Sunday afternoon with Jade

On Sunday, July 21, 2013, Jade and I had lunch at El Mercado, across the street from the Scottish Rite Theater, where we went afterward for a marionette/live music production of "Charlotte's Web."  See the little green button on the front of the bus?  When you push it, music plays.  Unfortunately, I somehow shifted the diaper bag during "Charlotte's Web" and the bus started playing "London Bridge."  Oh my!  It stopped as I was walking out of the theater with it, thank goodness!

Happy Birthday, Lara!

We celebrated Lara's last day of being 18 at the Hula Hut on Lake Austin on Friday, July 19.

She loves pineapple, and had the chicken with grilled pineapple.

Papa Tom didn't melt in the rain after all!  Yea!

Midnight back at the house and Lara's 19 for real!

Oscar had dinner with us too and came over to celebrate Lara's real birthday.

"I'm melting!"

Where's Papa Tom?  I came home from work on a rainy afternoon and all that was left of him was his t-shirt, cap, socks and shoes!  I know he's sweet, and sugar melts . . . he should never have gone running in the rain!  But where are his jogging shorts???  Uh-oh!

Oh no!  It looks like he tried to dry off what was left of him before his hands melted, forcing him to drop his keys and sunglasses on the counter! If only he'd had time to pull up the stopper! Looks like the last of him trickled down the drain, leaving only his running shorts behind!  I'll miss you, Papa Tom!

Otis, Bananas, and sweet dreams!

Best friends!

Is there anything more classic than a boy and his dog?  

Sweet Piper says "Good morning!"

I woke up to a very special email from little Piper, telling me "Good morning!"  I'll bet she was up earlier than I was!

Thanks Emma, Al, and Joyce!

After Emma's performance in "Grease" on July 12, we went to the Horns' house for a pre-birthday celebration.  Emma had made me a guitar-shaped birthday cake!  Thanks so much, Emma!

And there were balloons, including a balloon with a peace sign, butterfly, and guitar on it.  Perfect!

Luckily, there were only 13 candles on the cake.  Luckily?  Yes, 13 is my lucky number.

Happy Birthday to me!

And I only had to blow out 13 candles.

Ice cream and cake. Yum!

So delicious!  Emma made the confectioner's sugar icing herself.  Yummy with the chocolate inside.

Millie's job

Whenever we buy cat food, Millie's job is to open the bag

Millie's claws are sharp!

Off to a good start!

Staying with it; not done yet!

She's in!

Good job, Millie!

Moonflowers and sunflowers

The moonflowers open at dusk every day.  BTW, we had a monk parrot stop buy for sunflower seeds the other day.  Didn't get a photo though.

Do you know what this is?

Way, way back in the day, you had to have a television antenna to get good reception if the rabbit ears (sometimes with aluminum foil flags attached) on top of the television set didn't work well enough.  And the antenna had to point in the right direction.  I'm sure those of us who watched television in the 1950s and 1960s vividly remember standing outside at the bottom of the antenna pole, twisting it to change direction, until the person inside shouted "Good!" or "Stop!"

This antenna is on the house next door to us.  The house just sold; I wanted to get the photo before the new owner takes the antenna down.  I'm pretty sure they won't be using it. :-)

Papa Tom's creek find

Papa Tom likes to jog along Shoal Creek.  He found a wallet with driver's licenses of two people, debit cards, and credit cards inside.  We found one of the girls on Facebook and sent a friend request and message that Papa Tom had found the wallet.  It's been several days; no response.  I'm guessing she saw my name and because she has no idea who I am, didn't confirm the friend request.  We also tried finding the girls' telephone numbers on the WhitePages website.  Addresses were provided, but no telephone numbers.  Because they only have cell phones?

Not sure what to do now.  Papa Tom will probably turn the wallet in to the police if we don't hear back from either girl.

Otis rides the seacoast train

Otis and LaWanda took a train ride to the Oregon seacoast in June.

Otis loves trains!  And this is a steam train!  He can identify all the train cars and diesel engines and steam engines, not to mention naming all of Thomas the Tank Engine's friends.  When we were in Asheville in May, we found out River can name them all too when we played a Thomas the Tank Engine matching game with him and Mya.

Did you notice that the caboose is your favorite color, Emma?

The Pacific Ocean!  Quite a few miles north from Peru, where I lived on the Pacific Ocean from age 3 to age 8.  Otis loves trains and monster trucks too, as you can tell by his shirt.

A little duck for Piper

I sent a drawing of a duck to Piper.  I like ducks because they can go anywhere:  land, sea, or air!  And they're cute!  And they quack! Did you know there are duck-shaped crackers called "Quackers?"

Saturday afternoon with Fox the Kitty Cat

We started out our Saturday (July 6, 2013) at the nearby Funkytonk Farmer's Market, where Fox had her face painted by Fawn, who told us her spirit animal is a fox.

But it was too hot to hang outside.  So, after we visited the giant fork at Hyde Park Bar and Grill, we stepped around the corner to Quackenbush's for a vegan cupcake for Jade and French-pressed coffee for me.  Our coffee pot recently gave out after much, much service; I now have a French press: great for coffee and tea!

And when it's too hot to play outside, there's always Kids N Play for indoor , air-conditioned fun.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Kids N Play snack bar carries organic milk and cheddar bunnies made with organic ingredients.

Photos by Fox

When you're just over two feet high, your photos tend to be of . . .  feet!  Here's Fox's self-portrait of her right foot.

Fox's photo of Mama's feet

Fox's photo of Papa Tom's feet.  Notice his spiffy new running shoes!

But sometimes Jade will take face photos, if you get right in front of the camera.  Good job, Jade!

Movie night

Papa Jay and Lala (Anjanette's parents) hosted a movie night in their driveway on July 5th.  We were treated to "The Dish," about the Australian crew that worked with NASA to ensure that Neal Armstrong's first step on the moon could be televised.

Jade loves to start at the neighbor's tree and hurtle at full speed into your arms as you kneel and wait on Papa Jay and Lala's driveway.

Fireworks

We braved the crowd of 100,000 to catch the July Fourth fireworks from the First Street bridge over Lady Bird Lake.  We parked at the Capitol and walked 12 blocks for the show.

Some, like us, watched from the bridge.  Others watched from canoes or kayaks below the bridge.

Celebrating more, after the show, at Draughthaus, where Papa had a Left Hand nitro Milk Stout.

I enjoyed Southern Tier's creme brulee porter.  Thanks, Amon, for introducing me to this fabulous porter, which has just recently made its way from New York to Texas.

Happy Independence Day!

A cowgirl must have boots!

Jade chose her very own boots at Cavender's Boot City.  She wouldn't even try on the pink ones or any others after she saw this black pair with lavender flowers.  She's not only a cowgirl, but a stylin' cowgirl!

Ready to two step!