Prepping Dessert

Tonight we are baking our first pecan pie together. It's fun! And it smells delicious; I can't wait to try it tomorrow. I'm sure there are many ovens heating up this week as we all prepare for the big feast tomorrow. I hope you all have a wonderful day filled with family and friends time, good eats, fun football and great weather (whether that be snow, ice, hot, humid....whatever!). And a nice nap. At least that's my plan. :)

Welcome back, Sterling Silver Dancers!

Remember the Seguin ladies who were invited to dance at the Spurs games last season? Well, they are back by popular demand. :) It was nice to see them perform at the game so early in the season. I understand they will appear once a month. You ladies looked great and most importantly, you looked like you had fun! Cheers to you for getting out there. We loved seeing you and cheering for you. Go Spurs!

Moon over Seguin

Last week we were driving home and I saw a gorgeous moon hovering over Seguin -- so low to the horizon that it looked absolutely enormous. I couldn't believe I didn't have my digicam (I didn't think I'd need it going to the gym, lol.) so we raced home so I could pick it up and Mark went searching with me for a good shot. We found a spot and I set up the tripod to practice on the new digicam and liked some of the shots but I still need to learn more about all the settings. This one wasn't so bad so I thought I'd share it. I didn't touch it up besides cropping some of the dark sky out of it. It was chilly that night!

Still Blooming

The weather has been gorgeous lately but the allergens are still bothering lots of people. Plus I think there is some bug going around b/c several people I know are sort of down with a slight fever, stomach aches, general aches, sore throat, etc. I slept most of yesterday since I just felt wiped out. Today I'm much better but Mark's kind of sickly. Poor thing.

So, despite the cold nights, we still have a few blooms hanging around including the mystery purple flower on the vine. I can't remember what the name of it is. We bought it hoping it would climb along our fence in order to block out the neighbor's big ol' trash bin. It's still trying to spread itself out so maybe by next year. We also have a few yellow blooms left on the Esperanza as well.



I'm enjoying the camera a great deal and am learning how to use it better with more manual controls. I updated the firmware (1.03) and it fixed the processing problem so that is no longer an issue. If anything, it really revved up the processing, uploading, and general operation of the camera. I am glad b/c I had decided if the firmware didn't fix that problem, the camera would probably need to go back. I took the cam to the Spurs game last Friday against the Rockets (yay, we actually won!) and then I also practiced some moon shots (still need some more practice). I'll try and post some this week.

Sky Watch Friday

One more of the tower. I just loved the way this one turned out.

Check out this week's sky watchers for some great shots. And have a wonderful weekened everyone. We're off to see the Spurs and Rockets. :-\

Workers from afar

Here they are from afar.

Water Tower Workers

On my way home from work, I drove here and there to practice using my camera some more when I spotted some activity on the water tower they've been fixing up for a while now. It's looking better but still have a little more work to go. I can't imagine working as high up as these gentlemen. Not too long ago, I saw on the news and in the paper that one of the tower workers had gotten injured when he fell while doing some of this work. Dangerous stuff but they sure make our towers look great!

Guadalupe Valley Regional Hospital

Here are a couple of night shots of some of the construction at our local hospital. It's nice to see construction still healthy in little Seguin. Good sign for the economy I think. Plus our hospital really needs to grow and improve. Many people go to San Antonio for some medical needs since there are a lot more options in the bigger city.

I also posted about the imaging department this past July.

Fall Colors

I was checking out the camera after snapping shots of the squirrels when I noticed the cool colors on the display when I passed by the paint cans we have on the deck. I took several shots and I really liked the coppery colors with the blue in them.

Shot with the new digicam

They are still everywhere, which makes them quite an easy subject. Here's a shot from the new camera. Still playing around with it but I think it's going to be a keeper. I am going to download the new firmware update and that should help reduce the one thing that is odd about the camera: the "long" processing time every 3rd or 4th shot. It has not been a problem for me and hopefully it won't become a problem. I better get on the ball snapping shots to test the camera, right?

Sports note: the Spurs FINALLY won tonight. It took double overtime, but we finally got a W in the win column. :)

My Vote Counted!

