What a Week!!!

I loaded up my car last Monday (19th) and headed off to Mo Ranch. First off it looked like four people were going but it was just me! My spinning wheel (Kromski Minstrel) got the place of honor and rode shotgun with me. It's not a travel wheel and the front seat is the only place it will fit in my car!

Kromski Minstrel

Thankfully the threatened storm held off and it was clear sailing for the two hour drive to the ranch near Hunt, TX. Most of the drive was on I-10 but then it got interesting. I took the scenic route along the Guadalupe River and passed lots of other ranches. I really wished someone else was driving so I could take pictures but it was a twisty road so I would've just been carsick anyway. Here's what I saw when I finally arrived at my destination.....

First view at Mo Ranch

A nice man greeted me at the registration building and gave me a map so I could get to our cabin. I needed the map. Mo Ranch is a huge place!!

Road to our cabin

 You can check out the ranch here.... http://moranch.com/  It's a truly beautiful spot, a little bit rustic but not too much so! Our event planners did a bang-up fabulous job planning meals and housing. We were all in a building all to ourselves and had lunch in the ranch dining hall. Dinners were catered so no clean-up to do. Awesome!!

Karen setting up

Headed to my room on the 2nd floor

 Karen, the spinner who dreamed up the whole spinning retreat (This is its 2nd year.) was already there getting set up.











We were two to the room and bathrooms with showers were at the end of the hall. Six rooms were on either side of this central area....or maybe it's eight rooms. I never really counted them!

Setting up the spinning wheel

 

Here's my roommate, Marilyn, setting up her wheel. We were roommates in our college days so this was a real reunion for us! MMH (our name for Marilyn) arrived shortly after me.







 A few spinners, including our mentor for the week, had travel delays and didn't arrive until late or even the next morning. Thankfully, the threatened storm arrived late that evening and didn't interfere with anyone. There was some pretty large hail but no one in our group suffered any damage. The evening was spent getting to know each other, setting up, finding rooms and eating dinner. So far, so good!! The fiber stuff will start tomorrow.

Blessings,
gk

Fun Game

I just found more photos on my camera that I forgot to download! When Ta Yah and Ellen were here we got out the Mexican Train Dominoes. This is a fun game, not too hard so you can still talk and enjoy the social aspect of things. Plus it doesn't involve much knowledge of the English language that might give us an advantage being native English speakers.....

Playing the game

Thinking about it

 

Game over

If you don't have this game it's a nice alternative to the never-ending Monopoly! And now to tell you I am off to a spinning camp for the remainder of the week. I will learn about spinning YARN.....not just the tall tales variety!! 8^)

Blessings,
gk

Happily (?) Shopping Together

The prospect of buying an 18 year old house has brought forth lots of decision making! Bob and I headed off to a wood flooring showroom just to check out possibilities. Oh my! There are so many choices that our heads started spinning, figuratively anyway. Do you ever think that we just have way too many choices available to us here in consumer-driven America??! Sheesh!

Flooring samples

First off the samples on the wall are about 18" tall. Duh! How can you tell how that would look in an entire room? This takes a ton of imagination!

Bob shopping

Next, you do not want to go out without a camera phone or pocket camera. This saves a ton of time on note taking and you can more easily compare choices in the comfort of home, i.e. in your jammies!

Gorgeous wood

You also have to soon realize it is not just about what you love. It's mostly about what will work! I think this wood is stunning but a whole room of it? Not for us.....we don't want the wood to be the whole center of interest but more the background of the room. This might be great in an entryway or some small area or maybe even as a border around a less patterned wood.

It quickly......

....became apparent....

...that you could double the price of your house!!

As you can see the cost per square foot can add up pretty fast! And this does not include things like a moisture and sound deadening barrier, baseboards and or shoe mold and the cost of installation. It's like taking a fancy car or maybe a chunk of college education and spreading it around to walk on.

Take note of that square of product code on the left of the label in the last photo. If you have a smart phone you NEED the app to scan these things. It is awesome. You can look up stuff right there on your phone or even better just email it to yourself and it will be there waiting when you get home. Fantastic....and fun too. I may never tire of this just like I _still_ like to check myself out in the self-serve line at the commissary (grocery for you civilian folks).

