Back From Texas

If you noticed my blogging hiatus, you are observant. From early Tuesday morning, April 17, to 12:30 AM Thursday, April 26, I was away from home. I visited our son and his family in Austin, Texas.

I've never been a good flyer, so it always takes me many prayers and considerable courage to board a plane. Those take-offs, bumpy flights, and landings - how is it possible that such a heavy machine remains in the air?! I always pray for my pilots, traffic control personnel, and the mechanics who take care of these sky wonders.

I flew on Southwest Airlines the same day the explosion occurred on another Southwest flight, killing a woman who was struck by a fan blade from an engine. The whole 20-minute scene sounds nightmarish. Yet, on my return-to-Florida flight I felt more safe than before, knowing that Southwest had run checks on all their aircraft following that incident. Still, I'm always grateful to return to terra firma. God knows.

Austin and Luke appeared to like the turtles I made for them (here). By the way, this picture was taken in the guest room. The wall hanging and quilt on the bed were made by me as wedding presents to Brent and Lyn who lived in Florida at the time.

We went to The Salt Lick, in Driftwood - my all-time favorite barbecue restaurant. The fire pit is amazing - the aromas! I ate my "usual" which is a half-pound of pulled pork followed by blackberry cobbler á la mode.

And speaking of food... my sweet tooth seems to go extra crazy when I'm around DIL Lyn who likes the same things I do. The day after I arrived, I made a pecan pie using Texas-grown Kiowa pecans. She and I ate pecan pie for four days! When that was gone, I made Pavlova. They had never eaten it.

This is the Pav fresh from the oven - a crumbly meringue cake.

This is it heaped with fresh-whipped cream, and topped with strawberries and bananas. Even the boys, who are very picky eaters, liked it.

Both boys had soccer on Saturday. Austin is a pretty good player. 

Four year-old Luke... not so much. He runs around, following the other kids who are chasing the ball. At that age, that's pretty much all they do - run around. My sister calls it best: it's amoeba-ball. 

We went on a Sunday excursion to Pace Bend Park in Spicewood, Texas. Limestone cliffs, a lake, hiking trails, and a glorious day. I took this picture using the timer on my Canon camera.

We hiked for more than an hour. Both boys kept up, though Luke needed a little urging. 

It was a treat to get to see the prickly pear cactus in bloom.

Austin played hooky from school on Monday. We went to San Marcos to ride a glass bottom boat on Aquarena Springs, at the Meadows Center on the campus of Texas State University. I'm glad I had a chance to compare this to my previous glass bottom boat rides at Silver Spring State Park in Florida. Many similarities. I won't ever tire of appreciating the clear water of a fresh spring. 

Luke didn't like having his picture taken. 

I used the timer on my camera timer to take this picture too - another beautiful day.

My visit wasn't entirely without quilt-y stuff. Lyn and I went to Valli and Kim, a Dripping Springs quilt shop. I didn't buy any fabric, and you can imagine what kind of challenge that was for me in a modern quilt shop! I'm sticking to my no fabric-buying goal, though I did buy The Tunic Bible.

Lyn and I worked on "Texas Forever", her first big quilt. She had pieced the 45" X 45" top and was a bit reluctant to piece the backing so the prints aligned. We did that together, then made the quilt sandwich and got it pin-basted. Before I left, she made a couple walking foot quilting passes across the quilt top to make sure she knows what she's doing. She does.

This is what I accomplished - a couple more of 20 small medallions needed for the perimeter of my English paper-pieced Tula Nova quilt - the one I'm calling Linda Nova. Slow progress, but that's fine by me.

Since returning home I've been writing every day. I'm working on an article for the next issue of Curated Quilts magazine! Yep. I'm freelance writing again. The piece will be 750 words on the topic of triangles. It feels good to be writing - professionally - again.

You might just see this picture in my article. A triangle. A slice of pie. You do see the similarities, don't you?

Texas Pie Company, Kyle, Texas

Linda