Wildflower weekend.

Seems like I've been in the kitchen and/or dining room since Thursday of last week. Young Miss C and her friend C drove up here on Friday afternoon....... they stayed till Friday night. It was so nice to see her again..... C had her 21st birthday at the beginning of this month, which is so hard to believe...... I've known her since she was in second grade, and now she's 21.

Yesterday, one of my husband's friends drove up from Houston, along with his wife and two-yr-old daughter..... we're not used to having little kids in the house, but it all went just fine. She was an adorable baby, well-behaved for just two, but one thing is for sure-- you can't have a long adult conversation during lunch when there's a little baby stealing the show.

This coming weekend, our friends V & S and their son and daughter-in-law will be here...... it's S's birthday and they're taking a drive to the Hill Country to see the wildflowers, have lunch with us here, and visit with friends H & K who they met at our Christmas party. H and S hit it off because they're both history buffs, so now having V & S here without inviting H & K also just won't do. We'll have a full dining room table on Saturday..... I'll be in the kitchen again the day before and the morning of..... but V is also bringing some food up, and S's birthday cake, so that makes it easier.

As I type, I've got the parakeets out on the balcony..... I put their cage in the corner, out of the sun and out of the breeze.... they love being outside-- they can call out to the bluebirds and the barn swallows. The bird-chattering here is sometimes overwhelming. Sounds like we're living in an aviary. But I'd rather hear all the birds than the sad calls of the mama cows when the calves are taken to market. Which hasn't happened yet this season, come to think of it. The crying of the mama cows as they search the pastures for their calves has just got to be the saddest of sounds. I could never raise cows and then send some of them 'to market.'

The weather has been gorgeous..... sunny days, warm without being too hot.... comfortable nights with lots of stars.... and some mornings have been a bit foggy but it quickly burns off before noon-time. While everyone else was driving around looking at wildflowers this weekend, my husband and I were at home, entertaining friends. Hopefully, we can get out on 390 tomorrow or the next day and have a look-see at the views from that road. Our fields here are filling up with bluebonnets and paintbrushes and yellow stars..... but it's still nice to see the acres of wildflowers up on La Bahia, with the lake as a back-drop for all that color.

I'm still pinching myself sometimes...... people drive two hours from Houston to come up here in the Spring to look at the views...... all we have to do is look out from our porch.

Location, location, location....

The ducks are in the pond...... the ducks are out of the pond...... as many as 19, as few as half a dozen. We thought maybe the ducks were using our pond as a rest-stop on their way to their summer home. This afternoon, though, two of the neighbor's dogs (who usually run loose) were splashing and swimming around in the pond.... one very good reason for all the ducks to fly elsewhere.

I don't think the mama ducks will be building nests and laying eggs in a pond that can be invaded by two fairly good-sized dogs who were trying to catch the turtles today. If they'll swim after the turtles, they will certainly go after the ducks. And baby ducklings wouldn't have a chance. My husband will probably talk to the neighbor about his dogs..... but it most likely won't do any good. That man can't even keep his goats on his own property, much less the dogs. Even his cows get out from time to time... oh well... we'll see what happens.


The parakeets....... I thought they were getting a little bored with the cage they were in. When we bought this cage at PetCo, we didn't get the smallest cage, but we didn't get the largest one either. The lady said this cage would be fine for just two birds. However, she didn't know that BlueBell (the parakeet we bought) would have the attention span of a flea and would get bored with the cage, the toys, the perches, the view. Houdini (the parakeet we found in the yard) has always been quite content with the cage and everything in it. But it just looked to me like they needed more room.

I've been looking at the resale and thrift shops for bird cages....... and found one last week. Very tall, round like a cylinder...... much more room in that vintage cage than in the newer one from PetCo. (The new one was $59, the vintage cage was $14.... so much for finding a "free" parakeet.)

And how long does it take for two little birds to go from one cage to another? Too damn long...... I hated being out-smarted by two parakeets. I lined up the cage doors perfectly.... opened both doors..... watched them from outside the room..... not only weren't they interested in the new cage, but they didn't even go near the door. How could that be? I have to be so careful when I open the cage door because they've tried to fly out. And now they had an open cage door (which led directly to another open cage door) and they didn't go near it.

