"Pride of Ownership"

This morning Pop and I carpooled to a meeting in Springer. He drove - on the pretense that he didn't trust my driving. Really, I understand, not even Thomas enjoys climbing into and out of my little Pita. We stopped at the Sportsman's for gas on the way home. I amused myself watching a stocky young guy squeegee-ing the windows of his sports car. He meticulously cleaned every window, wiping the squeegee with a paper towel between swipes lest he leave a streak. It amused me, and I said so to Pop. I asked him how often he washes his vehicles, and he remarked that it just depends, but he did say, "It is pride of ownership". These are words that would get me only a few hours later. I came home and ate my leftover pizza. Thomas was still cleaning up the kitchen from dinner the night before, and though he looked like he had just awoken, he insisted he's been up for hours. As we talked, I started working on a grocery list for next weekend. We talked about this and that, and then he asked for the umpteenth time, "So you want to go to Raton and look at cars? You still want to get a new one?" And for the umpteenth time, I shrugged it off and hemmed and hawed. Spending money is something I don't always do so well - particularly on big ticket items! Mary and I shared the cost of our first two cars. The first car I bought, my Pita, was a cash in hand deal, and it was, aside from my college education, the most expensive thing I purchased. Then Thomas and I bought land - a big investment for sure. But now a car... Thomas and I both commute. I spend the same time driving to work that it used to take me to walk. I put at least 44 miles on my car each day - little more than a gallon of gas. Thomas drives 110 miles to Raton and back. In the truck this is about 6.5 gallons. In Pita that would be just under 3 gallons. Gas prices for commuting are a huge portion of our budget! We did get a good tax return, and we had talked about using it on a fuel-efficient car. Thomas had looked a little, but I was dragging my feet. I mean, come on, I was without a car for about 8 months before I bought Pita, not because I didn't have need of a car sooner. So I braced myself for an afternoon of indecision and concern about cost, mileage, efficiencies, etc. I told Thomas to be gentle, and we hit the road for Raton. Before we got to Springer, I mentioned to Thomas that there was a new Toyota on the curb at Vincent's in Springer. Springer Auto is one of the places Thomas stopped, and there was one car there that really peaked his interest. Anyhow, the Toyota was older that we were wanting and much more expensive. However, the Hyundai Sonata that Thomas had been interested in was still there. He had done his research on the car, and we both felt like it was a winner. We took it around the block for a test drive. Thomas swerved, braked, and otherwise put it through the paces. It seemed to be in good shape. Evidently a family traded it in for a bigger vehicle, which meant it has the wear and tear of a bunch of kids, but not problems under the hood. Vincent quoted us $1100 less than he quoted Thomas a couple weeks ago, putting it under my preferred price cap. When we got back from the test drive, he dropped the price another $1000. SOLD! Our afternoon of car shopping was quick and painless after all! Now the question arose what would happen to Pita, but she is not leaving the road. Thomas will be driving Pita, or "Lumpy" as he calls my car, and I will be driving the new, not named as yet car. So I spent the afternoon detailing the inside of my car. First a considerable amount of clothing, tupperware, books, grocery bags, etc had to be removed, not to mention a handful of rocks I have collected on our travels. In cleaning Pita the haunting expression "pride of ownership" came back to me. I don't take a lot of pride in the upkeep of the inside of my car, though I take great pride in 40 mpg. And the inside of Thomas's truck is not much better, but I felt keenly aware that I would be getting to drive the nice big car (the Sonata feels like a boat compared to a Honda Civic coupe) while my husband would be folding himself up into my little car. So I did my best to make it nice, vacuuming and wiping everything down. "Pride in ownership", indeed! So now I have a nice car that I have to keep in good condition. It will get a first road trip next weekend to Denver, as we fly out of DIA for Portland. How spoiled I will feel to have working AC and cruise control! And 33 - 35 mpg is not so bad...

The answer, of course, was "YES!"

It's hard to believe it was two years ago today (well, April 29th was a Wednesday in 2009) that Thomas asked me for forever.  I still remember what a bright sunny day it was.  He showed up after work, and we went out to the porch to work on the crossword puzzles in the Denver Post.  I remember how he was talking up a blue streak, and I just wanted his help on the clues.  Soon he was talking about this medal from his mother to protect him on his wandering ways, and the next thing I know, he is asking me to hold onto it until we can pick out a ring! 

