Big Boy wants to drive Xena too (December 21, 2025)

Big Boy likes to jingle the car keys. If he ever takes them off the hook, we'll have no idea where to find them. Once, when Ryder was a crawling baby, I let him play with my car keys. I just happened to see him slide them under the refrigerator. I would never have found them if I hadn't seen that!

New shorter style (December 18, 2025)

Went with a long shag to let natural curl shine. I think the color's too red. Miss my black hair! Also, the curls only work until you run a brush through them. Someday I'll have a long silver braid down my back. Not ready to be treated like an old lady yet though.

Jim's Christmas concert (December 16, 2025)

Grand-nephew Jim plays viola in the McCallum High School orchestra. 
 

Christmas cactus right on time (December 12, 2025)

Enjoying Martin's Christmas cactus for the third year. How does it know it's December?
 

Meet Xena! (December 5, 2025)

I've missed the Zoomer since hail did it in back in 2022. Losing Max became the big chance to find a stick shift replacement. I wanted something with reasonable mileage and a reasonable price, preferably a Toyota, Honda, or Mazda. We found only ONE car in the entire Austin area that fit the criteria! Apparently nobody drives standard anymore. The Toyota dealership near us came through with a 2018 Mazda3 with about 76,000 miles on it. I had to drive it for the gas fill up because the salesperson didn't know how to drive stick! We knew Xena was the right choice when they put on the new license plate and it ends in "6-7," the 2025 word of the year. Nod to Otis for defining the term for us. :-)

Bye-bye, Max! (December 3, 2025)

 Max needed a new engine. No rebuilt engine was available because Max is a 2011 SUV. A junk yard had an engine with 100,000 miles on it. Repair estimate: $7,500. Sorry Max! You faithfully took us many places, mainly to the bee hives. We'll miss you!

Sold to a junk dealer for $350. Hopefully Max's good parts will be useful for another Mazda CX7 owner.

From Danny to Fox (December 1, 2026)

 Danny's clean closet became Fox's bonanza. She loves the leopard pajamas! 

Very classy!

Break down! (November 27, 2925)

After Thanksgiving lunch with Greg, we were on our way to the bees, nearly to Georgetown, when Max lost power. Tom was able to get across a few lanes of traffic to the shoulder before Max died, thank goodness!
 

As luck would have it, a TxDOT Hero was behind us. They monitor I-35 for breakdowns. He pulled over, set up cones, and took a look under the hood for an easy fix such as a dead battery. No go. He advised us to call a tow truck.

Couldn't believe how easy it was to get a tow truck to our favorite mechanic Dan at Elite Auto in Austin. We got to see Greg again. He met us at Dan's and took us home. Thanks, Greg!

Happy Thanksgiving! (November 27, 2025)

 Okay, the Pilgrims didn't celebrate with Mediterranean food, but we did! We met Greg and Tammy at Dimassi's for Thanksgiving dinner.

We did have turkey with our pita bread, hummus, tabouli, and falafel.

So many delicious choices!

Danny on the "All is Calm" advertiser (November 26, 2025)

 Danny's Irish and German accents were big pluses at the "All is Calm" auditions at Stage West in Fort Worth. Danny made the cast and was featured in the flyer for the play! The play commemorates the moment that British and German soldiers left their Great War trenches on Christmas Eve to sing carols and play soccer. 

No, no Colette! (Friday, November 21, 2025)

If we don't serve her food on the buffet fast enough, she jumps on the forbidden island to eat.

She can balance and eat at the same time.

 

Happy Thanksgiving week! (November 21, 2025)

 Anjanette, Fox, and I met at the Velvet Taco on Burnet Road before their road trip to Los Angeles with Jay and Laura. We didn't try the Thanksgiving taco with turkey, dressing, and cranberry sauce.

Almost Thanksgiving, and our garden is still producing (November 17, 2025)

These crisp, sweet just-off-the-vine bell peppers and Carmen peppers (not spicy) are so delicious in our dinner salads!
 

Tons of serrano peppers to add to Papa's delicious black beans and other dishes too!

Rare Northern Lights in Central Texas (November 11-12, 2025)

My friend Sharon Reed in Georgetown sent me this photo of the Northern Lights as seen from her driveway on November 11. 
 

