Father's Day

Our day started with Lori running to Santa Fe Baking Company and buying breakfast burritos for she and her dad. I had fruit. Then while Phil worked on a bid for putting in kitchen cabinets for someone Lori and I made cards. My friend Diane in Texas ( my kitti's aunt; she has Chantilly's half-sister ) called and wanted me to make her a card for a wedding. So Lori and I took on the challenge and made six cards to send her. The wedding color was turquoise. Believe me it was a challenge. I haven't been making cards and didn't know where anything was. After numerous trips to my filthy basement the mission was accomplished. I am posting photos of the cards we made under my crafts. We then took Phil to Santa Cruiz Lake which is 30 minutes north of Santa Fe. It was a beautiful spot. Phil got a fishing license and bait for Father's Day from me. We teased him about trout for dinner and fish tacos.  It is a good thing Lori packed sandwiches. Not a single bite from the fish.

Star Sightings

There have been some star sights this week. I thought I could mention names in this post and add to it as they occur. I may have not seen them myself but will get photos when I can.

June 12 - Lou Diamond Phillips was spotted in two restaurants here.

June 13 - Sam Shepard was seen at the Shed ( A hangout for the locals downtown.)  He has a home here.

Shirley McClann (sp?) lives here and sells her jewelry at the DeVargas Mall.

Ghost Ranch

I am sure you all are familar with Geogia O'Keefe, the famous painter. When she was younger she visited a dude ranch and love the area so much she said she wanted to live there. She lived in a small town near the ranch during part of the year and then lived in Ghost Ranch the other part, probably summer. You can go visit the area, see the museums, and hike. It is also a conference center now.

The story goes that some cattle ranchers would still cattle and bring them into this canyon. Then they spread stories about witches in there so no one would come in and find the cattle. Later on they changed the name to Ghost Ranch as not to be so scarey. It was at least 50 miles of dirt roads from Sante Fe and Georgia would make that trek for fresh fruits and veggies. We took a short hike up to chimney rock ( 1st picture). This is a cactus flower that only blooms once a year and it just happened to be there and beautiful.  The last picture is a building put up 20 years ago for the movie City Slickers. It was fun to rent the movie and see the area and the cabin. Such a cute movie. If you go to the Ghost Ranch website it will tell you about other movies filmed in that area.

New Year New Discovers

We have taken several great hikes this year. The first was the week after new years. We learned of a new place called tent rocks. It is about 20 miles from here. The rock formations were fabulous. Truly a hidden treasure. My hiking boots were not unpacked yet so I did it in my tennis shoes. There was snow at the stop and I fell pretty hard and hit my head. But it was totally worth it. The pictures will prove that. So many great pics. it is hard to choose. but I will try...Glad I didn't put on too many pounds over Christmas, as you will see in the last picture.

Family Fun Day

Lori suggested a family fun day so here is what we did. Phil, Lori and I went to the outdoor flea market located just outside of Santa Fe by the famous Santa Fe Opera. I was rather disappointed in what it had to offer. Lots of jewelry and items from Mexico.





 The best part was the birds that built a nest in one of the tents. We could see two baby birds with the mom. Too cute. Just hanging with the art.











After the market we went to a Mexican restaurant and ate outside under the blue sky with a gentle breeze. The sangria was delicious.

Later in the afternoon we all went for a bike ride. Only seven miles but the way home was all up hill.
It was nice just to be together on a beautiful day.

walk a mile in my shoes/ Has started.

And that is exactly what I did yesterday, plus seven more. A good friend, Christy G., told me when I was back in Iowa recently that she walked the number of her birth years the week of her birthday in April. I thought that was a cool idea so that is what I am planning on doing. I walk every other day trying to get into shape for the big week. Just in case you don't know it will be 59 miles that week. Yesterday Phil and I did eight miles. My blisters now have blisters. Today I tried my hiking boots and that seems to be a better choice, although it was a short walk. I am including a picture of the mountains at the midway point when we stopped at a park for water. I also wanted to let you all know there is an app for your phone called "map my walk."  And it is free. Can't get better than FREE. Since I am still learning my way around it is great. You just start your app, head out the door and it keeps track of the route, miles and speed. You can also save your workouts if you so desire. Well, wish me luck.
 Love and miss you all.


Well, I was at the Santa Fe High School track with lori and phil helping lori prepare for the fbi fitness test when it dawned on me that I had not begun my birthday challenge. So I walked three miles and thought that was a good start.

Since then I walked 4 mi saturday afternoon and 4 mi saturday eveing. Sunday I walked 4 miles at high noon and 3 more in the evening.  Then Monday I realized I better step up my game if I was going to make 59 by Friday.

Since I am not a morning person my walks start between 11-12. It has been in the 90's all week.  In the shade and with the breeze it is okay. the problem lies that there isn't much shade. If I do find a block with shade I go back and forth like one of those bears at the shooting booth in a carnival.
I have decided to include some pictures during the walk to make it more interesting.

This floppy hat was given to me to wear during my high noon walks to keep the sun off. Carole is a really cool gal so I am surprised she owns something like this. All I could think of was Peg and Terri and how put together they always are and I can't believe I left the house in this. I must say there are many interesting people in Santa Fe and this probably wasnt the big deal I thought it was.

On my five mile walk I came across this lost little soul. He was making funny noises and wandering aroung the school yard. I think he was lost.

This picture is a little difficult to read. All around santa fe there are these stenciled sayings. Must have been some hippie dippies. This one says Love Is The Anwser.  Who knew?????

These black birds are everywhere here. I was trying to show how big they are but this pic doesn't do it justice. Anyway I was taking this pic and this lady comes running out of her house. So I explained why I was just taking a pic of the bird.  She said she thinks he is wounded and she has been feeding him chicken and he seems better. She put orange traffic cones in front of her house so no one could park there because it was his space. She has also named him inky. She said it was a Raven. Then she ran over to the post woman to tell her the story.

This is just a picture of a yard where the flowers were so pretty. I was kind of stalking the neighborhood just to get my miles in. 5 that morning. In the evening we went back to the track to help Lori again. Afterwards we decided to walk home. I was getting alittle crabby and hungry so we stopped at Maria's . I had a grand margarita which helped my foot pain and we shared a tamale plate. Terri you would really like their tamales, veggie and pork. It was just what I needed to make it home about 9:00 and it was much cooler. It has been like 95 at 5p.m. still.

Sweet Sixteen

Not sure how it happened but kitti girl, Chantilly Rose turned sweet 16 yesterday. She has been such a source of joy and comfort in my life. It is hard to see her get older, not quite as agile as she use to be. She also had a doctor visit and lost another half pound which is huge for a cat. Her current weight is 4.5 lbs. She had another thyroid test and it indicated she needed medicine. Supposedly this is common in elderly cats. She had a big birthday party for her first birthday and I wanted to have one for her sweet sixteen but it didn't happen. Getting ready for a trip to Iowa to play with the girls, friends, that is. HAPPY BIRTHDAY FLUFFY BUTT!!!!!