Another Christmas in July

I enjoy entertaining and planning theme parties. This month we had two separate gatherings for Christmas in July in our yard. Both well attended and everyone seemed to enjoy the evening.  The weather was perfect.  It threatened rain but it was actually cool and breezy instead. 

But I always think I have to have everything done perfectly including all the touches outside.  The flowerbeds have to be edged and cleaned.  And then I always think my yard needs more....more pathways, more flowers, more decorations.....more everything.

Surprise guest relaxing in the pool!

You know how hard it is to be perfect?  The day of the party I start to stress a few hours before the party.

Side yard for Christmas in July

Christmas trees decorate brownies

"I did not get the flowerbed mulched!  I don't have enough time to do it, shower and get my hair done again!

"I did not get the brownies decorated! After the shower but before doing my hair....I can squeeze it in!"

"Oh, the upstairs closet did not get vacuumed! And you know guests snoop!"

Then the party starts and all the worries are gone.  I run around taking pictures and finally.....if everyone is settled and having a good time I will try to squeeze in the socializing.

My biggest problem is finding time to enjoy the event!
I become Martha of the Mary and Martha story.
Who is going to serve if I don't do it?!  And by the way...I am serious!  Who will do it?

Some of the teens eating at Christmas in July Devo Night

But really, the idea is to get to socialize and enjoy the company of our friends!

Cars and Colors

As I was working in the yard early this morning I heard a car coming down the road at the bottom of the hill from me. 
I looked up and seeing a silvery car that appeared to be my parent's car I thought, "they are out early" and returned to my work.

The car was driving slowly and I surmised it must be my mother but as I looked up to wave it was not my mother.  I thought, "It must be my mother-in-law"  who also, has a silvery car about the same look as my parent's car.  But no, it was neither my mother, nor my mother-in-law but rather an old man driving in a car that fit the same description as the other two cars. 

And I thought, "Oh, another victim of  stereotyping."
I drive a maroon Envoy.  The same as several other members in my age group who shopped the same dealership, same year in town. 

All of us victims of stereotyping. 

Maybe, I'm ready for another car but this time I'm not going to listen to the recommendations of the salesman, no matter how cute or sweet he is.

Maybe, I'll get something fun....and sleek....and bright and of  course,
economical!

B Bumble and Co

If you have been watching my blog you can see that I have gotten the sewing bug and who should I blame but my sister.  It is just hard to sit back and watch her having fun and not want to be a part of it.  I can ignore her having fun with her quilts over there next to me while we have coffee but then Mama got into it.  Now I have two of them at the table working quilts and all I can do is suggest colors. 

That does not do it! 

Somehow, I ended up traveling to a quilt shop along with the two Quilting-mamas....like this is sometime I want to do.... sure!  But who ended up spending nearly $150.  Yep!  That was me.

So now, I am committed to sewing all of this fabric and using the three patterns I bought.

So then I go to a fabric store with Linda and I end up spending $75!  Okay, now I am really committed to sewing. 
And me without a sewing machine!  So guess what....now I am looking for a good sewing machine! 

Now Linda has started a new website for all those quilters out there to download her patterns directly. Actually Doug has been working on this quite some time now and I think it looks great!  Her patterns are in several quilt shops already but this will open up her patterns worldwide, giving easy access in a download to her patterns for the technology savvy people. 

Her logo on the right is a link to her site. 

She has also started a blog that will discuss all areas of quilting from choosing colors to tutorials.
Her blog is Buzzing and Bumbling and is listed in my links at the right.  Become a follower. 

Even if you are not a quilter you must drop in and check it out.
But I warn you....it can be additive.  But better being addicted to something creative like quilting and sewing than some addictions

Another Purse

Summer Projects

With everyone around me sewing up projects, I have now got the bug!

I never thought I would ever want to sew again.  When sewing was creative I enjoyed it but when I had to sew my clothes....oh, no!!!  I like trying on first!

