Lake Travis

This is what most people think of when they think of Texas.

Fields.

Cows.

Cowboy hats.

Sure, there are fields in Minnesota.  

But Minnesota is known for something else.

Something that rhymes with

Ten. 

Thousand.

Lakes.

Texas doesn't have that many.

In fact, the only lakes in Austin are "man made."

Lady Bird Lake.

Lake Austin.

And the largest, Lake Travis.

Allow me to explain.

The Colorado River runs through Austin.

There is a dam outside of Austin,

Mansfield Dam to be precise,

situated on said river. 

I thought this was funny.

Coming from a land with so many lakes and all.

Ha! 

I thought.

Texas has to make lakes, I scoffed.

And then

I drove south on RM 620.

Which happens to be the road I live off of.

And then I saw this:

This is Hill Country.

And then.

Then.

I saw this:

I suddenly didn't care that this lake was man made.
Created by a wall of cement.
A wall that leaves this lake 600+ feet deep when it's full.
which they report on every night on the local news
because apparently it's a BIG deal when it's not full.
As it wasn't last summer.

But I digress

Not one bit of this mattered.

I was busy trying to catch my breath.

My photos don't do it justice.

I am not sure that any photos can really do it justice.

When you first see it, it comes out of nowhere.
One moment you are on RM 620.
It's like any other road.
Billboards.
Subdivisions.
Gas Stations.

And then, suddenly
without warning
THIS:

Please come to visit me.

Come see this lake.

It's worth the drive.

I promise.

Cheers,

A

Shoes

What are they doing?

I had no clue.

So I asked Elena. 

Mommy! They are going for a ride.

Oh. Sorry, child. Girl whom I labored over for 15 hours. Who I strained and pushed and expelled from my tired, aching womb. 

You are absolutely right. 

I should have known that.  

Obviously.

Cheers,

A

Twofer

Please ignore the poor quality of this photo.

Focus, instead, on the look on Elena's face.

Joy.

It's so rarely captured by my camera that I felt the need to share.

Blurry or not.

Yes.
I blogged twice today.
Which I try not to do.

BUT.

a) I caught a great, albeit fuzzy, photo of my devastatingly cute kid and
b) I made a second shirt.

This one has a few mistakes, too.

But not as many.

In fact,

the largest mistake I made with this top was using white.

Happy Weekend.

and

Cheers!

A

Imperfectly

My friend Rebecca gave this pattern to me as a going away gift.

She likes to sew.

She got me into quilting.

So, logically it would make sense that she

would jumpstart my foray into the world 

of clothes making.

And by "jumpstart" I mean shove.

I finally got up the courage to try the pattern.

I completed the shirt today.

It is not perfect.

It's not even close.

But there are parts of it that I am really proud of.

Especially the part where I say

"I made it."

Cheers,

A

Intended Purpose.

Of this I am certain:

PlayDoh is an integral part of childhood.

A staple toy.

At some point in our lives we each played with playdoh.

Made burgers. 

Or ice cream.

Or snakes and balls and cookie cutter shapes.

And those of us who were a little more daring,

perhaps a little defiant

(I'm having trouble thinking of an example of such a child...)

We were so brave as to combine our colors.

Rendering our playdoh forever changed.

Never to be returned to its original condition.

But even those of us who did the unspeakable combining of colors...

I am certain we didn't do this:

And the above photo is a perfect example of playdoh's purpose.

DRL and Elena were playing together before we went to the Austin Zoo.

I went to join them and saw the amazingness that DRL was creating for Elena.

A baby.

With its own playdoh bouncy chair.

Eventually,

as parents often do,

playdoh daddy got tired.

He needed to rest.

So DRL built him his own chair.

And while he was making intricate, detailed sculpture

I was making this:

Goodbye forever,

A

Wednesday Wisdom : NERD ALERT!

I would like to use this blog as a forum in which to announce the following.

One: I am a huge nerd.

Two: I have jiggly arms.

Three: Only I think I am funny.

And the fourth, and possibly most nerdy: I own a sewing machine.

I know how to use it (kind of).

I am making my

(cough. cough. ahem. cough.)

FIFTH quilt as we speak.

It is called a "String quilt" because you take strings of fabric and sew them onto a backing.
Usually paper.
I, however, am far too inept for this method
and so I am using inexpensive white cotton for the backing.

I should also note that I am not making a quilt.
I am making a duvet cover.

For my bed.

See those little squares?
They are 8 inches.
I have to make approximately
ONE HUNDRED FORTY FOUR of them.

I have 12 done so far.

BUT.

Last night I got out my graph paper notebook and decided to do some sketching.
I tried my hand at quilt design.

And this is what I came up with....

Instead of 144 string pieced quilts

which I would have no chance of completing before my 83rd birthday

I now have significantly less to make.

Some of my blocks will just be

plain

old 

brown.

With a white stripe on the bias.

So as to make the diamond pattern.

And....if you turn the drawing upside down

you have a whole new look.

It's like two quilts in one.

Err...I mean Duvet Covers.

or something.

Cheers,

A