Johnny's BBQ

We went to Johnny's the other day when I got home. On my first evening home, I have not really felt like cooking if I'm home before dinner time. So we went to check out Johnny's. This is the wall mural on the front of the building. It was hard to get a full shot because of the cars parked there. I had barbecued chicken and Mark had the sausage plate. Pretty good but what we really want to try is their fried chicken, which you can only get on Tuesdays at lunch time. I've heard it's fabulous.

Road Workers

We were heading back to the house when I saw these hard-working folks and I wanted to photograph them because I'm sure most of us don't think about work such as this. They were prepping the road so that they can repaint (or whatever the process is officially called) the crossing marks that indicate where we should stop and where pedestrians should walk. Looked like hard work.

This is at the intersection of Highway 46/Sam Flores Dr. and Highway 90/Kingsbury St. I was so glad a few years ago when the state finally put up the traffic lights. With eight lanes of traffic, it was a headache getting past this point because some drivers wouldn't yield. Anyway, I am happy the lights are there now. :)

Green, Green, Green

I like being home b/c I can snuggle with my honey and my kitty. Everything's a nice green these days with all the rain we are finally getting.

Greetings from Route 66

Hi everyone! It's my last night in Claremont and I am ready to head home tomorrow though it has been a good trip. All papers are signed and now we have new CMC family members...CMC Regional Steel. I love meeting new people and welcoming them to the company.

I kept forgetting to tell you that I have a travel blog that I share with other folks (despite the fact that they told me they'd post travel entries if I create it, I see I am still the only person posting...hint, hint). If you want to check out my travels, you can visit Ta-Ravel Blog. If any of you have interesting travel information or stories to share, let me know and I'd be glad to post your entry.

On the Road Again

Ah, nice and neat. All my scattered things were starting to make me feel cluttered and messy. Up to about 5 years ago, I would be packed and ready for travel a few days before the trip. Sometimes even a week, depending on how excited I am about where I'm going. And today? I leave tomorrow morning and here I am just now getting everything in the suitcase. I've mellowed these days.

As you can see, I am about to hit the road again. I am so excited about being a part of this project at work because my fellow IT Trainer and I get to conduct the IT orientation and training for employees of new sites we recently purchased. I used to oversee new employee orientation at the library in San Antonio and I loved it. Being one of the first persons to welcome new folks and having the chance to start them off on a positive and enthusiastic note. I really missed it when I moved on but here we are again. :)

I will be gone most of the next 28 days so I don't know how much blogging I will be able to do here. Mostly because I won't be in Seguin enough to take pictures! :( That's the down side I guess. I will be home most Fridays and Saturdays so you never know, I might have something to share.

Take care and have a great week!

Sky Watch Friday

Thanks to my boss, I was actually home and saw the skies before the big rain came down on us this afternoon. Lately, I've been inside at work and there are great views of all the rain we've been getting so today was a real treat. I love thunderstorms. I like watching the rain come down.

I thought the skies looked pretty exciting and I also heard the kids playing across the street at the church playground and I remember thinking there sure was a lot of squealing going on. So, I looked out the front door and the sight made me smile. They were all so cute. Perhaps the door was locked and they couldn't get inside when the rain came so they sought shelter where they could. It was pretty funny, in a nice way.

Check out the Sky Watch page for other bloggers who have posted their own photos of cool skies above.

Bloggers Social

I finally got to meet Tammy and Erica this evening and I had such a very nice time. We have been online buddies for a while now so it's nice to finally speak in person. It's also nice to see Chiro Java open in the evening. There was a very nice trio playing this evening and many other patrons.

In addition to just getting to know each other more by talking about how crazy we are for our shots, we checked out cameras, of course! :)

I had a blast ladies. Thanks for coming to town. Next social, hopefully more bloggers will be able to join us (hint, hint...C...you know who I mean).

Family Night

Tonight has been so nice. My sister came by to have some dinner with us and we had some pretty good pho (Vietnamese noodle soup), followed by a relaxing evening of talk, coffee and dessert. And celebrating Lan's birthday a bit belatedly. Really wonderful evening.

When I'm happy or when I'm sad from missing someone, I like to look at some of my favorite things. These are some of them. People give you things and sometimes you keep it and sometimes you don't. I try to not be too cluttered but I keep things that bring fond memories and smiles. Like that frog. When I miss my niece, I like to look at it. It's just a button to some people but when my 6 year old niece gave me one of her favorite things, it meant so much to me. I am sure feeling mellow tonight. :)

Hmm...goats

When I ran home for lunch today and to check on Mark (he's down with the flu or cold or something poor thing), I passed this cute little goat near the company and too near to the road. He had somehow gotten on the wrong side of the fence I think. He wasn't there when I drove back to work so I hope that he got back over the fence to hang with his friend. I liked the colors they had; one white with black spots, the other with brown spots. Cute. We have lots of farm around the area and I always like to watch them. There's a horse farm just outside of town on IH-10 that I would like to check out one day when I have more time. They have the most beautiful horses and quite a big piece of land for them to run around on.

