Describe a phase in life that was difficult to say goodbye to.
The time in life that I wish could have lasted longer was when my sons were teenagers. I really enjoyed being a band mom, watching them make lifelong friends, and seeing them grow into independence. We sure laughed a lot. No doubt they remember it differently.
We are your child substitutes.
But, life goes on and there’s much to both enjoy and endure now. A joy was working with Anita, my mid-century modern expert, on finalizing colors and fixtures for the current remodeling project. Here’s what we picked for the exterior, after much debate. You can see the colors look different in different light.
At left are the interior colors that we already chose, Santa’s Beard and Dance of the Goddesses. Top left, Copper Canyon, is the inside of the porch, to keep it lighter. Ripe Peach in the middle is for the doors. It blends with the brick rather than contrasting. Greenwich Green is the trim color.
Note that we are removing the shutters, since they aren’t the right vibe. We checked to be sure fading hadn’t occurred on the brick, and it just needs power washing. One reason we don’t need the shutters is that we will have a new exterior element, the Hardie board where the new windows are. Here’s how it turned out.
The guy who did this is justifiably proud of how it came out. It will break up the long horizontal line of the house very well.
So, what am I enduring? The continuing saga of my boy Droodles. He seems to have made advances at Mabel and was rebuffed severely. He has bite marks on his side, along with this lovely gash. Only one horse could literally kick his butt, and the theory is that she’s in heat, but only has eyes for Apache.
Horse drama. Apparently I shouldn’t mix the sexes. I’ve spent too much effort getting Mabel into good enough shape that she can kick ass, though, so when we get the new pasture set up, she may get to stay with Apache and Fiona in the old one.
Don’t separate us. We’re a team.
Of course, Drew also bugs Dusty, but that’s calmed down a lot. We will figure something out! In the meantime, I don’t look forward to grooming Apache tomorrow. He rolled after all that sweating yesterday.
I think I look FINE.
It may rain, though, so bit might wash him or mess up my riding schedule. Today wasn’t a good day to ride anyway, since winter came back to say hi, and brought its buddy, the wind.
I’d intended to update y’all on the progress my amazing family and team are making on the current renovation project in Cameron. At this point, I’m ready to move in! (But I won’t.) sorry for two posts today, but I couldn’t fit the two topics together.
I finally got a picture of the whole house. It’s wide.
I dropped by earlier in the week and saw all the insulation that got put in. Wow. It’s so much quieter in there now! Even the attic is insulated. I imagine the utility bills will be better, too, especially since the new heat pump is very efficient.
You just want to poke it. Why no insulation in part of the hallway? Future windows. The window at left is newExtra back door going awayInside utility roomThe air conditioner
It’s cool to see how much is changing.
New rear entrance through laundry/utility roomPrimer going on trimOld vents are covered and old paint scraped. Outside of removed back door. Needs brick.
Today Anita, Lee, and I all visited. I told my son to dig up violets and grape hyacinth to plant at his cabin. Then I looked around. Most of the insulation is now covered with sheet rock. They’ve made good progress. I got a demo of taping and floating, which was educational to me. It looks fun, and my drywall application pro child agreed.
BedroomBedroomBedroomLiving roomMain bedroom
The house is so light now. But the most light comes from the two new windows that have transformed the formerly dark and tunnel-like hall leading to the main bedroom. It’s awesome from the inside and out.
There will be really nice siding here, which will break up the width a bit. Inside, the hallway seems wider! And so bright. Cleaned up, these bricks will make the ex-door disappear. It’s so cool to re-use material.
More painting happens next week, and cabinets are getting worked on. The team will keep the mid-century charm while making the house comfortable and modern at the same time. I’m glad I get to help a little! But major kudos to our team and the excellent subcontractors!
You get some great, amazingly fantastic news. What’s the first thing you do?
If I got great news, I’d tell the people in my household, then call Anita and Mike, because they are the people I tell stuff to. Then I’d tell my local friends email chain, my old LLL friend Facebook group, my horse friends, and my other Facebook friend group who I’ve been friends with before there was anything other than email. I guess I’d then go out with the horses and think about things. I might do the horse part first.
