Chilly mornings

Lately we have had very pretty weather though we do need some good rain. During the day, it's been in the 60s (F) and mostly sunny. Overnight, it's been dipping down into the upper 20s (F), which means mornings can be frosty. This is the windshield of the truck. I tried to scrap the frost as much as possible but it's hard when the frost is on a truck and you are only 5'2"! :)

Here's a shot of the windshield from inside the truck, where I implemented Plan B -- melting the frost, which only took 1 minute really.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Sorry for the last minute post but I was ill yesterday and then we visited family all day today. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas filled with love, laughter and fun!

Nutcracker Museum

Besides pecans and other nuts, dried fruits and sweet treats, Papes Pecan store also has a nutcracker museum that you can browse. It is amazing how many are in the collection! There are all different sizes, shapes and characters...from Ronald Reagan to Yosemite Sam.

Hot Santa

Here it is a few days before Christmas and in Seguin, we have beautiful weather -- in the 60s with plenty of sun and very little humidity in the air. The only "bad" thing about this is that it's hard to get into the Christmas mood if you don't have to layer on some clothes. I wonder if Santa is hot in his suit.

We were running errands this morning and we passed Santa standing in front of a florist shop. I was impressed by this Santa b/c he face really looks nice and what I envision as a "good, authentic Santa." Some Santas you see don't even bother covering up their dark hair! We didn't stop to chat but his beard even looked real. Very nice.

We stopped by Gift & Gourmet to pick out a few more final gifts and now it's wrapping time. Or napping time. This is the first weekend in months where we do not have to be somewhere or do something away from home. It feels nice. :)

Honorable Mention

It was hard to capture a full view of my office decorated with the snowflakes and lights I have posteb about earlier. But here is one shot. I think I cut out about 40 snowflakes! It was fun today in the office. Lots of cheer in the air. Sonia and I received Honorable Mention along with another coworker for his office. There was also a winner for Most Creative and another winner for Best Traditional.

Christmas lights and a little friendly competition...

Tonight I am busy pulling together the final touches for my office decorating contest. Things have heated up a bit and people were busy preparing for the judging tomorrow morning. The snowflakes I cut and posted about a few days ago have all been taped or hung in the office along with some trees fashioned out of tissue paper. I needed just a little something to finish off my space. My friends suggested adding ambient lighting. So here I am digging through attic boxes to find unused lights. Choices, choices. White string or dancing color...hmm. I will let you know if I place in the contest and I'll post a picture of the finished product. It's really fun.

Mistletoe

One of the first things I noticed when I moved to Texas was the abundance of mistletoe EVERYWHERE and this is year-round. In the past, I only encountered mistletoe during the Christmas season and usually in a boutique or at the tree stands. I recall having to hunt down some mistletoe once to have some for decorations for a party. And here? I can just walk around (or even stop along the road on the way to work) and snip off whatever I want. It's pretty neat. I also snapped a shot of a batch with berries this past weekend. Okay, off to bake more brownies. Have a good week everyone. Only six more days of waiting!!!

Visit to the City Cemetery

When we visited the cemetery to put a flag on Calvin Williams' grave on Veteran's Day, we noticed this next to it. We don't know what it is. Do you know?

The last trip to the post office

Yesterday Mark and I made our last trip to the post office and our gifts for far off family members are on their way. We did priority because the postal rate is currently 5 days behind, pushing arrival of our things to post-Christmas. It is always nice when the staff tells you what your options are and also when they honestly tell you if it will make it in time!

This trip was fun. Everybody in line were good spirits and we talked and laughed and waved to Santa, who was there for pictures with anyone who wanted one. It was one of the most fun trips to the post office ever.

White Spider

I don't know much about spiders but I thought this one looked very interesting. All sorts of living things love our plumeria. Check out those cool legs he has! Every time I got too close with my digicam, it would scoot to the other side of the plant. It took several times and slow movements to catch him.

Hair Haus Revisited

About a year ago, I posted my first post of Hair Haus. I thought I would post an updated shot since some greenery has been added to the front. I like the potted plants and the little tree to the side. You can't go wrong with more green. Tomorrow I finally get to use my Stress Reliever gift certificate and I am so excited!! 2 hours of pampering; what a treat.

You can also see the location of the shop is very close to the Aumont, which itself is pretty interesting. I need to look inside the Aumont sometime and perhaps get a shot inside. Well, it will go on my mental list of things to check out for the blog. Two blocks beyond the Aumont, in the picture, is our town square.

