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Current Photo Friday theme: Rustic, the second week for this theme.
Bench, East Downtown, Houston, photographed 2017
For my site’s theme of snow this week, here’s a winter snowfall at the oldest, and most rustic, home we ever lived in (a house I used for the veterinarian in A Coventry Christmas).
We had a great Christmas today! The company we keep:
Debby, Timothy, Tom, and me.
Today’s menu:
Roast beef cooked with potatoes and carrots (and gravy), along with fresh green beans, fresh broccoli, and rolls.
Dessert was Tom’s German chocolate birthday cake, which Anime (lower left) got absolutely none of.
Then came the frenzy of gift giving which I think left everyone happy. Of course, some of my gifts will show up here sooner or later. In the meantime, I owe a photo for the “snow” theme.
Since it isn’t snowing here (though we did get a lot of rain today), here’s a throwback photo of me bundled up in thermal underwear, jeans, a shirt, a hooded sweatshirt, and a jacket, in what is probably my favorite snow day memory with friends–except for later having that red VW surgically removed from my head. College was hard.
And a very happy birthday to Tom today. Here’s a snow photo from December 2009, of Tom walking Margot, Pixie, Rex, and Guinness. We’ve known, loved, and been loved by an abundance of good dogs through the years. They’ve all adored Tom, as do we all.
Today I chose this page from that coloring book.
And cut out a snowflake pattern free from Monday Mandala.com. I photographed it with a nickel to provide the size perspective.
Then, with some colored pencils, glittery gel pens, and even actual glitter and glue for the snowflakes, here’s how I followed this week’s “snow” theme today.
We’ll be celebrating Christmas and Tom’s birthday on Thursday instead of tomorrow on the 25th. I’ll still be posting daily. =) I was able to get our cards mailed yesterday, so they should start trickling in soon to family and friends. 
Another “snow” day for this week’s theme.
I asked in comments if someone wanted another color theme this week and offered a suggestion. Though Blue Sky Boy did agree with red and suggested other options, I laughed when one of his suggestions was “snow.” You may get a coloring page with a snow theme this week, though it’s hard to color anything white on white paper. But you may just get snow photos I’ve taken in the past because I don’t think it’s likely to snow in Houston this week. Then again, it is Texas.
For now, I robbed my Christmas tree and added a special decoration.
This is my Snowman from nephews Aaron and Alex. He’s looking over: a small snowflake made by my mother. I have several of these but didn’t hang them this year. Now this one will make it to the tree since I unpacked it.
A big ceramic snowflake I picked up one year (there’s a matching one in red).
A tree-shaped glass ornament with a tree decal on it, filled with “snow,” that may have come from Lynne.
The two rainbow snowmen ornament was given to us by Rhonda and Lindsey many years ago for The Compound Christmas tree.
A Snowbaby ornament that I think came from Tom’s mother or someone in his family. It also could have come from Big Hair Lisa.
A clear glass ornament with Santa painted on it and “snow” inside. This is another that could have come from Lynne (or someone in her family).
Today, The Brides joined Tom, Debby, Timothy, and me for a fun brunch of pancakes (some plain; some with blueberries), fresh fruits, bacon, scrambled eggs, and coffee. This gave us the opportunity to hand Lindsey my camera so she could shoot a lot of photos in hopes that one will go out with our Christmas and holiday cards this year. I’m way behind on that task, but now that I have photos to choose from, I can take care of it.
We had so much fun talking and eating. Jack always sequesters at Debby’s to keep him away from Tim, and this time Delta decided to hang out with Jack (she loves Debby’s guest chair and thinks it belongs to her). That worked out, because sometimes Delta gets testy with Pollock, and since Pepper couldn’t come with Rhonda and Lindsey this time (she recently had some surgery–all is well!–but she’s on crate rest still), Pollock could join us with Tim (like Jack and Tim, Pollock and Pepper are a pair best kept separated, in their case because they amp up each other’s energy too much with the possibility of things ending in tears).
The second Rhonda and Lindsey came through the door, I was all, “YAY! You just gave me my Saturday purple-themed photo!” It’s Rhonda’s usual hair color shade, but this time, Lindsey’s was also purple, in a slightly more muted shade.
We hope we’ll all be together again soon. =)
Current Photo Friday theme: Rustic
Prickly pear cactus and echinacea purpurea (purple cornflower), shot in June 2011, at Green Acres. Lucky that I had this photo, and of course Lynne had purple flowers so I could stick with the week’s purple theme.
When Lynne confirmed for me the names of the plants, I texted her a memory I had about today’s theme word:
And I know this memory won’t surprise you because it’s my weird brain, but the first time I ever heard the word “rustic” spoken aloud was from your mother. I’d only ever read it and in my head mispronounced it, so that’s when I learned how it was pronounced. Furthermore, I remember what she was speaking of—the natural environment of your father’s country club where we used to swim.
This was truly a “country” club where her father and sister played golf, owned and operated by a couple in a rural area in foothills outside our small town. Most of the time, Lynne and I had the pool to ourselves, and the woman made the most delicious sandwiches from her home-baked hams.
Happy birthday to Mark, far away in England. I had an extra cake layer in the freezer, so I defrosted and gave it purple candles so everyone at the Hall can have a slice to celebrate you this evening.
Today is the day our nephew Aaron was born in 1993. Because he often came to see us, he had his own napkin ring among those I painted for family and friends who visited The Compound and shared meals with us. Every wooden ring was painted a different color, and Aaron’s is purple. It’s kept in one of the display cabinets in the Houndstooth Hall living room. We will love and miss Aaron always.
Aaron and Tom in February 2011 celebrating Debby’s birthday along with her, David, Geri, and Timothy.
Je n’ai jamais vu de vache violette
Je n’espère jamais en voir un
Mais je peux te le dire, de toute façon
Je préfère voir que d’en être un
My mother used to recite this Gelett Burgess poem to me (in English). I have it in this book, first publication date after I left the right age group, but this edition was also before the time of my nephews and nieces. Who knows how or where I acquired it. The lines around the poem are part of the way the publisher decorated the page. No child scribbled those.
Since this was the first of my coloring books in which I could find a page with a cow, I decided I must do a little more to make her très chic to match the week’s purple theme. She’s definitely outstanding… out standing in her field, as my Uncle Dwight might have said.
