On Thursday I drove out to Dripping Springs for Doray’s birthday lunch. We went to Tillie’s at Camp Lucy, a resort in the hill country. The restaurant is inside an old Vietnamese building that was taken apart for transport, brought here and reconstructed. They have alpacas roaming around.
Inside Tillie’s
Tillie’s is named after the great grandmother of Whit Hanks, an art and antiques dealer in Austin, who owns the property. When I moved here and bought my first house, I bought several pieces of furniture and rugs from Whit Hanks antiques on west 5th street. I still enjoy them.
There is a happy Hoosier in the house! We headed to the Pour House for dinner and to watch the Peach bowl last night. Indiana is sure kicking it this season. Hoo hoo hoo Hoosiers!
Monte has a longtime family friend who used to be in the IU Band – the Marching 100, who was reminiscing about playing in the Rose Bowl years ago. He is talking about the last time IU appeared in the Rose Bowl, which was 1968!!
Happy New Year! Yesterday was a good day to be a Lake Travis sailor and a Seahawks fan. Not so great a day if you suffer from cedar fever. But I can take the bad with the good.
We had a really nice sail on Nirvana with Kevin & Edie. Nice winds. A gorgeous sunny January day. Then we made it home in time to watch the late game. My team won and is the number 1 seed in the NFC! 💙💚
Today is the last day of 2025 – a day to reflect on the year. I feel incredibly fortunate to have my family, friends, good health, and all the incredible experiences that I have been blessed with this year.
We had a few visitors; Noreen, David, and Julie visited us in Austin this year. I traveled up to the PNW for a visit with all my sisters, all but one of my siblings’ kids, and all seven of my great-nieces and great-nephews. Sadly, we lost friends Melinda and David in 2025. They are missed and fondly remembered. ❤
The absolute highlight for me is our travels in 2025, which I hope to continue into the new year. The Dominican Republic and Portugal were new countries I visited this year. Our Maine schooner trip was another truly amazing experience. The transatlantic cruise on the Queen Mary 2 was a lifetime memory. Our travels in England introduced me to some incredible new places and scenery, and gave me a deeper understanding of British history. Monte and I also enjoyed getting back to nature on some shorter road trips to see some of Texas’s beautiful parks.
My friends kept me laughing and lifted my spirits. Whatever would I do without them?
For all this, I am truly grateful.
I wish you the very best in the new year. Hug your family and friends. Be kind to yourself. Get out there. Embrace every day.
Happy New Year!
São João Festival fireworks over the Douro in Porto, Portugal. June 2025
I worked two shows of the Beauty and the Beast Broadway in Austin show from the Bass Concert Hall over the weekend. The show was great. My favorite number was “Be Our Guest”; great music and great choreography, including tap.
Between shows, I went up to the balcony on the 6th floor to see the post-sunset sky over the 40 Acres.
Looking to the west from the Bass concert Hall. Looking to the southwest; Texas memorial Stadium and the UT tower. Broadway in Austin!
I just returned from a fun girls’ trip to Key West. The reason for the trip was to visit Dry Tortugas National Park. Mission accomplished. Here’s a peek at Key West in December.
I believe I have entered my mahjong era. Lori bravely started teaching a few of us this game. Very interesting. And challenging to learn. This is not the mahjong tile matching game you may have seen from days of the first desktop computers. It’s more like a complex version of Rummikub on steroids – LOTS of steroids.
We played two games this afternoon. I learned more each time. Very fun. I look forward to more mahjong play. Thanks, Lori!
I love it when Monte wants to experiment with his pizza dough recipe. It’s always excellent, but he always thinks it can be a little bit better. Lucky me.
Ann hosted a brunch today to give us our annual craft challenge. This year it is a pomander! Bonus: it smells great. Thanks to Ann for a fun afternoon. 🧡
One of the things I’ve wanted to do since moving here is visit Lost Maples State Natural Area to see the fall foliage. Garner State Park is 30 miles away from Lost Maples. It doesn’t have the maples, but has a fair number of sycamore and cypress trees, which present beautiful fall color.
So, we took a road trip. Along the way, we discovered a nice BBQ place in Johnson City that we’ve probably driven by 20 times before without noticing: Pig Pen BBQ. We also found an adorable French patisserie on the town square in Kerrville called Pookie’s. I recommend both.
We did a double take when we drove by a roadside point of interest in Ingram, Texas. We just had to turnaround, stop and see. It was a close-to-actual-size model of Stonehenge, and, a bonus, a model of an Easter Island head monolith. Oh, the things you’ll find in Texas.
Stonehenge II and an Easter Island Moai head model in Ingram, Texas.
Near Hunt, we also drove along the Guadalupe River, and right by Camp Mystic, silently witnessing signs of the destruction from the July 4th 2025 devastating flood that raged right through there.
At Garner State Park, we stayed in one of their cabins for two nights. This allowed us to stargaze during the peak of the Leonid meteor shower, and we could make a visit to Lost Maples from there for a nice day trip.
Cabin #2, Garner State Park
Garner State Park is an amazing destination in its own right. It sits on the Frio River, has over 300 campsites, 20+ screened enclosures to camp in, and 20+ cabins like the one we stayed in, which were built in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps. Being November, it was off-season during our visit, but still pretty busy. They have miles and miles of hiking and biking trails. During the season, their concessions are open, including kayak and tube rentals, a grill and ice cream shop, visitor center, a putt-putt golf course, sand volleyball courts, basketball courts, several park stores, and a jukebox dance every night at the pavilion. I can only imagine how busy they get in the summer.
We saw some meteors. And, we found the Fall foliage!
Cypress trees along the Frio River, Garner State Park ❤Monte skipping a rock on the Frio River.Old Baldy peak at Garner State ParkMore Fall foliage along the Frio River at Garner State ParkBig-Tooth Maple leaves at Lost Maples State Natural AreaMore maples found at Lost Maples 🙂
We took Nirvana out for a sail in Sunday’s beercan. We didn’t win the race, but I won the latest battle in mending the jib. My latest repair held nicely in 20+ knot winds. 👍🏼
I thought I’d share a few takeaways from our trip on the Queen Mary 2 and our 9-day wander through British history.
October is a great month to book on the Queen Mary 2 and walk around southern England. Not too cold. Not too crowded.
Get a starboard cabin if you are on an eastbound transatlantic passage of the QM2, imho. The winds are usually blowing out of the north, so it made for more pleasant balcony experience.
Never leave home without a tiny tube of superglue. 🙂 On day 2 of our trip the earpiece on my eyeglasses broke off. The weld at the metal lens frame just gave way. I was on a boat for 7 days where the only stores sold expensive bags, art, and watches. Fortunately, the QM2 worker in the store who I asked was one of the jewelry designers. She whipped out her toolbox that had some flexible jewelers adhesive. A dab of that got me through the week, when they broke again. I hit the first Tesco on dry land for my own tube of superglue.
It isn’t always raining in England. For us, it only rained on two of our travel days, and one afternoon when we walked around Portsmouth Southsea along the coast. We, and our luggage, are pretty waterproof so it was fine. Ok, I just did the math, turns out it rained one third of the days we were in England. Which, in retrospect, is a lot. Oh well, it was nice to have the beautiful sunny days that we did. I remember them more vividly than the rainy days.
Be flexible.
Check closure schedules ahead of time for the places you plan to visit.
The British National Rail Two Together Railcard paid for itself several times over. A better deal than 2 Senior railcards, if you always travel together. We took the train 6 times.
Sheila365 