 

I remember what a shocker it was, though we had certainly talked about it.  I was speechless - not an easy state to achieve.  I just wanted to hold him and be held and just savor the moment.

 

Thomas and I celebrated the occasion with a special dinner at our favorite date restaurant - Mr.Sushi.  We headed west towards his apartment and picked up the "Sportster" which he was getting ready to sell.  I hadn't ridden this motorcylce yet, so we were going to take it to dinner.  I was reminding Thomas about how I felt so badly about making him turn around only a couple miles from the house.  It didn't have a second seat, so I was sitting on a sweatshirt on the rear fender and clinging to Thomas tightly.  It was too bouncy and slippery, and my stomach was not enjoying the sloshing around.  We turned around and took the truck. 

 

I can still remember how it felt to want to shout it to everyone everywhere that we just got engaged.  I wanted everyone to know how lucky I was and how loved I was.  It was hard to contain myself.  It still is.  I am such a lucky person to have found my bestest best friend.

Cows That Can't Do Math

This morning I was reminded of a math class over a decade ago, maybe almost two. I can't remember which teacher it was - Mrs. Heller, Mrs. Freeman, or Mrs. McCarty. I want to attribute it to Mrs. McCarty, but she taught 7th & 8th grade. Anyhow, I can hear one of these women explaining an equation with a real life scenario: in life we calculate a car's speed and judge how long it will to take to approach us to determine whether or not it is safe to cross a street. Without calculators, speedometers, and measuring tape, we quickly judge whether we can make it across the street before getting turned into Flat Stanley. Cows did not learn this because two cows decided to charge across the highway from too far away and would not have been hit by me, had I not slowed dramatically, but would have hit me. I raise my fist at the stupid beast! But remembering Mrs. McCarty reminded me of my dream last night or this morning or sometime after I fell asleep last night: I was going over to get goat poop from a neighbor who lives across from Marie (I really am on Saturday). Somehow I was interrupted on my way there by Matthew McCarty (my math teacher's son who was a year ahead of me at the same grade school and college) and his wife (who I can vaguely picture as someone I knew in college). Anyhow, they had just moved to Miami. We were heading up the lane, past the goat house, past Marie & Dave's, past Daniel & Julie's. There was another house on the east of the lane past Daniel & Julie's, just being rebuilt, but a lot of other out buildings around it. Though Miami is not that large nor heavily wooded to block a view, I had not seen this house being rebuilt. Nor was I aware of a whole "block" of townhomes/condos going up north of it. I wondered if anyone knew it was there. I couldn't figure out who would live there because there aren't enough people here. There was a coffee shop on the first floor of one building, and they had a deli. I immediately thought I could sell them peas (which are just starting to come up in the garden), but quickly remembered there was nobody around to eat here. The buildings were a hub-bub of "urban" activity, and Matthew was telling me he worked for SCFD. I kept guessing other acronyms, completely baffled why the Scientific Cultural Facilities District, a tax/revenue in Denver for facilities like the zoo, museums, ballet, and even community gardens. What it was doing in Miami, I couldn't figure out, but I knew I would need to find out right away when to apply for a grant. It all felt so weird to have this urban architecture plopped down in Miami, and I was horrified when I saw that they actually owned and had plans to develop about a square mile in this fashion. I was so glad to see a friend, but so eager to get out of there and tell the rest of my family. Crazy dream! I have no idea what it means, but I can't imagine anything like it in these parts. We were just talking yesterday how there is no economy here for population growth, how young people have to move away after high school to find work. What an utterly preposterous dream!