Most helpful

Far and away, seeing it in a chunk down on the floor was most helpful of all. Pictures of rooms with it installed helped too but I suspect nothing will match seeing it on site in the actual light of the home.

Best, and maybe most amazing, we did find some things we agreed on and we didn't even get into an argument, mostly because we were both trying super hard to make this be a positive experience. We want our retirement home to be a haven, not a military zone!! 8^)

Blessings,
gk

PS-A few asked about the St. Patrick's Day shirts. We got them about two years ago at the NEX (Navy Exchange store) in Norfolk, VA. We went back a week later for more and they were all gone! They are likely out at Navy venues every year but grab 'em when you see 'em!

Kiss Me, I'm Navy!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!!!

Blessings,

gk

The British Are Coming, The British Are Coming!!

One of the fun parts of military life is the interaction of our US military with those of other nations. I thoroughly enjoy meeting folks from various countries and/or cultures. This week two guys were here from UK (That's United Kingdom just in case you don't talk in acronyms.). We took them to Los Barrios. It is San Antonio after all and what says Texas or San Antonio any better than Tex-Mex??

Warm enough to eat outside!

Serenade

 

Always chips.....

.....and salsa

Sopapillas for dessert! YUM!!!

The guys were pretty adventurous. One even ordered enchiladas with mole sauce. That's mo-lay not mol! It has a bit of chocolate in it but isn't a sweet sauce. Bob and I shared the fajita special. The serenade was supposed to be for a birthday but the birthday boy was in the rest room at the time. We all had a good laugh over that.

The next day Bob was presented with a small token of appreciation. It is the cutest little container of rum I have ever seen! 50 ml of Pusser's Rum from the West Indies in a porcelain container hand cast in China, the perfect international gift!! We are told it's the one used on British ships.

Pusser's Rum

It's ALL just so much fun!!!

Blessings,

gk

Around the Neighborhood

Ellen and Ta Yah left on Monday. Before they left Ta Yah agreed to be an adopted daughter of the family. We are blessed with quite the wide-reaching adopted family! It's so fun...and rewarding....to add constantly to our family circle!

Flowers are popping up here and there now. These are tiny little flowers on a pittosporum hedge.

Tiny Flowers

These pink evening primroses were shining in the grass when I walked over to Michele's house. I wonder how much we miss by always being in a car!

Evening Primrose

Lastly, I had to go by and check on the little pond near our house. This pair of ducks has taken up residence there. I expected them to run away when I approached but they ran toward me instead! I guess someone has been feeding them. LOVE this photo....it came out nicely.

Friendly pair

Things are moving along here. An inspecting roofer told us our prospective house needs a new roof. It could have killed the whole deal but we have worked out an agreeable solution so for now the sale is still on. Nothing is really set until the check clears and the papers are all signed. I'm really hoping this happens as Bob has already hit up http://www.vistaprint.com for free business cards with the new address! Ever the optimist....and cheap!!! 8^)

Blessings,
gk

Another Quadrangle Visit

Last Sunday we went to church, drove by the potential house, ate at Pasha's (mmm, mmm, mmm!) and then came home in time to head over to the Quadrangle, the oldest structure on Fort Sam Houston, built in 1876. We wanted Ta Yah to have a chance to see the animals there. We took carrots along to bribe the animals into coming as close as possible.

First we fed the deer....

Enticed by carrots

Ta Yah braved the deer

Even Bob came along!

On to the peacocks..... 

Up close to the peacock

 

 This was pretty special as Ta Yah remembers her dad making things with peacock feathers but she had never seen a peacock in real life, just heard the description. I think it brought back special memories of her dad who died shortly after they came to the US. I'm so happy we got over to see the peacocks!

Baby albino

All grown up now

Three in a tree

And the ducks & geese....

 

Asleep in the street

Nap time

And finally the chickens.....

Brave enough to come really close.....

Who knew chickens would eat carrots!

And good friends!

Ta Yah and Ellen by the Clock Tower

Blessings,

gk