We have acquired about 3 dozen Tervis brand drinking glasses over the years. They’re not fancy, but they keep cold drinks cold, and hot drinks hot. They’re supposed to be indestructible, but over time we’ve had several crack open, some get little spider cracks that let moisture in where it’s not supposed to be, the artwork in some has become loose, and we’ve found that the newer ones often get cloudy.
Tervis has a lifetime warranty, so when we have 5 or 6 that need repair, I send them in. I sent the last batch in 5 months ago. But they just arrived bac in the mail. I was a little nervous because MY first and favorite tervis was in this batch – I’m always the sand dollar 🙂 And a couple were ones that we bought in the Bahamas and the BVI, hard to replace. Another was one of Monte’s first tervis. And, my lucky Seahawks Tervis!
They were able to reclaim the artwork from each of the broken ones and put them in brand new, crystal clear glasses.
Christmas in November! Thanks Tervis.
What the old ones looked like when I sent them in:
We made a trip to Port Aransas this weekend for their wooden boat show. I always enjoy our time spent there. The weather was still pretty hot for the end of October. Shade was in short supply.
The historic Tarpon Inn is where we like to stay. No TV or clocks in the rooms. But it’s in the middle of everything.
The porch of the Tarpon Inn outside our room at sunrise.
We enjoyed fantastic meals at Tortuga Saltwater Grill and Venetian Hotplate, I highly recommend both. And thankfully found the best coffee shop in town at Barefoot Beans (they open at 6AM!).
We toured the UT Marine Science Center exhibits and outdoor wetlands displays.
We checked out the sand pumpkins on the beach.
This morning we spent a couple hours at the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center and saw over 30 species, including the American Flamingo that has become a local.
On the drive home today we stopped for BBQ at Smitty’s Market in Lockhart. The Subaru looked so tiny parked amongst the big Texas PickUps. 🙂
Back home now watching a sad Seahawks game unfold. Oh well. It was fun weekend nonetheless.
This week we were treated to some interesting happenings in the sky. There was extremely high solar activity due to some large flares and sun-things happening. We anchored out on a lovely, clear Thursday night and I captured some of the far away glow from the Northern Lights with my iPhone. The only thing I could see with my naked eye was a faint rosy glow to the north.
I was pleased that I could get some shots, even though we were way down in Texas.
Taken with a long exposure on the iphone
This week, a comet is gracing us with its faint presence. It is low on the horizon after sunset. I was finally able to spot it through binoculars and grabbed a less-than-stellar shot of it from my Olympus camera with a long exposure on a tripod.
Comet C/2023 A3
Hopefully, I’ll get another shot at it before it completely disappears.
While not NatGeo-worthy, I do enjoy the challenge of trying to capture a glimpse of these heavenly sights on camera.
Monte and I finally made it to Parker Jazz Club this week. It was a fantastic show. We’ll definitely be back. Laura advises and works closely with the club and completely surprised us with a bottle of bubbles and a shout out from the stage. 💙
Thank you, Laura!!
You should all go whenever you are in Austin!! Link with info about the club and their calendar here.
Monte and I just got home from visiting Lori & Mike and their new home in Maine. It is on an island a few miles offshore from Portland, Maine. Like all the other homes in the private community at Diamond Cove, theirs is a thoroughly modern restoration of a historic building from the former Fort McKinley Army Base. Fort McKinley began operating in the late 1800s, is now privately owned, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The island is amazing; beautiful, historic, full of woods, bike paths, beaches, and wildlife. How lucky they are to have found it.
Sunset on our first evening – a view of Fort Gorges in Casco Bay
We rode the ferry many times – walked and biked on several islands in Casco Bay – sampled brews and seafood in Portland and nearby towns – toured the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath, Maine – played a little cornhole – found a geocache – found an insane amount of sea glass at the beach – spied several shooting stars from the Perseid meteor shower – took a historic tour of the island – boarded a sunset cruise on a schooner in Casco bay – visited Portland Head Light. Monte and Mike even found time to complete a project in the well-equipped community woodshop on the island.
A view from the deck of Schooner Bagheera of Portland Schooner CompanyPortland Head Lighthouse
I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. Laura also planned a visit at the same time between trips to visit her family and it was really great to spend some time with her, too.
Several years ago we planted a few new trees in the way back. One is a Mexican plum (link here). It has established itself in the face of drought and recent hard freezes. I was excited to see that this year it has fruit on it!
This time, I’m sewing a different kind of sail. Ann is becoming a grandma soon, and Shelly is coordinating a crowd-sourced baby quilt for her future grandson. She’s handing out a couple dozen quilt squares to decorate.
