ONE OF THE BEST

My hubby had an awesome weekend. To start with, two of the kiddos came down and spent the entire weekend with us, which always means lots of good eating and usually a bit of splorin'. This time we decided to go check out the newest microbrewery in town, Middleton Brewing.

Hubby and the kids enjoyed picking and choosing from an extensive list of options to make up their own tasting flight...

while I enjoyed live music and an ice cold Mexican Coke out of an old fashioned bottle!

They say the sliders and kettle chips from the on-site food truck are down right delicious...

but we already had plans to meet my little bro and his family -- who called out of the blue saying "Hey, we're in Austin!" -- across the street at Brewster's Brew Pub/Pizzeria, run by a retired pro-football player and his musical family of 13 kids.

After dinner we went home and made Hubby a batch of his favorite pralines.

The next day we ended up over at daughter Lexi's house, where everyone got to spend some quality Goober-Time.

All-in-all, I'd say it was one of Hubby's best Father's Days ever, which is only fair, since he just happens to be one of the best!

P.S. Looks like I'll be MIA for most of the week. Big sis had some complications after her latest joint replacement surgery, so I'm heading up to Dallas to lend her a hand. Catcha later!

PASSING THE TORCH

This election. I swear. It's taking something out of me. So much hate spewing forth from every direction! When I think about my contemporaries at UT and at colleges around the country in the late sixties/early seventies, rising up against the status quo, actually managing to make real changes for the better by joining together to make ourselves heard, well, I just have to wonder. What happened to all of those idealistic people? How did we come to this? 

But, then, two of my kiddos showed up here yesterday evening, stayed up talking politics with us until the wee hours, and were both dressed and on the road by 6:30 AM, headed off to the State Convention in San Antonio, full of the passion and determination that my generation seems to have lost. Maybe things are not so hopeless after all. Maybe it was simply time for us to pass the torch to the next generation of caretakers and shaker-uppers -- the ones who still have a chance to make this world a better place. For this little dude...

RAIDERS OF THE LOST SEED

Hubby decided yesterday was the day to try and clean up our open-air garage -- a thankless task, the results of which never last for long, due to that bit about it being "open-air".  On the plus side, if you have people in the family with hoarding tendencies, you can't just toss a bunch of junk in there then slam the doors shut and forget about it. 

When he moved the cars out of the way, he found our usual little "gift" - piles of birdseed detritus beneath each one.

The first time we noticed it, we couldn't figure out how it got there. Could the wind have blown it in? Then why wasn't it elsewhere in the garage? Why just these two little piles? Finally we caught on. The birds and the tree squirrels are messy eaters, and leave piles of seed beneath each of our feeders. Then the rock squirrels - those funky little fellows who are more gray than brown, with very dark heads and faces -- come along to gather it all up, and ferry it to their dining rooms under our cars. Apparently they prefer a bit of privacy when they dine. We like to watch them in action through our front door while we eat our own dinner.

A couple of nights ago we were watching something on TV when I caught some movement out of the corner of my eye. It was the same color as our squirrels, with the same fluffy tail, but waaaay too big. "John, quick! Come look!" Turns out our little foxes like birdseed too! We figured that one was probably the mother of the litter our neighbors above us found at their house. I would have given anything to snap a photo of her, but knew that the minute she heard our door creak open, she'd be off like greased lightening.

Instead, we just stood there watching as she finished up all the seed in the garage, then moved outside to clean up everything under the feeder next to it. Way better than watching TV, dontcha think?

GOOD EATS

It's Tomato-Time in Texas y'all, and the Lanes have been eatin' good!

Last order cycle I got a couple of pounds of my favorite big beefy slicing tomatoes, Cherokee Purples, from The Bountiful Sprout. The first two nights we made hubby's favorite Caprese Salads, alternating thick slices of tomato with a few slices from a ball of fresh mozzarella, then drizzling them with a bit of really good olive oil and a splash of aged balsamic, and finishing with a grind or two of coarse salt and pepper, and a shredding of freshly picked basil. Mmmmmm. 

The following night we had old fashioned tomato sandwiches. Hubby opted for one on toasted bread, with bacon! Me, I'm a tomato sandwich purist. Nothing but home-grown tomatoes, mayo (which I almost never eat on anything else), salt and pepper. Plus, it has to be on soft, mushy bread!

I'm hoping the selection will still be plentiful when I return from helping out a sister who's had a really rough time with a knee replacement surgery, for there are still soooo many things to be crossed off of my tomato checklist, such as...

