Past week recap: birthdays, travel, food, and the unexpected

Eating breakfast at Kelley's country cookin'

This past week DH and I celebrated our 80th birthdays. We are only 9 days apart in age. Of course I'm the older one (which should give me some clout, right?)

Well, we had planned for some time to visit DH's brother and his wife, who live in the Houston area, in July, so we told the kids we didn't want any big todo for this milestone... the trip was our celebration.

DH's brother and wife are connoisseurs of good food and watch shows that show local restaurants and chefs that one might want to try. So needless to say, we eat out a lot when visiting them and vice versa. It's fun... and we enjoy it with them... probably because it's not something we tend to do on our own.  

Here are a few pictures of one of our breakfasts:

my breakfast egg sandwich

veggie omelette

eggs benedict

It was all very good. They had previously brought home a chocolate cream pie from this restaurant and we nibbled on that for several days. I'm a lover of good chocolate pie and this one was very good.

Kelley's chocolate cream pie

We also went to several other restaurants that were all excellent, but the one I wanted to special mention here is called Paris Baguette. Some of you may be familiar with it. We weren't... and were blown away when we walked in.

There are rows and rows of pastries , sweet and savory, breakfast sandwiches, cakes, pies, etc. You pick up a tray and  tongs and go down the rows picking up whatever you want, then to the cashier to pay for it before sitting down to eat or taking it home. They heat up the pastry or whatever as needed for you. It's awesome. 

Here are some pics:

We each picked out 2 things to try and sat down and shared. All were good. But of course we had our favorites and have already picked out what we would need to try next time.

I wanted to take pics at all the restaurants, especially the Seafood one and the Mexican one... but I'm lucky I even remembered to take these.

And I mentioned 'the unexpected' in the title here... unfortunately we got a phone call from our oldest son the same day we left for Houston. He had to take his wife to the ER that night and the they were waiting to transfer her to a Houston hospital for surgery. 

Since we were already in Houston, we planned to stay a few extra days to be with them. As it turned out, they ended up transferring her to a hospital in San Antonio. The ambulance broke down twice on the way and finally they had to wait for another ambulance to continue. Then... they brought her to the wrong hospital first, then finally to the right one. My son's comments were: "you can't make this s... up".

Anyway, she is in surgery now. As far as what kind of surgery, I'm not sure... only that it was 'complicated' (something to do with bile ducts and stents?) and couldn't be done at the original hospital where they live. Waiting now to hear from son on how the surgery went.

That's it for the recap. Hope your week was good. Thanks so much for reading. 

Also: My biopsy for this bump on my lower lid will be biopsied Thursday by an eye surgeon. The thought of it scares me... (I shouldn't be such a wus - but IT'S MY EYE). If it's benign, the eye surgeon will cut it out and sew it up in his office. If it's not benign, he will have to send me elsewhere.  

Hugs (virtually),

Rian

Happy 4th of July 2025 !

Happy 4th of July!

If you click here, it should play 

"It's a grand old flag!"

I love this song from Yankee Doodle Dandy

with George Cohan

Lyrics here:

You're a grand old flag,
You're a high flying flag
And forever in peace may you wave.
You're the emblem of
The land I love.
The home of the free and the brave.
Ev'ry heart beats true
'neath the Red, White and Blue,
Where there's never a boast or brag.
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
Keep your eye on the grand old flag.

Wishing you all a happy safe 4th of July!

Hugs, (virtually),

Rian

 

Rabbit! Rabbit! White Rabbit! July 1, 2025

 

Rabbit! Rabbit! White Rabbit!

Good Morning! July1st 2025 is here already!

DH and I both hit the big 8-0 this month... 

(a little scary, but glad to be here)

Hugs (virtually),

Rian

Stories worth sharing...

Teddy, new adoptee

Had to tell you this story: 

My cousin in New Orleans recently lost her 16 year old kitty.  For a while she grieved over this loss. She lives alone and Kuchi was her companion for years. Well, when she decided to adopt another, she started thinking about an older cat... felt she was too old herself to take on a kitten. So she started checking out rescue centers. 

She had a few options available and sent me pictures and explained their ages and circumstances. I found one that seemed perfect... intelligent face and not too old. I believe he is 12. But the choice was hers and after getting it down to 2, decided on Teddy (which was my choice also). 