Bare pecan trees

We're still experiencing quite a bit of see-saw weather lately. 80 on Monday, 40s on Tuesday, 50s today. Who knows what it will really be tomorrow. Anyway, as I was driving from the library to the house, I noticed these neat piles of leaves in this yard. It reminded me of my childhood in NC, where fall meant lots of raking on weekends. We used to rake winding paths in the leaves and ride our bikes all around the yard before we finished our task. It made the chore more fun that way. Around Seguin, pecan trees are mostly bare of leaves now but on the tree in our backyard, we still see some pecans still in their little coverings, waiting to drop. And yes, there is still plenty on the ground.

Snowflakes!

This is the closest we have gotten to snow this year. :) I am busy trying to wrap and ship gifts (5 boxes sent yesterday) and decorating both home and office this year. There is a 9 foot tree in our living room, tall and VERY slim. Can a 9 foot tree be cute? I think it is. It's on loan from my sister as we couldn't find one we really liked.

I have not cut snowflakes in over 20 years I believe! These are for my office at work. There is a decorating contest and Sonia and I have decided to participate. When we finish, perhaps I will post a picture here for you to see. We are really enjoying working together at the steel mill in town.

Hello from up above...

We're slowly getting the house put together after having so much work done on it this past year. The study is coming along although it is currently Gift Wrap Central. We have a house about a hundred years old. Mark found a government survey of historic homes in Seguin and our house was included. I like features on our old house, like the storage space tucked in above the closet here. Smokey likes it also, as you can tell. Anytime the ladder is brought out to do any kind of work, he has supersonic hearing and is up the ladder before we know it. And of course if we don't notice him right away, he will meow to get our attention.

Inside Chiro Java

This is an inside shot of Chiro Java, a coffee house located on the town square. (I also have an outside shot of Chiro Java.) I am really glad we have a coffee house in town and I hope that they will one day extend their hours into the evening a bit more. It'd be a great hang out where you can unwind in the evenings and would also be a good place to gather for some group activities such as a knitting group, which is something we did in San Antonio once a month.

Besides coffee, there are other beverages and some food. I've met friends there a few times for lunch and we had some great salads and sandwiches. You can also surf the we there on a PC that's provided.

Beautiful days

Well, I've been out of town again so I didn't get a chance to post before I left. I'll be home tomorrow so look for some more pictures soon.

Here is a little birdy I noticed on the tip of our roof day before the trip. I heard sweet little chirps and looked for him but it took a while to find him up there. I'm not sure what he was looking for up there. The blue sky is an indication of just how lovely the weather has been lately in Seguin. Just perfect temperatures; cool and crisp during the day and chilly at night. Cold enough to enjoy hot chocolate properly. :)

Red leaves

Sometimes we get so busy that we miss things right under our noses. I have been in Texas for a little over 12 years now and I have grown to love it here. I still, however, ache to see endless seas of orange, red and yellow leaves to herald in the fall of North Carolina, where I grew up. We were getting in the car Sunday and as I got in, I noticed the leaves on our crepe myrtle. Well, when did that happen? The leaves are so beautiful. I love red leaves.

Our weather has been sort of up and down lately. We caught a cold spell with nights in the 30s (F degrees) but then it warms back up into the 80s. It's hard to tell if it's spring, fall or winter. That's south Texas for you.

"Smokey" Joe Williams Blog Launches Today!

Today I wanted to let you know that a new blog has been created to honor a native son of Seguin that many people outside the area probably know nothing of unless they are baseball history buffs.

On October 17 2006, I posted an entry about "Smokey" Joe Williams and my favorite photo of him. I am happy to report that my husband, Mark, has created a blog where he will share some of his nine years of research on "Smokey" Joe. This incredible man and ballplayer brought recognition to Seguin when he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, yet most people, even in our own little city, know nothing about his accomplishments. When you know "Smokey" Joe's story, you will also have a glimpse into the lives of other black ballplayers who played during a time when baseball was segregated. It's very interesting and also amazing how these men loved the game so much, they were willing to suffer through many challenges just to be on the field.

The picture you see here is of young Joe Williams. You can learn more by visiting the "Smokey" Joe Williams blog when you have a chance.

Elvis in Seguin

As promised, here is my celebrity shot from last night's Holiday Stroll festivities! When I saw him, I knew I had to get a shot. Elvis was a riot and it seemed everyone enjoyed him. He made us all laugh and even belted out a few lines for us.

