Cornerstone: July 25, 2015

Our neighbor's longhorn greeted us as we drove past the stock pond.  Most of the cattle were gathered under this lone shade tree on the hot July day.

I can't remember what these webs in the tree are called.  Any answers or guesses? 

At the fire ring.  But not a good day for a campfire!  Maybe in the winter or early spring, after a lot more rainfall.

Lost bicycle.  Trying to remember if Ryder or Skyler left a bicycle here when we moved to town in 1987.

Okay, there are the Holy Trinity Catholic Church steeples, poking above the treetops.  Look directly above the old air conditioner unit box . . . .

People come from miles around for authentic German food at the Walburg Mercantile, about 4 miles from Cornerstone.  Believe it or not, reservations are required most weekends.

Wolf spiders were everywhere at Cornerstone!  We must have seen a couple of dozen of them.  Didn't see any rattlesnakes or scorpions, but I know they're there.  Walked very noisily through the tall grass.

Saturday, July 25, 2015: Corn Hill, Texas (just outside Walburg, Texas)

We drove out to Cornerstone on Saturday.  Decided to drop by the Holy Trinity Catholic Church on our way.  The back sides of the church steeples are visible from Cornerstone; the tops of the steeples are visible from I-35, located to the west.

Next to the church is the Moravian Hall, more than 100 years old.  Unbeknownst to us until we arrived, the annual barbecue cook-off was being held.  Lots of pickup trucks, campers, and barbecue pits on wheels.  Not to mention the enticing aroma of sizzling steaks and ribs!

The area was largely settled by Czechoslovakians.  Hence, the "Czexican" barbecue team logo.  I just hope they weren't barbecuing armadillo!

I'm not sure what we're not supposed to do, according to the sign (in Czech?) on the bulletin board inside the Moravian Hall.  Whatever it is, there appears to be a steep fine for it and possibly 10 years in jail?

A few of what appeared to be about 100 competing cookers scattered on the hillside.

Thursday, July 23, 2015

After school Thursday, we went to PetSmart to get the pet mouse Jade's been wanting.  Do you see Fuzzy on the wheel?

Jade went back to the office with me that evening because I'd forgotten to bring home the power cord for the laptop.  She did a self-portrait while we were there.

Central Market playground with Jade: Monday, July 20, 2015

We picked Jade up from school and headed straight to Central Market to eat dinner and play on the shady playground.  Jade was like Alauna and Otis at the indoor playground:  the last one to leave, as it was getting dark around 9 p.m.  She loves playing games on the KindleFire but soon abandoned it to climb up the slide.

Papa caught the honeybee that was buzzing around our table.  Honeybees are very gentle and rarely sting.

Papa carried Jade back to the table after she took off her red cowgirl boots

Portland: July 17-19, 2015

Drove to Portland after the IDEA conference.  Picked Otis up from his summer camp.  He showed me the "ocean" the kids had made during splash time.

Had dinner with Lawanda and Otis at a tamale shop near her house.  Excellent tamales!  Especially excellent because there's a gelato shop next door where we had dessert.

Spent Saturday at Skyler and Destiny's house in Vancouver, across the Columbia from Portland.  Otis and I fed bread to geese at the neighborhood park.  One of them hissed at us when we got too close!

Took Alauna and Otis to an indoor playground.  We arrived around 4:30 p.m. and they were the last ones to leave when they turned out the lights at 8 p.m.  As you can see, Otis and Alauna insisted I join them at the top of the slide. 

Alauna, Destiny, and Otis, right before I took Otis back to Lawanda's.  Yes, it was light out until nearly 10 p.m.!

IDEA (special education law) conference in Seattle: July 13-17, 2015

First time I've ever seen a hot chocolate bar.  What a great idea!

At the Chulily glass museum with co-workers Michael and Penny

Glassblower Dale Chulily's designs and/or work

View of the Space Needle from inside the glass house at the Chulily museum.  Those are glass flowers hanging from the ceiling.

Glass art outside, intermingled with live plants

The glass is mounted on a sort of Christmas tree shaped frame

We rode the monorail from downtown to the Space Needle

Penny, Michael, and me on the ferry to Bainbridge Island.  See the Space Needle behind us?

There's Always Me: one of Emma's solos in "All Shook Up"

I Can't Help Falling in Love With You: one of Emma's solos in "All Shook Up"

Bulky pickup: July 6, 2015

Emptied a mattress set out of the garage and got rid of a non-working mini-fridge in Austin's semi-annual bulky pickup.  Kind of interesting to walk the neighborhood the weekend before the pickup and see all the couches, beds, tires, toys, etc. on the curb.  A lot of the goods end up with new homes, I think, either from neighbors snagging each other's stuff or from the guys plying the 'hood pulling trailers behind pickups.  One man's trash . . . .

July Fourth

I worked 19 days straight, including 8 hours on July Fourth, to finish a project due on July 10.  Here's the view of the capitol from my office on the fifth floor of the William P. Clements Building.  Thought about taking a break at 4 p.m. to check out the mass marriage ceremony being held at the capitol.  Overcame my former journalist instincts and kept working.

Had dinner after work with Tom and Evelyn at Kerbey Lane.  Here's their tomato pie, only available when tomatoes from their garden are in season:  flaky whole wheat crust, fresh tomatoes, ricotta cheese, basil, olives . . . .  too good!

Jake and Lucy are here!

Jake and Lucy arrived on July 1.  Will update the post with a photo of Jake from Papa's phone after he (Papa, not Jake) gets home from work.  Here are Sarah, Tom, and me with Lucille Jane.  

Emma wowed us all with her performance as Sylvia in "All Shook Up" on July 1.  Two of her solos are embedded in the blog, above.  They're both imported from YouTube.  If you can't get it to play, go to YouTube and look under "Waco Children's Theater."  Then look for "I Can't Help Falling in Love" and "There's Always Me," both posted by Joyce.  

Al's Mom Mary Horn was visiting from Iowa.

Dryer repair

Have you ever seen the inner workings of a clothes dryer?  Never mind mysterious disappearances of socks.  Our dryer was snagging and ripping our clothes!  Time for repair.

The offending drum needed a new felt strip on the outside to . . . . well, I'm not sure to do what.  But the dryer hasn't eaten clothes since being repaired, thank goodness.

Jade's July Fourth program at the Montessori School

Do you see Jade?  Her class presented a July Fourth program, complete with naming the 50 states.

Jade and Daddy on the playground after the July Fourth program

Happy Father's Day! June 21, 2015

Had Father's Day dinner at Freddie's Place, where Anjanette was working, before the restaurant closed for good at the end of June.  New owner of the location is Robert Rodriguez, the Austin filmmaker, and a chef friend of his who apparently makes fantastic tacos.  Our family is connected to Freddie's Place in another way besides Anjanette working there.  The Freddie's Place playground is where Mya broke her leg when she was a year old.  

Happy Father's Day to Daddy from Jade

And it keeps on raining and that's okay! June 2015

Didn't rain a drop on us in supposedly rainy Seattle.  A very welcome sight in Austin though!

The sunflowers and zenias soak it up