Wind Farming

 I traveled with my brother's family to the Texas State Swim meet in Corpus Christi. On our way home, their oldest son wanted a closer look at the Wind Farm near Taft, Texas. We were able to pull over and get a fairly close look at one. They are HUGE! There are nearly 196 wind turbines on the "farm".

 All turbines are approximately 262 feet high and have 2 blades. They have a maximum rotation speed of 22 rotations per minute.  The majority of the electricity is sold to the Lower Colorado River Authority and CPS Energy which is owned by the  City of San Antonio.

They were interesting, but I am glad that I don't have them lining the horizon near me. 
Y'all come back, 
Lorilee

Making gifts and an overnight trip

 I don't really have any photos of the overnight trip. I went with  my SIL to drop my nephews off at their summer camp for the week. As you can see, they didn't wait for us! They were anxious to get checked in. This is the oldest nephew's third year to attend and the younger nephew's first year. You can see how hot and dry it is. The grass is all crunchy! We stayed with my SIL's Aunt Jan that night. She is so much fun. We then shopped a little in Austin before heading home. We spent a little time at "The Domain" shopping center. We spent our time mostly in the M.A.C. store and a Sur La Table. We passed through the Macy's. We arrived home late Friday evening. My niece had a Regional swim meet the next morning. She placed 1st in her division in breast stroke, 2nd in butterfly and her freestyle relay team placed 1st. There will be a trip to the state meet in Corpus Christi in a few weeks!

 The week before the little trip, I was busy getting a wedding gift ready. I wasn't able to attend the celebration, so I sent the gift with my oldest son. The gift consisted of an apron from her Uncle's jeans, an embroidered tea towel, a cookbook of family recipes and a chicken feed bag tote bag (I forgot to include it in the photo). I have a stack of washed bags and plan to make more.

 Here is the apron on its own.

 A close-up of the embroidery. The pattern is from the Hobby Lobby website.

 I decided to include quotations about "family" in the cookbook of family recipes. I was thrilled to find polka dot looseleaf binders and polka dot border paper at Wal-Mart.

 The bride is a fan of "The Office" so I included some Dwight Schrute quotations!

 I used black and white polka dot for wrapping since the invitation was black with white print.

I've got a long to-do list. Hopefully, I'll get something done and have more to share soon! The Double Toe Jam is also coming up! I will be going to Waco to attend with several others from my clogging group!
Y'all come back,
Lorilee

Summer is here!

 It has been months since I have posted anything here at Cackleberry Cottage! Busy months. End of the school year as a teacher, packing the classroom for the summer, baby graduating, working in the garden and slipping in a little clogging and crocheting. I made some changes in my bedroom. The old sewing machine cabinet was in the living room. I finally added the lace at the bottom of the door to hide the stuff stashed in the cabinet along with the sewing machine. I just received the print from a friend. I love how it has the same colors as the lamp.

 My baby graduated from high school. He is on the far left. This foursome has been friends since middle school.

 My oldest son joined me on a trip to Lake Texana. We joined my baby brother and his family and my dad and stepmom. We rode bikes, ate too much, had campfires every night, and swam a little. We had t-storms pass through almost every afternoon which made it unseasonably cool for south Texas. It was wonderful for bike riding and a campfire felt good in the evening.

 This is the clan on one of the several fishing piers. There was an alligator hanging around below the pier which had a fish cleaning sink. It was waiting for dinner.

 Another shot with me in the line-up!

 We rode some of the trails. This one had a nice little bridge over some water.

We really needed to burn some calories. Did I mention we ate too much!
Hopefully, I will not be as negligent about posting as I have been the last few months.
Y'all come back,
Lorilee

Beach II

 This house has always fascinated me. Well, most old houses fascinate me, but this one is definitely a favorite.  This is Oakhurst, now known as Fulton Mansion located in Rockport/Fulton.

