A Trip to Waco, and “Magnolia”

Is a trip to Waco and Magnolia on your bucket list? Check out my post about my day trip.

Who doesn’t like Chip and Joanna Gaines, from “Fixer Upper”?? I sure do!!! I had been to Waco, TX a few years ago, when they first opened the silos. I had a sudden free day, earlier last week. Waco is about 95 miles south of Ft. Worth, so it made for a nice day trip. Sometimes, it’s fun and relaxing for me to just go on an adventure, at my own pace and places I want to go. I wanted to see how things had changed at the Silos.

It started out to be a nice, breezy day. I parked about six blocks away, in the downtown area. The first thing I encountered was a rally/demonstration by people who wanted to free the children from the immigration camps and reunite them with their families. The man was a good speaker. It was all calm and positive. I listened for awhile and then went onward.

I knew there would be a long line at the bakery, at the Silos. I decided to eat downtown at Schmaltz’s Sandwiches. Had a delicious Chef Salad! Seemed to be a popular place for the locals.

By the time I walked on to the Silos…stopping to tie my shoe at the Dr. Pepper Museum….it was getting hot, and I was a sweaty mess. You can see how lovely I looked by then! LOL There were people in line for the bakery, but the line to get in to the Magnolia building was non-existent. Yes, there were plenty of people there, but it was a Tuesday and the crowds were not like on a weekend.

The main building was a lot bigger than the last time I’d been there. And no, I still couldn’t afford much of anything. But I got ideas! In the big side yard, they had a bunch of picnic tables where people could eat and a lot of food trucks. They have a lot of activities there.

One of my favorite parts of the compound was the garden area. Outside the fence were some wooden planters attached, filled with green plants…herbs and other things. It was gorgeous! Inside the garden, they had some climbing green beans and lots of plants. From a short distance, it looked like a gorgeous bed of blooming plants. Yes it was, but they were a bunch of zinnias!! I filed that away in my brain. I have a few zinnias, and they’re easy to grow…they just looked so lush in this mass. They also had a charming little garden cottage in which they were selling seeds and other things.

I thoroughly enjoyed my trip. Though I didn’t take any pictures, I drove across the river and enjoyed the beauty, peacefulness, and the historical bridges. Waco is a great town!

Let me know if you are a Chip and Joanna fan. Have you been to the Magnolia area? What has been your latest adventure?? Press LIKE if you enjoyed this article. Leave me a comment!

Toodles,

Grandma Sherry

My Hubby Built Me A Coffin!

Has your hubby built YOU a coffin? Have a vision of your future.

What?? Yes, it’s true. This past month, my hubby built me a coffin. I am a woman who likes to plan ahead and I’ve had this vision for some time. I’ll tell you more, later in the post. But here’s a picture of his project.

Sister Cities of Fort Worth has a wonderful array of programs for youth and adults. We’ve hosted people from many different countries. This past month, we hosted two young female librarians from Kazakhstan. They were visiting , with four other young gals, to learn about our library systems. They connected through Open World program, that asked our Sister Cities to host them and provide lots of opportunities for them. We SO enjoyed our two gals! We got to know the other two host families, and the other four gals. I feel lucky that my hubby likes to host people and learn about new cultures. Here is a picture of the six gals. Not your typical stereotype of Old Maid Librarians!

Liam and Libby, our two oldest grandkids, moved with their parents to Buda,TX….a suburb around Austin. Since the kids are out of school for the summer, and really haven’t met many people yet, they have been enjoying some time with grandparents. We had them for a few days in June, and we’ll have them again next week. We need to take advantage of this time….their school starts in Mid August. Two weekends ago, we went to Liam’s 7th birthday party. Love that boy with the freckles and missing tooth! He had a Minecraft cake and theme.

So….getting back to my new coffin. I’ve been telling my family that I wanted a raised bed to plant flowers in. For Mother’s Day, Dick and Nathan decided to find some plans and alter to their specifications, a big planter. Wow. It looked just like a coffin! LOL It is now in place, in my backyard, and filled with flowers. I’ll have to see how this all plays out. Some are perennials, and some are annuals. The only problem is that when the sprinklers go off, they don’t spray up into the planter.

My yard was looking pretty good. The weeds are growing and I need to do some weeding. But overall, it looks better. THEN …two nights ago, we had a big wind storm and a bit of rain. We were out of town for the storm. When we woke up the next morning, I looked in the backyard. Our Chinese Pistache tree , which had been leaning for some time, had blown over! Oh no! My hubby is gradually getting it cut up. We need to think about getting a new tree, and where to plant it.

How is your summer going? Are you travelling? Doing any vacations or staycations? Are you working? Playing? Let me know in the comment section below, or to the side of the post. If you enjoyed this post, please press the LIKE button below. I have a lot of people give me comments and a LIKE on my Facebook sight, but not on here. Give me some feedback on here, please.

