While The Cat's Away...

Curt took this almost-three-week trip to Yellowknife, capital of the Northwest Territories, way up in northern Canada, eh? In fact, he's blogging about his trip at this very moment. So while he's telling you of his exciting adventures, I'll describe my not-so-adventuresome, but nonetheless enjoyable, time holding down the fort. 

Bye, Curt! He's off to the San Antonio airport, to fly from there to Spokane, where his friend Tom will pick him up and they'll begin driving North. WAY North.

For the first 3 days Curt was gone, my friend Shirley from Boerne, Texas, came to stay with me. We had a wonderful time, catching up on news, laughing, eating, listening to music, and getting each other into trouble with our credit cards. 

We tried our hands fishing in the canal. No luck.

We visited the local quilt shop (a place we both dearly LOVE to spend time... and, I'm afraid, money). Came back home and set up the sewing machine to begin piecing a table runner with lovely seaside themed batiks:

(Check out my matching toenails!)

Each morning we either walked or bicycled along the side of the bay to watch the sunrise.

One day we hit every thrift store and resale shop we could find in Rockport. That's Shirley's specialty! We found loads of treasures... although I only have a photo of one of them. You may ask why I bought a wedding dress, since Curt and I will celebrate our 40th anniversary next month. Well, I was in my brainstorming / free thinking frame of mind, imagining all kinds of things I could create with different fabrics. And when I came across this lacy, beaded wonder for the rock-bottom price of a single bill that I just happened to have in my wallet, I couldn't resist. I felt guilty... it's in such beautiful shape, and I'm considering cutting it up. If it makes you feel better, I haven't taken the scissors to it yet. I want to be sure I'm going to finish the project before I start cutting. But I had to try it on, just for fun.

That's the only photo I have of me in a wedding dress. Curt and I got married in the courthouse in Las Vegas, both of us wearing blue jeans. To be honest, we eloped. They all said it wouldn't last, but now, after 40 years, 4 children and 12 grandchildren, they're beginning to think that it might. I sent Curt this photo in Yellowknife, just so he'd wonder what in the world I was up to.

I must say, the wedding dress felt wonderful, Silky, smooth, heavy with beads and lace, and, well... rich! Now I see why brides save their dresses with such fondness. Made me want to wear it for real. Maybe we should renew our vows??? Trouble is, that dress is a bit small for me, and I don't want to go on another weight loss program. So I'll go ahead and use it for some beautiful sewing projects. Sigh.

After Shirley left to go back home and resume caring for Stephen, her poor neglected and long-suffering husband, I was suddenly alone in the house. Two whole weeks. I don't think I've ever lived alone for two weeks before. It was kind of exciting! I could do anything I wanted.

Now you may or may not know that Curt is the neat one in our family. He likes everything in its place, pretty much all the time. Often even while it's still in use. I'll be preparing a meal and will set the spatula down on the counter for a moment while I stir something else with a spoon. When I reach for the spatula, it's GONE. Washed. Dried. Put away. So I smile at Curt, tell him how glad I am that he loves to wash dishes, because he's going to get to wash that one again, reach for the spatula and dirty it up again. When I've been away on a trip to visit children in Idaho, or go to a music event, or a convention, or whatever, I walk in the door and the house looks like a model home. Like nobody lives here. Like we just finished a photo shoot with Better Homes & Gardens.

I, on the other hand, like to have everything out where I can see it. Which is exactly how the house looked pretty much the whole time Curt was away, starting about 15 minutes after Shirley left.

Sewing in the dining room:

(Note the salad bowl and fork on the table. I often ate my meals right there among all the fabric and fun stuff!)

Weaving in the living room:

Stamping, cardmaking, and gift-making in the stamp room (be glad I don't have a photo of that! I didn't want any evidence of my ability to clutter a room up to the extreme!). Art, knitting, and Zentangle in the guest room.

Most days I either rode my bike around Key Allegro, the little island where we live, or I drove down to the Rockport beach at sunset and walked on the beach or along the harbor.

Most nights I stayed up late playing with one project or another, and most mornings I slept in till at least 8 a.m. Ah, the life of a hedonist!

But I sure missed Curt and really looked forward to the times we could connect via the Internet. Phone calls between Canada and the U.S. are prohibitively expensive, so there were very few of those.

And when he arrived back home, he couldn't tell how the house had looked just 24 hours before. Not QUITE like a Better Homes & Gardens photo shoot, but as close as we'll get with ME in the house! And the crowning touch was a welcome home dinner of Alaskan King crab legs. We made short work of those!!

Back together again, enjoying Rockport, and our continued adventures On the Loose!

