The Last Day of Our Last Visit to the Country for 2019.....

Today was our last full day to be here at the ranch this year!

It will be 2020 when we come back and that's a sobering thought.

Louis Dean had some of his projects to finish.....

one of which was unloading the washing machine.

This is our old one which still works - we think - and will be handy to have down here.

He single handedly loaded and unloaded this and - by day's end - is now in the super clean bathroom. He cleaned it so well that it smells like a hospital!

We are leaving the camper/cabin clean and ready for when we return after my knee replacement next month. As soon as I recover enough to travel, I intend to come back down here to recuperate.

I worked all day on my Santa at the Manger painting. I would paint for a half hour and then go do something else and come back to it. Back and forth. This one is for the Fort Worth Chinese Christmas Tree which is now less than two weeks away! I had forgotten that it was only based in and needed a lot of work.

We both worked steady today and accomplished a lot.

Louis Dean did a great job cleaning the big bathroom and it is bigger than I realized once he had taken all his tools and 'debris' out. The Dearborn heater he and his son installed does a good job of keeping the front room warm - or at least the chill knocked off. 

See the tiny tree? I bought it at HEB on Monday and will take it home with me.

I remember when I was a little girl, Mother always bought Douglas Firs for our Christmas trees.

Back then they were the least expensive.

I would wake up early and go in to see the tree and breathe that lovely Christmas Tree smell!

I think they smell better when it's cold....and it was cold last night and the night before ....so I thought sure I would open the camper door and breathe in that remembered fragrance.

I might have caught a tiny whiff..... what happened to the tree smells? It's so not the same as I remember.

My goals this visit was to paint and to finish my Christmas cards and I am happy to say I did both.

I must have ordered more cards this year than I did last year because I have a good many left.

We will drop all the rest of the addressed cards at the post office on our way home tomorrow.

If I do not have YOUR address - I would love to send you one.

My email address is on the side bar of the blog......please drop me a line and I will get one in the mail to you. International friends, I bought stamps! I just need your address!

It rained 3-4 inches Monday night and Tuesday morning but Louis Dean managed to get a campfire going tonight. Tomorrow we will clean the camper/cabin, pack up our stuff and head home.

It will be six weeks before we can come back.

Tonight my heart is filled with gratitude to Dean and Sherry for their gracious hospitality in sharing this beautiful country place with us. They are wonderful to us.

And I am profoundly grateful to God for giving me the desires of my heart.

Only God knew of my long time dream of having a place in the country where I could turn in at the gate - drive through and be welcomed. It was a dream I held privately in my heart since I was 18 years old. Dreams really do come true......