March 6, 1836 --- Remember the Alamo!

I think I would like to go home now.

If They Gave An Award --

for the most inconsistent blogger I would win hands down.  At the first of the year I had great plans to post magnificent little posts each day complete with photos taken by moi.  I was going to participate in my usual challenges and dazzle the world with my witty, insightful book reviews.  Well, the best laid plans and all that -- it didn't happen quite as I had planned so again, I am playing catch up but there are photos -- I promise.

The first thing I need to get to right away is my View from a Window on Thursday.  I was doing pretty well with this but we have had such a mild winter (actually, NO winter) that all my photos looked the same.  These most recent ones which should have been posted last Thursday are the same so I added a few more photos of the yard to show what February in Texas looks like -- well, this year anyway.

See, they don't look any different!  The next photos, however, will give you a glimpse of our pear trees and crabapple tree coming out -- very early.  This has not been a normal winter.

The Verbena

The Pincushion Plant

The Hyperactive Mint

The Crabapple

One of the pears

Unless we have a very late freeze, these trees will be in full bloom by the end of the week!

I had a birthday on the 28th which allowed me two dinners -- one with each child and his/her family.  It was a good time which also netted me a whole stack of my favorite things -- books.  My children gave me books and they did a good job of picking them out, as well.  They know me well.  The Hubs didn't know what to buy me -- I was lobbying for my fourth Nook and that didn't go over well.  I suggested skin care products and that just produced "the look" so I chose several books, handed them to him and said "here, pay for my birthday present".      I guess I can see where anti-aging skin lotion wouldn't seem too birthday-- like to him.  So, these are my gifts from my family and I am thrilled.

I haven't started any of these because I am in the middle of "The School of Essential Ingredients"

 and would like to finish it before start on my new stack which is sitting on my chair side table just waiting for me. 

We took a short trip to Austin this weekend to visit a friend and see her new baby.  Baby is cute, food was good, traffic was awful and we were all conflicted as to whether we should take the extra hour drive to San Antonio to have some Tex-Mex at our favorite restaurant, Jacala's.

 However, we decided to save that for another trip and headed home.  It was a good time but we all got ridiculously tired and I am not sure why -- guess this recent birthday just pushed me over the edge!  Oh well, I enjoyed it anyway.

Back at the beginning of the year I also said I was going to start watching and reviewing some vintage movies.  Well, I have watched a couple, one being "The Children's Hour" with Audrey Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine (1961).

 When this movie came out I was too young to see it due to it's controversial nature.  Actually, when I look back at most of the movies of the 50's and 60's, many of them were controversial in nature, just not as graphic as they are now. I watched this movie one afternoon by myself and thought the sets and the setting were wonderful.  If you haven't seen the movie, I won't spoil it here but the basic story line is that of two women teachers running a private school for girls in their home.  One of the girls, a complete brat, started a rumor that the relationship between the teachers was not appropriate and as a result the school suffered as did the lives of all the characters.  I won't say more, just watch it.

Tonight I talked the Hubs into watching another vintage film that I think I actually did see but I guess my parents thought I was too young to understand and I probably was but I found it boring now so I would guess I slept through it then, as well.  Tonight's film was "Room at the Top" with Laurence Harvey and Simone Signoret.   

It was made in 1959 and was part of the British New Wave of films coming to America.  It was a good movie but it was slow -- I guess I am just used to the action adventure movies The Hubs likes to watch --- this movie was sort of like watching paint dry.  All month on TCM there with be more British New Wave movies on -- maybe I can catch a couple of them.

So, that is about all I have been up to.  Hopefully I can be a little better at blogging but sometimes -- for those who know me this statement will be difficult to grasp -- I just don't have anything to say! Guess I need to do some more interesting things -- I will work on that tomorrow.

Catching Up and a Couple of Book Reviews


I am still playing catch up after my two week babysitting gig.  I did ok the first week but the second week found me a bit tired toward the end.  It would be fine if there wasn't so much getting up and down off the floor.  Now that Bean is pushing two, however, there isn't nearly as much lifting which is a blessing and considering that she is the independent sort, she does a lot for herself.  Aside from having the opportunity to spend time with Bean, the time I spend at her house does afford me a good amount of time to read which I really enjoy.  She still takes a good afternoon nap so I have at least two hours of uninterrupted time to get into a really good book.  I have  been able to finish or almost finish a couple of really good reads in a short amount of time -- for me -- this way.