We went and voted! I hope you did also. I love living in a small town like Seguin. I've lived and voted in big cities and now I fully appreciate a voting site three blocks from home where I can park right out front and have seven or eight voting officials waiting to help me. It rocks!

At our voting site, Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, you can vote electronically or on traditional paper ballots if you wish. Both are offered and the officials really have always been very nice and helpful. Now, I shall go join Mark, who is flipping between the Spurs/Mavs game and voting results.

Merry Christmas to me

Surprise, surprise! Christmas came early for me this year. Thank you honey for my new digicam. It is so cool and I can't wait to see how I handle it this week. All my cameras have been Kodaks and they've been really good to me. I'm not ready for a fancy SLR and with the z1015, there are already plenty of things I see I'll have to learn. It allows more manual control than my z612. And did you see that? I've now got 4 more megapixels and the zoom increased by 3. Of course, what I need to do is go out and try it out to make sure I can take advantage of it all. And we have a Spurs game next week so I can try out the zoom at that time. Oh, the video image is awesome. I was amazed by the crispness.

Skywatch Friday

Same field, taken at "ant level" this time. I couldn't get into the dirt as I had my work clothes on so I couldn't see in detail all that I was getting in the photos but I loved the way some of these came out. I loved the colors. And then I saw the clouds and it thrilled me to catch the cool sky - what a treat!

Check out other Sky Watchers to see what they have captured for us. Have a great weekend everyone.

Silos

From the same spot where I shot yesterday's picture, I took several pictures of the silos. There are many cool silos around the Seguin area as we are surrounded by great, big fields, ranches and land in general. I love looking at all the different types and configurations of silos.

Sepia Ground

The other day I took a different route home because it was such a beautiful day and the sky was perfect for picture taking. I found a really nice spot and snapped several shots. Here's the first. I set the color to sepia to see how it would look and I ended up liking this a lot. I shot this with the camera almost on the ground and held in my hands. To me, it looks like a ravaged land. And that is partly the case. This looked like it had corn in it at one point but with our extremely dry summer, the crops did not far well at all.

Woodpecker with Pecan

Sorry I have not posted in a while. First of all, I just haven't felt inspired. Secondly, I had been enjoying the great weather outside! Third, the great weather also meant some bad allergies (boooo!) and some bad headaches that turned into migraines. So, little energy and motivation to post.

But, I did spot our woodpecker again from our kitchen window the other day. It seems when the weather turns cooler, we start seeing the woodpeckers more often. Here is one trying to get that pecan open. He carried it around and banged it against the tree trunk and hopped and climbed up and down the pecan tree. It was very fun to watch. Then he disappeared high up in the tree and so I don't know if he ever got that pecan cracked. I hope so! Because the squirrels are eating up all the other pecans! We are really being overrun by the squirrels lately!

Pumpkins #3

All over town, you can find more pumpkins as people start decorating for the holidays. Not just Halloween really, but also Thanksgiving, which is already next month!!! Yikes! You know what that means. Time to get going on Christmas shopping!

Pumpkin Theme #2

In honor of the season, I think I'll keep adding to my pumpkin collection. I had a difficult time picking my favorites so I'll share them with you this week. I like this one mainly because of the beautiful stem still on it. You might notice most store bought or even the ones in a patch have the stems trimmed down close but I think they look so much more interesting and beautiful with long stems. Adds character.

Spurs Time

Friday we go to our first Spurs game. Despite it being only a pre-season game, we are still very excited! Nothing like going to the SBC Center to get into the spirit of it. Their first game of the season will be against the Phoenix Suns on October 29! This is a snap I took last year I think, maybe 06, I forget. I thought they were real at first and was very impressed. But upon closer inspection....fake. Not so impressed. But still cool. The shoes belong to the camera man doing a shot of the pumpkins for a TV spot. You know how they show "things" during the commercial breaks. He kept pretty close to the pumpkins, hence the shoes. :)

Red Barn

Once I drove by this red barn, I knew I wanted to go back to snap some shots of it but I really wanted the sky to be blue rather than cloudy. So I waited and Friday I was finally able to get a few shots in though I'm already thinking I want to go back for more. Just something really neat about barns, old or new. I like them. We have lovely ones all around us and if I had all the time I wanted, then I'd be stopping the car more. Instead, I pass by and make a mental note, "Come back later for a shot." :)

It's another beautiful, beautiful day in Seguin. Gosh, you could not ask for better weather to be outside. I'm about to go wash my car; it's been ages. LOL. Hope everyone's enjoyed the weekend and I hope you have a great week!

