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| Papa Tom outsmarted the grackles, blue jays, and squirrels with bird netting and cardboard boxes. They have not yet evolved to evade these barriers to the precious peaches! |
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| Almost ripe |
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| Ripe! Our first peach. Not one bird peck and not stolen by Scrappy or Scruffy |
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| Ready to share |
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| Peach perfect! |
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| Lara enjoys a bite |
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| So good! |
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| Fearless Fox! It was too hot to play outdoors; it had hit 108 degrees (!) on Saturday. So Fox and I spent the afternoon at a nearby (air-conditioned!) play center. She tackled the tallest slide, no problem. |
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| Almost flying Fox! |
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| Mya likes to send us drawings in the mail, and we love to get them! Keep them coming, Mya! |
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| After Emma's performance in "You Should Be in Pictures" on June 28, we went to BJ's for dinner. Here are the "Long-Horn" girls: Holly Long and Emma Horn, of course! Emma's solo was pitch perfect. You have a beautiful voice and wonderful stage presence, Emma! |
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| Al and Joyce |
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| And we'll be seeing Emma in "Grease" on July 12. She's too young this year for one of the leading roles, but the director told her she has a good chance for a leading role in a production a few summers from now. This year, she'll play a beauty school dropout. Pink smock and all? We'll find out! |
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| Papa showed Lara how, even if you hold completely still, the amethyst will begin to spin. I tried it too. Simply by saying "clockwise" or "counter-clockwise" or "stop," I could control the movement of the pendant. Our bodies are electromagnetic, right? I was sure I wasn't moving but, somehow, our thoughts must convey an imperceptible movement to the fingertips. BTW, before sonograms, we'd predict the gender of an unborn child based on whether the pendant circled clockwise or counter-clockwise. |
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| Papa McGregor caught Scruffy at the base of the peach tree |
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| Such a cute little guy. But he should have stayed away from Papa's peaches! |
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| In the bed of the pickup, on the way to Northwest Park |
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| Scruffy's new home: a giant pecan tree |
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| A split second later, Scruffy disappeared into the dark |
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| View from our balcony at Island House, on North Padre Island just outside Corpus Christi, where we stayed June 21-22. |
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| Grand-nephew Jim's first time ever at the beach, with his Mom, our niece Sarah. Oh yes: he's the cutest dude on the beach! |
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| Sarah, Jim, and Kirk |
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| Papa Tom, Grandma Evelyn, and me. That isn't something green in my hair; it's a swimmer with a raft in the background, I think. |
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| Papa Tom got tired of Scrappy and his friends scavenging the peach trees and tomato vines, so set a trap with bird seed. Scrappy was re-homed to a pecan tree in Northwest Park later that day. If Papa Tom has his way, Scrappy's friends Squatter and Scout will soon be joining him. |
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| Scrappy's going-away dinner was pecans and one last green peach from Papa Tom's tree. |
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| Uh-oh! Our next catch was Delia Dove. She was quite happy to flap away when I opened the trap. |
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| Jade and Anjanette visited everyone in Portland from June 15-23. While there, LaWanda took the kids to a local amusement park. |
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| Jade Fox on the carousel |
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| Sharpshooter Otis |
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| Animatronic musicians...with a penguin and skulls. Hmmm. |
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| Practicing for the Republic of Texas ralley |
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| Co-pilot cousins |
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| L'il slugger Otis |
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| Wonder what's on your mind, Otis? |
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| Daddy and Otis at the awards ceremony |
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| Daddy and Otis |
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| We met Mom, Dad, DonnaLynn, Martin, Martha, and Craig at Ruby Tuesday's in Shreveport on Saturday, June 15th, to celebrate Father's Day. Afterwards, we hung out at the house. Dad now has a new summer wardrobe of shirts and shorts and Season 1 of "Duck Dynasty" to enjoy. Happy Father's Day, Dad! |
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| DonnaLynn did it! She brought us fabulous ice cream that, so far, we haven't seen outside NOLA. We think it's also new to NOLA, because we'd never seen it there before either. She says they carry 11 flavors. I wonder if King Cake is one of them? If not, it should be! |
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| Happy Father's Day to the men in our lives who fix things, move things, explain things, ride to the rescue even at midnight, and are always there for us. |
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| OK, we made them kiss for the camera. Thanks, Mom and Dad! |
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| Papa Tom eyes the Big A** burger at the Roaring Fork on Congress Avenue, where we began our 18th anniversary celebration. The time has flown by. Must mean we're having fun! ;-) |
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| We split a huckleberry margarita for dessert. |
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| We've been wanting to catch the Monday night blues jam session at Victory Grill in East Austin for some time now. Too bad the photo is blurry. If it were clear, you'd be able to see that the player on the left is an 11-year-old kid. He was amazing! |
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| Lara, who's staying with us this summer, helped her friend Oscar with his chemistry homework the other night. She's doing DNA research with a UT professor and taking an online government class. She'll be a sophomore at UT in the fall, studying biochemical engineering. |
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| The sunflowers are towering in the front yard. So nice to have cut flowers inside! Still waiting for the parrots to discover them. |
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Papa Tom found this baby dove in a parking lot on Saturday evening. We named the dove "Delta," because we didn't know if it is male or female. If male, he is "Delta Force." If female, she is "Delta Dawn."
Jade and I took Delta to Wildlife Rescue on Sunday afternoon. The volunteer said Delta is about a week-to-10 days away from learning to fly. Doves stay on the ground while they learn to fly.
The volunteer wondered if we could keep Delta outside our house until she learns to fly, but I told her we have four outdoor cats (and Baba was very curious yesterday, peering inside the front door into the living room where we were keeping Delta in a box.) It would be very sad to find a pile of Delta feathers on our front door mat!
She then wondered if we could keep the cats indoors for a week-to-10 days while Delta learns to fly. I think that would be more animal adventure than we could handle! Anyway, Delta stayed at the animal shelter and should be just fine.
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| Jade took my photo while we were waiting for lunch at Chuy's on Barton Springs Road |
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| Jade and I love our TopoChico, sparkling mineral water from Mexico |
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| Jade's photo of Millie |
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| Jade and Millie |
