What I Did Today

Our wedding anniversary was back at the end of June.  We went to the French Rivera and Provence to give ourselves a treat.  Our son and DIL wanted to honor us with a gathering.  The timing did not work out for the gathering to be in June so we are going to party again in August.  Most of the folks that will be at the party are people who were in our wedding party.  All the bridesmaids and maid of honor plan to attend.  One of the girls that served at the cake table will attend.  We could not locate Hubby's best man and one of the groomsmen.  One has passed away so that just leaves one of his attendants to attend the party.

My 2 nieces and 4 nephews were flower girls and junior ushers.  One has passed away in 2015. Another one is a pastor in another state and cannot attend.  Both the nieces will be there and probably two of nephews.  I have not heard from the men who were the real ushers nor the organist.  The reason I am count heads is to determine what I'll need to recreate this photo.

I have no idea why almost no one is smiling in this photo.  I was happy.

One of the groomsmen was our BIL who passed in 1999.  One of his grandsons will stand in for him.  The youngest son of my oldest nephew that passed in 2015 will stand in for him.  Our grandsons will fill in for the missing folks as needed.  The pastor passed many years ago but his son was a close friend and served as an usher.  If he comes I plan to ask him to fill in for Pastor Jim.

I have white t-shirts with fake bow ties for the guys and yellow t-shirts for the gals.  Today I found my veil which is the only piece that will even begin to fit.  And we are working on recreating the lovely hats the girls wore.  The wedding dress is to be displayed.  Unfortunately the detachable train was stained by the box during storage.  I do not know how the tissue paper had come off the train.  

This brings me to what I did today.  I hand washed and treated the stains on the train.  The stains are not as deep in color but are still there.  I will attempt a couple more applications of the suggested treatment to see how it goes.  The method worked on some vintage doll dresses that were soiled so I am hopeful.

The other thing I did today was discover that I still had the garter I wore as well as the penny for my shoe.  Also, uncovered the suit I wore for a couple of wedding showers.  These items had been placed in my cedar chest about 5 years ago.  Prior to then they were all stored in a pasteboard box.  The culprit that stained the wedding gown train.  Now I just need to dig through a couple of boxes to see if I can find the wedding album.  The last move has left a few things still 'in-located'.

Hope your day was well spent.  Thanks for stopping by for a minute.  Always enjoy having you here.

Peace,
Janice

Well, It's Saturday

After yesterday's activities of moving dirt and plants our old bodies woke up less than happy with us.  What would they have said if the bonus Grandson had not been here to help?  Hubby has been determined to not let it get him down and has been walking every so often even in this heat.  DJ is over for a night with the grandparents while the rest of the family go to a concert.  Concerts do not include dogs. 

DJ is a dog that is 2.5 years old now.  Not any puppy left in her.  She came in the apartment wanting the leash and muzzle removed.  That accomplished, a long drink of water and it was time to lie on the floor and nap.  Looks like Grandpa may join her in that activity pretty soon, too.

It really is the dog days of summer now with consistent 100 F (37.7 C) for the last few days and for the foreseeable future.  The heat continues to build in the ground, in the roads, on building walls, everywhere.  Overnight the air is filled with the heat radiating from the ground, roads, buildings.  The temperature will hardly cool below 80 F. (26.6 C) most nights.  It is just life at this altitude in a southern latitude in summer.

Old people stay inside in the air conditioned homes if possible.  Young kids still go outside and shoot baskets, play chase or hang with friends.  Of course some of them will stay in the air conditioning and play video games.  Who can blame them in this heat.  Even birds are holding their wings out to cool off  as they sit on the edge of the bird bath.

Speaking of bird bath, DJ just discovered the birds coming to the bird bath just outside the patio door.  She jumped on the door startling the white winged dove into flight.  The next few minutes were spent with DJ begbarking to go chase birds.  A stern 'no' helped to settle her down for a few minutes.  but she is back up looking for something to chew.  Thankfully an empty toilet paper roll did the trick.  And a little of the puppy comes out again.  Hopefully a day of rest and the two old bodies will have a little of the puppy back in them, too.

Thanks for stopping by and visiting.

Peace,
Janice

Old people getting out of the Mediterranean Sea realizing they are not pups. 

No, Not My Tomatoes!