Here's another shot of the barn that I like:

Fruit Stand on FM78

Yesterday was a gorgeous day and we got out of work a little early so I drove a different route home in order to see what photo opportunities I could find. Here's a little fruit vendor located down the road from the mill. He's on FM 78 near the Chevron and 1620. I'm glad the weather is beautiful for the seller now. The hot summers were brutal on them I'm sure.

Sky Watch Friday

Well, better late than never! Here's my shot for Sky Watch Friday. This past week, we actually got some cloud AND rain action around the area, though Seguin could have used a bit more rain. But, we'll take what we can. The weather has also been cooler and I'm really enjoying that. The mornings have been nippy, lower 60s, and the days are in the upper 70s or lower 80s. It's getting to be the kind of weather I love!

For other wonderful sky shots for this week, be sure to check out the Sky Watchers page.

Working Girl

Just been working so I thought I'd show you my desk. I'm just very happy to actually BE at my desk...so nice to be home three straight weeks! :)

Sonia and I were trying to update some training laptops before they get shipped out for more classes, hence the abundance of laptops.

Treat Tuesday

Sorry I have been a bit busy with stuff and haven't been keeping up here. Plus I have not been particularly inspired lately with my camera. It's not that I've stopped snapping shots; it's just that few of them excite me. I don't know what this rut is but perhaps it will soon pass.

On a brighter note, yesterday we tried out Treat Tuesday at work. If you are a Hoops & Yoyo fan, you should know what this is. I love those little characters. Basically, these are the guidelines:

1. Bring a treat. This can be store bought or homemade (by you or anyone nice enough to do this for you).
2. Have fun.
3. Do not think about calories or how many minutes you have to bike in order to burn off the pie AND donut. Just enjoy them.

It was so much fun and we enjoyed socializing with everyone. Our office is sort of small so we tried to keep the group to our team and a few frequent visitors. We'll have to see what to do next time as the word got out a bit. Anyway, treats included three pies, Pinwheels (yum!), cheese, crackers, sausage, Shipley's donuts, Donut Palace donut holes, chocolate covered cashews....that may be it. It was all fabulously fun!

And for you, Dennis, who asked if my new friend Jessica has a blog....she does! Jessica wrote and said you visit her blog anytime. It's called KWED - Jessica's Weblog.

Spurs Time

It's hard to believe that it's already pre-season time for the NBA but I'm not complaining. This is one of my favorite times of the year for sports because you have so much to choose from -- college football, pro football and soon, pro basketball.

Last weekend, we had our annual Divide-Spurs-tickets-while-getting-stuffed-at El Ranchito get together and had a blast. We share season tickets with others and it's always a big event to do this dividing business. LOL. There are guidelines, game-selection strategizing and some good luck getting to pick first is always nice. This year, I drew number 1 again so we were pretty happy! It's pretty serious stuff and when I started getting involved in the selection lunch, I was impressed by the process our group had in place. It's all fun. Here's to a great season NBA fans. And hopefully our boys will win the big one this year. It's another odd-numbered year so that's a good start. ;)

[Alan, I have gone by the feed mill a couple of times hoping for a great shot but the lighting has not been working with me the times I went. I'll keep waiting for a good shot for you. I haven't forgotten!]

Sky Watch Friday

Lately we have had really beautiful weather -- clear skies, low humidity, cold mornings, warm days and lots of sunshine. I love it. Now if it would stay in the 60s or 70s during the day, I'd be in total heaven.

Be sure to check out other Friday Sky Watch pages. Have a great weekend!

Making a new friend

One of the nicest things about this blog is that I have gotten to meet some really wonderful, friendly people in town. This is my newest friend, Jessica. She works for our local daily, KWED's Seguin Daily News, and she told me she loves to check out my blog. I was so, so flattered and happy to know she likes it so much. We met at the archeology dig a couple of weekends ago, where Jessica also snapped some photos of the grounds and activities.

