How is it April already?!

It's crazy to me that we're already into full-on spring. After January lasting about a decade, February to April has just whipped by at light speed. And now it's Holy Week/Easter weekend... unbelievable.

We continue to enjoy social gatherings here in our hood. Last Saturday was the Bandana Bash. The food was good and the live band was outstanding. We heard lots of old country, like George Strait and Brooks & Dunn. Then after church the next day we attended a Palm Sunday brunch. Our club really does a great job serving as the backdrop for all these fun gatherings. Thus far in April, the only party I've got on the calendar is American Bandstand. There's no doubt that theme totally dates us, and the community where we live.

In completely unrelated news, we've been on the move in the last week, taking little excursions to go check out SUV options for me at nearby dealerships. I wish I could say I've got my perfect one picked out. But no. And thus Goldilocks (me!) continues her search for the new vehicle that's just right. While we were out looking and test driving, we did sneak in a visit to one of our favorite Texas regional restaurants. If you ever have the chance to eat at a Tia Juanita's Fish Camp, be sure to order the blackened shrimp and crab bread bowl appetizer. 

After a pretty dry spring thus far, it figures we've got a rather rainy forecast for Easter weekend on the horizon. Which means our bunny activities and egg hunt at church where I'm volunteering have been moved indoors. We're hoping the fishing guide we hired for our CPA daughter and her husband doesn't have to cancel on us due to bad weather Saturday. But if he does, I've got a back up plan for us girls to go paint some pottery. The guys will have to find their own fun. 

An entertaining March

This month has been a bit of a whirlwind. You hear folks talk about how they stay busier in retirement than when they were working, and think yeah, right. But I'm beginning to see the truth of it. And I figure that's because you get involved with more social activities when you don't have to pull a 40 hour work week. Plus lots of us are smack in the middle of what they call the sandwich generation. Our last chick to leave the nest is about to wrap up her law degree, and we're wrangling the husband's parents who are knocking on the door of 90. 

The lake house continues to be a delight. The husband has been referring to it as San Diego weather here lately, so we're enjoying lots of time on the back porch. We got the lake pump and sprinkler system turned on again, so the yard is greening up nicely. The azaleas are in full bloom, and just gorgeous. A neighbor on our street has one of the  tallest azalea plantings I've ever seen. And the azaleas bushes in the neighbor's yard two doors down blaze like they're on fire when the evening sun hits them.

The husband's aunt was in town visiting his parents for the past week. We took them out on the pontoon boat twice and they seemed to enjoy checking out scenery from the water. It's not the most flattering pic of me below, mid-laugh, but there ya go. The husband and I were even motivated to do a bit of kayaking a couple days ago. We wrestled our big tandem kayak out of its rack and launched it from the PWC lift, which was super convenient. It was a beautiful late afternoon paddle, even though I cackled at our antics since I imagine we must have resembled Laurel & Hardy with our novice kayaking skills.

With our warmer temps and sunny skies, we've definitely noticed an uptick of boat traffic from our back porch. Recent sightings include my favorite, one of our local sailboaters out on the water. Plus jet skis as well as ski and wake boats. We've even seen folks pulling kids on tubes, and a few wake surfers in action.

Last Saturday, I volunteered to be one of the host homes for our women's club annual uncorked wine tour in the neighborhood. I spent Friday baking five pans of chocolate Neiman Marcus bars and making 130 little plastic shot glasses of whipped Boursin cheese topped with fig preserves and hot honey. These were my sweet and savory nibbles to compliment the sauvignon blanc and tempranillo we served to the six groups that rotated through my house. The prep of cleaning and prepping was a bit nerve wracking, but it was for a great cause because this is our spring fundraiser for the women's club. And I honestly had fun visiting with all of my new friends and neighbors here in the Bay.

This upcoming weekend, we will be attending the bandana bash Saturday night and Palm Sunday buffet the following day. Like I said in my last post, our community is always coming up with fun ways to socialize and celebrate life. I'm so glad the Lord led us here, because it has truly been a blessing to be welcomed with open arms and have this immediate sense of belonging with so many kind people.

March Hare Brunch

Our community is always looking for an excuse to get together and socialize. There are various brunches and dinners held every month at the club to celebrate pretty much anything and everything. Back in January, our neighbor told us about an opportunity to become hosts for the March Hare Brunch. She said that joining a brunch first is a good way to get our feet wet with these organized gatherings that take place all the time.

And so we signed on to be brunch hosts because we've been enjoying the various brunches and parties we've been invited to since moving here. I've included some pics above that I snapped before it started. The brunch itself ran very smoothly since there were two eggs benedict stations and plenty of food. Unlike most evening parties, brunches are an easy way to visit because you don't have to worry about shouting over a DJ or band playing music. 

