Riding Trailway August 8, 2017

On Tuesday August 8th it was a beautiful afternoon weather wise and I decided to take full advantage by going riding at the State Park.

I called the park and the recording said the "Back Country" (8 miles of equestrian trails) were open. I was surprised since we had gotten 3/4 of an inch the night before. The park closes the trails when they are wet.

Happy girl right here! Trailer hooked up with a horse inside headed to the Park!

However when I got to the park they told me they were closed. ARGH! I already had the horse in the trailer so I rode the "Rails to Trails" which is a trail that was created from an old railroad track for hikers, bikers and equestrians. It's very nice trail but it's a bit boring for me as it's just straight like a road. Oh well, it was better than not riding at all!

The trails to the main trailway are fun and pretty.

A little shade along the way.

From the trailhead it's downhill to the main trail.







WARNING! If you easily get motion sick, I strongly advise you not to watch this. I almost made myself sick watching it!

Some of the pretty part of the trail.

Found Diamond some friends. He got real excited. In fact he went much faster after this for a little ways.

I love this tunnel-like effect with the trees.


I had a good ride.

Have a good one!

Night on the River Walk 8-3-2017

Doyle got out of class about 5pm. He wanted to go to the Alamo and we were just a short walking distance away.

Neither of us had been since our vacation here in 1994!






We got a nice man to take our picture.

Doyle checking out the map of the Alamo grounds.

This is one massive tree! Do you see the little red sign on a low hanging limb that says "watch your head"? They mean it!

A selfie by one of the water wells.














After the Alamo we went back to the River Walk to find a place to eat. We both wanted to have steak. We had seen a Salt Grass but it was on the other side of the River Walk. We figured there had to be something on the side we were on and keep walking and sure enough we came upon the Lone Star Cafe. It was good and so was our waitress. We learned that she had recently turned her life around and had an opportunity to speak about that to a group in the coming days. Doyle was so taken with her story that he felt impressed to tip her above the normal (significantly above). As we left the restaurant, Doyle looked to watch her reaction and was not disappointed 😉. That was fun!


After dinner we meet with the other councilman that had come for training at a neat little place called "Durty Nelly's Pub". This place was fun! The guy just over my left shoulder is playing piano and singing. He could play and sing anything! And I mean anything! He also did several "sing along songs". We had a great time.



We came home on Friday August 4th. Doyle only had class until noon so I didn't venture away from the hotel but stayed close. In fact I stayed on the same floor as his class. I looked through Facebook on his laptop and did some reading. I went to the ladies room right before his class let out.

I went outside with him while he took a smoke break. It was then I realized I didn't have my phone and my heart sank! I quickly remembered I had laid it on the toilet paper roll in the bathroom. I quickly went back to see if it was there. Opening the stall door and not seeing it where I left it gave me a sick feeling in my stomach. All my pictures, all my notes, all my passwords.....gone! I quickly prayed and tried to remain calm. Doyle talked to hotel personnel to see if anyone had turned it in. He tried calling and sending text messages. We waited for a while to see if it would show up but finally decided to go ahead and head home. I had resolved myself that it was gone.

We get about 30 miles out of San Antonio and we stop for fuel. While Doyle is fueling the truck he gets a message from my phone! 😂 Hotel security has my phone! (Happy dance). Doyle says we aren't that far away lets go back and get it! I am one happy camper! When we arrived to it pick up they had even charged it back up for me! It delayed us coming home about an hour but it was worth it!

Have a good one!

San Antone Thursday Afternoon 8-3-2017

I apologize for being absent so long! It's been a little busy with me trying to get ready to go on a 4
day scrapbook retreat and then being gone! I didn't realize I hadn't finished my story of our trip to San Antonio.

After lunch Doyle went back to class. He had said something in passing about there being a "locks" bridge on the River Walk that was similar to the one in France. I thought I would try to find it. I should have tried to google it first but I didn't. I had seen something about "Locks" on the River Walk map and thought that was it. So I set out to walk to it.









I did have a pleasant surprise along the way. I came up on what appeared to be a small private wedding inside an archway on the other side of the River Walk. It was so sweet. Before I realized what was happening it was over. This was the only picture I got.









I walked and walked and walked and walked some more! I finally reached my destination which was the dam where the San Antonio River feeds into the canal that makes the River Walk.

I didn't see any "locks" on the bridge like Doyle had described to me.










Then I read the signage about the dam and "locks". These were not the same "locks" 😖

I had a good laugh at myself and a good laugh with Doyle when I told him what I did.

It was still a great walk.






And I saw some beautiful views along the way.

Water cascading down to the pool beside the steps.

A view through an arch window.

It was one of these archways that the couple got married.

