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 . . . . . . . .

Back Behind Bars !

On Tuesday, Ellen was taking her afternoon siesta on the couch in the living room. She was awakened by the "yap yap" of a small dog. Looking out the front window, she could see a larger dog run by, and then all was quiet. A little while later she again heard a little "yap" coming from the front entryway of the house. This time she decided to investigate. When she opened the door, nothing was there, but then she could see this tiny white fluff ball in the neighbor's driveway. Now, no one lives next door. The home is owned by a family from Mexico and it is used as a vacation home for their extended families when they come to El Paso to shop and visit. We had seen the little dog the day before with the family that is staying there this week. Poor little thing, she was outside in the 106 degree heat!! The little dog jumped up to Ellen and became her best friend for about the next hour!! We could not figure out how she had gotten out of the house. We tried putting her in the entryway and closing the gate.....but she could come right through the bars! Then Sharon noticed that the screen in the front window was torn and the window was open about 3 inches. She had chewed through the screen and squeezed through the window AND THE BARS!! After some manipulating, we were able to get her back in, but she immediately came out again!! John, the man who lives across the street came over to help. We got her back in and John was able to close the window a little more. The little cutie was back behind the bars -- this time for good!!

A Tribute To Our Older, Smarter Sisters!

You may be aware that this past week brought us the news that birth order affects intelligence favoring first-born children! According to the article, the younger sibling, being linguistically and cognitively less mature, degrades the firstborn's intellectual environment; therefore, the older sibling enriches the second-born's environment.

We thought it quite appropriate to honor our older sisters with our deep appreciation for enriching our environment. We thank you for all you did to help us grow up. We also wish to offer our apologies for "degrading your intellectual environment." (Hee, hee!) We both accept the fact that we were our own personalities. There was no way we could compete with our older, smarter sisters!

Here's to Carol, Ellen's sister, and here's to Janice, Sharon's sister. We are quite happy to have you as our older sisters at this stage in our lives.

Above is Carol on the left with Ellen on the right. Below is Sharon on the left with Janice on the right.

Thanks, big sisses! Thanks for putting up with us all these years!

A Little Bit of Heaven!

How would you like to wake up to this view each morning? It was stunning.


The sky was a little hazy in this picture, but the lake looked gorgeous.
Here is another view later in the day.
The view below was taken just before we left. The sky was beautifully clear. The golf course was getting a little manicure. Everything was so peaceful.

We really splurged and treated ourselves to room service for breakfast! When it arrived, we couldn't believe the amount that was served. We ordered a Denver omelet, and French Toast. Below is a picture of what we got! (Needless to say, we couldn't eat it all! We split the omelet and had a little of the French toast.)

So, you can tell that we were treated like queens. I am sorry that I didn't get pictures of the room, but we did manage to get pictures of gorgeous views. The balcony view from our room was just spectacular! We stayed at the Inn of the Mountain Gods. The picture below was taken in the lobby by some lady who just happened by and asked if she could take a picture of both of us. That was nice.

We had a wonderful time, shopping, and just relaxing. We didn't win any money, but we already felt like winners with Ellen's successful surgery and remarkable recovery.

Now we weren't prepared for what we found when we got back home. Below is the picture of a patio chair cover at Ellen's house. Can you believe that was done by HAIL? That is kind of scary. Remember the little tomato plant? We think that it won't recover, so we are saddened by that. At Sharon's house, the picture was just as bad. The moss rose was just beaten to a pulp. We were only gone for two and a half days.

Rest in peace, our poor baby tomato plant!
The best part about the whole trip for Sharon was to get to sleep in a REAL BED! Ellen tells me that I didn't move the whole night. It was the first night that I had slept in a bed since May 17th. ( I am NOT complaining. I would do it all over again in a minute. It is just that a bed is better than a couch.)

Last night, Sharon got to sleep in her own bed. I was looking forward to climbing into it. This morning, I rode my bicycle, (not my usual ten miles, but I did six)and my whirlpool tub welcomed me back. I can tell you that I was worried about Ellen the whole time. It felt funny putting her to bed and then driving to my house.

S O S For Sharon's Plants!!

Oh, no, will you just look at my poor plants? We had to do a major resusitation project at Sharon's house. Poor Paul, God Bless Him! He was put in charge of watering the plants in Sharon's absence. He tried, but he is of the school that they should be drowned daily. God love him! Below are the Citronella (Citros) plants along with a moss rose. We will now go up there daily to talk to them.

This next picture shows my Hibiscus plants. We re-potted them in the hopes that they will forgive us for leaving them on their own.

This last picture is of our tomato plant at Ellen's house. Isn't it cute? It appears to like its new surroundings. If you notice the grass at both our houses, you will notice that it is very green. Mine is real; Ellen's is artificial turf! I wish I had artificial turf for my yard.

On Father's Day, Ellen and I went down to Sharon's house for a cook-out for Paul.

We grilled tenderloin steaks for him, and chicken breasts for us. We also grilled veggies which were DELICIOUS! (Sorry, Nichole, we didn't take any pictures!)

The steaks turned out very good, too. At least that is according to Paul. I can't tell you the last time that I, personally, cooked a steak.

If things go as planned, we can be found in the mountains of Ruidoso in the middle of this week. We are both excited about getting out of the city. Sharon is more excited about getting to sleep in a real bed for the first time since May 17th. (I am not complaining, mind you, but the couch in the office is getting a little hard!) So, Inn of the Mountain Gods, here we come!

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

A Tribute To Our Fathers!

Hello to everyone, and Happy Father's Day to all of the Fathers! We decided that since we wrote a tribute to our moms, we shouldn't neglect to do so for our dads. Both of them have gone to Glory. Sharon's dad has been gone since 2003. Ellen's dad has been gone since 1989. Ellen's dad had Parkinson's disease. He was only forty something years old when diagnosed. He lived to be about 68 years of age when he passed away. Sharon's dad had a stroke to which he succumbed after a struggle for two years. He was 85 years old when he passed away. We will each write a little something about our dads.


This first picture you see is Ellen's dad and mom, and of course, Nichole and Joey! This picture was taken on one of our visits to St. Louis. Dad was the person who taught me to be kind to everyone. He always told my sister and me that it didn't matter what a person did for a living or who they were; each person we encountered was to be treated with respect and kindness. He truly taught us this by example. Dad was also the person in the neighborhood who knew how to do almost anything. When someone was going to undertake a project, they came to dad for advice and guidance. Most of the time he would end up "getting in on the action"! He LOVED to make things and fix things -- and he was a perfectionist when it came to his carpentry. Charlie was known as the one with a kind heart!!



Below is a picture of Sharon and her daddy. When I was a little girl, I was the one who went to the farm with him, not my brother. He taught me how to fix things, and is responsible for my 'fixin' abilities to this day. I drive around with a tool kit in my car. If it can be fixed, I just might be able to do it. He taught me how to drive a tractor, a truck, and how to change a flat tire. He was a farmer most of his life. He was born on August 04, 1918. Times were tough and got even tougher as he grew up. His daddy was a farmer before him. He was a deacon in the Baptist Church for many years. He also drove a little church bus to pick up the little ones who would otherwise not attend Sunday School.

As with our moms, we wonder if our dads have met each other in Heaven yet. We would like to think so. We know that they would like each other. Both loved building things, fixing things, taking part in their children's lives, and seeing that they got the things they needed. They set an example of hard work and integrity. Both loved the Lord, and both men loved their families. They were always there, and could be counted on for support in many ways.

Happy Father's Day to not only

our dads, but to yours as well!