ABC Wednesday: Round 20 - U

This time around, U is for....

UKULELE

The ukulele originated in Hawaii, sometime in the 19th Century. It's related to the lute, and looks like a small guitar. It generally has four strings that can be either gut or nylon. And it's amazing how much music can be generated with just those four strings.

When we visited Honolulu last year, a uke seemed like the perfect souvenir for M to bring home with us. When he plays it, I feel like I'm right back on the beach at Waikiki!

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ABC Wednesday: Round 19 - G

Well, in this go-round, G is for ....

GOLDFINCH

Generally, the ones we get around our place here in the hill country are Lesser Goldfinches, a little different from the slightly larger American Goldfinch — these have more black coloring on their heads and backs. 

They are very tiny birds, a bit over four inches long — and very, very bright when the sun hits their feathers. Which I suppose is why they don't hang around in one spot very long. Ever since we moved in four years ago, I've been trying to get some photos of the teensy fliers when they visit our birdbath or feeder. But they come and go so quickly, I've never been able to get a decent shot. This is the best I've done so far — a single pic of a male bird splashing around in the water. He looked like he was having a lot of fun, but also keeping a wary eye on the photographer!

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ABC Wednesday: Round 18 - T

And T is for...

Tea!

And also for Tea Chest.

M and I drink a lot of tea. We drink a lot of coffee too, but somehow we don't seem to have so much trouble storing coffee beans. But tea -- both in bags and the loose kind -- always poses something of a problem when it comes to storage. When we moved into the new house a few years ago, I simply shoved all the tea stuff onto a shelf in the pantry and left it there. Over time, more and more boxes and containers accumulated until it had turned into a terrible tea-thing jumble.

Every time I wanted a cup of tea, I ended up with boxes falling all over the place. It was maddening.

Then one day, a lightbulb went off in my brain and I thought "TEA CHEST"!!!  Why hadn't I thought of that in the first place? Why hadn't my thoroughly organized and ingenious hubby offered the suggestion? Maybe we really are getting too old to be left on our own.

Well, anyway. I zipped on over to Amazon looking for tea chests and, after a morning spent browsing and comparing and making up my mind, I found one I liked, clicked the "One Click" button and now that corner of my pantry looks like this:

So organized! Everything easy to find and no tumbling teabag avalanche every time I want a cuppa.

Total tea time triumph!

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ABC Wednesday: Round 18 - P

And P is for...

Postcards!

I love to send/receive/collect postcards. Always have. I love old ones and new ones. I have boxes full of them, and several albums devoted to various subjects -- cities, artwork, holidays.

Older cards from all over

I think my favorites are the cards people used to have made from family photos:

In "Olden Times" families would send postcards with photos of the kids

Do these folks look happy about the picture-taking?

So, as a postcard fanatic, I was thrilled to find out about the Postcrossing website which makes it possible to, as they say:

send a postcard and receive a postcard back from a random person in the world!

And it works! Here are a few of the cards I've received from all over:

Happy family group from Finland

Catching snowflakes somewhere in the UK

Adorable kitten with amazing eyes

A handmade, personalized card from the USA

Once I signed up (for free), I received a random address from the website. Then I sent a postcard to that address, and waited (just a very short time) to receive a postcard from another random party somewhere in the world. OK, that's a very simplified explanation -- if you're interested, you can read all about the process in more depth on the Postcrossing home page.

If you're not going to be sending postcards for a while, you can let your account go "inactive" and then activate it when you're ready to participate again. I'm inactive at the moment, but I'm thinking of getting back into the game pretty soon.

(Note: I don't receive any compensation from Postcrossing for promoting their website. I just think it's lots of fun.)

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ABC Wednesday: Round 18 - L

Texas Mountain Laurel

Our Laurels were gorgeous this year. They're past their peak now, but some of the blooms are still lovely and hanging on.

Around here, of course, "L" is also for LATE, since I'm getting this up on Thursday. (Oops!)

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ABC Wednesday: "V" is for...

Well, around here, V is for VERA -- as in Vera Bradley. Have to admit, I'm something of a Vera Bradley junkie fan. Here's my latest haul:

(Click on image to enlarge.)