Matt 7:3

The call came a week ago "not to worry" that Thomas just got out of a doctor's visit and was waiting for his prescription. NOT TO WORRY??? But he didn't even give me a chance to properly worry. It started the Saturday before that - April 16th. Thomas had drilled holes into a shovel blade to make an irrigation shovel (amazing how much better a shovel works in sloppy mud when there are holes in it). That night he couldn't stop rubbing his eye because he scratched it. He couldn't stop rubbing it. He came home from work Monday, and I thought he had pink eye. It was just irritated. He bought eye drops to get the red out Tuesday, so his eye looked a lot better, but the pain hadn't gone away. Thomas found a spot on the iris and tried to poke at it, but his eye has not been trained to stay still when something is about to touch it. (Yes, mine have because I wear contacts. Thomas's eye just rolled all around inside that head of his and wouldn't stay still.) At one point I was leaning over him with a headlamp shining into his eye and a pair of tweezers in my hand. In my other hand I was trying to keep his eyelids open, but the only thing was one big mess. Later we were in the same position, but I was just going to try to flick it out. No luck! Poor boy was worse off than when we started, but he still refused my offer to take him to a doctor. So Wednesday, when I got the call not to worry, it was because he had just come out of "eye surgery". A doctor in Trinidad was able to flick out the speck in his eye and then used a microscopic drill to clean out the rust around it. He was surprised that we weren't able to get it out, though if we had and Thomas didn't go to the doctor, then the rust could have become a problem. Thomas used antibiotic eye drops for several days. He said it felt like he had been punched in the face for a couple days, then like someone played ping pong with his eye. It seems it really took the whole week for his vision to come back clear. And now he's good. He went to the doctor today and got a thumbs-up. And he'll wear safety glasses more often, though he claims that the metal and grit can still get under them. I just thought it was fun to tell people Thomas had a speck in his eye....you know, like the parable about pointing out the speck in your brother's eye when you have a plank sticking out of your own?

Not a mouse in the house...

Not anymore!!

I can only hope I don't jinx myself by putting it in writing, but it appears we are once again mouse free.  This story begins on Friday the 13th (actually, it was the 15th), an unlucky night.  Thomas and I were watching a wonderfully cheesy action flick, a movie from our local video rental - Mom & Pop's netflix queue.  Thomas suddenly paused the movie and urgently whispered, "Look."

There darting across the floor was a little gray mouse.  I didn't shriek or anything like that.  We watched for a moment, and then Thomas suggested that there wasn't anything great to trap with it.  Of course, we wouldn't have been successful trying to trap a mouse in a pint glass, but it was the thought that counts.  As he watched where it went, I watched it go a different way....oh wait, there are more than one.

The next morning we put the traps out (I had to get them out of the tin shed, otherwise we would have put them down right away).  Four traps with peanut butter were distributed throughout the house. 

Sunday morning, I was up before Thomas because I had to go in to teach a class before mass, and I found full traps.  We caught four mice in five traps.  Gratefully, Thomas took care of emptying and resetting the traps.  Monday morning, there was one more mouse.  Tuesday morning, there was nothing; Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday...nothing! 

Now Friday morning, Thomas noted that his computer chair really stunk.  He found the Febreeze, but it just didn't really do the trick.  An open window didn't help either.  We joked about what he'd eaten that had fouled up the room so permanently, but it wasn't that.  I found a mouse stretched out behind the file cabinet.  I have no idea what it got into, as we haven't put out poison.  I used a couple pieces of cardboard to scoop and remove it.  Amazing, the room smelled so much better after that!

Thomas has a theory that Bob the Mouse went missing.  A search party was sent after him, and though they found the peanut butter before they could retrieve Bob, the rest of the mice must have gotten the message.  Go in that place, and you don't come back!

We've cleaned and bleached and vacuumed.  Gratefully, they were tidy and hungry mice.  They went straight for the peanut butter and did not leave a trail of chocolate sprinkles all over the house!

For my momma

Ooops...I found this in my draft folder.  It is from last Friday.  It is true.  And as a postscript, her Friday didn't turn out as badly as it could have.  As a post-postscript, I really did finish it in the time it took to write this post - ten minutes tops! My momma is under a little stress.  I kind of get it, because some her stress is the same kind of stress I am grappling with as time is running out for preparations for Holy Week - not to mention other work that needs to be done.  Not sure how I am channeling her, but in addition to praying for her, and I surprise myself by this next part,  I am eating chocolate frosting with a spoon.    I am not a chocolate eater like my momma.  We might joke about her and chocolate, but my sweet tooth has been a little less conventional - ginger, sour candies, etc.  But here I am spooning up chocolate frosting - the remnant of frosting from Daniel's birthday cake.  It's Gail's recipe, and it is good.  And this craving must be my momma's.  Maybe she gave up chocolate for Lent and is channeling her desire for it to me.  Or maybe it is just that time of the month.   And now it is gone...

