Spring temp swing in progress

With our typically changeable spring weather, where temps can fluctuate as much as thirty degrees from sunrise to sunset as well as day-to-day, I've still got soup in the dinner rotation. My most recent efforts were stuffed cabbage and broccoli cheese soup. Good thing the husband is a soup fan. The homemade chocolate chip and walnut cookies were a hit, too.

 

I recently walked out into my garage to hit the road for errands and almost stepped on this fuzzy fellow. It's my first tarantula spotting here at the new place. Since he was just minding his own business, I grabbed my broom and swept him out into the yard so he wouldn't get squished. I hope he repays my kindness by chowing down on the insect population that is on the increase with our warming weather.

Thanks to our moderate temps, the back porch is a nice place to sit in the mornings or late afternoons to catch a breeze. The older daughter's rotten little lap monkey likes to join me out there.

 

Our view has been much improved this week with the addition of fourteen pallets of Bermuda Celebration sod, as well as twenty yards of Colorado river rock in the landscaping beds that replaced the sad looking mulch. I've got nine more pallets of grass to be delivered Tuesday for the front yard. The prior owners had let this yard go to weed, so it will take a while to get it looking pretty again.

Cliff House hits the market

This time last year we had just sold our house on Lake LBJ and then rolled those funds over into a much larger property on the Guadalupe River. More laid back and no boat traffic, which is what the husband wanted. Plenty of room for the inlaws and outlaws. We spent the first half of the summer updating it to enjoy. Which we did for about three months before life stepped in and redirected our attention.

Alas, we haven't spent the night up there in almost six months. And so we've decided to put it on the market with the hope that someone will be thrilled to find this legacy property to enjoy with family and friends.

With almost 2100' of Guadalupe River frontage, perched safely atop a cliff where flooding isn't an issue, it offers beautiful views from a back porch that runs the length of the house. After our updating with the help of my longtime decorator, I feel like the interior now compliments its peaceful setting. You can see in the before and after pics below that it's now a lovely clean slate for the next owner to put their own stamp on it. With all of the decluttering we did, as well as lighter paint, modern decor and new hardwood floors, it feels much more spacious and welcoming.

 

 

Click on this link Cliff House to see the full listing at our realtor's website. If you or someone you know is looking for a picturesque gathering place for multi-generation family and friends in the Texas Hill Country, get in touch with Laura Fore at Fore Premier Properties in Kerrville to schedule a showing.  

Updating stillllll underway

Hard to believe we moved into this house exactly seven weeks ago. The updating looks good, but it continues to be a work in progress. My custom office cabinets and granite countertop were installed the past two days. I'm so excited at the prospect of unpacking all of my office goodies that were put into boxes in mid-February. I especially love the accent lighting in the open shelving across the top where I plan to display the pretty blue and green antique/vintage glass I've collected the past six years.

Our custom mirrors in the master bath arrived yesterday, as well as the tops for both new dining tables, my desk and living room occasional tables. No more having to worry about risking my wrath by forgetting to use a coaster.

Over the weekend we were awakened in the wee hours of the morning by a loud crash. Our bleary eyed investigating uncovered that the kitchen undermount sink had dropped out of place. So first thing on our contractor's to-do list Monday was to install bracing to remount the sink. Thankfully, the plumbing wasn't affected when the sink took a dive.

As for the barn, it's at the mercy of the weather. With exterior painting still in progress, the process has been slow going this spring. Good news is that the loft is about dried in. Plus the welder installed the second fourteen foot tall double door frame today. I sincerely hope that the interior of the main house - my domain - will be finished in advance of mother's day so we can host the husband's side of the family.

Good Eats in SETX

When we were back in my old hometown for Easter, we visited some of our favorite eating spots. With annoying road construction the last 50ish miles on the interstate, we veered off on a couple well-known FMs from my growing up days. Sure enough, there was no missing that it's crawfish season. We drove by quite a few flooded fields with traps to catch the tasty critters. Forty-ish years ago, my husband worked with a couple friends in the crawfish "fields" to make some spending money when he was in high school.

The tried and true seafood restaurants from my youth are gone, but their replacements are pretty darned good, too. We took the kids and met up with friends at Tia Juanita's Fish Camp for a couple meals. It's an interesting hybrid of Tex Mex and cajun that is quite the hit, and not just with us. Their creamy jack and mozzarella cream sauce is so rich I gained ten pounds just smelling it. They smother my favorite entree - seafood enchiladas - in it. Then top it with grilled scallops and shrimp. WOW! The rest of the menu is equally impressive, a fun collection of the Tex Mex we enjoy here in the San Antonio area complimented by the Cajun seafood standards I grew up eating in Southeast Texas. 