Can you tell that I love the water falls?

I don't know what this building is but I liked it.

I have no idea how much I walked but it was a lot! I still had fun. I got back just in time for Doyle to get out of class. I'll post that in another blog.

Have a good one!

San Antone Thursday Morning 8-3-2017

Doyle's class started at 8. I went with him to breakfast then he went to check in and I went back to the
room to get my backpack that had my Bible, journal and some other things.

I found a window view of the River Walk and  had a seat.

After spending a little time in quiet, I decided to walk on the River Walk.

It was pretty quiet on the River Walk. I guess everyone was sleeping in 😉

I thought this tree was pretty interesting. Look at how the roots are like knots on top of the ground.

One of the many very large trees along the River Walk.

Beautiful sculpture in front of the Briscoe Western Art Museum.

Beautiful waterfalls.

I just loved this little walkway bridge across the River Walk.

A view of our hotel along the River Walk.

Our room was not on the side of the River Walk. We had a view of the "Tower of Americas" on the right.

Doyle's class broke for lunch and I joined him. I'll tell you about my afternoon adventures in another post.

Have a good one!

On the Road Again 8-2-2017

Doyle and I went to San Antonio for training for those newly elected to city council. San Antonio is
about 5 hours from here. His training was all day Thursday August 3rd and until noon on Friday August 4th.

We drove down Wednesday afternoon.

We stop to stretch our legs a bit at this adorable city park in Lampassas.

I thought it was very creative how they painted the restrooms.

Right outside San Antonio we made one more quick stop at a little roadside park. This place had HUGE Oak trees as you can see from this picture. I thought it was very interesting how the one limb has grown out in such a way as to almost touch the ground then turn back up.

Here is another view of this massive Oak.

Here is another huge Oak tree.

We made it to San Antonio. We stayed at the Hilton Palacio Del Rio which is right on the River Walk. We got checked in and had time to walk around a bit and decide on a place to eat before calling it a night.

The view of our hotel from the River Walk.

Have a good one!

Girls Trip 7-29-2017

For at least a couple of years I have been following Steve and Wendy Backlund. The Backlunds founded Igniting Hope Ministries. Their teachings, based on their experiences with their walk with God, have helped me tremendously in changing the way I think and what comes out of my mouth!

I learned that Wendy was coming to Texas to do a one day conference in San Marcos. Now San Marcos is not all that close but it was close enough! I bought a ticket to go and asked Julianne and Jean  (friends of mine from church) if they wanted to go. It's about 4 1/2 hours from here. We leave after Julianne gets off work on Friday.

Here we are waiting for it to start on Saturday morning.

I was surprised there weren't more people there but was glad it wasn't a packed house.

We finished up around 5 and made the trip back home.

It was a great time!

Steve is coming to our church in September. I am pretty excited about that!

Have a good one!

Sweet Friend, True Friend

I didn't make this card with anyone in mind. The stamp I used is from Unity's June Kit of the Month called "Time to Enjoy Life". I had been wanting to stamp it up and see what I could do with it. I must say I was pleased with how the card came out.

I used some liquid pearls, a red pearl pen, and black enamel on the ice cream. The rest I colored with Copic Markers.

The sentiment goes with this image. I stamped with Versamark ink and heat embossed with black powder on vellum.

This card I made for someone I know who has had some tough situations this year one of which was losing a very close friend to a horrible accident a couple of months ago. She, like me, loves horses and has some.  I had been thinking about her and decided to let her know I was by sending a card. I colored the horse to look like the one she has.

She loved it!

This image is a Unity Stamp by artist Phyllis Harris called "Listen from the Heart". This set comes with three sentiments. The horse stamps are my favorite of Phyllis Harris although I'm a fan of nearly anything she does (my collection will prove that 😍) I colored with Copic Markers. Because the background paper I used behind the image wasn't "white" I chose to apply with a blending tool Distress Ink "Antique Linen" to knock a bit of the brightness of the white out. I used a red pearl pen to color in the heart.

Have a good one!

Pretty Evening Skies

There have been several evenings of pretty skies

I don't know what it is about these type skies that are so intriguing to me but they are. Not much color but the ever so slight streaks of light are so beautiful. I refer to these as "starbursts". I haven't tried to find out what they are really called.

These two photos were taken 7-17.

This was taken on 7-24. I almost missed it. I was cleaning up the kitchen from supper and caught a glimpse of it through the window and ran outside with my camera. It was much more brilliant before I could get where I could take a picture of it.

The next 4 pictures were taken 7-27.

Do you see the moon through the pink clouds?

Color is almost gone. The moon is brighter here.

This one was taken 7-31. I like the pinks highlighting the blue clouds.


Have a good one!