What news do I have for you blog readers today? There isn’t too much, since we got lots and lots of rain. All good. Not like mudslide rain, just standing water that’s not conducive to outdoor activities.
February showers bring happy wildflowers.
But everybody at our house did go look at paint colors for the renovation project house. Mmm, two shades of white. But, it had to be whites that complement pink and tan, the colors of the retro tile we are keeping.
Great paint names.
I got paint samples to take over to the house to see how they go with the brick (peach) and roof (gray/green/brown). I want a grayish green for the trim and a dark apricot for the doors. We will see if any of them look okay or if we have to be more conservative.
We also went all the way to Temple to look at tile and floors for the house. No final decision was made, but it was fun looking. We also had a good lunch (especially the squash casserole thing) and ran into our next-door neighbors/relatives. It’s rare that all five of us are in the same place. We are a happy, yet hermit-like family.
Floor candidate. Goes with creamy colors. Main bath idea Kitchen with tools pretendí to be an island My offspring did this drywall.
I’m glad Apache is better about his medication now, or I’d have gotten extra wet trying to get it to him. The other horses will get their rations whenever it isn’t raining tomorrow. It was slippery out there!
No bird news from here. I saw sparrows and a hawk. Oh, and doves in Temple.
I saw this tiny arachnid on the new drywall.
Newshounds, I’m sure you wished for more, but I doubt you want to read the Jackson Browne lyrics I got all misty over and posted on Facebook. You can go listen to the version I watched tonight. Perfect for a reflective old imperfect human, even if he did write These Days at 16.
If you’ve known me a long time, you’ll remember when I blogged a lot about our home renovation business. While we have changed some things, we still buy houses and hire great folks to fix them up. Now some of those folks are our family, which makes it extra special.
The current team worked on some projects of their own recently, but Lee and I finally got to be the client in this one, a very nice single-story house in Cameron that used to be owned by people who made candy in what’s now the master bedroom. What a cool story!
The house is so wide I don’t have a picture of the whole thing. Back
When we got it, the layout was quite awkward, with a giant living/dining area, a huge pink kitchen, an even huger main bath, and a bedroom way at the end of the house that you had to go through another bedroom to access. Luckily, a lot of cleanup and prep had been done by the prior owner, so the team didn’t have to start from scratch.
The giant room. It’s now 3 bedrooms. The closed-off kitchen. It had a very cute stove but it didn’t work. New stove will be where the cooktop is now. All this storage is gone, but a new island and pantry will add back storage. Keeping the tile. It will look retro cool. My son got the nice range. Theirs had died. Much of the big bathroom stays. White-ish carpet goes. It gets a new shower, too. Future living roomI think this photo shows open space at top. Cool shiplap. Saved. Long dark hallway.
After much brainstorming among me, Lee, and our contractor, we redid the layout. There are now three nice bedrooms in the former living area, the middle bedroom is expanded to be a nice living area, and the kitchen is still pink, but open to the living area. It’s much less choppy.
Kitchen is now open. Light is temporary. It will have a dishwasher. New hallway to bedrooms. Front bedroomMiddle bedroomBack bedroom. Closet will be on back wall. New pantry is behind the table. At right will be a banquet for an eat-in kitchen.
They will add windows in the long, dark hallway to the master bedroom, and a utility room with laundry and new HVAC is being added in the former carport, which will now be a nice covered porch.
BeforeUtility area framed Window going away. Another one will be added to the left.
Of course, as with any remodel, structural issues were found, so now the ceiling joists are all new and sturdy, and insulation will be added throughout the house. It’s going to be so much nicer to live in. The electrical work is all new, too. Plus the scary roof has been replaced.
People don’t see the new wood around the windows or the stove vent that now actually goes outside, but we and the crew know it’s there, and future occupants will be safe, dry, and cozy. The house will keep its mid-century style, with a few exterior upgrades.
I hope to share more photos later! Stay tuned.
Daily Birds
Today I enjoyed wrens. Two of our usual residents, the Bewick’s and Carolina wrens, were giving a concert this morning. It sure was beautiful, loud, and lengthy. They have very different songs. The winter wren sometimes shows up, but it mostly makes scolding sounds, as does the house wren, who is very round. I sure enjoy their hopping, climbing, and tail wagging.