Happy Summer,

Grandma Sherry

Things I Like About June

  • The bright show of my perennials. They are at their finest!
  • Hosting two librarians from Kazakhstan, through Sister Cities.
  • Having the Grandkids here for a week.
  • Viewing my son’s new house, in Buda, TX.
  • Enjoying “The Classical Mystery Tour” at the Concerts in the Garden.
  • Filling the new planter, that my hubby made me, with lots of flowers.
  • We’re going to my Grandson’s birthday party, on Saturday. He’ll be 7.
  • Grilling burgers outside, and entertaining the neighbors.
  • Going to the neighborhood pool.
  • Planning a few trips for the upcoming months.

Life is really good. How is your life going? It’s starting to get hot. Gardening and grandkids seems to be my theme. It’s time to start purging again. What did you do in June?

Press “Like” if you enjoyed this post, and be sure and subscribe to this sight.

Toodles,

Grandma Ruddell

The Spring of Floods and Flowers

Wow….this has been quite the Spring! There have been floods all over the country, and I’ve seen several of them. And, I don’t know if it’s because of all the rain, or because we cut down our photinia trees last year, but my flowers are doing better than ever. Love it!

My beautiful Rose of Sharon bush.

I’m blessed to live in Texas. We don’t have flooding around my area. Our rivers have been high. Over Memorial Day, I went to Clinton, Missouri area, to a family reunion. My aunt lives up on a ridge, above Truman Reservoir. When they first moved there, we encountered a lot of ticks. So we’ve named it Tick Ridge. It’s always so fun to see everyone at the reunion. It’s about the only time I see some of my cousins.

This year, we had a chili cook-off. Four of us made our own unique chili. Now, I’m known for my chili. I won a chili cook-off at our church, a few years ago. (Of course, the winner was determined by the most money in their money jar. If someone liked your chili, they put money in your jar. It was determined by how much the jars weighed. My hubby decided nickels weighed more, so he went home and grabbed all of my nickels, and put them in my jar. Yep, I won.)

Anyway, at our family reunion, I made my famous Yankee Chili. I find Texas chili to be really different. I like beans, onions, Rotel tomatoes and green peppers in my chili, with lots of spices. As I was making my chili, my aunt and cousins were watching me. (I was being Julia Child.) When I got to my spices, I couldn’t find them. As I started to go out the door, the spices started coming out of the pockets of my aunt and cousins. Brother!!! It turned out that the others were sabotaging each other. The winning chili was Hawaiian Chili, and my cousin put flowers in front of the crockpot to sway the judges. Another cousin had given one of the judges fresh cookies, earlier in the day.

Jan Jones, trying to sway the judges with her flowers!

I went to Missouri by way of Oklahoma and Kansas. I stayed all night with my brother and wife, at our farm outside of Cherryvale, KS. When I was ready to return to Texas, the Verdigris River was out of its banks. Tulsa had terrible flooding in parts of town. I can’t believe all of the flooding and tornados that have hit our country!!

The Verdigris River, in Independence, Kansas

Today, we took our grandson, Isaac, to the neighborhood pool. He had a blast. At first, he hung on to Boppa, and then he ventured out to test the waters. Boppa taught him to splash me. Blah.

Isaac and Boppa at the pool.

Tonight, my piano students have their Spring Recital. Luckily, they decided to practice this last two weeks. Two weeks ago, I told my hubby that we should call it the “I Don’t Really Give A Shit Recital.” I have the awards ready, and just have a few things to get done before the recital. Love these kids. I have a bunch of silly awards to give out, in addition to the usual music awards.

Our weekend is totally full. We’re heading to Austin, for a weekend of cards, and seeing our kids new house, in Buda. Then we’ll bring home our two other grandkids, to stay for a few days.

What is your summer looking like? Do you have a lot of plans? Please leave me a message, on this post. Hope you decide to subscribe to the Blog, and press LIKE if you enjoyed this post.

Happy Summer,

Grandma Sherry

Things I Love About May

Check out my blog post: Things I Love About May.

Preparing for a big car showdown!
  • The greening up of the grass and trees.
  • Flowers everywhere!
  • Taking walks with my dog, Bill.
  • Having outdoor play time with my grandkids.
  • Seeing relatives at my niece’s Graduation.
  • My upcoming,annual,family reunion in Missouri.
  • Having all three grandkids here at once.
  • Meeting new ministers and organist at our church.
  • Having my close friend move back from S. Korea.
  • Perusing the Spring Gardening magazines.
  • Seeing progress of my piano students.
  • Purging and getting ready for the church garage sale.
  • Finding a $50 bill that I thought I’d lost.

What do you like about May and Spring time?? Are you being deluged by the rain? Leave me a comment, and press LIKE if you enjoyed this post.

Grandma Sherry