What a difference a year makes....

...exactly one year ago today, we closed on the house in Tow!

Last evening from the front deck of our house

We can see this Bavarian castle from Buchanan Dam bridge

Travis installed a sign above the door this morning

CJ and Kaitlin (wedding day is 7/12/08)!

Hot item

These Godtags are a hot seller. They were designed by our local jeweler, Shandon from Llano, as a non-traditional take on standard military-issued dog tags. Each Godtag was created from an original piece of artwork used to create an impression in wax and then cast into a sterling silver tag. The tags are handstamped with a unique scripture abbrevation and come with a brief description that sums up the symbol, as well as the occasion or person that will wear the Tags. A second tag can be special ordered and handstamped with a personalization - usually a name or names and a significant date.

They come on either a silver ballchain or a leather chain. The most popular one so far has been the one titled "His Reward" with the imprint of little feet. It says "...children a reward from Him Psalm 127:3". The card says "Tiny footprints remind us of the first time we saw those tiny feet and toes, inked in black on a birth certificate as a permanent reminder of the awesome miracle that God has rewarded us with, and the faith He has placed in us by giving us the responsibilities of raising His child into a God-fearing adult."

Thursday

The weeks just fly by. Business is picking up steam and we are still having fun.

John and I will drive to Lubbock this week-end so that he can be fitted for his Father of the Bride tux. Kaitlin and CJ will be married on July 12th. They are a beautiful couple and John couldn't be happier with his daughter's choice in CJ.

On our way to Lubbock, we were planning on staying overnight in San Angelo (to go to a Mesquite Furniture show there), but the Polygamist Trial is being held in San Angelo and there are 400 lawyers in town. Think we will just drive around San Angelo and stay away from that circus!

Who gave this kid matches?

The burn ban has been lifted

Tomorrow the tax man cometh...

withh he would juthth go away!

"Waiting in the Stands" by Scotty Baker

New freeform sculptures

Bluebonnets are up

Wrong side of the fence

We saw this on the way to work this morning. The Llama is on the correct side of the fence with the rest of the goats, but this little guy had escaped.

Monument sign with water!

Charming

We met a lovely couple at the Art Festival this week-end. Anne is a self-taught sculptor and was in Marble Falls with her husband, Ray, for the show. They moved to the United States in 2001 from England and currently live in Phoenix. After the art show ended, they went to look at properties for sale in the area - who knows, they might move here.

Anne did a series of limited edition sculptures entitled "Earth", "Fire", "Water" and "Air". She had the last "Air" with her this week-end and it is magnificant (see below). The blue coloring is actually a patina finish. We are in discussions with her for a limited edition series carried only by Patina of Marble Falls.....

One of Anne's sculptures - "Air"

Bronze gecko

Sourcing Sunday

We spent today at the Fine Arts Festival sourcing artists for the store. We met Kiki and her husband, Harold (originally from Chicago) and bought some of Kiki's copper vessels for the shop. We also picked up 2 pieces of free-form wood sculptures from Charles Taube. The temperature hit 97 degrees today!

Bayside Floral in Horseshoe Bay provides us with fresh flowers

Cory, Shelly, Shandon, Brett and moi

This little piggy went to Tow.....

I saw my first wild pigs on our drive home last night (usually they are bacon on the side of the road for the vultures). A few weeks ago my brother-in-law, Bruce, sent a picture email titled "Dan and his Hog". I thought "Oh my gosh, now my Dad has a Harley?!". Turns out that Bruce and my Dad went wild boar hunting in Florida and my Dad got one. My dad's boar was considerably larger than the little black piglets we saw last night.

This week flew by. Monica and Caleb went back to Minneapolis on Tuesday. It was wonderful to see them and they promised to come back this summer. We like Caleb very much and Monica is obviously very happy. What else can a parent wish for?

Joe and Donna stopped by on their way back to Wisconsin. It has been so great having them close by (in Goliad) this winter and we are missing their company already.

The Thunderbird Fine Arts & Wine Festival is in Marble Falls this week-end. We had several artists in the store for a glass of wine last night during Shandon's Trunk Show. I am amazed by the number of wineries in this area. We are serving wine from a winery in Tow - Fall Creek. It is "just down the road" a bit from our house and is beautiful. If you didn't know where you were, you would guess that you were in Italy.

Can you guess which one is in the Miss Texas Teen Pageant?

Monica and Caleb at Tamala King