First off . . . we now begin the second half of the year! Can you believe that???
Even though I enjoyed making friends in Angleton and thoroughly enjoyed the wonderful photos I took of the gators, ducks, flowers, moon, and more, I feel like a bird out of a cage having moved from Angleton after eight months. Memories of those months will include not only new friends, Miss Dell, Cindy, Max, Denise, Jolene, Martin, and Herb, I must also include my photography class, new Sony camera, two contests entered, two Honorable Mentions, a beautiful new family member . . . Ms. (Dr.) Pepper, and our wonderful deck.
July has begun with a slight raise in the temperature. We begin the month at Thousand Trails Lake Conroe and a constant breeze helps make the temperature a little more tolerable. We are parked by a wonderful couple who went the extra mile to celebrate the 4th of July.
These Cicada shells were prolific on the tree between Nancy and Bill and us.
Tony scrubbing off the 'barnacles' . . . LOL!
We managed to get together with Patty and John Dasko before leaving for Dallas. We didn't quite get our calendars synchronized and it turned out Patty scheduled a week at a condo on Lake Conroe the week I was going to be gone. Thankfully we spent Saturday evening together before leaving and had a terrific visit as well as great food as always. Next time . . .
We left on the 10th to go to Thousand Trails Bay Landing in Bridgeport, Texas (NW of Ft. Worth). FI Continuing Ed Classes filled the 11th through the 15th, 8:30 am to 4:30 pm. The drive to Allen was about 85 miles one way but well worth it. My breath was taken away each morning as I saw the sun rise as I headed east toward Allen. When I arrived back at home I caught pictures of several new birds, their nests, and babies.
We had a long spacious spot at Bay Landing. A Great Crested Flycatcher had two babies she protected fiercely. The Bridgeport Lake was beautiful at sunset. A pond on the premises had beautiful sunflowers surrounding it.
In addition to the normal geese, Mallards, and Mockingbirds, there were some strange looking ducks . . . they turned out to be Mottled Ducks . . . at the pond, a few turtles, a wasp nest, dragonflies, and a Vermillion Flycatcher and a beautiful moon.
On the 11th, we went to Demassis Mediterranean Buffet with our FI class. Melanie joined us. I really enjoyed the variety of rice dishes they had and LOVED the Baklava!
The classes flew by so quickly. There is so much information it is difficult to soak it all in. We studied Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, 1 John, Proof of the Bible, the Divinity of Christ, 3 classes on Finances in the Bible, Christ's Ministry, Intro to Daniel and Revelation, Ezekiel's Temple, and History of Evangelical Movement. Now I am looking forward to next year.
It was great seeing some of the students on the Sabbath following classes. Dale, Melanie and I wound up going to Mattito's for Mexican food after church. Their stuffed jalapeños are delicious!
On Sunday David and Tony went golfing and I went to Jeannie's. So many photo ops . . . here are a few pictures . . . the first is a beautiful fountain in Jeannie and David's neighborhood.
These photos were taken at Jeannie and David's while Jeannie had an Open House in the neighborhood. This squirrel was a flirt.
Jeannie and I headed for the Dallas Arboretum after she fixed a quick, delicious lunch. It was a very hot day but we enjoyed our visit so much. The variety and layout of the gardens are impeccable and very well cared for. Here are a few of the beautiful photos . . . including my beautiful cousin, Jeannie.
We went to Mattito's again . . . I did not mention I had been there the day before . . . I love this place.
I ordered something different and enjoyed it as much as any other I have had.
On Tuesday Tony and I talked about moving to Lake Texoma (Thousand Trails) since our park's swimming pool was being resurfaced and we really wanted a pool and Tony wanted the hot tub. Wednesday we visited the park and were impressed with their two fully operational pools and hot tub. Thursday we moved.
Having taken pictures of the stump art in Galveston I was fascinated by the art at TT Lake Texoma. There were lots of things to take photos of.
These two energetic guys had so much fun with their engineering talent. The TT Lake Texoma had a great store and 'restaurant' that had meals for breakfast and lunch on Friday thru Sunday (if I am not mistaken).