Today I got a xmas package in the mail from my awesome friends Janet and Al (and Zoe and Milo), inside was some of my favorite and very missed xmas candy and a toy for Leyna. She started chewing on it right away and then promptly fell asleep. Thank you so much. Love you guys. And yes, i’ve already put a big dent it the candy 🙂
Yesterday Steve worked a half day so we went out to lunch together then walked around town and shopped at the little artisan stands. It was a beautiful sunny day.
Steve and I are cat sitting while our friends Rob and Joanna are back in the states. On the off chance that Joanna may check this, I thought i’d put up their pictures. Chicken is the girl she’s on the left and Mr. Bunny is the boy on the right.
Hope you have a wonderful birthday Terry. We got used to celebrating it with you these past 3 years. Wish we could be celebrating it together today. Hope you have a wonderful day. Happy birthday!!!
I just wanted to say, merry christmas to everyone. I miss you all and wish we could spend the holiday’s together. Steve, Leyna and I had a wonderful christmas. I made a yummy french toast casserole for breakfast, then we opened presents. Steve got a traditional chilean cowboy outfit- poncho and sombrero and a bunch of little things, and 2 sea fishing poles and a yerba matte cup with metal straw.
Leyna really enjoyed her first christmas. She loved opening presents and chewing on the wrapping paper. Her favorite gift was a big rawhide bone. I got her a super soaker water gun to spray her with when she’s bad. It even has a tank attached to it so it holds a ton of water. I know i’ll enjoy it 🙂 Poor puppy though, it’s worse then coal…
My big christmas present is an outdoor patio set. To go with it Steve got me a bunch of plates, silverware and cups. I also got a nice bottle of amaretto and creme liquer, candy, kitchen gadgets, tea, and a movie.
We were all ready to go to the beach today and have a picnic with pasta salad, champagne and wine and to hang out with friends. Unfortunately, it’s cold and overcast, so instead we stayed home, ate and watched Elf. I think we’re going to watch Badder Santa next. Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas!!!!
Love and miss you!!!
Last night we went to a christmas eve party at our friends house. There was about 20 of us there and fun times were had by all. I made this awesome almond cheesecake. We drank wine and champagne and dined on a feast. We even got to partake in “christmas crackers” which are these tube things that you pull apart and inside is a hat and a prize. It was a nice celebration though I did miss all my family and friends.
Separated at birth??
My parents are the best. Look what they sent me today…
We love them. Thank you sooo much!!!!!!!!!
Yesterday I went to the organic farm, and helped harvest. We harvested swiss chard, kale, beets, yellow squash, cilantro, basil, string beans and arugula. The arugula that we picked was from the plants that I had planted a while ago. While picking one plant, a found a big snail on it. I think I mentioned one other time how our bags of organic veggies have been known to have bugs and snails on them. I took a picture of the cebollas (onions) that I had weeded last time. I’m going to try to go every Wednesday to help harvest. Other news is that today was my last spanish lesson until the new year! It’s just like school, getting a winter break.
This weekend was beautiful. Since I’ve started hiking again, I decided to take Steve and Leyna with me. We had already O.K.’d it with the vet. We hiked only for about an hour, and found that an hour was Leyna’s stopping point. At the bottom of the mountain, she found a little shade and laid down for a rest (as did Steve 🙂 ) Overall Leyna did very well, for part of the time she didn’t have a leash and she followed basically right next to me. We encountered runners, bikers and dirt bikers. She barked a little but that was it. I’m happy that I now have a hiking buddy. If only we could get her over her car sickness…
In another effort to rub it in our family and friends’ faces that we are enjoying wonderful weather while the rest of you are enjoying the magical cold and winter weather that is December, I’d thought I’d share a few more delights from the yard.
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Before it had ever bloomed, I thought this plant was rather boring and we contemplated getting rid of it. Good thing we didn’t. It produces these lovely hanging purple flowers. |
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Close up of the flower, looking up. |
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While this plant has yet to produce any lovely flowers, it has another wonderful property. When the leaves of this geranium are squeezed between your fingers, they release a wonderful lemon-scent. Very accurately named: the lemon-scented geranium |
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This is actually the third appearance for this plant. It was one of my original ‘what is it?’ posts while Lisa was away in September. Careful readers may also recognize it from one of Lisa’s day trip posts with her friends (it was on the beach). As we have approached summer, the plant turned red in many places and produced these lovely little white flowers (which weren’t opened this morning, unfortunately). |
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Here is a close up of this desert plant. As we learned on our trip to Isla Damas, this plant is a very important source of water in the desert of Chile. Both wild animals and the herds of goats rely on this plant. The amount of water locked away in this plant is really amazing. Click here for a 18MB movie showing how much water you can get from this plant. |
Well, I hope you enjoyed this latest installment of our garden. Enjoy your snow and cold weather…