I brought several of my more realistic-looking Easter decor rabbits to lend as decorations (three seen above) since the theme is all about hares. It was nice that the husband's mother was able to join us for brunch. We had hoped his dad would feel up to attending. But he wanted to just stay at home, and so we didn't push it. Now that we've got this first brunch hosting under our belts, we can continue to enjoy other parties. At the end of March we've got a Bandana Bash and Palm Sunday Brunch on our calendar to attend. There's never a dull moment here, y'all!

A weekend with extended family

Our niece L asked if she could bring some friends to the lake house to celebrate her birthday weekend and kick off spring break. She's a kindergarten teacher in Round Rock ISD, so Lord knows she's always in need of some downtime from the madness of herding littles.

The girls arrived mid afternoon on Friday and got settled. While here, they enjoyed a couple dinners out at some of the fun and interesting local restaurants we recommended. I whipped up brunch for them Saturday morning. My sister, L's mother, got her a fun martini themed cake to celebrate hitting the quarter century mark.

On Saturday, I took the girls out for a cruise in our boat to tour the lake. After returning to the dock, I broke out the floating mat for them. Then we launched a couple of the kayaks. The water temps were still in the upper 60s, but warmer air temps and bright sunshine made for a beautiful day on the water.

As luck would have it, L's brother G decided to come spend the weekend with my sister. So we got to take him out to fish Friday before the girls arrived. Surprisingly, the husband reeled in a fish when he threw a line off the dock before we even cranked up the boat. Fortunately for the fish, but not the guys, our winds picked up and seemed to scare off the fishies. Bummer. Nephew G was happy he got in nine holes of golf the following afternoon before heading back to the hill country Sunday. He was on the golf team in high school, so he was well versed in standard course rules and etiquette. The husband went along to drive our cart and keep him company. All in all, it was a lovely weekend with extended family.

Random spring bullet points

⦿  a sure sign we've officially entered spring is the massive pollen dump taking place right now

⦿  I thought the neighbor had installed a fishing light down at his retaining wall

⦿  turns out it was just a bunch of pollen floating atop the water

⦿  favorite hill country landscaping plant I'll miss are the mountain laurels that burst forth with beautiful purple flowers every spring

⦿  these were currently blooming along the side of our back porch

⦿  another harbinger of spring is the reemergence of lizards and geckos

⦿  little man Finn killed a T-rex sized gecko on the back porch recently

⦿  then he proudly pranced around the back yard with this fresh kill in his mouth

⦿  I didn't get a video/photo of the gecko murder or corpse, which I'm sure you're happy to hear

⦿  but I did make a video of him on the hunt for another lizard or gecko in the back yard's landscaping bushes this week

⦿  file this under the tab "unique things Texans have to move from house to house"

⦿  to quote that famous 70s Saturday morning philosopher, Bugs Bunny... that's all, folks!

Last hill country volunteer day

One of the things I'll miss most about living in the hill country is the time I've spent volunteering at a local group home for girls. For the past five years I have enjoyed sharing my time at our monthly Chicktime gatherings. I always sponsored and led either the March or April gatherings. We've decorated cookies, celebrated Easter, learned about San Antonio's Fiesta, made friendship bracelets... the list goes on and on. I was also the official snack lady every month for a couple years. 

So I planned my doctor's appointments and cleaning out the hill country house for it to coincide with a final Chicktime gathering last Saturday. For this last spring month, I hosted plant day. Since I have a mostly brown thumb, we read books about plants, learned about the carnivorous Venus fly trap, and did a variety of plant related crafts. The girls were as intrigued with the bug eating plant as I imagined they would be. It was a wonderful way to wrap up a final meaningful day with these girls who are so deserving of our time, care and attention. Next up for me, in addition to volunteering to teach Sunday school to the elementary crowd a couple times each month, will be prepping to help with Vacation Bible School at our new church. I hope you're all continuing to find ways to be the hands and feet of Jesus in your local communities, too!

Yet another moving day

The husband and I have been back in the hill country all week prepping for a last big push to finish cleaning out the house and barn so we can hand over the keys to our realtor and get it listed. Plus I needed to return for a final round of annual health checks. Fun stuff like a mammogram and EKG. We had left the husband's little SUV here at the hill country house for the past couple months, so we also needed to get that to the lake. We made final visits to a few of our favorite local restaurants. I kinda thought I'd be sad about this final goodbye, but I've already closed the door on our life here in the hill country. And I can hardly wait to get back to the lake to all of my new friends and activities.