Ahhhhh...Vacation!

This could have been the best part of the trip! I could not find a spoon, but found this fork in the console. However, Sam would not hijack...I mean...ask the driver to pull over. Pfffft!

We drove across the northern part of the great state of Texas to Raton New Mexico for the first night...twelve hours on the road. The next day we headed out for Lake City Colorado. The following are in and around Lake City.

 We rented a jeep for the Alpine Loop:
Last cabin left at Capital City...

Engineer Pass...

After Engineer and Cinnamon Passes...we ate lunch beside this stream.

These were at an outlook for the Black Canyon of the Gunnison:

On to Cedaredge...with friends Doris and Urel at Land's End on Grand Mesa.

Grandson and the Last Loaf of Bread

I received this via text message Sunday night. :D

Tell Her YES!

I was sitting beside Sam on the couch the other day. His phone rang. Sam is a bit hard of hearing so he has the volume on the phone turned up pretty high. Even though I was on his right...and he was holding the phone to his left ear...I could hear Erin telling him that something came up and their babysitter had to cancel Saturday night. I just about got whiplash nodding my head...TELL HER YES!

They are a couple of hours away...but how can you say no to these two? The little blond has the face of an angel...the little brunette makes no such claims.

Erin texted..."How's it going?"

I texted back..."Just fine."

 

Sssh...don't tell her my secrets. ;-)

 

We had supper...chicken brat (singular because I cooked only one for the kids to share...Sam and I don't care for chicken sausage), mac n cheese, steamed broccoli. Then Sam settled in for the NASCAR race. At one point he said, "I can't hear a thing."

So I said, "Boys, let's go for a walk." I received many instructions and probably forgot most of them. However, I did not forget, "If you go outside, do not let them wear their new shoes." I got Colt outfitted with a matching pair of old shoes. Every time I found a shoe and reached for its mate, I had to dig behind the hall bench where Cain was throwing them. I finally got a right foot shoe and a left foot shoe. They were not mates, but they were the same size. I do not know who they belonged to, but I put them on Cain's feet. :-)

 

(As you can see...we really got dressed up for our walk. The joys of country living!)

Colt immediately showed off his climbing skills.

Thank goodness he scurried down before Cain could prove to me that he was just as talented.

 

Ready. Set. GO!

 

A precious sight.

 

Sunday morning we baked bread.

Able hands all around for the kneading...

 

...and the Quality Control duo taking care of the tasting.

"Cain, do you think it has enough salt?"

 

"I dunno, Colt. Let me get another taste."

 

The finished product received rave reviews.

Note: On occasion, I am surprised at how good one of my photographs turns out. Like this one.

 

Pawpaw playing with Isabel.

 

Siblings Brook and John were standing in the kitchen. I snapped a photo. I motioned Sam to join them and snapped that photo. One of John's friends sidled up beside me. I handed him the camera and he snapped this one.

Missing Jonathan in this one...hopefully next time. (He works weekends...bummer.) 

Just Horsing Around

You know that I can't post photos without first showing clouds. :-)

All the mamas are gathered together one morning. They must have already dropped the children off at school.

 The next morning I caught the kids playing hookie!

Hummingbirds and Pinky...Pinky? Who is Pinky?

 When I looked out the living room window Sunday morning I saw three hummingbirds at the feeder. Grabbing the camera, I went outside and stood beside one of the porch pillars. Two of the hummers paid me no mind...the third would zoom in and out hovering just "over there" watching me, but never approaching the feeder.

I LOVE this one caught in mid-hover!

A friend gave me a couple of pieces of fabric. Jonathan immediately recognized this piece from Saturday morning cartoons when he was a kid...Pinky and the Brain. He recently acquired a Kindle and requested a cover using this fabric. He is just a 29-year old kid after all. :-)

 Like me, he did not want a triangle cutting across his Kindle screen so I used Velcro. He will stick the other pieces to the back of his Kindle.

In mine, I used cardboard for stiffener. Since Jonathan did not want pockets, I used plastic needlepoint canvas.

He has a book reading light that is supposed to be clipped onto the pages of a REAL book. He wanted a slot for the clip. I made a long buttonhole...and he can clip it onto the plastic canvas.

A Full Month

I had a "landmark" birthday mid-August. Yes my fine friends, I turned the big six-o...60. Where oh where did the years go? I am pleased to report that I did not fall apart! Neither mentally nor physically. :D I have no aches and pains. The right knee creaks a bit, buy my sister-in-law's knee has creaked since she was a teenager and she is still going strong at 56...so I'm not worried. Over the years, as I've hit "the" age, I have thought, "I am in better health than Mama when she was this age." I continually thank God that this has held to be the truth.

When Sam and I married 16 years ago, I told him that I was not big on cut flowers...an expense to just throw away in a few days and I would rather got out someplace nice to eat or...just buy me CHOCOLATE! :D

So for my sixtieth birthday I was surprised  for the third time since we married with a beautiful bouquet.

My birthday celebration continued when I was surprised at the pizza place to find Cody, Brook, and Isabel waiting for us after church! Such a sweet second surprise!

And a perfect chance to show-off my very first homemade bagels!

 

These tasted GREAT, but I am not going to post a recipe yet. There's one more recipe I want to try.

Just Stuff

One morning I stepped out on the front porch with my camera to check the clouds. While standing there, I heard a hummer. It flew toward the feeder as I watched not moving. 

 

Then it decided to check ME out. LOL

Last Tuesday evening while watching television, I looked out the back door. The sky was orange. I've never seen an orange sky. I called Sam's attention to it as I jumped up and grabbed the camera on my way out. Unfortunately, the color just does not show up in the photo. RATS...

Kids in church...a few weeks back I mentioned about a little girl saying, "God bless you," to someone who sneezed during church. It was not a whispered blessing...it was a regular voice blessing. :-)

This morning a little girl down in front of us was singing. She sang during the song and quit singing when the congregation stopped. She did this with every song. Sam and I looked at each other and just smiled.

Then...

there are the parents who do not get to hear a word of the singing or sermon because they spend the hour shushing their child(ren). I'm not talking about infants and toddlers who are learning how to act in church...I am talking about kids who are at the age that they should be sitting quietly. I do not know why this mother does not have a "bag of tricks" for the kids during church: sketch pad, colors, coloring book, story books, etc. ANYTHING to keep them quiet.

It's a mind-boggling thing.