another week in review

Another week of accomplishing nothing but living. Picked my sister up from the airport Tuesday, brought her back here to fetch her car and her kittens which basically took up the whole day because I lazily didn't do anything before it was time to leave to get her but I did see as I passed the Peach Creek Market on the highway that they finally had some Fredericksburg peaches and so Wednesday I headed there for a big bag which we've been eating all week. I also got the hanger glued onto the piece my friend purchased and got that boxed up and mailed out to her. 

Thursday and Friday were estate sale days, the one on Thursday we got there late since it opened at 8 AM and was not local and I'm not an early riser especially for something like that though my sister said it looked like a lot was gone by the time we got there around 11 AM from the pictures that had been posted but I find it hard to believe (though I hadn't looked at the pictures myself) because the prices they had on the stuff that remained were outrageous. Like $8 for a collapsible vegetable steamer which is about what a brand new one costs and $10 for an old (and not as in 'antique' old) plastic 4 cup measuring cup with a pouring spout. My sister bought a good quality glass one for a lot less than that at a previous sale. They did have a nice set of aluminum clad bottom stainless steel cookware for $6 a piece but omg, those pots were so heavy empty that you would need to be a bodybuilder just to cook with them. The sale on Friday was basically a bust as well as the house across the highway from the pom pom factory had been empty for a couple of years someone said and it was empty and smelled like mildew, just a few pieces of furniture with everything to be had on tables outside the garage. Mostly what they had was boxes and boxes of pom poms and plastic mugs in all colors and some odds and ends. But it did have a pine spindle double bed frame with wood side rails that I picked up for $20 so I can replace the futon couch frame in the back bedroom with an actual bed frame though what I'll do with the futon frame I have no idea since I'll still be using the mattress that goes with it until I buy a new one, just needs a good cleaning.

Also Friday was the day the last grandchild graduated from high school. The plan was to leave here and head into the city by 4:30 with a stop at the liquor warehouse on the way in to stock up and pick up our son and then meet the daughter and son-in-law and the other in-laws in front about 6:30 with the ceremony starting at 7 PM. We didn't actually get off til 4:40 and drove into blinding rain before we even got out of Wharton County, 

hit slow traffic after the rain stopped, hit stopped traffic because of rain and construction, tried to get around that and hit more slow to stopped traffic (and this is just one of many reasons I'm glad I no longer live in the city and avoid going there as much as possible) and finally pulled up to our son's apartment around 6:30, managed to hook up with the daughter at the NRG Arena and we all got seated in the nosebleed section near the far end, and by nosebleed section I mean the absolute highest row. The place was packed for this graduating class of 500+ students 

and so we sat through 2 hours of speeches and hooting and hollering as each student's name was called out. But she did it, our Robin graduated from high school.

And what did I do yesterday? Hmmm, nothing, sat on the couch and read most the day but I did make a peach dewberry pie and it was/is good.

And I picked the first of the tomatoes (they looked riper in the shade hidden at the bottom of the plants).

Now it's Sunday, it's already well after noon, too hot and humid to be outside for long even though I have a few tasks to take care of out there. I declared several days ago that I was going to get back in the studio and start some new work on Monday though I've said that more than once in the last several months, so I guess we'll see, but right now, after I post this catch-up, I'm headed to the couch with my book. This is a new thing for me, being able to waste a day or several in a row sitting around doing nothing in particular. I've always been a doer, always doing something, never been able to sit easily or for long. But here at 69 years on this planet and especially since we retired from doing the etched glass I find myself doing nothing more often but I've made at least one promise to the gallery that I must make good on so perhaps I'll get my butt in gear.

the one and only granny camp this year

The boy is 21, working full time, and living his adult life; the twins, 20, are in college in different cities, both took classes during the summer, and are now starting their second year of college.

So, a week ago today I arrived home from the class in Austin about 8 PM and found I had a message from my youngest grandgirl asking if she could come for her visit the next day and could she bring a friend and so of course, yes, the last possible week before school starts. Robin, now 17 and starting her senior year in high school, spent the earlier part of the summer traveling with a group of Jewish teens to Poland and Israel and then had to wait til the bathroom/house was finished.

Her friend Bethany wanted to learn how to sew so off we went on Sunday to get a pattern and fabric and since the Walmart had a limited selection yes, I know, I shopped at the heinous Walmart but the alternative was an hour's driving time to go into Rosenberg and back and shop at the heinous Hobby Lobby and we were short on time she settled on shorts and spent the rest of the day laying out the pattern and cutting the fabric while Robin worked on pinning a new hem on a cut off t-shirt.

The girls wanted to make a pie and since peaches are now gone they settled on apple. I've never made an apple pie in my life. I peeled and cored the apples and Robin sliced them up while Bethany finished cutting out the fabric for the second pair of shorts and then the two girls did the rest.

Bethany is a jigsaw puzzle fan and so they spent the rest of the day engrossed in a 1,000 piece puzzle.

Tuesday, since my sewing machine has gone from balky to not working at all, we went over to my sister's house and used her machine. I walked Bethany through the first pair of shorts reading the instructions and explaining things and demonstrating and doing a few of the tricky parts while she did most the sewing on the first pair of shorts and Robin read and visited with her great aunt.

