Quack, Quack

That’s me tonight except I’m not quacking, I am waddling like a duck after eating Gina’s delicious supper.  Pot roast, mashed potatoes, green beans, gravy, rolls, to die for strawberry pie and decadent chocolate cake.  Waddle, waddle, waddle!!!  Thomas, Ashley and Abigail joined us (Rollie and Gina’s son, DIL and granddaughter).  I don’t do well with children (that’s an understatement) and little Abigail loves me.  When she sees me she starts grinning and holding out her arms for me to pick her up—an adorable baby!

I finished Shirley’s quilt today.  Tonight I can show you photos of the quilt I recently did for my friend Jeane:

Pebbles and stippling around the stitched in the ditch blocks.  Lots of stitching in the ditch on this quilt.

A beautiful quilt—maybe Jeane will give it to me???  I love the colors, browns and reds!

Yesterday afternoon we experienced thunderstorms and this morning before Michael got up we had thunder with lightening and rain.  Today is was sunny and very hot but around 5pm the temps really cool and it is pleasant to be outside.

Catch Up Day

First I caught up on my sleep then I caught up with other stuff—bill paying, banking, grocery shopping, etc.  Michael was up and down a lot last night but is feeling better this evening.  He was fed more chicken noodle soup for dinner so maybe that helped too.

I loaded Shirley’s quilt on the frame and started quilting it this afternoon.  Mom came over and did some sewing—Gina stopped by to visit too.

It was mighty hot and humid today—our motorhome has a very strange awning operated by air and electricity.  The awning has its own compressor.  I usually hesitate to use the silly thing unless Michael is around but the sun was beating in the passenger side windows this morning so I rolled out the awning.  To make the awning a little more immune to any sudden wind gusts I only unrolled it enough to shade the windows not using the full width.  The stupid thing wouldn’t retract this afternoon—the compressor was working, the awning would extend all the way out and retract part way but not all the way.  About the time I was ready to scream with frustration, the yellow jeep rolled in.  Seems the problem might be with the remote control—Michael discovered a manual switch in the compressor bay and all is well now with the awning retracted up tight! 

One last sand fest photo—John Lennon.  The office manager here at the park told me there is another sand fest in August on the Corpus Christi end of the island.

And It’s Over

We look forward with such anticipation each year to these gatherings and then the time together is over so quickly.  Sometime during the night a major thunderstorm with lightening, wind and rain blew through.  I hate to think what the storm did to the sand sculptures.  We lost power in the condo and the electricity didn’t come back on until just after 8am.  When I walked Emmi early I could see one of the gas stations on the corner had power—so off I went to get coffee, arriving to stand in line with the other dozen or so people doing the same thing—the store couldn’t make the coffee fast enough! 

After coffee and one last chat we all began to get ready and to pack up our things.  Shirley headed off in her truck for home and the rest of us headed off to find some breakfast.  It was then on to the airport for hugs and goodbyes until next year. 

At the motorhome I became a whirlwind—Michael has another sore throat and cold—and things needed cleaning.  I did seven loads of laundry and cleaned the motorhome from top to bottom plus put away all the stuff I took with me for the weekend.  A pot of chicken noodle soup is simmering on the stove and my dear husband came home a little early.

It was a wonderful weekend spent with wonderful friends!!

Sandfest 2013

Holy cow there were a lot of people out there!!!  I don’t do crowds—it was a good thing the sand sculptures were worth it!!  As was the people watching!   Traffic was atrocious but we managed to find a restaurant without a long line enjoying a delicious lunch! Back into the traffic, out to the beach trying to find a parking place. 

We pulled out of the line of traffic and parked behind a Prius—nope, that wouldn’t work, what if the Prius wanted to go before we did???  There was a tent set up in front of the Prius, I got out of the car and asked the couple sitting at in front of the tent if the Prius if the car belonged to them.  No, but he would be glad to pull his Tahoe forward and let me park behind him, giving him my telephone number in case he wanted to leave before we were ready.  What a nice guy!

Off we went into the crowds—holy smoke!!! 

We had an awesome day—I am so thankful to have these good friends.  Although we live far from each other we make the effort to meet up at least once a year and it is always as if we have never been apart. 

Emmi, Kelly and I went for a walk on the beach when we got back to the condo leaving Shirley and Elaine to fix the happy hour feast—they did a good job!!!  Another good day on the beach!

Look at those delicate arches—I hope the wind doesn’t blow it away before the judging tomorrow.

Shopping, Lunch and Sightseeing

We had such an enjoyable morning drinking coffee, chatting and laughing.  Emmi got a nice long walk on the beach and we headed off for shopping.  First stop was a cool little outdoor shopping mall over in Corpus Christi—lots of looking, trying on and laughing! 