I'd also like to let everyone know that several of us are going to meet up at Chiro Java this coming Thursday at 7pm. Thought it'd be fun to get everyone together and finally meet one another. Chiro Java is on the town square and is a pretty neat place to hang out. And now that they have late hours several nights a week, it's going to be the perfect place to hang out with blogging friends and enjoy a nice cup of coffee. Hope some of you will join us. Of course, we'll probably all blog about it. Just warning you. :)

Snow Hut

This evening, we went to grab some dessert and the Snow Hut was actually open for business so we stopped. I got the blue cone (red raspberry) and Mark got orange. Nice and refreshing though today was only in the lower 80s thanks to the clouds. Not that I'm complaining but it is sort of neat when you get a snow cone and it's about 100 degrees and you are trying to race the heat to finish your cone before it all melts. We used to take the kids for snow cones all summer long when they were younger. Always was a nice way to cool off.

Back Home

I'm back in town but with a lot of unpacking and washing to do, I must do only a quick post. This is from our garden a few months ago. I wanted to share something bright and cheerful since I'm happy to be home even though it was a great work trip.

Since I've been gone, we've actually had some rain in town, hooray! And we trekked out for dinner even though it was pouring this evening. I love the sound of rain and sometimes we just love riding around in it. It's been a nice departure from our summer drought.

Hope everyone's having a great weekend! For you local readers, look for some information in the next day or two of a Bloggers Social at Chiro Java. Some of us would like to finally meet over a cup of joe. Everyone's invited and I'll post some info once we firm up details like where and when. Fun!

Sky Watch Friday

Hooray, I'm in Reno and I'm online. :) This was shot while we visited Riverside a couple of weeks ago. I liked watching that aircraft streaking upwards in the sky.

There are plenty of other wonderful sky watchers to check out; over 300! Go to Sky Watch Page to check my buddies.

Out of Town Again

Hello from Nevada. I can't seem to upload a photo since the connection is somewhat spotty here at the hotel. I will be here until Saturday but I'll try again to post a photo. Been waiting on this one to load for over 5 minutes. I don't think it's going to...LOL.

Well, I'm here in Reno and tomorrow I drive to Fallon. It's pretty neat here. It's hot, about 101 today, but it's dry so for me it's much more tolerable than heat with humidity. I drove around and explored Reno a bit more but it's just not as fun without a traveling buddy. Miss you guys!

Pizza Options in Town

At the end of a long day and still having to pack for Nevada the rest of the week, it was with relief and excitment that I heard Mark's suggestion to get some pizza tonight! Woo hoo. Since Pizza Hut closed (our favorite order out pizza), we haven't ordered pizza. I remember when it used to be a treat growing up. We had lots of mouths to feed and not much money but when my older siblings went to college and then started working, they would treat us to McDonald's french fries and Domino's pizza. LOL.

In Seguin, there are several options for pizza (order out or eat in):

1. Cici's Pizza (pretty good, esp. the veggie)
2. Little Ceasar's (lots of 2 for 1 deals, pretty good)
3. Papa John's (ordered it once when they first came to town; it was good but I had an issue with what they charged and they disagreed so I haven't gone back)
4. Mr. Gatti's (okay pizza, people go for the kids' games and TVs)
5. Domino's Pizza (very good, fast and Tuesday is two-for-one night if you get a large)
6. Rosie's Pizza (pretty good, inexpensive)

A little dessert and a lot of preparation

It's a busy week and a short one at home so I have too much to do and haven't been out nor do I have a good Seguin shot to share. I will leave you at least with something new to look at. We have been enjoying fresh peaches of late. The berries were purchased frozen. They do the job though I would prefer fresh. The berries I've seen are either way to expensive for me to splurge on or they do not look "fresh." I remember in NC during the summers we'd go to my mom's friend's farm and we'd get to pic raspberries and blackberries. Gosh, they were delicious!

Riverside Cemetery Revisited

Warning: if you visit the Riverside Cemetery at dusk, do not stay there past 8pm if you are on the hill portion of the property. You'll be locked in! :-)

As we like to do on occasion, Mark and I were having a relaxing ride about town and he showed me a part of Riverside I have never explored. It was very pretty though a bit neglected looking. I tried to stay in the car because of all the mosquitos but I saw such great photo opportunities I had to get out of the car.

The shot above turned out kind of nice I thought as it captured a slightly eerie view as the sun was going down. That's our car. I was too lazy to go move it and then go back to this spot but it would have been nice if I had. Behind where I stood was a very neat looking mausoleum, pictured below.



When it was time to leave, we approached the gate only to discover it had closed and you couldn't open it. There are three gate. One was on electric lock, another was chain locked and the third was open but way down the hill where our car could not go (That is the section of the cemetery I have posted about before. For some reason, they don't lock that up.).

