§ All About a Boy and a Girl and Teddy Bears...

It's 94°[F] at 1 PM as I type this up to preschedule publication. For a few minutes when I walked out to the mailbox for mail delivery, I watched the neighbors across the street building a new deck off their breezeway! Digging post holes in this heat [I imagine the heat index is above 100°!!] It might as well be 5000° for me! Crazy people. Anyway, I high-tailed it back to the cool interior. And, in this heat I have absolutely no gumption. I'm not walking as I should; just from the car to the grocery store and back to the car. I gotta get out tomorrow to take photos of some birds for my bird blog. It'll be a drive-by shooting from the open car window somewhere maybe. Or at least a well-shaded park. Maybe I'll just dig into my photo archive and find some there and call it good.

In the meantime, I've been sketching. As you know if you viewed my last post, the flower. After that was done, I went out on the 'net in search for still life. I decided to look for photos of teddy bears. I have three stuffed ones here at home, but they're of a polar bear and a panda. The other one is a Denver Bronco bear. Nah! Not good material for sketching. I found a really sweet one and uploaded it to my folder for future use. Then, as I scrolled more, I found the "perfect" one. Then...a 2nd perfect one!! The last two days I've worked on both...

Young boy and his teddy...gotta have a young girl, right?

If this heat keeps up, there will be a lot of sketching going on. Ya, I read books a lot, but that gets boring after a while - - no brain function. No thinking, no mental challenge.  LOL Oh, and the last few days, since I HAVEN'T been walking much, my sprained pelvis is feeling much better!!!!!! I hope, once I get back to walking the beaches again, it'll be feeling just as good. Don't wanna over-do, right?  Maybe this heat is a blessing in disguise.

Today, my youngest turns 50.  Holy cow.

§ A Long Awaited Visit...

Erik is back in Houston. We had a good time visiting. It was much needed I think...for us all. Naturally, we ate too much and got little exercise...playing games, cards, etc. Of course both of the guys used me as a "dummy hand". In other words, they cheat. lol [just kidding]. But, all the games we DID play, I don't think I won one. Gin Rummy, Hearts, Uno [a newer version, which is quite different than the old version], and Quadruple Scrabble [instead of triple word score there are four squares of quadruple word score] - a larger playing board and a longer game. This shown above is Erik's tiles at one point; he persevered tho and didn't exchange them.  Of course, Bud won that. I didn't make the pumpkin pie for him as I planned. He told us about a place in Houston that has blackberry cobbler 'to die for' delicious. His words exactly "freaking delicious". So, I opted to make him a cobbler with blackberries instead. Personally, I'd much rather have made a pie, but the guys loved the cobbler!!  I made brownie points with both.

One morning, after sitting at the table playing Uno most of the day the day before, I got up from a night's sleep and felt I just HAD to get outdoors and walk.  It was cloudy, had sprinkled before sunrise.  But, Erik and I went out anyway.  The weather didn't cooperate much while we walked the seawall area.  We had planned on walking at the island jetty but that was nixed since a tragedy had occurred overnight -I was awakened around 11 pm to the sound of helicopters and planes flying low over our house.  I knew it had to be Coast Guard at that hour!!...two teen brothers were caught in a rip current in the Gulf.  One was rescued, the other older brother's body was found two days later, drowned.  The area where we planned to walk was cordoned off for a body search at the time.  I can't help but feel the pain the parents/family are going through this whole time.  Sad.  People just don't realize how dangerous rip currents are.  You just can't get out of them for the panic mode most fall into when they find out they're trapped.  

Anyway, at the seawall, it was misting the whole time.  Otherwise, it still felt good to get away from sitting all day long.  I took only my cellphone with me once again so not to ruin my good camera with rain.  There were a few oddballs die-hards out walking with us at that time, but not many.

Palm Tree-lined walkway toward the direction of the Port of Corpus Christi Channel and the Culture Center

The tanker is enshrouded with mist. The two herons kept a vigil on us as we walked past them. The one photo with the traffic light & Federal Court House is where Interstate 37 begins on the map...

...and to continue showcasing my Trolls...

↓ My 5th Troll Share ↓

TROLL DOLL COLLECTION Military Camouflage USMC <> c: early 70s

§ I LOST an Hour Sleep that I Won't Find!!!

