"How much is that doggie in the window...."

I used to sing that old song in the 1950s when I was a kid...............     We went out to dinner last night with J and J, and we were all happy with ourselves for finding a great little restaurant (finally--- a gourmet restaurant in our own town!).   Then we drove into the 'downtown' area after we ate to listen to the Saturday night concert in the square.  The band was taking a break when we got there, so we walked around the streets, looking into the shops and just taking in the small-town atmosphere, which is alive and well in our little Hill Country town.

And what did we see........ a lady holding the tiniest little puppy with a red ribbon around his neck, a little red heart dangling from the ribbon..... just as cute as Cute can possibly be........ it was a tiny teacup poodle, the color of Kraft caramel candy.... her dog had three puppies..... she had sold the other two, this one was the last..... the cutest, the most lovable, the one with personality-plus.  And she was selling him for $750.  Ouch.  (Nothing small-town about that price.)

I just cannot, for the life of me, justify spending that much money on a tiny puppy when the animal shelters are filled with puppies and dogs who need a good home.  But this one was so cute...... so small... so perfectly adorable.  It looked like a tiny little honey-colored teddy bear.  Actually, my husband and I came up with the same name for that little puppy--- "Winnie The Pooh!"  (I resisted the urge to tell my husband "It's a sign!  A sign!  We have to get that little puppy now because we both came up with the identical name for it!")

But no...... not for $750.   I keep telling myself that $750 would feed a lot of stray puppies and dogs right in our own animal shelter in town, if I was wanting to write out a check for that amount of money.

Of course it was cute..... and it's small and would be easy to care for...... and Winnie The Pooh even licked my husband right on the nose last night (all puppies and dogs love my husband)........... but we said no.  Thank you, but no.  We came back to our senses before the night was over.

But I have that woman's name and phone number, just in case we lose our minds again.

The Happiness Jar.

It works.... it really does work.  That glass jar from J's two young granddaughters.... given to me on the day of our Crazy Hat Tea Party. The little girls had written notes of happy things and put them into the jar, telling me that when I was having a bad day or a rainy day, or if I thought I was going to get mad, I was supposed to put my hand in that Happiness Jar and pull out a piece of paper and read it...... and then...... "everything will be just fine and you're going to smile."

The two girls, C and J, also told me that I could put in little notes of my own.... whatever made me happy. So of course I did.... and the first thing that went into the jar was the brochure from Pearl Fryar's garden in Bishopville, SC.  Every day since the tea party, I found myself thinking of happy things and putting notes or pictures of good memories into that pretty glass jar..... Miss C's graduation photo, pictures from DisneyWorld, a tiny yellow fluffy Easter chick (if that doesn't make you smile, then something is definitely wrong), a quote from "To Kill a Mockingbird," a vintage-looking Santa from an old Christmas card..... into the Happiness Jar went special little memories, one by one, and I closed the lid of the jar each time to keep all that happiness safe and sound.

After dinner tonight, I went outside to the coop to feed Mickey.... and then I watered the plants and flowers..... and picked up fallen branches from the pecan trees which fell into the yard when the wind kicked up this afternoon in a pretend rain-storm (34 rain drops does not a storm make).  I also filled up the bird baths so our resident barn swallows would have fresh water without leaves from the pecan trees turning the water brown.  I was all set to come into the back door and I remembered the food dishes in the coop...... I walked back to the coop and picked up Mickey's nearly-empty dishes..... that cat always leaves a few pieces of the canned food.... he doesn't belong to the 'clean plate club.'

Back across the yard.... around the courtyard, trying not to trip over Gatsby, walking up the steps with the ceramic food dishes...... changing from outdoor shoes to indoor shoes before I walked into the kitchen......... and then..... smashing and shattering on the tile floor went not one but two of the ceramic cat dishes, both of them slipping out of my hands and creating such a ruckus that Sweet Pea ran from the kitchen to the TV room and my husband came running down the stairs.  And there I stood, in the middle of hundreds of bits of white ceramic dishes and smears of Fancy Feast Classic Beef all over my kitchen floor. What a blessed mess it all was....... and as I swept it all up, the Fancy Feast made even more of a mess on the tile floor.

I went to the sink to get some wet paper towels and my eye caught The Happiness Jar, sitting right there on the kitchen counter in its place underneath the windows.  Happiness is just about what I needed at that very moment.  I took the lid off the jar, closed my eyes and put my hand inside...... and pulled out the first thing my fingers took hold of...... it was the small cellophane bag with green frogs  that I had used as the favor-bags for the tea party.  Inside that little bag, I had written a note that said "C and J gave me this Happiness Jar at our Crazy Hat Tea Party." 

As I cleaned up the mess on my kitchen floor, I didn't see all those shards of ceramic and the smears of cat food....... I saw the happy, pretty little faces of C and J, in their polka-dot dresses and straw hats, smiling wide as they looked at my dining room table all set up for our tea party.

To garden or not to garden...........