Anyway, he has been with her for about 2 weeks now (apparently fostering until a decision was made). But she just told me yesterday that she will be adopting him and getting all the paperwork, medical background, etc. this Saturday. So happy that it worked out. She says he is a wonderful sweet cat and loves having him there. Teddy deserves a loving home for the last years of his life... and her spoiling him with a new cat bed, cat tree, and his favorite food... as well as a loving lap to sleep on whenever she's around is great for both of them.

On another note:  

I can't remember if I mentioned this at an earlier time, but I don't think so. In some ways, it's a funny story... but also a bit sad (depends on how you look at it).

Our daughter lives on 8 acres in the hill country. Neighbors around her have acreage also. Many have animals, mostly horses, dogs, cats, rabbits, etc. Well, a few years ago, one of her neighbors released all their rabbits... into the wild. Naturally they multiplied and many were visiting daughter's property (black, white, black&white, grey, and golden bunnies).

Loving animals and afraid for their welfare with predators, she began to catch them and keep them in her barn. But after several batches of baby bunnies (some of which she was able to find homes for), she decided to keep only the females penned in. I believe she had maybe 6 females... for about a year, maybe longer. No babies. But recently and I'm sure they were working on their tunnel for a long time, but recently the females tunneled out. 

Now that they have all been loose  again for several months... she just found baby bunnies in the hay in her tack room! 

 

... and so the battle continues.

Just thought I'd share those 2 stories with you - one with a happy ending and the other - a conundrum.

Don't you love that word "conundrum"? I recently found this list of really great words:

Aren't these great words? (Think my daughter may be discombobulated with these shananigans)

Hugs (virtual), 

Rian

Something about a Sunday...

I like Sundays... and I'm not quite sure why. Growing up it meant going to church and coming home to fried chicken and the aroma of dad's pipe or cigars in the house. It was a cozy loved feeling. 

DH and I continued the church attendance until our 3rd child. It got to be a hassle with 3 kids under 5 - and I'm not saying it was the only reason we stopped going... but it was one. As time went on, I began to feel that it wasn't necessary to attend church every Sunday. And for a while mama and I (when she lived with us here) would go in the mornings in the middle of the week. It seemed... more meaningful since we weren't going for the social aspect, but just because we wanted to. Later, that stopped too. But I no longer find that it matters spiritually. I've always believed that 'One on one' works best when it comes to matters of God.

Don't ask me where THAT came from. My monkey minds sometimes just goes off on a tangent. 

But perhaps the news about the U.S. bombing Iran has stirred up some weird stuff. I don't have any inklings as to whether this was right or wrong. To me anything that sparks war is wrong, but what do I know? All I do know is that it makes me feel afraid. What will be the aftermath of such an act? Do we still have Allies? Life has gotten a little unpredictable since January 20, 2025. 

Sometimes I feel so-oo full... like there's so much I want to say, but not sure 'how or if' I should say it. I think that inside each of us are so many thoughts and ideas and feelings that aren't easy to express. I guess this Blog gives us a chance to do this. I write things on here that I'd never put on Facebook. In fact, I deleted Facebook from my phone this morning as I really didn't want to read all the stuff that will be forth-coming since the bombing. However, I will miss seeing family pics posted from Louisiana...

I hate what places like Canada, the UK, Australia, and others must be thinking about us. I hope they realize that many many of us (hopefully more than the Trumper half) are not in agreement with what is going on here since the last election. We want to take America back! We want to make America "kind" again!  And we're trying... but perhaps we need help. How? I don't know. But we need our friends (Canada, the UK, Australia, etc.) to stand by those of us who want our country back.

I'm going to stop now. It's Sunday and I need to think about Sunday dinner... maybe Chicken Spaghetti ... and a salad. That sounds good. 

Here's a picture of me at 7 or 8 (when life was simpler) with our dog, Pal. 

and me in a high school show... (still simple)

That's me in the middle back... and my life-long friend since grammar school on my right

and now a few memes:

and how I feel sometimes in the morning...

Oh, and if you saw my last post with a pic of Shadow (one of our ferals). Here's a better pic of him:

Have a wonderful Sunday... and forgive me for sharing my rambling mind with you. Sometimes it just helps to write it all down and get it out of my head. 