We drove as far north as the Walburg exit (about 40 miles) in hopes of being far enough from Austin's light pollution to see the Northern Lights. We ran into a traffic jam north of Georgetown. Apparently the lights came and went. By the time we reached the dark road to Walburg, the lights were gone.

Our consolation prize: glow-in-the-dark Oreo cookies. Greg gave them to us earlier in the day after Tom removed a deep splinter from Greg's thumb for him. We traveled to Iceland in November 2017 specifically to see the Aurora Borealis. The sky was overcast the entire time. Seeing the lights is on my bucket list. Could there be a winter trip to Fairbanks, Alaska, in our future? 

Another house gone in our block (November 4, 2025)

We returned from Portland late on November 3 only to wake up to sounds of heavy machinery four houses away. Well, only three houses away now.
 

Tunnel Beach (November 2, 2025)

We couldn't leave Tillamook County without visiting Oceanside Beach. No swimming though! The water was freezing and the waves were wild, crashing across each other.  
 

Otis and I stood on some rocks to let waves flood around us. Otis wisely suggested it was time to run back on the sand. The very next wave crashed over the rocks we'd been standing on!

The access from Oceanside Beach to the secluded Tunnel Beach is a 90-foot tunnel through a cliff. Otis is near the end.

The tunnel was built in 1926 for resort guests. Tunnel Beach is only accessible at low tide, when you can see tide pools filled with sea life. The beach is also known as a prime location for finding sea agates and other unique rocks.

Sometimes you can see seals, sea lions, and seabirds like tufted puffins nesting on the Three Arch Rocks Wildlife Refuge. We saw none. Maybe you need binoculars?

Papa Tom and art in the tunnel

Art and me in the tunnel

Tillamook Creamery (November 2, 2025)

Don't we all love Tillamook cheese and ice cream? We visited the source in Tillamook, Oregon, a beautiful 90-minute drive to the coast from Portland. We traveled through a forest of trees covered in yellow, orange, and red leaves.
 

VW microbuses were painted cheddar cheese orange for Tillamook's national promotional tour in 2010. We enjoyed cheese and ice-cream samples on our tour of the factory.

When the factory opened in 1949, cheesemakers made cheese the old-fashioned way, in open vats. The process is called "hand-cheddaring." Today, the cheesemakers use the state-of-the-art Cheddarmaster machine to separate curds from whey, and automate the cheddaring process.

I remember hearings ads as a kid bragging that certain brands of bread were "untouched by human hands," like automation is better than bread made by bakers. Robots turn 40-pound blocks of cheese into 20 2-pound blocks. The "40-pound blocks" actually weigh 41-42 pounds, so workers take a little off the top to make shredded cheese. Cheese, whether touched or untouched by human hands, is so yummy!

Starting in 1958, sweet-faced Tilly of Tillamook, a little brown Jersey cow, promoted Tillamook cheese for more than 50 years. She was a beloved rubber squeak toy for many cheese and ice-cream lovers.

Taking nachos to another level!

Halloween in Portland, Part 4 (October 31, 2025)

Ready for the trick-or-treaters. Our VRBO host left us a cauldron of candy to hand out...and snack on!
 

Superman, a witch, and Jor-El 

Superman and Jor-El as Jonathan Kent.

Super duper Otis, after all the trick-or-treaters have gone.

Halloween in Portland, Part 3 (October 31, 2025)

 We had to stop at the McMenamin's Chapel Pub for our Terminator Stout. Their seasonal aptly-named Black Widow porter was incredible too. The pub was once a neighborhood wedding chapel and funeral parlor. Weird that it's on North "Killingsworth" Street.

Otis and me next to the toasty wood stove.

We had beer and fish tacos. 

Otis had French fries and a root beer float.

The circle of life from wedding to not quite funeral yet. If memory serves from a news clipping I saw a while back, at least one bride's wedding and funeral were both held here. 

Halloween in Portland, Part 2 (October 31, 2025)

Our first stop had to be at the ICE facility, where the frog has become the symbol of due process for all. Why didn't I get this protestor's name? Our rental car had Florida plates. She asked what I think about "your governor." Then I told her I was from Texas! She knew all about Gov. Abbott too.
 

The frog on the right has been at the facility every day for four weeks. Two of the nicest people I've ever met.

Only seven protestors were on site mid-day Friday. Otis told me I missed the masked, armed men in unmarked vehicles leaving the facility. That's probably when the signs when up.