Esther Hope Harper

This last Friday my Granny passed away at 85. She had lived independently up until about a month ago and then after a series of illnesses she couldn’t quite shake she passed in her sleep. She didn’t want to be hooked up to machines or dependent on others to take care of her, and this past week she had said a few time that she was ready to go home to the Lord. So, as usual she got her way. She had moved to Houston in 2004 from Biloxi, Mississippi and over the last few years I was lucky enough to get to know her a little better. She had such an interesting life growing up in Louisiana and traveling Europe after the War with my Grandpa. I will miss hearing her stories, seeing her latest paintings and her southern charm. She was quite a Granny and she will be missed.

This picture was taken in 1941 when Granny was 17 and graduating from high school.

Stockings!

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving break. There was some much needed relaxing and I was still able to check many things of my to do list. After looking for Christmas stockings for Sean and I, I decided to make them instead. I had a great time making them and am feeling inspired to do more sewing projects. I would like to make more stockings too, but Sean and I really only need one each.

We went to Hobby Lobby together to pick out our fabrics and both found linings that we really liked. Plus most of the fabric was on sale.

Can you tell whose is whose?

I hope everyone’s having a great holiday season so far!

Fall Fun

I’m off from school this week, which finally gives me some time to update and do all of those things I’ve been meaning to do but haven’t quite got there yet.

Corwin and his parents came over on Halloween. Our neighborhood had a trunk or treat festival which was a lot of fun and a little more manageable for Corwin. Although, he didn’t seem very interested in getting candy. The playground and other peoples pet dogs seemed to be more of a priority.

A couple of weeks ago my parents and I also went to the George Ranch Historical Park in Richmond, Texas, for their yearly Texian Market Days. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was very pleasantly surprised. The park is a living history park with four different houses on it from the 1820’s, 1860’s, 1900’s and the 1920’s, and in each house there were people dressed in the time period’s clothing to tell you about the house and what would have been happening on the ranch during that era.

The family in the pioneer log cabin were grinding corn and weaving cotton.

There were also ranching demonstrations and civil war/texas war for independence reenactments. The occasional canon firing was a little unnerving.

The only house I could take pictures in was the 1860’s home.

This in the the George’s parent’s in law house which was built in Richmond around 1900 and then later moved to the ranch when it became a park.

The George’s house (the first picture at the top) might have been my favorite. It still has all of the original 20’s, 30’s, 40’s furniture and decorations in it. This is the water tower/meat storage for the house.

There is also an awesome treehouse that they built for their niece.

I think my dad had a chance to channel his inner cowboy.

Galveston

Last Friday night Sean and I headed down the Galveston for his parents’ church couples retreat. We got to stay at the Hotel Galvez , which made me very excited because I love cool old buildings. (The hotel opened in 1911)

We couldn’t have asked for a better room. It was on the front corner of the fifth floor looking over the beach. However we did learn from Sean’s parents the next morning that our room was supposedly the most haunted room in the hotel as well. Luckily we didn’t notice anything.

That night we also went down to Galveston’s historic downtown called the Strand. I never realized how much Victorian architecture is on the island. There are so many interesting houses that look to be close to one hundred years old, but a lot of them look like they could use some work as well.

I love the details on this building.

Sean was sad that Colonel Bubbies wasn’t open.

We ate dinner at a greek/seafood place on the pier. We split a sampler and were very pleased.

On Saturday, after the conference was over we also went to the aquarium at Moody Gardens. The aquarium had a great selection of animals including penguins and sea turtles, so I was very happy. Unfortunately the rain forrest pyramid doesn’t open again until April because of Ike. I remember liking it when I was in middle school and would like to see it again. I guess I’ll have to make another trip down in the spring sometime.

Back alley Sean.

The good life

Oscar just has it soo ruff now that he’s retired.

Bayou City Art Festival

This past Saturday Sean, my dad, Corwin and I went downtown to the art festival. A cold front had just come through and the weather was wonderful. We didn’t buy anything, but we saw lots of new artists that I liked a lot and had a good time.

Some cool woven wire figurines.

Sean pondering the art or looking off into the distance handsomely, not sure which.

There were lots of chalk drawings going on.

A whole booth with items covered in bottle caps and then shellacked over to make them smooth.

Corwin having a good time.

We all really liked these metal and glass sculptures/mobiles. They moved so many different ways. If I had more time I would have liked to sit and look at them for a while.

I liked this glass peacock. He’s cute.

Surprise Visit

Last weekend Juliana and Aidan made a surprise visit for Mrs. Pope and Grandma Pope for their birthdays. It was great to spend the weekend with them. We went downtown to the Menil and the Heights on Saturday and ate birthday cake with the Popes.

Having fun climbing on the sculpture in front of the Menil Collection.

The area around the museum has lots of nice big oak trees.

My Classroom

I promised these pictures a while ago. This is what my classroom looked like before school started. It’s a little more lived in now, but pretty much the same.

What you see when you are standing in my door.

The wall with the sinks.

The door to the hallway.

The carpet area.

The back corner.

Yay for cubbies.

So far this year is going well. The kids know what I expect from them and are doing great work. I’ll post some of our projects soon.

Happy Birthday Sean!

Sean’s birthday was last weekend and to celebrate I made the dinner of his choosing. We had lamb chops with herb citrus yogurt sauce, greek potatoes and cucumber salad (which Sean made). Tyler and Debbie also came over and Tyler made baklava for dessert. Over all I must say it was a very yummy meal and we had a great time.

The roasted potatoes

Juicy Lamb Chops

Birthday Baklava!

First Week of School

The kids are back! School started Monday and so far all is going well. However, I haven’t started teaching art yet. Instead, each grade has be meeting in the gym during their fine arts time to go over rules and procedures in some fun ways and to play team building games. This seems to be working well so far, and hopefully it will pay off later on in the year because we’ll already have good habits established. I am excited to get back in the art room though. I’ve learned some fun new projects this summer that I want to try out with the kids. I’ll keep you posted on our art work and I have some pictures of my classroom I need to download. Hopefully I’ll have those up later this week.