It Was a Happy Birthday!

I have had a WONDERFUL birthday week (my birthday was last Monday)! There have been birthday cards, gift cards, phone calls, gifts, lunches, dinners, flowers. balloons, plants, and shopping trips during this last week, and I have thoroughly enjoyed myself! Thank you, family and friends, for your sweet acts of kindness, love, and friendship. I have appreciated every one of them! It made for a very happy week.

Below is a picture of some flowers and cards, a Willow Tree statue, and a huge ladybug balloon which I have kept on my secretary desk all week to cheer me when I came through the door.



It snowed in the mountains earlier this week. We are happy for the moisture, and the mountains looked beautiful.



Hope you all are well and had a good week, also!

RAIN!

We have finally gotten some rain! Our desert has been in a drought, so we are very grateful for the 2-3 inches of rain that fell in the last few days.

Behind our house is the Canada del Oro wash (arroyo). It is very wide and collects a great deal of run off from smaller washes during a rain storm. In Catalina, there is only one road with a bridge that goes over the wash and everyone needs to use it when the rains are heavy. Two days ago Don was driving up our road and saw a helicopter and emergency vehicles, so he pulled off. Some lady had tried to cross the wash at the bottom of her dirt road instead of going over to the bridge (less that 1 mile away) to cross. Don took a couple of pictures for me.

Ringtail Cat

Don has been working on trapping ring tail cats this week. He trapped three out of four and found new homes for them, but the last one is larger, older, and obviously been trapped before. He refuses to go into the trap, and simply reaches through the sides to get the bait. Don set up a camera to watch him. The little guy is very wily! Below is a video that was taken two weeks ago of another ringtail in an attic. Thought you might like it.

Love from the Bottom of the World

Today we received a package from Gladys Bahamonde, a sweet and talented friend in Punta Arenas, Chile. Her city is right on the Straits of Magellan at the tip of South America (very near Antarctica). She is so good to share her city and her culture with us by email and by blog.

Below are the things she sent. She made the doll--it is so cute! That's one of the things she does with her business. The Christmas card, which she also made, contains a picture of a large monument near her home depicting sheep herding, which is typical in the area around her city. The plaque, spoon, and book mark are souvenirs from her country, and the chocolates are yummy! I have plans for all of them. I have a spoon collection that was started by my grandmother. The spoon Gladys sent will be from the farthest place in the whole collection! The bookmark will go in the book I am currently reading. It is leather and will be so much better than the piece of paper I have been using for the last couple of weeks. :-) And the chocolates will be eaten within the week.

This is the first time I have ever received something from Chile, and I am very excited to display my gifts which I know were made with love and sent with love from the bottom of the world! THANK YOU, GLADYS! You are a remarkable woman!

Happy New Year!

I'd like to wish everyone a wonderful 2010!

We had a good week. My mother and my sisters came over and spent most of New Year's Day with us playing games. It was fun. We watched a lot of football during the week, and enjoyed having some time to rest after the busy holidays.

On Saturday we went to a pow wow with some friends that was held here in Tucson. The hand crafted jewelry and pottery are so beautiful, and it was a joy to talk to the artists who were there selling their things. Many of the North American tribes were represented, and there was a lot of dancing. Below are several pictures of the dancing.


The guy below is blowing into a shell while beating his drum. He is Aztec.


These dancers are Apache.

The rest of the pictures are from various tribes.

Even from the back, their regalia is beautiful and colorful.

I've set several goals for the new year and am excited to get started on them. I'll let you know later how they are going.

I hope all of you have a wonderful new year.

Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas week filled with friends and family...just as it should be. Don and I both have siblings, niece's, nephews, and their kids in the Tucson area, which is nice.

My sister came in from the Denver area to spend a couple of weeks. She has not been home for Christmas since 2000, and we haven't seen her at all since the summer of 2004. Below is a picture of my Mom and her four children at her house where we gathered on Christmas Eve. I know it made her very happy to have us all together again. Wish Dad could have been there. This is our sixth Christmas since his passing.

Below is my youngest sister with her daughter, son-in-law, and their two boys. The boys sure made opening gifts a lot of fun!

Below is my brother, his wife, and their son (who will be graduating from the university as an engineer in another year or so).

Jennifer had to work that night, so she wasn't here when we took pictures. But we were glad Nicole could stay and be in this photo with us.

On Christmas morning we had a chance to talk to the grandchildren in Germany...what a joy they are! I wish they could have been here to enjoy the week with us.

Although I realize that Christmas is not about the gifts, I do want to share one very special gift that was given to me by Don. When we got married, there was no money to spend on diamond rings because he was just beginning his education at the University of Arizona, I was teaching school, and we had three kids to support (two were mine, one was his). I was happy to wear a simple gold band. That was nearly 16 years ago.

This year for Christmas Don took me shopping to pick out a diamond ring...a token of his love and commitment. What a sweetheart! Below is a picture of the ring I picked out. It's called a waterfall...baguettes on both sides and 21 small diamonds arching through the middle set in yellow gold. It's beautiful!

Truly, we had wonderful Christmas! Each day this week was filled with fun, good friends, and extended family, for which I am grateful.

At this time of year when we remember the birth of the Savior of the World, the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, and Prince of Peace, I wish all of you a blessed and wonderful Christmas season. Thank you for your love and friendship...I treasure it.

December, Week Three

WOW! What a busy week! All I can do is summarize the highlights.

We finished a big job with the business (which took three nights this week) and got all of the last minute shopping done. We took one night to relax with some friends (and I mean RELAX!). Denise and I put on comfortable baggy pants and t-shirts, then went to her kitchen and started cooking the teriaki chicken and prepared the stir fry vegetables. Then we turned Don and Rick loose in the kitchen to make miso soup and various kinds of sushi while Denise and I rested on the couch.

Don at his end of the counter.



Rick at his end of the counter.



Resting while the kids watched TV.

The final, beautiful result: soup, sushi, and veggies...the chicken had to be served on a different plate.

Thanks, Denise and Rick, for a fun night. Now we are ready for a big Christmas week!