Borrowed Roses

Living on the second floor of this rental house, we enjoy a spacious outdoor deck. The gentleman that leases the downstairs unit doesn't care much for yard work, so Tom and I on occasion, have spent a morning raking leaves and trimming bushes. I never in a million years thought that we would miss yard work! There was a rose bush near his patio, with very long unruly  runners. So, instead of trimming it, I pulled the vines through the railing upstairs (reaching through  with a broom) and fastened them with twisties. Now, we have roses too!

I have no idea what type of roses they are... but we are enjoying them, and their sweet smell.

I hope that those of you that are Mothers are being pampered today Happy Mother's Day!

By the way, if I haven't visited your blog lately, it's because we have been experiencing computer problems.

The Hacienda cont.

I showed you pictures of the Hacienda, belonging to my sister's friend Mary Anne, on a previous blog. These are a couple of other things, that I especially liked.

The colorful stained glass in the dining room.

 

and the large double fireplace in the center of the living room.

 

I also enjoyed going down to pet the donkeys in the pasture.

 

and meeting the family's rather large pet tortoise.

It is so nice to get out of your daily routine once in awhile, and do something a little different. Really enjoyed the trip out to Mary Anne's and oh did I even mention lunch?

She so graciously served:

Homemade chicken salad, on the Black Rooster's best bakery bread, with a side of Capresse salad, large Spanish olives, salty chips and followed by strawberry short cake.

I might  add, all washed down by a fine tasting chilled Prosecco

I hope that you too are having a nice day!

 

The Hacienda

As many of you know I have moved to North Texas to be closer to my family, in our retirement; which means that sadly we left all of our friends behind in South Texas. But, I am lucky to have four sisters and their families around us now, and they are kind enough to include us in various social events. Yesterday, my oldest sister Nancy and I had lunch at one of her friend's houses. Mary Anne originally from Boston, and her husband from Mexico, settled here in Texas after he graduated from medical school. They built a beautiful Hacienda on a forty acre piece of property out in the country, about thirty years ago.

The entry hall of the house, is simply that, and entry. You continue through it to a center unshaped courtyard,

 where all of the rooms open onto a walkway of brick arches and wrought iron gates

.

and in the distance, the pool

I loved all of the light fixtures which were imported from Mexico

as were all of the hand painted tiles,

and the intricately craved doors.

to be continued...

My thanks to Mary Anne for a delicious lunch, for letting me tag along and especially for letting me snap some pictures.....Have a nice day, Janey

Linking to: Good Fences

Rubbish

I am linking today to Rubbish Tuesday. This picture  is of a miners cabin, which has  been reduced to rubbish by Mother Nature. It is located high in the San Juan Mountain Range of Southwestern Colorado. Once the bustling town site of Carson, built near an active silver mine in the late 1800's; the Bonanza King. Now a ghost town,  it is a favorite four wheel drive destination from the little town where we spend our summers. To reach Carson, you take the scenic Alpine Loop south from Lake City, Colorado and turn left at Wager Gulch, where you begin a very very rough steep climb, and travel approximately four miles.

 

Carson Town site is privately owned, and thankfully many of the old structures have now been given new roofs, which will keep them from collapsing. The owners have agreed to let people enjoy the place ( we always pack a picnic) ; just ask that you respect the property, (no vandalism), and leave it as you found it.

click on photo to enlarge

If you look closely at the second photo... you can see the collapsed cabin. It is to the right of the tree. It's outhouse is still standing...further to the right.. 

Linking to: Rubbish Tuesday

On The Trail

We enjoyed a beautiful, busy, weekend here in north Texas. It has finally gotten hot, but it still seems cool to us, after living forty something years on the Texas coast... where it is always humid. We took another long walk this weekend along Ft Worth's Trail System. This section (River Bend Nature Area) is close to where we are building our house, and it is never crowded.

There are endless miles of trails, most of them leading to or along the Trinity River and it's tributaries. As you can see, we are in a drought, and desperately need rain.

The wild flowers are sort of sparse, but I spotted a pretty thistle or two.

I had never noticed these before. Every so often, there were signs telling you where you are located . So, in an emergency. if the 911 call doesn't automatically locate you...you can give them your location. Provided you remembered to bring your cell phone (which I did)......How did you think I took these pictures ?

I also noticed that they had benches along the way. Some under trees, and this one with it's own shade canopy. What is that sliver pipe you say?

It's a drinking fountain or a bubbler as my husband from Chicago calls it. By the way, you would never all it that in Texas!!

The top part of the drinking fountain there was even a station for filling your water bottle.

and down at the base is actually a fountain for your four legged friend. Happy Monday.(or Tuesday for Grace and Roz). I am hoping that you have sunny skies, and if not, would you please send some rain our way...Thanks!...Janey

A Big Birthday!

I have mentioned before, that I have four sisters living in this area, which is the main reason we decided , in our retirement, to move to Ft. Worth. Yesterday, was sister number fours birthday...A Big One.

 

So, at her request.... We had a Girl's Night Out, which consisted of all four sisters, her daughter, a niece, and  twelve of her closest friends.

 

We dressed her up in a tiara, and boa .....and had a fabulous dinner at a trendy restaurant in the part of town that is jumping! Here, Polly is opening a baby toy, as she is also is a recent, first time, Grandma.

Afterwards....they went dancing . It is not uncommon here to dance with a girlfriend...or by yourself! I said Happy Birthday and goodnight at the restaurant . I am sister number three and I drove sisters one and two home. No late night foolishness for us! How do you celebrate milestone birthdays?

Sorry about the quality of the pictures!

 

Frustration

For the last seven months we have been anxiously awaiting the completion of our new "City House"  Well, as you know April has come and gone...Seems May will too.

 

bad iphone photo

So, we visited our home this week. Not really our home, but all of our worldly possessions. After a lot of pitching and tossing, everything we own has been reduced to a double storage unit. I have even forgotten what is in this place? It has been stored since February 2013.

We have come to realization that it will be sometime in June, before we can move in to our new place. So, since we have commitments in June, in Colorado....where we live five months out of the year.....we will have to come back to Texas to move in.... in the heat of the summer.

Enough whining out of me! We will be here in our more than comfortable rental (no not the storage unit) until we hit the road June 1st...Until then...I will post again if I see anything that catches my eye.