It took me two days to figure out how to get them into the new cage....... I took one of my husband's white handkerchiefs..... opened it up and dangled it inside the old cage. While the parakeets were inspecting that, my other hand came up from behind them and I gently folded them into the hankie..... one at a time, of course...... and then I just took the hankie-covered bird out of the old cage and into the new cage.

The new cage has taller branches that I got from the pecan trees.... they can climb and fly from branch to branch.... they have two mirrors now, a little swing, perches near the bottom and the top...... more things to explore.... and the new cage still fits on the little table by the window which gives them a perfect view of the gazebo and the pecan trees (which are always filled with sparrows and swallows and woodpeckers and bluebirds). What more could two parakeets want?

And the 'new' cage that cost us $59 at PetCo..... it's all cleaned out and sitting on top of the fridge in the pantry. It looks like a decoration.... I thought of selling it in my space at the shop, but I'm going to hold on to it for a while. Sooner or later, there may be another 'free' parakeet in the yard..... or a baby bunny that gets away from its mama.... or heaven only knows what could turn up out there.

Speaking of 'turning up out there'--- the wildflowers are beginning to explode........ bluebonnets and paint brushes and wild daisies and yellow stars. We've had so much rain that the grasses are growing as fast as the wildflowers. Everything is lush and green and beautiful.... and people are starting to drive around to take photos of the flowers... plopping their children and their pets into wildflower-filled pastures as they try to get that perfect picture. It makes me wonder why they all don't get covered with fire ants.

March Cookie Madness

Tonight was what could very well be our First Annual Cookie Exchange in this part of the Hills.... "March Cookie Madness" is what I called it... a cookie exchange that women usually do before Christmas, but not many have time for that before the holidays.

What surprised me most was that we didn't have duplicate cookie recipes. The dining room began to smell like a bakery as the cookie platters were put around the table..... peanut butter, oatmeal with raisins, coconut macaroons, sugar cookies with green sparkles, oatmeal with chocolate chips, pecans & Raisinets, chocolate chip with pecans, oatmeal with almonds, Irish cream brownies, German chocolate cookies. I also put a platter of strawberries, grapes and cheese on the table, but that didn't get much attention with all the cookie offerings there.

At one point, someone said how much fun the night was, and I talked about doing this again and inviting the husbands, and I got a little chorus of "Oh no you don't!" and "What?!" The ladies of the Hills just had a good time without the guys, having punch and tea and cookies and brownies...... and laughing about life up here in the country with the wildlife in the fields and ghosts in old houses.

I can see this being a monthly get-together..... or every other month..... when you live on a good-sized piece of property where your next-door neighbor isn't exactly next door, it's just nice to arrange these parties so we all don't just wave to one another as we're driving down the road and out to the main highway. A friendly wave does not a friendship make. March Cookie Madness, however, does the trick.

And April? That could be a Crazy Casserole Potluck Supper.... or something like that.

St. Patrick's Day

My cousin F tells me that the Powers That Be on the Food Channel aren't mentioning that today is "St. Patrick's Day." Does that mean that the Liberal Powers That Be are now saying that it isn't politically correct to talk about Saint Patrick's Day?! Do we need to say Mr. Patrick's Day from now on?! Give me a blessed break....... all of that has gotten way out of control, if you ask me.

To celebrate St. Patrick's Day, I made Irish soda bread.... came out very well, but I put most of it in the freezer. Our young Miss C may come for an over-night visit next weekend, so I will take it out then and we can all have it for breakfast. Irish Soda Bread French Toast? How's that for being open-minded and politically incorrect?!

My husband and I walked around the property this morning.... my husband usually does that every weekend to check on the progress in the bluebird houses. New nests, just-laid eggs, and a few tiny hatchlings to report this week. The bluebird eggs are so vibrantly blue....... and the hatchlings are so teeny and helpless, with their bright yellow beaks being the largest part of them. So impossibly cute, and so terribly helpless until they've grown their feathers and are able to leave the safety of their nests.

