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. 

Readying for the Romans study

August has arrived, so you know it's time for my annual shout-out post to join our new year of Bible Study Fellowship (BSF). Next month we'll begin a word-by-word analysis of Paul's letter to believers in Rome. I'll be returning to my preferred church on Thursday mornings, opening my heart and mind to God's word so He can speak His truths into my life. 

One of the things I love most about the Bible is how God meets me where I am with His word. What I learn today at my age and stage in life is unique to my own needs and situation. God's timing is always perfect. If I'm blessed to live another twenty years and study Romans again in my late 70s, God will undoubtedly show me exactly what I need to hear at that time in my life. Profound. Relevant. Applicable. And I think that's just the coolest thing, worshipping a God who knows me so well and wants to lead me if I'll surrender and let Him.

All you have to do is Google BSF International and you'll land on the website. If you click on "Find a BSF Group", you'll be directed to class options nearest you after inputting your city or zip code. Post-COVID, there are still online groups to join if that works better with your schedule. I hope you'll give God's word, studied in fellowship through the BSF program, a chance to be the same blessing in your life that it has been in mine!

Dog days of summer

We've entered that time of year in Texas when there's no need to check the forecast for the next two months because nothing's changing. The odds are typically low that we would see a hurricane come ashore and head inland our way. We *hope* that's the case, anyway. Because otherwise it's just more of the same hot-hot-hot temps until we finally get a bit of a break when our first weak cool fronts begin arriving by late October. 

When our decorator RH came to help me with selects for the new lake house a couple weeks ago, she brought her dog Peach. A smallish golden doodle, she was mostly easy company for our two terriers. Slowing down at age 9, sweet Pepper couldn't be bothered after some initial inspection of the newcomer. Little man Finn was really interested in playing since he's 3, but Peach was just leggy enough to be a bit intimidating when she got wound up. Plus she had a tendency to bark in his face when she got really excited. I took the pic below of the doggos one evening - such a funny little canine crew.

Four days, 10 appointments

To quote my husband, the tailpipe was dragging on my wagon by Friday evening after we wrapped up our last design appointment. I had my decorator RH drive in from San Antonio Tuesday to spend several days with me so we could meet with all of our builder's vendors to begin the process of selects to finalize the contract for our new lake house. 

We visited the folks who do custom cabinets, flooring, tile, countertops, stone and brick, appliances, hardware, faucets, toilets, tubs, sinks, garage doors, gutters, lighting, windows and doors. It was up to a sweltering 102 the afternoon we were walking the slab yard considering countertop options. I chose the beautiful cristallo tiffany quartzite above, mined in Brazil, to use in the kitchen, scullery and laundry room, as well as my office. The picture doesn't really do the green with blue undertones justice. The board you see at the bottom of the quartzite slab is the hardwood flooring that caught my eye and is currently our top choice. 

I've gotta say, thus far my most exciting select has been the range and hood (below) for our main kitchen. The pretty French blue color was definitely appliance eye candy in the showroom. But it also comes in a British green. So the appliance vendor is ordering me samples of both so I can go hold it up to the countertops to see which one will be a better fit with the four quartzite slabs I've got on hold.

I've always been a decisive person, so the selection process was long but mostly painless. The only place where we fumbled around a bit at the beginning was lighting, bouncing ideas off each other to get a clearer picture of the right direction to go with it. But even then, we persevered through some initial not-just-right choices to land on several solid fixtures that are warm, but not too "bright", if you know what I mean. As you can see below, we're leaning into warm tones with the brass door handles, as well as cabinet pulls. Think burnished and aged, rather than polished.

By and large, the vendors we visited were knowledgeable and helpful, which was a blessing. We ended up ordering more than a dozen of the 9x15" paint samples from Samplize to narrow down exterior colors. The next time I get together with our decorator RH, we'll work on interior colors. And maybe a bit of wallpaper, too. This next week will be all about working to finalize the elevations, while meeting with our pool builder to revamp the design and placement of what we're envisioning as part of the outdoor entertaining space. Slowly but surely, y'all, our plans are starting to gel into the vision we imagined for this property.

Mid July musings

This week we enjoyed visiting the newest location of our favorite Tex-Mex Cajun fusion restaurant, Tia Juanita's. The service and food were both pretty good, but I can see a bit of room for improvement as their kitchen staff settles into things.

We tried a new-to-us Mexican restaurant a couple weeks ago. As you can see below, the basket of chips was quite colorful. My flautas were fine, but I don't see it added to our restaurant rotation. You win some, you pass on some.

Last week I decided to whip up an old favorite of my granny's. So off I went to the grocery store to pick up the things I needed to make Swiss steak, whipped potatoes, green beans and yeast rolls. After cooking the Swiss steak on low in the crockpot for almost 8 hours, we sat down to a nice meal we enjoyed with the husband's parents. 

