That Peaceful Feeling

By nature, I am a nature girl. I have always loved the outdoors and still do. I spend a lot of time meandering around my yard checking out my tree blossoms, pulling the weeds the sneak up, hanging out in my pool, watching the birds fly from tree to tree singing their song, watching sunsets and at night, star gazing.

Each morning as I make my morning pep (coffee), I fling open all my window blinds as to not miss out anything nature has to offer and allow the sun to shine in. While my coffee brews, I walk outside to check out what the day has to offer, whether it's a sunny or cloudy morning, humid or cool, gaze into the greenbelt for feeding deer or rabbits, and check my tomatoes and jalapenos.

Usually, I don't spend too much time out there and head back in to my coffee and computer time. This morning I just couldn't drag myself back inside...even for coffee.

I spent a good 30 minutes walking around my yard, listening to the birds sing, and enjoying the stillness the early morning brings. This practice gave me a sense of calm and peace for the rest of the day. I should include it as part of my routine every morning for sanity measures.

My Turks Cap blooming so pretty....

A blooming rose....

A spider waiting for his prey....

My Crape Myrtle blossom....

A surprise abandoned nest on a low branch in my Crape Myrtle...

More blooms....

On a different note, I got a little gift the other day. My dear husband bought me a replacement wedding ring for my original one. Yes, I know it's a little non traditional, but I'm not very conventional or traditional myself so, of course, I LOVE IT!!

I got Skye to model it for me because her hands are much prettier than my old, tattered ones....

I guess it's safe to assume he plans on keeping me around a while longer.

Buildings and Empty Nest

Yesterday Toby and I were looking for a little something "fun" to do. Since Skye doesn't like to join us on our daily outings much anymore, we chose something close to home. Even though she is old and mature enough to be left home alone, I won't feel totally comfortable going out of town and leaving her until she has a mode of transportation.

Thursday is free admittance day at the Blanton Museum of Art downtown so we headed there. After we toured the museum, we walked around downtown.

As we walked, our conversation gravitated toward sharing memories of Skye when she was younger and the different things she used to enjoy doing while we were downtown. Ironically, we looked forward to the day we could go off by ourselves and do things as husband and wife. Now, we talk about how much fun it used to be when Skye was with us enjoying our activities as a family. Toby asked me if I thought we would get "Empty Nest Syndrome" when she was gone. I thought to myself that it seemed like we already are experiencing it on some level.

All that said, you can't re-create memories. If she would have been with us today she would have been complaining about walking in the heat or being hungry or "tired".

Mostly, I took pictures of buildings on our walk......

Last night's sunset....

I love the Christmas season, so for me,  it's not too early to whip up a couple of angel ornaments...

Salty Mama

Due to some unfortunate financial events that manifested over the past several weeks, I have been what Skye calls "salty", feeling disconnected, broke, financially insecure and, well,....just bitchy about my circumstances.

Finally, I did manage to pull myself out of my pity party parade by focusing on what I DO have instead of what I don't have, you know, the make lemonade out of lemons mentality.

There have been a few highlights in our life though. Recently Toby was sought out by a talent scout for a couple of art shows. The first one was a small one held at a local venue downtown. I rarely look "decent" so I always like to get a picture of my better days...you know, a little makeup, hair brushed, clothing other than athletic shorts and T's......

A few of my old standbys....sunsets and Bo..

And a little crochet here and there in my spare time.....

I really love how this hot pad turned out, but it took some time to make and was sort of a pain in the butt. If I were ever to sell it I could never make what I put into it.

Snapshots

The one thing I love to do even more than crocheting is taking pictures. In the past year, I've even thought of getting me one of those DSLR cameras and taking a little photography class, but the thought of adjusting settings with my blind eyes is a bit daunting. Maybe I'm reading a little more into the difficulty of them than what I should, but in the end I'm really just a snap and go kind of girl. Simplicity should have been my middle name.

We took a little hike through the park on our walk this morning and the sunflowers were begging for attention...

There were also some of these pretty yellow flowers...

When I got home I noticed a Swallowtail hanging around my Texas Lilac. She was moving so erratically it was hard to photo her in just the right position....

I also got inspiration for an idea for a kitchen towel topper and turned my idea into reality. I crocheted tops into little "Mexican dresses" and added a colorful towel bottom. I have some more colorful towels I plan on doing the same to. Walmart has a very nice selection of colorful kitchen towels right now....

I think I'm kind of in the mood to crochet some matching hot pads to go with them.

Broken Record

I know I'm beginning to sound like a broken record about Bull Creek, but for the purpose of personal and photo documentation I'm adding this last post.

Toby was not able to join us yesterday so I insisted we go back today and bring Bo along. I want to take full advantage of  the beautiful weather and flowing creeks while we have the chance.

We traveled a little farther down the creek than what I did with friends yesterday....

We came across this big guy. I was a little nervous to get close to him but the closer I got it appeared that he was dead...or not responding to me being so close. Interestingly enough, he was gone on our way back. I suppose he was just very good at playing "dead"...

This was a nice little swimming hole, deep enough to actually swim in. So crisp and clear....

Another little waterfall at the end of our journey. We could have walked farther but it looked like it was a little deep to walk and the trail had ended...

Bo making sure daddy doesn't get too far out of his eyesight

Some pretty flowers....what were they called again, Angela?? :-) A little inside joke here....

I believe these are called Dragon Beards....

It was a beautiful day. I think this is now my favorite creek trail.