Lighting of the Town Square

Tonight we met up with a new friend and shared with her the lighting experience and I had a great time. It seemed like we had fewer floats and not as big a crowd but it was still really nice to get out in the chilly weather. Really gets you in the holiday mood. The parade started at 6:30p and then the town square was lit up while the high school band prepared to play some Christmas tunes. It's always fun to see how bright it gets once the light switch is flipped on!

We walked around and looked at the decorated Christmas trees around the square and then walked over to the Heritage Museum, which was open late and offered refreshments and a warm welcome to passers by. (I'll post a very funny picture tomorrow of a celebrity impersonator who was one of several at the Museum tonight.)

Thank you to everyone who commented to me about the blog and/or the article. I felt so happy that people took an interest in this hobby that I have. I think it was the first time Mark and I have been out on the town and I actually talked to more people than he did! ;)

Christmas Preparations

It is very hard to believe that December is a couple of days away already. My sister and her family were visiting from FL so I really wanted to finish gifts for all our FL family members in order to send it all back with her but I lacked just two gifts! Oh well. Here are some stockings we did manage to fill and send back with her.

I love Christmas time and finding just the right things for a friend or family member. It really is fun. I learned about the stocking tradition when I met my husband and his kids. I had so much fun finding goodies for them that my sisters and I started stockings for the kids in our families and each other. I think it's my favorite gift related activity!

Thank you everyone for your interest in the blog and for your comments and emails. I love hearing from all of you!

Pecan & Reporter

Recently I was interviewed by our local paper, The Seguin Gazette Enterprise about this blog and I thought it was a really neat experience. Actually, I was quite surprised and tickled when I received the posting from Michael asking that I contact him if I wanted to talk about the DP blog.

It was fun but felt odd to have someone asking about why I do this and then photographing me photographing Seguin. This is a shot of Michael shooting me. His shot can be found on the Gazette website if you want to check out the article.

Thank you, Michael. It was a great experience!

Checking the lights...

I did ask first if I could snap a shot. :) This is a close up of one of the City of Seguin employees preparing the lights on the trees on the square. I can't wait until we're all lit up!

Sorry for the lack of posts. With family visiting for Thanksgiving, it was non-stop with little time for surfing or posting! Hope everyone had a nice time. We were so thankful to have the chance to spend time with family. It was wonderful.

Christmas Lights on the Square

Here's another sight I saw downtown that was an unexpected but wonderful surprise. City employees were busy putting lights in the trees. The lighting event will be on November 29! I love tree lights. It becomes really magical. The event also includes a night parade and is usually a lot of fun.

Decorations

While downtown, I saw evidence that Christmas is indeed right around the corner. Decorations are going up, including on this light post. It's cloudy this week according to the forecast but when I took this series of photos last Friday, it was a perfect and beautiful day.

Juan Seguin and the Water Drops

Yesterday I was downtown and walked around Central Park to take some pictures. I'll be posting them this coming week since I saw several things I found interesting and want to share here. What I like most about this shot is the way the water drops look. They look frozen but then I look at it again and they look animated. Also, I like how it appears as if Juan Seguin is doing battle with the water.

Insulators & Flowers

It's November and when I took this photo a couple of days ago, it was in the mid-80s in temperature. Too warm for my taste since I can't get into the holiday spirit with unseasonably high temps. Today, it was wonderfully cool...lower 70s all day and tonight will be in the upper 30s. I love the crisp, cool weather.

We have these insulators on our fence on the side of the house. Mark and I use to go insulator hunting along railroad tracks. Those were the good old days when we actually had more personal time!

Corner of Kingsbury & Austin Streets

I have been trying to get a good shot of this sign for some time. I smile every time I drive by because it is so clever. I haven't been there as a customer, which I suppose is a good thing, but they do brisk business from what I see.

Veterans Day

Grave of a forgotten veteran...

Calvin Williams was born a slave in Orange County VA on Juy 4, 1832. After securing his freedom in 1864 he joined the ranks of the Union Army. After the Civil War, Calvin re-enlisted and served in the 38th and 24th Infantry as one of the famed "buffalo soldiers" assigned to protect settlers on the American frontier. After his discharge in 1871 at Ft. McKavett TX, he settled in Seguin TX. He lived the remainder of his life there, quietly raising a family and developing the Second Baptist Church, which still stands today. He passed away on Jan. 12, 1909.

That very year, his grandson Joseph Williams embarked on a professional baseball career that earned him a place in the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999.