Can you share a positive example of where you’ve felt loved?
Woo hoo. Today’s prompt goes with my day’s experience. So, let’s blog.
I’ve figured out that one of my “love languages” is the one about giving time and effort. When someone spends time doing something to make my life better, I feel love.
One example is how incredibly grateful and loved I felt when I came home from a trip expecting improvements to my horse area, but was blown away to see that two portable buildings we had were now a beautiful and large hen house with the interior painted “my” colors and a HUGE new tack room that would hold all my horse supplies and have a sitting area. I was blown away.
Note that they painted the hay storage container to match the building.
Every time I go in either of those buildings I have warm feelings about the two guys in my family who worked so hard on it. They were my son’s first two carpentry projects, so there are imperfections, but they’re charming to me. And I think of the stories behind how they got all the furnishings and built the saddle racks and pegs for halters, etc.
Chicken world.
The other time I felt loved like this was when Lee gave me my bird journal. I couldn’t believe he’d spent so much time collecting bird photos then made the book by hand. I get to feel loved every day when I write in it!
He also made this cute book cover for the journal.
Love Birds of the Day
The highlight of my day today was all about love. After making many trips back and forth to the horse trough with water, I decided to go listen to birds for a while. Today got down to 12°F but then warmed up to 45°. That felt balmy!
You probably can’t tell, but the pond iced over.
As I headed towards the woods with my empty water containers, I saw movement. It was the pair of red-tailed hawks I’ve been watching for a few weeks. They were doing an awesome love dance. I was transfixed as I watched them soar and glide, then dive down near the ground and up through the trees.
The only photo I got of them flying. I was too busy watching most of the time.
It was so graceful yet strong. I felt privileged to get to see this up close. It was the closest I’ve ever been to flying hawks. They flew right past me a couple of times. At last, they rested in the trees for a bit.
They are both in this picture. One flying low in front of the trees, one higher, behind trees.
Then, off they went, flashing their wings at me. That made up for the hard work. I loved those love birds.
I made it a loop
PS: thanks to everyone who tells me they read my blog. I feel like the lady on Romper Room (a television show from my youth), who would look in her magic mirror and say, “I see Susie and Donny…” or whoever’s parents had sent her a postcard.
Do be a Do Bee!
I see you, Mike, Donita, Lory, Libba, Catherine, Barbara, Debi…and so many more!
Send good thoughts our family’s way, since we’re experiencing a loss.
So let’s talk about yarn. Good idea.
I’m like a dog with a bone when it comes to needing to craft during stressful times.
Since I’m still waiting for my pale yellow yarn to arrive so I can get back to the temperature blanket, I’m experimenting. I saw a Facebook post by Lily M. Chin about crocheting a fancy hot pad/oven mitt thing using leftover yarn and a stitch called thermal stitch. This stitch is like double knitting in that it makes a double thickness of fabric.
I liked the looks of it and the idea of making something sturdy out of wool that would be oven safe and protect surfaces if you set something on it. Sounded like a good gift idea, from someone who isn’t buying gifts this year.
I followed Lily’s advice and searched for instructions for thermal stitch. Sure enough, there are plenty out there. I conveniently share the one I used, just so you won’t ask.
My sample swatch I made from two skeins of sock yarn held together. I had a bit of a learning curve since crocheting into the back of one stitch and the front of the stitch in the row below is harder with doubled yarn is challenging. I also was not very good at turning and starting the next row. But the pattern is really pleasant to look at.
Ha ha, I hid my ugly edge.
I decided to make a “real” hot pad/potholder out of one strand. Hanging around in a tote rescued from my former knitting closet happened to be a bunch of beautiful teal blue Lamb’s Pride wool/mohair yarn that many years ago was intended to be part of an extremely complicated cabled sweater. Look at that sideways cable. Note it’s in the round. Check those stitch markers. Ooh fancy.
A partial sweater in light that makes it look green.
