Dog Days of November

I love these pics of my furry children, our Cairns Ollie and Pepper lounging on the master bed Friday morning in the sunlight streaming through the window. The rather dirty window because I won't arrange for them to be cleaned until the dusty patio remodel is finished. So yeah, a rather filtered light coming through the window that they still appreciated.

Patio Pour

On Friday, the contractor poured the concrete for our new and improved patio space between the main house and cabana. In the midst of this clean slate is the sad looking pool. It's getting new tile, so it will have to look pitiful for a bit longer until it can be acid washed and then get refilled. I'm looking forward to a fresh start with the chemicals.

The Old Homeplace

Mimi (my mother) wanted to go back to the old stomping ground in Southeast Texas to visit a couple friends and put some flowers on granny's grave. So we made a flying trip over the weekend to do just that. 

A week after my husband and I married at age 25, we moved far away from that part of Texas and I haven't looked back since. I don't long for it. I don't get this sense of nostalgia or wish for the old days. I put it in my rearview mirror and moved on. 

Above is the place where Mimi grew up. Below that is a pic of the old tank farm. You didn't need to see the city limit sign back in the day because your nose told you when you hit it. The stink of sulfur is forever etched in my brain.

There are some nice folks who still live there, old classmates and their parents. And some great restaurants I enjoyed. It's flat and green and I do think it would be cool if we had pine trees and azaleas here in central Texas like they do where I grew up. But that's pretty much it.

Beauty & Brains

The 11th grader got inducted into the National Honor Society recently. Here she is with her Mimi, who attended the ceremony with me. 

Wreath Making Fools

Mother and I have been busy bees, cranking out four wreaths thus far and one more to go. There have been multiple trips to the craft stores because I can't ever seem to get the ratio of ribbon just right. Too much burlap, not enough deco mesh, etc. You know you're getting older when your shoulder and fingers are sore from crafting.

Here is the wreath we made for our front gate. I'm digging the square shape. The last one I'm planning to make this holiday season is a smaller square one in the same red, white and lime green color scheme for the front door.

This wreath was made for one of mother's oldest and dearest friends. She chose the colors of red, white and silver and we did the rest. All it lacks is the red and white glitter 3-D picks I bought to use as accents.

Last wreath we've completed is the small one we'll place on my granny's grave when we're back on our old stomping ground in a couple weekends to visit a couple of mother's old friends. The sparkly pink poinsettias were our inspiration, so I chose the burlap to try and tone it down a bit so it isn't too Vegas for the cemetery. 

A friend asked if wreath making would be my second career. I told her only if I could outsource the actual work to a third world country. I enjoy the beginning when we pick out the design and colors, and then the end when it's finished. All of the cutting and measuring and twisting in between is a pain in the patootie.

Travel Wall

It dawned on me today I had never posted a shot of the finished travel pics wall in the remodel. This is one of my favorite things in the house right now. The pics come from family travel on three different continents. It's a bit of a conversation piece... in case we ever get the patio area put back together and can actually start entertaining folks.

Falling back to shorter days

It's the beginning of November, which means two things. It's time to turn the clocks back an hour to end daylight savings time. And <insert high pitched squeal here> it's the wind up to Christmas decorating. 

We kicked off November with attending the husband's annual meetings and retreat. The weather was hot because Texas seems to have the global warming down pat. Seriously, temps in the 80s the first couple days of November? THIS is why I want us to buy a second home in the Smoky Mountains once we hit retirement age. Four seasons, fall foliage and cooler temps - what's not to love.

The retreat was nice, as always. My favorite part was a hike where we got to visit the site of what is believed to be an old Indian campground that is recently thought to predate the Native Americans by centuries. It was humid and misty, so I looked like a frizzy wet poodle by the end of the hike. Danged Texas weather.

Above is a little watering hole you'd undoubtedly miss if you didn't know it was there. Below is the Indian (and earlier) campsite - a good place to hunt arrowheads where many have already been found. Below that is a nice little lake we passed, one of several, on our hike.

Before we hit the road for company duties, I kicked off the week working on our front gate wreath. My mother lent a hand since it's a pretty big undertaking with all of the rolling and twisting of the deco mesh and wired ribbon. This year I'm loving the fun and whimsical lime green with the traditional red and white. It's taking shape and I think the finished product will look nice. I taught myself this wreath making method via a You Tube video. Mother's front door red winter cardinal burlap wreath was my guinea pig first attempt and she's pleased with it.

Finally, finally our replacement recliners for the family room  arrived on the boat from Norway and got hauled out to the house for delivery Tuesday. The old Archie Bunker cloth ones are gone, replaced by this lovely cream in the pic below. I'll be enjoying the last week of my blue, green and silver pumpkin decor before Santa Claus comes to town the following week  The husband doesn't know it yet, but he'll be spending a week from Saturday hauling boxes of Christmas decor from the workshop into the garage, my staging area for Holiday Decor Prep 2017.