......... that is indeed the question when the Texas temperatures go near and over (way over) 100 degrees.   What started out as a happy and worthwhile project back in the Spring--- to make our flowerbeds as pretty as possible--- has turned into a Summer chore. 

I can remember going out to the flowerbeds every morning after walking..... and pulling up a little weed here, a little weed there, and maybe a clump of weeds over in the corner.  The weeds I pulled up fit nicely into a little plastic container that strawberries rested in at the supermarket.... and into the trash can they went. 

Since the Summer's heat began in earnest.... and the winds kicked up, carrying heaven-only-knows how many millions of weed-seeds with it...... there is no way to fit pulled-up weeds into a little plastic strawberry holder.  What is needed now is nothing short of a 50-gallon Hefty bag.  And did I mention that the temperatures have been over 100 degrees?  Who in their right mind wants to be out in that blazing hot sun pulling up weeds?

We went for weeks and weeks without a drop of rain, making it necessary to water the flowerbeds twice a day.  When we finally did get rain, which came down in buckets and thoroughly soaked the flowerbeds more efficiently than the garden hose..... up came zillions of little green weeds.  And where are those weeds now?  In the trash?  Of course not.... it's just too hot.  The little green weeds are pushing themselves up through the garden-fabric (which is supposed to deter weed growth)..... and even the mulch that we put over that fabric didn't help keep the weed population to a minimum.

There is a very old (very vintage) bathtub out in the backyard..... the original owners of this property put it there as a cute little (big) flower-tub for planting.  We planted petunias in that tub early in the Spring..... as the Spring weeks passed, the petunias spread themselves out to every inch of that tub, and it looked glorious (as if I knew what I was doing with petunias).  When the rains came in torrents, and the wind kicked up to a frenzy, that petunia-filled tub started to sprout (you guessed it) little green weeds.  I left those weeds right where they were (you guessed it--- just too hot to pull them out)........ and now those little green weeds have bright blue flowers.  They look adorable, and very delicate and happy, and I don't have the heart to pull them out of the tub. They may be weeds, but they're pretty and they have flowers growing on them.... and who's to say what's a weed and what's a flower anyway.  Gardening is like art--- beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Crazy Hat Tea Party

That was today's adventure... a "Crazy Hat Tea Party" right here, for friends J and J, and J's daughter and two granddaughters.  This is our second tea party together.... the first having a Disney Princess theme, and the next one (thought up by the kids) will be a "Crazy Dress Tea Party."  J's daughter and granddaughters live on the east coast, so the next tea party will be during their next visit to Texas.

Such fun.... we all had crazy hats, which fit our personalities.... over-the-top flowers, rhinestones and feathers on mine, country-girl straws for the two little girls, a Little House on The Prairie bonnet for J's daughter, and straw hats for both Js..... one in pink (with the price tag still attached, a la Minnie Pearl), and the other a darker and larger straw with its rim surrounded by bright red berries (also with the price tag)..... we all laughed before we sat down to tea and cupcakes and scones.  Beaded Mardi Gras necklaces at each place setting, along with fancy "real" rings for the little girls.... and the favors this time were miniature teacups filled with chocolate-covered raisins.

We played the Tea Bingo game, which the little girls just love, plus JS calls out the Bingo squares for us in her own signature style which makes the game more fun.  Great game, if you're into tea parties.... all the squares are tea-things instead of just plain old numbers..... makes it more interesting. I had books (of course) for both the little girls and the 'big' girls as prizes for the Tea Bingo game.  Books..... those two children love books, which makes me smile.

I also had my "Tea Lady Cards," which I've collected over the years.... I used them when our Miss C was a young girl and we had tea parties at our old house.  The cards are literally pictures cut from greeting cards, each picture being of a lady (some older, some young)..... but the ladies have on all kinds of outfits and their 'personalities' show thru their facial expressions and/or outfits.  On the back of those tea lady cards, I wrote down what I thought their personality traits would be,  judging on their faces and clothing.  The cards get passed around the table, everyone picks out the lady that appeals to them the most, and after everyone has their card, then we read what's written on the backs of each.  And it never ever fails............. what's written on the backs of the card will apply to whoever picked out that particular card.  I haven't added to that tea lady collection in a while, so I'll have to go thru my boxes of old greeting cards and see if any pictures there are tea-lady-worthy.

The best part of the day today.... the little girls made me a "Happiness Jar," with some help from their mom.  It's a beautiful glass jar, filled with little pieces of paper with nice things written down on each one.  The little girls told me that I should open the jar if I'm having a bad day, or a rainy day, or if I think I'm "about to get mad"---- just open up that jar and take out a piece of paper "and it will make you smile."   And indeed it did....  I've already added two things to that Happiness Jar---- the Mary Engelbreit tea-pot coaster that I had put at everyone's place setting today, and the brochure on Pearl Fryar's Topiary Garden in Bishopville, SC.

