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Thursday, July 31, 2014

A Happy Place to Live

It's great to see Louisiana recognized in such a positive way as indicated by Brian Williams recently.
And our adopted home town is one of the top 5 in the U.S. 

(Select image to view video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZ59pPfXyj8

Saturday, July 26, 2014

Texas A&M - visiting our freshman

On Thursday we drove west for about four and a half hours to College Station, home of Texas A&M, and had a nice visit with our oldest grandson, Parker, who has been a freshman for three weeks.  Before visiting him, we took a quick tour of the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum; it brought back great memories of a fine President.

Parker is settling in nicely and is enjoying dorm life, working hard and doing well so far in his courses.  He gave us a nice tour of the campus which is huge and quite impressive.  We saw the expansion to Kyle Field which will make it the 4th largest college stadium in the country when completed.  It is home to the 12th man, one of the many wonderful traditions at A&M where the entire student body stands throughout each game.  The student union building is the most impressive I've ever seen, a large, modern, well designed building which provides a place for students to relax and study.  Classical piano music echoed through the halls as a student was playing the grand piano.

We got a quick look at The Stack, the apartment that Parker will be living in for his freshman year; it is most attractive, roomy, and pleasant with great common areas.  He's enjoying his dorm room, but has to move to an apartment when the Fall semester begins due to the enrollment growing faster than the housing.

View of patio at The Stack
A common area at The Stack
We had dinner at Maddens Casual Gourmet in Bryan which is just north of College Station; it is a very attractive old downtown.  After dinner we dropped Parker off at his dorm and said farewells as we went to our hotel for a glass of wine before bed.  We are proud of our Aggie!


Monday, July 21, 2014

Gourmet Pizza comes to Alexandria

Wildwood Pizza opened last week in Alexandria, and they have wonderful gourmet pizzas.  The decor is eclectic with wood pallets and old wood covering one wall; pizzas are cooked in a brick oven and are among the best I've ever had.  You can't go there without seeing friends, and the staff is real friendly.  This will be a very successful restaurant!

Saturday, July 19, 2014

Red Wattle Pork Chops

For our birthdays, Grant and Cynthia gave us some 1 1/4" thick Red Wattle pork chops, the most beautiful and scrumptious pork chops we've ever had.  Our dear friends, Sid and John, joined us for an enjoyable evening as we savored these special chops.  Fine, fine, fine.  Thank you, Grant and Cynthia!

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Our Front Garden

The landscaping of our front yard that we had done last November and earlier this year has been maturing well.  We removed the grass which didn't grow well under the live oak trees, had the walkway added from our driveway across to the approach to the front porch and beyond, and then added different shades of green, different textures, and varying heights of plants.  The mondo grass has done well; the ligularia is thriving; and the Autumn fern is growing up and out.  We have enjoyed the old adage day lillies near the house.

We appreciate this photo collage that the Alexandria Garden Club shared on their Facebook page -

Saturday, July 5, 2014

4th of July Celebration

When I awoke, I was a year older than the night before, and it was Independence Day.  As the sun came up, I visited a friend to join him as he toasted the 4th of July with an ice cold Bud, a tradition he has practiced for the last 39 years.  Then at 7 a.m. to another friend's for a cup of coffee and to swap stories.



It was a beautiful, relatively cool day with low humidity, so I chose to wash all of the outside windows.  I took a lunch break and drove to Porky's and brought home a great pulled pork sandwich and a few cracklins.  That was a treat.

And in the evening, we went to some friends house for a 4th of July celebration.  It was a great day.