Hello from New Zealand

It seems I waited and waited for April 16 to arrive so I could begin my visit to my sister's. Now April is ending and the days between the start and today have flown by in an instant. Must be that I am having fun. Indeed, I am.

Dijea and Stehle came with me. What a joy to have my girls with me and the three of us seek adventure together. The first thing they were introduced to was the beach below my sister's house. The weather dripped and blew, but it didn't stop us from searching for sea glass. Those two girls had so much fun finding sea glass. Every opportunty they had was spent on the beach searching. In the end, they got picky and only took back their favorite pieces.

AWAY

Today is the eve of my departure for New Zealand, and what I hope will be a month long adventure.  My two daughters are crossing with me, but they can only manage a 10 day stay.  Hopefully, I will be able to get to a computer and blog some of the happenings.  Check in to see how things are going.

Visitors

What a nice day. My cousins Leland and Charlsey and their spouses made a stop in San Antonio today. Everyone met at our house for lunch, then we made our way to Mom's later in the day. It was marvelous to get to have this mini-family reunion. Thanks ,Guys, for all the joy you left with us today.

Spring News

We are "in the bloom" these days. So nice to see the flowers. We are particularly proud of our geraniums that we managed to keep over the winter and the azaleas that are blooming for the first time in several years. We can boast of tomatoes on our plants already, and the peppers have blooms on them. We've planted 38 pepper of varying types...I know, it's a bit overdone.

Eighty-seven...still ticking

Mom celebrated her 87th birthday on April 7. My friend Margie joined us for lunch at Acadiana's, Mom's favorite restaurant. The waiters and waitresses did a rousing "Happy Birthday" song, then an old gentleman playing the saxophone did the Happy Birthday song instrumentally for her. She also got a complementary cake and ice cream serving. Here you see her just after she opened her presents. She also got lots of calls. She's a pretty lucky lady.

Spring Break Adventure

Timely Arrival

It is our habit to have morning coffee on the deck. We found this beauty waiting for us at the end of our deck on the first day of spring.

IT'S OFFICIAL

It's official. I am old. I passed the excitement of getting older at 21. The worst aging experience came at turning 30. I spent the whole day in bed. The 40 and 50 marks happened without fanfare and were hardly noticed. Not so for 60. I thought I'd at least get a party since no one had thought of it before. Nope. No celebration...just covered in oldness. Now, this officially old has nothing to do with numbers. There is other evidence. I am getting an implant!

It happened because I chomped down on a pecan shell that shouldn't have been in the pecans I put in my waffle. Upper back took went...ccccrrrraaackk! Dr. Dentist said, "Tooth gone, go for the implant. Dr. Oral Surgeon has removed the tooth and implanted the base. In a few months, I'll have the first all false tooth. See, it's official...I'm old.

Darn it!

It's Started

The yearning...that feeling that saturates your body with hope and desire in the middle of January and grows stronger in February. The voices that say...it's coming! It's coming. As the temperatures hover in the 70's and wander into the 80's for a day or two, it might snow in Denver. Wonderful sunshine that the people of Seattle would envy pour into the windows almost every day. Only occasionally do we in San Antonio have to deal with winter in winter. So, here I am, in mid-February, getting things ready for spring.

So far we have had the cedar elms de-mossed and trimmed a bit to be more tidy. Cone flowers that were misplaced in the garden have been dug up and potted. The lawn has been aerated and spread with specially formulated Alamo grow compost from Gardenville. The garden areas have been spaded into big chunks then applied with that compost, and some have been tilled. Herbs are finding their way into my pots. Tomotoes purchased a couple weeks ago and uppotted, were put into the ground yesterday. That could be a bit optomistic, but I can cover if needed. Pavers have been purchase and stacked because a new walk is in the making.

Yes, it has started. Seems I'm taking a bit more ibuprofen these days.

Last Year's Project

I worked all last year on a quilt for my sister. It was supposed to be for Christmas and it was suppose to be a surprise. I didn't quite finish in time for it to arrive in New Zealand by Christmas, but I was close. As for the surprise, well...she may have had a bit of an idea.


I kept our mom informed. She loves being in on things. But she is pretty terrible at keeping a secret. Not that she comes right out and tells, she just leaves little crumbs to be picked up and combined over time. But, that's ok.

Susan's phone message left on the recorded after she got it was priceless.

Amazing Lips

As a kid, I grew up watch cowboy movies. Somewhere in every movie, the "boys" would settle down around a campfire and some old boy would bring out his harmonica. Who could forget Roy Rogers and his Sons of the Pioneer. Remember "Tumbling Tumbleweeds.Great harmonica. If Roy Rogers were alive today, he'd try to get Buddy Greene and his harmonica.

