Babette & Miladus

Sunset At The Bay

We spent a wonderful afternoon chez Susan yesterday, enjoying great food and the beautiful bay (I also managed to see Monsieur Ibrahim in the company of faithful Taylor while the others were enjoying nature). Here are some pictures of the spectacular sunset taken around 8:20 p.m.

Growing Times

Our White Pine is finally catching up with the spring...

Getting there at last

Finally, some success!  It doesn't look like much, but after three hard days digging and mixing in good potting soil, moisture granules and perlite, after digging a French drain and putting in paving stones and a pot to hold a rosemary that will be taken in in the winter, today we planted Mom's herbs.  They look pretty pathetic right now (few and far between), but they are planted at the prescribed distances from each other and we hope that they will flourish and soon furnish Mom with both beauty for the eye and savory tastes for the kitchen.

Here I am digging away as the first plants are put in:

and here from the top of Dad's ladder is a rather skewed view of the finished 22-foot product.  I do hope it will look a bit more substantial in a few weeks…

All the while, Mom, Auntie and an unexpected visitor looked on:

An early-morning Texas ritual

Five a.m. donuts!  On the way in to Weatherford from the parents' house is this little cottage:

We wanted to see if it really sold donuts at 5 a.m. I had wondered since first seeing it over a year ago.  Dad set the alarm and got me up, we bleared our way to the other side of interstate 20, and at 5:03 pulled up…to a very dark little shack with no lights on.  However, at 5:06 a van pulled up, the lights went on, and then at 5:10 another van delivered the fresh donuts.  We thought that we would be the only ones to haul ourselves out at 5 on a Saturday morning, but by the time the young woman got the door open, two men in hunting fatigues were waiting with us, in a polished white pickups with gun racks,.  A muddy pickup showed up as well, and a motorcycle with an elderly man on it drove up; the man came inside to a hearty welcome (clearly a regular), and ordered a nice, cold jalapeno hotdog for breakfast.  Dad and I made it home by 5:35, after buying a dozen donuts and two dozen donut holes for dessert for Mom's family-wide lunch today.  But I woke Mom up to eat a donut hole first, while they were still fresh.

Springtime in Texas

A picture or two from warm and sunny Texas:
I have never been here in April to see the fields and fields of bluebonnets, so I was so pleased to arrive just before they all faded. 
        A picture of The Twins (my mother and her sister Wilda, for whom I was named), standing in a field of bluebonnets just before the entrance to my parents' new community west of Weatherford, Texas:


A closeup of a bluebonnet (beginning to fade, but I still caught it):


The parents' new home is beginning to grow a lawn, and the live oaks are flourishing.  Here, a picture out the living room windows to the oaks beyond:


…and a last picture of the rather special geometry of Dad's very experimental and successful house:


Tomorrow, Dad and I begin to plant Mother's Mother's-Day present:  a full-fledged herb garden. We are planting many Santolinas in the hopes of keeping the giant Texan grasshoppers from feasting on the crop.

Packing Herbs

Babette leaves tomorrow morning to visit her parents in Texas. She is taking with her herbs to plant for her mother's new garden. Here is the creative packing job she has done on 2 boxes. I wish I could pack my stuff this well...

Blooms In Spite of Rain

Phal. Sara Lee 'Eye Dee' x Phal. Brother Golden Potential 'B#1'.

Small Cactus

Herbs On The Way

Our hebs before being planted later today.

The herbs Babette will be taking to Texas to plant for her mother...

Odd Fellow

Cold

Spring is here, but it is rather cold and windy. Babette in her working cold outfit.

Rainy Morning

A bonsaied conehead thyme.

Lavender coming back in spite of serious winter burn caused by the icy rains of last winter. We do not know if the rosemary will come back.