Signs!

First off, I would like to thank all of y'all for your kind, sweet, funny birthday wishes, phone calls and cards, because I had a pretty weird birthday. It is a long story, but I will try to condense it, so you don't fall to sleep reading this post (book). Here is what happened and please note that my birthday was last Thursday.

On Tuesday:
I was more or less out of sorts and I was trying to make some important decisions about what I should do. So, I decided to smudge The Cabin and myself, but I was out of sage and white grass, so I went to Cross Cultures, in Kerrville, and bought some more.

When I returned home, before smudging The Cabin I said a short prayer asking my angels, guides, family and friends on the other side to help me. And then I asked the Universe to give me a sign.

With all of the doors and windows opened, so negative spirits, forces, etc. could leave I was walking around the house trying to smudge it when Tony returned from work. After I told him what I was doing he smiled, gave me one of those looks and then he went into his man-cave to watch TV.

On Wednesday:
I was still feeling out of sorts, so I worked on my writing cabin. I built a drainboard for my small bar sink that Tony was going to do the plumbing on. Here's a picture of the small space, between the wall and my desk, before I built the drainboard.

Later that afternoon, I received my first sign—in the mail. A dear friend of mine, unbeknownst to her that I was feeling out of sorts, sent me this as a funny birthday present and it made me laugh out loud. Here is a picture of my sign before I framed it, along with my already used/partially burned sage stick.

On Thursday (My Birthday):

That morning I worked next door and I had several revelations while I was working alone. So when I came home I was in high spirits, because I had figured out what I should do about three different situations. But I was still wishing to get a sign, to let me know that I was on the right track, so I smudged the house again. 

Following a fun birthday lunch with Tony, in Kerrville, we came back home, so we could work on the plumbing for the bar sink. Basically, while Tony did the plumbing I stayed outside spray painting some boards to use for my sink's counter top.

Now Here's The Weird Part

Around 9:00 that evening I was relaxed, watching Ballykissangel, a fabulous series on BritBox, on Amazon. I was sitting in my chair with my feet propped up on the coffee table and Henry Standing Bear was curled up, sleeping in the other big chair.

All was good until the loud crash behind me. I was so startled my heart skipped a beat and Henry jumped up and started running around the house barking non-stop! Then Tony raced into the kitchen and asked, "Are you okay? What the hell was that?"

"I don't know!" Then I looked at my desk and saw that a big picture had fallen off of the wall above my desk and had landed face down on top of my laptop and my cobalt blue candy dish's lid had slid off of the dish. "How did this happen? I was watching TV, Henry was sleeping and out of nowhere this picture falls off of the wall!" Here is a picture I took of the wall after we had removed the picture frame.

After we had checked to see that my computer was fine and the dish's lid or the glass in the frame was not broken—it hit me. "It's a sign, Tony! I am on the right track! I had asked for a sign and...." 

Then we looked at the back of the picture frame and saw that the strings looked frayed. It made no sense to us, because that picture has hung there for over two years and has never been moved. So why were the strings frayed?  Then I took these pictures of the fallen picture and the back of the frame. Then on the back of the frame I dated it and wrote what had happened on my 68th birthday.

I went to bed about an hour later, after drinking a glass of wine to calm my nerves. And before I turned off the lights I took this picture of our peaceful house with Henry now sleeping in my chair.

The past few days we have been busy working next door and in our spare hours Tony completed the bar sink plumbing project and I made new curtains for the writing cabin. Here are a few pictures. The first picture are the old curtains.

And that is about it for now, because I am going outside to build a small deck, so it will cover and protect the PVC pipe, on the ground, that crosses from the The Cabin over to The Dog House. 

Wish me luck and be careful for what you wish for, because you might get a sign like I did that scares the heck out of you and your dog. Even though I am now grateful for getting that sign, because I now know exactly what I need to do, because that certain picture that fell explained it all and it made total sense to me. 

Y'all have a great (day) evening and keep on laughing!

My Head!

Tony and I had a wonderful time eating lunch, at Mamacita's, with our dear friends. And I should have known what was going to happen at the end of our meal, but the thought never popped into my head.

Speaking of my head, when we finished eating our delicious Mexican food, I opened the hilarious birthday cards and passed them around the table for Tony, Jim & Kris and Eileen to read. And I want to thank Kris & Jim for the beautiful pink faux sheepskin that looks fantastic, in my chair, in The Dog House.

Now let me get back to my head. Out of nowhere someone behind me put this heavy thing on my head. Then about five Mamacitas' employees, all wearing smiles on their faces, clapped their hands together and then sang Happy Birthday to me while I wore their big sombrero.

I was totally surprised and it caught me off guard and I totally loved it. So I want to thank our dear friends for such a fun time. Jim sent this picture of me wearing the birthday sombrero while being serenaded.

Have a great evening and keep on laughing! I hope your evening was as fun as my day was!

The Academy Award For Best Dramatic Performance Goes To...!

All is good here—knock-on-wood. I am sorry for not writing and I am still using the same old excuses—working a lot next door and writing.

This morning when I woke up Henry, Big Al(ice) and Little Debbie were snuggling with me and the electricity was off.

It was totally dark outside and inside The Cabin, so I slowly walked into the kitchen/big room, so not to trip or fall, and I grabbed a flashlight.

I saw the light and the atomic clock was showing 48 degrees outside and 77 degrees inside, so I was thrilled that the cold front had finally made it to Medina, after too many hot days. So I opened the front door and went out on the porch to feel the cooler air and the high winds made me rush back inside to get warm. And I know it made Henry Standing Bear laugh at me, because when I came inside he greeted me at the door and his tail was wagging non-stop.

About 47 degrees or an hour later the electricity came back on and the first thing I did was make myself a cup of coffee.

