Update

Buenos noches. I am not sure I have ever written that before. It is a little late for me to be posting. I am usually lights out by now, but just one last bit about what I have been up to.
The 2012 Alamos Silver Festival begins Friday and I am pretty excited to be part of the event.

In the photos above and below you can see where I have been working and what I have been working on. I know it will all be so obvious.....my chair is on the right and Cookies takes the one on the left and luck is on my side when I can keep him off the table. In the top photo you can see the shop in the back, in the laundry room. If you recall, this room, where I am working, will be the bathroom..........so enough of that.

The Silver festival will be held over the weekend at the Hacienda de los Santos. I have shown you this beautiful hotel before and you might remember that it is where we have the Alamos History Club. Here is the website and you can check out the hotel and the festival as well http://haciendadelossantos.com/site/

Once the festival is over you can count on a lot of wedding news as July gets closer and closer. Boot shopping is now top, top, top priority and for my latest thoughts on the ones I will be wearing you can follow me on Pinterest..............I think this should take you there...............http://pinterest.com/glasspondstudio/

I also want to let you know that Senor's fever broke last night. I just cooked him a hamburger which he devoured. Now he is snoozing and Cookies is purring up against him and the tower heater is not on so our bedroom is a nice 70 and not 170. Sweet.
I will talk to you soon.............linda lou

If only...............

Hola. I imagine one or two of you may be wondering what we have been up to as it has been over two weeks since my last post.
No worries, no worries, everything is fine, with a few exceptions.


Senor was working hard to get more roof up and above you can see the outline of the casa begin to take shape. Pretty exciting. I think it means we are getting closer to hot water.

I have been putting in nine hour days to get enough inventory for the Silver Festival which begins next Friday.

Things were really going well on the house and bam! Senor got sick.
Things were really going well for the inventory and bam! I got sick.

Now we are both fighting colds, Senor's is in his head and mine is in my chest. On top of being sick, it is unbelievably cold here and neither of us can shake the chills and get warm enough. I hear Senor's cough is now in his chest, where mine began and I think he is much worse off than I am, especially if I can get out of bed to post and work now and then.

On Tuesday, I attended a school presentation with a fun piece of eight by six inch glass to show the kids. This is 'Mi casa es Su casa' and the kids loved the little door on the right at the bottom, and the idea of imagining entering through this door and visiting all the casas of the world. I gave six ten minute presentations to thirty kids in each group, trying to encourage them to work with their hands and find something they like to create. My presentation, along with many other talented foreigners, was organized by a local English teacher and a wonderful foreigner who visits Alamos and devotes the majority of her time while here, to the schools. When the event ended, I rushed off to go dancing and dining at a fundraiser with Senor, who already had a cough.
On Wednesday, he could not get out of bed and I was in and out of bed for most of the day. I forced myself to get up today because I have so much work to complete.
Senor is still in bed, and has not been out of the bedroom in two days and is surviving on water and crackers. I may feel like putting on some soup in awhile, but if only I had a chicken. And if only I had some vegetables to put in the pot with the chicken. This would involve an excursion to the store and I have already decided to go get back in bed.

The rain is coming down now. I feel colder than I did in Colorado in January.
If only.............. we had a nurse.

Our Vine...........Their Vine...............

Here is our vine.


Here is their vine.

The vine on their wall, which is just on the other side of the field next to us, is lush and beautiful. Our wall is very barren and our vine is only a few wispy trails of brown stems and a splash or two of orange flowers.

I went for a walk this morning. On my way back as I passed our wall, I noticed the street sweeper picking the flowers off our vines and breaking the brown vines in half.

disculpe............ i asked.............excuse me and i said this very quietly and calmly............por que........... what I really meant was.......what in the 5247, well that should be more like *#^%, are you doing.......... he just looked at me and said (and i am translating here).....that is a lot of work to sweep all that up.................

I was very, very polite and I told him that was my house and my wall and my vine and that I am trying to grow it over the wall. I am sure he said something like........oh.

But he knows it is my house and it is my vine and now I know why it will not grow over the wall.

He grabbed his bags, his broom and metal sweep pan, tipped his hat and started walking down the street. I went after him and told him I will sweep the vine, just please do not pick it anymore.
Gee whiz.........

I really am the most easy going person that I know, but I want our vine to look like their vine. I certainly have to keep up street appearances.

