Out of the blue

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.

All I will say about mine is that good comes from bad.

At work, we had a Christmas party a couple of weekends ago. It was great fun and a catered meal with ham, corn on the cob, and real Indian oven bread! Monday night, I was intensely ill, diarrhea and throwing up (at least 5x). That's one way to get a flat abdomen but I wouldn't recommend it. I dragged in to work for a meeting only to find out that three other coworkers had been sick the night before. Out of 14 party attendees, 7 of us got sick, very sick. We figured out it was a viral thing and not food poisoning only because one person had come to the party while recovering from the same illness. My son got sick the next day, from me.

My daughter got very sick too. She was hospitalized for several days over Christmas. I completely missed all church services over Christmas because of the limited hospital visitations but seeing her better makes it all worthwhile. She is in good spirits, although depressed for missing Christmas.

I got in a wreck with my Infiniti FX45 while I was out doing some last minute Christmas shopping. It was evening and busy traffic around the mall. I was turning left and the car in the left lane stopped and waited for me to go. I waited and when I thought it was clear, I proceeded to go across. A big whack and I realized it wasn't so clear. I got nailed on the front end. All kinds of fluids dripped out and the car had to be towed. The other car was a little Mazda truck and it mostly tore off the front bumper. Thankfully, nobody was hurt.

They've been debating about totaling it or fixing it. That is the only car I currently own that I carry full insurance coverage on. All my other cars carry liability only so it would have been a complete loss if it had been any other car. This week, I found out they are totaling it. There was $17,000 worth of damages!!!! I guess it got structural damages in the frame. Gosh, there are a lot of good parts still on that car though.

I'm sad over losing my CUV, my Lola, my beautiful "muscle" car.

 We drove to San Francisco in her

and through a tree. ;)

 We drove to New York and Canada to see Niagara Falls in that car. 

It was the smartest car I've ever had. It had SmartCruise and would apply brakes automatically when in the cruise control mode. It had navigation, a back up camera and a Bose 6-cd player, anything you could want, including heated seats and reclining rear seats.

It is the end of an era. I always wanted to own one since I first saw them back in 2003 but I could only afford to buy a 4 year old used one in 2007.

But, on the bright side, maybe they are doing me a favor. It's such a high end car that maintenance and repairs on it are incredibly expensive. Now I don't have to worry about the future costs. It had 117,000 miles on it and I expected it to run for another 100,000 and more but still...

Now I get to go car shopping... If I work it right, I can fix my big truck too. It's been out of commission for a few months now with some major repairs due.


Out of the blue - song: Ashes to Ashes, artist: David Bowie, album: Scary Monsters

Sunday Stills (12-26-10 Hats)

Looking for Water

Vittel Water commercials are the best! Here's David Bowie meeting all his old personas.

chaque jour une vie nouvelle! Every day a new life!!

And then there's this one! LOL!!!!


It must be the water...

Sunday Stills (12-18-10 Holiday decorations)

I really didn't do much decorating this year but here are a few things.

 I love these candy candles.

 The stockings were hung . . . on the big screen tv.

 Here's my favorite hot pad along with a hiking Santa and a marshmallow trekker.

 Yes, it's a real blue Poinsettia! I got it on my trip to Tucson. Aren't the little Christmas tree and rocking horse candle holders neat?

 I didn't even get a real tree! This one will have to do. At least there's a train set underneath! ;)

And of course, never forget the Christ in Christmas!!

For more Sunday Stills, please visit here.

Friday Foto

This morning...

Sunday Stills (10-12-10 Pets)

This week's Sunday Stills Challenge is our Pets.

Here's Buddha, my Japanese Chin

Here's Sandy, my newly adopted stray. We think she's probably terrier and cattle dog mix.

Here's Terra, my cat that thinks she's a dog

This is Terra's brother Simba, a Siamese mix

Do horses count as pets? Here are Nadia, 27 year old Arabian mare;  Scout, 15 year old gelding, a mix of pinto and Appaloosa; Yalla!, Arabian yearling;

 

 and Annie, 17 year old Arabian mare.

