Homespun Christmas

My brother and his wife missed their flight on Christmas Eve due to weather and delayed connections, so they arrived late on Christmas day. We celebrated one day after Christmas...but what's in a day? We had soooo much fun sharing in the delights of opening gifts, dining on a huge Christmas feast, and enjoying the mild winter weather outside for a walk in the park.

We also enjoyed playing with my parent's cat, Buddy!

Daniel and Jason had a great time playing basketball, and even got a little competetive with childhood-style board games!

At church, our whole family presented music and Scripture, which highlighted the importance of reading the Bible and spending time one-on-one, daily with God. A lesson we all need to be practicing!

We had a wonderful time visiting our famiy in Kentucky! Mom and Dad cooked and baked with lots of love and we enjoyed eating all their delicious creations! Time spent with family is priceless!

Our Fall Garden

Brussel Sprouts ...they form little nubs on the stock.
Tomatoes

Cauliflower

Directly behind Jason are two rows of Strawberries...they are currently producing strawberries!

Giving Thanks

We enjoyed a delicious Thanksgiving with Jason's family in Louisiana!

Feeding the ducks is a tradition...whenever we go over to Jason's grandparent's house.

The bayou and gardens at Jason's grandparent's house.

Afternoon at Sunny Beach

Who goes to the beach during the last week of November? Me and Jason! The water was extra choppy. The beach was all turned up and shredded up after Hurricane Ike. It was our first time back to "our beach".

After leaving the beach, we drove through the historic areas of Galveston proper. What we saw made us feel hopeful, but sad none the less. Much of the "life" on the island has been sucked out. Normalcy is slowly coming back--very slowly. The Strand, where we had shopped with my parents a few months ago... it was dead and only a few restaurants and bars had their OPEN lights glowing. No horse-drawn carriages trotted by, and no people wandered along the streets.

A typical Saturday night would find The Strand packed with shoppers, and people enjoying a night out on the town. Those days are in the future of Galveston...I can feel it...but who knows how far distant that bright future will be.

Houston Renaissance Festival

Jason suprised me by getting tickets for the Renaissance Festival a couple weekends ago! I suspected that was where we would be going, but I wasn't completely sure...since Houston has soooo much to offer when it comes to festivals, shows, concerts, and places to visit. The night before, I asked him if I could guess..."Does it start with an R...is it about an hour north of here?" He said yes...and I knew.

So we headed out on Sunday morning. It was a gorgeous day...not too hot...not too cold. We arrived about 11:00 after having a yummy breakfast at Sonic on the way up (ummmm...I love their strawberry fruit smoothie)! We parked in a field, and headed up to the entrance gate. I was impressed already, and we were not even past the ticket collectors.

As we arrived, the king had called his court to order, which included on-lookers and about 50-100 people dressed in costumes. Everywhere we walked, people were dressed in a wide variety of renaissance-style costumes. We saw knights in shining armor, corsetted maidens, queens, kings, Tartans, Scottish kilts, fairies, monks, and many other creatively costumed attendees. The grounds were festive! Stages were set up for renaissance era-themed drama, music, knights on horseback, and falconry programs. We had written down the times for several programs, and wandered around the various shops and exhibits in between shows.

We learned about the Gutenberg Press...and I got to serve as the print shop assistant. They even put a "costume" on me...the floppy hat and protective vest-thing. I got to keep the print I pressed, too! That was cool!

We rode on an Elephant, and got to touch his trunk, too!

We cheered for the knights in shining armour jousting on horseback!

We listened to bagpipers! That was AWESOME!!

We learned about birds from the Falconry show! That was such a fun day! I want to come back next year!

A Walk in the Park

We spent Sabbath afternoon walking at a new park! Jason spotted it when he was out doing Hurricane Ike relief in League City a couple of weeks ago.

We saw two deer in a field...they were eating something off the bushes in this clearing.

We have our favorite parks, where we regularly spend glorious afternoons strolling, bird watching, and counting all the various wildlife we see. We wanted to try something new, and this was the perfect day for it! The place was a little boring at first, but as we explored the various trails, we found beauty and serenity.

Fall colors are few and far between in Houston! Here is a sweet gum tree with some red and green colors that we spotted along the trail.