They worked....

Your prayers for rain have worked!

 

Having had a long day yesterday and not feeling entirely great, I stayed in bed after Thomas got up for work.  It was almost immediately after I heard his truck drive away that I heard a foreign sound.  It was like little tiny drops of water hitting tin.  I thought that it must be wind and little gravel or dirt banging the roof.  I peeked out the window to the east and saw a heavy line of dark clouds, a stripe of bright orangey light, and the horizon.  When I looked out the window to the west, there were in fact raindrops on the window.  Thomas was gone, and I didn't think anyone else could be outside with a hose trying to tease me into thinking it was rain.

 

I should have been counting days, but it has been a long time since we had rain.  I had to laugh about it because I bet myself that since we did end up getting a first run of irrigation water Saturday night and Sunday, it would probably rain.  The lake is looking pathetically empty, so we need all the moisture we can get to start filling it up. 

 

It was a pretty short lived rain.  Already when I left the house, the moisture was evaporating, creating a humid feeling and wet hay smell instead of the crisp clean dirt scent of rain.  But the mountains are still in the clouds, so maybe there will be a little more moisture!

Blue Monday....

I am sure that my day's ending will be entirely opposite of the beginning.  Tonight I am staying for the "Sunday school" and will probably be surrounded by high pitched excited voices. 

 

However, this morning we had the funeral for Henry Sanchez.  There's a sadness and a joy, for even I knew he was hurting.  He sounds a lot like my grandpa, except maybe a much smaller family (hard to imagine out here where everyone is related).  The card-playing, visiting with everyone at the store, deep love of family...it gives an empathy of the pain and loss Henry's family is feeling because I still notice that missing piece of my own heart. 

 

On with my day somehow...this is a busy week, and there is a lot left to do!

 

Remembering...

I am feeling better today, sort of.  There has been a heaviness in my heart as the waves of grief roll around. 

 

Yesterday marked two years since the death of my Grandma.  I still remember my Mom's words of hope when the call came that Tom was with me to comfort me.  I remember soaking my pillow with tears, reaching for a rosary like I did when my Grandpa died, wishing to wake up from my bad dream.  It had been such a surprise, but a broken heart doesn't usually show up on Doctor's charts.  She missed her husband and needed to be with him.  I still miss her, and there are times I just wish I could call her up like the good ol' days. 

 

Yesterdays heaviness was not tempered by a death in our parish on Wednesday, the death of an old man who reminded me of my grandpa.  Henry was always so nice to me when he was able to make it to church, but his health was failing him.  I enjoyed his hugs.

 

This morning I awoke from strange dreams of Liam.  I had gone to the cemetery to visit him, but he wasn't there.  Then I saw a man holding a baby, a baby radiant with life.  It reminded me of the Easter Gospel - going to the tomb to find it empty and not recognizing the Risen Christ.  Maybe I am a little overwhelmed from my work and planning for Holy Week and Easter services, but it gives me hope to picture Liam in the arms of God.  It gives me hope to imagine my grandparents holding hands, smiling at each other with that sparkle in their eyes. 

Back behind my desk...

Yesterday morning I stayed home.  I had packed up books and files and my laptop, and I was set to work from home as long as I had to.  However, I was still grumbling that I had to.  Granted it would have happened sooner or later, but after months of hassling Maytag's customer service staff, I wasn't about to pass up on a service visit. 

 

Our dishwasher was recalled.  Over six months ago.  The information had been forwarded to the previous owners who registered the appliance, so by the time we found out about it, we were getting ready to leave for Portland at Christmas time.  It waited until we got back to Miami, and then the phone calls began.  Customer service keeps East Coast time, so there were a few dead end calls through the automated service menu just to confirm that in fact we were owners of a recalled dishwasher. 

 

My favorite part was when they told you the name they had on file and asked you to correct it by saying and spelling your name back.  Then a robotic voice would try to repeat your name back to you.  What a surprise that "VIGIL" never came back sounding like anything.   I could tell it they didn't have it right yet and do the process over again, but really, what would be the point? 

