Week 51, Project 365

Some of the photos I'm sharing this week were taken by MY DAUGHTER [insert gleeful smile] whose flight arrived right on time -- 3:25 a.m. Thursday morning. No sleep for the weary that night but totally worth it! We've enjoyed showing her bits of our city and introducing her to friends. This coming week we're looking forward to some R&R in Sta. Rosa.

The last time Tina was in Argentina she was ten years old and we spent most of that month-long visit at the house in Sta. Rosa with Ivan's folks. The town was smaller then (population of 7,000 then and it's almost twice that now). We didn't do a lot of sight-seeing at the time; our focus was on seeing people, not places. This time we plan to visit Cumbrecita (a little German village way up in the mountains) and hang out in Belgrano (of course, since we have to take her to Tio Rico's!). So for the final Project 365 next Sunday I'll probably have lots of "touristy" photos.

But this week the photos are closer to home. Starting with this one of the neighbor's garbage. The garbage isn't why I took it; look closer and you'll see the wild parrots tearing into it. Those pesky varmints love to strew garbage everywhere.

Tuesday I shared a whole boat load of photos for Nester's Christmas Tour of Homes so this is a repeat. It shows a bit of the tree, the quiltie I received in the Four Seasons Holiday Quilt Swap and one of the doo-jobbies I made to hang on either side of the arched doorway.

Our co-workers bought a "new" used dryer and gave us their old one which had quit working. Ivan discovered why when he took it all apart: there had been a fire at some point and wires had melted together.

That pile of debris in front represents the fuzz and gunk he cleaned out. Happy to say that within a couple days he had fabricated missing parts, re-wired the whole thing and now it works! I still like hanging things on the line to dry, but we'll do some clothes in the dryer to avoid having to iron them (I'd rather clean toilets than iron clothes).

Thursday after lunch we took Tina to our favorite ice cream shop. We enjoyed the refreshing fruit sherberts -- grapefruit, lemon and green apple. SOOOOO good!

On the way home we noticed this hydrangea -- have you ever seen the different colors mixed like that?

I thought the flower color was dependent on the mineral content of the soil, but how can the same soil produce such a variety of color? Any gardeners care to share the answer? Inquiring minds want to know!

Tina brought the part Ivan needed to fix my computer. The company that sold us the part has a very nice 23-page how-to manual with over 60 steps (photos included) on exactly how to do the repair.

I'm very, Very, VERY happy to have my Mac back!!!

I've enjoyed feeding my daughter :-) For one meal I used tomatoes and basil from our garden, along with mozzarella for a yummy Caprese salad.

Saturday evening Tina and I went with Nestor and Graciela to another friend's house for what we thought would be just basic sushi instruction, but turned out to be an international potluck.

The friend, Regina, teaches German at a local language school where you can also learn French, English, Portuguese, Italian or Spanish (for foreigners). This was a get-together for the teachers, students and their families and we were fortunate to be invited as well. Besides the sushi instruction there was French ratatouille, Italian bagna cauda, and I'm not even sure what else. There was so much food and so many people I couldn't try everything.

Obviously it was A VERY GOOD WEEK. Trusting that the next one will be just as good, as we enjoy a quiet Christmas in Sta. Rosa. May your Christmas be a joyful time filled with worshiping the One whose birth started it all!