Today's post was written by Mark. Thanks, honey! I knew you would be the best person to write this for Calvin. On October 29, 2007, I posted something else about Calvin.

Red eye candy

I don't even like candy apples but I was so drawn to these beautiful red creations I just had to ask to photograph them. The lady was so nice, she took the plastic off the top. Can you spot something interesting or unusual about one of these?

We saw these at La Paleteria, which I posted about on October 20, 2006. It's a local ice cream place we keep hoping will succeed but worry about b/c we hardly ever see people there. There is ice cream, fruit bar, shakes, smoothies and more! If only they were on the town square, it would be lovely to walk around there with a yummy treat.

Here's a Photo without flash, which I sort of like though the vibrant red with the flash won out on it.

White Plumeria

It has been a super hectic week at work. I am barely keeping up with things. I did want to post this Plumeria bloom. I find it so soothing, the white on green. Our plant is about 3 or 4 years old and has never bloomed until this year, when we put it in the ground. Hope everyone has a good weekend.

Gift & Gourmet

This is a wonderful little gift shop right across the street from our home. I love walking over there. Or I should say, I use to. I have not been in there for some time so I will try and check it out next weekend for an inside shot. I like to check out the window display. I took this right before Halloween, hence the pumpkins and so on. I meant to see about that green dish towel with the candy corns. It looked so fun.

I knew the lady who owned this store but Anne has sold it (I think last year) to another lady, her name escapes me but I did meet her once in the store. There was always something wonderful in there I wanted and Anne kept a wish list for customers so that she can make suggestions to shoppers. That was really nice to have a retailer give you that attention. She also bought some earrings I made and so that was coolto see my stuff in the display case. I think that was my first official sale to a store (versus friends and family buying my creations). Sometimes, I would just hang out with Ann and chat. That seems ages ago.

Water Tower Completed

All summer, we passed the water tower and it was covered either partially or entirely. Very mysterious even though we knew it was getting a cleaning and new paint job. And now here it is! I really like the clean look and the blue lettering. If you want to see what it looked like before and during the face lift, check out these links:

Photo 1 Before facelift and Photo 2 During facelift

Men at Work

Something blue for the theme today - the sky! I saw these two men working waaaaaaaaaaaay up high at the high school before one of our Friday night football games. Gotta make sure all those lights are fully functional I suppose so they kids can see where they're running and throwing the ball. :)

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Well, tonight we see how many visitors we have. I have my candy bowl ready and Mark and I managed not to eat all the Snickers, 3 Musketeers and Almond Joys (my fav). Hope you all have a great day and plenty of fun!

Honey from our bees

They didn't make as much as Mark had hoped but our bees in the backyard should have enough for the winter. They swarmed early in the summer, splitting the hive in half. We are glad they all didn't leave us!

Lights, camera, action!

We don't know what they were "shooting" -- couldn't decide if it was a movie, commercial or print shoot. It's not everyday you see the Texas Theatre lit up so we drove by twice (thank you honey) so I can see what was the best shot. I mainly wanted to get the theatre lights. There were several trailers, trucks and other vehicles. Not to mention tons of equipment and people working in the dark.

Praying mantis

This "little" guy hangs out in our front yard quite a bit. Here he was just walking along the driveway. I actually don't know if it's a he or she; how can one tell? Anybody? There is also a green one that I am still trying to get a good shot of to post. It hangs out on our plumeria, which is about to bloom. We have lots of late bloomers in our yard; like the plumeria and esperanza...they always bloom much later than other people's plants.

Pecan Fest

It's time I gave blogging here another go at it now that things have settled down a bit for me and I'm not traveling as much. Here in Seguin, it's fall and the weather is actually acting like fall would act elsewhere in the states. :)

This weekend is our Pecan Fest so in honor of that, I'm posting this picture. I'll try to catch some of the activities this weekend. Our crop is fantastic this year. There are pecans galore all over town and they taste GREAT. We have two pecan trees only and we can hardly keep up picking them up. Mark is shelling them. And when you drive around town, you have to be very careful of pedestrians b/c everyone is out and about picking up pecans wherever there's a tree nearby! Even if it means along the side of the road!

Calvin Williams but in DC

While in DC for a library conference, we went to visit the African-American Civil War Monument b/c one of Seguin's very own soldier is listed on the memorial wall!

