McKinney Roughs....almost 5 yrs of Hiking

Mike and I have been hiking for almost 5 yrs.  I remember when we started.  Our 3rd hiking trip coincided with my 3rd blog post.  We had gone to McKinney Roughs Nature Preserve in the Fall of 2005.  I was missing the fall colors I grew up with in Pennsylvania and was pleasantly surprised when I found some color in the woods. I blogged about it and posted this picture. Click HERE to see that post.

We have taken a few days to spend together before we get back into the swing of Fall and keeping our grandboys while their mommy teaches school.  It really too hot at the end of August to take a real vacation so we are having a Staycation and getting up early to enjoy some hiking before it gets unbearable outside.  This morning we went to McKinney Roughs again.  As always, we take our cameras.  We hadn't hiked very far when I looked down and saw some color. 

Below is the first picture I took on this hike.  Does it look familiar?  

It was a good hike, but by the time we finished at 10 am, I was ready for air conditioning again.

Spring Break Vacation

Spring Break .... a week of vacation for school students and teachers is usually a week of vacation for us also. This year we worked around the house a little. We spent a day with the grandboys. We took lots of day trips. We had lots of fun. We spent a lot of time in the car. We saw lots of interesting things. And.....we watched spring unfold in Texas.

Day 1 was a visit to Sherwood Forest Faire where we met lots of interesting characters.

Day 2 of vacation we went to the Zilker Park Kite Festival in Austin. We went early and enjoyed watching families fly their kites. What a neat experience for the little ones it was to see all the kites in the air.

This was my favorite kite.

And after we visited the BIG kite festival, we stopped at Robin Bledsoe Park in Leander to see the Goucher Family Kite Festival. Lela, my daughter in love's sister is such a creative grandmother. She always plans such neat activities for her grandchildren and nephews.

This was the 2ND annual kite festival, complete with kites and cupcakes.

And here is my grandson, Drake, flying his kite.

Day 3 was spent at home. I played with the grandboys, Drake and Adler, while Pops built a new gate for our yard.

Day 4 was a rainy day. We stayed in and worked around the house. Rusty discovered a mud puddle in the back yard, so much of the day was spent cleaning muddy paw prints off the floor.

We went to our favorite Chinese restraunt for lunch and just relaxed the rest of the day.

Day 5 - We decided to head to Guadalupe River State Park to hike. On the road to Marble Falls we saw our first real bluebonnets of the season. Of course we had to stop and take some pictures.

We hiked a "less traveled" trail and spent lots of time exploring and ducking low hanging branches. It was a beautiful spring day and the sky was so blue. Here is one of the pictures of the Guadalupe we stopped to take.

And then we stopped to take more blue bonnet pictures on the way home.

Day 6 - We planned to go to the San Antonio Zoo and the Botanical Gardens. We got to the zoo about 9:30am and the line was 2 1/2 blocks long with lots of people waiting to get in. We decided that with a crowd like that it would be difficult to get good pictures and just drove on by. We went to the Botanical Gardens and walked around for awhile. This was not our most successful day, but we did enjoy each other's company.

This is a picture of the lake at the botanical gardens. It is in the middle of San Antonio, but you would swear you are somewhere in East Texas as you walk around the lake.

Day 7 - We went to Inks Lake State Park
in Burnet, TX . This a view of Devil's Hole from the overlook on the road entering the park.

We took Rusty Blue with us. This was his first State Park hike. For a puppie of 3 months he did exceptionally well. We were very pleased with his behavior and ability to walk on a leash.

We hiked to the river and he loved playing in the water. Here Rusty is saying, "Thanks Mom, that was fun!!!"

Day 8 - The first day of spring was rainy, cold, and windy. We made a trip to San Antonio to do a little shopping. I visited one of my favorite scrapbook stores and Mike visited his favorite pool cue salesman. We both came home happy with new toys. We stopped in Kyle for Barbeque on the way home and then relaxed at home for the rest of the day.

