Santa Fe Adventures!

Hello, everybody! We hope you are having as much fun as we are! This first picture might be puzzling to you. A picture of purses, you ask? Well, let me explain. Ellen has been after Sharon to carry a smaller purse. Well, when we were at the Liz Claiborne outlet store a couple of days ago, they had a big sale going on! Ellen insisted that I choose one because she knows how difficult it is for me to walk with the heavy purse. The final straw came when I began having trouble with my left shoulder. (I am scheduled for an MRI soon.) So, below you will see my old purse next to my new one. Now what is this? It is a picture of Ellen's purse next to Sharon's new one! Hee, hee! Aren't you impressed?

Today we went to the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum! Oh, my, what a talented woman she was! It is impressive to see her paintings and photographs of her in her early years. She was born in 1887, and died in 1986! God rest her soul! We had a grand time in the museum.

If you remember, we had reservations at the O'Keeffe Cafe. We went there first before we went to the gift shop. The cafe is right next door to the museum.

After being seated at a table on the patio, we settled in to look at the menu. We decided to order two different entres. That way, we could share each other's selection. Below is a picture of the crab cakes. They were presented beautifully, and were equally delicious.

This next picture shows our second selection. It is a lobster salad served with pickled red onions, cashews, shoestring potatoes, slices of avocado, and more lobster pieces than you can imagine! Oh, my! Delicious! Muy delicioso! Oh, by the way, the Chardonnay was perfect with our selections!

The waitress volunteered to take a picture of us together! That was really sweet of her. So, here we are just after the coconut creme brulet had been served!

Nichole, this one is for you! Isn't it pretty? It didn't take us very long to ruin this beautiful dessert! It was scrumptious!

As we were leaving the cafe, Ellen turned to take a picture of the patio. The tree is a box elder that is 156 years old. Astounding!

Parking in Santa Fe is at a premium. We pulled into one parking lot. The attendant told us that we could park for $20.00! We promptly declined, and got out of there as fast as we could. We kept driving around until we came to the Federal Court House! Hmmm! There was a handicapped parking space right in front and no parking meter! We parked and prayed! Then we went in to the court house to the bathroom, and asked for directions to the museum. People are really very nice. On our walk back to the car, Ellen took a picture of this beautifully kept old home with a gorgeous lawn.

This picture shows one of the souveniers that we bought at the gift shop. It is a painted ceramic box. It is lovely.

This last picture shows what it looks like on the inside!

We had a marvelous time! One really needs to be in great shape to get around in Santa Fe. There are numerous parking officers just waiting for the meters to expire. (Our nature was to get out all of the change we could find, and feed the meters of those that had expired.) I know, we are bad! Until next time. . . . . .

Albuquerque Adventures--Continued!

Hello, again! What an exciting day we had today! After our nice breakfast which is provided by the hotel each morning, we got ourselves ready to greet the public! Ellen goes down each morning and brings breakfast back up to the room. (Truthfully, I thought I would be the one to go down and get breakfast, but since you would never know that she had surgery in May, she continues to spoil me by bringing breakfast.)

Our morning adventure took us to the huge JP Penney Home Store here in Albuquerque. Of course, you know that there are great bargains at this time of the year; therefore, we are happy to be able to come here to shop. (Believe me, we contribute plenty to the economy of this area each year.) We are already afraid that we are going to have to get a trailer to help get the things we have purchased back to El Paso. This is going to be a real test of Ellen's skill of packing things into every nook and cranny. The Town Car has a sub-trunk. You won't believe the things that she is able to pack below the real trunk.

Anyway, we were happy to find numerous picture frames for things. Then, the best part is that we found a great match for the comforter in the other upstairs guest room. She has been wanting to put draperies there that matched. We also found some beautiful tie-backs for both guest rooms (aka Nichole and Michael's old room and Joe's old room). In addition, she ordered beautiful custom cellular shades for both windows.

By then, it was time to come back to the hotel and have lunch. We just cleaned up our left-overs from previous dinners.

This afternoon, we ventured over to the Coronado Mall. It was a very busy place since the schools here begin in two weeks. We found some shoes at Macy's and then we were off to Kirklands. We found the perfect lamp for one of the new tables, but they only had the display one and it was broken. That was sort of sad; however, Ellen was able to get one small lamp for her bedroom. After a quick stop at Bath and Body Works, we managed to get to the car just before a torrential downpour began. By the time we made it back to the hotel, we had to sit in the car and wait for it to slow down.

This picture was made through our window. The arroyo outside was dry as toast this morning, but as you can see, it filled up quite quickly. We were glad to be back here safe and sound.
We are now ready to go down for the evening's social hour. On the menu is a baked potato bar. We are going to go check it out.

