Happy New Year 2018

Happy New Year everyone.  It's been a cold couple of days in Austin, TX.  No comparison to what other parts of the country are dealing with I know, but cold for us.  At 12 p.m. it's 28 with a wind chill of 17.  We did have a hard frost last night, we moved our potted plants into the garage and covered the outside ones.  Weatherman said the last temps we had this low were in 2011.  Have heard from friends in other parts of the country, the mid-west and north-east, where it is really cold.  Brother reported -3 in his part of Idaho. 

We are lazing about today, Hubby watching football and I am puttering with some paper.  Organizing my planners and getting the new ones set up. 

Stack of some older spiral planners and a new red spiral one for this year. Decorated the cover with a page from Anthropologie catalog and some washi tape. 

I bought two new turquoise planners at Michaels and some of their boxes of  Happy Planner labels.   I usually make my own labels, but got caught up in the 60% frenzy and talk from several young lady "planners" who told me I needed the latest things.  Ha Ha. They had at least 10 different subjects.  I bought the Appointments, Travel, and Wellness sets.  We will see.  They might be fun. I always love getting the new calendars for the year, just like I always loved getting new school supplies. 

Christmas Greetings

This morning I made a very quick, kind of wonky collage out of an invitation we had received to a party last week.  I cut parts of it into shapes and added a few die cut snowflakes.  Hope everyone I know is having a Merry Christmas and enjoying the day, whatever you are doing.  

October, November.... A very busy Festival Season

After spending 3 weeks in Idaho again, we came home October 17th, just in time for the Formula 1 races that week-end.  Friday/Saturday/Sunday.

The following week end was the Dia de Los Muertos festivities. There were parades at several locations, but we went to just the one, put on by the Mexic-Arte Museum. 

Shrines inside the museum

Saturday we attended the Texas Book Festival, held at the capital grounds.  The festival was founded by Laura Bush,and the first one was held in 1996. Hubby and I have gone every year since the beginning.  It is a wonderful gathering, free to the public to attend.  The proceeds from the book sales go to keep the festival running and to support our school libraries. 

It's always nice to see our beautiful capitol building in the background, plus be able to go into the chambers to hear some of the participating authors speak. 

Now it's back to work this week,  I'm getting stuff done around the house, and Hubby is off to Orlando for the International Irrigation show.  Coming up this week-end and next, is the yearly East Austin Art Studio tours. We love doing all these things, but sometimes it can be a little tiring to keep up with these "traditions".

An abundance of Succulents and other crazy ideas

Have you noticed how succulents have been showing up everywhere for the past few years?  In all the decor magazines, design blogs, everywhere one looks.  No longer do you have to head to a plant nursery to find them, they are even sold in the grocery stores.  A few years ago I had a hard time finding them anywhere except a garden center. I thought the trend was waning, but it doesn't appear that it is.  Even if it is, I still like succulents and real ones grow pretty well in the desert climate in Boise.

I found this wrought iron shelf/cd rack about 4 years ago, at the thrift shop.  I think it is/was a cd rack anyhow.  I really love the curvy shape of it. My plan was to eventually fill it with small succulents, using a collection of bowls and pots that I already had.  It sat in a corner of the garage just waiting until I would finally move to my house in Boise.  Well this last trip, I was in Michael's one day and saw that they had their faux succulents on clearance.  A light went off in my brain, and I thought, wow, I don't have to wait for real ones, I'll just use these in the meantime.  

I'm pretty pleased with how this project turned out.  I've mixed in a few rocks that we've picked up here and there along the way.

Hubby used to roll his eyes at some of the ideas I would get. But he admits they usually turn out well, so he doesn't discourage me from buying or saving some mundane item that I will turn into something else. He's pretty impressed with the succulents.  He also really likes the metal colander I turned into a light fixture over the kitchen sink. 

 

One time long ago we were coming back from a Blues Festival in Helena, Arkansas, and I spied a dead branch along the side of the freeway.  We went back and got it and were almost arrested by the Highway Patrol. Even though it was supposed to be "temporary", it is still holding up the curtain over the entry door windows, 20 years later.  Yes I have eclectic tastes and our home is a mixture of things we both really love. 

July in Idaho

Hubby and I are winding down another stay at our Idaho home.  It was unusually hot for July, high 90's and a few triple digit days.  Leaving humid Texas is always a delight...however, even though it is  a dry heat here in the high desert, when it is over 100 it is still really hot.  It's still been in the 60's in the early a.m. so we get out early, have our breakfast on the deck, then get to work.  Hubby has done a lot in the garden, thinned out a lot of overgrowth of flowers that tend to take over, redone the path that goes around the back of the garden under the pine trees. He's done a lot of basic home improvement projects, like he does every time we are here.  I have done some work in the yard, and in the house. A little bit anyhow.  Mostly I have done artwork, hung out with friends, cousins, Sister and Mom.  I've read 2 Louise Penny novels while here as well. Oh and every evening and most mornings we are visited by the quails. They are so sweet, but they move so fast it is hard to catch a photo of them. I love watching them scurry across the yard. 