Though I am working in town now, the new job is requiring more time and energy than anticipated. So I must go on break for a while. I will post at some point in the future. Meanwhile, you can check out photos on my flickr page if you wish. I try to post pictures at least. Take care and have a great summer!
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Indian Blankets

Lesser known than the famous Texas Bluebonnets, the Indian Blanket flower is quite pretty. It blooms later than Bluebonnets so it doesn't have to share the limelight. It is a couple of weeks past prime right now. I took this and forgot to post it earlier.

It is amazing to me the variety of wildflowers in south Texas. I am really enjoying getting to know more about flowers that I did not know growing up in North Carolina.

Have a good week everyone.

Texas Peaches

Though we are not pulling in a "crop" of these goodies, our peach tree is at least producing more peaches this year than last. They were very pretty to look at and pretty tasty to munch.

Lately we have been very very humid. I have learned to tolerate it after 12 years here but I don't like it. Makes everyone feel yucky and lethargic. Especially when you go for a walk, which we did this evening. It was hard to keep moving. On Friday, the temperature was 93 degrees but with the heat index, it felt like 102 I read. That is not good. I hope this doesn't mean a crazy not summer ahead.

Memorial for Teyran "Ty" Patterson

Today was the memorial service for a local hero. His name is Teyran Patterson and he is the son of friends of ours. Ty served as a game warden and though I did not know him personally, I wanted to post a tribute to a young man whom the community loves so much. The Patterson family and local officials expected about 1000 people to attend the service, standing room only at our coliseum. It is a statement of what Ty meant to Seguin and to his colleagues in law enforcement.

Update June 5th: the local paper today states that about 2100 people attended Ty's memorial service.

Lemongrass

We have had a lot of rain lately. I think it has been the wettest (?) May I have seen in a while. So, as a wonderful result, all our plants are nice and green. This is a lemongrass plant that my mom gave me year before last. She always has a wonderful garden no matter where she lives and her gardens always seem to thrive! It was shaky at first but my cutting from her original survived and now I have successfully split it and put some stalks in a pot.

Memorial Day

We made time to take a spin around town and it was really nice to see all the flags on display to honor our armed forces personnel.

Update on the Water Tower

We happened to be driving by and saw some activity on the tower. I snapped several shots of the skirt going up so you can click on the pic to go to my Flickr page for more. The skirt was huge and looked so cool going up; it was a very impressive job they did. It only stayed up for several hours and came back down. Looks like they sandblasted while it was up and we should see a new paint job soon. It still has the little "hat" on it as of today.

Seguin Water Tower

I was driving by the Library a while ago and noticed a funny thing happening with the water tower behind the Public Library. Looks like they are doing some work on the tower. This made me think the tower had a "hat" on. I am not sure what the setup is but it looked neat. I tried to get a good shot of the tower but it's hard. Didn't want to get too close so b/c you can't see the top well. I shall go back by there and see what progress has been made.

Sorry for the lack of postings. However, I hope to be working in Seguin very soon so that means no more commute to San Antonio. Which means, possibly, more time to post. Of course, I have a whole list of things to do to catch up around the house and town so give me a bit of time to do all this.

Yellow Wildflower

Bluebonnets often get the most attention in terms of wildflowers here in Texas. However, we have plenty of other gorgeous flowers to enjoy thanks to all the rain we have been getting! Now that the blue has faded away, I see a lot of yellow flowers along the highways and in the most unexpected places. I snatched these from a parking lot curb! I don't have my wildflowers guidebook with me so I don't know the name of these. I will add the name when I find it. Have a good evening everyone.

Green Gate Nursery Greeter

Yesterday we stopped by Green Gate Nursery on Highway 123 near the Wal-Mart. Green Gate is a wonderful place to go when you need plants or trees or soil of some sort. I also like getting mulch there. This colorful birdy was watching the store when I noticed him from the checkout counter. I went over to snap a shot of course. The staff was a little busy so I didn't ask any what's-the-story-with-this-bird questions I wanted to but I will next time I go.

We selected a beautiful white mandevilla, which was being nicely trained on an inverted u-shape bamboo form. The lady helping us wrapped the pot very nicely in a somewhat burnt orange (Go Longhorns, we were going to Austin afterall) and a white/orange bow. I highly recommend the nursery if you are looking for a good shopping experience.

As an aside, I also love going to the Schulz nursery in Marion. They are also a great staff and they have a great selection that different than Green Gate so it's worth visiting both. I saw there was a new gardening business off Kingsbury so I will give them a visit the next day I have off for landscaping duty.