It was wonderful to meet you Jessica! Remember to email me if you want to go photographing together. :-p

Giant HEB Cart

Saturday, on our way to meet friends at El Ranchito, we were headed up College Street by the high school when we spotted this gigantic shopping cart. Naturally, we pulled over so I could snap a shot. This gentleman was just about to unload the vehicle for a 2pm parade as part of the Fair this past weekend.

Saturdays are for yard sales

We saw at least seven yard/estate sales today. We walked to the one down the street from us b/c the lady has a pretty house. Plus it was such a lovely morning that we just enjoyed the walk. Mark bought a cool two foot measuring tool. Can't beat it for a buck. :)

I was impressed by the quality of this photo as I snapped it with my cell phone, a Samsung A737. I might just have to do what the Mitchster does and have cellphone photo day each week. Honestly, I was expecting a more grainy photo than this. Good job Samsung.

Sky Watch Friday

Better late than never. :) Here's a shot of a cute little cloud floating over the Saffold property while we were there. I just really liked that cloud.

Old Shack on Saffold Property

Here's the full view of the old structure I posted about yesterday. It appears it was perhaps a storage facility but we're not sure. It's a real shame but there were several other structures on the property that were slave homes but they were bulldozed into a great big pile prior to the McKees owning the property. The good news is that the pile is still on-site so eventually a team will be put together to go through and see if there are things worth salvaging. Jody showed me a door plate and door knob they pulled from the pile and those items looked really interesting; finely detailed. I hope they find other wonderful things in that big pile.

It's Archeology Month!

Hi everyone! I'm back from NJ and I had a blast. It was so much nicer than I had anticipated. You can read about it on Ta-Ravel Blog if you want more on that.

Last weekend, we were invited to visit Floyd and Jody McKee, current owners of the Saffold property located on Austin Street, across from Starke Park and the dam. We had a great time and got to meet a really nice group of people with interests in archeology, history and preservation. Did you know October is Archeology Month? I didn't until I visited the McKees. They were really nice to open their home to all of us and they allowed us to roam their house and property. I won't go into a detailed history of the property and the McKees' project since others have documented it. You can check a Seguin Gazette article from June and also a more recent article from earlier this week. Mark's research is also mentioned! :) I'll find the other articles when I get a chance and post them tomorrow.

I will post more pictures of our day there in the coming days. Thanks for being patient with me as I don't post regularly anymore when I have to travel.

Wing Stop

To continue to food theme, we now have a Wing Stop in town. There had been signs, articles, speculation, delays and now it's finally open. We haven't been yet but I'll give a report if/when we do. I only say "if" because we have our own recipe we make at home that we are pretty happy with lately. Now when I was in Columbia (SC) we went to Carolina Wings and they had pretty great food so hopefully our little Wing Stop will be worth visiting.

I'm writing from Summit, NJ. We are so happy to be here because we left SA at 8am and spent an additional 3.5 hours flying around in the air, 1 round over Rocky Mount (NC), many rounds over Lynchburg (VA), a refueling stop in Baltimore, another 2 rounds about 40 miles away from Newark and then finally we landed around 7:20pm EST. Good thing I had a good buddy with me.

Christina's Puffy Tacos

This past week, we lunched at Christina's on Kingsbury. It was my first time there and I'm glad I gave it a try. These puffy chicken tacos were delicious! It's hard to find them done right so I'm glad to say Christina's does it right. The beans were good but I didn't try the rice. I don't usually eat it unless it's just awesome rice.

Sky Watch Friday

Earlier this week, I was driving to work but just had to pull over and snap a few shots because the sunrise was so gorgeous. I love watching the sun rise and set.

Be sure to check out other Sky Watchers this week.

An Army of Our Lady of Guadalupe

I was so, so, so thrilled when I opened the mail after work today. My Lady of Guadalupe Army photo which I posted back in April 2007 was used in an issue of Faith & Form, the Interfaith Journal on Religion, Art and Architecture. It was so cool to see it in print. It made my day. Thank you Judith! Cristina has also used the same photo on her Mexico Cooks! site.

