Summer Sundays in Texas
Happy final Sunday of June 2024! And welcome to Summer Sundays in Texas.
I have to say June has been nice weather where I live…rain, clouds, and the heat has not been too oppressive.
I know full well what lies ahead, but for now, it was a joy.
Are you a morning person or night person?
I am a morning person married to a night person….which we have made work, despite the differences.
I love mornings of summer Sundays in Texas…our birds are singing…hummingbirds are active…we get a tropical breeze from the Gulf of Mexico…it is nice.
Dawn is particularly beautiful as I go out to water plants, pray and reflect.
My only frustrations with mornings is that is the time best for me to exercise and to be creative…so I have to be diligent to get them both in during these hours.
I hope these lovely mornings stick around as we go into July and the oppressive humidity holds off a bit longer.
Here are a few more reflections as we enter into a holiday week……
SUMMER SUNDAYS IN TEXAS: ACTIVITIES FOR CHILDREN
Three of our children were here last week for a sleepover.
Three recommendations for those of you with young ones.
First, I highly recommend rock painting. We do this with all of our grandchildren and they still seem to enjoy it and always want to take their creations home.
I am looking around my office right this minute to see a couple of those creations which I asked to keep.
We have many rocks in our landscaping so that it not a problem, and this time we painted sea shells I brought home from the beach.
Second, I highly recommend Amazon for coloring books. They have so many and you can find the ones that fit each personality perfectly.
One of my grandsons love paint-by-numbers and I found several good ones there.
Finally, for any of you who also shop at HEB…the Creamy Creations Cookies Over Texas ice cream is excellent. (I added some chocolate sprinkles…a Gigi move!)
When they say they want cookies and cream, go for this one…so good…and I had them take the leftovers home so we would not eat it!
SUMMER SUNDAYS IN TEXAS: PRACTICING PATIENCE
The reason I am writing about summer in Texas is that for me the season requires much patience.
I decided this year to look on the bright side of everything that comes with summer…even the bugs!
This year is particularly challenging in our area and city because of ROAD CONSTRUCTION. It is everywhere and often drivers will sit in traffic for over an hour or so.
I was surprised to discover the stops even on the country roads going out of the city.
One thing I do is count my blessings..thankful I do not work his job but thankful for him that he has a job.
Thankful that we have air conditioning in the car. Thankful for the beautiful wildflowers behind him.
Oftentimes, stopping at the cute boutiques and shops in the Texas Hill Country helps to take our minds off the construction.
This cute shop is called Benchants, and my DIL did some baby shopping here.
This location is from Boerne, TX…we laugh at the different ways this small town’s name is pronounced.
Also, stopping for Texas BBQ is always a great idea and makes the road issues easy to forget.
I highly recommend Cooper’s which can be found in more than one small town.
Mr. B goes for lots of meat, and I go for a little meat and peach cobbler…so hard to resist….even when I am back on my eating plan…that doesn’t include cobbler.
While sitting in traffic, I will also make plans for things I would like to do.
A local nursery, Rainbow Gardens, sent out this reminder about pumpkins and I would like to give it a try and see if I could grow a couple.
If I do it, I will let you know!
It is so much better for my health and well being to practice these positive choices, rather than getting upset about the traffic delays.
San Antonio has many growing pains right now and patience will get us through.
SUMMER SUNDAYS IN TEXAS: JOY IN THE SUMMER
July brings me so much joy …even when the heat is soaring and the horns are honking.
I will share more about that tomorrow, and hope you will join me for a special note and question for the readers.
Please share any thoughts you have for today’s Summer Sundays in Texas, and make sure that you…..
STAY STRONG & KEEP SMILING!
By Pamela Lutrell
Remember to shop with my SHOPPING LINKS in order to support this blog and keep me around! Thanks to all who do this.
Thanks for the tips for entertaining the grandkids, which are very timely with them all out of school. I look for coloring books at Dollar Tree, as they usually have their current favorite characters. I even found Blippi for my grandson last week, who he loves. I’ve never done rock painting with them, but I’m adding it to my bag of Gigi tricks! Like you, I’m trying to enter summer with a joyful heart full of gratitude. It has already been brutally hot in Fort Worth, with a heat index around 110 most of the past week. But today after I finished my outdoor chores I realized I had not encountered one single mosquito, so I chose to focus on that small, positive thing about our hot, dry weather and sit on the patio enjoying a cold beverage. I wish I could be a morning person, but my daily attempts to get up earlier continually fail. I always remind myself that the world needs both morning people and night owls, so things are getting done around the clock. I am going to Boerne (we say it “Burn-ee”) later this summer and will check out the shop with this beautiful green glassware – thanks for sharing it with us.