I’m happy to report that things are picking up in the travel department. Before COVID we happily welcomed regular visitors to Austin and made our share of trips. Four years later, it’s feeling a bit more normal. We took a trip to Denver in January. Noreen and David visited us this Spring. I did a girls’ trip to Santa Barbara. Monte made a guys’ trip to the BVI. We flew up to Seattle in June. Laura came for a visit at the beginning of July. Last week we finished a road trip to see family and National Parks in the midwest.
Monte and I took the Subaru on another road trip. 3000 miles. 8 days and 7 nights. 9 states (well 10 if you count passing through the corner of Oklahoma, Missouri, and Kansas – aka OKKAMO). Made my first-ever visit to a Great Lake. Earned 3 new geocache state badges. Visited four more National Parks, bringing my total to 30. Still lots more to see.
It is nice to reflect that this year alone we have had in-person visits with all of our siblings, most of our nieces and nephews, and even a few grandnieces and nephews. What a treat.
Gateway Arch NP was much more interesting than I expected. The construction of this monument was an engineering marvel at the time, and it is MUCH bigger than I imagined. We took the tour up to the top, and even the tram system was an interesting innovation to learn about. The view from the top was amazing. I was a tiny bit freaked out to look out the window and see both feet of the arch below us(!)
View from the top of the Gateway Arch. The muddy Mississippi River to the east is at the top of this pic.
Indiana Dunes NP was a lovely stop for about 4 hours. We tootled by the homes from the Chicago Worlds Fair in 1933 that have been moved to the lakeshore and are now privately owned and lived in. We scored an amazing parking spot by the beach. And we walked up and down the beach, which did have dunes, but lots of rounded rocks. I waded into Lake Michigan, another first.
The south shore of Lake Michigan. No sea glass was to be found.
Cuyahoga Valley NP was a highlight for me. It commemorates the Ohio and Erie Canal system, with locks, and a tow path for the mule-pulled canal boats. The canal was dug by hand in the early 1800s. It was fed with water from the nearby Cuyahoga River, and carried goods between the Ohio River and Lake Erie, putting Ohio on the map for commerce and transportation. The canal isn’t operating anymore. It was wiped out by floods in the early 1900s and eventually made obsolete by the railway built alongside it. But its footprint is clearly visible and the miles and miles of tow paths make for amazing walking and biking trails. The park is located between Cleveland and Akron and I expected it to be an urban park, but it is in the middle of beautiful forests and hills. It is spread out, so do your research beforehand to pick from the many spots you may want to visit.
We spent 2 half days there, starting at Boston Mills Visitor Center, then visited Brandywine Falls, and the Everett Covered Bridge, walked along the towpaths, stopped in Peninsula to check out the town and to visit Lock 29, and made a visit to the Canal Exploration Center, which helped us to understand the whole canal operation and its history. They have rebuilt a working lock there to demonstrate how they worked.
I’m envious of the people who have this park in their backyard. It’s a beautiful place to get out and explore. If I ever make it back, I’ll bring a bike. And take a ride on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railway.
Brandywine Falls @ Cuyahoga Valley National Park
Everett Covered Bridge @ Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
A rebuilt, working lock at the Canal Exploration Center @ Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
Mammoth Cave NP. Having driven by this park probably a dozen times, it was time to make a visit. We took the Historical Tour – a 2-hour, 2-mile, guided tour that took us through the cave at numerous levels of its 400′ of depth. It is different from other caves I’ve visited – a “dry”cave – in that it doesn’t drip water from the surface. So, no stalagmites nor stalactites. Rather, the maze of caverns has been cut from adjacent rivers that flow through the cave. It was amazing to experience a tiny bit of its vastness.
A view inside Mammoth Cave along the Historical Tour.
On this trip, we stopped in Rising Sun to visit Gary & Judy, Mary & Megan, and Bryan, and in Gobbler’s Knob to visit Susanne, Lanny, and Mica. We spent an afternoon making peach jam, and brought some home!
It was a great trip, indeed. I have already drafted our national park road trip for next year!
I worked an evening show last night at the Bass Concert Hall – The Decemberists. When I saw them on the schedule I signed up. I’m glad I did. Good show. But oh lordie did it get loud. I made it home before turning into a pumpkin by midnight.
Monte planted a couple of rose bushes this winter. We got them from Antique Rose Emporium in Brenham, Texas. They have a booming mail order business but we drove to their gardens in January to pick them out.
This is a bloom from the Dame de Coeur rosebush. So pretty.
I am not one to complain about all the great rain we’ve gotten this week. God knows we need it. Yesterday was mostly overcast but dry. It was a good day for a drive in the hill country, and for a pickup party at Becker.
I made a quick trip to the Texas Gulf Coast this past week. I got in some birding at High Island on Wednesday and Thursday. Then made a quick stop into Kemah at my favorite marine resale shop, then back home.
I enjoyed the birding. Not a record setter, but it was the only time I could make it down there during Spring migration. I got some nice photos, saw about 60 species, and brought home another used sail.
Sheila365 