By then we were hungry, really hungry so we headed off for Rollie’s favorite spot, Mickey’s in Aransas Pass.  What a great choice!!!!  Shirley and I had pecan crusted flounder with cilantro cream sauce—oh, my—that’s my new favorite dish at this restaurant.  We had a great waitress who took all our laughing in stride. 

Over to the historic downtown Rockport for a walk around.  I must have forgotten it was Friday and that it was SandFest weekend in Port Aransas.  The line for getting on the ferry had us lining up one mile from the terminal—probably took us about 45 minutes to load onto the ferry. 

Once home to the condo we took Emmi out to the beach for another nice walk then enjoyed a happy hour outside on our deck.  Can you tell Elaine’s sunglasses are new???  That little plastic ring could be used to tow a boat, I swear—you cannot break the stupid things—Elaine persevered and finally managed to wear her new sunglasses without being cross eyed! 

A great day with my good friends!

Checking In

I must have been totally relaxed last night before going to bed (too much Prosecco??)—I forgot to write a blog!!!  So no photos of us in bathing suits (it rained all day yesterday!!) Rick—we did eat some pound cake after having a very nice late lunch at Water Street Oyster Bar in Corpus Christi.  Shirley drove down, it took her about 4 hours, Kelly and Elaine flew in from Kansas and Tennessee—the gang is all here.  Our condo is nice, it is amazing how much contractors can pack into a small space—three bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms, a large kitchen, living, dining room.  We are two blocks from the beach right on a large canal.  It is cloudy/rainy again today but very warm—a walk on the beach is next on the agenda—that is after we get out of our PJ’s and finish drinking our coffee!!

On The Go

All day, I’ve been on the go.  Our hours are crazy right now with Michael’s work schedule.  I look at my watch thinking it should be about 10am and it is actually 2pm!!!  I’ve baked most of the day, shopped for groceries, bathed the dog, walked the dog, tried to kill Gina and me on the golf cart—I’ve been on the go!!

As for almost (exaggeration) killing Gina and me on the golf cart—it was almost dark and we were taking garbage to the dumpsters.  As we neared the fence I was yakking with Gina and kind of forgot which pedal was the brake.  Sure made Gina’s eyes widen!

Why all the preparation??  My Kimberly-Clark girlfriends are arriving tomorrow!!  We have a condo rented over near the beach in Corpus Christi and we are going to spend the weekend catching up, drinking wine, and eating.  We hope to spend some time on the beach, too—our weather kind of went down the tubes today—about 55 for a high and rain.  Hopefully it will be nice for the weekend! 

I still have a load of laundry going—Emmi’s bedding and towels—the cream cheese pound cake just came out of the oven and I think I hear my bed calling me!!  But I will wait up for the husband to come home.  I am so looking forward to tomorrow!

It Missed A Good Chance To Rain

On nasty, cloudy days with low hanging clouds, Michael will say, “it missed a good chance to rain/snow today.”  Well all afternoon the clouds have looked as if they were going to release buckets of rain and we’ve had not one sprinkle! Guess you never know.

“...can we expect some shots of you, in your new bathing suit, laying on those gorgeous beaches??” asks Paulette!!!  My reply—”are you kidding me or what!!”  The first person who takes a photo of me in a swimsuit may end up in the ocean, wet from head to toe!! 

I’m working on an interesting project for a quilting buddy who lives in Montana. Her mother-in-law made a bedspread comprised of 12 intricate crewel (I think that’s what you call it) work blocks surrounded by cream linen fabric.  This is a beautiful piece of art—it makes me nervous to be handling it, it is old!!!  The customer wanted to be able to use the piece and was unable to do so—it needs stabilizing—enter nervous me!  I tried to talk her out of my stitching even one little stitch on this bedspread but she was persistent! Today I jumped in and just started!  The spread is huge, 87 inches by 110 inches so the backing was one monster piece of fabric.  The piece is loaded on the longarm with Warm & Natural batting and I’ve stitched closely around three of the crewel blocks.  I’m doing a very, very large meander in the surrounding linen fabric.  The fabric hasn’t fallen apart yet and it’s looking good—Gina has been giving me good advice—she picked out the thread color which just melts into the fabric. 

The color in this photo is not true, I just wanted you to see the incredible stitching.  The true color is a warm cream color--And here at 10pm, it is finished!!  And it looks dang good if I do say so myself—I’ve laid my fears to rest—stabilizing helped and now my friend can use the piece—it was heavy to start with and now with backing and batting—it is really heavy! 

It Was A Good Day

Michael sleeps better when he doesn’t have to wake to an alarm clock and when he sleeps better, the wife sleeps better.  He’s working noon to midnight so an alarm clock is expendable—daylight wakes us up!  We enjoyed lunch together—chicken fajitas—Gina even came over and ate with us, Rollie had headed off for work all ready.  