Our other must-visit spot is Rao's Bakery. In operation since 1941, I can just about eat my weight in their iced sugar cookies. Every time I took my mother back to visit friends, we'd always hit Rao's for a sweet treat. Plus grab a prepackaged dozen to bring home. Funny thing is, only a few survived that five hour car ride!

After checking into our VRBO, while waiting for the kids to arrive from Austin, we went into a local supermarket I frequented back in the day to get some bottled waters. While there, we strolled the aisles and I had to buy some locally made roux to make gumbo. The cajun spice options on the shelves were impressive. My mother and granny had all of those things in their kitchen cabinets, and knew how to use them in the most delicious ways.

Easter Weekend 2023

I had hoped to bury my mother's ashes, as well as the ashes of her three pugs, on Easter weekend. I had a yes from eight family members. Alas, it wasn't meant to be since my sister wouldn't cooperate. No matter how old we get, some things never change. And so the Lord showed me that I should take the high road and give in to the goathead. That's what my granny called mulish and difficult behavior. So my sister can bury mother and the pugs whenever she wants. I'm glad we were undeterred from spending the holiday weekend over in southeast Texas with our girls, visiting with friends, seeing the new monument at the cemetery and eating at some of our favorite places.

 

 

Although the whole state really needed rain, it wasn't a barrel of monkeys making the almost five hour drive in on-and-off showers. The girls and our future son-in-law pulled into Texas' famous Bucees for a pit stop en route from Austin and saw the beaver since it was a holiday weekend. I love me some Bucees t-shirts and beaver nuggets.

After lunch at one of our favorite restaurants on Saturday, we zipped out to my old hometown. We drove the kids - they'll always be kids even though they're grown - around to show them where I attended school. Where our trailer house used to be. Where an old school friend's parents still live that they know. After strolling down memory lane, we went over to the cemetery to see mother and granny's joint monument. It was as pretty in person as I pictured it. I brought along an iron stake I had purchased to hold a floral wreath to pretty it up for spring.

The girls asked where the little weathered angel came from at the foot of granny's plot. They had no idea their sweet Poppy, Jason's dad, set it there for us about twenty years ago. Next we went over to visit my mother's childhood friend, Glynda. They grew up across the street from each other. No matter the miles or life circumstances, they stayed close their whole lives. As an only child, she was like the sister my mother never had. She was sweet enough to keep a couple extra wreaths and stake I ordered when the ones I placed go missing or get ratty looking. 

It was a quick trip, but I'm glad we made it. We stayed in a VRBO and early Saturday around sunrise I heard a mourning dove. Doves have special meaning for my mother and granny, and you can see I had them incorporated into the design on their monument. I got a bit teary, thinking about how much mother would have enjoyed this visit back to her old hometown that holds so many memories. I'm  mystified that it seems like she has been gone for a decade rather than just fifteen months. Yet the truth is she's never far away. Because every time I look at my beautiful girls and their mannerisms, I see my sweet granny and mother reflected in both of them. And I thank God for that blessing.

A fool for April

I recently decided our front door needed an upgrade. Make that front doors since we've got two. After all of the homes we've had over the course of our thirty year marriage, we've never had double front doors before. I found a pretty monogrammed rug online at one of my favorite stores. Then I got in touch with the lady I found on Etsy, who has made me a couple floral wreaths in the last year, to get her to design a couple wreaths to compliment the rug. And voila, the front porch looks much more inviting.

Yesterday our contractor upgraded our ventahood. The decorator and I had him remove a wooden medallion a couple months ago to replace it with something more unique and eye catching. In casting about online, I ran across the idea to wrap that bottom section of the ventahood in metal. I shopped around to find a company that carried the metal and some decorative nails to complete the look. Our contractor cut the metal at a fab shop, then used the solution I purchased to distress it for me. Next we worked to come up with a good spacing for the nails so it could be mounted. I think this is exactly what the kitchen needed to give it a more custom feel, and I'm really pleased with the outcome.

Our younger daughter texted me this pic below. Her older sister was playing photographer this morning, snapping photos of her around campus in advance of graduation. I'm glad her college specific stole for Liberal Arts is white and goes with pretty much anything. The pink dress is her nod to Elle Woods from the movie "Legally Blonde" since our girl is headed to law school in August.