Easter Photos....from the past (4)

Last one for this year.  Andi!

Easter, 2013

We had Easter lunch today with the Koenig's.  Very nice, last minute (since we weren't even supposed to be here!) lunch that Colleen pulled together, and a delicious carrot cake.  She's getting to be a really great cook.
KT got her Easter basket from the Easter bunny and another one from Grumpy and I.  She's at such a fun stage right now! I'm so blessed.

Angel

Imp

The first bite is ALWAYS the ears, KT!

Poser!

Giving Mom some rabbit ears!

The Koenigs

And their long suffering dog! ha ha!

Movie Review --- Olympus Has Fallen

This was a pretty good way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

Gerard Butler plays a Secret Service agent who had been on the presidential detail until a car accident, where the first lady was killed.  He chose to save the president first (which I think was his job) but afterwards he was transferred to another department at the Treasury in disgrace.

Skip forward a few months, and North Koreans attack the White House. They disguise themselves as part of a South Korean group to get in, then they take the President and his cabinet members hostage. I question a diplomatic entourage that is able to drive right in the gates at the White House, get out of their cars and walk right in.  Isn't there any security at the door? At least wand them, good grief! And a C130 airplane almost drives right up the front drive with minimal resistance.  I'm not buying that.

Bodies everywhere, lots of blood and guts. Gerard runs in and saves the president's son, the president and the day! This is the type of movie he is meant to make -- no more romance movies, please, Gerard.

Three stars!   

Not on a beach....

I guess you thought my next post would be from our deck outside of our mini-suite, on a chaise lounge on the beautiful cruise ship, steaming toward the gorgeous ocean of the Caribbean.....but you'd be wrong.  We're home.
John had some chest pain on Friday morning, around 2 a.m.  Why is it always in the middle of the night?
So off to the ER we went - test, test, test, blood work, x-rays, EKG, etc. then transport to the main hospital in San Antonio for more testing, including a stress test.  Finally home Friday afternoon with a follow up at his heart doctor in two weeks. According to the tests, his heart is fine, no problems there.  A mystery as to what was happening, but we didn't want to be out in the middle of the ocean if he was having problems, so we had to cancel our trip.
Oh, don't start thinking I took this well....
no...
But I'm slowly getting my sense of humor back.
Give me time....
I may need quite a bit of time....

Mom on Thursday, March 28th

Very sleepy today.

For the birds!

It's bird season! We have birds building nests all over the place here.  It's so nice to have them around during the day, the only problem is that they all wake up about 6:30am around here and won't let us sleep! Chirp, chirp, caw, caw, tweet, tweet! Whew!

The gourd birdhouse that Colleen made one day has turned into a little nest. Can't see in without disturbing them, but there is definitely a border!

Our barn swallows are back, we have two nests on our porch. Mom and Dad come and go sharing time on the nest. 

John built me two new bird feeders - a racoon completely destroyed our old one by pulling it down. We have one in the big tree and one down in the garden now.

Little Pitty Pat....

No idea where this was taken, was this our house on Marquet Drive? It appears I'm about 1 year old here.  There's nothing written on this photo. More plaid...Mom must have really loved that material. What's that bundle of hair on my head? Geeezzz....

Colleen in High School (1980)

One of my favorite photos of my beautiful daughter! Sorry, it scanned a little crooked. We had these done at "Glamour Shots" which was so popular at that time.  I wonder if they are still around?

Easter Photos ....from the past (3)

 Crazy expressions on their faces (??) No date on this photo.  Wish I had gotten JR a haircut before this photo.  Colleen has her Cabbage Patch doll there, which became the BIG thing to buy around 1984, so it was probably then. Her dad bought her a corsage!

Much later, two teenagers here! I love the bluebonnet picture tradition, but this photo came out a little weird too.  JR's forehead looks huge. Wonder what kind of camera we were using here? We took a lot of them with those throw-away cameras, so I'm sure the quality was terrible.

About to burst!

The Egyptian Onion are forming their bulbs.  Once they burst and get heavy, they will bend over and try to "plant" themselves. They are looking great!

Dad's Iris's are about to burst forth too! Beautiful purple bearded iris.  This bed has really spread in the past two years.

This one may bloom tomorrow!

Easter Photos from the past....(2)

 JR's first Easter - are those kolaches I see there?

 In the bluebonnets! I love these pictures. JR, me and Colleen!

Colleen (beautiful!)

The Walking Dead Finale

I'm a real Walking Dead fan, I guess you might have figured that out since I love zombies.  This coming Sunday (March 31) is the season finale....I'm looking forward to how they will wrap up the season, but I'm going to be in mourning for the end of the season.  They are playing the entire saga from the beginning this week if you're interested in getting in on the story or in taping it from the beginning - starts tonight on AMC at 7 pm central.

Easter Photos...from the past....

One of our favorite photos from past Easters...Sarah, Angie and Colleen...They were so cute all dressed up with hats and purses. No dates on the back, but I'm guessing around 1982?

And the guys the same year...JR, Sergio and Gene. Look at these handsome guys!

Another Darn Freeze...

We carted all of the little plants in to the house tonight to prevent them getting frozen tonight....we're expecting another 20's degree night. John loaded up the cart, and I loaded up the Donkey (our RTV).  I'm frickin' sick of frosts! Please!!!!
Anyway, here's hoping tonight is the final one!

Our Meyer Lemon tree is starting to bloom, bloom, bloom, and there's one little lemon in it now, growing slowly.  We've got that all covered and a heat lamp on it tonight.  Sigh.....

Why?