The barn swallows are back..... and two have taken residence over one of the kitchen windows again. That nest has been there (and occupied) for two Springs and two Summers. The adult birds are keeping an eye on Gatsby when he's out on the porch, and both Mickey and Sweet Pea are constantly watching the birds flying back and forth to the nest. One of the barn swallow nests has been claimed by a pair of wrens. Teeny birds in that nest built by the larger barn swallows..... I'm sure the mama bird has already laid her eggs because she's been guarding the nest like a sentry, with Sweet Pea keeping watch from the breakfast room windows.

As we walked the property this morning, we could see thousands upon thousands of bluebonnets..... just a few are already showing their blooms, but most of them won't be ready for that for another couple of weeks...... then we will have an explosion of color here. The Weather Wizards have been promising that this will be a spectacular wildflower season, and I'm sure they're right.

The ducks that were in the pond (19 at last count) have moved on now...... I'm guessing that they were using our pond as a resting and/or meeting place as they flew from one location to another. I'm hoping that they'll be back at the end of the Summer, as they fly from east to west (north to south?) from their summer home to their winter home.

The pond is by no means empty, though..... we have at least six turtles out there, and about 37,000 frogs...... you can hear the frog symphony at night after the sun goes down. And the poor little frogs who choose to come out of the pond and see what's on the other side of the road-- those are the ones that we see squished into the gravel and tar when we go walking in the morning. Ouch.

The stray cat...... she's still around, and I've been calling her Lady Ga-Ga....... for the simple reason that Gatsby and Mickey and Sweet Pea (all males) are watching her closely as she eats and not hissing or howling at her..... Gatsby has gone ga-ga over Lady Ga-Ga. The stray comes up on the porch to eat..... I keep food out there on the picnic table for her. She will eat and then walk across the porch, down to the back deck, out into the yard and then across the property and into the barn. I'm sure she's been living in the barn, especially after all the rain we had last week.... at least she was warm and dry, and she just got her feline fur wet a little bit when she got hungry enough to run through the rain. For as long as she's here, I will continue to feed her. Lady Ga-Ga is definitely an outside cat, though. If she sees us through the windows, she will run and hide.... she's only interested in eating her meals here... she doesn't want to have a relationship. Lady Ga-Ga is a cat, and that's that.

Another rainy day......

..... and still more painting..... I finished the wainscoting on the island today-- the hard part with the bookshelves at the end. Everything there looked fresh and new, except for the side with the cabinets. My husband wasn't too pleased when I told him I was going to paint the cabinets on my next painting day. "All of these cabinets? I thought you were just going to paint the bottom half of the wainscoting in here?" (Did I say that? I think I did.)

But then I looked at the cabinets..... all of them. An awful lot of cabinets to paint, and some have glass fronts, with small panes of glass on the doors. How on earth would I paint those without making a mess or taking three months to finish? Maybe he's right. (Did I say that?)

I got out the box of Mr. Clean Magic Erasers..... truly magic, whatever is in those soft little sponges. I used them on all of the cabinets of the island.... they look like new-- like they were just painted. Why on earth would anyone want to paint cabinets that look so fresh and new? Then I cleaned all the rest of the cabinets..... they look brand new. So what if they're white.... they're clean and fresh and I don't have to paint them. Bottom line.... I'm not painting the cabinets..... just the bottom half of the wainscoting that's all around the kitchen. And the breakfast room. And the little hallway going from the kitchen to the breakfast room. One wall at a time... when it's done, it's done. "Whitened Sage" wainscoting with white cabinets. Sounds perfect to me.

Speaking of purr-fect...... the stray cat was just out on the porch a little while ago. Gatsby is in the house, staying out of the rain..... so it was the perfect chance for the stray cat to eat. That cat has been eating two meals a day now, thanks to the rain that keeps Gatsby inside for part of the afternoon. "That cat" needs a name, even though it's a stray. I've been telling my cousin F about the stray... she's a cat-lover also, and of course she agrees that every cat needs a name, whether it's a stray or a keeper.

