Sayonara to summer

When our older daughter finished both masters degrees, her graduation gift was a trip to Egypt and Jordan. We opted to give our younger daughter the same gift of travel once she graduated from law school and took the bar exam. She just returned from almost two weeks in Japan, and shared the following pics with me. She had a great time with two of her law school friends in the land of the rising sun. Plus they were able to meet up with another friend from law school and her boyfriend while they were busy touring.

As you can see in the pics below, it looked like a really fun and interesting country to visit. There's nothing like getting out of your comfort zone - culturally, linguistically, gastronomically - to explore a new place with good friends. I know they made some amazing memories, and this was such a cool way to wrap up their three year odyssey of law school before putting their noses to the grindstone to crank out the billable hours as first year associates.

As you can see below, the girls made time to work in a bit of retail therapy, helping to support the Japanese economy. There's no doubt our newly minted lawyer had fun spending some of the yen we ordered for her through our bank, which I must say was super handy. And, finally, you'll see a video below that our international traveler sent me. She knows how much I enjoy checking out cemeteries in other countries. I'd have enjoyed spending a chunk of time exploring this one, though it dawned on me I'd have been stymied because I couldn't read any of the epitaphs, which I always find so sweet and interesting.

Helloooo BER months!

I'm so excited that we've entered the most wonderful time of the year, the BER months. Nothing has changed around here, y'all, but my spirits have been lifted in remembering these brutal late summer temps will eventually make way for fall cool fronts. I got into the fall spirit by whipping up a big pot of chicken taco soup. And I even stored up a couple containers in the laundry room freezer in anticipation of autumnal weather. 

Little white dog Finn continues to be on the lookout for lizards and geckos on the porches. His new perch is the arm of the sofa. Over the weekend I opened the back door to find two lifeless geckos on the door mat. I'm assuming Finn left these as gifts/prizes for me. Which I then had to gather up and dispose of in the wheelie garbage bin. Lucky me.

The eclipse we witnessed last week was awesome. I didn't get a pic of it, but I did snap a pic of the moon on a recent early morning walk. It made a pretty picture, heading for the horizon over the lake.

We've been suffering with a lack of rain for the latter part of the summer, and our recent drops in lake pool levels reflected that. A couple of the canals were really starting to dry up. You hate to wish for a hurricane just to see some rainfall. But it was really fortunate that Tropical Storm Edouard dumped close to 5.5" of rain here in our neighborhood the past 24 hours. With burn bans in place all around us, it was such a blessing to receive this much-needed precipitation for our vegetation. I took our doggos out for a final potty break late last night and they seemed confused by all the annoying drops of moisture falling from the sky. 

As you can see above, our fun little splash pool over at the new build lot got its gunite. I'm happy to report that we've received our latest updates on the floor plan and elevations, as well as framing, drainage and light fixture drawings. That puts us one step closer to getting all of the details in place so it can be submitted to our HOA architectural review committee for approval. I'm still hoping we can get the slab poured sometime in October.

Pumpkins on parade

Pumpkins, squirrels and turkeys, oh my! And maybe a fox or two, too. Fall is my second largest collection of seasonal decor. I always work to get it out before Labor Day so I can enjoy my pretties for the longest possible stretch before my typically busy BER months kick in. As you can see below, I had a good time trimming our house with the sights of autumn. And that includes the smell of fall, too, with my cute little pumpkin wallflowers from B&BW. If you've never tried their "Leaves" scent before, you gotta give it a whiff. It's always my fall go-to.

Build coming along swimmingly

I'm happy to report we're making good headway with our lake retirement property. The new boat house was approved by the river authority on Friday, and will soon be sent to the HOA architectural review committee for review. After signing on the dotted line for our splash pool, the builder wasted no time getting the work started.

A mere four days after we inked the contract, our pool builder spent the past week having a crew dig the pool, add rebar and rough in the necessary plumbing. Then they will "shoot the pool" with gunite in the next few days. After it has cured for a few weeks, the pool will be put under wraps and mothballed until the house is almost finished.

With us in the midst of the typical late summer dry spell, the husband wanted to cruise his fishing boat up to the new property to check on water levels. Luckily, we were able to get there without having to break out the trolling motor. As you can see in the pics below, the "knees" of our cypress trees weren't damaged when the old dock was removed. We've asked our new boathouse builder to be careful of them when the boathouse build is anticipated to begin in the next month to six weeks.

And, finally, I'm including some of the things I've been working on lately for the house design. With a finished floorpan, we've been editing elevations. That should wrap up in the next couple days, and then we'll move to the window schedule as well as every light fixture and plug in the house. The front elevation below is where we started. The husband and I have made a series of tweaks to get exactly what we've been envisioning to create a timeless "lakeside cottage" look.

Several weeks ago I had AI giving me a bit of a hand while I awaited range color samples from ILVE. My three top standard color choices were blue gray, emerald and navy. When the samples arrived, I took them over to the stone yard to see how they looked next to the cristallo Tiffany quartzite I'm using for the kitchen, scullery and laundry room countertops/backsplash, as well as my office. 

As you can see above, where we put the *potential* wood floor and cabinetry hardware up next to the quartzite and blue gray stove color, it was a pretty good select. But then I couldn't help taking a look at all of the RAL color options the range maker provides. And of course I found a few that would be an even better choice for the quartzite. So now I'm waiting for a custom color quote from the place where we're sourcing all of our appliances. I honestly feel the custom color price might be justified to get the best possible match since I believe this range and hood combo from ILVE will be the showpiece of our kitchen. 

