Chillaxin' in the Hill Country

Rocky and I chillaxin

1-6-14: Feels great being back at JCRV. David is ready for golf, I'm ready for knitting and crafting, and Rocky is ready for spoiling he gets from Tom C, Mr. Ken, and Stan the Man.

walking buddy, Tom

only 2 of them this year

they follow us down the fence line while we're walking

they're nice and fat -- wondering if they'll make it beyond Thanksgiving '14

some of the unique cacti along the walking path

 According to the James Beard Foundation's Foods of the Southwest Indian Nations, the Tohono O'odham Indians regularly consumed cholla buds — a smart move considering a palm-size dollop contains as much calcium as a glass of milk. All you need to prepare your cholla in the wild is a lighter and a pocket comb. Grasp the comb and rake in a downward motion along the shaft of the plant. The fruit should pop right off and be trapped in the teeth of the comb. Skewer your cholla onto a small branch and use the lighter to spark a pile of brush. Cook until the spines char and break off. Once the fruit is clear of spikes, simply peel the skin and roast until warm. Voilà! Cactus appetizers. For a Martha Stewart touch, pluck additional needles and use them as cocktail toothpicks.

it's a cholla cactus loaded with its fruit

lots of cacti and cedar trees --- and cedar pollen counts are HIGH

Big Boy loves it when we bring him carrots

he has a nice new pasture

I'm sure this could be adding to the pollen count

Love getting back to walking the little back road behind the rv park.  It's still a little chilly here, so I have to wait til the temps come up during the day.

1-7-14:  George and Lizzy taking a stroll.  Brrrr!  This week is really cold.  But I kinda like it!

Shirlene, Vickey, Connie with their new sock critters

1-8-14:  Enjoyed our first craft time today for this winter!  Looking forward to learning some new things and sharing some new ideas this year!  What a wonderful group of ladies that craft with us. Today we made sock critters.  Thx for the inspiration, Gala1

Stan getting ready to play cards in a fluffy visor

Dawn and David

Taught our friends, Ron/Dawn and Stan/Connie to play Panties tonight.  We started at 6 and didn't finish til after 11. It's usually a 3 hour game.  Not sure if it was the language barrier (Dawn's Michigan accent), or just because we got so silly that made the game last longer.  So much fun! We played girls vs guys and the guys clobbered us.

Connie and Stan

 David, me, Ron, Connie, and Stan

David giving instructions

Ron's visor kept finding a new location on his head all night

Plenty of Panties jokes

So happy that our card game group is growing!  We will try to make this a once a week thing.  (the girls will prob play more often)

George loves a selfie

1-9-14: finally warming up a bit during the day.

Dawn, me, Vickey

the former shop

the new and enlarged yarn shop

Dawn and me inside the new shop

3 of us went to Comfort, TX to our fave yarn shop today.  What a surprise we got when we arrived! They had moved next door and it's a MUCH larger bldg.  We were in hog heaven! Or aplaca heaven.

Vickey, me, Dawn after a yummy lunch at Cocky Rooster in Comfort

Wonderful day visiting the best yarn shop ever!

Shirlene, me, Vickey, Connie at Chili's

me, Shirlene (looking sly), Vickey, and Connie

resaling

1-10-14:  Went resale shopping today with some of the girls.  Kerrville and Ingram have many wondeful consignment and thrift stores that are for good causes.  I think today's winner was Vickey -- she found a Bagallini purse that looked like it'd never been used.  For about $3!!! About a $50 value.  Connie did quite well with some tops, too. My fave find were some shawl pins that were brand new. Fun, fun day.

Chili on china

Mr. Ken looking important

1-11-14:  Had a good time at the chili supper tonight at the clubhouse.  Great turnout and the chili and fixins were yummy.

fingerless mitts Dawn made me -- can you see the owls?

1-12-14:  Dawn surprised me today with the sweetest card and the loveliest fingerless mittens she made for me. Love, love them! The patterns is called Owlings and can be found on ravelry.com.  She's inspired me to
learn how to make some.

mouth is watering while waiting on our burger

love our date days

1-14-14:  David and I took a drive over to Medina to have a burger at the Apple Store.  This is one of our fave burger joints in the country.  And today it was especially fanstastic!  They have homemade sourdough/jalepeno buns. Dropped in the new fabric store there -- not the same as it was last year (new owner). Then we drove over to Bandera and over to Boerne from there.  Beautiful drive.  David stopped at the Ranch to hit at the driving range.

front row: Kathy and Jerri
back row: Shirlene, Dee, Vickey, Darlene, Connie

front row: me, Jerri
back row: Dee, Vickey, Darlene, Shirlene, Connie

1-15-14:  Made tater bags today in crafts.  So easy and such a great gift idea.  Thx, Vickey, for teaching us!

David and Stan -- I guess if you gotta wear visors to play cards, they may as well be fluffy

manly men

we had 12 people playing tonite

serious game 

this group had some score-keeping issues

my man

sore loser

Panties! Our group is growing!  Tonite Dee and Sarah joined us and taught Vickey and Kyle to play. And Jerri was back in town, so she and George joined us. David and I played with Connie and Stan. Girls won. Badly. Go Connie!

me and my bestie

Jerri got framed

1-17-14:  Enjoyed another day of resale shopping with David, George, and Jerri.  Always love hitting the thrift stores -- kinda like a treasure hunt.

Mr. Bill always is such a help to us at the shop -- and is a master knitter himself!

Dee, Jerri, Dawn, and me

1-18-14: Went back to Comfort to the yarn shop today.  Jerri didn't know they'd enlarged the shop.  Dawn and I managed to keep it quiet so it'd be a surprise for her!  She loved it as much as we did!  Dee had never been to the shop, so this was a first for her.

found my next craft at Creations

 We took her to Creations (fabric) when we got back to Kerrville.  It's the best quilt shop ever.   Fun day!

David and I are blessed to get to spend another winter here in the hill country among true friends. Looking forward to the next couple of months here!

Love to all,

Kash Coolidge,  A Friend in Need, and Captain