By Georgia Osten
I’m exaggerating of course. I’m really getting in the mood for Fall. I have more energy and more desire to get out to begin cleaning up after Summer. The front garden for instance. Right now, the sweet potato vines have taken over, the variegated ginger is out of control and in need of thinning. The main thing that worries me is

By Georgia Osten
Yep, I still get one, every year, and I ain’t complainin’. Growing up, my birthday signified the beginning of school. Right after Labor Day, we’d prepare for the school year. New clothes, new school supplies, a backpack, pencils and paper. My birthday would normally fall on the holiday, so school would start right after

By Georgia Osten
Whether you go by Grandma, ShuShu, Mimi, Lizzie or Nana, we’re all somewhat the same in the eyes of our Grands. Here is an essay titled GRANDMOTHERS written by an 8 year old.
“A grandmother is a lady who has no children of her own, so she likes other people’s little girls. A grandfather is a man grandmother. He goes on walks with

By Georgia Osten
I’ve been working here for over 4 years now. Perhaps, my most favorite job to date. Why did I have to wait so long to find it? Well, it took being retired and moving to Paradise late in life. I’ve always loved the beach, but I’m not a Beach Comber, and I’ve collected everything imaginable since living here permanently, going on

By Georgia Osten
It’s beginning to look a lot like the end of Summer. I mean, we just had the Regatta, everyone and their catamaran turned out for the race around the rig, down to the shipwreck and back around the rig back to the beach. What a fun and exciting event! Not for the weak of heart. Next is the barbecue cookoff at the Port Bolivar

By Georgia Osten
We set out early with the huge banner on top of the golf cart. It had already rained through the night, the winds had picked up and the possibility of more rain was threatening in the far west. We made it halfway when our banner came undone, so we turned around and headed back home, just making it before another downpour came

By Georgia Osten
Our trips to Colorado and then Tampa pretty much did us in! We figured it was High Time to go back to our Home Away From Home. They’ve done more renovations to The Tremont, it seems like a long time since we’ve been back. The bar is pretty much the same except now they put frosted glass behind the bar to make it look old, to

By Georgia Osten
Yep, these are the Dog Days of Summer. Hotter than a pistol, why I could fry an egg on the sidewalk! The only cool place to hang out is under the house, or under a canopy on the beach or in the pool. In the pool is where I hung out this past weekend. Saturday & Sunday, grabbed my drink of choice and my favorite floaty thing and spent

By Georgia Osten
It’s a Sunday, one week after we’ve returned from a very memorable trip to Tampa. A lot has gone on our first week back. A much-needed house cleaning, all beds stripped and washed, catch up on laundry from being gone for over a week. Maezy has settled into her routine, One-Dog-Household. She hasn’t missed a

By Georgia Osten
So, there we were…Our vacation was the best ever! Our Granddaughter, Addyson, decided to stay a bit longer with the Grands. Her parents and brothers left on Southwest for their new home in Tampa, sight unseen, they bought a beautiful new home with the assistance of Ann, the realtor. As it turns out, Ann, a realtor in Tampa, is close

By Georgia Osten
Lookout Florida, here we come! Precious cargo, our Granddaughter, Addyson, and her two pups, plus Maezy.
We left the beach at 3:30 am, heading to the East Coast. Oh my goodness, sheets of rain to Winnie, lighting so close and strong, you were actually blinded as if a spotlight went off in your eyes. It took approximately

By Georgia Osten
Another glorious day at the beach, if you’re under a canopy or out in the water. I take that back, treading out to the second sand bar is always a little scary if you ask me, I can’t believe I did it all on my own. Afterwards, sitting in the safety of shade of the canopy, looking out at that guy who asked us to “move over.” Watching him bring in a little

By Georgia Osten
How crazy is this? Saturday was our first trip of the year to the beach! For goodness sakes! We had a houseful and nothing to do on a Saturday. PawPaw loaded everything in the trailer, all the chairs, washer boards, kiddie toys, and canopies. The ladies made sandwiches for everyone, and we brought all varieties of chips, and

By Georgia Osten
We were just sitting at the dinner table, pizza tonight, something easy. So, my grandson, the one sitting by me, says “okay, in 3 seconds Grandma is going to say Who wants to play Mexican Train?” So, timing is everything, I said, “okay has it been 3 seconds?” Well, you know, Grandma craves playing games. Especially when you