Good morning, great ideas today. Our weather is under extreme heat advisory. So I enjoy very early morning to water our flowers not included in the irrigation system. Blessings to you from a morning person.
Thanks for suggesting activities for grandchildren. I have 2 once a week ages 6 and 4. Kids love rocks for sure so just need paint from dollar store! I’m from the coast so have seashells. I lived in Austin for awhile, had my son born there. So I’m a Texan too.
The heat is oppressive so much so that flies left off my horse and even mosquitoes gone!! I’m thankful for dragonflies eating them and birds.Had a wren in my hanging basket nest and we got to see babies 5 grow up and fly away! Enjoying your writing of things to be thankful for.
You are welcome, Lorri. Boerne is such a fun place to shop…and eat!
I have already watered and done more. About to go to church…yay to morning people!
Love to watch baby birds!! Every time I paint rocks with the kids we end up with a color mixing lesson. It is fun to teach them how to create different colors…this time we learned about taupe and slate gray!
Good morning, Pamela. Well, girl, down here near Houston the high temps and very high humidity has arrived!😊 We had been warned so it was not a surprise. I have integrated the word Grateful in my daily appreciation. It keeps my spirits high. I’m so very grateful that my a/c is working and has actually lowered my electric monthly bill. I am so very grateful to rise every morning with my pups and spending time sitting and watching them play and explore. My day always goes better when I can rise and welcome the sunrise. I do catch the local news every day, especially since hurricane season has arrived with our first named storm. But instead of letting depression or unhappiness invade my heart and mind, I an so very grateful to still be here and still have at least most of my abilities. It’s just so much easier to look on the bright side of life,
I love to spoil my 3 great nephews, ages 3, 5, and 7. I shop for them at lakeshorelearning.com. I like the games section, both outdoor and indoor games. I am especially fond of the file folder games. The adults played with the oldest and he now teaches his brothers. There are other games, though, that both I and they love. Lakeshore is not inexpensive, but as we don’t live close it has been easy for me to send them gifts. I often shopped at Lakeshore during my elementary teaching career.
The weather has been gorgeous in Ohio … mid eighties, with a cool front now moving in. The first thing I noticed in your construction picture was the wildflowers. Our country roadsides are beautiful this time of year, with blue chicory blooming alongside dusky orange tigerlilies. Today we plan to walk in a park that over seeds the landscape with wildflower mixes to attract butterflies. It’s always beautiful in any season, even winter when the grasses and seed pods take center stage, but right now all the coneflowers, Indian paintbrush, sunflowers, butterfly weed, wild roses, and chicory make it extra special. On another note, I’m a night person married to a morning person. He starts breakfast and small chores while I sleep, and I read at night while he’s sound asleep. It’s worked for 46 years so far!
Here in Palm Desert, California my phone has been alerting me to an excessive heat warning with temperatures hitting 115 this week. It is a dry heat, though; very lttle humidity. It feels as if I have walked into an oven! This is when I miss the lovely beaches of Long Island and question my thinking about moving out here 6 years ago. I remind myself how we bravely sold everything to be nearer my two children and four grandchildren; had I stayed on the east coast I would not have the relationship with my grands that I do. Life is about choices. Even in this heat I will golf early tomorrow; be done before 11 am with a whole day ahead of myself. A reminder to all to hydrate and drink lots of water!!
You are so right! It would rather enjoy each day that lament that it isn’t the way I want it to be. Life is just too short. After living in Houston for a couple of years, I know first hand how oppressive it can get at times…you have the right attitude to bear it out.
I like Lakeshore too…and I have not thought about it in awhile, so thanks for bringing it up, Linlee.
Mr. B got up this morning and shared with me his night experiences sitting on his balcony outside of his office. Yes…we keep each other informed…like you! Chuckled just thinking about it. I have a dear friend who is loving living in Ohio.
So true, Linda…life is all about choices and it does help to remember why we live where we live and do what we do.
