Sunday morning...

my cluttered kitchen window

Good Morning!  Isn't it a gorgeous day?  We've been up since about 7 am., had coffee, made biscuits and bacon for breakfast, DH off to run errands already, son off to work, grandson still sleeping?? (He's 13- so I guess that means 'sleep until noon'?)   So...  I'm reading and catching up on my blogs.  So far I've written a new post for Cats, Coffee, and Chocolate about our visiting possum, and updated my favorite picture blog (Simple Things) with pictures of my grand daughter and her horses, and now this one. 

I didn't have anything special to blog about today so I decided to take some pictures of  'around the house' to see if anything stood out.  Outside of sleeping cats and a sink full of breakfast dishes, the only picture I liked was my 'cluttered kitchen window' (go figure?).  I wish I had some dramatic mountain or ocean scenery, but I don't.  It's Central Texas.  It does have its own beauty, but not necesarily in my backyard.  Although you have to admit, our backyard is a busy place.




Jack on the living room table

 



Rose in the living room window

 I do plan to make a roast, potatoes, and carrots a little later today. And saved some of the breakfast bacon to add to fresh green beans, onions, and garlic.  And if I get motivated... maybe even a pie with home-made pastry crust?  I love making pies, but DH doesn't seem to care if the crust is home-made or store-bought (Pet-Ritz is pretty good).  But I care.  I love home-made crust! (but it does take time).

Where do you live?



We live in Texas

Ever since I started this blog, I've been meaning to do 'something' to remember where the 'bloggers I read' live.  Some are easy to remember by the pictures of the area they post. Others are generic or (like myself) change their pictures from day to day.  In the beginning when I read just a few, it was easy... but now since I've increased the number (and decreased my brain cells), I'm finding it more difficult. I'll be reading a site and then have to surf over to their 'profile' to check out their home base.  Anyway, now I've started a list that immediately shows me who is from where. Archaic, but hey,  it works for me. 

The picture at the top is one that my son sent me when he was in West Texas doing some amphibian research for the Dallas Zoo. I figure it might help people remember that WE LIVE IN TEXAS.

I know that I post a lot of pictures of New Orleans because that is where DH and I were born and raised (and our family is still there), but we've lived in Texas since 1971 and raised our kids here. That should qualify us for honorary Texas residents, don't you think?  (BTW, my oldest son was born in New Orleans, daughter in Florida, and youngest son in Texas - we stopped moving after that...)



Dancing as fast as I can...

I'm still trying to 'catch up' since being gone last week.  Have read almost all the blogs I missed... but haven't had time to comment on all.  Hopefully I will be back on track in the next few days.

My pottery classes are already in critiques and that along with Yoga classes (as well as picking up my grandson after school) is keeping me hoppin'.  I need a nap! 

Oh well, I'll survive...

Am behind on a bunch of things like a dental cleaning, eye exam, mammogram, etc. - but only by about 2 months.  Hope to get it all in before December. 

BTW, I did get to go to youngest grandson's first soccer game a week ago.  It was great!  The 5 year olds are so cute.   Here are a few pics.  GS is the dark haired one on the far left.

95th Birthday!... no, not mine



Beignets and Cafe Aulait - Again!  This time in Baton Rouge.


DH and I just returned from another trip to Louisiana. This time to Ethel, La... a little town outside of Baton Rouge.  DH's mom had her 95th birthday this past week.  She is doing well, still lives in her house, and gets around fairly well with her walker (when she remembers to use it).  Her mind is sharp, but her body is failing... which I guess at 95 is expected.  But as she says, "it's frustrating" because the things she likes to do (gardening, cooking, walking, taking care of her cats and the outside birds) has become increasingly difficult. She can no longer drive and dislikes being dependent on others. And she's "tired".

What can you say? I know all this is true and I feel helpless. She has wonderful family nearby that keep close tabs on her and try to involve her in activities, but as she says, she doesn't enjoy needing all this help. She does feel grateful that she has lived this long, but she misses her friends who have all passed on. I can relate (on the friends' issue).  I have lost my mom, dad, and both siblings over the years. And this past summer I lost a very dear friend.  She was 86 and had lived a long happy (for the most part) life.  But I still miss her.

