A Perfect Saturday in Texas

Yesterday was perfect for taking in some of the sights just a little West of Houston. Dena called on Friday to see if I had any plans for Saturday. Well, I did, you know cleaning, laundry, and errands, but when she proposed a trip to Chappel Hill and the Brenham area, I reluctantly said yes to spending a day out in God's workmanship. OK, if you believe I reluctantly said yes, you don't know me very well...do you?

It was a grand day to take Mustang Sally out on the road. I picked up Dena about 10:30 and we were off for some fun. Our first stop is the most important and foundational for the day, lunch. We decided Bever's was a great place to get some sustenance. Our timing was perfect, right before the lunch rush. And no stop at Bever's isn't complete without dessert. Dena got the French Silk pie and I got banana cream pie. That gave us the energy to go down the street and browse in a couple of shops. We both hit pay dirt and found some things we could not go home without.

Then we drove out to the Lavender farm. Again perfect timing cause we got there right before the bus of women from St. Cuthbert Episcopal Church arrived. I love iron pieces and found an unusual piece to add to my collection and Dena found some items as well to her liking. We took the back and scenic way to Washington on the Brazos State Park. I wish I could tell you we did the proud Texan thing and spent our time in the museum and the surrounding sites of interest this close to Texas Independence Day, but we mainly kept ourselves confined to the theme of the day, shopping. So we shopped in the museum gift shop where we found commemorative t-shirts to remember our day.

We headed toward downtown Brenham to do some shopping on the square. On our way into Brenham our progress was slowed by a trail ride. At first we were kind of grumbling about it, but then we did what others decided to do. Take pictures. We were stopped at one of the most beautiful and fully Texan photo ops. It was great! Cattle, longhorns and miniature donkeys grazing in a field of blue bonnets. With the trail ride off in a pasture, we headed on. We looked in a few shops along the square and did a check on time. Wow, where had the afternoon gone? We needed to amend our plans and decided against another scenic drive toward Independence, TX. We did try to find a friend's ranch, but I don't think we went far enough out.

So, we turned East back to Houston, but not before detouring into Hempstead to Diorio Farms. Now this surprised me, Dena hadn't ever been there. She went to A&M and passed by there back in the day. She was ever so glad to learn of the treasures that can be found there. Her most wonderful find of the day, green onions. I wish I had taken a picture of these green onions on steroids. Unbelievable! I got watermelon, tomatoes, blackberries, strawberry angel food cake, roasted peanuts, Peanut Brittle and some Peach Butter. It was a good day at the farm.

We got back on the road to Houston and decided that Mexican food would be the perfect end to a perfect day. Los Cucos fit the bill just fine.

With the exception of 290, we had the top down on the car all day. We were engaged in seeing all the beauty and taking in the rich country fragrance of clover, cut hay and flowers. I told Dena that the all the fresh air would make sleep come so quickly that evening. I could barely stay awake to wait for Roy to get home from the Rice baseball game. As soon as he hit the door, I fell fast asleep at 10:15 and did not wake up until 10:18 on Sunday morning. I might have slept longer but Roy thought he should wake me up. I did wake up once in the night and I found myself bathed in moonlight. I love it when the moon, the earth's rotation and the slant of the mini blinds lets that happen.

Here are some pictures of the fun.

Lavender growing in the field at the Lavender Farm. The Lavender Festival is the second weekend in August.
Dena needed to do a re-load of batteries for her camera.
A lazy day for some cattle lowing, but no baby awakes.
A field of Texas Blue Bonnets
Two little donkeys. They had been up at the fence earlier letting people pet them.

Dena in the lavender fields forever....

I don't know, but this is just pure dee Texas. Looks like a postcard picture.
More cattle and one very happy bull.

Made a note to go back to Diorio Farms more often. It is only a 45 minute drive from home.