The Staircase

I know it is a little early to be getting ready for the holidays, but thirty members of my family will be coming here on Christmas day...so I am planning on decorating early . We also have a new grand baby arriving in about two weeks, so we will be heading off to North Carolina, between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Very delighted about this ...... stand by for more news on that.

 

I am an early riser. So, instead of reading blogs this morning, I've been making bows....only have about six to go.

 

I have also been measuring garlands.

You see, for the first time, in about twenty nine years, we have a staircase to decorate. I know, most people ...around our age....wouldn't build a house with a staircase. Our new place is on a very narrow lot though, so in order to have enough space...we had to go up. Everything we need is on the first floor, so our guests (and visiting children), will be climbing these. Above, is the before shot....and I will eventually post and after!

Construction Fence

You may wonder why I would want to post a picture of an ugly construction barricade?

Well, that is because the yard on this side of the fence is mine.....The little orange fence does an amazing job of keeping the construction trash from blowing into our yard.

For other good fences, go to: Good Fences

Peaceful

We have been in Ft. Worth for a couple of years now, but I still marvel at how peaceful it can be for a fairly large town.

This picture taken last week, in the early evening, amazes me. Looking north,  at our courthouse on main street, around 6pm. Selfishly, I hope that it stays this way.

A Busy Weekend

Our youngest daughter and her husband moved, this summer, from Chicago, IL. to Austin, TX. We are so delighted to have them closer, especially since they are the parents of my only granddaughter, Hannah.

 

Early on Friday that daughter (with dark hair) flew to Key West, Florida for the wedding of a sorority sister from college. Both are grads of the University of Wisconsin

 

She and her husband, enjoyed a fun filled weekend of wedding activities. The wedding was on the grounds of the Ernest Hemingway House in Key West. She said the  famous (yet controversial) Hemingway six toed cats were roaming around freely during the ceremony. They were jumping on people laps and to the delight of all...making their presence known.

 

They dropped little Hannah off here for a three day weekend.

 

She (the Ladybug), and Gramps helped hand out candy to the trick-or-treaters at my sister's house

 

After trading in her lady bug costume, she spent the rest of the weekend being a typical two year old. Seen here in my fuzzy blue slippers.

I hope that you too had a nice weekend.

Sightseeing

One of the things we did with our guests, that were visiting from Houston, is to go for an afternoon walk in the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens

I can remember as a teenager coming to these gardens for the first time. The one hundred and ten acre park is very well maintained, and most areas are free, with the exception of the Japanese Tea Garden that is worth the nominal fee.

A favorite of mine is the Rose Garden

I was happy to see that there were still some roses blooming

Especially these pink ones

If you come to Fort Worth a walk through these gardens is a must.

The Black Truck

I have shown you several large homes on my morning walk, well here is something else I passed along the way.

 

At first, I thought it was part of a big rig (eighteen wheeler) without it's trailer. Then, I thought maybe it was just a huge truck for pulling a vacation trailer.  I finally decided that I didn't know. Maybe it's just a huge black truck.

My husband and and I travel a lot by car. We have made an observation....mind you it is just an observation. We feel that driver's of black (not red or white), pickup trucks are the most aggressive driver's on our highways. Since we live in Texas, we pass a lot of pickup trucks. Actually, a lot of pickup trucks pass us. Has anyone else ever noticed this?

A Self Portrait

We have so many wonderful museums in Ft. Worth, but my favorite is The Kimbell. We visited this week with our guests from Houston

 

Click on photo to enlarge

This painting , part of the permanent collection at the Kimball, has always been a favorite of mine....and with the invention of the Internet....I love that we can find out more about an artist.

This is actually a self portrait of Elisabeth Louise Vigee Le-Braun painted when she of twenty seven years old.

Elisabeth is recognized as the most famous female artist of the 18th century.

Born in France in 1755 she was a portrait painter. Most famous for the thirty portraits she did of Marie Antoinette. She fled France during the French Revolution and continued to paint royalty all over Europe. While in exile  for twelve years she live in Austria, Italy and Russia.

She did return to France and continued painting until her death at age eighty seven.

* photographs of most of the permanent collection are allowed without a flash.