It was a Sunday morning. Typical first day of Daylight Savings Time...it really screws with my sleep habits!! After light of day came about, I could see there would be no yard work, no walking. Rainy, chilly as predicted. Outdoor activity was nixed. After visiting my birding 'friends' who link in over the weekend, I was done for the day. LOL It was gonna be a long day. I called my daughter. We chatted quite a while. Mostly about HER dissertation she is/will be working on for HER PhD. Just think, in a short time, I will be able to state clearly and proudly, that I raised TWO doctors. Doctors of Philosophy [...degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. According to wikipedia]. My son is working on his dissertation on Churchill [for his doctorate degree in Political Science/Government], and daughter is working on her doctorate/dissertation on public policy with social policy cognate, with specializing in a study on raising a child with special needs...a special study on Down Syndrome since that has been her life since our grandson was born. She has written articles on this a few times and one that I know of has been published. In a few minutes I will sit back and read some snippets of what she has so far. Of course, with both kids, this is a several year work in progress. Erik is in his 3rd year, and Irene is in her 2nd year. Once they begin writing their dissertation, the road to a title "Doctor" is a down hill ride, tho a lot of mental work to get a paper published...more challenging than studies the first years. Even tho the expense of it all is extreme, the two are living their dreams. That makes it all worth it!! 

The two of us here in Texas spent most of the day with a movie marathon.  First one watched was Hell or High Water [modern-day bank robbers in West Texas - starring Chris Pine *eye candy photo], Sahara [Archeological search for the Monitor -starring Matthew McConaughey *eye candy photo, which reminds me that recently, in the news, there are rumors of him running for Texas Governor against Abbott....hmmm], and one more movie, the- Phantom of the Opera.  More eye candy and great music compositions!!   I made vegetarian lasagna and all the fixins' for dinner, plus an apple pie for dessert.  The day was done!!

The 2 dozen bouquet of roses was from Bud, a surprise for our 53rd anniversary of first date that I posted about last week.

§ December Day Trippin'

I bought a laptop! Now, it's getting used to a new-fangled keyboard, etc. Bud and I disconnected our cable altogether, and I'm now using a whole new way of connecting to the internet. After over 20 years of desktop computers, this will take time...like teaching an old dog new tricks. For one thing the 'ctrl' button is not in the same area as a desktop keyboard, and I have no mouse [which I don't want], and only the touchpad - - but I continue, for now, reaching for the mouse and it's not there. Not to mention the delete key is misplaced!! lol

Here are more photos from last week during the Christmas break:

Adult Llama

Llama calf

Erik at the Ponds

A flock of Sandhill Cranes at Chapman Ranch

Fungi

Horns cut!!  Sad...

Above the fence line...in front of the tree outcropping...Sandhill Cranes

...zooming in on the Cranes!

§ They Call Me Mom...[and grandma]

With mother's day fast approaching, next Sunday, the 14th, I thought I'd share this, and a few thoughts that go along with the photos. 4 generations of the mothers -[5 generations with grandsons]

This is my mother's mother. My maternal grandmother:

age 18

This is my mother:


age 18

This is me:


age 18


This is my daughter:


age 18

And this is my son, also age 18. This was tougher and rougher on me than his 1st day of school when he was 6!! This photo I chose from my treasure box is of Erik when he left home for the first time...after joining the Marine Corps. Before we got to the terminal, I snapped this photo of him in the Stapelton International Airport [in Denver at the time...it's now no longer used, the airport in Denver is now a newer one...Denver International Airport.] He was on his way to Okinawa. I wouldn't see him again for another 4 years!! This was before the tears flowed!!!

The fifth generation is no females. Two grandsons.  A precious mother's day gift from Irene!!.

1st photo is of Clint [not Clinton - Just Clint] and the 2nd photo is of Dillon

Clint is now 28, born with Down Syndrome. Dillon, Clint's younger brother is 21 and will soon be married [May 27th]  Dillon's betrothed, Devin, will soon be graduating from college, Devin to be a registered nurse and Dillon will continue with his education in law with aspirations of becoming a state judge in the near future. Clint, of course, having a handicap, will continue with his state placed job and live with Irene.

- - -


With my blog followers, you know that I have two adult children. Recently, while sorting through some prized possessions of motherhood, I came across these two that I have put back in my box of treasures. They pertain to mother's day.  Hopefully, if you enlarge them you can read them...




The first one is from Irene...a mother's day card made in class. The 2nd one from Erik, also made in school. Both cards are priceless. They're over 30 years old and the best I've ever received...from my kids, of course!!