Tomorrow, our plans call for another trip to Santa Fe. This time we will go into the city to the Georgia O'Keefe Museum, then have lunch at the Georgia O'Keefe Cafe. Our reservations are for 12:30, so we will get up and go early in the morning. Until next time . . . . . .

Albuquerque Adventures Part 1 !

Hello, everybody! Here we are in Albuquerque, New Mexico! We really didn't think that we would be able to get away for any vacation time, but Ellen exceeded all of our expectations. She drove us up here all the way. We arrived at the Residence Inn on Friday, July 27th. This is our favorite place to stay!

We love to stay here because they have a full kitchen. We always take most of our food with us. Sorry that this picture of the kitchen is a little blurry.

The hotel has most of the comforts of home. Below is the dining area.

This next picture is the living room.

The next picture shows the bedroom. The bed is a queen size bed, which is quite comfy. It is very fitting for Her Royal Patient.

The bathroom is next. You can see that it is very spacious.

I forgot to mention that there is a desk in the living area which is where we are sitting to write this blog. (We brought the laptop with us.)

We went to ABQ Uptown Mall on Saturday. It is a wonderful new little mall which has some great stores that we don't have in El Paso. Our Christmas shopping has officially begun!! We went there first, then we had lunch at the Gruet Grille. We had heard about this little place. We loved going to the Gruet Winery, and we figured that we would love to go to one of their eateries.

This picture shows the bar area.

We had this great waiter who entertained us from the minute we walked in the door. He kept calling us "his girls"! After viewing the menu, we decided to have a cup of clam chowder, and we split a grilled chicken sandwich with a salad. These next two pictures show what we had.

The chef split the sandwich and salad for us, which was great because many times the restaurants just bring us an extra plate. A glass of Gruet Chardonnay was the perfect complement to our meal.

Here is Ellen who looks like she is thrilled to be on this little vacation. (If you look closely, you can tell that BOTH of her eyes are indeed OPEN! Hooray!)

Here is Sharon who is very glad to be here when it was doubtful at the beginning of the summer that we would get to go anywhere. She is enjoying the moment.

Below is a picture of the Williams & Sonoma store where we bought a few utensils, towels, and some great Guacamole Starter.

Here is one of the signs. Speakers with music are everywhere in those street lamps. The streets are brick. We especially enjoyed the Sharper Image Store there.

People park their cars and walk to most of the stores. It was a wonderful, relaxing experience.

Today we went to the Santa Fe Outlet Mall. It doesn't have as many stores as it used to have, but we managed to find several things we just couldn't live without!! We took our lunch and enjoyed eating it in the car because the weather was very cool. There were dark rain clouds everywhere, but somehow we escaped bad rain. The drive back to Albuquerque was great, and didn't seem to take long at all.

Before we went back to the hotel, we decided to make a quick trip to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things. We were almost finished when we looked up to see some friends from El Paso! There were Rosie Lopez and her husband Smokey. Their daughter lives here in Albuquerque. They were just as shocked as we were to run into someone we knew in an out-of-town place! We will post more news from Albuquerque this week. Until next time . . . . . . .

We Did It! The Bench Is Finished!

Well, hi, again! We really didn't think that we would get this little project done today; however, we DID! This first picture is the bench as it was before Sharon dismantled it. It matched the comforter, drapery, and pillows. Nichole remembered that we did her room in their previous home with this decor.
Here is the same bench as it was after we finished it and before Joe took it upstairs for us!

It was a difficult task, but if you know Sharon very well, you know that she will tackle almost anything. The picture below shows where we put the final process together. We decided to assemble it on the dining room table to save our knees and backs. (Our mommas didn't raise any dummies!) Sharon looks like she is having entirely too much fun!

This next picture shows her helper, Ellen, helping to tighten the screws for the final time. Thank God for tools!

Nichole, here is the bench upstairs along with the new comforter and drapery. We still have some work to do in the room. We still want to do some tie backs for the drapery, and we need to get a lamp for the table beside the bed. (We had to have a reason to go to Albuquerque, don't you think?)

We had lots of fun doing this little project! Now Sharon can't wait to see what else Ellen has in store for her! Until next time . . . . . . . .

Project Re-do Almost Finished!

Hello, again! Today will be just a few odds and ends to share in this column. It continues to be hot and HUMID here in El Paso; therefore, we continue to hurt if we get out in it.



We are redoing one of Ellen's guest bedrooms upstairs. It is the one that Nichole and Michael use when they visit. It had been decorated in little girl flowers and things, but it was time for a change. We have already changed the furniture. Now we have changed the comforter and draperies. Yesterday, we went to this fabric outlet and found some very nice material to cover the end of the bed bench. Sharon has taken it apart and is almost ready to begin the task of re-upholstering that. We will take pictures when it is all finished.