After Michael left for work I decided it was a beach day—Gina agreed to come along and off we went with Ms. Emmi.  Saw several dolphins surfacing as we were waiting on the ferry.  It was a beautiful day, gorgeous blue skies, a non-crowded beach and endless waves.  There a large collection of sea weed—usual and customary on Texas beaches. 

The beaches won’t be so non-crowded this weekend—it is Sand Fest in Port Aransas.  There are all ready crews hard at work building mega sand castles:

After we came home I told Gina, “I need a swimsuit.”  There is not much need for swimsuits in Montana and the one I own I think I bought at Costco, many years ago not even trying it on.  Remember a while back I ordered a suit from Land’s End, ordering one size larger than the sizing charts said I needed—got that dang thing in the mail and couldn’t even get my big toe in the stupid suit!!  That’s an exaggeration but I really couldn’t even get the suit on it was so tight!  Gina groaned when I told her I needed a suit and said, “that’s an all day affair, girlfriend!!”  Well, I proved her wrong!

Off to Corpus Christi we went.  We walked into Dillard’s, asked directions to the swimsuit department, arrived, and were helped by the sweetest little lady who gave me an arm full of all types of different suits—I didn’t get the “no more than 3 items to a dressing room” line!  Gina had headed me in the right direction telling me what kind of suits she wore and I’ll be if the first suit I tried on didn’t fit perfectly and I actually LIKED it!!!  I tried on about 10 more but went back to the first one and guess what—it was on sale!!!! 

After getting that unpleasant chore accomplished we wandered the mall a little more, did a little more shopping damage then had pizza at Grimaldi’s.  Back home to a couple of happy pooches ready for a walk.

It was with sadness I read Paulette’s Sweet P Quilting and Creations blog this morning—seems Paulette is taking a blogging break.  I totally understand her desire and reasons for not writing a daily blog—it seems to get harder and harder for me and I have considered taking a break—maybe Paulette has started something???  Maybe just write a blog when you have something news worthy enough to write about other than what’s for lunch?? 

And see, today, I am too wordy!  It’s feast or famine!  There is a reason I can’t lose any weight—I live next door to Gina.  I’m taking a poll—how many of you eat raw cookie dough??  I LOVE raw cookie dough, I can remember having fights with my brother Ross when as a teenager I would be making cookies and he would come by to swipe the cookie dough.  I don’t care that the dough contains raw eggs, I usually eat enough cookie dough that I’m not hungry for the baked cookies.  How about you—do you eat raw cookie dough?  Gina brought me a bucket of raw cookie dough to sample a few minutes ago—no wonder I can’t fit in swimsuits????? 

Back To Work

Michael received a text last night from his immediate supervisor telling him they were doing the noon to midnight shift this week.  Michael was actually relieved to hear he didn’t have to be at work by 6am this morning! 

I was off to church leaving he and Emmi to fend for themselves.  Also picked up some groceries at the HEB in Rockport after church. 

This afternoon Gina and I sat outside in the sun gabbing and doing some hand sewing.  Mom and Chuck made it home to Arkansas.  Our weather was a tad warm today but this afternoon it has cooled and there is a breeze.

Does anyone seriously believe asking for my driver’s license before selling me a product such as Claratin D and only allowing me a 15 day supply is going to stop someone from making meth???  Another dumb idea as far as I’m concerned!

A Quick Note

We are back in Aransas Pass after a very, very long travel day.  Our last leg from Houston to Corpus Christi was delayed due to mechanical problems making us a hour late arriving.  Emmi was again a great traveler, we had time in Houston for me to take her outside to do her business and that was good.  Gina, bless her heart, saved the day—she had burgers, homemade french fries and wine waiting for us—that girl is just the best.  We got to briefly see Mom and Chuck—they are heading to Arkansas tomorrow.  The weather here has been cooler and rainy—so cool that Mom was even running the heater in the quilting studio. 

I will write a longer blog tomorrow—I am just too tired tonight.

Winding Down

Our time here is coming to a close and we will be heading back to Texas.  It’s been a great visit for sure!  Today we took a nice long walk in overcast but warmer weather.  Michael helped me clean the flower beds so that little chore is done—now we just have to wait for spring to come.

I’ve done a little cooking today and Michael sawed into firewood some trees which fell this winter.  Other than that—we’ve been bums and it has been great!

We had dinner at Lonn and LoraLee’s tonight getting to see our granddaughter Laci—she is currently stationed at the USAF base in Great Falls, MT and is looking forward to her husband John joining her soon. 

Sunset over the Boulder. 

Rainbow on the way home tonight—I am sure there was a pot of gold just right there!

Let’s Take A Tour

Beautiful, beautiful morning, a little nippy at 16 degrees but sunny, clear, blue skies.  We took an early morning walk to just enjoy the views and the stillness.

