A Year of Gratitude, Day 97

                               

I've been working on cleaning out the flowerbeds which are full of oak tassels, leaves, and weeds.
The butterfly iris are especially pretty this year, nestled amidst all the ferns which are spreading like wild fire.

I was pleased to see that nine  of the hostas I planted last spring are beginning to sprout -- this one is the most robust, however.

A Year of Gratitude, Day 96

This cute little snail was creeping up the side of my house yesterday. You can even see his liitle trail of snail slime. When we lived in San Diego we had escargot-size snails in the ice plants growing on our backyard hill. They weren't as cute as this little guy.

A Year of Gratitude, Day 95

Grateful to have found  a video for my Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker - making lemon poppy seed ice cream!

A Year of Gratitude, Day 94

One of my favorite books for little ones is Me with You, written by Kristy Dempsey and illustrated by Christopher Denise. I was lucky enough to get a signed first edition of this book back in 2009 for my soon -to- be- born granddaughter's library.

When I learned that my friends, Mary Jane and Tom, were to be grandparents after YEARS of anticipation, I knew that I wanted to gift them with this beautiful book. Alas, Barnes and Noble no longer carries Me with You in hardback. As a matter of fact, the only format available from them was a 3"x5" folded postcard version of the book -- not at all satisfactory. After much internet searching, I  found a new hardback edition which arrived in the mail Saturday.

I can't wait to give this to Mary Jane and Tom.

A Year of Gratitude, Day 93







 

 

Jim and I headed off to downtown this morning to visit the Texas Art Asylum (http://www.texasartasylum.com/) to see if there was anything we couldn't live without.

Our intention had been to grab a bite of breakfast before heading out, but the café was closed, so we arrived at the shop before opening hour. We took the opportunity to wander around the neighborhood, east of downtown. Although it was a gray, cloudy day, there were some great reflections in the skyscraper windows.

 

Once inside, we spent an hour or so sifting through fossilized teeth, vintage sewing patterns and other junk before deciding there was nothing we wanted to buy. If you are into recycling or hoarding, you might want to pay a visit to the store.

 

We were going to stop at Aunt Bea's for lunch but there was a wait for seating so we decided to head back home and check out the Willowbrook' Churrascos. They have an awesome lunch menu, available until 4:00pm  (https://www.cordua.com/churrascos-menu.html). We chose the Friday lunch special, 6-oz centercut tenderloin steaks and house salad. The steak is served with grilled vegetables and a yucca patty. Marijke will love this place!

 

 



A Year of Gratitude, Day 92

My BFF (Kate Beizer) was off work today, so we took the opportunity to walk in the park. This is the first time in 2015 that we saw the egret hanging out by the pond. As we walked the gravel path around the pond, we almost stepped on a half-dollar-sized red-eared slider turtle  making his way to the water. I tried to get a picture, but he was just too fast. We logged 3 3/4 miles and solved the problems of the world.

A Year of Gratitude, Day 91

I finally was able to sit down and watch part 1 of the CBS adaptation of one of my favorite books, The Dove Keepers, by Alice Hoffman. I had been so excited to see that Cote de Pablo had been cast as Shira. In truth I was a  little disappointed in the adadptatoin, but then books are generally much better than the movies made of them.