BTW, the photo at the top is beignets and cafe aulait at a place in Baton Rouge. The cafe aulait was good, but the smaller beignets just didn't do the ones in New Orleans justice. We're LSU graduates (class of '68 ) and try to visit our old haunts whenever we're in town. (Usually eat at Mike Anderson's, but this time tried Pairran's- cajun for godfather.  Had poboys and gumbo!) LSU's campus is covered with huge old oak trees.  Most of the limbs touch the ground these days (whether this is from age or hurricanes I'm not sure). But I have to say that even all these years later, the campus is still beautiful.

We stayed at DH's brother's house outside of Houston on our way home so we could watch the LSU-Idaho game (score was 62-14) Saturday night.  Wasn't much of a game...




DH's brother's cat



Back at it... yoga and pottery



"I meditate, I do Yoga, I chant...
and I still want to smack someone"


This morning I started taking Yoga again!  Used to take it years ago and loved it, but had to quit after surgery made it hard for me to stretch for a while.  And then the problem became finding a time that didn't interfere with my pottery classes.  This year I've done it!  Pottery on MW and Yoga on TTh.  Of course I always end up on the pottery wheel or in the studio 4 - 5 days a week (it's addictive) playing around with the clay in some way or other. 

Last class we made Black Birds (need 400 of them - in all stages of flight - for a combined art project).  Think they're going to have this display of a flock somewhere on the campus later in the year. After this we'll split off into our own individual projects. Haven't decided what I'm going to work on yet... but it'll definitely be 'on the wheel' as this is where I need the practice. Hand sculpturing is fun, but wheel work takes time.  So I'm hoping to take the time this year to devote to it.  Have only been at it for 2 years, so as the country and western song goes, "I'm not as good as I'm going to get, but I'm better than I used to be".  The picture here was on a card DH gave me today that he found while waiting at the hospital for me to get some test results.  It was funny AND it looks so much like our cat, Ghost... such a happy face. 

And keeping this post on a light note, I'm going to add a simple household picture... nothing important just a little part of my life.  This is one of my favorite cups. I like cups and saucers and have collected a few that I use for tea (or coffee).   Perhaps some of you collect things that for whatever reason... make you happy...  or have a story behind them? 

New turtle in town...

We have a new turtle... or at least one we don't recognize.  The one little male that we usually recognize has been marked with a tiny red heart on the far back of his shell.  This one I quickly ran out and marked with 2 tiny red stripes on the right side of his shell (see them?)... and I rewarded him with a strawberry. They like to come up and eat the dry cat food, but they also like figs and strawberries.

The 3 young black feral kittens were fascinated with him and kept surrounding him, but would run away when I got too close.  However, this black female who has been in and out our yard for years, came right up and checked him out.  She didn't seem to mind that I was taking pictures. 

Now I have to send this picture to my grand daughter who has a 'thing' for turtles.  She also has her own turtle website and club. As of this summer, she now owns 3 African dessert tortoises, one Red-foot, one Eastern Box turtle (that is from our yard), and 3 Red Sliders (not to mention 3 horses, 2 dogs, 3 cats, and at one time a squirrel, several toads, and 2 alpaca).  Yes, she has inherited my gene for loving all critters big and small.

I will close this today with one more picture of the raccoons that frequent our yard.  They come every morning and evening (and occasionally in the middle of the day), look in the back door (as you can see) and scratch and knock on it until DH goes out and puts more food in the plates. Last night there were 17 of them (most are mamas and their babies).  We really don't want to encourage them, but we do put catfood out for the ferals and don't discriminate. (It's similar to the squirrels and the bird feeders - all are welcome).

Our backyard is a certified wildlife habitat and even though we live in a suburban neighborhood, it is on a creek with a greenback and floodplain... thus, the abundance of critters. 

Arrgh! Thought I'd lost it...



Hurray!

 I was playing around with my format today, adding new gadgets and removing the word verification from comments when I did something that looked like I had lost my format and template.  Talk about panic! I thought, "oh no... here we go again".  I have lost websites in the past (thru total fault of my own, I'm sure). They have flown off into cyberspace never to be seen again. After days of torment, I usually calm down and start over.  No use dwelling on it... what's done is done, yes? Anyway, I don't know what I did and I don't know how I corrected it (although I did hit 'restore'?), but somehow my blog is still here.  Hurray!

The picture at the top is when my grand daughter who has been taking riding lessons since she was 3, was finally allowed to gallop. Thus, the enthusiastic arm throw (another of my favorite pics).