OLD FRIENDS, NEW FRIENDS AND 21

We got up bright and early this morning and headed for Albuquerque to visit with friends.

It was a beautiful morning and we thoroughly enjoyed the drive. Albuquerque is about an hour from Santa Fe and traffic was light, so we could relax and enjoy the mountains as we made the short trip.

We arrived at our friend's new home around 11:00, had a wonderful visit and then sat down to a lovely lunch that Eleanor had prepared for us.

We all became friends nearly 50 years ago when we all lived in Raton, NM. This is what Ray looked like back then. He could have been a movie star!

We spent several hours catching up with old times and what had been going on in our lives since we last saw each other. If memory serves me right, the last time we were together was at my 70th birthday party in Santa Fe. That was nearly 2 years ago, so we need to make a point of seeing each other more often. Time flies when you're not in the same town and don't have the opportunity to visit like you used to when you lived in the same town. Franklin called him Uncle Race when he was a little boy, so we now always refer to him that way. Our children are all about the same age.

After a nice visit we said our good-bye's and we were off to another destination. We don't seem to have any trouble staying busy when we're in New Mexico!

We had some time to spare, so we decided to take in a movie that had opened last week entitled "21". It is a drama which stars Jim Sturgess, Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth, and Laurence Fishburne. The film is based loosely around the story of a 1990s incarnation of the MIT Blackjack Team. The film draws from Bringing Down the House, the best-selling book by Ben Mezrich.

Ben Campbell, an MIT student who – needing to pay school tuition – joins a group that counts cards in casinos to earn money. In his non-linear equations class, he amazes his professor, Mickey Rosa, played by Kevin Spacey (whom I love!) by correctly understanding variable change and correctly solving the Monty Hall Problem. As a superior math and statistics student, he is invited to join a group of mathematically-gifted students that heads to Las Vegas every weekend with fake identities and the know-how to turn the odds at blackjack in their favor. I won't tell you any more except that this movie is a "must see"! We thoroughly enjoyed it adn I'm sure you will as well.

After the movie went to Bonnie's house for dinner. She is our niece, Teresa's mother. She always sets such a beautiful table.

I especially love the simplicity of her centerpieces. They are always beautiful and just the right height for table conversation without being intrusive.

We had cocktails before dinner (of course) and she had invited a Supreme Court Judge and his wife (Celia and Dick) for dinner as well as her friend, Eddie. We had never met the Judge and his wife before and they are delightful people. We found that we had a lot of interests in common, so we had a lovely visit. It's always such a pleasure to meet new people. That's what keeps life interesting.

If you remember from previous posts, Bonnie's late husband was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in New Mexico, so she and the Judge and his wife have been friends for years.

Teresa was able to join us for dinner as well. We wish that Gary could have been there, but the drive from Tucumcari was to far for one evening and he had to go to work the next morning. The Superintendent of Schools can't be late for work!

You have seen Bonnie and Eddie in the next photo since they were at the barbecue in Logan a few nights ago.

Eddie is such a delightful man and always adds so much to the conversation with his interesting stories.

Frank helped Bonnie get ready for the cocktail hour and I visited with Teresa, or "T" as her grandchildren call her.

Judge Ransom poured the wine for our dinner which was delicious and we all headed for home around 11:00 p.m.

It has been a long but wonderful day. We have friends coming from Texas tomorrow to stay with us for a few days, so there will be more to report from the Land of Enchantment. Stay tuned ;-)

XOXO, Pcasso

BACK IN THE LAND OF ENCHANTMENT-CHAPTER 1

This is a delayed report since we had dial-up at our condo and it was so slow that I couldn't add photos very well as it took forever.

So .... at long last, we are in the Land of Enchantment and will be arriving at our little adobe hacienda in a couple of days. We left Arlington early on Friday morning and arrived at our niece and nephew's house in Tucumcari by noon.
He is the Superintendent of Schools in San Jon, New Mexico and they were working at a baseball tournament that day.

Teresa, Gary's wife, is the Principal of the elementary school in Edgewood, NM and they were on Spring Break.

It was very cold and windy, so Teresa and her daughter, Katlin rode back to Tucumcari with us. Her family was having a big gathering that evening, so we all got into Gary's car and headed for Logan, NM for a family barbecue.