Two little girls, in pretty dresses and crazy hats, coming to your house for tea--- Happiness indeed. About the only thing missing today was Miss C.......... who always loved our tea parties..... and my cousin F, who would have been right there with JS, calling out the Tea Bingo squares with panache and enthusiasm.

July 4th

We had a surprise visit from Miss C yesterday..... C has been working in Yellowstone National Park this summer (and loving every minute of it!) but she had to take a few days off because she's in a wedding party this weekend.  C and her friend drove from Yellowstone to Texas, stopping off here for an overnight visit on their way into Houston.

C was filled with news about Yellowstone...... she's one of the horseback tour guides..... she loves her horse, loves the job, doesn't exactly love the food that's offered to the employees, but everything else is just over-the-top wonderful.  So much so that she's thinking of working a winter shift up in Yellowstone.  All that snow? And the cold?  C isn't thinking of the snow and the cold weather.... she's thinking of the cross-country skiing and the snow-mobiles. She's a true outdoor girl if ever there was one.  After working in Yellowstone, it's going to be difficult for C to even think about working in an office environment.  I would understand a Park Ranger career in her future, if she wants to live somewhere other than Texas.

We went to the small town next to ours last night, for July 4th fireworks.  I didn't have my expectations set too high for that, given the size and the budget of that town, but we were very much surprised.  A lot of fireworks around the lake, and not the loud two-second pops, but the streaming-into-the-sky color-bursts that look so beautiful as they explode.  And just when we thought we were looking at the finale, another round of colorful rockets lit up the sky.... and then another.... and another..... a lot of oohs and aahs from the crowd there.

We saw the new Johnny Depp movie today--- "The Lone Ranger."  As always, Johnny Depp gets lost in whatever character he plays, giving his own unique spin on the personality. I closed my eyes for parts of the movie.... I didn't need to see everyone getting shot, and I especially didn't need to see those scorpions (we have enough of them right here, thank you)..... and the stunts---- unbelievable.... and the white horse (a unique personality right there)............ and when they played the Lone Ranger's theme song, I'm sure there wasn't a dry eye in the house, especially from the over-50 crowd.

Monday stuff.....

One of the neighbors called me tonight, to see if I was missing a pet duck. He said that when he locked up his chicken coop before dark, there was a duck in there with the roosters and the hens. (And the roosters let the duck into the coop with the hens?)  I told him we had ducks swimming in our pond a few months ago, but as the rain showers quit, the number of ducks decreased.  There's barely a puddle in the pond now, being that the last rain we had was the first week of June, and I haven't seen any ducks in weeks and weeks.

I suggested that maybe the duck was injured....... which could account for it hanging out with the chickens... and which could also account for the roosters not picking a fight with it.  The neighbor said he'd try and see if the duck had an injured wing or foot.

Our temperatures today weren't as hot as they've been..... this morning was nearly comfortable, this first day of my vow not to walk during the months of July and August.  I miss the morning walk already, but honestly..... getting up before first-light to walk as soon as the sun comes up isn't exactly a must-do on my priority list.  Well, it was.... but the heat just did me in last month, and we're barely into July here. 

My cell phone now sings out "When You Wish Upon a Star" as a call is coming in...... my husband downloaded the Disney song and put it on my new cell phone. I have no idea how that works, but I really love this new cell phone now.  Maybe now, the next time we're in one of the Disney parks, I won't start crying when I hear that song playing during the parades.

I've started covering my car with king-sized bed-sheets...... the fitted sheet slips easily around the headlamps and side-view mirrors, and then the flat sheet tucks into the fitted sheet and lays over the roof and the back half of the car.  Saves the car from the cats' paw-prints.... Mickey especially.  I can always tell when he's been on my car..... Mickey jumps up onto the roof of the car, then slides down the windshield.  My pretty silver blue T-Bird now wears pink and green flowered sheets when it sits in the garage. I haven't used those sheets since we moved into this house anyway. Being this far in the hills, we're surrounded by spiders and scorpions............ and you can't easily see those critters on bed-sheets that have floral patterns.  I'll be sleeping on plain bed-sheets from now till kingdom come.

Weeds..... we've been pulling up weeds for a couple of weeks now.  Just whose idea was it to re-plant all of those flowerbeds?  We didn't have this many weeds when there were no flowers in those beds......and now that we're trying to keep the beds blooming and colorful--- we have weeds.  It's just too blasted hot for pulling weeds, I can tell you that.  

In my mind's eye, I can still see the gardens of Pearl Fryar. Without a doubt, that was one of the best parts of our trip last month.  PEACE. LOVE. GOOD WILL..... all spelled out in his garden with red begonias.  Those incredible topiary creations of his..... the sculptures and the statues and the water fountains..... everywhere you looked, a little bit of magic, and a lot of love.  If you are anywhere near Bishopville, South Carolina........... you must, must, must see Mr. Fryar's gardens.

I did not see one weed on Mr. Fryar's property. Proof positive that his garden is Heaven-on-Earth.