Sorry I didn't post yesterday. I was down after work due to all the mold in the air. It's a killer for me and mostly I just slept and was a lazy bum on the sofa. :) All better by this afternoon after Zyrtec, Aleve D and a nasal rinse. I'm sure those of you who are local know where I'm coming from on this.

Godiva

I have n-e-v-e-r had a Godiva I did not love. For real. And I'm even a real chocoholic. We got a new catalog in the mail yesterday. And a coupon for free samples. If you are on their mailing list (and you buy your honey boxes of Godiva goodness on your special occasions), you regularly get these free samples. Nice.

Good night Monday

Just really liked this shot so I thought I'd share it. Didn't make it around town so no interesting pics to share. Sorry!

Watching the Jets/Chargers game. It's still odd to see #4 in a Jets uniform.

Home Sweet Home

Hello, hello. I'm home now! Been busy trying to catch up on things --- work, house, emails, blogs. LOL. Busy. Since I've got home, we've done the following:

1. Watched a movie, had pizza and enjoyed a nice evening together.
2. Went to Sams in San Marcos, which is about 20 minutes from here.
3. Went to HEB for "regular" groceries.
4. Watched NC State beat East Carolina. Go Wolfpack!
5. Swiffered (we like to go barefoot, we have hardwood floors, I do not like walking around on dust).
6. Prepped ingredients for King Ranch casserole for a lunch meeting tomorrow.
7. Currently watching the Texas-Rice game and baking a chocolate cake for a bake sale tomorrow.
8. Did NOT take any naps as I planned. hee hee

The compass is a gift from one of my new coworkers from Fontana. It reminds me of all the travels I've had, especially lately. Four weeks is a really long time and we had some great times as a group but I'm sure our families are all ready for us to be home. I'm lucky Mark has not minded my being gone so much (thanks again honey!) and I'm also glad that he postponed his own business trip so that we could have next week together. Then it's off to New Jersey for me and Rosenberg (TX) for him!

I'll try and get around town this week and catch up on the pics and bloggging. Hope you are all having a great weekend so far!

Hurricane Ike

I'm back! It's good to be home but what a busy, busy time it is. We had a great day at work with lots of end of the year and birthday festivities. Very fun. And it was so wonderful to see everyone! I didn't realize how much I really missed being in town and at work. Lots of hugging, socializing, celebrating and catching up. And somewhere in there, we did manage to do some work.

This church is across the street from us and I saw that they are set up to shelter some evacuees who are escaping Hurricane Ike, which is set to hit the Houston area tonight. That's about 2.5 to 3 hours from Seguin. Last night on the way home from the SA airport, we noticed a lot of traffic going west. (By the way, thanks honey for joining that traffic to pick me up!)

There's more traffic in and around town. I think after Katrina and Rita, people take evacuations much more seriously.

I'll try to post another one before I leave Sunday. One more week in California and I'm home an entire week! I am so looking forward to that!

Sky Watch Friday

Hello from Vegas. I get to come home tonight! Hooray! This is from my archives but I wanted to post it because I am suffering from bloglessness this week and I didn't take my camera cable so I couldn't upload any pictures to post to the travel blog either. :)

Hope everyone has a great week. Check out Sky Watch for other fabulous skies.

Video Stores

Woo hoo, happy Labor Day-Monday Off Day. It is glorious to have an extra day to be home, relaxing with Mark. We decided we were going to watch a movie so we went to Blockbuster. We don't watch a whole lot of TV and don't have time for movies to the point where NetFlix would be a good deal. Maybe when we both retire. We actually caught SpiderMan 3 the other night on one of the many cable channels and that was fun though I like 1 and 2 more. For our Blockbuster pick, we got National Treasure 2. We love treasure hunt movies. They're so much fun.

In town, we also have Hastings as another option for movies and music. We have a card there also but usually opt for Blockbuster. No particular reason.

Hope you all are having a great holiday weekend. I also want to say happy birthday to our friend Barbara! Hope you're having a great day, Barbara. (Hope you checked your mailbox for a surprise we left.) I'm off to Vegas tomorrow; I'll post to Ta-Ravel Blog.