JAWS Lunch

One of the greatest joys of retirement is the ability to have lunch OUT! All those years of the 30 minute lunch, which sometimes included some "duty" / baby-sitting with teens, have made the idea of a leisurely lunch in a restaurant (no cooking or clean-up) the ideal celebration of freedom. To this end, a group of retired teachers with a connection to John Jay High School, gather once a month to celebrate.

JAWS stands for Jay Articulate Women's Society. Our founder and organizer is Barbara Spaur. She is the "Barbie" woman at the end of the row to the right of the picture. Our goal is to try new and exciting eateries while enjoying old friendships and catching up with one another's news. We were missing several of our regulars, but added two new Jay-ers, Carol Johnson and Leslie Bishop, sitting in Barbara's row. Another of our group had already left before the camera was remembered.

Need to Book

Dijea and Stehle. You will be be in New Zealand during the school holidays. That means we must book early if we are to get the cheap flights and best accommodations. You will be there for two weekends, but you arrive early Friday morning of the first weekend, and you leave Sunday morning of the second. So, you will be tired after the arrival and tired to begin going home. So keep that in mind.

Could leave Friday afternoon or evening. Lizzie would like to join you. If you choose Nelson or Christchurch, she could take off on the Friday. Susan and I probably won't go with you in such a case, especially since you want to go off on your own.

Nothing really to book if you chose the Whaganui trip. Of course, you may have found other things. So let us know. We need to book. Susan is waiting for an answer.

I've tried to make things easier by putting links into my entries. Don't miss them. Spend some time here.

Wish I could...

Those who know me, especially my family, know I love to take pictures. I like to build CD videos to tell a story and have completed some I am proud of. I came across one today I really admire: Texas Everywhere

Timing of pictures and music is really nice. Seeing this makes me wish I'd learned to play the guitar...or piano...or kept my accordian (and practiced). I also wished I'd been bless with some sort of singing ability. The hardest thing for me in creating videos is the music. All I can do is borrow.

Christmas Doings

This is the first Christmas season in a while that we have gotten into the spirit. Since we usually go out of town for the holidays, we don't do much preparation at home. This year was different. We scheduled two parties and starting decorating.

Walt decided to host the San Antonio Watercolor Group's annual Christmas meeting and pot luck supper. We had a lovely group and a bounty of good food. Luckily, the weather held because we seated folks on the deck for dinner.

Next up were our "John Jay connections" friends. I decided to do a chilli supper. I got new dishes and a big pot and moved forward. Once again, the weather cooperated. We set up 3 big tables on the deck. We ate, drank and were merry.

DECORATING

How nice to have good friends who will help you. After leading the way in Hobby Lobby saying, "Buy this...This will work...Must have...", Margie Nichta, seen below, directed the decorating committee. I dropped out quickly (not so much my thing), and she and Walt finished up.

When Old is New Again

In the modern days of Thomas the Train, when hundreds of train cars are available in wood, metal and plastics, it's hard to believe how simple toys could be and were. What you are seeing are Walt's toys from his childhood...the "war years" when metals were available only for the war effort and plastic wasn't a factor yet. Here shine the glass replicas of the vehicles of the day.

Originally, these beauties came filled with tiny, BB-like candies. Eat the candy, then a child is left with the toy. These are the only toys Walt remembers playing with. He played with them inside the house and outside in the dirt. Most are in perfect shape, but there is a wheel missing here and there. He must have been very careful with them and protected them to still have them more that 60 years later. Compare this number of toys and the present condition with a six-year-old boy of today.

We decided to display them for the first time in our antique cabinet in the great room. My attention was drawn to them today because the sun from the new upper window spotlighted them amazingly. Also shown for the first time is our collection of mustache cups that were the pride and joy of Walt's dad. The sunlight hadn't yet reached them, or had already been and moved on from that shelf when I walked by. Guess I'll have a new picture to look forward to.

November Fun

Get busy, and you forget or just fail to update. Novermber was a fun month and deserved some postings. First off, the weather was super...until Thanksgiving. I took advantage and spent a lot of time in the yard. Also enjoyed reading on my lovely covered porch surrounded by sunshine and mild temps. The first weekend I helped out with Marcia and Jorge's Art Stroll. I can't do any art, but they let me take up the money. This year Marcia's sister and her mother were on hand as well. I call them them the "sassy" Loews. It was fun. At the same time, Walt was helping out Mary and David with their home tour. (Gee, we have INVOLVED friends.) That effort got us invited to the party afterward. Also attending was SA's former mayor and the sister of the present mayor. Does that by any chance make me important? I guess not, but it does give me a tiny bragging right.