Thanks so much.
Definitely a morning person! I love waking up to bird song, and especially enjoy the fresh and cool air of mornings. I don’t have grandchildren, but play with my housekeeper’s little girl (3-1/2) regularly. She calls me “tía Connie” which melts my heart. Anyway, she has a little apron I bought for her, and loves to put that on so we can cook, play, and get messy together. This week we will attempt to recreate something I saw on Pinterest: spread graham crackers with blue tinted icing on half the cracker, and white on the other half. Then decorate with graham crumbs to make a beach, and little teddy grahams on pieces of fruit roll up for people on their beach blankets, then gummy fish and sharks in the water. Some even stuck 🧸 the teddies in a gummy lifesaver ring floating in the water! We are sure to have lots of fun with this, and then my father will get to try everything, much to this little girl’s delight!
I’m so grateful for the thunderstorm we had last evening! It washed all the dirt out of the air. We were a little late for our dog walk this morning as I slept in until 9:00am. Since we got Trixy last fall, I have slowly gotten up earlier in the morning and gone to bed earlier. I’m the night owl and Brent is the mourning dove. But Trixy has changed everything! I’m dragging a bit today as our humidity is up to 77% from all the rain. We always need rain so it is a blessing here in the high dessert mountains of Colorado. It is only 75 degrees! With a breeze to keep the bugs away! We have tons of road construction on the state highway and the interstate, especially up in Colorado Springs. You can take lots of time to view the mountains and wild flowers waiting behind those held stop signs.
OH my, the crackers sound so cute! We also made blueberry muffins last week and it went well with two helping. Thanks for the beach cracker idea, Connie.
Night owls and morning doves…I like that description! Thanks Sydney.
I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the olive bags in yesterday’s post, so I clicked through to the Kate Spade website using the link in your slideshow (#3 of 29) and was so excited to find that bag, as well as a lot of other green options, not only on sale, but an additional 50% off, plus another 10% discount at checkout! I decided this would be my birthday present to myself, and ended up buying an olive purse, a burgundy purse and olive wristlet for about one-third of their original retail. The sale lasts until July 7th, in case you or other readers want to take advantage of it, but be aware it is “final sale/no returns.” I really like that you can filter by color, which made all the green options so easy to find.
This is a very timely post for me. I have a small box full of smooth, flat rocks picked up on the shore of Lake Superior in Minnesota. They will be perfect for rock painting when the grands come in August. I’ve been googling rock painting supplies and need to purchase paints and brushes.
They will love it, Kate! Happy to help.
Thanks Lorri! So glad you found something special. There are so many pretty green purses that I can’t decide which one I love best!
I’m the night owl married to a morning dove! And this night owl is so very grateful that we finally got some rain in South Georgia last night. Our grass was crispy, and our crops shriveling in the fields. My blueberries have also shriveled and gotten soft without any rain. Now with the lovely Saturday rain, my blueberries will be plump and ready for picking. Got to make some jam! I often think how thankful I am for things like a good refrigerator that makes ice, a dish washer that truly cleans the dishes, an AC that functions well. Things we take for granted but things for which I say little prayers of thanks.
Homemade jam sounds so good! Glad you got the rain!
You are such a fun Gigi. You are making memories with your grandchildren that they will cherish always. And inspire them to be the kind of grandparent you are. Happy Sunday.
Thank you, Kathie. So sweet…
I’ve been an owl my entire life. Post WWII, when housing was scarce, my parents were threatened with eviction due to me being up all night, usually screaming. My owl ways were great when we had teens and, even now, I’m most productive at night. I go to the gym in the mornings but everyone knows I’m often late. The end of DST is my fav day of the year.
Amazon sells a big variety of pens for rock painting. Living in the mountains, good rocks are everywhere. I prime them first and seal after painting. Our kids enjoy painting and I paint some for our local museum
Here in Canada, we say that there are two seasons… winter and road construction!
That is so true of our area as well!
Pam, do you enjoy swimming and pools? or lakes? I would think it hot Texas it is a great way to cool off. Of course, for me at age 70, putting on a swimsuit isn’t that much fun, but I have found a swimdress that I like, and it is modest and makes taking off the layers more comfortable. Maybe you swim with the grandkids!
Thanks for the sweet suggestion, Susan!