Celebrating my 73rd Birthday!

 I started celebratin on the eve of my 73rd birthday.....

although, once Amber has her birthday on June 6th, I start thinking of myself as a year older.

Amber is now the age I was when I had her.

I like to get used to the new age a little at a time.

This is Tabitha yearning to be out there in the garden!

She got out twice before I figured out she was running to this window, pushing it open at the corner and plopping herself out on the deck. Louis Dean fixed that exit!

Thursday I painted......

hard to believe anything pretty could come from this mess!

I have a container of messy tubes and I am determined to use these up before going to my new ones.

I had every one of the colors I needed except for Payne's Gray.

On the Eve of my birthday, I changed out the bedding on the Girl Bunk in the camper.

I love this cozy bunk.

I pulled off all the bedding and put on a set of red flannel sheets.

I KNOW it's still hot in Texas and too warm for flannel.....but I like to sleep cold with the AC anyway and the flannel is SO comfy!

I switched covers from the spring/fall quilt to this one.....

the quilt I made for myself the year I turned 65.

My Birthday Week in 2013 when I turned 65 was one of the best I've ever had!!

I rode a motorcycle on the beach that day.

Summer and Sabrina and a group of their friends and family rented a beach house on Crystal Beach for a week.

They were so sweet to remember it was my birthday and they even gave me a party!

My sister, Luann, came with me and the entire time was so much fun!

I think 65 was one of my very best birthdays!

I qualified for Medicare and was then able to buy the best supplemental insurance policy money can buy and thanks to my son, Benjamin, I have had excellent insurance ever since!

Back to my Girl Bunk.....

The wall are wallpapered but I have layered needleworks and all sorts of fabrics on top of it.

It is a camper and they are generic until you add your own personality to them.

My Girl Bunk looks like a gypsy caravan.....and I'm fine with that!

I fixed it all up special as a way to celebrate when I woke up on Friday being all of 73 years old!

Sherry fixed a pre birthday dinner for me Thursday night and it was delicious!

Poblano Chicken Lasagna, garden salad and garlic knots with pepper poppers as an appetizer and homemade Salted Caramel Ice Cream for dessert! ALL so good  and I ate so much that I went to bed as soon as we got back up to the camper/cabin!

Sherry picked me up Friday morning and we drove neary 50 miles to a little Texas town called Calvert.

We were meeting my friend, Carla, at the Farmers to Market Coffee Shop.

Carla is a friend from our Katy days when Amber and Mike lived down there and Mike and her husband worked together. She and Dave are now retired and living in Gause at the Rockin' K Ranch where Louis Dean and I visited them in July.

We had coffee - I ordered the Flat White again - and Sherry doesn't drink coffee but they had an excellent menu of frappucinos. We sat, sipped and visited!

Then we went out to see what we could see.

I loved this beautiful garden patio area.....

The Fall Festival season started the next day and every weekend through November, there's craft booths and tables and all sorts of things to buy and to eat crowding the sidewalks.

But we were early and that's fine with me since I don't do 'crowds' much anymore.

Can you spy the gecko?

Outside the coffee shop, Sherry had spied a beautiful blue/green iridescent beetle all decked out with gold trim. She thought at first he was an ornament but when she touched him, he moved, so she picked him up and placed him in this garden. I'm certain he appreciated that!

We shopped our way down the block and arrived at the Cast Iron Bistro.

I loved the building and the paintings, decorations, food - everything!

This staircase to nowhere was so pretty. If I had it for my own, I would display things on it. Maybe art.....

I noticed this window as I went back to find the restroom.

Later we drove along the back road behind this street and saw that the window is all framed out on the other side. I just LOVE this.

The old plaster wall covering an even older brick wall.

The food was amazingly good!!!

I had the grilled cheese only it had a fancier name and was most certainly NOT a regular grilled cheese sandwich! And those waffle fries were SO good!

Carla ordered the Ocean Goat Salad.......

I'm getting that on my next visit!

Sherry had the Cheese Grits with shrimp......

I think there may have been a fancier name for it but it was exceptionally good!

She took half of it home to share with Dean since he's such a foodie!

It was a wonderful birthday lunch and I was so happy to spend it with these two special ladies.

I'm wearing the shirt my Sister Rita and Brother Buster sent me for my birthday.

Just a Girl who loves Fall

That's ME!

We came home later that afternoon and I went in to take a good nap.

Unfortunately, just as I was about to drift off to sleep, I realized there were ants in my bed!

SO....I had to strip it all off - after all my hard work the day before - and hang it out in the sunshine while Louis Dean sprayed on and under the bunk.

I went on to take a nap in the camper bedroom while he did all that.

Louis Dean had a busy day.

The grasshoppers and slugs/snails had eaten up every bit of anything left in the garden including the blackeyed peas! For our evening campfire, he burned up all the remains and hopefully the rasshoppers are now gone!

It was a wonderful birthday!

I heard from so many friends and family by way of Facebook, email, texts, and phone calls.

I heard the voices of Nita, Deanie and Lonnie as well as all four of my children.

The evening ended with one more phone call from my brother Buter and Anna Marie!

They sang Happy Birthday to me and we had such a good phone chat.

I am so blessed to have so many people who love me.

I've never had as many friends in my life as I do now.

I've said it before and I say it again......

God saved the Best for Last for me!!!

I went to bed with a happy heart!

Louis Dean is teaching himself to play the violin and closing out my birthday celebration with him just made the perfect ending to a perfect day.

Today (Saturday) was a slow easy day.

It was 67 degrees when I woke up this morning!

I opened up the girl bunk window and Tabitha hung out in there for a good part of the day.

Louis Dean put a screen guard over the window so I can still open it but the cats can't get out.

However, she managed to stretch two paws outside the screen.

FREEDOM!!!