I think the stray is a female.... in that case, I'm calling her "Lady Ga-Ga," just because Gatsby goes ga-ga whenever he sees her and he chases her away from the food dish out there. (Gatsby's world is all about food.) If the stray happens to be a male cat, then I will call him "Stevie Wonder," because that poor cat eats his meals wondering where Gatsby is.... and will he get to finish his food before Gatsby pounces on him?

Stray cats.... they all find their way here.... and of course I feed them because I can't stand the thought of a lost and lonely cat having nothing to eat but grass and chicken feed. As my dad used to say--- if God is a cat, then I've got it made.

More rain... more ducks... more painting.

It's been raining for two days now... sometimes pouring, but mostly just a nice steady rain that is probably filling up the rain gauge in the backyard-- but it's been too wet to get out there to check it. The pond looks beautiful... and there are more ducks-- 18 of them, at last count. The number keeps growing. Today's rain and thunder didn't seem to bother the ducks, but if a truck goes by and makes too much noise down by the road, they will fly out of the pond and into the woods, and then fly back into the water when the quiet returns.

The stray cat that I've seen around the house is still here... and he/she has been hiding and living under the gazebo. While Gatsby was inside late this afternoon, the stray cat was out on the porch eating the food I left out for him. Sweet face on that stray, mostly gray fur with some swirls..... not a lot of stripes, but a few on his tail. He ate so fast, looking all around as he ate... he may be a feral cat, but he looks healthier than he did when I first saw him-- regular meals will do that. Actually, it may be a female since it's not a very big cat.

Gatsby still isn't happy that another cat is out there... he has forgotten that he was once a starving and stray cat himself. I will keep putting food out there for the stray, and bringing Gatsby into the house so the stray can eat in peace.

I've started painting the kitchen.... started with the island.... the same "Whitened Sage" that I used on the hallway bathroom and the little half-bath downstairs. Such a pale, pastel shade of green.... in the sunlight it looks like an antique white, but when the lights are on, you can see the soft green shade. It will take a while to do all the cabinets and built-ins, but I'll just keep on painting like I have been.... one wall at a time till it's all done. My intention is to do the kitchen and the breakfast room with the same soft green.

Wonder of wonders today....... our oldest chicken laid an egg in the nesting box. She had been in that box for so long that I thought something was wrong with her. I even petted her to make sure she was still breathing, and she didn't ruffle her feathers at me and fly out of the box.... she just sat there and let me pet her. I fully expected to find her lifeless feathered self when I locked up the coop tonight, but I found the egg instead. And I know it was Audrey's egg because both Scarlett and PittyPat had laid their eggs today, and all three hens lay different colored eggs. I checked my notebook... the last time Audrey laid an egg was on June 3rd of last year.... so it's no wonder that she had such a hard time of it today.

More rain.... more eggs..... more painting..... more ducks..... and another stray cat. And... another party on the way....... "March Cookie Madness" is coming up before the month is over. JS and I had talked about doing a cookie exchange get-together (ladies only) before the holidays. But everyone was busy with the holidays.... who had time for that much baking? So we thought the Spring would be a good time for cookies..... I invited just about all of the ladies here to bake their favorite cookies...... bring some to eat and some to share.... and we will all get together here for cookies and tea and pineapple punch.

"A little madness in the Spring is wholesome even for a Queen." -- Emily Dickinson

Monday stuff....

Another Monday....... another room painted...... the living room is now a beautiful soft green (Behr's "Promenade," to be exact)..... I finished painting it this afternoon. All the pictures and mirrors are back in their places and they look even better on the softer walls. That dark green that had been there was just very hard to look at.... I'm surprised I didn't re-paint that room a lot sooner. But it's done now..... and I'm taking a painting break before I get out the "Whitened Sage" paint can and start painting the little half-bath downstairs. Three cheers to Behr paints, by the way... their paint/primer top-of-their-line paint is just perfect. (Especially when you find the right colors.)