 The main reason I love being in Boise, is the view of my backyard from the family room, kitchen and sun room. It's like staring at an aquarium to me, in the calm feeling it gives me. 

There are a lot of Hostas.  I want to plant more of these giant ones in the shade beneath the pine trees.  This one seems quite happy here. 

Tiger Lilies I had forgotten were there.  Discovered after Hubby cleaned and thinned out a lot of overgrowth.

We've had the joy of being here almost the entire month of July this time.  We had a family reunion of sorts a few Sundays ago.  With so many cousins living here within a 100 mile radius, the family has these get togethers often.  We miss most of them, but thankfully were here for this one.  One of our cousins was out from Nebraska for a week, so of course it was a reason for another big dinner at Aunties place. We hadn't seen this cousin since we were youngsters many years ago, so it was great getting caught up.   It was 100 that day and we had an outdoor picnic.  It was incredibly hot, but there was shade and fans running. We all had a good time.  My Aunt is 86 and her husband is 85...they have the most amazing garden, with flowers and veggies and fruits.  We've had the most delicious raspberries, that taste just like the ones I remember from childhood.

One day husband, sister and I took a day trip to Shoshone Falls, a two hour drive from Boise.  It was a nice drive, and the falls were beautiful, even though they were running quite low as it is late in the season.  The best time to go this year has been in April.  We still enjoyed it and got a few good photos. We also got to see some base jumpers at the Perrine Bridge that spans the Snake River. 

We're heading back to Austin, where I hear they have had 25 days in a row of temperatures over 100. When it is like that I become a cave dweller of sorts.  Out in the a.m. to do what errands have to be done, then home for the day, thankful for A/C. It takes me about a week to recover from the differences in humidity between Boise and Austin. If you've read this far, thanks for visiting me in My Own Private Idaho. 

Road Trip

 

Hard to believe I have neglected this blog for so many months. Time really flies, whether one is having fun or not!  Both hubby and I have been dealing with health issues, so mostly life has been about a lot of Dr, appointments.  We are both doing pretty well at this time

We did have a wonderful road trip a couple of months ago, and I finally got around to uploading the photos just a few days ago.  We drove from Austin out to Boise, Idaho.  We have done this drive a couple of times before, in a U-Haul truck and done it in 3 days.  We decided to take 4 days and took a different route this time.  We went through a lot of country we had not been through before, or at least some of it for a number of years.  All of the photos I took were on my cell phone camera, most while travelling down the road. I think I want to buy a new camera.

Driving from Austin to Lubbock and then on through the flatlands of Texas are not all that picturesque. I think I only took photos of oil  pump jacks and wind farms.  So I don't really have any shots of day one.  We did go see Buddy Holly before we left Lubbock.

Day two found us driving across New Mexico and crossing the Continental Divide (always a thrill for me) and spending the night in Farmington., N.M.

 

On Day three, which was Saturday, we left early and drove to the Four Corners Monument, on the Navajo Indian Reservation. My Dad had always told us about visiting it several times, and thought we should go if we got the chance.

We wanted to stop at Arches National Park, but the closest we could get was driving by the entrance. There was a rock climbing convention and a Jeep Jamboree and it was absolute mayhem both at the entrance and the town of Moab.

 

 

We spent Saturday night in Ritchfield, Utah.   Leaving there early Sunday morning, there was a light dusting of snow on the ground. We had a really nice drive on a two lane state highway and there was very little traffic.  We drove 495 miles that day and arrived at our house in Boise at 7 p.m.

Here is where the video I shot, where we only saw 2 cars and a big rig, would have gone if I could have figured out how to get it uploaded. It was too large, and I guess I need software to be able to edit it. Anyhow, it was a lovely quiet drive for some time.



It was a very nice trip, we sure felt like we needed it.  Life has been pretty hectic lately, and this was a very relaxing 4 days on the road.

The colors of Idaho and Happy Thanksgiving

Last week Hubby and I returned from our trip to Idaho.  We spent 2 1/2 wonderful weeks there, enjoying an unusually warm November.  Hubby did a little yard work, we enjoyed time around the house, besides doing some home repairs and having things serviced.  We spent time with family, especially my Mom.  I was able to go with Mom and Sister to two of Mom's Dr. appointments, and find out she does have wonderful Doctors there.  She was in good spirits, especially when we all were playing the card games she loves.

 Still had roses in November

 

 

Sun rises every morning, view from our family room and kitchen

 

Turning colors and falling leaves, and some orange flowers still blooming

 

On November 17th, Hubby and I celebrated our 43rd wedding anniversary.  With what we've been through lately, it gives more critical meaning to "in sickness and in health."

We have planned a very low key Thanksgiving, as neither of are very cheerful, for a variety of reasons. We'll watch a lot of football, read and watch movies, and avoid news stories at all costs.  Make of that what you will.