 

Our options were to 1) replace the dishwasher with a new stainless steel model, but the rebate wouldn't cover the cost of the new dishwasher or 2) have it repaired.  But we were advised to stop using it until we had moved forward with one of these options as it could pose a serious fire threat.  Not looking to be out anymore money, Thomas called during a morning he was home in January to schedule a repair.  Maytag was not prepared for this response and would have to call us back when they found someone who could service a dishwasher in the middle of nowhere.  They didn't call back.  So I started harassing them.  They found someone in Las Vegas, NM who would give us a call.  No call came, so I called Maytag, and they would follow up.  A couple weeks later, no call.  And so on.  The snow storms of the winter were keeping Marco busy or away from the shop, but soon we were forgotten again until just before the next storm.  Lather, rinse, repeat! 

 

When the call finally came a couple of weeks ago, I thought the lady on the message was calling me from some church supply company, but we figured that out quickly.  With her heavy accent or my lack of a Hispanic accent, she had no idea who I was and why I was calling because "we didn't call you".  Once that was sorted out, she still didn't know what was needed and would have to call me back.  And so it went until her phone call this past Monday morning that I received when I got home from work - "The boss will be there Wednesday morning."  Unfortunately, my boss wasn't in on Tuesday, but I figured I better keep this appointment or never get another one. 

 

By 9:30 am yesterday, I still hadn't gotten a call telling me that Marco was in Wagon Mound (half-way).  I dialed the number calmly and gave the woman who answered my identity.  "MRS VIGIL from MIAMI!" she shouted rather loudly, clearly catching the attention of her boss (now I wonder if it isn't her son) who was clearly not on his way to Miami yet.  He was soon out the door and at mine an hour and a half later.  He had a little boy with him, who looked like he was school age, and I wondered if little Gabriel was insurance that I hadn't lured Marco out into the middle of nowhere to take out my wrath about the whole ordeal.  The way the woman in the office spoke my name....I wouldn't have been surprised. 

 

The repair took less just under an hour, and now, our dishwasher doesn't pose a fire danger.  What an ordeal!  I continued to work from home, as it seemed like such a waste of gas and time to drive back and forth for what little was left of the day.  But now I am back, and the papers have piled up even higher....

The boob tube...

It is not because it is so important that it gets its own room.  The TV does, however, have the room with the best view.  The room also doubles as the guest room.  And currently, Thomas has become a fixture in there on the couch with the new Clancy novel Julie loaned him.

 

I remember that growing up we were limited in how much we could watch, and it wasn't until high school maybe that we got cable.  We divided the bill, and though none of us got an allowance, we all paid $5 or $10 a month towards the bill.  That is the only time I have had cable. 

 

Somehow TV programming has mostly been more of a social event for me: the nights of watching ER in college in Amber's room, the parading across the neighborhood to watch Friends and Scrubs at the Monroe house my second year in Denver, then crowding into the TV room in the Columbine house to watch Thursday night TV, and finally watching the Simpsons with Thomas on Sunday nights. 

 

Movies are a whole other story, and for that I am grateful for the attachments to the TV to make home-viewing possible.  I am also grateful for the generosity of our local video libraries (read "Tom's family").  Occasionally we turn down a Netflix from Pop, but movies are usually fun entertainment.  ("Usually" suggests that sometimes the movies we borrow are just weird - it's true.) 

 

So the exception when it comes to the boob tube and me starts at 6 pm on KRQE out here.  This was not the one station that we got, which is FOX.  For some reason this station came in somewhat clearly the night of the Super Bowl, and then never again.  Whatever I did to the rabbit ears residing on top of the TV, the station never came back.  The day before I left for California a month ago, Thomas was messing with the antenna (probably because whatever I did to the rabbit ears made the FOX reception go fuzzy!), and I asked him if he could figure out how to get KRQE for that show at 6 pm.

 

When I got back from California, he was all hot and bothered about the TV.  Evidently, Sunday night while I was gone, Thomas spent the half hour of the Simpsons and the following hour messing with the antenna fuming that there was no reception and no Simpsons.  He suggested that I had done something, which was of course not the case.  It did lead him to remove the TV antenna from his old travel trailer of college days and attach it to ours.  We positioned it just so, even checking the internet for information about the position of the FOX repeater off in the mountains.  Still no luck!  (After an e-mail I sent, I got a reply that the repeater was in fact out of service and inaccessible because of snow.) 