While I was checking my e-mail Tony returned home after feeding the sheep next door. So life was good, once again.

In a few hours Tony and I are going to Kerrville to meet our dear friends at Mamacita's, to celebrate my upcoming birthday and I know it will be so much fun.

I will try to write more later today, but because I am working tonight—that might not happen. So no promises there.

As I finish writing this I want to make you laugh, so I want to share this hilarious, 40 second video that Drew sent to me this morning. It is about a beautiful Pit Bull getting her nails clipped.
The Academy Award for best dramatic performance goes to...

Y'all have a great (day) evening and keep on laughing!

Bear With Me!

Today has been great. Today my little bear foot stool arrived and I am thrilled with it. So please bear with me about my obsession with bears, because I do love bears. And I am positive that is why I love Great Pyrenees so much.

Anyway, here are a few pictures of my new little bear foot stool.

Now, I must go to work.

Y'all have a great (day) evening and keep on laughing!

More Awe Moments!

The past few days have been awesome. Last Wednesday our dear friend Jim Keaveny came to see us and he was the very first person to spend the night in my finished writing cabin, even though I still have a few more pictures to hang up.

The good news is Jim loves my small 12'x10' she shed and we had a wonderful time visiting with Jim. And before he and us adios-ed each other the next day I asked Jim to please sign my cabin's door, because I am going to ask everyone who goes inside my cabin to sign the door. Also because, with a ton of friend's signatures on the door—it will help hide the slots and holes in the re-purposed blind's slats.

After Jim left for Terlingua, I called Carol and invited her to come over to see my writing cabin which I still haven't named yet.

Bottom   Line: Carol totally loved the cabin, too! And she could not believe that it was originally a Tuff Shed. And before Carol exited the cabin she autographed my door, too.

Tony and I had a wonderful time at Christina Fredriksen's art exhibition at the Texas Heritage Vineyard, in Fredericksburg. And Stephen K. Morris' music was fabulous and it was perfect for the event.

Tony and I had a lot of fun visiting with Stephen, Hans & Marita, Christina & Zach and Zach's sweet parents. During an intermission I invited our friends to come over on Monday, because I wanted them, especially Christina, to meet our dear artist friend Steve Pietzsch. And before we left the event Christina had already sold several prints, originals and merchandise.

Tony and I worked the mornings and evenings next door, this past weekend and of course, it was fun, too.

Early Monday afternoon Hans & Marita, Christina & Zach and Stephen K. Morris & Eva Robinett came to see us and the minute they walked inside The Cabin—a fun time was had by all.

We ate snacks and visited and because we had 30 minutes to kill, before going to see Steve Pietzsch, I told everyone that I wanted them to see my cabin and that I also wanted them to sign the door. And because my cabin is so small Tony suggested that we go in two groups—Ladies first—Men second.

But before us girls went out to the cabin, Stephen gave Tony and I a copy of his latest CD The Hustler's Fool. "Christina did the beautiful cover artwork for the album," Stephen said. 

"And you're going to love this CD," Hans said. So we thanked Stephen & Eva for the CD and then I asked Stephen and Christina to autograph the CD.

And y'all can check out this fabulous CD on Stephen K. Morris' site.

After I got Stephen and Christina's signatures us women marched out of The Cabin to go see my little cabin. And not to brag they fell in love with it, so we had a hilarious, mini "hen party" out there. And before we vacated the cabin—they all signed the door for me and after the men had checked out the she shed—they autographed the door, too.

And after the unofficial autograph party, we jumped in the vehicles and took off to go visit Steve Pietzsch's awesome paradise. But wait. I left out this important bit of information:

Tony took Henry Standing Bear out of the side yard and put him inside The Cabin!

When we arrived at Steve's beautiful, mountaintop Shangri-La-Loma our friends were immediately blown-away by his beautiful scenic view of the Hill Country and his awesome yard art and his rock walls that he had built. 

And after the "awes" were over Steve gave them a tour of his little piece of heaven and then he invited all of us to come inside his home.

After all of those "awes" inside his cabin had subsided we went down the hallway, so Steve could give us a tour of his art studio. And needless to say there were even more awe moments.  

We had intended to only stay about an hour at Steve's place, but because everyone was having so much fun visiting—we stayed over two hours.

Before it was time for the adios-es, there were handshakes and hugs, business cards exchanged and  then pictures were taken. Here is a picture that Tony took of Steve with Marita, Christina and Hans.

When we left Steve's awesome place, Hans & Marita and Christina & Zach took off for Fredericksburg and Stephen & Eva dropped us off at Big Foot Ranch, before going home to Fredericksburg.

Now remember what I said earlier about Tony putting Henry inside the house? When we walked inside—the place was not a wreck as I had expected. 

In fact, Henry Standing Bear had cleared off the kitchen island and he had cleaned all of the dishes for me—even though they were all on the floor. And I know that Hen would have put the emptied bags of tortilla chips and beer bottles and cans in the trash can—if the lid had had been off of the garbage can.

Last night, before going to bed I checked out Steve Pietzsch's Facebook page, because he told us that he was going to write about our visit. Steve wrote:

"Fun! Beautiful visitors to Shangri-La Loma all the way from Norway! Marita, Christina, and Hans Fredriksen. Christina is a fantastic artist embarking on a future in the arts!

...and the rest of the guests...the Texans...plus Zach (beach fossils tee) also from Norway!...."

I know this has been a long post, but as I finish writing this I do want to share some pictures that I took this morning, of my tiny, cozy writing cabin—that I love so much. And it starts with our thirsty rain gauge.

And that is about it for today, because I plan to spend the rest of my day writing.

Y'all have a great (day) evening and keep on laughing!

P.S. I've just decided to name my cabin—THE DOG HOUSE!