August vacations... for thee, not me

The husband and I didn't get a break from the Texas heat this month since we're dealing with new house, pool and boathouse planning/permits for construction. But our girls did get away. I love that this is the third summer they've taken a sister's trip together. California, Rhode Island and Massachusetts have provided lovely changes of scenery and temps for them the past several years. 

Our lawyer and her boyfriend also got a break from this sweltering Texas summer to attend a wedding, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Even though it's bordering on Dante's 9th circle of hell here lately, some of our sunsets have been fantastic.

As always, I don't let the heat deter me from dreaming about cooler fall days. I had the husband bring down my 22 bins of autumn decor from the attic earlier this week for me to sort. I had purged some last year. And then ended up donating another four boxes of light blue and green pumpkins I originally purchased almost ten years ago. I've picked up several new fall decorations that will go nicely with this different color direction I'm taking. 

Is it Sept yet?!

School started two days ago. The stores have had fall decor on the shelves for several weeks. And I'm already seeing halloween as well as Christmas reels in my social media feeds. Unfortunately, the Fahrenheit continues to hover at the century mark. Summer temps take a long time to back off here in the Deep South. Our calendar may be rolling over to September in the next couple weeks, but the serious heat will still be with us for a few months. 

Hoping to hurrying fall along, I recently purchased the cute little mahjong mat below. I took it to play with my mahjong ladies a couple days ago and it was a hit. If you can't beat those folks jumping on all things fall while it's still hot as Hades outside, then might as well join them.

Last weekend we participated as hosts for a Back to School brunch at the club. Guests were encouraged to bring in school supply donations to be made to our local district, and I must say everyone was quite generous. It was good to see more of our friends and neighbors here in the hood as folks slowly trickle back to the Bay from travel and second homes in cooler US climes. 

A few of my husband's first cousins recently drove up from their homes in the Houston area for a visit. My husband's dad is the last surviving sibling of that generation, younger brother to his five older sisters (the cousin's mothers). And so they wanted to get in a visit with their Uncle Sonny before his dementia progresses any further. My husband's mother had a wonderful time because she loves visiting and has known these "boys" their whole lives. She's still pretty on the ball at 89, and so they all enjoyed strolling down memory lane with her and letting her get caught up with the latest news from each branch of the family. We had barbecue catered in, but I whipped up a chocolate sheet cake with cinnamon because it's my mother-in-law's favorite. 

August plods along

If I had to pick a least favorite month on the calendar, August would be the front runner. July has the 4th, and September heralds the beginning of college football season. The first of my beloved BER months. Poor old August is squeezed in there, the tail end of summer with its hot temps and nothing really fun going for it. As recently as fifteen years ago, I enjoyed August because it meant the girls and I were headed back to school. I was always one of those weirdos that looked forward to our local Walmart setting up the aisles of school supplies. Fresh folders and new markers were my jam. Now I just want the whole back-to-school thing hustled along so fall decor will hit the shelves. Begone, August. 

Today we met with our pool builder to review the contract and sign it so we can get that show on the road. Our slab can't be poured until the pool has been dug and the shell done. After that cures, it will be covered and put into a sort of hibernation through most of the house build to keep it protected. This time next year, we *hope* we're in the downhill slide of the house build so the pool can then be uncovered and completed. 

I took the pic below standing on what will be the door leading out of our screened in back porch, lookin across those stakes marking the pool's four corners towards the water. Right now it's my rather dry red dirt hill. If you look closely in the pic over to the left, you can see where they've started stacking all of the building materials for our boat house. We hope to have the boat house finished by late fall, Lord willing and the creek don't rise (as my granny used to say).

Last weekend our younger daughter C came to spend the weekend with us. After her bar exampalooza on Tuesday and Wednesday, she was looking for some down time. She mentioned pottery painting, so we went over to our local studio where she created a darling mug for her boyfriend. The husband grilled for supper and his parents came over to eat with us while visiting with C. It was a lovely low key weekend with our mentally tired girl who was happy the get the bar exam box ticked.

Speaking of the in-laws, my husband's mother LOVES cream peas, aka southern field peas. We didn't grow up eating them, so cream peas were a revelation to me when I married into the family. They're quite tasty, but often hard to find. So any time I run across fresh ones at the market or a roadside stand, I get some for her. They can be pricey sometimes, so I was pleased to run across the ones I found below for only $6 per bag. That's a steal, y'all.

When I was a kid, roadside produce stands were pretty common throughout East Texas from the coast, west of the Louisiana state line, all the way up to Arkansas. Every summer we'd make the almost six hour drive up to my grandmother's sister Jodie Ruth's house in Texarkana, which took us up all of the pea patch highways. My granny would stop at several places on the way home, buying bushels of peas. She'd park me on the back porch with a big enamel bowl full of black eyed or purple hull peas to shell. I can remember both thumb nails getting stained from the purple hulls. She'd cook up a big pot of them with a leftover ham bone - so yummy - and freeze the rest to eat later. Those truly were some of the good old days... roadtrips to see extended family, your grandparents spending time with you, and simple tasks like pea shelling on the back porch.