In the merry month of May....

Still gardening....... the flowers and plants are all doing nicely...... amazing what daily watering can do.... plus we've had some rainy days (wonder of all wonders) so that has helped as well.  My husband has brought more mulch home from the town's recycle plant (we call it "Mulch Monday")... so the flowerbeds are all thriving with the fresh layers of mulch.

We went to a somewhat-local peach farm this week with J & J...... we all picked more peaches than we really needed, but they all looked so delicious, and there were different varieties on the trees.... plus the peach farmer makes home-made peach ice cream every morning, so we had to sample that before we all left. Sitting on a wooden bench, eating fresh peach ice cream, surrounded by acres and acres of peach trees. Does it get any better during the month of May?

JS has become a bee-keeper...... her very own swarm of bees has taken up residence in her new hives............ thousands and thousands of very busy worker-bees and one celebrated and adored Queen Bee.  My husband got stung by a bee last week while we were out in the garden, and he told me to call up J and tell her that one of her bees was misbehaving in our yard.  J is now the Bee Mama of the community, and it won't be long till she'll be harvesting that fresh honey. If the bees allow her to get that close....

Mickey has now become an official outside cat, keeping Gatsby company 24 hours a day.  I've been leaving the gate of the coop open, so Mickey can come and go as he pleases... which he does, of course. (Give a cat a little bit of freedom, and there's no going back.) And Gatsby, who hated that coop with a passion, now loves it...... he must realize that the gate is always open and he's free to come and go, but Gatsby prefers to nap all day in the coop, coming to the back porch when his kitty-tummy says it's meal-time.  I never thought I'd see the day when too-small Mickey Kitty would be left outside all day and all night.  But his 'inside behavior' warranted a change, and that's just the way it goes.  I had some sleepless nights at the beginning of this, but now I guess I'm used to it, and I just hope for the best.  So far, Mickey has taken a lesson from Gatsby, and he stays near the house and the cottage, only going as far up the road as the barn..... plus a few little forays into the drainage pipes near the street.

Sweet Pea is now the only inside cat..... and he's more puppy-ish than cat-like.  Sweet Pea would crawl into our pockets if he could.... he prefers to be close at all times, watching everything we're doing unless he's sleeping or eating.  He's a very self-sufficient cat, and if he could open the container holding his cat food, he'd probably feed himself.  Sweet Pea's favorite spot...... in my arms, curled up and looking upside-down at me..... a Romeo-cat if ever there was one.

We have a new toy, as of yesterday....... a riding mower.  And before it was even delivered, my husband asked me not to 'bling or bedazzle' it.  Whoever comes up with these mower styles hasn't reached the top of the imagination totem-pole, that's for sure. You would think they'd give you more color choices.  Ours is orange and black........... I told my husband it looks like a Halloween decoration.  I've named it "The Pumpkin."

My husband was giving me riding-mower lessons yesterday, and I failed every test. I couldn't even turn it on........ I turned the key and nothing happened. We thought it was because I wasn't heavy enough to bypass the shut-off safety mechanism. (I thought The Powers That Be had sent me a gift from heaven............. "This city-girl is just not going to drive this mower.")   However....... turns out that we didn't realize the seat of the mower could be moved closer to the wheel and the pedals, which would allow me to press harder on the pedals........... if you don't press hard enough on the brake when you turn the key, the engine won't start...... so that was the problem yesterday.

But today was a brand new day....... we moved the seat closer to the wheel...... I was able to press down on the brake......... I turned the key, and voila!  The engine started without a problem, and off I went, around the gazebo and the pecan trees........ sans blades, since my husband cut the grass yesterday.  I have to admit that riding the mower is fun............... makes me think of the old pedal-cars at the Crossbay Blvd. kiddie-park that my dad used to take us to when I was a kid. Even then I loved to drive..... and the next time this grass needs to be cut, this city-girl will be riding The Pumpkin and mowing these lawns.  Can we hear a yeee-haaaaawwww for that?!

We had company here last week..... my husband's family came down from the northeast for a five-day visit........ after their days here, they drove to Galveston to see The Gulf and enjoy the fresh-caught seafood, and then they drove into Houston to see The Astros lose a baseball game in their billion-dollar stadium.  While they were here in the Hill Country, we showed them around the small towns near our own small town, brought them to the best restaurants we have up here, and introduced them to our four best friends.  Aside from the fact that my husband's family had to live without Starbucks and a morning paper, I think they enjoyed their visit just fine.

While we were driving around the County, we had lunch one day at "Royer's" in Round Top.  I love that little town, mainly because it IS so little. Their population sign always stated: "Welcome to Round Top, Population 77."   However....... drum roll please...... Round Top has put up a new sign because the new one now says "Population 90."  A population explosion, if ever there was one.  They just might have to make Royer's Café a little bigger to accommodate the new citizens.