Hugs (virtually),

Rian

a hodgepodge: random assortment of unrelated things

my home-grown red pepper

 My beautiful home-grown red pepper (on my cluttered kitchen shelf). I had to show you as most of our peppers will get ugly before they change from green to red (so we generally pick them while still green). So proud of that little baby. We do like to roast peppers and use them in a lot of dishes (or eat them just roasted!)

While on the subject of food, here is a picture I took when gathering my ingredients for a roast a few days ago. Not sure why I took the pic, but sometimes things just look picture worthy.

I also use bay leaves, parsley, and s & p as well as the onions and garlic in my roasts. Later I make the gravy separate and add to the existing juices (after I remove my portion since gravy is not gluten free).

Updates:

My Cardiologist appointment went well. Apparently my heart is in good shape for my age and I don't have to have another Echo or visit for a year. (Yay!)

Oncologist appointment is next week. Wish he would say the same, but doubt it since he is watching those 'things' in my lungs. This time no catscan though, just a chest x-ray (Yay! to that too).

No news from the Pulmonologist  -  he may still be waiting for the results of tests... and the home sleep test (which hasn't occurred yet) 

And now a pic of one of our feral cats that has been around since his birth. We call him Shadow... and he disappears for weeks on end, then returns and stays around for weeks. He's a kind soul and has no problems with the kittens, letting them eat from his plate, etc. The little black kitten has taken to him..

Shadow comes by the back door and sits and waits for us to feed him (and the kitten). We've often left the back door open, but he doesn't try to come inside. He's a very careful cat, stays off to himself, and although he isn't afraid of us, doesn't get too close either.

OK, going to close this with a few words regarding the "No Kings" protests. I think they went really well. I'm so proud that so many people showed up. I didn't go, but wasn't aware of any close by, but hopefully will next time. The next few memes are indicative of how I've been feeling lately. 

It's only Friday, but I do hope everyone has a peaceful safe healthy weekend!

Hugs (virtual),

Rian

my week in review...

Walking into the bathroom one day this week, I was surprised to see a tiny frog sitting by the faucet. It's not unusual to occasionally find tiny geckos in the house, but this is the first time I've come across a frog. I scooped him up into a plastic container and was going to save him for our granddaughter who loves frogs. But then I realized she already had 2... and both of these were big enough to probably eat this little thing, so I just took a picture for her and released him into the back yard.

Also... we have security cameras in the back that we check daily. They show the ferals that come to the yard - usually the cats, kittens, possums, raccoons, and box turtles - but occasionally a coyote or bobcat come by. Yesterday to our surprise the camera showed a coyote chasing our little black kitten. Luckily he/she was smart enough to run up the tree that is close by the porch and escape. 

We do have a 6 ft fence... but apparently the coyotes can jump it. So now we're getting an estimate to see if we can raise it to 8 ft. 

Another fun (ha!) experience this week was my visit to the dentist. I was told that I had a small cavity underneath an old cap on one of my teeth - so the dentist needed to remove the cap, treat the decay, and take an impression for a new cap... and there was a 'possibility' of a root canal. Well, going to the dentist (even for cleaning) is difficult for me. I tell myself it's silly and to not be such a wuss, but my heart beats wildly and it's hard not to panic. But I tell myself, "JUST DO IT!" and did. It wasn't awful... just a nerve wracking 2 hours (and luckily the root canal wasn't necessary). And I will say that this dentist and his staff are very kind and extremely good at what they do.

On another note, I made a chicken enchilada pie today. It's my 'cheat' on the original chicken enchilada recipe made with either corn or flour tortillas. I use the same recipe, but instead of putting the filling into tortillas, I put it into a covered pie shell. It's faster and really good (and takes less time than filling 12 tortilla shells).

That's about it. We hope to go to Ham's Peach Orchard some time this week (will try to remember to take pics). They have wonderful fresh peaches, blueberries, strawberries, etc. as well as dozens of products made with peaches, baked goods, frozen goods, etc. And fresh peach and strawberry ice-cream! Also they now have peach pulled pork sandwiches (which are really good).

As for some of the crazy political stuff going on :

and for DH's Father's Day: 

And Happy Father's Day to all of the Dad's out there!

Hugs (virtual),

Rian