It's a Beautiful Day!

It's a beautiful day and the main reason for that would be we are no longer people of the dirt.  Our landscaping is now completed.  I'll show more photos later, but it's fantastic to sit on a patio after being mired in dirt since August 7.

Yesterday we drove to Oracle to eat at a little café where we've seen lots of cars parked out front.  My dad always counted cars when we were traveling around the U.S.  That was his universal sign for good food. 

 I took a look at the menu board out front and thought he might have been right.

How many dives serve Mac and Cheese with Truffles and Blueberry with Goat Cheese Pie?

                                  I ordered the prosciutto/tomato/mozzarella quiche with fruit,

 

And Craig polished off a chicken club panini with cucumber salad.

 

I was dying to try the blueberry/goat cheese pie, but just couldn't justify the calories.  I told our waitress someday I'll stop by the Oracle Patio Café and have pie for lunch!

 

Afterwards, we browsed the local antique shop.  Should I buy the horse as a centerpiece for our new landscaping?

 

 

Hi -O Silver golfers!

 

 

Or maybe a large flower for the courtyard out front?

 

 

 

Stay tuned for tales from the courtyard . . .  .  The beer garden is now open!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blurring the Lines

This is a test to see what I can do blogging with a cellphone and a tablet.  I'm tired of lugging the big laptop around when I travel, and it's a moot point because the laptop needs to be sent back to HP to see if I can squeeze another year out of it.

I pluck old photos out of the clouds with my cellphone, blur the lines in Paper Artist, load them to Picasa Web -- and here they are!

 

Speaking of blurring the lines, we're headed into Tucson tonight to see a friend of our neighbors from the Puerto Vallarta area perform at a local bar.  It's nice to blur those lines between Mexico and home until we can actually transpot ourselves back to the island!  I'll try and take a few photos!

Thursday Paintbox

Some people play Angry Birds or Candy Crush to pass the time -- I play with my photos.   I wish I was talented with a paintbrush, but cellphone apps make all most things possible!

 

Hurry Up and Wait!

We've been very busy, but today was spent waiting at home for the builder's customer service rep, our landscaper, and the G.E. repairman.  Yes, our appliances are all brand new and the dishwasher was very stubborn.  We'd turn it on at night and wake up the next morning to a load of dirty dishes.  The repairman said the computer had been fritzed by lightning, but I don't remember my hair standing on end.

While waiting, I edited some photos from a shopping trip yesterday.  I didn't buy anything, but saw some really cool stuff!

An angel with lipstick.

 

A tempting little Mexican bench.

 

A beautiful old piece of Talavera for a very hefty sum.

 

A very prickly pear.

 

Ornate doors.

 

Larry, Moe, and Curly Joe.

 

 

A smoking corpse.

And a variegated agave.  I wanted one of these in my backyard, but the landscaper said the grubs will eat it alive.

Which reminds me, we keep getting locusts in our backyard.  There's nothing for it to eat but us!

The good news is -- we are making progress!  Our landscaper came today to mark off our yard for paver patios and sidewalks.  Home Depot dropped a load of concrete blocks for stucco walls, and we now have a front loader and pile of sand in the front yard.  Better than an outhouse!  By the end of this month, we will no longer be people of the dirt.  I'm guessing we should also have window coverings by the end of the month and will no longer be living behind paper shades.

Last week we had doctors' appointments in Phoenix and Craig got a clean bill of health at his 9 month checkup!  I found barstools, two lamps, and ordered two living chairs in one fell swoop without moving the car.  Same strip mall!   Craig said we should go buy a lottery ticket because it was definitely our lucky day!

Stay tuned!  Can't wait to be sitting on a regular patio enjoying the view.  Ahhhhhh.

Insta --What?

So much of what we're doing daily is still errands.  Looking for this and that.  Along the way, I snap photos with the cellphone.  My major complaint with my son when he was traveling the U.S. was that he used his iPhone instead of a camera.

Eating crow here!  I finally get the convenience.

We found a great deli chain in Tucson -- Beyond Bread.  Yesterday we ordered curried chicken sandwiches on multi-grain.  Fabulous! 

And talk about fabulous -- you snap the photo, edit it with Instagram, post, send it to Picasa Web -- and here it is!

After lunch, we revisited a few antique malls looking for a small cabinet for the living room.  We struck out, but Craig wishes he'd saved those hundred paper wasp nests he removed from the backyard last summer.

Frida rules!  She's everywhere.

Oh my.  Kind of freaky.  No comment.

When I looked to check the price, try a little kindness was not for sale!  I snapped the photo as a reminder.

After the antique mall, we stopped at a fabric store to get some ideas for slip covering chairs.  Look what I found.  Guatemalan fabrics!  The store was manned by a 96-year old guy in a walker.  He said his sister was 102.  Her secret was that she never married.  Hmmmmmm.  That stop changed my mind about the chairs.  (It's too late to change my mind about marriage vs. longevity.  That train left the station 39 years ago.)  After doing the math, I'm forgetting about re-purposing.

This instagram actually dates back to last week in Tubac.  Maybe I'll head back there soon.  If I remember correctly, the town has an outdoor Nogales Mercado on Friday's.  Few people cross the border to shop in Nogales, Mexico now, so the shopkeepers bring their wares north.

 

This little farm sits on the eastern edge of Tubac.  

Rise and shine!  It's a brand new day.

Insta -- What?  My mother (forward left) and friends could never have imagined their photo would end up in a world called Instagram in 2013.

The miracles of the modern world!

More Monkey Business

Speaking of monkeys, I thought I'd do a rerun today. I told this story about our trip to Lamanai ruins  (February 2012) at a party the other night.  I don't think people believed me. The subject came up because my new neighbor was warning me if we went to Costa Rica, there were monkeys.

Monkey see, monkey do.  Monkeys don't scare me!  Ha!

Monkey on Da' Boat!

Part of the trip to Lamanai ruins last week was the 25 mile boat ride upriver. The guides frequently stopped the boat to point out various birds, manatees, crocodiles, iguanas, plants, humans, etc....

 At one point, the boat pulled up under a tree and the guide's warning went something like this. Okay, we gon pull up under da tree and da monkeys might jump on da boat. If da monkeys jump on da boat, don scream. If dese monkeys hear screams, they might -- how you say it? -- get like tense, and if dey get -- uhhh tense -- dey might bite!

Fortunately, no one screamed, and the monkeys didn't bite! There are actually two different monkeys in the video. The first one, the male, jumped down into the boat and left fairly quickly. Dennis (the Menace?) split right after the guide gave him a few chunks of banana. (He probably had a new flatscreen up in the tree.) The second monkey, the female, dropped in later. She's the one strutting up and down posing. She, of course, hung around longer and was more hospitable. : o )

Wednesday Fun Day

Craig's finishing hanging a fan and today is going to be a fun day. We're heading to the pool!  In honor of Wednesday Fun Day here, I thought I'd let the monkey have his way with some Isla photos today. 

 

Hasta luego!