• pasta with Jewell's or Jamie's raw tomato sauce
• tomato pesto tarts
• baked cherry tomatoes with goat cheese, scooped up with chunks of warm, crusty bread
• Greek salads, with cucumber, red onion, kalamata olives, and feta cheese
• Salade Provençal 
• Lago's roasted tomatoes, served over warm pasta, or on toast crusts with chevre, or in sandwiches

To name just a few!

Know what else is back is season? Shrimp. In particular, the Sunday night Cajun Shrimp Boils at Hays City Store.

One order is enough for two!

Now them's some good eats, I gar-on-tee!

TREASURE HUNT

We have several different thrift stores here in my little town, but one in particular is about to become my new favorite haunt. The others are mostly filled with all the stuff we retirees want to rid ourselves of when we downsize, and the very last thing I need is to bring any of that back into my house! This store, however, is rather small, and so has narrowed its focus to a very specific target audience -- young moms. On one side is a room filled with children's toys, furniture and equipment. On the other is one containing children's clothing and shoes. The central area is full of things mom might want for herself -- stylish shoes, clothes and accessories, and a few items to perk up her home with. Best of all? This shop is right next door to my favorite taco joint!

So, not long after I told you about my magical whatever-you-want-it-to-be shelf, I just happened to be in said taco joint. When I glanced out the window and spotted the thrift store, it occurred to me that it would be the perfect place to find a few accessories for that little shelf. Maybe a child's tool box or something?  Well, this is what I found on my very first visit.

Could it be a more perfect fit?

And I got it all for only $6.99!!!

Of course, it may be awhile before Little Goober is tall enough to reach that shelf...

but, maybe not as long as you'd think. Apparently he grew two inches in his first three weeks. Looks like he's gonna have his daddy's long legs.

Let me hear ya say "Hallelujah!".
 

SOMETHIN'S BREWING

First this appeared on our doorstep, in a box from Williams Sonoma.

Then this showed up in our mailbox...

and a week or so later, this.

Then, yesterday, my hubby spent the entire day Home-Brewer-Supply-Shop-Hopping in Austin, looking for things like cheesecloth and vat cleaner.

Looks like Hubby (henceforth to be known as The Vinegarmeister) has finally discovered a good use for all of this!

LEARNING FROM MY DAUGHTER

This house we have now was the perfect weekend getaway when we had college-aged kids, and it's turning out to be a fairly awesome retirement home for Hubby and I. Having no stairway inside the house, to allow sound to travel up from Hubby's stereo and bigass TV down in the Man Cave, has turned out to be a godsend. Learning to share a little 5x5 bathroom with one sink occupying the same space as the toilet and shower,  with no counters or drawers, and which also serves as our guest facility? Not so much. I know, first world problem, right? We manage.

Now that we have a grandbaby, however, I have to wonder, what was I thinking? OK, I know what I was thinking. I was thinking about older granchildren, who could spend their days at Blue Hole or Jacob's Well or Schlitterbahn or climbing Mount Baldy or Enchanted Rock or riding the zipline or exploring caves, then come back to have slumber parties and play video games down in the Man Cave. Guess I didn't give enough thought to the early stages, when you can't let them out of your sight! We have no play room or toy closet. Every cabinet and drawer is already stuffed to the brim. And there is certainly no space for play kitchens or toy work benches or standing art easels, unless it's out on one of the covered porches.

My daughter's house is pretty much the same way, but that was intentional on their part. They believe that life is better when you focus on accumulating experiences and adventures, rather than "stuff." Her solution to the play-station-problem? Just install a shelf somewhere. If you put a few tools on it, it's a workbench. Put some pots and pans on it, it's a stove. Put an old manual typewriter on it, it becomes an office or a place to write stories and plays and newspapers. The sky's the limit, really, and all in just a tiny bit of space.

So, I was looking around the house, trying to figure out where I could install such a thing, and you'll never guess what I discovered. I already have one. DOH!

Not long after we moved in, we noticed this odd little flip-up shelf on one end of our kitchen island, and we had no idea what it was for.

As in the bathroom, there is almost no counter space in our kitchen, so we thought it might be where the original owner might have set up her mixer or Cuisinart when she used them, or maybe it was meant to be a place to set your grocery bags while unloading them.

Or maybe, just maybe, it's meant to be absolutely anything you want it to be!


So, this morning, I was sitting in my special thinking chair, wondering where I could find a tiny table-top easel that would fit on this wee little shelf, when somehow my mind found its way to one of those life-hack memes I saw on Facebook recently. (Amazing how often this happens when I'm in that special chair!) Anywho, this one happened to be about binder clips, which we have quite a few of.

It got me to thinkin', what if I just clipped a big one onto the edge of the shelf, and left one the clips sticking up, like so...

Et Voila! We now have a pint-sized art studio!