We had a birthday lunch for J over the weekend..... my husband brought home huge Gulf shrimp from the waterfront area in Clear Lake...... and I used the Cake Boss's recipe to make Italian-style fried shrimp... totally delicious. I also made twice-baked stuffed potatoes, which was a treat because I hadn't made those in quite a while. I discovered a pre-made wheel of Brie that was covered in puff pastry.... frozen, so all you had to do was pop it in the oven.... that was a nice surprise because it was delicious, so that was a first course for our special lunch, along with a nice salad. "The Perfect Bite" is the name of the company that makes that Brie..... so I'll be looking for more of their products. Carrot cake for dessert.... J's favorite cake, and also mine and my husband's. (Except of course, if my Aunt Dolly is baking.... then her chocolate cake would have to trump my carrot cake.)

There are ducks in our pond now..... a male and a female, so I'm hoping they will stay there, decide our pond is the perfect place to raise a little duck family..... make a nest along the edge of the pond, lay some eggs...... and then surprise us one day with a little line of ducklings swimming behind the mama duck in the pond. Wouldn't that be nice...... I'm hoping it happens just that way. After dealing with all the really wild wildlife around here, it would be nice to have some sweet gentle ducks on the property.

When I went out to close up the coop this evening, Scarlett was waiting for me by the porch steps. She sat down on the stones as soon as my feet left the steps, and she waited for me to pick her up. Into my arms she went, and she was cooing like a mourning dove all the way to the coop. She is the sweetest chicken... it just amazes me that each of the chickens we've had along the way have all had such different personalities. Makes me think of that book called "When Elephants Weep." After reading that book, you just cannot look at any sort of animal as just an animal.

My painting arm is tired.... it's been a long painting day.... and a long painting/cooking weekend.... but it was all fun... and the end result is a beautiful living room that looks fresh and brand new.

Spring is springing.

We are on the brink of a magnificent wildflower season. As we walk up and down and along our road here every morning, J and J and I have seen the first bluebonnets popping up in the grass. There was just one at first.... an over-achiever, I called it...... and J said Those are the ones that get noticed-- they don't get lost in the crowd.

That one little over-achieving bluebonnet has now been joined by a dozen others, along the side of the road near the creek. The recent heavy rains produced a beautiful waterfall there as the rain made its way over the rocky side of the higher ground around the creek-bed. We could hear the sound of the waterfall as we walked every morning, but even though the creek still has a good deal of water in it, the upper part of the creek isn't over-flowing now so the waterfall has been put to rest.

The bluebonnets, however, are not resting. We can see hundreds and thousands of them wherever we look... their pointed green leaves are going to sprout up into blue and white flowers that will look like an ocean of blue in a few weeks. I've also seen a couple of red Indian paintbrushes, and the yellow daisies have also begun to bloom. Those yellow wildflowers aren't daisies... they look like a daisy off in the distance, but when you get close to them, the petals are pointed, not rounded.... I just can't think of their name at the moment.

As I type, I can hear a symphony of frogs outside.... amazing how the frogs and turtles have once again found our pond after its long dry hole-in-the-ground existence due to the lack of rain. For the past few months, we've had rain on a more or less 'regular' basis and all of the ponds have filled up very nicely. The turtles, however, should learn to be content in their own ponds. I've seen five or six smashed turtles up on the main highway... how did they think they could get from a pond on one side of the highway to a pond on the other side? And was it so important to try and cross that highway?

When we were walking the other morning, it was so quiet outside that we could hear the neighbor's cows pulling up the grass and chewing it. Rip... tear... chew... chew.... The grass over there has gotten so green and high that the cows and goats surely must be satisfied. Last year's fields were so brown and green.... this year looks to be more promising.

Speaking of green..... I've been painting the living room..... and the happy "Promenade" green is definitely an improvement over the darker green that was there before. I've painted the longest and hardest wall..... the one with the heaviest furniture that had to be moved, and the wall with the most pictures, plus a heavy mirror. All of that is back in place now, and it looks very nice. The other walls aren't that hard to do... there are archways and windows, and the wood around the fireplace. I was going to paint that fireplace wall this afternoon, but my wrist was getting tired and I want to be extra careful on that wall so I don't get green paint on that beautiful old wood around the fireplace. Now that I've started on that room, I'm anxious to get it done, but not anxious enough to mess it up.... so it can wait another day.