The  first book I finished was The House at Tyneford by Natasha Solomons.

 I discovered it when I did a search on Downton Abbey and several complementary books were recommended.  It is the story of a young Dutch Jewess who was shipped off to England at the beginning of World War Two to work as a domestic in a big house, even though she was somewhat aristocratic in her own right.  She was dispatched to Tyneford house where she learned all the ins and outs of British aristocracy.  She also learned of love, loss -- great loss, and of starting over again and having strong resolve.  This book was a page turner, I couldn't put it down and would recommend it to anyone.

The second book I have been reading, and am about to finish is The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton.

This book presents more of a challenge than the first.  It is longer and much more detailed as it presents the story of three interconnected women.  Each chapter is devoted to one of the three women's story and you have to pay close attention to the intertwining of these stories -- one from Victorian England, one from mid-twentieth century Australia and one from current Australia/England.  Through part of the beginning of the book, when so much historical foundation was being laid, I felt as if I should take notes!  However, as I am nearing the end of the book, it is all pulling together nicely, making sense, and making me sorry that the end is so near.  To make a complicated story shorter, it is about three abandonments, so to speak -- Eliza who was orphaned by death, Nell who was kidnapped, and Cassandra who was left with Grandma by a self-absorbed Mum who was needing to find herself and have fun while she was at it.  In addition to all these women being related that would be the common link.  It, too, is a page turner -- some of those turns going backward to re-read sections. I can't wait to get back to it today and finish is up although I am sure I am going to be sad when it is done.  I will probably have to seek out a copy of another Morton book -- The House at Riverton.  I am certain it will be as captivating. I would recommend  The Forgotten Garden hands down with one reservation -- it might make you want to create a magical secret garden -- I know it has made me want to work in my yard!

Another activity this week, unrelated to babysitting or reading, was Shrove Tuesday, Pancake Day, or Fat Tuesday -- whatever way you want to say it.  This was actually the first time we ever attended because, in the past, The Hubs was always at work at the time most of our church events begin but, clearly, this year was different.  So, we decided to join Bean and her folks  in the festivities.  The parish hall was decorated in the usual gold/green/purple and there were beads abounding -- all anybody had to do was grab them  off the table.  Bean looked lovely in green -- really went with the red hair.  There were literally piles and piles of pancakes and waffles, bacon  and sausage and bowls of fresh strawberries.  Whipped cream and maple syrup completed the buffet table along with milk, tea and water.  It was a feast, for sure, and none of us took a camera.  You would think that at my age I would realize that every day has its Kodak moments and carry a camera with me at all times!  I will work on that and in the meantime, I will see if I can "steal" one from the good Father Klein off the church website.

So, all of this coupled with beautiful spring weather (almost 80 a couple of days-- makes me fear for July) it has been a fantastic week with another just like it on the way!  I may get out and work in that garden yet -- I just need a gate!

Happy Valentines Day!

Quilting


My first exposure to quilting was when I was about four or five years old at the side of my great-grandmother.  I remember the evening well.  My mother and I were visiting her at her house on Edison Drive -- an old, white Victorian with a turnkey door bell which I loved, much to everybody's aggravation.  She was born in 1875 so she was close to 80 at this time.  We sat in her living room waiting for my dad to get off work and she and my grandmother were piecing a quilt top.  They weren't using a sewing machine -- although she did have a lovely treadle model -- they were using a needle and thread as they sat and rocked and talked.  The fabrics they used weren't  co-ordinated lines they purchased at their local quilt store -- they were scraps from sewing and old clothes.  They were making utility quilt tops to be put aside and quilted out when somebody said they needed some cover.  I was fascinated with the fabric and the process and even tried my hand at it that evening.  Although I didn't start quilting until much later, the fascination stayed with me as did my love of fabrics.  So, when I started quilting, I started with a sewing machine and modern tools although I did hand quilt my first quilt.  I love most of the process and the instant gratification of being able to get a quilt finished in as little as a weekend was certainly appealing.  A few years ago I purchased a fancy new quilting edition machine that has all the bells and whistles.  It is great but....it is in the laundry room so if I want to sew in the evening that means I am in the laundry room and Hubs is in front of the tv.  Not a good scenario so I decided to revisit the idea of hand piecing.