Watering her flowers

KT picked out a hummingbird for her flower pot.

We got to keep KT for one night this weekend, it's been a couple of weeks since we've seen her! She changes by leaps and bounds every time we've been apart for a while, and this time her new skill is asking, "why?"

Everything.We.Did.

It was why, why, and why?
I was in the kitchen when John was reading a book to her on Saturday night.  She'd stop him and ask why something happened. He'd answer. She'd ask why. He'd answer. She'd ask why.  It was hilarious, as funny as the "Who's on First" skit!
So precious.

Checking to see if the fairies were awake. They were fast asleep!

She's about to be in a 3 year-old soccer season her parents have signed her up for, so John and KT went out to the yard and practiced soccer. She has some fancy soccer duds and a gorgeous silver soccer ball! Nice stuff!
I got to thinking as I watched them, it takes a special person to coach soccer to a  a bunch of 3 year-olds.

"Put the ball down."

"No, don't pick up the ball."

"Kick it, don't pick it up.""No, no, no....don't put your hands on the ball."

Ha! Ha!
She'll get the hang of it, for sure. She's one smart little cookie!

 Kickin' it!

Learning the role of goalie. She has real skills here.

Blast from the past....

I found this photo going through some of our old family photos.  Good grief, were we ever this young?

This was taken when we first moved to Hawaii.  When we got married, we spent a few months in California at Mare Island, just above San Francisco, where John had been sent to take a class at the Navy base there.  From there, John flew on to Hawaii to find us a place to live and I flew back to San Antonio to pack up our meager belongings (I can't imagine what we had other than our wedding gifts.) Then after a couple of weeks I flew on to Hawaii to meet him.

One of the places that most tourists ended up in Hawaii was in King's Alley, which was a street full of vendors, shops and places to eat and drink, music, and the like. I think it's changed to something called King's Village now.

  I'm wondering why we chose these outfits? Funny!  I know it was in 1970, but not sure when.  I wish I had written the date on it.  This one had been sent to my mom and dad and was with their photos, which is the only reason it survived so long.

Tiny flower plants...

The little seedlings are coming up in the hoop house.  Lord, don't let it freeze again, please!!!

 Velvet Queen Sunflowers

Heavenly Blue Morning Glories

The Chocolate and Mixed Colors Morning Glories

Who dreamed up this torture?

So I've spent the last two days having NO fun at all....one day prepping for a colonoscopy, and today spending the entire morning waiting for and recovering from the procedure.
Is this topic proper for the blog world?  Too bad, I'm exhausted from worrying about it all day yesterday and smiling all morning reassuring the entire staff and John that I was JUST FINE, NO PROBLEM, I'M NOT WORRIED...(which was a big fat lie.)
It was my first one (can you tell?) so I was a BIT nervous (understatement.)  I wasn't able to eat a thing yesterday, only clear liquids and jello, so I was a little teensy bit grouchy.  And a lot tired, because I'd spent all day yesterday drinking that horrible, nasty, too sweet, and salty, did I mention nasty, huge drink all day (look here, dear pharmacist, that lemon powder doesn't do a bit of good), then spending the rest of the day and night in the "facilities."
Geesh.....torture.
Then they take all your clothes away from you and put you in a tissue paper gown (don't tie it in the back!) What?!!!!

I'm so glad it's over.  I hand it to the staff, they were super...trying to make me comfortable (warm socks, warmed blanket, etc.) and after it was over I recovered very fast.  We arrived at 6:30 am and left there around 12:30 this afternoon.
Happily, everything's fine. I don't have to get that done again for 10 years! (or never....) ha!

We have water!!!

John completed laying water lines to the back garden and to his grapes, including a spigot in my hoop house!  In one day! I can't tell you how much he exhausts me watching him work.  He did all of this yesterday during the 95 degree afternoon, too.

I was there, fetching things when he needed them, and sitting under the shade tree the rest of the time! I was in charge of playing the Credence Clearwater music on the ipod - important work!

Tomato plans...

I've found my tomato plants for this year....actually more then I need.  But I couldn't stop buying them, Rainbow Gardens had soooo-o-o many great tomato plants to choose from!  I'm re-thinking my plans to start my own every year, when you can buy them so inexpensively all ready to replant. And so many varieties. It was hard to stop buying.

Here's what I have:
=> Blush - a yellow plum tomato with peachy shoulders.  Doesn't that sound beautiful?

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=> Isis Candy - a cherry yellow with red marbling

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=> San Marzano - a paste tomato, almost rectangular in shape.

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=> Aunt Ruby's German Green - a beefsteak tomato with amber shoulders.

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=> Hillbilly - a yellow-orange tomato with red mottling

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=> Juliet - a red grape tomato - I grew this one last year and it was absolutely the most productive plant I've ever had. Tons of beautiful pear-like tomatoes.

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Those are the six that will go into the tomato towers that I'm planting this year.  I have a few others that I'll be potting up in regular pots around the garden.
=> Black Krim - a dark red Russian tomato from the Black Sea.
=> Black Cherry 
=> Indigo Rose - another black cherry (my only home grown from seed, the only plant that survived the freezing disaster a few weeks ago.)
=> Lemon Boy - an orange/yellow medium tomato

I know, I went kind of crazy, but we'll see how they do.  I hope I can do better with these heirlooms then I did last year.  I had a beautiful Brandywine heirloom tomato plant that had tons of leaves, but almost no tomatoes.

Another trailer for The Game of Thrones!

I. CAN'T.WAIT!

Growing so fast!

Look who's already up and in a walker!  Little Ms. Addie!  I can't believe how fast this little one is growing!