A kind neighbor two doors down from our house in Boerne kindly went over to check our property on Wednesday after about 13 inches of rain fell in two days. She sent me the video below that our neighbor on the other side took while standing on her porch looking across towards our property. The fence you see in the background runs down our property line. Bad news is that our septic alarm went off after over a foot of rushing water ran over the top of it at the height of the flooding. The good news is that it didn't do any damage to the septic system. She found a bit of water pooled at the entry to the garage, but the house was high and dry, praise God.

On a final note, we've been working on the front elevation for our new lake house as well as a few more tweaks for the architect to try and get the floor plan set so we can move to next steps. We're opting to lean into what I've dubbed lakeside cottage. Something that blends into its natural surroundings. Warm and timeless, yet full of character. That's how I hope it turns out once it's finished. I'm looking forward to this next week since I've got our designer coming up here to accompany me to the nine vendors where I've scheduled appointments. It's time to start looking at interior and exterior selects to make this build our dream retirement home.

New build planning proces

Last week our house dimensions were staked out on the lot, thanks to our survey company, so we can see where the house will sit. But this week we went all-in on technology regarding our dream retirement home build. We had seen literature for "Walk Your Plans" at a couple of the local parade homes last month. So we gave it a try today for a couple hours. And y'all, it was the coolest thing. We got to check out how our plans will really work in terms of space and usability. Thanks to this immersive technology that projected our floor plan at a 1:1, life size scale on the floor, we were able to get a real feel for the details. And of course we ended up making several changes to the interior spaces.

As luck would have it, we asked her to project the pool size we're considering, as well as placement of it, beyond our 33x18' screened back porch. This gave us a good idea about how our outdoor entertaining space will best function on the property, as well as ways to maximize our views down to the boathouse. If you're building a home, remodeling, or adding a pool, I highly recommend Walk Your Plans because it's money well spent.

Speaking of the boat house, on Friday we drove a little over an hour north to the lake where our boat house builder lives. We were able to tour a couple different boat houses he designed to get a feel for the quality and details seen on our plans that will go to the river authority soon for approval. Plus we got to consider composite decking options because I'm absolutely NOT having any walkways made from boards that will bake in the Texas sun and get warped after a few years. Plus splinters, y'all... I loathe them!

Lately I've been busy setting up appointments with many of the vendors our custom home builder uses so the decorator and I can start getting a feel for what's out there and how we want our space to look. As you can see in the latest version of our front elevation below, I am going for a legacy lake house feel. One where generations of kids have spent summers learning to ski and eating watermelon in the backyard. I didn't want to lean too far into the rustic. So I feel like I'm headed for more of a lakeside cottage feel lately. Think Granny and Pappy's old house that has been updated and modernized so the next generation of family can continue creating great memories at the lake.

July 4th recap

We had a lovely holiday weekend here at the lake. Our Dallas daughter and her boyfriend arrived on Friday, along with our nephew. Then Saturday our niece arrived. We had eleven for lunch on Saturday, and it was a wonderful time. Late that afternoon, I took out the younger set for a cruise on the lake. The older crowd  - my husband's parents and aunt - opted to stay in the AC instead of sweating in the Texas heat.

It was fun to watch the fireworks displays in our community on Friday and Saturday nights. The one out on the point, reflecting off the water, was especially impressive.

I didn't take any pics of our meals, but I did snap one of the pan full of onions I spent 45 min caramelizing for homemade onion dip that the kids enjoy. The husband did an excellent job smoking brisket and ribs, as well as grilling a couple spatchcock chickens. The younger daughter and I whipped up several sides, as well as homemade banana pudding. But the cookie cake covered in icing was also well received. 

With our Austin daughter and her husband in Colorado visiting his family for July 4th, we volunteered to keep our grand doggy. I've gotta say, Chorkie is mellowing out some as he continues to age. Oh sure, he hiked his leg on my ottoman as well as silk plant in the house. And probably a few other things got sprinkled that I haven't discovered yet. But he's generally easy to keep if you discount his need to mark things in our home. As luck would have it, our niece drove Chorkie back to her place in Round Rock, and thus saved me and my daughter a couple hours of driving to get him back home to Austin.

It's hard to believe this is our country's 250th birthday. I remember celebrating the 200th birthday (bicentennial) back in 1976 when I was in 3rd grade. We dressed up in colonial costumes for celebratory activities at school. I recall feeling really proud of this cute revolutionary era mob cap my mother made me to wear. Where does the time go, y'all? As the song says, "God shed His grace on thee"... and I praise Him for it. May the Lord bless and guide our country as believers continue to be both salt and light in a world that desperately needs to hear His Good News.