Category: Family

For a carpenter.

I made a tool apron for Monte about a year ago. I copied the design of an old, worn one he had. It was a prototype, but has held up nicely. He recently suggested a modified version to better fit the tools he most commonly used – a little bigger pocket on his right hand side. I sewed a new one today.

I cannot sit down at my sewing machine without flashing back to memories of my mom sewing, and teaching me to sew, many years ago. This isn’t a prom dress 🙂 but I enjoyed it as a small project.

Its made out of stiff cotton duck cloth. I edged it on all sides with 1/2″ polyester bias tape; triple topstitched to reinforce. I used 6 feet of 1″ soft cotton twill tape for the tying waistband, which I folded in half and triple stitched for strength. Start by making a trapezoid shape with the duck cloth – 16″ tall, 16″ wide at the top; 20″ wide at the bottom. The trapezoid gets edged on all 4 sides with the bias tape. Fold up the bottom to make a baggy pocket 7″ tall. Stitch the sides. Stitch the pocket divider. Stitch the waist tie on. And voila!

Stereotyping.

My sister and brother-in-law are visiting. This morning the guys are out in the shop making sawdust. The gals are in the kitchen listening to Christmas music making good things. 🙂

I’ve cooked a lot of cranberry sauce from the whole berries, but I have never seen a slice of cranberry before.

Pie me, Marge!

We enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner here at the house, with Noreen, David, Julie and Michaela. A great bird and all the fixin’s.

And two PIES! Apple and raspberry/blackberry. Delicious!

Humble.

I joined Laura and Ann downtown tonight to help serve an early Thanksgiving dinner tonight for homeless Austinites and others in need of some extra care.  We dished up over 400 plates of food before our shift was over.  There were many more that were served before the night was through.

The event was lovingly orchestrated by Mobile Loaves & Fishes.

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It’s not much.  Just a tiny drop in the sea of need to help our brothers and sisters.  But I hope it brought a bit of cheer and fellowship.

Peace to you and yours.

 

Roadtrip!

Since we are (mostly) unencumbered by commitments, we took a road trip over the weekend to Louisville, to attend our niece’s wedding.  We extended it a day or two to squeeze in a couple of additional visits in Indiana and Kentucky before heading back home.   It was a beautiful and heartfelt wedding.  The fall foliage was beautiful.  We were able to play tourist a little bit.  And we are now back home safe and sound.

Mary Anne and Chris did it up right.  We enjoyed the ceremony, the reception and, most importantly, the time spent with family visiting and telling stories and laughing.  Not everyone could be there, and Gene & Jo were sorely missed.

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We visited some wonderful places in Louisville.

The Louisville Stoneware factory got my potter juices flowing:

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The FlameRun glass-works gallery and working studio:

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The Louisville Slugger factory & museum:

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The Big Four pedestrian (former railroad) bridge over the Ohio River:

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And then we popped over to Indiana to visit Charlie & Kathy, and enjoyed the night life and autumn beauty of Madison.

Will Carter and Trisha Gene Brady performed at Red Bicycle Hall.

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This is the amazing view of the Ohio River valley from their living room!

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Then we stopped in the hills outside Bowling Green for a day with Lanny, and I scoped out all the birds I could find.  The bird on the left is a lifer for me – a white-breasted nuthatch; a carolina chickadee on the right.   I do love the birdies!

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Another trip in the books.  It’s also nice to be home  🙂

 

 

FaceTiming with the bird. 

Today was another lovely day in Palm Desert.  Irene and I took a long walk this morning and found two geocaches along the way.  We all had massages this afternoon and then grabbed a bite to eat while watching the end of the Seahawks game at a restaurant nearby.  We won!

Back at the house we did our best to finish off all the food and wine we had bought for the long weekend.  We stayed in the hot tub again looking at the moon and stars til we were pruned.  

We also face timed with Keeto, a first for both of us.  Goodnight birdie!

Suit up. 

We enjoyed a lovely Sunday and  Monday on the lake.  We met up with Marty & Sue and floated in the marina, then set anchor in the cove.   It was a perfect holiday weekend.  

We made it home with plenty of time to clean up, eat dinner, visit with birdies, and participate in my fantasy football league’s draft for this season.    It’s ON!

Feeling the love.

I have learned that today, July 26th, is National  Aunt & Uncle’s Day!   Julie spoiled us with a fantastic home cooked dinner tonight.  It was special and delicious.   Yummmmm

Empty nest.  

Not ones to miss a taproom visit opportunity, we left an hour early to take Fran and family to the airport, stopping in at the Live Oak Brewing Company right across the highway from the Austin airport.  It sure beats the cellphone lot!

Back home, the house is sadly quiet.  Except for Keeto asking “who’s here?”  We await our next visitors!

Colleen sent me these cute wine glass charm birdies.  We tried them out last night.   Cheers!

Barton Springs, Lake Travis, and a shanghai’ed uncle.

Days 3, 4 and 5 of our visit with family brought a trip to Barton Springs, Sno-beach snocones, a brewery crawl, an overnight at anchor on the boat on Lake Travis, and pizza night.  The weekend was filled with swimming, diving and floating.   A brother-in-law from Houston drove to Austin and he spent the night with us on the boat – whether he knew he was going to or not 🙂

I love the chance to spend this time with family.  Keeto will be devastated when everyone leaves tonight.

This is a shot from the southern end of Barton Springs pool, looking north to the Austin skyline.  The background has changed much since Mary Doerr captured the same vantage point years ago – the Capitol building is now obscured by skyscrapers.  But the pool in the foreground is exactly the same.

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Meat-o-rama. 

My sister and her family are visiting us for a week.   We are having more fun than six people should.  We tubed the San Marcos River today, and hit the Salt Lick BBQ in Driftwood for dinner on the way home. Delicious.  


Photo credit to Fran.  🙂

Her third Fourth.

Our niece, Laura, has been visiting us for the last few days.  Yesterday afternoon we headed out to the lake to spend the night at our marina with a group of friends.  Today we enjoyed a great sail up and down the lake.  We figured that this is the third 4th of July that Laura has spent with us on Lake Travis.   I’m looking forward to the next one.

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Magic mug. 

My sweet sister-in-law, Susanne, gave me this wonderful coffee mug at the reunion last week.  I love it!  It makes me smile every morning.

 

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Low country brrrrl.  

Yum.  Thanks Louie!