A year or so ago I decided I wanted to try some English paper piecing, a common pattern being Grandmother's Flower Garden.  I downloaded the page of paper templates from an online site and started cutting out hundreds of little hexagons and making little fabric hexies.

I sat down one evening and started sewing and couldn't believe how quickly you can make millions of these little things.  Then I decided I needed to see how easily they go together and I made a few of those (bottom photo).  I am going to applique them onto squares for a baby quilt after a get a few more.  I think they are so cute!

Of course, doing everything by machine these days is the way "it is done" but recently, however, I have noticed in the quilting magazines that there seems to be a trend toward handwork again so I decided to try it.  I wanted to buy the Marti Mitchell templates but I couldn't find them locally and they were pretty pricey so I opted for the Omnigrid 3" square template set which has a square, a half square triangle and a quarter square triangle template.  They are heavy acrylic with the seam allowance already included.  I also bought a quarter inch ruler to mark my sewing lines.  I put the whole thing aside for a week or so until the other night I decided to give it a go.  I fished around in one of my many drawers of fabric and found some pre-cuts that I wasn't in love with -- not sure why I bought them except to maybe have some experimental fabric -- you don't really want to experiment with quilt store fabric -- that stuff is like gold.  Anyway, I did a bit of marking with a plain ol' mechanical pencil, did a bit of cutting and a little bit of stitching and this is the result.  This may end up being my first real scrap quilt!

front of some really random fabrics sewn into four patches

backs of same four patches

Front of quarter square triangles

Backs of quarter square triangles -- clearly not ironed yet

So, that is what I have been up to the last few days -- I even opted to do this rather than look at the snow last night! This is truly addictive and very relaxing.  I might never get a quilt finished but at least it is cheaper than therapy!

Not Gone -- Just Babysitting


Hi, folks! No, I am not gone -- I just have a week long babysitting gig.  And you know, there are some things you get too old for.  I have been in bed, out like a light, at 9:30 every night since last week!  Oh well, it feels good.  Dinner out -- who knew there were so many plant based choices in restaurants -- and home to a warm bed -- nothing to complain about there!

Speaking of plant based -- going well, it is.  I did eat a little meat over the weekend and, oddly, it didn't even taste good so I didn't end up on one of those craving binges.  I haven't craved sweets either so it is working for me.  I have dropped about 5 pounds, or maybe 6 which is a great  added  benefit.  The only thing is, my already low blood pressure is even lower now which I am not sure is so great but I feel ok so I am just going to watch it.

So, ok, was just checking in and now I am checking out -- gotta hit the road and see you later!

Battling Demons -- Faith Based Post

I am a Christian believer.  I always have been.  I believe in the power of prayer.  I believe that I am never alone and am being watched over even when I am struggling -- especially when I am struggling.  The thing that I am not, however, is a good listener.  I am not talking about listening to my hubby or my children or my grandchildren, I am talking about listening to God.  Maybe I don't sit still long enough, maybe I am not quiet enough, maybe I am just looking for somebody else to fix my problems. However, this weekend, something changed.  I think God must have been screaming at me because I finally heard the answer to all the prayers, begging, and pleading of late.  I don't "think" I heard it, I know I heard it.  This has happened before so I know what it feels and sounds like. 

For a while now, by "while" I mean about five or six years, I have been battling several demons and they all seem to circle one central theme -- my health and my weight.  In the course of that time I have had heart palpitations, some bouts of what I feel are afib, anxiety, depression, low self esteem (ok, this has been all my life) and severe allergies. It all pretty much began when my parents got sick, I nursed them and then they died -- I am only child -- very traumatic.  Then, it all got significantly worse when my husband had quadruple bypass surgery in 2005.  He got well, I got sick.  Top this all off by the fact that I have a horrible phobia about doctors due to my parents experiences and you have a pretty miserable person. 

So, as per my usual method of operation, I went to God in prayer first and, as usual, didn't listen.  I figured I could take a supplement -- lots of them, in fact -- and somehow override the copious amounts of trash I was eating and somehow be saved.  Well, I couldn't even take the supplements on a regular basis but I could devour tons of sweets and soda and just junk on a regular basis  with no problem.  I sit and wonder why my hair is falling out, why my fingernails peel off, why my joints ache constantly, why I have no energy, why my heart flops around erratically from time to time.  So, the other evening, as I am want to do, I was surfing around the internet researching "symptoms" and found a few things that quite honestly, scared the life out of me.  (WebMD is evil, I have decided).  But, somewhere in my reading there was a voice in my head -- yes, an audible male voice -- that said "plant based".  As I read on in whatever it was I was reading, it said how many symptoms or ailments could be treated and, sometimes, even reversed by being vegan or vegetarian.   Now I have tried this before with absolutely no conviction and, clearly, no success but somehow I was compelled to read on.

