Senior Photo Shoot

I spent four hours this morning schlepping around a reusable grocery bag filled with jewelry, bobby pins, hair spray, lipstick and changes of clothes. I'm just classy like that. It was all part of the fun for our 17-year-old, me playing assistant to the photographer with a lot of hair fixing and clothes fluffing to get some great shots for her senior pictures. I'm really looking forward to seeing the proofs in a couple weeks. Just not sure how we're gonna narrow it down from the 100s of pictures she took at several different locations in three different outfits. Thank heavens I've got the grandmas to join me so we can make some decisions. The older ladies always have definite ideas on what they do and don't like!

Here are some sneaky snaps I took on my camera phone during the process, some better than others.

And now, here's a flashback to six years ago when the current grad student had her then senior photos taken in iconic London. My how time flies!

Babysitting Brutus

The in-laws wanted to travel to Colorado to enjoy some fall foliage and cooler weather, so I kept their six month old yorkiepoo Brutus for about eight nights. All five pounds of him. The only un-fixed one in the herd of three, joining our spayed and neutered cairns, he had a humping good time trying to assert his dominance over them. I'll spare you any video of that.

Brutus was initially afraid of 18 month old Pepper and 7 year old Ollie, but he quickly overcame that and got into the mix. He liked to stake out his safe spot in my lap and then defend his position. Another favorite activity was trying to destroy all of the plastic pieces on our dog's toys. The possum tail and little fingers were favorites to chew off and then try to swallow. It was like wrestling a tasmanian devil trying to get them out of his mouth.

Ollie hides from the vacuum, Pepper follows me around while I vacuum and we discovered Brutus likes to bark at the vacuum.

Then there was the morning I fed and took Brutus outside and played with him for over an hour after I worked out my elliptical. I put him in his little kennel area in the family room to hang out while I took a quick shower, but as you can see below, he decided to entertain himself by tearing all of the stuffing out of his little gray doggie bed.

Because Brutus is ripe pickings for our local hawk population, I had to accompany him outside for all potty and play breaks. The carpet-like St Augustine grass got kinda tall before our yard guys showed up to mow, and Brutus seemed to pick his way through the jungle of grass blades gingerly.

Water Torture, the leaky roof version

Nothing makes me more anxious and crazy than house issues like our current leaky roof, especially after the rainiest September on record in our neck of the woods in Texas. It's one of the main things you depend upon working in your home, and it's falling down on the job in several places. Unluckily for us, October seems to be following in September's footsteps thus far with the precipitation. It's yet another one of those be careful what you wish for situations because our drought summer has led to fall flooding. 

We've got lots of windows along the back of the house to watch the rainfall. Below is one of THREE leaks in my exercise room, where the original 1953 roof meets the new 90s master bedroom wing addition.

With all of the rain, it has been hard to schedule repairs and fixes with our roof guy. Last week we set it up for him to do further repairs and patches this Wednesday, but now the forecast is calling for a 90% chance of rain that day. GAH! 

Below is the garage leak that happens any time water pools on this part of the patio in a big downpour. The bottom two pics are window leaks, one on the upper frame and the other where the panes need to be reglazed. When it rains, it seriously pours on into the house these days. 

Hello, old friend!

Last week, the husband and I were in London since he had to travel there for business. Despite my loathing of British winters and the hundred days of darkness, I was always IN LOVE with autumn in the UK. Fall foliage and the cool temps were a wonderful change from the so-called change of season we'd been experiencing in Texas. 

The skyline view seen above was taken from our window at the hotel. The Grosvenor Chapel, pictured below, is the place where Americans worshipped in Mayfair during World War II. We ducked in for a quick look.

Since there were a couple other company guys on the trip, I got to hang out and play tourist with their super sweet wives. Our hotel was adjacent to Hyde Park, so we did the big walk down through Mayfair to Green Park, then over to Buckingham Palace. We strolled past the Horse Guards up to Westminster Abbey and took the tour. That lovely old church, with all of the great burial tombs, is truly an icon of British history.