Day 9 - our final day (today) will be spent having lunch with my BFF Geri and then hiking in a local park this afternoon. We woke up to 34 degrees and sunny, so we know it will be a beautiful afternoon to spend outside. Cool but beautiful.

Tomorrow will be back to real life.

It has been a wonderful week.

SATURDAY ADVENTURE

I haven't been a very good blogger this month. I've been busy playing with my sweet grandboys and life in general. Life has been good - no, it has been GREAT!!! I haven't spent much time at the computer so I didn't update my blog. I didn't do much creating, so I didn't update my blog.

Yesterday we decided since it might be the last gorgeous day before some cold weather rolls in, that we would spend the day exploring. We started out heading to South Austin. If we don't have anything else planned for Saturday morning, we know we can get in some good exercise, good pictures, good breakfast, and a general sense of well-being by heading south. We begin by parking off Barton Creek between Daughtry Art Center and Parmer Auditorium. The grounds there are always beautiful and there is a very clean public restroom.

This Muhly Grass was pretty. It was heavy with morning dew and even though it was quite hazy out it still glistened as it bent over with the weight of the water droplets.

We headed across Riverside Drive to Auditorium Shores, We crossed over Lady Bird Lake on the First Street Bridge and walked the trails by the lake to Lamar. As we crossed back over the Lake on the Lamar Blvd Pedestrian Bridge we stopped to take some pictures.

Looking to the east is the railroad bridge. The sun peeked from behind the clouds just enough to make the water glisten with a silver sparkle. Two men were fishing from a boat making a nice silhouette, so I had to snap this picture.

And looking to the west, past the Lamar Blvd bridge the sky was clear and bluer. This picture and the one above were taken within a few moments of each other. It really shows how things can change in just a matter of moments as clouds roll in and out.


There is a planter of beautiful roses on the pedestrian bridge. They were so pretty covered in the morning dew. The bush that this pink bud was part of gave off a sweet aroma. It was good to just breath in and enjoy the beauty.

Back over on the grounds of Parmer Auditorium I found this plant. The blossoms were covered in dew with droplets of water collecting on each petal.

Mike snuck this picture in as I was concentrating on capturing some of the roses near the fountains at Parmer Auditorium.

Another perfect rose bud.

After our "nature" walk we headed to Torchy's Tacos on South 1st Street. They make a great Migas breakfast taco with fresh avocado and pico de gallo. YUMMMM.

After breakfast we headed to the Farmer's Market. Mike enjoys Hot Rock'n and Pop'n Kettle Corn and they have a booth there every Saturday morning, so when we are close by, we always stop to get him some.

We came home, did a little work around the house and then headed north to Belton to explore the historic downtown area. There are some cute little antique shops on the square around the courthouse.

This picture is taken from the corner looking up past a statue of one of Belton's forefathers to the Court House Rotunda.

The shops were full of wonderful antiques at very reasonable prices. Not only is it fun to explore, but there are many opportunities for still life shots that may someday grace the front of a note card.

I was fascinated with this rooster statue sitting on the sidewalk in front of one of the shops, so I snapped a picture.

My favorite shop was "BY GONE ERA" This wonderful store was full of vintage clothing and other treasures. The displays were thoughtfully done and there was so much to capture my attention. I will definitely visit this store again and again.

And this is my TREASURE from the day's adventure. My new bird cage is about 22 inches high and 15 inches in diameter. It is made of Teak Wood. The door "lock" and the legs are hand carved. I have no idea how old it is, but I feel like I got it for a bargain price. Now I will be on the lookout for the perfect bird to live in my cage. I am thinking something very eclectic and altered. My sweet husband thinks it should be KEVIN from the movie UP. We'll see.

After exploring Belton, we decided to head back south on the country roads to avoid any traffic that might be on the interstate because of the UT/Baylor Football game that had taken place in Waco earlier in the day. The UT Fans could be heading home by late afternoon and clogging the highway.