Leann, check this out.

It did end up taking me about five hours total (Counting the two hours at your house working on it with you, Leann.)  But this was just the first one. 

Getting the instructions figured out without a better understanding of all the compartments was the hardest part but now the next one will go faster....and yes, there will be more.  I went shopping for fabric yesterday and got enough for several projects. 

This is the little purse about 6 by 8 inches with four compartments on the inside (one zippered pocket)and the flap is also a pocket with the  zipper in the very top (not pictured) for an additional compartment  just perfect for my cell phone. 





So much fun!
I am ready to get a sewing machine now!

Three Beads, Four Marbles, Five Fish and a Nickle

The marble rumbled across the floor, passing the dust bunnies and leaving behind the dried grass clippings and dirt particles swept up. The marble touched base with a wall somewhere before the second marble was put into action by the swift movement of the broom and then a third marble still waited for discovery.

The room seemed unnervingly quiet in the wake of the children.

All that remains were a few small reminders of their time here.  A high chair rests in a spot between the kitchen and the dining room, the rocking horse next to the fireplace.  A couple of small containers of play-doh were hiding under pillows thrown on the floor.   Five fish for the hot tub lurked under the edge of the couch.  Three pop beads had escaped capture.  And a lone nickle had slipped through small fingers and lay on the floor. 

The quiet crashed in all around.

No one to ask to ride in the wagon,
or feed the fish,
or read a book,
or jump on the trampoline,
or to climb up and cuddle.
Slobbery kisses will wait until next time,
" I wuv you's" hover in my heart,
and squeals of excitement echo in my mind.

Exhaustion sets in,
tempered by sentiment.

'til next time.

A Garden for the Children

I was no taller than my grandmother's orange Cannas growing along the house next to the driveway. 

In fact, some of them towered above my head.
I pretended it was my jungle and as I carefully wandered through the plants watching not to step on any of the plants, I picked off the ugly seed pods that formed when the flowers withered and died because  I wanted my grandmother's flowers to be pretty. 
It was cool in the shade and seemed a perfect place to explore. 
Mama was concerned I would hurt the flowerbed but Grandmama just laughed. 
A few weeks later Grandmama told me that her Cannas had bloomed again and were more beautiful than ever after I had plucked off the seed pods. 
I was so pleased. 

Many of my childhood memories surround the outdoors, my mother or grandmother's gardens or flowerbeds, exploring my grandfather's pastures  or the rocky hillsides at the lake where the family built a cabin, tasting the sweet nectar of honeysuckles and playing under the jasmine bushes.  

It is no wonder that as a grandmother now, I plan my gardens to please the children.  

So Andy and Amy now in your "grand" years here are the things I have found that have enhanced imagination and play in my gardens.  

Pathways: My pathways are not expensive pathways but most of them are simply an area I cleaned off the grass and laid a weed barrier and covered with mulch.  The kids love the pathways. 

I had to laugh one day as Kristen and her mother and I were walking in the grass around the back side of the house and we came upon one of the pathways.  Kristen squealed in delight as she dropped our hands, "A path!" 
And off she ran.

Wagons: The perfect companion for the path is the wagon.  My wagon has three cars and we make chug-a-chug-a- toot-toot

noises as we go.

A Place to Gather:A place to sit or swing or drink iced tea.  If there is no shade you just have to make one.  Maybe a big umbrella but you must have places where you can sit and talk.

Mysterious places: Tall plants or shrubs that leave space to walk behind or under or fun, thornless plants  that soft-slap the kids as you drive by in the wagon.


Color: And if at all possible, color!  Yellow zinnias, purple flocks, red roses, sweet williams, and pink begonias.

Seed Collection Expeditions: Seed collecting at the end of the growing seasons.  Teach the kids how to pick off the dead seeds and collect them and not only are you teaching them to love plants and grow them themselves, they are deadheading your plants and extending your blooming season. 