Since this column began, we have done a lot of work on the bench. This afternoon, Sharon was able to cut the fabric in readiness to begin the task of upholstering. All of the pieces for the legs, sides, ends, and the actual bench have been cut. Hopefully, by tomorrow we will be able to take a picture to show you just what we have been doing.



It is hard to think that it won't be long before school begins again. Ellen goes back to the doctor for a return to work permit in early August. Before that, however, we are scheduled to run up to Albuquerque for a quick trip. We love to go there, and this time, we BOTH need it. One of the days we will go up to Santa Fe for a quick outlet mall spree, and lunch at the Georgia O'Keefe Museum and Cafe. Sharon's daughter told us that the Cafe had been written up in Bon Appetit. We are looking forward to that. Until next time. . . .......

The Transfer Shower Bench--Rest In Peace!!!

Hi, everybody! Thursday marked another milestone in the recovery of Her Royal Patient! Remember we told you that yesterday was a DRY run for Ellen in the tub in the guest bathroom? Well, this morning, she got into and out of that tub without any help whatsoever. Sharon had her call before she got in, and again when she got out. Astonishing! Rob, her former PT, told her he couldn't tell her when she would be ready to get into the tub, but she would know when the time was right. Well, guess what? She knew, all right; so, this afternoon before the beauty shop, Sharon removed it from the tub in her master bath. Here it is. May it rest in peace! Now we will see what happens on Friday morning!

Have a great weekend! Until next time. . . .. . ...

Okay, Okay--Enough Of This High Humidity!

Hello, everybody! We hope this finds you happy and healthy! The past two weeks here in El Paso have been really hard on two old ladies who love to get out and go! A couple of days last week, we both hurt really bad. Humidity was very high. It is okay for one joint to hurt, but when it seems like it is every joint in your body that hurts, it is NOT nice! Sharon hurt so much one day, that she could hardly do anything except cry. It hurt to move, it hurt to be still. Ellen has arthritis in her finger joints, and the right hand. She is practicing using her fork with the left hand. (When she does that, you know she hurts!)



We finally decided that part of Sharon's problem was in her left shoulder. After a visit to the orthopedic doctor, a shoulder X-Ray, and a cortisone injection directly into the shoulder, she felt much better this morning. The X-Ray showed no arthritis in the shoulder (which was a relief). An MRI has been scheduled, so she hopes that it is just tendinitis or a problem with the rotator cuff.



Ellen has now taken the keys of the car from Sharon. She thinks she is in charge again. ( I guess, I have to admit that she is.) She has begun to drive. Now the only time I get to drive is when Her Royal Patient hurts. If she says, "Do you mind driving?", I know that she hurts. She goes back to her surgeon in early August to obtain her "Return to work permit." (Knowing her, she will probably challenge the doctor to a race!) It really is nice to see her walk again without limping.
The shower bench is about to be put in storage! Yesterday, after a practice run in the guest bathroom tub and fully clothed, Ellen determined she was ready to sit in a nice warm bath. This morning she accomplished that goal! So later today we will be looking for a nice place to keep that shower bench in case it is needed in the future.

You know you are in a small community when you are sitting at a traffic signal, and your phone rings. The voice at the other end said, "Where is Miss Ellen driving Miss Sharon?" A friend of ours had seen us sitting at the light. Thanks for checking in, Miss Shawn!



Have a great weekend this weekend! Until next time . . . . . . ..

St. Clair! What A Fun Place To Spend a Sunday Afternoon!

Hi, everybody! Joe and a friend of his, Camille, took us to the St. Clair Winery and Bistro on Sunday afternoon. It is located up in Old Mesilla in Las Cruces. The day turned out to be a gorgeous one. It wasn't too hot or humid. Joe drove us, and Ellen and Sharon got to sit in the back seat for a change.



The picture above shows the sign at the entrance to the winery. The picture below is of Joe and his mom, Ellen. They really aren't laughing hysterically or anything, but it was funny to see Joe trying to hold his eyes open while looking into the sun. We all know that Ellen's eyes never open when the camera comes out. (Hee, hee!)

The picture below shows one of the dining rooms in the bistro. Before dinner we sat at the bar and did their wine tasting. It is always fun to try different wines without having to buy the whole bottle. We loved their Chardonnay and the Chenin Blanc!

This next picture is of the fountain outdoors on the patio. Notice all of the corks!

This last picture shows Ellen, Joe, and Camille standing outside on the patio. We had already had dinner. Oh, my, it was delicious! The plates were huge, and we brought home at least half of it. We had a wonderful time. It is definitely on the list of places to visit again.

Thanks, Joe, for taking us to a place we had never gone before. We can't wait to go again! Until next time. . . . . . . ....

A Close Up View Of Our Insides!