Earlier this year we had tomato plants come up volunteer in some of the worm farm soil I had placed in the dirt off our patio.  I wrote about this in this post.  The plants were flourishing when we left on our trip.  Granddaughter faithfully watered all the plants while we were gone on our cruise.  Everything looked as good as could be expected in the hot Texas summer.  Hubby gathered probably 40 tomatoes from the plants on Saturday.   The vines had that many more in various stages of growth and ripeness.  Blossoms at the end of stalks had promise of further crops.

This week we had returned to the routine of carrying about 8 gallons of water to the big container of tomatoes. I had put the other potted plants back outside the patio last Sunday.  More water was taken to all the other pots as well as the zinnias that had come up from seed and were blooming.  Zinnias love the Texas heat.  The tomatoes not quite so much but it looked like with some extra care they would continue to produce.  In picking tomatoes we found two developing cantaloupe from the previously not sure vines.

Yesterday afternoon Hubby noticed a lot of noise outside our apartment.  At first we thought it was just the construction trucks from the project north of the apartments.  As the Texas heat had us sitting behind closed blinds and curtains we were just guessing.   Upon opening the curtains we found a mini-excavator removing the current apartment landscaping.  The young man running the machine stopped it and came over to talk to us.  Since I had planted some bedding plants along with the various seeds we had flowers blooming.  He sadly informed us they would need to be removed.  He said is was a shame with how pretty they all were.  And we would have to remove the container with the tomatoes.  No, not my tomatoes!

He said they would not get to that area until Monday to give us time to move all our stuff.  Tomorrow our bonus Grandson will come over to help with the lifting and dirt removal.  I doubt we can save the tomatoes but I am going to try to save some of the zinnias.  Oh, well.  Such is life in a rented apartment.

Thanks fro stopping by for a visit.  Stay cool.

Peace,
Janice

Another Tour

We returned on July 13 around midnight from another adventure.  In April we had decided to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary with a trip to France.  With 2 for 1 staterooms and free airfare it seemed a good deal.  My youngest sister and her husband asked to accompany us on this little excursion.  With the decision being so last minute it took the work of an agent to get two staterooms on a cruise that would fit me sister's schedule.  Our schedule was more flexible with most of the grandchildren being with the other side of the family in July.

With an extension in Nice to add a little more to the trip we left on July 1 out of DFW.  This was the day following our actual anniversary, June 30.  We had been home only about 8 days from the sister time in Oklahoma so we had not even put away all the suitcases.  I mean why.  During those 8 days I mended and altered some new and some old things we would want to wear.  My tablet cover needed new supports sewn as the original ones had split. (I had made the tablet cover in 2013)  And I had 3 garments I wanted to get finished.

On Wednesday, June 28, Hubby walked in from going to the mailbox and declared the place to be a mess.  He was correct.  We had begun packing and gathering items as we thought of things.  Stuff like chargers, extension cords, passport holders, etc. covered the dining table.  Open suitcases filled with clothing, electronics and necessary items were littered across the floor and bedside settee.  The sewing and cutting had the bedroom and living room floors covered with bits of thread and fabric snippets.  The ironing board was in the middle of the floor as proper pressing is critical in sewing.  It was like a maze to get through our tiny apartment.

I had made attempts to get part of the cleaning done along with laundry.  Between hair appointments and mani/pedi appointments we each worked to get the place became a little more negotiable.  On Friday morning the sewing was done, bags were packed and carried to the car.  Hubby ran the vacuum while I policed the bathroom.  We would come home to a straight apartment with clean sheets and towels.  By noon June 30 we were in our Icie (the name we gave our little ice blue hybrid) heading for Dallas.

Traffic was light so we made good time for the trip.  Most folks on the road passed us as we tended to drive in the slow lane about 65 MPH.  The rest of the motorists ran about 75 to 80 MPH.  We like getting 45 miles per gallon more than driving faster.  We arrived as sister's home to find her running her list of things to pack.  Her hubby came home and the same thing was done with his stuff.  Since it was our real anniversary it became necessary for us to go out for dinner.

Back home and to bed by 1 AM.  The flight was not until 3:50 PM the next day so we decided to start adjusting our sleep to the 7 hour time difference.  Finally Saturday arrived and I began to let the excitement build.  The guys decided to go for two separate Uber drivers to the airport.  Calls were made, drivers arrived and the adventure began.

Thanks for stopping by today.  I plan to begin posting the account of the French escapade in daily posts.

Peace,
Janice