Old Fashioned Family Sunday

Today felt like a day straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting. Just like a Sunday ought to be!

When I arrived at Boone Memorial Presbyterian Church in Caldwell, eleven of the twelve Waterman children (our grandchildren) were practicing their special music selection for the church service, with Dad Tim accompanying on piano. What a beautiful, tuneful bunch!

The highlight of the service was the baptism of Chelsea, the youngest of the twelve. The family and the pastor filled up the platform, but after I took this photo, several more joined them to make it even more cozy....both grandmas and some aunts and uncles. 

After church we all headed over to Tim's childhood home, where his mom, Peggy, hosted the whole extended family, plus some extra friends. A lovely day, picnicking out under the huge trees that shade the family farmhouse. 

It was such a relaxing, unhurried afternoon. Lots of visiting, and moving around from table to table to catch up with one another. Uncle Eric kept many of the young people spellbound with tales of the Merchant Marine Academy, demonstrations and explanations of gyroscopes and vintage toy steamboats.

Uncle Len and Aunt Tereasa brought their beautiful new baby, Lauren Danielle. It was hard for all the little girls to leave her...even when the meal was served!

We celebrated Micah's upcoming fourteenth birthday...with cupcakes presented by Aunt Laura, ice cream and gifts.

Even after the food was devoured, there was plenty of wholesome activity to keep the youngsters happy while the "oldsters" continued to visit:

Board games, puzzles, dolls, card games...

And even a little shooting practice behind the house for the older kids. (Annika Get Your Gun!):

The kids kept each other so well entertained that the grown ups had plenty of time to relax and enjoy one another.

Laura and Eric:

The Grandmas:

I know all these children will have such wonderful memories of family gatherings like this. What a blessing in this age of hustle and bustle to be able to enjoy relaxed Sunday afternoons with loved ones. I felt privileged to be included in such an event.

Boise Bound!

I love a trip! That's what started this whole blog in the first place. This trip to Boise, however, I'm taking alone. Curt is staying in Texas to prepare for a BIG trip he's taking later this summer.

So before I left Texas, we had to do a couple of things "one last time." One last delicious lunch at our favorite Rockport sushi restaurant, Sushi Luck:

Yummmmmmmmmmmmm!

And one last walk in the evening on the Rockport beach. Here's the sunset looking South:

And North:

And away from the bay to the West:

What fun to live in a place where we can walk along the sand and wade and splash through the water, enjoying the sunset!

It's a 3-hour drive to the San Antonio airport, so I was up and out EARLY Friday morning! I stowed my car at a nearby motel. I'll stay there on my return, which will be a flight that arrives very late at night. No way I can make the drive back to Rockport without a good nights sleep.

Had an uneventful couple of flights to Boise (the best kind!), and arrived early enough to have a quick visit with ALL four children and 12 grandchildren before heading off to unpack and fall in bed. We have some very generous friends, Barbara and Larry, who are kind enough to let me stay at a house they own in Boise. They live an hour away in Garden Valley, and really only use the Boise house 2 days a week, when they come to the city for their weekly errands and appointments. 

Boise sunsets are VERY different than the ones we see in Rockport:

Yesterday, Saturday, I had a fairly relaxing day. I slept in late and unpacked and settled in. Then while I waited for the boys, Rand and Hudson, to get off work (they both ended up having to work on Saturday this week), I headed over to The Twisted Ewe, the fiber/knitting shop that our daughter manages. She has a regular group of customers who stop in to knit throughout the day, and they stay for various lengths of time. I've been here enough now that I'm starting to get to know them, and we catch up on each other's news when I'm back in town.

There's a wonderful large round table in the center of the shop that invites knitters to sit and visit and knit. There are usually at least a dozen projects spread out around the table at any given time, and samples of completed projects are draped on the backs of chairs, so each seat is warmly decorated with handmade items.

Here's Jessica helping a customer find what she needs for her newest project:

Later in the afternoon I met our oldest daughter Kelly and our oldest granddaughter Heidi at Starbucks for a frappe into. Heidi is driving under supervision now so she was the chauffeur for the trip. 

Then I headed back downtown to the Whole Foods Store. What a great place! We don't have one of those in little Rockport, Texas. I met with Jessica, Hudson, Rand and Rand's girlfriend Brenna. We all picked out a bunch of delicious food to share and headed out of town to the nearest State Park, Lucky Peak Reservoir. There we feasted and visited in the shade, near the water. What a perfect place to have dinner together!

We were visited by some of the local wildlife. I've really missed seeing all the Canadian geese that we used to see in Idaho.