For more Sunday Stills, please visit here.

Friday Foto

So Send me a letter, Day 2, part 2

The roadways are really neat nowadays with all the artwork along the sides, aren't they?

After leaving Las Cruces, on our way to Tucson, we decided to visit some ghost towns. Just past Lordsburg is a ghost town called Shakespeare. Click on link for information about the town. We took the low road to get to it.

There are tours through the ghost town every other weekend, However, not on the weekend we were there so, unfortunately, all I could do was look over the fence and point my camera. 

 I'm imagining there's someone behind those curtains.

It must be pretty neat to visit when they have the town populated with reenactors. But for us, it was just a quick side trip and a peek into history. So, we turned the car around and went back the way we came until we joined up with the highway and again headed west. Destination- Tucson.

However, there was another ghost town, Steins, New Mexico, right along the way. Click on link for more information about the ghost town. Also, did you notice how the mountain range is getting closer?

We pulled off to take a look.

There was a man burning weeds but the area was fenced in and closed off. Drat! So, we did the next best thing- a drive-by photo shoot.

 

Can you think of a better way to use an old windmill wheel?

Steins Post office was established in 1888 and discontinued in 1944. Steins was first named Doubtful Canyon due to the constant threat of Indians. One Captain Stein was killed here resulting in the naming of Steins Pass. A few years later, gold and other minerals were discovered here and the town was born as Doubtful Canyon. In 1902 there were 35 registered voters, but many more residents. The current site of Steins is actually a few miles east of the original Doubtful Canyon. Steins survival through the 1940's is due to the fact that Steins was also a rail station on the Southern Pacific. Today, Steins can be seen just off Interstate 10 in Southwestern New Mexico. (from the website)

In our travel guide we read that there were several train robberies in this area in the 1800's. They used to hold up the train just as it would come out of Doubtful Canyon. In the short time we were there, several trains went past. It felt a little like we were experiencing the past.

We stopped at an old trading post (souvenir shop) along the way. Isn't it neat the way they used the Indian's headdress to sell the lollipops?

 

 I don't usually make a habit of cozying up to strangers but I couldn't resist the photo op.

Several times along this stretch of highway we would come across a cluster of four warning signs. There would be this one, then one about do not stop on roadway, another one that I can't remember, maybe high winds may exist, and then one that I wanted to photograph but never did get, warning of ZERO VISIBILITY POSSIBLE. Wow, can you imagine- ZERO visibility??

 We finally entered Arizona and came to this sign.

Bowie, Arizona!
Did we stop there?
What do you think?

To be continued...

So Send me a letter -song: Tumble and Twirl, artist: David Bowie, album: Tonight

So Send me a letter, Day 2

In the morning, we drove to La Posta de La Mesilla, again looking for a letter box, in old town Las Cruces (the crosses). Here is the old mission church in the old town square.

I found this gravestone to be very moving and sad. 

I walked around the square and came across La Posta. However, because it was so early in the morning,  it was closed, so alas, no letterbox, because the clues said it was inside the doorway in a planter. The restaurant is still open for business daily.

This sign was in the middle of the square. I was surprised to learn that the Butterfield Overland Trail was even before the Pony Express.

This was an interesting sign and building on the square.

Here's the building the sign referred to. Neat doors, huh?

This was another historical building.

Here's a closeup of the sign.

Isn't this a pretty store front?

We decided to go explore some of the side roads near the square. After driving a few miles, we ended up in the heart of the agricultural area.

There was cotton growing in the fields along the way. Does anyone understand this sign? Does it have to do with the cotton fields?  

Between the pecan and pistachio orchards and the cotton fields, I think the land owners have done rather well for themselves. Just look at the size of this house!

Notice the hot air balloon in the sky?

Here are more photos of the Organ Mountains.

We drove over to the Rio Grande river. It wasn't so grand though.

In closing, here is a real ship of the desert, right?

much more to come...

So send me a letter - song: Tumble and Twirl, artist: David Bowie, album: Tonight