I prayed. I said that, as always, God's will prevailed but if it was his will that I get better just show me the way -- again, "plant based".  Had I heard this before and just not listened?  Probably. 

So, the next evening Hubs and I went to Zoe's -- a health related restaurant new to the area and I had some lovely soup and slaw -- neither vegetarian but clearly more "plant based" than the cookies I usually eat.  We then went to the bookstore across the street and I walked straight to -- as if being led by the hand -- to this book

I came home, read the book -- not in its entirety as yet -- there is a ton of information -- and I decided I could do this.  Why?  Well, "plant based" was still booming in my head and I was kinda tired of being yelled at and I figured I could do it because there are large amounts of food involved.  Whole foods, mostly raw, and the promise that the cravings would be gone and I would not be hungry.  I mean, there is something compelling to be said about eating all you want of something, even if it is kale.  I don't like kale but I am going to give it a go again.

So, I began on Friday.  According to Fuhrman salad --  and a lot of it -- is your main dish for lunch and supper and you should eat a cup of beans a day.  This is not a problem for me as I love that sort of food.  Hubs looked at me as I sat down to these meals -- he laughed.  He also said he was going to read the chapter on diabetes.  After eating these meals I had the oddest sensation.  I was full -- trust me -- I was full but.....I didn't have that feeling that I couldn't walk across the floor.  I felt light.  I haven't felt like this in .....well, I don't know that I have ever felt like this.  I feel "clean".  Now I know the meaning behind one of my favorite magazines about clean eating. 

I get it -- I GET IT!!! I feel like I am one of those people you hear about -- overweight yet starving to death.  I get it.  I listened.  Do I think that I was given a divine directive?  You betcha! And, when I get that sort of directive, I pay attention -- I am just sorry that I have been a defiant child -- I could have been doing this a long time ago.

I have been exercising as well.  I have one of those Tony Little Gazelle things that are supposed to be gentle on your knees -- well, maybe if you are IronMan but me, yeah, not so much.  But, thirty minutes a day -- thirty five today.  I am not going to try to kill myself but stay consistent.  Another thing that helps -- I am accountable to my daughter.  I am not writing any of this down but I am reporting to her what I am eating and how I am feeling.  A support group is important.  I think she is giving consideration for herself what I am doing.  Hubs even said he was going to read the chapter on diabetes.  Now, THAT is a breakthrough!

I figure after possibly six months to a year of this I will be able to say that some of my "issues" have left me.  I am hoping so, anyway.  I can't imagine that this life plan will be detrimental as I have been led here by the One who loves me the most and has never left me. So, I am back with a new vision and a new goal -- to be healthy so I can get on with what I need to get on with because I am pretty sure that I still have purpose and need to be able to fulfill that purpose.

So, as an appropriate project to go along with this stage in my life I am stitching this

I think it is adorable -- more difficult than it looks -- and is sort of representative of my "demons".  When I am done I am hanging it where I can see it on a daily basis to remember to stay vigilant in battling my demons.  It also helps that I am of Welsh ancestry and I just love little dragons!

Gone Dormant

Ok, before anybody gets mad at me for lack of posts or decides to unfollow me let me explain.  It seems I have gone dormant.  I don't feel well.  I have allergies that give me horrible headaches.  I keep getting a burning in my chest right under my collar bone every time I go walk around outside -- allergies again, I assume as it feels very bronchitis-y.  I have decided to slip back into my seasonal depression -- I do this once in a while, no worries, it will go away.  I have gained weight and now that is heavy on my mind -- no joke intended and I have been babysitting three days out of the week and I am just tired. Oh, and my joints hurt -- shoulders especially -- both of them, with sore places that make me yelp when touched.  So, I might be away until the weekend but I will be back as I have some photos to post and hopefully I will be in a much cheered up mood.  Blah :(

Arlo and the Fairy Door

Quite awhile back I acquired a fairy door as decoration for our new landscaping and I posted photos.  One Saturday, while at our neighborhood plant store, I discovered these cute little gnomes -- tiny little things, just the right size to complement my fairy door and make that part of the flower bed more of a little neighborhood.  I named him Arlo.  Well, the landscaping isn't new anymore and neither are Arlo or the fairy door but I thought I would take photos and post again -- Arlo has never had a proper photo taken so here it is.