People have actually mentioned to me that our street is one of the prettiest in Alamos. That is probably because of the gorgeous vine you see here and our neighbor's colorful bouganvillia across the street and the beautiful mountain views we have and the natural beginnings of the tropical forest on the Rancho Colorado across the street, on the property, next to our neighbor's colorful bouganvillia. I am only trying to add to the beauty.

I went out to water our vine around noon. I am determined to make it grow. A mama dove and her three babies were sitting on top of the wall, plucking the orange trumpets from the vine, shaking their heads and then throwing them out into the street. Pure entertainment.

Now I do not know what is worse, the dove or the street sweeper. They are in on this together, I am sure.

I can't stay and chat today. I really will try to get back to you as soon as I can. I have a lot to tell you! In the meantime, you know, que le vaya bien....and as always, I hope it is to a good place!

It's All About the Boots Now

Buen dia!
I have been home for four days and am loving the balmy Mexico weather after a week in Breckenridge, Colorado with KD.
Below is this morning's gorgeous sunrise.




Breckenridge is not only a snow covered little fairy land covered with thousands of tiny white lights, it is also a ten thousand foot wonder land of lodge pole pines, cedar, fir and aspen. The photo below is what I woke to each morning. It is both breath taking and breathless. The scenery is magical but I was out of breath the moment I hit Denver. By Day Four I was somewhat acclimated, but it was often a real effort to get out of the car and into Starbucks.


Here is the Breckenridge Starbucks. Like most of the businesses, it is an older Victorian house with fireplaces and wood floors. I loved going in here every morning with KD, plugging in her lap top and making wedding plans. There were also a few nights when she went to the gym and I hunkered down in an overstuffed chair by the fire with a few other late night regulars. I don't think they came to know me by my drink though, instead it was my 1980's dark green Columbia jacket which really stood out against all the beautiful snug and sexy ski parkas in there.When we weren't busy discovering how to make paper flowers, looking at table top arrangements, or reading about baking a high altitude four level cake, an idea we decided to ditch by the way, we were taking in the sights. Below we are on the gondola which got stuck on the cable for about half an hour. KD joked about the unlucky person at the top who could not make it out the gondola door in time, until I reminded her of the day she could not get off the lift at Whistler and rode the chair around the turn and had to jump off into snow over her seven year old head. Then we laughed and the gondola suddenly lurched forward on its merry way.




We shopped all the Main Street stores where I fell in love with cowboy boots but wisely decided against paying four hundred for a pair when I live in leather country and can get a smart green pair for less than fifty.


We made several trips to the outdoor church where KD and Darin will get married in July. Nestled under the tall evergreen trees, a small wooden platform seems to float in the ankle deep snow. Concrete benches curve into an amphitheater covered in marshmallow white drifts and a bubbling creek runs through the bowl and under the platform to the sparkling river. It is a lovely setting in the winter and I look forward to seeing it in summer, too.

On Saturday, late in the afternoon and half way through the third appointment in Denver, she said yes to the dress. When she came out of the dressing room (and by now everyone was watching her on her fifth dress), not an eye was dry. It was pretty obvious the dress was made just for her and her own sparkling eyes left no doubt.

I can tell you this much. Yes, she is wearing those cowboy boots with her dress and yes, her bridesmaids are wearing their cowboy boots and I am still on the fence, thinking yes, I can wear cowboy boots, no I can't, yes, I can. I will let you know which way I fall..........


Que le vaya bien!!!!!
Linda lou

Have Dramamine, Will Travel.................

It's official! KD and Darin are planning a Rocky Mountain July wedding.

We are so excited for them and what a new adventure for us.............in-laws, wow. There must be a book on how to be an in-law. I will check in to it.

On their Facebook pages they have hundreds of photos that show them dressed up and so handsome and beautiful, smiling and kissing and laughing, and I tried to load them here and blogger said, huh, huh.

So here are a few wet photos I took of them in Mazatlan. Wet, but happy.

Meanwhile, next week I will most likely have some terrific photos of them to share with you.
Because?
Because I am going to do something I said I would never, ever, ever do again.

Yep, I bought a bus ticket. I leave manana for Tucson and then, a flight to Denver, where KD and I will spend the week wedding planning and wedding dress shopping.

So, I am leaving Senor and the cat behind with a loaf of bread the neighbor baked and a large jar of peanut butter.

I have tucked a tube of dramamine in my back pack and am ready to roll!
Hasta la vista, baby.......................linda lou

Alamos, Just a Nice Place to Come Home To

Hola.
It has been awhile! It took me a moment to remember my blog password. It took even longer to recall all the blog steps for uploading photos.