 It was built in 1877 to withstand hurricanes with 8"  thick wood (constructed by stacking and spiking pine planks) and shellcrete walls. The kitchen was in the basement. It was the only house in the area to have gas lighting, central heating and running water. The water was stored in cisterns in the basement. The water was hand-pumped into a cistern above the tower room. Gravity took it to the bathroom that included a flush toilet.

 I highly recommend stopping by for the one hour tour when in the area. My family, however, is not as enthusiastic as I am. They took their time walking to the entrance!

 They sat on the porch and waited for the tour to begin. I wandered around looking into the basement windows!

 THEY were anxious to get to the water. Floating was their goal! I floated, but discovered that I feel the effects of the motion negatively! I did OK as long as I floated on the boogie board on my tummy facing the waves. Pretty pathetic!

Of course, the laughing gulls had to be fed. Brian had to demonstrate for his Dad how the gulls would take the bread from his hand or the top of his head. The beach wasn't as pretty this trip. There was lots of seaweed washing ashore. Of course, that is preferable to tarballs or jellyfish!
Y'all come back,
Lorilee

The Beach or Bust!

My 16-year-old decided he wanted to go to Port A. Of course, HE wanted to drive himself and his girlfriend in the jeep. NOT. Even with a GPS I wouldn't trust him not to get lost. Actually, I JUST wouldn't trust him! That frontal lobe is still lagging in development. SO, I took the two of them earlier this week.He had been there before, but he was too young to remember! I am more of a freshwater kinda girl! Give me the lake any day! (He is chasing a laughing gull-above)We were just down from the ship canal. I think it is neat the way the ship looks "beached"!

I told him not to toss a bread crust to the one gull that was hovering nearby, but he didn't listen. Within seconds they were surrounded by gulls!

AWWWW, young love!

They had to give sandcastle building a half-hearted try!

This was my "home" for the day! Not much shade there. Luckily, the seabreeze kept us cool.

My self-portrait. This is ALL I'll show in a bathing suit! haha

Heading home on the ferry, we saw a dolphin.

Good-bye sand, waves, gulls, ferries and Port Aransas.

Y'all Come Back,

Lorilee

Clogging weekend!

It was a clogging weekend! I attended the Texas Clogging Council's Clogging Rally in Waco with my clogging group, Stars and Stripes Cloggers. We had a wonderful time. We took two vehicles and 5 junior cloggers with us. One of the vendors was selling foot and body massagers. We thoroughly enjoyed the demonstration! See the huge smiles on our faces!

The Rally began with dances being taught on Friday afternoon. Friday evening was the Fun Dance. They played songs from the "Texas Dance List" for clogging, and called the steps to the dances. I tried hard to keep up!

There were dances taught all day on Saturday. Martha and I were really concentrating to remember the steps. We also went to a class on the "Drag, Slide" technique. The instructor was great, but I am not sure I am ready to work it into my steps yet!

A friendly fellow rally goer took a photo of our whole group. On Saturday night there was an Exhibition Program. The groups that performed were wonderful. Thank you, Martha for letting me use your photos! I was too lazy to get my camera out most of the time!

We left on Sunday morning after having breakfast at Cracker Barrel. I found some chicken goodies to bring home with me at the gift shop!

Every chicken owner MUST have a chicken coffee mug!

AND a rooster tassle!

FUN FUN FUN, but on Monday, I was TIRED TIRED TIRED! I'm so glad it is Spring Break.

Y'all Come Back,

Lorilee

Celtic Christmas at the Rennfest.

We attended the Rennfest a weekend later than usual. (November 27th) The theme was Celtic Christmas. Santa dropped by!

David is sporting chain mail made by a friend and a tabbard (white with red cross) I made for him.

Later in the day, David went without the tabbard. I wore the green skirt over instead of under the chemise this year.

The hat is not really part of my "outfit", but I wanted to wear it since I had just purchased it!

It was a beautiful, cool day. The guys really appreciate that in their outfits.

The attendance that day was 36,000.
Y'all come back!

Lorilee