My Brother Gary and a Gorgeous Country Cottage!

Hello sweet friends. I sure have missed all of you
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Before I begin tonight I want to thank Susan from the bottom of my heart for being my Blogazine Guest on the post before this one. She is such a sweetheart for taking the time from her writing to do this for me and I hope all of you had a chance to read it and if not be sure and scroll on down but not until you read tonight's post first. ha ha

All my good intentions of blogging regularly did not happen for me. Right after my last post I was told that my baby Brother Gary’s cancer has returned for the third time in three years.

They found a mass in one lung and it is cancer. We were all devastated for him that he once again is going to have to deal with this. It all started three years ago when they found a lump in his neck. After months of radiation and chemo he thought he had won the fight but in less than a year it turned up in his throat. They did extensive surgery on his throat and once again the chemo treatments. He made it a year of being cancer free when they found this in his lung.

On top of this news he was told that they wanted to do a CAT scan because it was a very strong possibility that he had cancer in other parts of his body which they said he would be in serious trouble.

I went into deep depression and cried a river because that is just what I do when I receive news like this about my family or friends. So for about three days of waiting after the scan we heard last night that they found no cancer cells in other areas of his body. I then cried tears of joy.

He will be taking his chemo at MD Anderson which is over a 100 mile trip one way for him but I am so thankful to God that he has a fighting chance to beat this again. I am hoping he will let me take him for some of the treatments because his wife is a flight attendant and since Gary will be missing a lot of work she will need to pick up extra flights.

Once again I am asking you for prayers for Gary. I know how faithful you were the other times and I know the power of prayer does work. So thank you for your prayers.

Last week I felt so sorry for Gary’s wife and I called her to see about taking her to lunch. They have only been married a year so she is taking this very hard. They were engaged the two years he fought this before so she has really been a angel helping my brother take care of himself.

A few years ago I shared with you the historical home she lived in when she and Gary were dating. It is a home our first President of Texas built for his wife Margaret and their children back in the 1800’s. Sam Houston is a famous Texas hero who led the battle of San Jacinto defeating the army of Santa Anna.

My great grand daddy fought in this battle near La Porte, Texas where I was raised. His name is on the monument along with all his comrades that fought for our Independence from Mexico. It was where the famous cry Remember the Alamo was heard on the battlefield April 1836.

Well Sherry still owns this historical home and for the last two years Gary and she have been trying to restore it to its original state. This of course was slowed down considerably because of Gary’s treatments.

Also Gary had his home that he was building himself when they met so poor Gary has done nothing but build on two homes for several years now.

One of these days I will share with you the old Sam Houston house and tell you what they found when removing the wall paper. I will share with you that when you walk in the front door there are large windows that frame the front door. On one window you can see writing etched on the glass. It seems that when one of his daughters became engaged that there might have been a question about the diamond in the ring. The young man took the ring and wrote I believe his and her name in the glass. After over a hundred years you can still read these names.

When I ask Sherry to lunch she told me that she was at the guest cottage behind the Sam Houston house and did I want to come out and see what they had done to the cottage and have lunch near there. I of course wanted to see how they had fixed up the place and it was mind blowing for me to see the changes.

They turned a storage building into the cutest little country cottage. She told me when they work on the place they often stay out there for the night. Believe me when I walked in the door I secretly wished I would never have to leave. It is so darn cute.

Let me show you the pictures I managed to take from my phone. Of course, I was upset I did not have my camera with me but my phone came in handy. I was there to cheer her up so I felt bad asking if I could take these pictures but as much as I was going on and on about how I loved her cottage I think she was tickled pink that I wanted to share them with you.

This is the cottage that sits behind the Sam Houston home. Gary and Sherry have worked really hard on this little house. I love the rock steps that Gary built. 

 As you can see I did not get the best of pictures. This one is the back room where they have wicker on one end and their dining room table on the opposite side.  I thought I took pictures of the wicker sofa and lounge chair but I could not find them when I down loaded these.

I just love this old rocker and wicker plant stand. As you can see by these pictures the whole cottage is white including the floors. Sherry has it decorated in white with touches of blue. I fell in love with this cottage and did not want to leave. I told her when I get thrown off the North Forty that I was moving into this place.

There are two rooms up front that they are using for bedrooms. Sherry painted this old iron bed white and the bedspread is white with blue design. On most of the walls she has gorgeous blue china pieces hanging.

 This is the opposite end of the room where the white iron bed is located. Love the antique piece next to the wicker floor lamp.

Over their bed is some of the blue pieces of china. Darling how she has decorated this house. 

I thought I was turning the pages of a country magazine.

In the corner of this room is the cutest little chair with a soft blue slip cover. Wish you could see the white European curtains up close that are hanging in every room. She moved them from the Sam Houston house while their remodeling it. You can just see a glimpse of the main house out this window. I will

go back through by old post from a few years ago and see if I can find a picture of the main house and post it on here.

One of the reason I love this house is it's not cluttered and it just makes you feel good to be in it.

Sherry told me this building was built before Sam Houston built the big house and it was built around 1830. 

Supposedly when Sam Houston defeated Santa Anna he hung Santa Anna's saddle up on the old stair case of the main house and it remained there until his family donated it to a Texas Museum. Probably the San Jacinto Monument Museum where Texas Independence was won.

Sorry for such a long post. I do want to update you on Clint. He is still having bad headaches from his accident and neck pain but doesn't complain about either. I don't think he can get his dental work done until around the 10th of September. Can you believe September is here?

I hope all of you have a very safe and Happy Labor Day. 

Now I am off to see what you have been up to. Don't forget to scroll down and meet Susan.

Love to all

Maggie