Ladies are on the Table

Hola!

We have been getting an unusual amount of rain. Some of it we expect, the kind that sneaks in under the weather radar in the middle of the night and beats gently on the roof top. The other, forecasted on the weather underground, is visiting us during the day and keeping us not only wet, but cold, as the temperatures drop.

So, given this weather, it was not a complete surprise when it rained off and on during the Las Camadres luncheon yesterday. The ticket paying, wine and coffee drinking, soup and salad eating group stayed dry and warm under the portals, but the emcees and fashion models, were in the courtyard, in the rain. Below the ladies are on the table.

By luncheon time, the table glasses were filled with peach cloths and bright blue, pink and purple napkins adorned each yellow placemat. It was all very colorful. One of the Glasspondstudio pendants was auctioned off for eighty-five dollars. Proceeds from the luncheon are used to put together food and health baskets that are distributed at Christmas and Easter throughout the municipality of Alamos.

By the time I got home, Senor was working on a soup for the evening.

He cooks empty shrimp shells for over an hour and then drains the liquid off and adds all kinds of spices and herbs. Then he continues to cook this mixture for about another hour and right before he serves it, he throws in all the shrimp. As he hands the bowl off, the shrimp is cooking away. It is a great soup for a cold, rainy evening.

This morning the weather looks promising. The sun is out and I do not see any clouds in the sky. The songbirds are chirping away, and our newest roofing inspector, Iglet, whom the guys found on the roof, is already out on the adobes trying to warm up. When Iglet is outside sunning and inspecting, Cookies is inside whining, missing Ashes I am sure, and dismayed by her replacement, of all things, an iguana.





So, I am off to the kitchen tool room for a boiled egg, salt and lime.

Then I will be boiling beets and turnips which came from a friend's overflowing garden.

And later I will have to go to Spanish class and I really dread this today because I did not study this week. I usually study about eight to ten hours each week on my own and then I will still complain to Senor that class is very hard. This week there have been distractions, something always seemed to come up. It is not like I went looking for other things to do, they just came about on their own.

So today I will come home after class and tonight I will complain about the difficulty of learning this language. Then Senor will say.....................so how much did you study this week................and I will say................none at all, but I made dolls and boiled beets and turnips.

adios! linda lou

Clever Centerpieces

Buenos Dias!



For over a week I misplaced my cell phone charger, my camera link cable and my skype microphone. So, while I was unable to post (I can't post without photos), I saved alot in AT and T bills as I missed many calls from our daughter. The skype microphone I only have to use when calling a landline phone in the states.



All is good now as I found all the missing items in the camera case bag right where I put them.


Nights are still cold here, but the sunrises are gorgeous as you can see in the photo. Senor has a new big toy. If you have small propane tanks here, they are simply switched out by the propane delivery service with other filled tanks. You don't keep the tank you buy unless you take it to the propane site by walking it there, balancing it across the bars of your bike or allowing it to roll around in the backend of your truck.



After hearing stories of switched out tanks with loose valves and incorrect regulator readings, Senor decided to buy a rather large tank. I guess we need this when we finally complete our guest room and all our family and friends decide to arrive at the same time.


The great advantage is the propane company comes and fills it on site and there are no worries about all that leaky valve stuff.

So I asked Senor.......what are all those knobs and switches for.......................he said..........i have no idea..........................and spent the afternoon researching propane tank valves and nozzles and switches on the internet.

This tank is now the new centerpiece for our casa. It can be seen right from the gate and I have noticed a few folks standing at the gate, looking. I am sure they think we are opening a restaurant.

I think he is now very smart about the new propane tank. I told him how nice if he were now smart enough to hook it up to the hot water tank which is still in its home, in the box. He did not laugh. I think we now have to build a little roof for the tank so it will not rust......................i said.

He put that on his mental to do list, which is good for about thirty seconds if it is my suggestion.

So, I left him alone to keep entertaining his intelligence through the internet and went to work on my own project.

I was asked if I would create a table centerpiece for a fundraising luncheon. I love doing that sort of thing, so of course, I said, yes. I found an old candle holder at the local thrift store and started painting it, thinking I could do something with it. I asked Senor what he thought about my progress.

Now one thing about Senor. He never, never lies. I can always count on him to be honest and not pussy foot around the subject or give me ill advice if he knows whatever I am doing is not something he particularly sees great success in.

So, he said.........that is colorful (always a positive introduction to the real comment), but it looks like something I would have done in fourth grade, no, no, third grade, when I was younger, but it is colorful.

I looked at the candleholder again, and of course, he was right. So, I painted some of it black, thinking that might highlight the colors and you do not need to see photos or know about any further comments he made about that.

So, with the luncheon on Wednesday (that being today), on Monday afternoon I decided I would make wire dolls and dress them in elegant outfits. The luncheon includes a fashion show and I thought my theme would be a Santa Semana or Carnaval Parade, in Alamos, circa 1865 or so.

I went to the fabric store at the Mercado (I keep telling people there is a fabric store in town and they still do not believe me) and stocked up on fabrics, lace and ribbon and my favorite thing, glue sticks for my glue gun. Back home, with baling wire and snippers, I created three dolls and a poodle, dressed them up and my centerpiece is good to go to the luncheon.

When I get them to their table later this morning, I will take a nice photo so you can see all three and the poodle. The poodle is covered in silver and has a pink crystal in its ear.

Senor actually thinks these are very clever centerpieces. He said they remind him of old graphite drawings in a Harpers Bazaar Magazine. That is a very good comment.