Yes, it sure was fancy. I’m not sure why I gave up many years ago, but one reason may be that the weather here in Texas will newer be cold enough here to wear a wool/mohair cable extravaganza, barring the occasional polar vortex. Never fear! I think I’ll make a pillow out of what’s finished.
The yarn. Someone colored on the label.
Mostly I no longer feel the urge to make the most complicated project possible. When I looked at the thermal stitch in this yarn, I saw a beautiful and subtle movement and felt a satisfying thickness.
This shows how thick the fabric is.
Thermal stitch doesn’t have a lot of “give,” so it’s not a good garment choice. But it’s great for household items! Here’s the first one I made. I was still a bit unsure about the edges, and my border idea did not disguise it. I think I’ll erase that.
Functional.
The one I’m doing now has nice edges, so I’ll deem it gift worthy. I have enough yarn to make a third one, so I’ll use the first one myself.
Maybe when the temperature blanket is done I’ll make a large one like Lily Chin did. Hers was long, and folded over at each edge to make holes you can stick your hands in while slipping the main part under a casserole. It was cool. Also, turning it under hides any ugly edges, heh heh.
Photo by Lily M. Chin, used with permission. I like how turning the ends under would hide my ugly edges.
I really like the look of this textured stitch. I’m resisting any urge to embellish it with embroidery or threads running through it to make a plaid. Resistance is NOT futile.
Sometimes when you have a long string of anxious and worried days, it’s nice to have one that builds you up. I hate it when I’m dealing with annoying physical symptoms and I’ve done all I can to get my equilibrium back, but the truth is sometimes I just have to wait it out. Today helped!
I got to enjoy what passes for fall color in College Station Today.
Penney woke me up by wigging and licking like crazy for about an hour, so I got up, looked at the damp day, and did my nails with a set I’d looked forward to using, which looked like a brocade cloth with big flowers on it. It didn’t go on really great, but it perked right up when I added some gaudy jewels I had hanging around. Now the whole thing looks over the top, but it cheers me up.
After talking to the chickens, I headed over to the place I got them, Bird and Bee Farm, where our Master Naturalist wildscape project is located. I rarely have time on their special days to get out there, so I was glad I had a while to drop by.
Now that’s a chicken.
I’d intended to take photos of all the butterflies, but it was still too damp in late morning for them to be out. Even the bees were still napping.
Carpenter beeHoney bee?Sleepy bees
My friend Debi and I looked at all the flowers and found lots of caterpillars and a cat.
All these black ones came up as salt marsh mothsTobacco budworm moth. Hungry. Extra friendly kitty.
It was so pleasant just wandering around and seeing what is still hanging around this time of year. The dew was so heavy that it made for fine photo ops. It’s nice to photograph non-wildflowers like roses and zinnias occasionally
This is covered in dew.
I hung out with birds a bit, and heard a new wren on Merlin, a sedge wren. I wish I’d seen it because it sure looks cute in its photo online. Instead, here are turkeys.
Young birdsRooftop sentinel
After talking a while with other Master Naturalists, I had to leave. I hope Patsy notices I put my nails in the blog for her.
This obscure bird grasshopper says hi.
The reason I had to leave was that I had my second watercolor class at Brazos Watercolor Retreats in College Station. We learned to paint trees with sunlight pouring through them. There were lots of new techniques to learn, like making white space by putting some rubbery stuff on the paper before painting. I also learned to make the sun rays.
Looked pretty gloppy at first.
I didn’t do a great job on the tree part, but I know what I’d do differently if I tried again. For a first try, I’m fine with my finished product. Maybe I should get some paints, brushes, and paper. It’s fun to see how the colors come out.
Not ideal, but I did the assignment.
I even made it home in time to feed the horses before it was too dark, which makes it a lot easier to give Apache his medicine. They have a new bale of hay, and judging from the holes in the wet ground, they had a good time running around after they escaped while the tractor was going in. Those little dickenses.
Hey look, lichen!
So, yay, today has been fine enough that I’m handling learning about a few deaths in my circle pretty well. I have plenty of energy to send out love to all the families and friends, which feels really good.
How could a music lover pick only one album as a favorite? But I have a couple. They are all kind of old. But so am I.