 

Well, the repeater was fixed last week, so this weekend we got to watch the Simpsons.  More importantly to me, Thomas and I have gotten to watch Jeopardy together again at 6 pm!!

 

(dedicated to my brother - who I still think should be on the show for his amazing ability to rapid fire the answers)

Gorgeous skyline

We may not have a view of tall buildings, include one that looks like a cash register. We may not have a large green QWEST lighting up the night, but the city cannot top our skyline at sunset! These photos are from April 1st - yes, yes, a little slow getting them up here! And this is no belated April Fools...

This one is the following evening. I wish I had the mind of Oren or Marty when it comes to cameras, so that I might do justice to the images I see. April 2nd - a rather cloudy haze hung over the mountains, save for a thin spot on the horizon.

Wow, right?!?! I love it out here!

Oh give me a home....

Yep, you guessed it! I saw buffalo roaming this morning. The deer and antelope playing is somewhat common, but this is my first sighting of (Philmont) buffalo. There is a herd between Cimarron and Raton that I have seen a few times, but I don't often drive that way. In the pasture to the north of base camp and west of the highway a herd of buffalo roams, but usually out of sight from the road. Thanks to a car stopped in the middle of the highway this morning, I saw five buffalo just wandering around...pretty cool! The subject of this post could also have to do with our plans to build a home - something that won't flex in the strong winds we have had lately. I can't tell you how many versions there are, but we think we've settled on one. We have capital for materials, but not for labor, so this will be a labor of love for the two of us. It won't go up fast, but it will go up. We start by going down. The 2011 phase of our plans include digging a basement. Thomas needed some dirt to build up the diversion for the acequias (our flood irrigation system), so he bit into the earth where our home will go. It was a groundbreaking of sorts, but nothing has been done since then. The tractor is in demand these days with getting ditches and fields and water barrels in place, as is our time in getting ready for planting, receiving water, and work.

Thomas coming up the drive with the tractor.

The first little scoop...more to come!

Photos of the day...

Thursday, April 7th - Go to fire hall....take the minutes because Suzy isn't there. Try on my new fire helmet. Woo woo! From fire hall go to Mom & Pop's house for birthday cake. I pretended we were having a cake in honor of my mom's birthday on Monday, but we all knew that is was really a belated birthday cake for Daniel's birthday the week before. He got his wish - to be left alone for his birthday while Julie was in Tennessee for Spring Break. But then we still had to celebrate! He asked for a moist cake, so I tried to channel Niffer's dessert-abilities and make one of Gail Thayer's recipes: Padre's Favorite Dark Chocolate Cake (a birthday special). It was delicious! A layered cake with whipping cream in between layers and a chocolaty buttercream frosting....

Thwarted

Oh Mondays!

 

This morning as I lazily got myself ready to leave for work, I realized that school is back in session.  Yes, there would be a bus, and if I didn't leave immediately, I was sure to be stuck behind it.  Even if it had already left, the sooner I got moving, the better chance I had of being able to pass it before it began making stops to pick up kids again. 

 

As if the animal kingdom knew what was up, my expeditious leaving was thwarted repeatedly. 

 

The steer taking residence again at the Vallejo Polo Ranch must all be brothers the way they were butting heads this morning.  Very literally as I slowed down for the herd hovering on and around the highway, pairs of steer were butting heads and jumping about like they were going to stand up and start wrestling.  A couple stood in the middle of the road and a few even came charging towards the road as I pulled up.  Clearly these beasts were taken from their mamas too soon, who surely would have taught their young'uns not to play in the street.  What a bother!  I came to a full stop before I was able to inch my way through, hesitant that they might want to butt heads with me.

 

Next, not more than two miles down the highway, four young does couldn't decide whether they were running away from the highway, whether the one separated was joining her girlfriends, or whether they were completely helpless to the desire to keep me from advancing on my journey past the bus stop.  Aargh!

 

Lo & behold, the bus got away.  It wasn't far ahead, and I knew I could pass it before the next stop.  The bus was going particularly slow because it snowed in the night, and there were shaded places where it was unclear if the road was slick or not.  It dropped into the teens at night, so there really is no telling.  Gratefully, we rounded a corner into a passing lane.  As soon as I pulled in front of a bus, I noticed a herd of large elk near the edge of the road.  Gratefully, they turned away into the pasture, aware, maybe, that I had already gotten ahead of the bus and there was no more use in trying to slow me up. 

