It's been awhile

I am probably the worlds worst blogger, as those that know me will atest, I'm just not the Chatty Cathy type of girl. Anyhoo, I do have a couple of pictures to share. But Blogger wouldn't let me and now I can't remember which photos they were.

Bizzy Bizzy Bizzy

Between catching up at work and joining the Mystery Stole 2 knitalong, I have had my hands full just trying to keep up. I am knitting the Mystery Stole in Ruby Zephyr. I'm not sure that I am crazy about this color, but I have finished both sides of Clue #1 and if I'm still not crazy about the color when I am finished with the Stole, I can always dye it black. I decided to try knitting a Stole because as you can see in the Opera pictures below, I am wearing a shawl (triangle) that was Mystery Shawl #1 and it is beautiful and I love it, however I just think I would be more comfortable in wearing a stole. So we will see, the verdict is still out.

While I was in Santa Fe, Grant learned how to ride a bike without training wheels... finally! And on Saturday, he rode in his first BMX race. To say the least I was a little nervous about how this was going to go, but he did fine. As a matter of fact, he won a 2nd Place trophy, not bad for his first race and only riding a bike for about a week! Yes I'm a proud Nonnie...

Carmen Who?

Eric and I had a wonderful time with Gretchen and Norm at the opening night of the Santa Fe Opera (an annual event for the four of us). Every year we attend this event Eric sports a hat created for the occasion. These hats are usually the brainchild of Gretchen who has an inspired muse. This year was no exception; Gretchen’s creative genius led us down a road that turned out to be loads of fun. Her inspiration for this year’s opening night hat was this, you guessed it… Carmen Miranda the samba queen!

Which is only fitting since the opera was Carmen. She began collecting fruit for the creation a year in advance. With everything that she had collected and several trips back and forth to the local Hobby Lobby (craft store) and Dollar Store, a couple gazillion sticks of hot glue, and an upside down wicker basket, we were able to put together a creation that even the real Carmen Miranda would have been proud to wear. This was the result of our creative efforts

Eric took it for a test ride as we put on a few finishing touches….








And then Ta Da…. His opening night debut!

To say the least it was a hit, the minute it hit his head, the photographers were all over him and yes we made the front page of the Albquerque Journal… again!

And last but not least, we can't forget the opera mask craftyness...

Woo Hoo! Schools Out

Today was the last day of school for Zachary and Grant. There was a graduation ceremony for Grant's kindergarten class. Each of the classes sang a song and they all sang Louis Armstrongs "What A Wonderful World"... it was so cute and sad. After the performance, we went back to Grant's class and they served us cookies and lemonade (mmm mmm good!).














Zachary's class was pretty quite in comparison. The had their big day the day before.

Pretty as a picture

Garden Sun Hybrid Tea Climber from Mielland International. This rose was free, given to us from the nursery where we buy most of our roses… beautiful apricot color, nice smell.

Miami Moon, Floribunda by Tom Carruth. Planted in September 2004 it is an orange-pink blend with beautiful flowers.

I was playing with the macro setting on the digital camera and got this picture with the sun shining through from behind. This is a Robusta a Hybrid Rugosa by Kordes from Germany. Planted in September 2004
Our Lady of Gudelupe

These are just a few of the roses that we have, there are so many that I can’t post all the pictures and of course there are the other flowers that go with them…

And the sweetest of them all…. my Dr. Suess Grant rose

and Zach the BMX King! Well, soon to be king. This was his first official BMX race. He won a third place trophy, not bad for his first try.

Stone Dust Saga...

People in our neighborhood have been very busy with their home improvement projects… typical springtime behavior. My sweetie who walks the dog everyday gets the scoop on everyone’s projects and monitors their status. One project that he is particularly interested in is the neighbor down the street who put in a flagstone walkway and terrace. And the next thing I know, we go from this… which is fondly referred to as Weed Heaven! An absolute mess with bad dirt and no redeeming qualities!

To this in just a few short days… This is now the view out my front door. Steve from Tonga (pictured above with the hat on) does beautiful work. He hand cut each piece and fit them together like a puzzle. Here is another view from a slightly different angle

All I can say is amazing… But wait, it’s not over… the dust still hasn’t settled …. And then Steve says to Eric such a deal I have for you…. And the next thing you know, we go from this…

Bumpy uneven falling apart brick work....

To this in just a few more short days The new view from our back deck….
Simply amazing! The dust still isn’t done, but we are coming down the home stretch with just a few finishing touches left. I can’t wait; I really am ready for these projects to be done so I can enjoy these beautiful new places to sit without the dust!

Backyard Tour...

Woo Hoo! My first blog... My first post, will wonders never cease!

This is the rose that grows on my fence... a gift from Mr. Wonderful, the love of my life. We have at least 40 roses and this spring we were gifted with at least 148 simultaneous blooms.

Dainty Bess is another favorite... I love this rose, it is so delicate and graceful...













And for a little knitting news, I am currently knitting Rosita from Jaeger Handknits 35. No pictures yet. It is slow going, the Ogee lace pattern has a 28 row repeat. I modified the pattern to knit in the round and this makes the knitting go a little faster. I will post pics when I'm a little further along.

I also have 15 balls of Katia Idea yarn that I bought ages ago and would love to make something out of it but can't find a pattern that I like for this type of yarn...