Quadrophenia by the Who. Pete Townshend’s finest work. I could listen to it on repeat, though I’ve practically memorized it, so I don’t have to. There’s more than one Who/Townshend album in my top ten! 1973
The River by Bruce Springsteen. I love every song on this gorgeous work of art. If you’ve never heard the song, “Drive All Night,” you should. 1980
Trio, by Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, and Linda Ronstadt. If you read my music blog a couple of days ago, you know how much I like harmonies. These three women blend perfectly and the arrangements are haunting. 1987
The Wind, by Warren Zevon. It’s just a gorgeous farewell to life by one of the greatest songwriters ever. “Keep Me in Your Heart,” oh my gosh. I miss this man. His biography by his wife was great, by the way. 2003
Hey, I had a “me” day today and took a watercolor class. I’d never painted with watercolors before. The technique we learned was a bit scary at first, but by gosh I ended up creating some things that looked like roses, which was the goal.
I tried to do a different flower, so I worked on a buffalo bur. The flowers look cool, but not the leaves. I should have used a different technique. If I ever buy paints, I’ll try again.
Look, I am not trained in art. Or not since childhood anyway.
It was worth a drive to College Station on a game day. Luckily we were on the far outskirts of town.
There was a pond!
Please think of our family. It’s a challenging time.
I also found a new-to-me plant along the pond where the class was. Blue waterleaf Hydrolea ovata
Today’s prompt is something I think about often. I’ve designed a few homes and liked each, but none are my dream home. The Hermits’ Rest ranch house has a floor plan I like, but things have happened to make it less than ideal. That’s fine. Life happens!
I do like my bed
When I envision an ideal home, I quickly realize the setting is more important to me than the house. Ideally I would have:
Enough acreage that I can’t see neighbors who aren’t family
Woods, with paths
Pasture for horses and hay
A lake where one can swim, fish, kayak, and look at birds
Barn with stalls, tack room, and hay area
Horses and donkeys (reasonable number, but in Ideal World I have a helper who gets to ride with me)
Indoor horse arena
Meadow or prairie area, with paths,
A creek going into or leading from the lake
Treehouse/bird blind
Glad we get to come.
The house will feature much wood and iron. There are windows with views of the lake, the woods, and if possible, the horses, but they may be a little ways down the road.
Vaguely like this Georgia house from One Kindesign
Porches and decks to hang out on and enjoy the view are a must. There will be a little path leading to a guest house and swimming pool.
By the way, the lake will NOT feature poopy cow butts
In the house I can have all the colors and patterns I want. There will be much Jacobean tree of life prints on the furniture and walls. China, pottery, paintings, embroideries, and glassware will be wherever I want it. My beautiful dining room table and chairs will look great in the cheerful dining room.
That’s the idea! (From Architectural Digest)
I will be able to see to read in any of the many comfortable but not ugly seating areas. I’d have plants if I weren’t so bad with them.
From Veranda magazine.
My office will have Native Anerican rugs, pottery, and baskets by people I know it at least know of. I will display my silver there, along with paintings of horses and canyons and mesas. There will be tall ceilings to hold all my bookshelves, with those ladder things to climb to get books.
I could hide the shelves among Jacobean tapestries.
And if you know me, I won’t have a white kitchen and there may well be cherry cabinets. I like cherry and don’t care if it’s fashionable. I will have an induction range and cast iron cookware. If I can’t lift it anymore I’ll hire a cook.
My goodness. These things are $400 now. I’ll stick with my black 1986 one.
Bathrooms? Cheerful. Colorful. Functional. Attached to a huge closet no one will make fun of me for, with much shoe storage and a jewelry vault or giant storage thing.
I have no bathroom examples, but look, more English florals. My happy place, too. From the Architectural Digest article, “Happy Place” with photographs by Max Burkhalter. September 2023, pp. 89-101
I’ll need a yarn room or outbuilding. Then I can sew, weave, and quilt. People can hang out with me there. Yes, that will be great.
Like this, only with space for crafts.
I enjoyed imagining this impossible house. It’s really impossible because I want it not too big and in a pleasant climate. Ha ha.