By Georgia Osten
Long anticipated homecoming of our Israel kids. Finally, after 2 years, they’re relocation has come to an end. We were scheduled to meet them at Intercontinental on Saturday at 8:30. So, my husband came up with a plan, “let’s go stay at the Marriott Intercontinental.” I, actually, didn’t know there was such a thing. A hotel at the airport, are you

By Georgia Osten
So, last week, I told you all about our escape from Crystal Beach to drive to Golden, Colorado. After our oldest grandson’s graduation and family party/get together, we headed away from Colorado to our next stop, Santa Fe, New Mexico. We had a reservation at the Hotel El Dorado, which is on the main drag in Santa Fe, just a block or two

By Georgia Osten
A much needed and necessary getaway after a long year of preparation for the 2022 Texas Crab Festival. Much like the year before when our oldest Grand graduated from Baylor in Waco, except that graduation happened on Opening Day of the 2021 Crab Festival. That’s okay, we left Opening Day in very capable hands. The trip was

By Georgia Osten
As usual, my Mother’s Day was spent at the Texas Crab Festival. I think we’ve been managing the Festival since 2013, wow! My oldest daughter and my son-in-law got into town on Friday night to help us out. We already had two sisters-in-law, a brother-in-law and a nephew in the house, I think since Thursday. The house was bulging,

By Georgia Osten
This guy, Michael Moad, came into “our” lives, geez, I don’t remember, maybe 1999, maybe earlier, because the Sisters had been match-making for a while. Kelly’s sister, Leigh, and Michael’s sister, Wendy, worked together at Chili’s in San Antonio and they were in cahoots! They knew from the beginning they’d be a perfect match, and

By Georgia Osten
My garden, the little jungle-ly thing on either side of my stairs, was so overgrown. If I were to step inside of it, I was sure the weeds and vines would pull me in and I’d never be found again. So, typical of the way things are done these days, I reached out to Social Media to search for a gardener. I got several responses, but what I should have done

By Georgia Osten
Every time I think of the Easter Bunny, I think of Olympia Dukakis in Steel Magnolias. I know, I know, that was 33 years ago. But, more recently, I’m reminded of another quote from the same movie, Looks like two pigs fighting under a blanket! Sorry, that’s just me and my son-in-law doing a bit of people-watching. Guilty! We did it last year and

By Georgia Osten
Yep, that’s me. Especially on weekends, don’t even try to get me outta the house. Well, he did. After a long weekend away from home last weekend, I refused to leave. Especially when I leave home every day of the week for work. Admittedly, last weekend was spent with The Littles in Friendswood, now, that’s acceptable. Anytime, I can

By Georgia Osten
Well, I believe this is the latest I’ve ever gotten started on my Sand Bucket. It’s not that I didn’t know what I wanted to write about, but it’s been the Monday from You Know Where! I admit I took Friday off, I’ll tell you all about that soon. But, it seems everybody missed me. Right, I’m kidding myself. It’s really cute, they’ll come in the office

By Georgia Osten
We go for months on end without anybody else but me and PawPaw and Maezy in this big ol’ house. Well, Spring Break has come and gone! But with it, came our oldest Grandson from Colorado School of Mines with five of his closest friends. I got so excited to have all these young’uns in the house with us. I went to work and made

By Georgia Osten
Hi, my name is Texas, and I’m a yellow lab. I’ve been living in TelAviv for the last two years with my family and my adopted brother, Knight (a black lab). Well, actually we adopted him a few years before we went to Israel. He’s really awesome, sometimes he gets scared, but when he’s around me, he’s okay. We’ve lived in a lot of different

By Georgia Osten
At first, in October or November when we “Fall Back,” I’m up bright and early and actually make it to work on time, sometimes early. Just when I get to the point where I’m failing at waking up early from the change in the Fall, the dang time changes again! Now, I’m really in a pickle! This past Saturday, snuck up on us. First time I woke up

By Georgia Osten
We had a visit from The Littles this past weekend. Oh my goodness, you would’ve thought it was summer time already. They arrived noonish on Saturday after their baseball practices. When I arrived home from my Galveston shopping, they were all in the hot tub. While I hurried up to make their favorite “red” Jello, they talked Daddy

By Georgia Osten
Saturday we enjoyed our Crystal Beach Mardi Gras parade. Some of us stayed in the warmth of our cars parked on the side of the road, but most of us celebrated our friends and their floats and decorated golf carts or jeeps right out there in the cold with the rest of our town. Folks come from far away because they know what fun we have for