They both look a little worse for the wear but it was a rough winter last year and a rougher summer so maybe they don't look so bad after all.

I Can't Believe I Like Dressing Out of Cabelas

Yes, it is true.  Somehow I have morphed from the cute little teenager wearing Bobbi Brooks from Joske's and Wolf & Marx into an old broad buying her duds from Cabelas.   Ok, granted, I have only bought one blouse and a bag but still -- it is a sporting goods store and I am not the sporting type!

So, yesterday we went in there to look for something for the Hubs.  I am not going to tell you what because it sounds crazy.  Ok, I will tell you, then I won't be the only crazy one around.  He wants to buy a camo pop up deer blind to sit in and take photos of the birds in the backyard.  Now, I am all about him taking pics of the birds and I don't really mind the blind -- especially the one that pops up and down like a play pen.  I would think, however, that the birds would be more cooperative and pose for the person who fills the feeder endlessly and even goes out of his way to research what sort of birds are out there and who prefers what foods.  I digress.

So, we went in looking for this piece of equipment and truthfully, I am only going to stand there for so long looking at something that really doesn't interest me so much before I drift away.  Well, Cabelas makes sure there is something for everybody there so I wind my way to the clothing section and I start looking at purses.  I have been wanting a cross body bag that is big enough for what I carry.  I had a cute little Coach one but the Giant Sunglasses just didn't fit -- honestly, neither did anything else.  I love Vera Bradley but I was looking at something that would go with more clothing so I ran across this

I sort of liked it immediately but I wasn't going to drop $60 on it without some thought.  Yes, I know, I have mindlessly spent more than that without so much as a blink of one eyelash but I am in the process of mending my evil spending ways.  So, I went home and did research.  I liked what I read, the measurements seemed reasonable but I had to try it on -- a concept that I learned from DD.

By this morning, I had decided that I would like to take another look so back to Cabelas we went which was ok with the Hubs because he wanted to take another look at the deer blind.  So, I grabbed up one of the two purses they had and proceeded to the help desk where I told the girl I had to "try it on" and she looked at me as if I had lost my mind.  After I decided that it was comfortable enough on my poor gimpy shoulders and worn crossbody as well, I commenced to taking everything out of the purse I brought in and seeing how it fit in the new one.  Ok, in order to get the Giant Sunglasses in, I had to buy a smaller case but that was ok, I was in need anyway.  Everything went in well, it has zippers enclosing everything but a back pocket which is good for those of us who either tend to drop purses or leave them gapping open. 

I bought it with Christmas money that I hadn't spent yet.  I came home, loaded it up and promptly went to the grocery store.  I wore it cross body and it was wonderful.  The way the strap is arranged, it creates no swing.  It stayed close and I was hands free to shop! Nothing was dragging on my poor, arthritic shoulders and I felt liberated.  And....drumroll, please....it was on sale!

If you are interested in looking at the manufacturers website, it is a Sherpani and the style is Luna.  They have several styles and four or five different art work designs.  I have a feeling I am going to wear this one out.

So, even though I broke my no-spend streak, at least it was on sale and it seems like it is going to work for me! Yay!

View from a Window --

Ok, the pics were taken late Thursday afternoon but I am just getting them posted.  Anyway, they don't look much different than the previous ones.

Remarkably unchanged, right?  So, I will add a couple of pics of birds that the Hubs took.  He has the camera mounted onto the telescope and is actually taking some good bird photos. 

Looks really serene, doesn't it?  Yeah, not so much.  We have so many doves out there it looks like something out of Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" and we have a hawk that relieved us of one of our doves -- there is nothing but a mess of feathers all over the flower bed.  Hubs is enjoying feeding the birds even though they are becoming demanding little demons and can put away an entire feeder of seed in one day -- but I have to wonder if we are just setting them up to be somebody else's dinner?  Hubs says it is just nature -- I say it is creepy.  In any event,  this is the life in our backyard!