1-14-15

Martin: Casares taken from the top of the recently built nine story car park on the other side of town.

Me: When life gives you lemons, keep them because, hey, FREE lemons! Make lemonade and lemon bars too. :-)

Our little lemon tree has a great crop this year!

1-13-15

Me: I spent some time with my on-line photo class. Downloaded a new camera app & watched the tutorial from our instructor. It's a fun app!

Here are 4 pics I took with the the iPhone camera. Used the macro feature.

We had showers all morning and then the blue sky appeared. 

The rain was refreshing for the desert cacti.

1-12-15

Martin: Further down the road from her house.

Me: Starting to attack one of my new year's resolutions…de-clutter & organize the office. YIKES…this is gonna take awhile!! The two bins labeled "IN BOX" and "URGENT" are full of papers and other stuff. Hmmm, I hope nothing was actually "urgent". :-/

Today I took our Christmas decorations & tree down (finally - on January 12th). Feels good and a bit like spring cleaning in January.

I also started an on-line photography class. I am super excited to take this class along with my sister-in-law, M. Great idea by M! The class is specific to iPhone photography. I'm anxious to start watching our first week's video lesson (on my tomorrow list) and start having fun with the phone camera!

1-11-15

Martin: Quite a few of the houses in Casares have the facade of a normal structure and then the interior rooms have been excavated out of the rock face. This is the the inside of Angelita's place. The lounge is a white-washed cave. At least it's cool in there on a hot day.

Me: Biking alone doesn't mean you're lonely.

Bob left for work early & I couldn't get anyone to go on a late morning ride with me. So I went all by myself. :-) It was actually a nice few hours in solitude.

1-10-15

Me: Even Christmas in January requires pumpkin pie. These two are crazy about pumpkin pie with whipped cream. 

Or maybe these two are just crazy! ;-)

Thanks, Pat & Bob for making the trip to AZ to see us! We love you!

1-9-15

Me: Today the 4 of us had another full day of fun: working out, walks with Harley, cooking in the kitchen (by Pat), playing the game of Password (good laughs!) and taking down the house Christmas lights. In the middle of all that we did a little sight seeing by car to Fountain Hills; a LOVELY community near the McDowell Mountains. At the center of their town is this GIANT fountain that goes off every hour for 15 minutes.

We enjoyed shopping & having lunch in Fountain Hills. And we really enjoyed the fountain - especially when it made it's own rainbow off the mist of the fountain. Beautiful!! 

1-8-15

Martin: A new kangaroo pic for when my photos are absent. :-) 

(from Bob & Jane's trip here in 2012)

Me: Oh, the concentration when you're playing CHOCOLATE scrabble! 

Yep, every letter is a chocolate square!

Bob's folks arrived last night and they brought this game of chocolate temptation (a Christmas gift from M & Rod). We had fun! And I worked really hard to not eat all my letters. :-)

Today Pat & I did a little shopping while Bob and Bob played tennis.

Bob Sr. WON!

But Bob Jr. posed like he did. Good pics of the Bobs!

Pat knows her way around a kitchen and she cooked up some delicious Cioppino!

It's a Meneely Christmas tradition so it felt like a family Christmas meal with appetizers, wine and pumpkin pie. Mmmm. Harley is never far away when there is cooking in the kitchen. Thanks for your help too, Harley!

Fun day!

:-)