Oh, there are so many things to do outdoors if the outdoors are inviting.  

......Sand piles, Blowing Bubbles, and of course, a place to splash! 
My gardens expand every year and it makes it more fun every time they come.

The Search for the Perfect Garden

I am always on a search for a more perfect garden. 
I love the creative process of designing the gardens, choosing the most impressive plants and visiting places that inspire my creativity in the garden. 

While I can not enter Walmart through the main doors, always opting for the garden center doors so I can browse the newest selections, I have grown tired of the old selections only occasionally finding a true gem of a new plant there.  There are plenty of the tried and true plants in various colors and sizes and a variety of different textures and my gardens are full of those plants, also.  But I am left still searching for something different.

On trips into San Antonio I can not leave town without stopping off at the garden center in a Lowe's or Home Depot finding a wider selection of  plants including some new varieties I have never seen before occassionally.  Last time I found a variety of Black-eyes Susan I had never seen and even though I dislike Black-eyed Susans this was not a typical variety.  Not only was the flower twice the size of the typical wild variety,  the color was a rich golden yellow, the center was yellow with a lime green ring around the edge instead of the dark brown protruding center, the petals did not hang down but rather straight out.  It was so perfect  looking I thought it looked more like a good quality artifical flower than a Black-eyed Susan.  I could not leave the garden center without a specimen of the plant.  That and a Queens Palm tree. 

Having come by this love of gardening honestly from our mother, Linda and I  decided to treat our mother to a day out, visiting an impressive garden nursery.  We found  the Antique Rose Emporium.  the nursery of choice for the day. Beautiful Fairy rose shrubs line the entrance  and around the parking area.  Instead of rushing into the center we lingered looking and smelling the fragrances of the roses.  One of the wonderful aspects of the nursery is that you can grab a little red wagon and wander on gravel pathways throughout the center's perennial gardens planted all around the grounds and see the plants in their mature stages while deciding on the look you like. Garden structures are everywhere:arbors, pergolas, outdoor rooms and pathways wander throughout the gardens.   We arrived early and wandered the gardens until the heat began to slow us down but not before we each had a wagon load of beautiful plants.  I came home with a shrub rose bush in a sweet pink color, "Gabrielle Privet" that will bloom all summer long, a Lady Baltimore Hibiscus that has deep red flowers the size of a large dinner plate (or bigger), several purple coneflowers to add to my windmill garden bed, a small bay tree and the inspiration to get out and get my hands dirty.  Each of us had rose bushes and the ride home in the car loaded with the plants reminded me of the sweet smelling southern Magnolias, Gardenias and all those fragent plants you find blooming in the Southern states. 

Nanas Doodle Bug

When I first started a blog my goal was to communicate with my grandchildren and having reaching the "older woman" time in my life, a secondary goal was to communicate to parents of little children. 

It did not take me long before I just got into blogging, sometimes, it was aimed at the parents but seldom did it aim to the children and forgot what my goal was.  Now, nearly three years later I have a renewed interest in getting back to my original idea so I have started a new blog geared to children and their parents. 

I have not posted much so far but I have a skeleton of the blog now.

I would love your input. 

The new blog is Nanas Doodle Bug

Zoo's Crews

Hanging out at the zoo is the coolest!




Good things about the zoo!:
You can scream like a hyena, run like a cougar, and monkey around and no one comes out and tells you to leave.






You can get all hot and stink to the highest heavens and no one knows it is you.
Everyone blames the hippopotamus!


Ice cream at the end of the trip is not optional...it is mandatory!

You're never too old for the zoo! Strollers for the little tots and Electric Wheelchairs for the older folks.

The Lookout Tower...carvings on the old bamboo stalks....kissing birds....and nesting in the trees....air conditioned caves....and shade!

















Contented kids, the quiet trip home and the power nap at the end of the day.
But most of all....getting to spend time with family!