realized it was already lunch time.

Next we went to Salt Lick, and stayed there gabbing until we realized it was almost time for them to check into their B&B.

We made a quick stop at my house for a Mexican brownie and some hot tea out on the balcony, and stayed there gabbing for a while, then we went by their B&B and got them checked in.

Finally we headed into town, only to realize it was already five o'clock, and most of the stores were already closed!

So we went back to the coffee shop instead, and stayed there gabbing until they started turning the lights out on us.

Finally we headed to The Leaning Pear for dinner, and stayed there gabbing until after dark. It was a very good day.

It wasn't until I was getting ready for bed last night that I finally realized, throughout it all, not one of us had taken a single dang picture!

Here's to friends who know that youth has absolutely nothing to do with one's age!

BUSY, BUSY, BUSY!

It's looking to be an exciting week here at Seasonality! Three gals I went through school with from 1st grade through 12th, was in a Girl Scout troop with almost that long, and haven't seen in about twenty-two years, are headed this way. I'll be spending the day tomorrow giving them the Grand Tour of Wimberley.

Crossvine -- it's like a double-dip cone of orange and raspberry sherbet!

The next day our BFF couple, Paula and Tim, are coming to town. The boys are hoping to play a bit of golf Saturday morning -- something that all hubby's little health crises have gotten in the way of for two or three years now. That afternoon they head back to College Station, and I head up to N. Austin to attend an Afternoon Tea event at the Alamo Drafthouse with my daughter. Squee! Then on Sunday the kiddos are all coming here to celebrate Easter with us, when we will combine our efforts to prepare our new favorite tradition, a Greek feast!

I guess you're wondering what these Crossvine photos have to do with this blog post. Absolutely nothing! Well, other than my being so busy that they were pretty much the only pics on my camera that I hadn't already shared with you. Good thing I got them when I did. The night before one of those crazy winds had whipped through the Cantina Garden, just as all these blooms were beginning to open. When I got up that morning, my poor little Iron Maiden was face down in the dirt, and all the blooms were a bit smushed and bruised. I stood her up again and brushed her off, then snapped these photos. Before I even had a chance to go out and buy some longer, sturdier stakes, another wind came through! Yesterday she was down in the dirt again, and her spring outfit is not looking nearly so fine!

COLOR-MAD CANTINA GARDEN

The ceramic totem pole we purchased this weekend was a total impulse buy. We didn't give it much thought, and had no plans for what we would do with it when we got it home. I guess I was thinking about putting it somewhere in my downstairs courtyard garden, while John was probably picturing it somewhere out in his upstairs beds. It ended up going neither place. We decided that it was so fabulous that it needed to be somewhere near our front door, where all our visitors were sure to see it. At first I placed it out on the corner of our porch, over near the bottle tree. But later, when the winds started kicking up and the totem pole started wobbling a bit, we decided to scoot it over here next to the bench, where it was a tad more sheltered from the wind. When we woke up to 35mph winds, with gusts up to 60mph, we were mighty glad we moved it!

Know what's really amazing? This totem pole is not at all my usual colors. I don't do blue for some reason, preferring deep purples and hot reds, oranges, and magentas in my gardens. However, I loved this piece enough to buy it anyway. So, imagine my surprise when we finally chose a spot for it and got it all situated, only to notice this.

The bottle tree and the totem pole have the exact same colors on them! Know what my hubby did when I pointed this out to him? His eyes grew huge, and he gasped "Synchronicity!"