What the beasts are up to these days

We got to see the grand doggy earlier this month when the older daughter and her fiance drove over for the weekend. He's sassy as ever, and yet that fuzzy face, big old donkey ears and snaggled teeth are hard to resist.

I sent our own Finn and Pepper to the vet for their spring clip last month and the groomer really went to town on them. For the first couple weeks I called them my naked mole rats, for obvious reasons. Silver lining to their new look is that they don't smell as much, and certainly no knots to worry about in their fur. Or the need to brush them. 

Our neighbor's down the road have a large pasture that's covered in yellow spring flowers and their longhorns have been posing for pictures lately. So I decided to stop and snap a few to share with you. I swear they're almost frameworthy. 

And finally, I finished updating what I now call my Dutch shelf in the family room. As you can see, I've got quite a few shelves that hold mementos from our travels. China, Peru, Egypt, Israel, Germany, Jordan and England were already represented. I used my two mini blue delft houses I got on my recent flights via KLM as inspiration to build a little collection of the houses thanks to eBay. Directly in front of the #27 house that is a likeness of Anne Frank's hiding place in Amsterdam, I put the copy of "My Friend Anne Frank" by Hannah Pick-Goslar that I finished reading while in Holland last month. I also had a copy of Mirjam Bolle's "Letters Never Sent" that I placed next to it. Mirjam was a young Jewish woman working in Amsterdam who was deported to Westerbork and Bergen-Belsen, just like Anne and Hannah.

 

An afternoon on Broadway in SA

The older daughter and her fiance saw the musical comedy "The Book of Mormon" back in the fall. They were highly amused by this exceedingly successful Broadway show and so we heard all about it. I had actually contemplated seeing it in London's West End since it premiered there several months before we moved back to Texas in 2013. Alas, we never made it and thus I figured it was time to remedy that after hearing such glowing reviews from our girl. As luck would have it, "The Book of Mormon" came to town for a limited long weekend recently and so I purchased five tickets for us. 

Unfortunately, the law student daughter in Dallas was unable to make it for the show. So we told the older daughter she could invite a friend to join us so the seat wouldn't be wasted. We all trekked to the historic Majestic Theater downtown for the matinee, strolling past the picturesque riverwalk and lots of tourists. 

The show was really funny, not to mention irreverent, controversial and R-rated at times. But I imagine that's why it has received so many accolades since its premiere on Broadway in 2011. The actor portraying Elder Cunningham for our show was sincerely talented in that role. As I read through my playbill, I saw that "Les Miserables" is in the line up for next year, and so I'm already looking forward to getting tickets for a command performance of that classic.

 

Redolent delivery

Several years ago I was gifted with a lovely reed diffuser and that sold me on an easy way to keep the eau de cairn terrier aroma at bay, particularly in the warmer months. I recently ordered several diffusers from Williams Sonoma, a personal favorite place to get them that is more reasonably priced compared to other options like Nest and Voluspa. I thought it curious when I spied the delivery box enclosed in a plastic bag blowing in the breeze at my front gate. Sure enough, when I walked out to retrieve it I immediately understood what had happened.

Upon opening the scent-saturated outer box and getting to the diffuser, I discovered the lid had come loose on the scent and it had completely leaked out. And thus my fingertips smelled really good for the next 24 hours even though I washed them multiple times to remove the scented oils they use in their formulation. Thankfully, my call to Williams Sonoma produced an immediate promise of replacement, which was handy. It's always nice to run across companies that still believe in providing excellent customer service for folks loyal to the brand like I am with their quality diffusers that last months.

Cloudy sky eclipse on 4/8/24

Geez, we had all this buildup for a once-in-a-lifetime eclipse in the path of totality and I only caught glimpses of it through our rolling cloud cover here in the Texas hill country. There was no real need to use my eclipse viewing glasses, dang it. As the sky began to darken, I waited outside to see what might be visible. Sure enough, our dusk to dawn lights on the back patio turned on. I snapped a few pics, but it was honestly so disappointing a viewing with the clouds blocking out the sky that I found myself more excited about dark falling ever so briefly than what the sun looked like. I wish I'd been fast enough to get a pic when a confused bat flapped out of his daytime resting spot and flew across the backyard thinking it was night once again. 

 

Dipped over to Dallas

After our lakes tour, the husband and I strolled down memory lane in Fort Worth on our way to spend several days with the law student in Dallas. We made a side trip through our old neighborhood and stopped by the very first home we purchased when the older daughter was about three years old. It appeared to be well-kept. That tree out front was a fraction of its current size when we lived there back in the day. My how time flies.

With the law student in a two bedroom apartment, we enjoyed the fact that we got to stay with her instead of in a hotel. We ate at a couple wonderful local restaurants. Susie Cakes was also a stop for us, because who doesn't love some tasty sugary treats.

Saturday afternoon was gorgeous, so the daughter and I decided to walk off some of those yummy calories. The scenery was lovely, with spring flowers in bloom and folks out sunning themselves in hammocks. We saw dogs romping at the dog park. And we even spied koi and turtles in the decorative ponds on the walking trails around her place.

Spring road trip

Since the husband has five weeks of annual vacation, we decided to blow four days last week to begin looking at retirement lake options. We had some really pretty roadside vistas as we took to the highways and byways. The state of Texas' wildflower seeding efforts really pay off every spring with a profusion of color.

As he always does, my better half completed quite a bit of research in order to narrow our lake search. As a starting point, we didn't want to be any further than a 1.5-2 hour drive from the DFW metroplex. We want a waterfront home that allows a dock in the backyard, so that omitted quite a few corps lakes. Then he looked at how many lake residents were primary versus secondary/weekend home owners since we want a sense of community. Lastly, there were amenities to consider. Things like where's the nearest large grocery store, as well as doctors/hospitals and varied restaurant options.

With all of that information in the mix, we narrowed down our search to Lakes Palestine and Granbury. Since we were completely unfamiliar with Tyler, we kicked off our search there for the first three days. We found a fabulous real estate agent named Dana who grew up in the area and was a fount of information. She drove us around to all sorts of different neighborhoods on the lake, with a very knowledgeable running commentary we soaked up like a sponge. Honestly, Tyler and Lake Palestine checked virtually all of our must-have boxes. Plus there was the added bonus of roses and azaleas in bloom every spring. It's a serious contender, for sure. 

 

 

  

Our next two days were spent in Granbury, which we had visited in the fall. Since we already had a good feel for amenities, we found local realtor Erin to show us waterfront options. Initially doubtful since this realtor has only lived in the area for about a dozen years, she surprised us with her grasp of local real estate. We made the rounds with her to see a plethora of developments. Undoubtedly our biggest concern is that Granbury has fewer amenities than Tyler. Therefore, we decided to zip up the road to nearby Weatherford to check out what's on offer there, and were pleasantly surprised with lots of options. In addition to a lovely historic courthouse, they had one of the few remaining Gibsons in Texas. Since the husband worked at one while he was in high school back in Beaumont, we both took a stroll down memory lane in its aisles.

 

We agreed that this trip gave us a lot of clarity for a couple excellent options to fulfill our retirement dreams. I imagine we'll be keeping in touch with both realtors as the husband moves ever closer to an early retirement. At this point, we're just waiting to see where the girls settle in order to make a final decision to buy. I've got it in my head that I want to be a destination nan for the grandkids we'll eventually have. As in let's all pile in the car and drive to the lake for the weekend to fish, boat and hang out on the dock to watch the world go by with extended family. That's my idea of heaven on earth, y'all!