We are still going through boxes from my old house. Lee has been bringing up things from deeper and deeper in the past. For example, he brought in a box I instantly recognized. It was a shoebox covered in contact paper that looked like wood.
I used to love woodgrain contact paper. I covered a dorm fridge and a wall telephone in it while in college.
The box contained my high school diaries, 1972-1975. See why it’s no surprise I like to write blog posts? I’ve always loved journaling. There have been very few years of my life that didn’t have journals, diaries, or some record.
Deep stuff in here (actually, remarkably little deep stuff and remarkably many boring details of what happened in my classes)
I remember writing these diaries and I remember that everyone I knew was aware that I did. What I didn’t remember until I opened the later diaries was that I wrote them in Spanish. As I posted on Facebook, not only did I protect my family from reading it, but also future me.
Scandalous? Hardly/
From my reading of the exciting year of 1974, I came to a couple of conclusions about teen Suna. One, she was driven by hormones. I sure read a lot of details about what various young dudes said and did. They apparently spent more time asking each other who they liked than actually dating, however. I was insanely jealous of two girls my “dream date” seemed interested in. On the other hand, I had plenty of hormones left over for numerous high school band members.
In addition to my secondary theme of what Anita and I bought at the mall, I did something that I’m pretty sure I’m still doing today. I wrote things down partially to convince myself that they were true. Every week it was either “Dream Date is NOT for me,” or “I feel all gooey when I look at Dream Date.” I think I tried very hard to convince myself that person wasn’t important at all to me, but I was lying. I mean, shoot, that guy is STILL someone I am dazzled by even though we broke up in 1985 (all my fault).
Just reading the stuff I wrote gives me an impression of myself that isn’t very good. I don’t think I’d have liked me very much. We were all pretty mean to each other, we had horrible nicknames for teachers and fellow students, and we were overly cliquish. I’m glad I’ve spent the last 50 or so years trying to be less of an asshole, even though I still fail at times.
Any Other Memories, Suna?
Yes, I have memories that are less harsh on myself that showed up in these boxes. There were a lot of old photos that somehow missed my anal-retentive storage organization system. I was charmed to find photos of the playhouse my dad and maternal grandfather made for me and my brother when we were little. Those two mathematical geniuses decided to build it with no right angles, anywhere. Oh my gosh they had fun with their protractors and saws. We loved that thing.
The photo of Dad and Pappy working on it is a treasure. I barely remember my grandfather, because he died soon after this,
The playhouse eventually became Dad’s tool shed after he built us a “treehouse” that we used as older kids. The playhouse still stands.
My nuclear family some Easter.
Another creation of my dad’s that I found pictures of the fishpond. He built this himself of his own design. The photos below were right after he finished. Later he added a pump and turned poor Saint Francis into a fountain. Water came out of the bird’s nest he held (Dad also thought it was Saint Frances for many years – hey, the saint had long hair and wore a dress, plus Dad had a sister named Frances). Lucky for Francis, dad later found a cool rock to be the waterfall, and the birdbath went back to its original purpose.
That’s water hyacinth in there, before we realized it was invasive. Don’t put a hike in my nest!The plants were beautiful azaleas. Is that really a lake?
That pond was a real thing of beauty and a highlight of our home. We had huge goldfish and catfish Mom had fished out of Newnan’s Lake as babies. Mom’s favorite story was that a little boy came to visit, wandered behind the house and came running up to his dad, saying, “Good God, Daddy, they gots a LAKE in their back yard!”
The back of the house. Notice the pots and pans on the patio. Mom set the leftovers out for Wendy Pace, the neighbor springer spaniel.
On that note, I’ll just share some photos that gave me warm fuzzy feelings. First, it’s no surprise that I like horses. I unpacked my china horses and giant plastic draft horse and this photo of me embarrassing my dad and kids.
I have had that pig my whole life, btw. Daddy, I still want a horse.
And we can’t forget my first dog, Gwynneth. I got her because that’s the kind of dog I thought would fit our family best. That dog sure barked a lot, but we did love her for 15 years. Even when she was blind!
The Hermits' Rest 