The Impending Wedding

This is my dress for the wedding. Steve took 20 pictures of me posing in the garden.......yeah..yeah...I know, I'm vain...and this is the one I chose with the least wrinkles and flabby flesh showing..LOL
Check the white trianble where I have no tan yet...check the skinny arms (not worked out in 2 months...)By the way I am a "zero"...in dress size at least:)

Garden Arbor and Fish in the Pond

I never have enough these days of photographing the ripples of the water in the pond!
And the roses on the arbor are quickly fading away......we will have more later but not this kind of display!

In the Garden...

I love poppies...we only have 2, same color, I want more!!!
I had fun taking this picture of my reflection in the pond saying hello to you...
One of our angels bringing peace to the garden.
3 of the new pond owners (the largest one is a koi)
More pictures of the pond later.

The Cure

Needless to say I bought dozens of these boxes....well not dozens ...yet!

Flowers by the Window

From our garden...what a joy
Not much posting lately, I apologize to my beloved visitors: We are incredibly occupied with The Wedding preparations...just hired a small mariachi band.

From my Kitchen Window

Hummingbirds are deadly serious, 100% focused!

Monstrous Cherries.....

I bought quickly a bag of cherries the other day and this is what they looked like when I opened the bag...YUCK!

Stamp Progress

Almost done, needs more cleaning here and there

In the Garden

First let me tell you about these little creatures on the rose bud: they are aphids................... and I HATE them. However they do not head my "enemies of Beauty" list but they are up there...certainly after...SNAILS and SLUGS which are at the very top of the list and you can see pictures of the damage they cause.....up to devouring the whole leaf! Look at the beauty of a "virgin"leaf...

My Big Hosta

This leaf measures 13" x 12", not too petite!

Tiny but Voracious Hummingbirds

Soooooo cute! I have to make new batches of syrup constantly....

The Garden after the Rain

FINALLY, it rained last night.....how sweet the sound of those millions of gentle droplets.... I took a break from the "sofa situation" and the carving action to snap a few pictures ...for your eyes only.......? The first leaves of one of our water lily had reached the surface, the water was making soft ripples and the light was perfect....swiftly I snatched this exquisite moment.

Newcomers to the Studio

I am resting my hip nonchalantly on the sofa, carving away, looking at catalogs and magazines, sipping cup after cup of comforting tea. And you?

Cactus in Bloom

Yesterday we attended a concert at the Albuquerque Zoo, for Mother's Day, and on the way back to the car I could not resist taking these pictures....so many thorns such beautiful flowers! Sounds just like LIFE to me, what do you think?

Already Pretty

Without doing much.....the rest is hidden...got you!!!!!
We are having problems with the pond in spite of the money spent earlier as part of the Spring cleaning. But I can capture a pretty little vignette here and there.

Flowers in Bloom in the Garden

Immediately above, columbine...then, going up:
clematis,
iris,
clematis,
clematis

Running for the Zoo

Finally here we are...picture from last Sunday. (courtesy Emily) Both of us placed 1st in our respective age group. After the race the soreness in my left hip was a bit worse (surprising, no?).....when it is not one thing.....
I was not super happy with my time but considering that I had a
1- sore hip
2- slight pain in my back
3- a recovering ankle
Could be worse!

Stamps in Progress

In the plane I read but mostly I kept busy carving new stamps (very simple shapes). As you can see there is some ink left on the stamps in this photo but I cleaned them after. I have some more cleaning to do here and there and then I will proof them again.

Back in Albuquerque

We left Monday for Ohio and came back yesterday evening.
We stayed on the tarmac in ABQ for some 90 minutes before leaving....because of traffic jams in Chicago (where we were to take another plane for Columbus, Ohio). A call to Ohio to announce our tardiness brought the news that Jim had died (while we were taxing in ABQ).
So we arrived late in Columbus and after picking up our rental car we still had 1:30 drive to endure (at night and in the rain) to reach Athens....just in time to say goodbye before they took him away.
It was a great consolation to think that he died peacefully at home, his wife at his side and Willie and Autumn (the feline friends) close by.
Jim was a physics professor, a mountain climber, a hiker, a musician.
Jim, we will miss you very much!