 

A gauntlet of stop lights, school crossings and slow zones, four way stops, and crossing oncoming traffic used to slow me down on my way to work.  Now it's the wild kingdom. 

Happy Birthday, Dear Momma!

There are times in a daughter's life when she wants to be with her momma, and celebrating a big birthday is one of them!  Not my birthday of course, but my momma is celebrating a lot of years of learning and teaching, loving and living, working and playing, taking and giving!  She is an amazing being of light and love, and she has done so much to make the world a better place during her lifetime!

 

I was so lucky to have gotten to spend some really quality time with my momma at a conference in March, and I will be lucky to see her again on Mother's Day!  So today, some 1400+ miles away, I am sending big hugs and kisses up and over the Rockies and the Cascades and down into the Willamette Valley to my momma!  I love you!

 

Boys are back in town!

When I hear the expression "boys are back in town," I am taken back to watching Navy Seals with my older brother.  I believe there is a seen where they are driving around in golf carts being rowdy.  A throw back to the early 90s, to be sure, but a memory of fun times with my brother.

 

This expression, if not the song, is what I thought about driving home from work last week when, to my surprise, the Vallejo Polo Ranch, which is open range bordered by cattle gates, had a whole lot of steers strewn about grazing.  Yes, in fact, the boys are back in town, and I best not forget it! 

March Travels Quickly...

Yes, while the month of March seemed to fly by, this is really a quick reference to the travels I had in March. The month seemed to move quickly through the first couple weeks, though not as quickly as I could handle. Why? Well, my mom and dad "sponsored" me to attend the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress, a professional development opportunity for me. The bonus was that I would be meeting my mom in CA for the congress and spending time with her, too! I headed off on St. Patty's Day, flying out of Denver. I saw friends and former colleagues briefly before my departure, but as I am want to do, I packed it in and raced from place to place. My book was too interesting to rest, though I needed it. It was hard to leave Thomas still asleep in bed that morning because I wouldn't get to see him until the following Tuesday! The congress was awesome, overwhelming, and refreshing. Time with Mom was sublime! The icing on the cake: staying with Bob & Joyce Armen, long time family friends of my parents who I only seem to see once a decade. We had a lot of fun catching up, eating, talking, eating, and so on. I got to see all but one of their kids and all but one of the grandkids. It was great fun, especially seeing the little girls playing dress-up with feather boas torn apart like confetti and thrown all around! We also met my cousin Peter and my aunt Janelle out for dinner, whose son Wyatt just happened to be in town for Spring Break. What a blast to see all of them, too! Despite my best intentions, my camera was left out of most of the fun, but I do have a picture of the youngest grandchild - Charlie. He was such a cutie!

Charlie's Dad and Mom (Bob & Joyce's youngest daughter) and Joyce and Bob

Upon my return to Denver, one might imagine the running around that I did since I didn't have to drag Thomas along and make him suffer my social bug. First stop was some Thai cuisine for lunch with Britta. Then I headed back across town to Nikki's for a walk with her, her cousin Amy who happened to be in town, and Nikki's son Henry. He wasn't so sure about me or my camera.

Then I headed to see my friend Minerva, but I missed her - bummer! I made a few stops before picking up Jennifer, heading to Mary's, and then riding down with them to Castle Rock for a family dinner. Unfortunately, my camera stayed in my bag until it was go-time, and then Hafner had already left. But here we are: Char, Mary, Jennifer, Ahna, and I! What a treat that we could all get together!

Only because I knew I wouldn't have another quiet weekend for several weeks, Thomas and I snuck off a few days later and headed to "town" for shopping and the like. We stayed in Taos and stayed away all weekend. It was nice to have him all to myself. We drove to Chimayo, so I could see the Santuario - magnificent! We went in to Santa Fe for a little shopping and an early sushi dinner. We ate ice cream and wandered around the plaza. And we even watched Back to the Future in our room. The hotel has a rare collection of DH Lawrence that we got to check out, and we otherwise lazed our way through the weekend.

Now it is April, and I am quickly catching up!