The darker print is called "Ellie Blue" and I love it because of the little elephants in the trim.  The lighter print is one of my all-time favorite Vera fabrics -- called "Doodle Daisy," it's shown here on an e-reader sleeve I bought for my new Kindle.  I've also got Doodle Daisy stickers plastered all over my laptop. The print reminds me so much of all those spacey florals so popular in the '60s and '70s.  (Yes, dear -- you definitely ARE the oldest hippie chick around.)

[Note: I am in no way affiliated with or employed by the Vera Bradley folks.  I just love their products. And I'm absolutely not encouraging anyone to buy VB stuff -- it's a very addictive act.]

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ABC Wednesday: "P" is for...

Posting! Yes, it is.  And I really can't believe it's been so long since I posted anything on this blog.  My only excuse is that the last few months have been an especially busy time for me, what with relocating and getting all settled in the new house, reconnecting with family and friends, and exploring new (and old) territory.  Lots to do, not much time to do it in.

But I'm hoping to have more time for blogging (and relaxing) from now on.

So, "P" is for posting, but it's also for

Porches!!!

And here are a couple of shots of our front porch, one of the places I'm planning to use for all that relaxing I'll be doing.

I took this one on the day we moved into the new place.  Since then, we've cleaned it up, removed the wreath from the wall, and added some furniture. We're thinking about adding a porch swing, too -- good idea or not?

And here's a peek at the view from the other end of the porch, with the Texas Hill Country in the distance.  And a few of our neighbors, of course.

(Click on photos to enlarge.)

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ABC Wednesday: "G" is for...

Today's theme is "Go Green," which is great because that happens to be my favorite color. And "G" is for garden too, and I do love gardens -- even though I'm not much of a gardener myself, I love to spend time in all those wonderful gardens created by other talented, generous people.

One of my favorite public gardens is Green Spring Gardens, near where we used to live in Alexandria VA. It's a beautiful place to visit any season of the year. Here are a few shots I took a couple of summers ago:



But we live in Texas now, and the gardens around here are not quite so lush. Here's a shot of a more typical garden from our area:

And, finally, here's a shot taken in a friend's vegetable garden, complete with cactus, garden hose and garden cat:

(Click on images to enlarge.)

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ABC Wednesday: "M" is for...

Well, naturally --

MOTHER!!!

And today, it's even more definitely for Mother, Mom, Mamma, Mommie because today would have been my mother's 91st birthday. I miss her so much, and this is one of my favorite photos of her. She was probably about twenty (or maybe younger) in this one, and the photographer must have said something really funny to inspire that grin -- generally, she hated having her picture taken.

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ABC Wednesday: "B" is for...

Butterfly at the Beach

(Click on photo to enlarge.)

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ABC Wednesday: "U" is for...

Under the Umbrella

(Click on photo to enlarge.)

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ABC Wednesday: "B" is for...

Beach and Boardwalk!!!

Miles of both at Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where we'll be heading in just a few days. Joysweb is on vacation for the next week or two. See ya in August!

(Click on photo to enlarge.)

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ABC Wednesday: "X" is for...

Well, really just...

X!!!!

I searched through my photos, and the only "X"s I found were in this shot taken in a local garden center. I'm not a gardener, but I find other people's gardens eXtremely enjoyable.

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ABC Wednesday: "T" is for...

Twosomes!

A couple of visitors on our balcony.


Two little Ginny dolls ready for some winter fun.

Intertwined sea creatures adorning a fountain.


Side by side doorways in Old Town Alexandria VA.

Shadows of the hubby and me at the beach.

A cute pair of tootsies.
And come to think of it, "T" is also for TOES!

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ABC Wednesday: "R" is for...

Reenactors!!!

I wasn't really too familiar with the term before I moved to Virginia. But around here, historical reenactors (or re-enactors if you prefer) are everywhere. Many museums and historical sites have them. Civil War and Revolutionary War battle recreations abound with them. And of course, places like Colonial Williamsburg and Jamestown are fully stocked with hundreds of very authentic-looking reenactors. These are a few shots we took during a visit to Williamsburg a few years ago.

A villager outside the post office.

In the saddle maker's shop.

Colonial carpenter.

In the printer's establishment.

At the book bindery.

A reenactor bringing history to life.

And sometimes, even the visitors get into the act.

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