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Thursday, March 20, 2014

Now THIS is Texas!

  The liar's punishment is not in the least that he is not believed, but that he cannot believe anyone else.

― George Bernard Shaw


Last week I took a short trip to visit my MIL.....the lovely lady who has been my MIL for the past 45 years!  I'm not still married to her son but she is still "family"...........the darling lady on the right is my SIL.....another member of my family for the past 45 years..........These are Grandma and Auntie to my two eldest sons.....


 The trip is a short one....under 200 miles and takes one through what is known as "Guadalupe Pass"........one of our country's beautiful National Parks................
 
This Peak is named "El Capitan"




 and strange as it may seem, for the past 40 years or so I always thought it was named "Guadalupe Peak".....turns out that Guadalupe Peak is actually behind El Capitan and not visible from this angle..........go figure....lol



I've always said that New Mexico and Texas have some of the most beautiful and diverse scenery.......you can be in the mountains with pine trees in the morning and in the desert in the afternoon...........Guadalupe Pass National Park is in Texas....about 30 miles from the New Mexico border.............

I guess that's it for the tour today........I am a little down today with an intestinal virus.....prayers welcomed!  TaTa for now......





 

Friday, March 14, 2014

Done and Done! Now it's time to sew!



 Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.

― Marcel Proust



Whew!  I finally finished my patio project! Last fall I started pulling all the grass out of the cracks between the stepping stones in the cement patio we had made a couple of years ago because the grass had not just been growing in the cracks of the stepping stones but had begun to spread on top of them and was beginning to all but obliterate any sign of them..............I also gave away my patio table because it is just too hot to sit out there and planted an apricot tree in the middle...............

At left is how the grass looked before it completely took over.....really pretty...THEN.....but I wish I had taken a photo of what it looked like at the end of last summer when I decided the grass had to go because it was nothing like this..............grass was just taking over the whole thing....covering most of the stepping stones in several areas................



But it was also nothing like this.....which is how it looked before we poured the stepping stones in the patio.....





And I think I discovered why I had such a hard time digging the hole for the tree.....I have about 8-10 inches of really good dirt and then I start to hit rocks.....down at the end of the block I saw this cut-away view of what the earth looks like in this area!  Rocks and then more rocks!

 So anyway............I'm done and I hope that the paver sand I put in the cracks won't blow away....lol.............and now it's time to see if I can get some sewing done...........Ta-ta for now......









 

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

I'm ready for Spring!


  Old friends pass away, new friends appear. It is just like the days. An old day passes, a new day arrives. The important thing is to make it meaningful: a meaningful friend - or a meaningful day.

― Dalai Lama


While so many of my blogging friends are having to deal with snow and ice and winter....here in West Texas, we have been having some hints of spring........in fact I have been working in the back yard already......

I started removing the grass from the cracks in a stepping stone patio area because instead of growing in the cracks, the Bermuda grass had begun to completely cover the stones in several places.  I finished with all of the cracks last week and now just need to fill them with sand...........


I am also trying to get an Apricot tree planted in this same area but have learned that there are a few rocks to get through first........so, instead, I decided to sew!

My headboard has an area that has a wicker area which got torn about 20-something years ago when I moved into this house.  I loved the bed so I covered a thin piece of plywood and inserted it into the spot to cover the wicker.  I now have 3 different inserts which I change from time to time.  Last year I made one to go with my Little Apples quilt that I wasn't thrilled with so today I made this and covered over the one I didn't like.




 .....and here is how it looks with Little Apples Quilt.............So now the winter bedspread has been put away and I'm ready for Spring!  (Well.......the electric blanket might still be on the bed.....lol)

 and even my hyacinths have peeked their heads out with the warmer weather...........

................and I have some blooms on my dwarf  peach tree...................
 
Tomorrow I will get outside again and see if the water I've been dripping into the place where I want to plant the Apricot tree has helped soften the ground any so I can get back to digging..........and that's about it.......so Ta-Ta for now..........