Happy New Year from Austin

Eagle's Nest

I had a great conversation with Beth today and caught up on some of Esabella's adventures. Beth promised to bring Esa to visit soon and I intend to hold her to that promise! I have missed spending time with them both and glad that we are back on track.

Then, we saw a bald eagle and a kingfisher on our way back from town. It appears that all the snowbirds have now arrived in the Hill Country. So we grabbed our cameras and headed over to the eagle's nest on Hwy. 29 (go to Fuzzy's corner and turn right at the camel and proceed 6 miles). The Mama Eagle was sitting on her eggs while Papa hunted for food.

We are pretty sure these are the same eagles we know from Birchwood, Wisconsin who winter in Texas.....

Back on Lake Buchanan in Tow, Texas

Encountered a blizzard in Oklahoma

On the road again

John with Mom and Dad

Some sibs - we are missing Brian and Chuck

Cousins

Rich sets up the slide show

We arrive at Rich and Linda's in Naperville

Rockin Joe Cocker

Over the river and through the Wisconsin snow

Christmas Eve Day

After we set the burglar alarm on the house in Edina, we drove through some pretty hairy road conditions on our way to Chicago. Lots of cars in the ditches - so we pulled over and spent the night in Tomah, Wisconsin at the Cranberry Country Inn. This morning it is cold, but the snow has stopped.

Our Christmas celebration at my brother's house yesterday was great. Everyone was in attendance (no easy feat as we now occupy at least 4 or 5 different states). All of the kids are happy in their own skins and enjoying their lives. As parents - who could ask for anything better?

As we hugged goodbye, I reminded everyone that our door is always open in Tow. All they have to do is fly into Austin or San Antonio and we will pick them up at the airport. My Christmas wish is that we make this happen in 2008.

Time to blow this popstand

John checks the road conditions....next stop is Chicago

Let it snow

Dad, Pat and the grandkids

Dad, my siblings and me

Sisters

My beautiful niece, Kelly

My wonderful kids - Monica and Sean

Doesn't every patriarch wear a bow?

Moran Christmas

The Grinch stole Christmas

Last night, while John and I were upstairs watching TV, someone came into the house and stole Christmas presents, Sean's laptop and even took food out of the refrigerator! We actually heard the front door and assumed it was just Sean coming and going as usual. It wasn't until this morning that we realized what had happened.

Kind of takes the Christmas spirit down a notch.

Hopefully, karma will catch up with our thief (or thieves) soon. In the meantime, we will focus on the good stuff: everyone is healthy and we are all very blessed with what we have (not what we have lost).

Hope everyone who reads this has a Happy Holiday.

Back in Minnesota

Hurtling through space again

The drive from Tow to Lovington (and back) was gorgeous. Rob (our General Contrator) is driving us to Austin this afternoon to catch our flight to Minneapolis where we hear it is cold and snowy......

Road trip

We made it to Lovington in less than 6 hours to drop off Christmas gifts for John's kids. Now that we live closer, we hope to be able to spend more time with Kaitlin, CJ, Taylor and Chandler. Next trip - Minneapolis to see Sean and Monica.

Christmas cactus

Decorating for Christmas this year was slightly different........

Slow news day

John worked the phones today while I started online training for our POS/inventory software system - all from the comforts of home! Of course, the UPS truck delivered a package again this afternoon. This time we received a Christmas gift that we ordered for Joe and Donna a few weeks ago (therefore, no posting of pictures lest I give away the surprise). John also got his Texas drivers license in the mail. Yup, it is official and there isn't anything Shorty (at the DMV) can do about it for at least 5 years!

Now that's what I call Patina

This beautiful piece arrived from San Fransisco today...we're hoping that the artist, Tom, will load the rest of his inventory in his truck and come visit soon.

Tow times

It is very quiet in Tow - no airplanes flying overhead, no street traffic noises, no sirens or alarms going off....just the sound of Lake Buchanan lapping the shore and the steady flow of UPS, DHL and Federal Express deliveries to our door! We ran out of storage space in the trailer and garage last week and now we just stack it in the house. In a few weeks, we will be able to transfer the merchandise into the store (after the floors are stained) and we can start setting up fixtures.

We found some great stuff in Ingram last week. We will make another trip to pick up unique art decor items again this week before heading back to Minneapolis and Chicago for a few days of Christmas celebration with the Morans, Robbs, Days, Donahues, Stange and Sadowsky clans. We hope to catch up with John's kids in New Mexico before returning to Marble Falls. We are planning to drive the Acura back to Texas from Chicago on Christmas Day....keep your fingers crossed for good weather.

My daughter, Monica, tells me the snowboarding started early this year. She is sharing an apartment in Bloomington with Ashley Parsons and they have been out at Hyland Hills 4 times already. For all those who have kept track of Monica's journey, I am happy to say that we are experiencing much better times this year. Thanks to everyone for their prayers - I know it makes a difference. She has always been a bright, tenacious firecracker and I love seeing her smile again.

Sean is enjoying his sophomore year at Drake in Des Moines and introduced John and I to his girlfriend, Jess, a few weeks ago. We like her and are proud of his personal growth too. Thanks to everyone who keeps an eye on the house in Edina to prevent him from making it Party Central - I know it makes a difference.

Running out of storage space....

Of course everything will fit in the back of the Escalade

John and Seth loaded the car with handmade Santa Fe style furniture while Brandy gave me a tour of the house they built. Their home is beautiful (as is the handcrafted furniture Seth made). We fit 3 pieces into the back of the car without an inch to spare. Fortunately, Seth's cat popped up and let us know he was in the back too before we got too far away...

Todd's studio

We spent this week sourcing product. We met this artist outside Kerrville and bought several of his watercolors for the shop (and one for our guest bedroom).

Color palette for the stained concrete floor in store

Cajun

Our very good friend, Katherine, and her husband Jim lived in the nearby town of Llano before they relocated to Minneapolis a few years ago. They turned us on to this restaurant on the Llano River run by April and Robbye.

Nearby in Llano, Texas

After Tamale King, we wowed

Chuck with some delicious

Cajun cuisine

Family

It is really fun to have Chuck Stange here this week-end. Last time we saw Chuck was at Nicholas' wedding this summer. The wedding (which was beautiful and attended by each and every Stange) followed a wonderful visit with Chuck, Michele, Anthony, Sara, Marty and Gigi in Birchwood, Wisconsin. We are hoping that they will come vacation with us here the next time (or every time) school is on break in Atlanta.

Second stop = best Mexican food in Texas

This restaurant is near Fuzzy's Corner (where the camel resides) and the food is fabulous (Chuck agrees).

Chuck is in town

John's brother, Chuck, is in San Antonio this week on FAA business. We picked him up at the airport this morning and brought him back to our neck of the woods. First stop - the store.

Chuck's comment was "Wow, you guys are adventurous."

Needed these to get the permit to continue working