Archive | Texas

at home in San Antone

September 21, 2011 at 10:45 pm

Lots of transition these days! (These days. These months. These years!) Yes, we “moved” to Sicily in July, but unfortunately Elliott had a mandatory training for the Army from mid-September to mid-November. So away from Sicily we flew, and now we’re making a temporary home for ourselves in San Antonio, Texas.

When I pictured two months of life in San Antonio, I could only imagine a dismal apartment furnished with the drabbest and barest of necessities. However, my husband has a little bit more of an imagination. With a little bit of searching, he found a beautiful apartment on the upper story of a carriage house in the beautifully historic King William neighborhood of San Antonio. The owner sent pictures and we were sold. Elliott negotiated for a price within our budget and we sent in a deposit.

Now for the past week we have been making a home for ourselves in this lovely little apartment. Here’s the view of the apartment from the top of the stairs. You can see the door at the entrance to our apartment below.

The kitchen, which is right in front of you when you walk up the stairs. One fabulous thing you can’t see: a KitchenAid mixer! I’ve used it at least 4 times this past week.

The living/dining room, and a peek into our bedroom in the back.

The view from the other side of the living/dining room. There’s a daybed underneath that far window.

Our bedroom. So airy and filled with light!

Lena’s bedroom… or our guestroom. Come visit!

And the sleeping lady herself.

I’ve been reading this wonderful book while nursing Lena before bed. I would like to do a post on it later, so I’ll save the details for then.

The bathroom. For me the clawfoot tub is the icing on the cake of this apartment.

Such sweet vintage details everywhere.

And a last glimpse, now with Lena “reading” after her nap!

We’re loving this little home away from home. We’ll be here until just before Thanksgiving, so plenty of time to explore the city and some other parts of Texas. Soon I’ll have photos to share from a walk Lena and I took around the neighborhood… you won’t believe some of these incredible old houses around us!

3 :: in home sweet home, Texas

at home in San Antone

September 21, 2011 at 9:45 pm

The kitchen, which is right in front of you when you walk up the stairs. One fabulous thing you can’t see: a KitchenAid mixer! I’ve used it at least 4 times this past week.

The living/dining room, and a peek into our bedroom in the back.

The view from the other side of the living/dining room. There’s a daybed underneath that far window.

Our bedroom. So airy and filled with light!

Lena’s bedroom… or our guestroom. Come visit!

And the sleeping lady herself.

I’ve been reading this wonderful book while nursing Lena before bed. I would like to do a post on it later, so I’ll save the details for then.

The bathroom. For me the clawfoot tub is the icing on the cake of this apartment.

Such sweet vintage details everywhere.

And a last glimpse, now with Lena “reading” after her nap!

3 :: in home sweet home, Texas

rainy morning in San Antonio

September 16, 2011 at 5:36 pm

The crash of thunder and sudden torrential downpour woke me from restless sleep. I looked in the bed beside me. Elliott was gone.

He had slipped out of the house at 4:30am for a PT (physical training) test at Ft Sam. I had been sleeping lightly and praying urgently ever since. Elliott’s performance in today’s PT test was critical. His shoulder had been sore for the past few days, sore enough that he had several times asked me to carry Lena and her car seat while he carried lighter things. We were concerned the test wouldn’t go well. If Elliott collapsed in the middle of 50 push-ups, we’d be heading back to Sicily.

The rain kept pouring. Suddenly I sensed a movement in the apartment. Through a foggy haze, I realized Elliott was home, shuffling around quietly to avoid waking me or Lena. I wanted him to come so I could ask him how PT had gone. But I was too sleepy and he was too far away to call to him over the sound of the rain.

Vaguely I thanked God for the rain. We’re in the middle of the potentially worst drought in San Antonio history. (This seems to happen to poor San Antonio every two years.) Perhaps this torrential rain shower would stave off the record for another summer.

When I woke again, it was to Elliott slipping into bed beside me and Lena stirring awake. There’s no putting her back to sleep after she wakes up. I turned to Elliott, suddenly scared. Maybe he’d been hiding his PT results from me so I could get a good night’s sleep? He does that. He waits till I’ve eaten most of my dinner before he tells me he’s being deployed for a year, and so on.

“PT?” I asked, tense. “How did it go?”

A simple nod. “Fine.”

“You passed?”

Another nod.

I sank back into the pillow, grateful. So we would be here for the next two months, making a home (making room) in San Antonio while Elliott attended the mandatory Captain’s Career Course at Ft Sam Houston. Elliott scooped up Lena and sat her on his stomach. Still waking up, she surveyed him with glee, a huge smile spreading across her face.

“Lena, do you want to see the rain?”