Getting Started.......Again

I can't believe that it has almost been two years since I started this blog and made my first (and last) post.  As a friend of mine says, "Life comes in lurches!"  I have certainly been lurching along for the last two years!!  Let me fill you in.....

Shortly before I started this blog, my mother was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer.  It was particularly agressive and she was given 18 months to live if the chemotherapy was successful and 6 months to live if it was ineffective.  She fought bravely, but ultimately lost her battle with cancer on July 21, 2011, just one week shy of a year from her diagnosis.  Since her death, as the executrix of her estate, I have been working to resolve her affairs.  With the sale of her house, at the first of this month, I feel that I have reached a point where I can finally take a deep breath.  

Here's a picture of my mother-in-law, my daughter, and my Mom at our house during Christmas 2010.  We used to tease my mother that she was the Grinch because she didn't like to decorate, cook or shop, especially during the holidays.  We love and miss you, Mom!!

Let me show you around our house and ranch.  Here are pictures of our house and yard.

These pictures were taken in late fall several years ago...I will include more recent photos in a later post.  The last two years have been extremely difficult for those of us who are gardeners.  Last year we had over 100 days of 100+ degree weather and wildfires that burned a large portion of the state of Texas.  This summer we have only had 20+ days of 100 degree weather but the drought has continued.  San Angelo, the nearest town, currently has less than an eighteen month supply of water.  

I love to garden and so it's easy to get discouraged when everything you plant withers under the hot, dry conditions or gets eaten by GIANT grasshoppers.  The jumbo grasshoppers have eaten my garden this year!  Then they ate my grapes, then my flowers, and now they are working on the landscape plantings.   I hate grasshoppers!!! I try to limit my use of pesticides, especially in the garden, but the milder forms are completely ineffective on grasshoppers!  In fact, I think the pesticides I tried made them grow!!!

                   Here are some pictures of flowers from Rose Hill Ranch in cooler, wetter years.

                                                                

Back door greeters!

Of course, roses are our favorites!

                                                                   

 Pretty patio posies.



                                                    

Mums are such happy flowers!

                         

Some of the lavender that I harvested from the plants at Rose Hill Ranch.

                                                                More about that later.

I hope to make this blog about things that I am passionate about.  Family, decorating, DIY projects, sewing,cooking and entertaining, and the joy of living the domestic life.  It really is the simple things that enrich our lives. 

So come on in and let's get started!