Above is an Abbey exterior pic, and below is the inner courtyard. It's a shame we couldn't take pictures inside the lovely interior.

We then hopped on the Tube at Waterloo Station to make our way to Borough Market. We split a couple savory pies for a lite luncheon tasting, then I bought a salted caramel brownie at Konditor & Cook because they are delicious and the husband introduced me to them when we lived in London several years ago. Afterwards, we took the Tube back to Oxford Street for some window shopping, as well as a run through Hamley's Toy Store to pick up a couple things for my CASA kids. If you have kids or grandkids, particularly girls, and don't know about Sylvanian Family critters, you need to check them out.

Bears and bunnies and all sorts of buildings, oh my!

The next day was all about rushing. We got off to a later start from the hotel and enjoyed an early lunch with a British friend. We then hailed an iconic black cab for a ride up to Highgate Cemetery in the north of London for a tour at 1:45. Which might sound macabre to some, but we all thought it was really interesting. The volunteer tour guide was a retired history teacher, so he was very informative as well as entertaining. What is it about a British accent that makes folks seem so educated and cultured?!

Highgate was established in 1839 as one of the seven Victorian garden cemeteries outside the then city limits of London. Our tour guide spun a tale of church graveyards full to the brim with dead bodies that smelled, as well as grave robbers supplying local medical schools with freshly buried cadavers. 

It was beautifully green and a very peaceful spot for a leisurely walk, rather overgrown in many places. Egyptian way, as seen below...

was dug into a hill and is topped by this 300+ yr old tree. All sorts of Victorians lie in rest here, some in plots dug 30 feet deep that can hold up to 10 coffins on platforms below ground. Adjacent to this pricier area for the well-to-do Victorians is a rather small catacomb, with eerily exposed lead-lined coffins in most of the cubbies. The one in this pic dates back to 1848.

These cemeteries were money making businesses and it was all about the pecking order in Victorian society. Those with the cash paid to bury their loved ones in prominent spots, with fancy mausoleums and grand statuary. 

Our tour guide took us down the path to the right (see the pic below where the path T's), but if you go to the left then you can see the final resting place of singer George Michael of Wham! fame. A fellow tourist spotted it and tried to get a pic, but the tour guide told us that it's considered the private part of the cemetery definitely NOT on the tour and no pictures were allowed by request of George's family.

After a great tour, we hotfooted it back to The Dorchester hotel via the Tube for a really lovely afternoon tea with piano accompaniment. 

On our final full day in the city, the ladies and I hit some of our favorite stores for things to bring home... places like Cath Kidston, Fortnum & Mason, Laduree (a golden cave filled with macarons, seen below), Harrod's and Lilywhite's. We had a nice view of Piccadilly Square thanks to our wanderings.

We trekked a local pub on our last evening so that the husband could have a pint of London Pride, his fav British beer, before we went to supper. And it wasn't so much pub crawling as trying to stay upwind of all the cigarette and cigar smoke. All in all, it was a great trip!

College acceptance number next!

While the husband and I were in London last week - him for actual meetings and me for the joy of playing tourist - our high school senior texted us the following pic. Yes, folks, it's college acceptance #3 as she heads towards Decision 2019.

It's a great university with all sorts of lovely traditions and a strong sense of community that extends well past graduation. And yet it's #5 on her list of the five schools where she has applied for college. It's not down for the count, but at this point it's definitely a long shot. Regardless, let's hear a Whoop and Gig 'em!

War Eagle!

The high school senior recently secured her second college acceptance. She now has the option of becoming an Auburn Tiger. When she goes to visit Clemson's business school in late November, she'll make a side trip to Auburn to visit her boyfriend there and check out the campus a bit more now that she knows it could be her collegiate home for the next four years.

Bitty Bear

Like most parents, we've got nicknames for our daughters. I started calling the high school senior Bitty Bear when she was little and still use it today. So my recent pajama purchase for the eventual cool weather we'll get here in Texas was really appropriate.