There is a family across the street from the main gate and the mom told us this happens quite often and that we need to call the police and then wait at the other gate and they'll let us out. So luckily I had my phone AND the Seguin Police number on it (another story for another time). We waited about 25 minutes for an officer to show up but then none of the keys he had worked. Not that he told us this; we figured that out since he just went back to his car and talked to someone. Anyway, another officer showed up shortly after that and he had the right key and then we were free! Here are our rescuers.

Fuschia Plumeria

Sorry, the cemetery story will have to wait. I just wanted to do a quick post. My parents gave us two cuttings when we visited in June -- a yellow and a fuschia plumeria. They both survived the long drive back and they are still doing okay despite being young, rootless and slightly toasted. Not to mention our hot, dry summer. Both plants have bloomed. Now we have two new colors to add to the white plumeria Mark's brother gave us years ago. I posted a shot of that back in 2007.

Sky Watch Friday

Here's a shot of the field where I shot the other photos. I will probably check on the field again to see if I can get a shot of the sea of white. I love it when I run across those also. This is along Highway 46; between the animal shelter and Las Brisa subdivision. :)

Check out the other Sky Watchers as well. There are some awesome shots!

If this was not Sky Watch today, I'd be posting about cemetery misadventure we had yesterday. It will have to wait until tomorrow I suppose. I can't wait to share it with you! Have a great weekend everyone!

Mature Cotton Bolls

When I was in college at North Carolina State University, I worked in the Economics Department as part of the work-study program and I had a blast. All I did was help around the office with clerical work as the professors and their secretary needed. I have two specific memories about working in that office.

1. I had to file updated tax law information in the binders for Dr. Eickhoff, who is not a man of many words. Just a quiet, hard-working professor who intimidated me though I respected him.
2. Dr. Eickhoff also did some work with the state agriculture extension and was out in the field a lot. And one day, he gave me a gift. And it was one of these mature cotton bolls. It was really neat to closely examine the boll and feel the seeds among the fibers. I lost track of this boll somewhere along 1992 and now but I still remember it.

It meant a lot to me that he thought of me and brought it back. And even now, when I see cotton blooming in the field, I think of Dr. Eickhoff.

I also have one very bad memory about a personality clash with the secretary but I won't go into details here! :) LOL

The Cotton Blooms

Typically, the blooms appear 8-10 weeks into planting. And after the blooms are done with being white, they turn purple! Both are so pretty. Thank you honey for telling me about the color change.

Cotton Buds or Cotton Bolls

Here's one of my shots from the field-of-cotton photo session. Cotton bolls (one site I checked listed these as being "buds", so now I'm not sure what to call it) typically appear 5-7 weeks during planting. I thought they looked pretty neat. So perfectly round and quite pretty in their own way. BUT, they also make me think of the plant from the movie Little Shop of Horrors. :)

Fresh Peaches

Sorry there was no post yesterday. I was not feeling well, another headache, but this time probably my blood pressure instead of a migraine. That's what I get for telling someone that morning that I was doing pretty great having been off my medicine since May! I jinxed myself.

Well, to make up for losing half of Sunday, I will tell you about the great Saturday Mark and I had! We went to a garage sale and bought five hardcover books for $5; can't beat that. Then we stopped and picked up some wonderful peaches from an orchard in Fredericksburg, which is about 2 hours north of here. They have delicious peaches! The man selling these, along Highway 46, let us try one and that pretty much sold us on it. Plus you should smell it. The scent is subtle but definitely sweet. Tonight, we had some fresh and then the rest we baked into a cobbler-cake. We didn't have enough syrup for the cobbler but it turned out great --- especially still warm and with a touch of vanilla ice cream on top!

The other treat of Saturday were the cotton fields we saw, also along Highway 46. I love to see the fields when cotton's growing, especially when it's out and white like snow. We noticed some of the plants seemed stunted, probably due to the lack of rain, while others looked pretty decent. We stopped and took some pictures so I'll post them this week.

And finally, I had so much fun helping my cake artist friend -- thanks Jesica! It was fun to see you in action with your cakes. And thanks for letting me taste one of those strawberries. I'm glad they ALL weren't needed. :)

My Favorite Cake Artist

I know a young lady who bakes heavenly (to look at AND to eat) cakes on the side. We keep telling her we wish she'd open a little shop on the town square and just bake away. Maybe one day. She made two delicious cakes for Mark's retirement party and they were a hit.



Today, she asked me to take pictures for her as she set up her second wedding cake in town. Below are shots of the main cake and the groom's cake, which I thought looked really awesome!

August Theme Day - Metal

It was so hectic today with work and a quick trip up to Burnet, that I'm rather late on my theme day post but here's some metal for you. This is the shredder area of CMC where I work. We receive scrap which we sort, shred, sort some more and do a lot of other really cool things but it's too complicated to write it all here. And eventually, at the other end of the process, we produce steel products such as rebar, joists, beams and so on.

Other city pages are participating as well so I hope you'll check them out. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants.