Alabama Trip

Great start to the trip - breakfast with C on her day off from Summer job
She was tired, sunburnt, happy.

This is a reminder of the 20 dollar  restroom stop at the halfway point
Next time I'll remember to just stretch my legs with a walk along the mighty Mississippi!

before and after on brink grunge

Shoes hanging to dry on back porch light string hooks.

I had never run a "power-washer" before.  Great fun! I loved seeing the immediate results and it's gratifying to have done a job that will stay "done" for a while. I'm a convert.

We rented a gas powered one from Home Depot.  There was just a bit of trouble keeping the hoses organized, and I was unable to accomplish the first start (though once it was warmed up I did fine with the re-start).  I accidentally swept it across my foot and was amazed at how deep it cut (also blew some paint off of the shutters). Next time I'll have on tennis shoes for the job.  It's probably worth noting that every joint on my arms and shoulders is aching today.  I can't say it's entirely due to the power washing job, but doing the entire exterior of the house  plus the entire interior of the garage and all the sidewalks and patios was probably too much for my body at one time.

These two sweethearts came over with food and drinks, helping hands and hugs.
Precious.  I miss them.
  

 

I thought repainting the living room would be a half day job -
it took all day! Cleaning  sheetrock dust from the floor was another half day project.



I was very happy with the results.
Benjamin Moore - Grant Beige



Touch up in the hall went fast
for renting the house out we will add 5 smoke detectors
that door had been "touched up" with a grey paint during our absence
weird little touches like that were all over the house - idk who did it or why.



Fixture shopping - I really wanted to buy the fixture on the right but it was out of stock for a fifty mile radius - wound up with the one on the left which is more transitional and probably a better choice anyway.  I thought I would have time to install it myself, but we had to get back to Texas.  I think we left a couple of days work with the handyman.

  

It amazed me to see things like this - someone wanted to see under the wallpaper in the upstairs bath so they just poked a hole in the sheetrock and peeled back the wall paper.  Every window on the back of the house was unlocked!  One of the offers we declined indicated that that prospective buyer had spent considerable time in the house (without their agent).  I am honestly appalled at what people are willing to do with property that doesn't belong to them.  I thought it would be good to put the house on the market after it was vacant. I was wrong.  I have learned a lot about how I would do things differently concerning selling the house.

I spent a day working the flower beds, both front and back, trimming shrubs, and laying out pine straw.  I don't know how the shrubs will get trimmed while the house is a rental house.  The property manager we hired said most people don't even have lawn mowers while they are renting - that makes sense.  Our yard guys do mowing, edging, and weed whipping.  We'll see.  

We think this economy*is right for rental properties.  This is our try on.  It looks like it will be rented out this week.  I like that it won't be sitting empty. 

*Owner-occupied housing units made up 54.9 percent of total housing units, while renter-occupied units made up 32.4 percent of the inventory in the second quarter 2016. ~census data

The other thing I want to note about the trip - I am so glad we moved back to Texas.  Alabama has a de-energize, stagnant feel.  Their local economy isn't vibrant.

No time to make notes today but I did want to get these thousand word pictures saved.

Back in Alabama tending to the house.

“Faith is not being sure where you’re going, but going anyway. ” 

~ Buechner

“Here is the world. 

Beautiful and terrible things will happen. 

Don’t be afraid.” 

~ Buechner

“In the boredom and pain of life, no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace. ” ~  Buchner

"People down here think somethings are worth killing for."~ Anderson* 

"It ain't right having blood on Main Street. How'd that look on the news?" - Sheriff Ray Stuckey*

"We're 10 miles from Memphis and a million miles from the rest of the world" - Anderson*

*Mississippi Burning

 

Playing around with a new phone app - PRISMA

the years the locust have eaten

Joel 2:25

Alexa Meade (Open Your Eyes)

Alexa Meade

Cooper's in Llano - would have to be in the top five BBQ -

hot work - 

outside, you choose your own, 

take the tray inside where they weigh it and attempt to sell you sides

The meat was - perfection

the beans were the bomb

the onion, cold, were just right

the sauce was a nice addition

the atmosphere was a bit grungy

I did like sitting at the picnic tables beside strangers

This was the only "inside" pic we had ... I look a little grumpy because I'd just traveled over in the jeep ( 66 miles) with the windows out, hot Texas wind teasing my hair into a tangled mess... core temperature approaching slow bake ...

I did manage to make it through the line without the $10.00 uncharge though!

Just back from a trip to Dallas with V.

Just back from a trip to Dallas with V.

She selected our destination, DALLAS, and surprised me by wanting to spend our time there shopping.  I thought we'd visit museums and eat out.  We ate out and shopped.  Stores don't open until 10 which provided a nice cushion of quiet time for me.

After an entire lifetime of perfume indifference I was recently seduced by a tiny sample which was casually tossed in my bag after I purchased a new cosmetic. 

It smells precisely like how I think God must want Heaven to smell.

It is too expensive.

I would never buy it, 

I would wait for it knowing it would make the afterlife complete.

My husband insisted that I shop for it up there saying it would support the memory of the fun trip V and I had shared.

I will do you a huge favor and not mention the name of this fragrance.

If you smell it, you will need it.

It is liquid crack.

Strangers stop me to ask what it is when I have a whiff spritzed on ... everyone is a lot nicer to me when I wear it.  I think they want the scent to linger - I know I do!

Even though the sample vial (tiny, ittybitty) was empty I was unable to throw it away. I must have had the unrealistic hope that given time one more half pump might possibly render a faint mist.

We splurged.  

It's encased in it's fancy slide out box on my dresser.  

Later today I'm going to clean my entire room.  It's just a little bit too messy for the perfume.

I am thankful for this. 

The packaging on this soap is pretty smart, witty ... someone has differentiated their product.

V said the people in Dallas seem to be noticeably more tense than the people around Austin.  Anxiety was in the air.  I've never been a huge fan of Dallas and was glad to see the skyline in my rearview mirror.  We did enjoy the shopping (as shopping goes).  The hotel gave us a card which provided discounts at the stores nearby.  That was nice.  It also alerted the person at the register that we were "out of town-ers" ... My V asked me to stop saying were "back to school shopping", when they asked us for the reason of our visit, she said it made her sound like a baby.  You'd think I'd have fine tuned my mom skills by now!  She didn't want to drive through the SMU campus - she said there was no way she'd consider SMU.  

I loved the feel of the hot wind on my skin.  Dallas is really hot and really windy.  My hair was all over the place!

If we get to do a trip like this again, I'll hope it's in Fort Worth.  I love Ft.Worth.  And, I'll see about adding a day that is dedicated to the museums ... with lunch at the Swiss Pastry Shop!

"23 emotions people (may) feel, but can't explain" - newly made up words

dictionary of obscure sorrows

I wonder, what would the word for this emotion be : how one feels fortifying themselves to say goodbye to a person they have come to care for who has become absence, or uninvested from the friendship. It would have to be a word able to "hold" the disappointment one feels when realizing they have been "pouring" their time (which may be their love "language") in to an increasingly one sided friendship. It should also include the sadness experienced as the courtesy of a sweet goodbye passes without a gesture. It should somehow include the notion of a "rite of closure" when one comes to realize they must protect themselves where before they were intentionally vulnerable. Is there a word for that?

Following by Josh Jones - writer/Open Culture

 It may be a misconception, it may be a cliché: I’m not a German speaker—but reading translator’s introductions to, say, Kant, Hegel or Goethe has convinced me that their language does a much better job than English at capturing those oddly specific twilight moods and compound feelings that so often escape definition. Then again, English absorbs, cannibalizes, appropriates, steals, and bastardizes words wherever it can find them, driving lexicographers and grammar purists mad. Graphic designer and filmmaker John Koenig does all of these things in his “Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows,” a blog project in which he names emotions that otherwise leave us speechless. In his short video above, he illustrates one of his words, “Sonder,” or “the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own…”—something like the shock of sudden empathy that shakes us out of navel-gazing. It’s an emotion I’ve experienced, without knowing what to call it. This being an “obscure sorrow,” there’s more to it than empathy—in Koenig’s poetic video, “sonder” relates to the infinite number of overlapping stories, in which each of us feels we are the hero, others supporting cast or extras. In a state of “sonder,” we suddenly occupy all of those roles at once, our screen time diminishing as others take the lead. After watching Koenig’s film, I’m thinking “sonder” is a portmanteau of “sublime” and “wonder.” It’s a mystical philosophy contained within a single made-up word. Some other Koenig coinages: “Ruckkehrunruhe,” “nodus tollens,” “adronitis,” “rigor samsa”….. I leave it to you to visit Koenig’s Dictionary and learn what these words mean. It’s an experience well worth your time.

working at it ...

New Mexico pics

the rest stop corral for livestock
never seen that before and I think it's pretty great

Denver pics

Denver, Northern side looking South
This snapped near Three's house.

While Three was at work we decided to
get out early and explore downtown.
Noticed that the "street people" all seem to know each other,
 and are very friendly with one another.
They seem to cooperate well on begging spots too,
their endeavors seemed to be tightly coordinated.

This pic snapped while I texted with my nephew's fiancé.
In answer to her "Having fun?"
I said I had been walking only about an hour
and was already past cranky because of an inappropriate shoe choice.
I can walk all day in those shoes quite comfortably,
 but not in DT Denver
where there is a lot of climbing and descending terrain to negotiate.
Plus - it was humid and my hair felt all sweaty.
I had developed blisters and raw spots on both feet and ankles by then.
The high point of the walk (for me) was popping in to the Aveda school
for a 12 buck shampoo and blow dry while my husband strolled on to a map store.
When I next saw him, my hair was fabulous (again - lol)
AND he had my pair of comfy Keens dangling in his grasp.
Most kind! Big smile!

We drove to Washington Park  

and walked another several miles around it.

(bandaids)

I can see why it's not only a Denver must do, 

but is rated one of the best Parks in the country.

This isn't a great little vid, but it is a reminder that water is flowing "everywhere" around that area.

Colorado is beautiful.  It's a great place for being outside.  I enjoyed Boulder very much - next time we go up to spend time with our son we think we'll stay in Boulder.  I wish Sammy could go too.

Craft Beer / Colorado

My teenage years, the years before I went away for college, were spent in South Texas. It's funny to hear which towns people automatically guess at when I say South Texas.  They say places like Victoria, Corpus, San Antonio.  When I say South Texas I mean head down Hwy 281 'til you hit Mexico then reverse into a parking spot.  That's South Texas. That's the Lower Rio Grande Valley - you gotta be able to smell the river or you're not really in South Texas.

That to say ... my misbehaving days were not about acquiring a taste for beer.  By our senior year it was perfectly legal to have a wine cooler with lunch at the local Pizza Hut, which I occasionally could splurge on, but by then the potential for truly enjoying a  beer seemed remote.  And, I'm grateful - carbs don't sit well on old ladies.

Then (past several days), we visited Colorado.  Craft beer.  Rocks.

My son thought a visit to Ft. Collins should include a tasting of "local" beers.  We stopped at CRAFT BEER CELLAR and they sent us over to Tap and Handle which was within walking distance.  The guys both ordered something from the menu while I asked for just water.

My son offered me a taste of his Crooked Stave Petite Raspberry.  Now I get it.  Interesting. Fun.  Delicious.

I asked for "a taste" of a couple of their beers ... Ballast Point's Thai Wahoo (I'm a fan, it was exactly what the menu indicted I should expect) and Broadside's Salted Caramel Stout (also yummy).

I had a sip of my husband's beer as well, a pilsner which I thought tasted "like beer".

Then, slightly better educated, we walked back to the beer cellar and had fun looking at their selection.  Three chose a few for his pantry and I got to choose a few to bring home.  I'm looking forward to "reading up" on mine and then pairing them with something yummy for little dinner parties.

Thai Wahoo really is the bomb if you like Thai flavors.
Crooked Stave's Craft beer was simply - exquisite.

I'll be looking for what Texas has to offer Craft Beer wise.

Craft Beer / Colorado

My teenage years, the years before I went away for college, were spent in South Texas. It's funny to hear which towns people automatically guess at when I say South Texas.  They say places like Victoria, Corpus, San Antonio.  When I say South Texas I mean head down Hwy 281 'til you hit Mexico then reverse into a parking spot.  That's South Texas. That's the Lower Rio Grande Valley - you gotta be able to smell the river or you're not really in South Texas.

That to say ... my misbehaving days were not about acquiring a taste for beer.  By our senior year it was perfectly legal to have a wine cooler with lunch at the local Pizza Hut, which I occasionally could splurge on, but by then potential for truly enjoying a beer seemed remote.  And, I'm grateful - carbs don't sit well on old ladies.

Then (past several days), we visited Colorado.  Craft beer.  Rocks.

My son thought a visit to Ft. Collins should include a tasting of "local" beers.  We stopped at CRAFT BEER CELLAR and they sent us over to Tap and Handle which was within walking distance.  The guys both ordered something from the menu while I asked for just water.

My son offered me a taste of his Crooked Stave Petite Raspberry.  Now I get it.  Interesting. Fun.  Delicious.

I asked for "a taste" of a couple of their beers ... Ballast Point's Thai Wahoo (I'm a fan, it was exactly what the menu indicted I should expect) and Broadside's Salted Caramel Stout (also yummy).

I had a sip of my husband's beer as well, a pilsner which I thought tasted "like beer".

Then, slightly better educated, we walked back to the beer cellar and had fun looking at their selection.  Three chose a few for his pantry and I got to choose a few to bring home.  I'm looking forward to "reading up" on mine and then pairing them with something yummy for little dinner parties.

Thai Wahoo really is the bomb if you like Thai flavors.
Crooked Stave's Craft beer was simply - exquisite.

I'll be looking for what Texas has to offer Craft Beer wise.