Rand never goes anywhere without his portable disc golf basket, so he and I tossed some practice discs at the basket. I impressed him (and surprised myself!) by sinking my first 4 shots in a row right in the basket. That'll probably never happen again!!!

Then, before heading back "home" for the night, I made a last minute decision to do my favorite late night Boise activity: spend a couple of hours at Barnes and Noble. That's one more luxury that we don't have in Rockport, so it's fun to go browse the bookshelves late at night (they stay open till 11 p.m., and I usually close them out!) This time I was looking for books on my new interest: Zentangle. And I wasn't disappointed. If you don't know about Zentangle, just Google it. There's lots about it on the Internet.

This morning I awoke to another favorite Boise sound...the rush of air into hot air balloons. The house where I'm staying is right near the fairgrounds, where almost every weekend hot air balloons are launched. Sometimes the sky is filled with colorful balloons, often floating directly overhead. Today there were only a couple, and the wind blew them off in a different direction, so my photo doesn't show the full glory and excitement they sometimes provide. But it's fun nevertheless!

Today I'm off to Caldwell, a nearby town, for church. Our youngest granddaughter, Chelsea, is being baptized this morning. So I'd better get moving! Check back later for more Boise news.

Fourth of July Weekend

A year ago on the Fourth, we were near the beginning of our 11,000 mile trip up and down the Eastern U.S. and Canada's Maritime Provinces. We had a wonderful, warm and hilarious family reunion with Curt's siblings and families at his brother Ross's house in Masachusetts.

This year it was quite different. Now we're settled on the Texas coast in the wonderful little town of Rockport. Generally things are pretty quiet in our little corner of the bay, because most days we're the only people at home on our part of the neighborhood. The other homes around us are either vacation homes or rental properties which are usually vacant.

Not this week! There have been house parties in almost every house around us. The noise hasn't been bothersome, though. It's really fun to see people having such a great time together. Reminds us of our family reunion last year!

We had our own quieter version of a house party. Our friends Clint and Brianne Rangel from Leakey, and Brianne's sister Laura and Laura's friend Josh came to stay for a nice long weekend. It was great to see them again, and Clint and Brianne were the first people to be able to stay in the fully functional guest room/art room/music studio. (See previous blog post.) They arrived late Thursday night after a long drive, so we got everyone settled in bed as quickly as possible and saved the catching up for the next day when everyone was a little fresher.

Friday included a driving tour of Rockport and Fulton to get everyone oriented, then breakfast and a shopping trip in the Historical District before the promised hordes of tourists arrived. Brianne found a Rockport souvenir...a wooden carved armadillo.

We took turns kayaking, bike riding, and cooling off in the pool. We enjoyed hanging out together, catching up on all that's happened with all of us since we last spent time together more than a year ago... Before our big trip. 

Saturday morning, the Fourth, Curt and I took our turn in the kayak. We paddled around the corner of the canal to start our celebration of the Fourth with a drink at George Strait's house. Okay, George wasn't there, and the drink was a gulp from my water bottle, but it WAS by George's house!

A Rockport tradition on the Fourth is for all the boat owners to gather in Little Bay to socialize and celebrate together. The boats all pull up next to each oh her, so that they form a flotilla. You can actually walk from one to another. And people are standing around in the chest deep water eating, drinking, talking and laughing. When we paddled by, the flotilla was just starting to form, but we've heard that there are hundreds of boats that gather for that every year, and they spend all day there. I bet there were a lot of sunburned, dehydrated people that night!!

All along the waterfront, houses were decorated with flags, bunting and patriotic signs. It was wonderful kayaking along and seeing all the festivities.

Here's Curt getting ready to dock our intrepid little kayak. Check out the bougainvillea that we get to enjoy every time we look off our balcony over the water.

On the evening of the Fourth, our guests drove to Corpus Christi to check out a parade and the sailboat races. Curt and I enjoyed a wonderful brisket barbecue at the home of our friends John and Ginger Gay. We met some great new friends, and had a rousing round of patriotic songs, accompanied by guitar and washtub bass.

On our way back home we watched the spectacular Rockport fireworks display. I was so awed by the terrific explosions that I totally forgot to take any photos! A great evening out on the porch followed, visiting with our house guests, and watching the parties continue around the neighborhood.

Here we are 10 days later, and the house party across the canal from us is STILL in full swing. Tonight as I'm writing this blog, they're celebrating someone's birthday. There are at least 25-30 people out on the balcony which wraps around the house. Many boats are tied up to the dock, and the party is in full swing. Being enthusiastic people watchers, it's so fun to watch families and friends enjoying themselves.