Heading down Farm to Market Road 1123 through Sommmer's Mill, we saw this house by the damn. It would be a wonderful place to live. The trees were beginning to change color making a peaceful setting to stop and enjoy the view for a couple of minutes.

It was nearing suppertime, so we decided to head towards Walburg and see if we could find something to eat. We got to the Walburg Restraunt just before 5 so we were able to get a table without a reservation. Mike had chicken friend steak, which he said was very good, but I had to have some real German food. My family heritage is German. My grandparents were 1st generation Americans. Their parents were all German immigrants.

In honor of my German Heritage, I chose
Schweinebraten.

Heading back home after a good meal, Nature entertained us with a beautiful Sunset.

Thus ends our Saturday Adventure.

November 14, 2009

OOPS....forgot a page

As I hit Publish Post, I realized I completely forgot to scan and stitch a page of the Album. It is the page with the picture of my sweetie and I standing on the beach, that you see when the door is open. So I wanted to add it here.

THIS is my FAVORITE PICTURE from the whole trip.

The Doors of Key West Scavenger Hunt

We went to Key West on a Big Adventure. Mike made reservations at the Beach Suite. It was a cute little white house at 1815 Atlantic Ave. It was surrounded with a white picket fence, lots of palm trees, and had a bright red door that led to a secluded covered deck. Because of the uniqueness of this red door, I started paying attention to the other doors of Key West. Each door exhibited a personality of it's own. Some were carved, some rustic, some painted, some works of art. What a fun scavenger hunt we went on to discover the DOORS of KEY WEST.

This was the perfect album to use an idea Mike had pointed out to me several years ago on a trip to StampAntonio in San Antonio, TX. They had used a door from a doll house on the front page of an album. My door is fully functional. It opens to reveal a picture of......

Mike and I on the beach.

My mini album is 6 inches x 12 inches. I covered the chipboard with Patterned Paper from My Mind's Eye and DCWV. I distressed the edges with Acylic Paint from Ranger.

Die-cut flowers layered, distressed with acrylic paint, and petals curled alittle to stand up.

The pearl centers are Crystal Stickers by Mark Richards purchased at Archivers. The edges of the mats were straight stitched on my sewing machine for added detail.

The border on the bottom of this page was cut from a piece of patterned paper. The Flowers are painted with Diamond Stickles.

The felt embellishments are recycled from gift wrapping on a present I received from my daughter in love, April. I suspect they might me K and Company. The pictures on this page and the one below were sewn to the mats with my sewing machine and the herringbone stitch.

The chipboard embellishments were from Deluxe Designs. I painted them with Acrylic paint and sprinkled the with Martha Stewart Crystal Fine Glitter while the paint was still wet. Then they were sprayed with a fixative to seal in the glitter.

The patterned paper borders were edged with EK Success Postage Stamp border punch. The prima flowers were embossed using my cuttlebug folders for added texture.

Random quotes in this book were obtained by googling for "door quotations". I picked my favorites and added them to the book.

The Circle and Picture mats on this page and the page below were hand doodle with a brown EK Success Zig Pen.

The chip board embellishments on the above 2 pages were painted with ivory acrylic paint and them stamped using Stampabilities Le London Script background stamp and Broken China Distress Ink. The Fleur De Lis was also doodled on with the Zig marker.

The key and lock on this page and the hinges on the page below are Tim Holtz Grunge Board. I colored them using a combination of Slate, Terra Cotta, and Pesto Alcohol Ink with Silver Metalic Mixative added in. The "brads" holding the embellishments on is actually Black Stickles that I used to fill the holes.

The Album was but together using my Bind it All.

It was a fun project to take pictures for and a fun project to complete.

My only regret is to have not written down street addresses as I took the picture. Many of them were taken on the run, literally. I would spot a door. Mike would stop the car. I would get out, run up and take the picture, and run back to the car. If there was traffic behind him, he would drive around the block and pick me up, so I wasn't thinking about writing anything down at the time. I was thinking about getting in and out of the car and getting a decent shot.

Hope you enjoyed my Scavenger Hunt on Key West.