The girls finished the first puzzle sometime Tuesday night and then started a second 1,000 piece puzzle Wednesday morning. 

Then we did the shops around the square 

and after lunch Robin got her first driving lesson, driving back and forth behind the Walmart and then around the circumference of the entire parking lot over and over and then I took over til we got to the long county road where we switched again and she drove us back to the house.

I tried to teach her how to drive last year but she wasn't interested.

Thursday it was back to my sister's house to stitch up the second pair of shorts which Bethany did by herself. I sat in the room with her to answer questions but she didn't need much help. 

Robin drove us there and back both times (we came home for lunch) on real roads with real traffic (such as it is in this little town) and stop signs and stop lights, creeping along Robin, try going a little faster but she did real well.

They worked on the second puzzle until my daughter came early evening to pick them up and then it was dumped back in the box.

summer heat and summer visits

Yesterday was the last day of July and now we head into the dog days of August, although the forecast for the first week shows lower temperatures than we had this past week, which went into triple digits, the hot south wind blowing across the field behind us like the heat that comes out of an oven. We might even get some rain. Yesterday morning at 8 AM, it was still relatively cool out, operative word here being 'relatively', and while we will be hovering in the low 90s and maybe even the high 80s this week, I saw that Portland, Oregon is predicted to hit 106˚ or higher. It hasn't even been that hot down here on the Gulf Coast plains. There is something seriously wrong when the Northwest gets hotter than we do.

In another couple of weeks, the twins will head off to their first year of college. It doesn't look like they will manage a couple of days here as there is still much to do before they leave and we have spent a week with them this summer, just not here. We did get a drop in visit from our 20 year old grandboy the other night. Drove all the way out here to spend about an hour and then drove back as he had to be at work at 8 AM the next day. Used to be I would have to chase him down to give him a hug under protest when he left after visiting, then a few years ago he started giving me one of those side hugs. The other night when I went to hug him as he was leaving he gave me an honest to god bear hug. First time ever!

Summers have gotten less busy. The only summer grandchild left is Robin. They all out grew the regular spring and winter break visits, when all four would come years ago, about the time they were old enough to stay at home by themselves but they kept up their summer visits.

And so, I picked up Robin on a Friday with the plan to return her on the following Monday not a week but hey, I'll take what I can get. We stopped at Trader Joe's and Costco on the return to lay in some supplies. At Costco I bought 2 cartons of blueberries, one carton of strawberries, one carton of raspberries. I had bought a carton of Rainier cherries at a previous stop that we had already polished off and Robin ate all the raspberries on the way home. By the time she left she had eaten all that fruit plus nearly all of a watermelon, besides just regular food. That may not sound very impressive if you've never shopped at Costco.

Anyway, she wanted to get her haircut so I made the appointment for Saturday and of course there is no 'before' picture but it was longer and no bangs

after which we poked around in a couple of shops 

until we got hungry, drove out to get the honey I thought I had arranged to buy but apparently there was a breakdown in communication, and then back for lunch and then we made a lemon tart.

She couldn't decide which movie she wanted to see so I bribed her with an extra night to see both. 

Sunday we went to El Campo to see the new Spiderman and Monday we went to see Baby Driver in Rosenberg.

I was supposed to take her back on Tuesday but she decided that since it was like being at home here only she didn't have to get her own food and there was more variety, she'd stay another night.

Wednesday though, I did return her home.

all growed up

Some of you might remember these girls from their first Granny Camp back in 2009...

Jade

Autumn

Well, this is what they did last Friday night...with honors.

In August Jade will be leaving for college at University of Texas San Antonio and Autumn will be leaving for college at University of Texas in Austin.

They will be separated for the first time in their lives.

turns out there were two this year

Last Sunday when I went in to pick up Autumn (a last minute surprise visit as the twins spent a month in Poland and Israel this summer and needed to work the rest of the summer at their jobs as helpers at the summer camp program at a local gymnastic gym which ended a week ago yesterday so Autumn called and wanted to spend the last week of summer with us), I stopped at Trader Joe's to pick up a few things, among them this box of peaches. As you can see, we've already eaten half of them.

We didn't do a whole lot, mostly because it rained every day and I had to work on these diagrams and she had summer homework to finish. Even so we did have some fun.

The twins turned 18 this summer so I asked Autumn if they had registered to vote yet and she said no so the first thing we did was download the forms and fill them out. Autumn mailed hers and is taking Jade's home so she can sign it and mail it off.

And because they are still practicing how to drive, Autumn chauffeured me around all week.

She did have one project she wanted to do which was to fancy up her blue jean jacket with colorful cloth and ribbons and trim.

