July 8-16, 2008: A Trip to Fort Lauderdale
	July 4, 2008: Fourth of July at Ron Mathis's House
	Return to Index for 2008

Barbara had been invited to Ron Mathis's house for the Fourth of July, but she had two friends of hers as houseguests- Arturo and Richard. She wanted us to bring Mario and Steve, because Arturo was interested in music, and she thought that he would be able to converse with Mario a great deal. Steve had to work that Saturday night, so we went by their house and Mario rode with me while Steve rode with Fred.

To get to Barbara's house, you have to go up US 75 just to the south of McKinney, and then get off on Texas 121. Then you immediately make a U-turn in front of the new medical center and head back southwest on 121 to Hardin Blvd. Then it's north on Hardin and west on McKinney Ranch Parkway to the entrance to Avalon Hills- Barbara's development. Barbara lives right in the center of the new development on Maidstone Way. I would show you an aerial view of Barbara's house, but the pictures on Google Earth were, apparently, taken before any of the houses in her development were built!

We have been to Barbara's house a couple of times since she moved in, but this is the first time we had been there since she had done her small backyard up the way she wanted it. Last time we were here, she'd asked Fred a lot about what kind of plants and stuff she could use and where they should be placed. She had taken those ideas and finished off the area. (Barbara tires easily and so had most of the work done for her.)

After we'd talked with Arturo and Richard for a while, I got my camera and went out back to take a look at what she had done. Probably the best way for you to get an appreciation of what she turned a small plot of plain grass into is to look at the movie I made of her backyard (now more of a Zen garden); you can watch that movie with the movie player below.

Barbara's Garden

While I was out on the patio, I also took some still pictures of the amazing transformation that Barbara's back yard has undergone:

Unfortunately, Steve had to leave for work before Barbara served dinner; but he told us he was fine with that. Before dinner, I got a picture of Mario, Fred, Arturo and Richard talking music, and you can see that picture here. And I also got a picture of Barbara and Mario that you can look at here.

Barbara and Arturo made a wonderful dinner for us, and afterwards we listened to a lot of music and had some good conversation until it was time for us to leave and take Mario home.

You can use the links below to continue to another photo album page.

	July 8-16, 2008: A Trip to Fort Lauderdale
	July 4, 2008: Fourth of July at Ron Mathis's House
	Return to Index for 2008