Mid morning we drove into town with plans to take Nat to lunch—he was feeling a little under the weather so he volunteered to babysit the pooch letting Michael and me enjoy a great lunch at the new pizza place in town which opened just before we headed south.  Delicious pizza—the sauce had a hint of sweetness and a bit of a spicy bite—very good.

We visited with Nat for a while—as for the tour, here is the view from his dining room windows:

Not too shabby!  He lives in a subdivision just out of town with one acre or larger lots.  Nat’s lot borders the subdivision park so on that side he has no neighbors. 

We stopped for fuel in Big Timber and I jumped out to take this shot:

The building on the right behind the 35mph sign is the Frosty Freeze—a local institution, restaurant serving typical diner type food.  Nat and his wife Joy loaned their friends the money to buy that restaurant in the 1960’s—those friends operated the Frosty Freeze for over 20 years.  The current owners purchased the restaurant from those same friends and have operated it ever since.  The other building in the photo is our local thrift shop with the mural painted by one of our resident artists.

Back up the Boulder we stopped to visit friends Kathy and Jim—it was good to sit down with them and have a good long chat. 

Life is good up the Boulder!

It Snowed Again And Dinner Guests

Last night the stars filled the sky and I had hopes for a beautiful day—nope, two more inches of snow.  While on our morning walk we had sunshine and blue skies—maybe it would be a nice day—nope, it snowed off and on all day—the snow is melting about as fast as it falls which makes for such nice mud and more mud! 

While we’ve been gone a couple trees fell across the driveway—Lonn discovered the trees one day when he came over to feed the horses.  He came back the next day bringing a chain saw cutting the trees in pieces he could move out of the way.  Michael spent the morning cutting the trees into firewood and hauling it home.  I cleaned a little, did some laundry and made lunch.

After lunch I made a run into Big Timber—our grocery store hasn’t improved over the winter—and dropped by the quilt shop.  Bonnie, the daughter of our good friends Larry and Kelli, purchased the shop over the winter and I wanted to see what new things she had brought in—some gorgeous fabrics, new patterns—fun and exciting!

Sarge and Sarah joined us for dinner tonight—Sarge and Michael caused lots of trouble all through their school years.  We had a great time visiting and laughing.  Sarah is a retired veterinarian and is a wealth of knowledge about such things as sandhill cranes.  The two of us ganged up on the guys—I’ve always felt it was easier for women to occupy their time after retirement and Sarah agrees with me!  

Sarah brought me some spring:

 

See, we had blue sky for a while this morning but it didn’t last long—forecast for tomorrow is a little better.

A good day at home in Montana.

Winter Rather Than Spring

Six inches of new snow when we woke this morning and the roads to Billings were yucky!  Icy and slushy!  We spent the day there with Lonn and LoraLee—got lots of gabbing done while we hung out in the medical world.

Emmi got to stay with Nat and I think both of them had a good time—Nat really misses Emmi.  Back to Big Timber after 7pm where it was snowing with about 2-3 inches on the ground.  As we traveled up the Boulder the snow became less and less—we have some in the tall grasses but the roads and our driveway are dry.

Not a very newsy blog but that’s the way it is sometimes!

Here’s what we are hoping it will look like around here soon—I took this photo in May of 2011. 

Connected Again

Took the guys at Triangle Telephone a little longer than usual to get us up and running this time.  They changed our IP address and ended up sending out a technician to reconfigure our router. 

We left Corpus Christi at about 5:30am on Saturday—what kind of sadistic person makes flights schedules??  We were up at 3am, out the door at 4am and to the airport by about 4:45am.  Flights were mostly on time, Emmi traveled well and we landed in Bozeman in sunshine.  In Denver we had a two hour layover and I left all the carryon’s with Michael taking Emmi outside for a potty break—the Denver airport actually has a doggy park alongside one of the parking garages!!  The airports were packed with people, the seats on the airplanes have gotten way smaller—travel by air is not fun anymore! 

We stopped in Livingston at Albertson’s, purchasing some groceries, before heading to Big Timber for a quick visit with Nat.  By the time we left Nat’s it was snowing and we arrived home to this:

Didn’t matter to us, we were both so glad to be home as was Emmi.  We built a fire in the fireplace, opened a bottle of good wine and just sat back to enjoy our home as well as the quiet. 

Saturday we ran over to visit with Lonn, LoraLee, Katie and Michael for a while.  Back home I made us a quick lunch and we just relaxed until time to go to our friends Geoff and Nancy’s.  They along with George and Shirley were hosting a welcome home party for us—lots of friends and neighbors—the wine and food were great as usual—we had a ball!  It was so good to see everyone.

It has snowed off and on since our arrival on Saturday evening but not much has accumulated. Temps have been rather chilly for April! 

Today Nat came for lunch—the sirloins I marinated were tender and delicious, I also served Pioneer Woman’s crash hot potatoes along with brown sugar glazed carrots. 

Life is good and it is great to be home!