WOW! That was about the extent of Sharon's vocabulary when we visited the Bodies Human exhibit! If you want to check it out, go to http://www.bodieshuman.com/ . There are several exhibits all around the country. If you haven't heard about it, it is a process of plastination that allows the scientists to preserve the body parts of a deceased person. We saw all sorts of parts. The neat thing is to see how the nerves actually look under your skin. We saw healthy lungs, diseased lungs, healthy hearts and diseased ones. We saw livers, gall bladders, kidneys, bladders, stomachs, colons, intestines. If you were born with it, they had a picture and an actual part. They show muscles, slices of brains, like you would see on an MRI or a CT scan. We could even see the four layers of skin covering the skull.

It was fun to try to recognize the internal organs of the body. You can look at all the textbook pictures you want, but NOTHING compares to seeing everything "squished together" in what is known as the abdomen. Thank God for surgeons who know where to find what and be able to put everything back together again!!

All Sharon could say was, "WOW!" The most amazing thing is to realize that God put us all together. He knew what we would need.

It is raining here today. We were awakened by the sound of thunder this morning. It is kind of nice for a change, but all of this humidity makes us both hurt.

Her Royal Patient is really feeling better. She is driving, standing on that leg with the new knee, and climbing stairs. She is now moving faster than Sharon (AGAIN). Oh, well, it was fun while it lasted. Until next time. . . . . ...

A Bizarre Day!

Hello, everybody! Another week has gone by and we decided that we needed to say something to let everybody know that we were still alive and kicking!

A couple of things happened to us both today. These things were bizarre! I mean BIZARRE! The first thing happened at Ellen's. The phone rang and whoever was on the other end wanted to talk to Dionisio Negrete! They left a number and Ellen called back to tell them that he had passed away more than five years ago. We wanted to tell them that they could reach him at 1-800-HEAVEN.

Then we went to the beauty shop as we do every Thursday. Sharon was getting a manicure. Her phone rang. Ellen picked it up and we got the chills. Caller ID said that it was her mom calling. Sharon has not taken her number or name out of her phone book. When she said, "Hello," no one said anything! Those of you who know Sharon know that her mom passed away last September. Isn't that something? (Sharon would like to think that Mom was just checking up on her!)

And it isn't even Friday the thirteenth yet! BIZARRE!! Until next time. . . . . .

Rest In Peace our Second Tomato Plant

Okay, okay, we give up! My mother was a great tomato plant grower. We are letting her down. This is our second attempt at being tomato growers, and we failed! We have killed this one. We don't know what we did wrong, but we are not going to plant any more. We are very sorry. Everything else we planted has done very well, BUT this one is a big puzzle. Jenny, now you have to bring us at least one little tomato from your crop. Please!!!!

Happy Fourth of July!

Happy Fourth of July! We are going to go watch the parade here on the Westside just as we do every Fourth. We always have lots of fun. We know half of the people who are in the parade. The kids always come running over to say hello, and then there are the people from church, and the Scouts, etc. We were afraid that we wouldn't get to go this year, but her Majesty, the Royal Patient, is ready to go.

I know, I know. It has been quite a while since we wrote something on our blog. Things have been kind of quiet around here. It has been extremely hot here in El Paso. The temperature has been triple digit heat for quite some time now. Neither Ellen nor I do very well with heat.

Ellen continues to do very well. She has just done a remarkable job of keeping up with her physical therapy exercises. She told me today that she thinks she is ready to give up using her cane. I told her that she might be ready, but I wasn't. Besides that, she makes me use mine ALL of the time. That's when she informed me that she had been "fixed", and I hadn't. (Hee, hee.)

The first picture above was taken in my backyard. My daughter, Paula, gave us some desert wildflowers last year. I just threw some of them out there, and lo and behold! Just look what grew. They are really pretty. I guess they really like this desert heat.

The picture below might be puzzling to you. Hey, it was a slow news day! You are looking at a bunch of DEAD wasps! Yes, I said wasps. Today the yard man came and he left a note that told us of a wasp nest on the side of the house. Sure enough, I went out and looked and there it was right in front of my alarm system speaker! I am severely allergic to wasps stings! They send me into such a frenzy. If I get stung by one, I have to head to the hospital or doctor's office for a shot of adrenalin and a heavy duty dose of Benadryl. Anyway, I went up to Ellen's and borrowed her can of Raid Wasp spray. She didn't have very much, and we only succeeded in making them mad. We headed to the nearest store and bought some more. The picture shows the dead wasps and the eggs that fell out of the nest.

This next picture shows where they built their nest. I sprayed that sucker good, and, if nothing else, I drowned the darn things. After we were certain that the wasps were dead and gone, we knocked the nest down. Of course, my alarm system may never sound the same again. I am sure that some of the spray went right into that box.

Have a great holiday! Until next time . . . . . . . .