Life at the Gables

And so to the last of my photographic finds for this year.
** 3 **
A person walking a dog (or other animal)
One of our neighbours walking their chocolate lab Betto. Thanks Ruth and BiL for finding out the dogs name :0)

** 4 **
People playing a board game or card game.
My nephew decided to play Battleships whilst we were waiting for dinner one night. He made it up all by himself and sunk my submarine!!

** 10 **
A college or university.
We passed this one on the freeway on our way to the USS Texas.

** 18 **
An overloaded truck, car, bicycle or other vehicle.
This truck was out the local supermarket.  It looks pretty loaded up to me!!

** 20 **
A natural body of water.
Kemah Boardwalk overlooks both Trinity and Galveston bays.

** 21 **
A photograph of you with a sign reading "2015 Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt"

And that, as they say, is that.  All done and dusted for another year. Thank you so much to Rinda at Gallo Organico for hosting this again this year. As in the p…

I wonder where he is???????

Left my cell phone at home so had to borrow one!!

It weighed a ton and wouldn't fit in my bag!!

It's been a
waving folks off on a road trip, laundry attacking, last dropping off at driver's ed,
scrapping, tea supping and taking the teenager to sporty stuff
kind of Monday.

Thanks to Sian at From High in the Sky for hosting again this week.

How was your Monday/weekend?

The Teenager has received his official Learner's Permit ...

 ... and lessons with Dad have begun!!

 Yikes!!

After living in the Houston 'burbs for 14 months, I finally got John and Samuel to visit  NASA's Johnson Space Center.

 Look! Photographic evidence! And I secretly think that they enjoyed themselves.

The teenager especially.  He loved channeling his inner geek!!

Even if he did become a little camera shy!

A good day was had by all.

This makes me smile

I suspect that the longer we live here, the complete list of places we'll take our visitors will be set. Having visited the USS Texas in April,  we were there again yesterday.

 My nephew loved it!

As did BiL (and Ruth, who took all the photos).

 Apart from this one.

We were supposed to go back to the Beach Club yesterday with  my friend Emma and her boys, but when we got there it was closed.
Never fear!  There is always another pool to go to.
After all, we do have 12.
We ended up at the Water Park and a huge success it was, too.

There were fountains in the kiddie pool,

and concentration needed for the first slide

and even I had a go.  (but just the once. I forgot that the water shot up your nose when you went under water!!)


It was so much fun, we're going back on Wednesday.

The teenager had airsoft  yesterday so whilst he was there I took Ruth, my nephew and my BiL to Brazos Bend State Park for a spot of  alligator spotting.
We saw a few..................

a little 11 month old that's still in the visitors center

One that was stalking a fisherman

One that tired to imitate a log

and one that was lurking in the algae.

Apart from the humidity it was quite a pleasant walk around the lake.
It was a good day out but I've decided,  I'm not going back until it cools down a bit!!

Ruth and I had a girls night out last night with my pal and her sister.
We went to the Palladium to see the "Man from UNCLE"
Armie Hammer and Henry Cavill in the same film Yummy!!

Time for a quick glass of vino before we went, whilst we were there and when we got home!!! Well it would be rude not too.  :0)

The day started with hot air balloons over head in the morning


had a manicure & pedicure in the middle 

and ended with me in bed at 4.40pm with a migraine.

A trip to the DPS  and one soon to be stressed mom.

We took our first trip to Cinco Ranch Beach Club today and it was brilliant.
White sand and warm waters

A half decent photo of me

And a place to relax and chill out.

They do say everything is bigger in Texas and they could be right with that umbrella!!!

He's been here less than 24 hours but I have him earning his keep already.

Here's this months photo for One photo/Twenty Words over at
Creating Paper Dreams



Only one more sleep until they arrive. I wonder what adventures are in store this time. Only time will tell.

I was looking back through some old discs today  in search of photos of Samuel. I found this instead.
I miss my boy.
2003

These two don't see each other very often and there is a big age difference. But they can sometimes have fun together.




Only 3 sleeps to go!!

We have a new addition to our family. My cousin and his fiancee had a wee girl on the 2 August.
Welcome to the family Miss A

If I'm honest with myself I haven't really missed Scotland. Home is where my boys are and if they're in Texas then that's home. BUT just occasionally I miss certain things.
This weekend was Speyfest back in the old village  and there were photos galore on Facebook. That got me thinking. What DO I miss??
** 1 ** I miss our old home.  I wasn't a huge place like Texas homes but it was ours and we loved it.  John did a lot of work on it and we had some fun times with friends and family.

** 2 ** I miss my newly re-vamped garden - even in the rain! John spent months doing this all by himself and even built a pizza oven. We put down decking and artificial lawn.  Planted flowers and bulbs and then put the house on the market as we were moving to Texas!!

** 3 **
I miss the village.  Everything was within walking/staggering distance.  People were friendly, it was quieter once the by-pass opened.  There were woodland walks and the local pond to take the dog for a walk.  The …