We went to the movies and saw Bad Moms which was funny and sweet. Kind of a date movie for going to with your girlfriend moms.

image source

We made an attempt to go to the beach. I had checked the weather report for Matagorda and it showed partly cloudy but no rain even though it was raining here. I didn't think that was unusual because often in the summer when it is raining inland, it is sunny at the beach. So we headed out and quickly drove out of the rain and then about halfway there we drove into the rain again which was coming down so hard I could not see 20 feet in front of me and I even pulled over for a few minutes. But then we drove out of it again to a sunny sky until we got to the beach where we parked at the little pavilion with the picnic tables and walked down the path through the dunes to the beach. This is what we saw...

...another storm raining like mad over the Gulf and moving inland. We hadn't been there 5 minutes when it started to sprinkle and then the wind picked up and the rain started pelting us. We were soaked to the skin before we could get back to the car and, not planning on going swimming, just walking along the beach, we had not brought any towels with us. note to self...ALWAYS take a towel when you go to the beach.

We had taken Minnie with us for her first visit to the beach which she seemed to be enjoying in the 5 minutes before it started raining though she wasn't too sure about the surf. Minnie doesn't like the rain much even when she is inside and dry so when the rain came in I scooped her up and carried her as we dashed back to the car and by the time we got there she was just a quivering lump of wet flesh. She rode home in my lap.

And of course, we did the little shops in town and Glen Flora where our favorite resale shop is where everything over a dollar is half price.

PS...I know it looks like Autumn wore the same clothes all week but what really happened is that I failed to take pictures as stuff happened so we staged all these.

illustrated

So, last Sunday, I took Robin home and met up with her twin older sisters, Jade and Autumn, who are now 18 and we took ourselves off to a tattoo studio. However long ago it's been, over two years at least because I remember the conversation while sitting in our little apartment in the city house, they decided we should all get matching tattoos so that they/we would always have a reminder you know, when I'm dead and all.

Anyway, I was going to get a tattoo when I turned 50 but I never did because I couldn't decide what to get and I didn't want anything just to have a tattoo, being a sort of permanent expression. Then I sort of forgot about the whole thing. So when they brought it up I agreed immediately but we have had to wait til the girls turned 18. Which they did this summer.

I let them decide the design. I figure they will be living with it a lot longer than I will. So what we decided on was the yin/yang. It's a meaningful symbol for me in my life and I hope, I guess, I have imparted some of that to them. We thought about fancy ones, and there are some really nice designs out there, but in the end we all got just the plain symbol, small 1 1/4” in diameter. Which is relevant as I'm pretty basic as Jade pointed out. Probably we will have them embellished later, each to our personal taste. In fact I am already thinking about how I might embellish mine.

So Sunday, we took ourselves down to the tattoo studio and got our tats. Autumn and I got ours on our ankle, Jade got hers on her left side 'close to my heart' she says to me. made me a little teary

As my daughter posted...#thisishowweshowourlove

only one Granny Camp this year

We finally got a good rain a week ago last Sunday and then again on Monday night and Tuesday morning. About 6” in all. Which was really nice as it's been since before I left for Scotland that we've had any to speak of. Cooled things down a bit for a short-lived day. We're in the Dog Days now. It's currently 91˚, heat index 101˚ and it's supposed to get up to 97˚ today. The Dog Days don't usually make themselves known til mid-August.

Last week Robin, the youngest grandgirl, was here for her week, the only Granny Camp of the year. The week just flew by. Neither of us could believe it was already time to return her home yesterday. As mentioned in my last post, I was very lax in taking pictures.

Monday we did the grocery shop and just hung around the rest of the day. She's 15 this year and this is the first year since she was little that she didn't sleep til noon or 2 PM every day. She was up every morning before 8 AM and went to bed early every evening, trying to maintain her school sleep schedule. 

Tuesday is the day we went to take a closer look at the bottle tree that I mentioned in my previous post. Wednesday we went to see The Legend Of Tarzan which we both enjoyed. Besides all those nearly naked gorgeous men, it has always been a favorite story of mine and I watched all the Tarzan movies as a kid.

After the movie we went to the lumber yard to get the wood for our driveway bottle tree guardian then to yoga (no picture) and Thursday we worked on it with help from Marc. Robin worked the drill press (and again I did not think to get a picture) until she had had enough. We got all the holes for the bottle necks drilled in the 4”x4” and I drew the pattern on the metal for the 'wings' and the cross pieces of wood but they haven't been cut out yet. 

And we made a pie. 

Robin had looked up recipes and picked out a lemon cheesecake pie which, once baked, had to cool completely and then chill for 4 to 5 hours so it was Friday before we actually ate any of it. She took one bite, got up and spit it out, and said it was the nastiest thing she had ever put in her mouth. Marc and I had some and it tasted fine to us, not like a cheesecake exactly but it wasn't a cheesecake but a cheesecake pie. Having never made one before or even tasted one before I have no idea what it was supposed to taste like.

Friday we went to an estate sale and then did the shops in Wharton keeping our eyes out for suitable pieces for the plate flower 'head' for the totem.

Saturday I worked all day at the antique store and that evening we made the plate flower. 

Sunday we headed out to Glen Flora again to go to our favorite re-sale shop where Robin got a slinky black dress for $5 

and the antique Emporium next door where I found another antique glass shade for the ceiling fan.

Then it was time to take her home and meet up with the twins for our outing. More on that next post.