Our road trip was long, but it was very scenic. We traveled through western Arizona and southern California, where we had not been before. Most eventful was being able to take a different border crossing at Lukeville, where we went straight onto a peaceful two lane highway through the Organ Pipe Cactus National Park.

It was certainly worth it to go and see Ian and his three pound mini cat who is a little replica of Cookies. It was also wonderful to see good friends.

While in the Seattle area, we discovered a lack of connection. Maybe it was the traffic, or all the people rushing around, or could it have been the snarly sales clerks. We said hello to people we did not know and got vacant stares. We smiled at strangers and saw no response. So we quickly came to realize, it isn't home anymore. We have outgrown it.

That does not mean we won't go back and visit again. If that is where Ian is, that is where we will go.

While we were gone, Humberto took down the wall beneath the big beam and put it out in the yard.



These ladrillos are around eighty years old. You can see the straw and sticks and rocks that were mixed in with the dirt. I flipped over a few here and there looking for coins or anything exciting that whoever made them might have decided to include, but nada, nada thing. Senor says the first big rain will take care of all this mess and these ladrillos will sink right into the ground. That really just means they will be here until next summer.

We have been home for a week, just long enough to walk in our barrio and see people taking their time, laughing, smiling, enjoying themselves. Nothing too fast paced, just warm, simple days filled with children playing, roosters crowing, dogs barking.

The new year was filled with fiestas. Senor and I took it all in from the portal, listening to the sounds. There were fiestas for several days before and fiestas for several days after. Fireworks, music, and dancing, all over town. Last night things finally calmed down.

Perhaps town will remain quiet until FAOT arrives on the twentieth. If you don't have plans, you may just want to put this on your January to do.

http://www.festivalortiztirado.gob.mx/

Even though it will mean a new round of fiestas, I really can't think of a nicer place to come home to.
Que le vaya bien.................linda lou

A Little Road Trip

Hola!

There is a flock of about forty little fat, fast flying green parakeets that make Alamos their home. I have always been envious when I hear people say...............oh, the parakeets were in my trees yesterday........or.................the parakeets flew over my house this morning.

I was fortunate to be at a friend's casa one afternoon, swimming with her in her huge pool which overlooks the town of Alamos and we could hear the parakeets coming. They are loud, raucous, unafraid to let their presence be known. They flew about very low right over the pool and my eyes were as big as dinner plates.

Well, they are now living in the empty field next to us, they are snoozing in our amapa, they are dining on the asador and we are not the only ones delighted. Cookies hears them flying and tweeting in the field next door and sits quietly, waiting for them to swoosh down for a bite of corn or a quick siesta in the trees. Of course, they are very, very fast, and there is absolutely no way a twenty-three pound Cookies could ever harm one. They fly much like a flock of teals, weaving in and out, turning upside down and rolling during flight. In the photo above I caught a few of them being still for about five seconds, then they were in flight again, back to the trees of new old Jesus' place, over to the grill, out into the field, up into the mesquite, a non stop blur of bright green feathers. Look closely and you may see at least three of them.

Who knows how long they will stay, but I consider them ours, for awhile.

Hopefully they will still be around in late December, when we return from our road trip.
Yes! Our road trip. We are going to Seattle to visit Ian for his birthday and Christmas. And there is no way to describe my feelings. We have not seen him in a year.

Yes, I think it will be a little strange, we might feel a little awkward on our first trip back to the land we came from three and a half years ago, the place where we lived for over thirty years, had our home, our jobs, raised KD and Ian, fished and played soccer, hunted for ducks, had our Christmas party, picked our strawberries and pumpkins. I expect to be somewhat melancholy, but not much. They are such wonderful memories, but we have moved on. And when we are done, I will look forward to coming home.

So, Senor and I will do this by car. A little road trip adventure, up into Arizona and then, we will head west to California and Highway 5, where we will continue north to visit what is one of the most beautiful places on earth, the Pacific Northwest.

In Phoenix, I will feel like Santa Claus as I rush to the post office to ship a lot of packages free for people who have been shopping with me at the Glasspondstudio. There is still time, if there is a beautiful glass jewel you want to purchase for yourself or as a last minute stocking stuffer for someone else. Just take the etsy link http://glasspondstudio.etsy.com/ and shop. Thank you to all of you who did purchase glass jewels from me this week for the holidays.

We are looking forward to this fun little road trip adventure and hopefully will find time to post about it as we go.
And while we are gone we will leave Cookies to babysit the little green parakeets.........
Que le vaya bien and Feliz Navidad! Linda lou