There were about 20 of us there and we had a great time. The party was at her brother, Warren's home.(He's the one cooking the ribs) She has another brother, Wade, and Teresa's whole family was there. Warren and Angie's home is on Lake Ute Lake and it is a beautiful place.

He's an attorney in Logan and Teresa's father was a Supreme Court Judge. Warren has his "party barn" which is separate from the house and that is where the barbecue was held.

There is this large area inside that has a pool table, juke box, air hockey table, bar and every kind of game imaginable.

We stayed there until about 10:00 at night. The barbecue was delicious and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Here is a photo of us around the fire pit keeping warm while the ribs were cooking.

Teresa's daughter, Kaitlyn and Angie, Warren's wife were all there as well as Bonnie, Teresa's Mother, her friend, Ed, Janna (Wade's wife)and Teresa, our nephew, Gary, Frank, Wade (Teresa's other brother) and me.The gang was all there. Here I am with my favorite nephew, Gary.

We drove back to Tucumcari which took about 40 minutes and all fell into bed. It had been a long day for everyone and we were tired.
After breakfast on Saturday morning, we loaded the car and headed out for Santa Fe. There's still quite a bit of snow on the mountain. This was our view as we can through El Dorado, which is a small community outside of Santa Fe.

It was a nice drive without much traffic. We arrived in Santa Fe around 12:30 and headed straight for Tia Sophia's and an enchilada Christmas. We needed a chile fix in the worst way!
While we were waiting to be seated (the place is always crowded), Frank noticed a sign that said there was a new coffeehouse opening that is called Java Joe's.

Alex Maryol was going to be playing there. I have been a big fan of his for several years, so we went to our condo, unpacked the car, and headed for the DeVargas Center and Java Joe's to hear Alex play the Blues for a couple of hours. He is an absolutely wonderful guitarist and we had a fantastic time. Guess I'll always be "Groupie" at heart ;-)

These two hours of great music made the trip a huge success for me and it's only our first day in Santa Fe! There was this precious little baby there and she was having such a great time enjoying the music. I loved watching her. She couldn't take her eyes off of Alex.

We came home when the music was over, had a little rest, and then went to the Inn of the Governors for a bite of dinner. It had been another very full day and we were tired.
We got up fairly early Sunday morning and after church we joined Patty, our dear friend, at Quail Run for brunch. She lives there and they have a wonderful dining room in the clubhouse. We have know her for years. She was Frank's cousin, Frances' best friend.

After we had eaten, we went back to her condo and she and I looked at the DVD of out trip to China. Frank came back to our condo and read the paper, watched the ball game and the golf tournament (he can always watch several sporting events at once) and read the paper at the same time. I have never known anyone so multi-talented when it comes to sports. When he was in high school he played football and played in the marching band at half time as well. There was never enough time for him to change clothes, so he marched and played the trumpet in his football uniform. Only in Springer, NM!
We went to Vanessi's tonight with Ann and Walter. They live in Dallas but also have a home in Santa Fe. We always have a good time with them, and we were looking forward to being with them. Here are the entertainers that we heard. They were very good.

I'll write more later. We're off to Albuquerque tomorrow to visit with friends.

XOXO, Pcasso

ALLELUIA, THE LORD HAS RISEN. EASTER DAY ET AL.

Thursday evening was Maundy Thursday and we had our Seder Dinner at the church. The Parish Hall was full and everyone really enjoyed the meal and the reinactment of the Last Supper.

It was a wonderful evening and a very moving service that followed. Ian took the role of the child at the Seder dinner and did an excellent job.

I was very proud of him for several reasons. He was a perfect little gentleman and was at church from 5:45 until nearly 10:00 p.m. That's a long time for adults, let alone a young person.

After the Seder Dinner, there was a sung mass with all the bells and smells, a cantor, full choir ... it was heavenly! I wish you all could have been there.

The next morning we served at the early Good Friday service, Saturday was a busy day of preparation, and then came the glorious day of the resurrection and Easter Sunday!

Frank and I served with Father Matkin and Father Kresowaty at the early service.

We do not have any flowers on the altar during Lent, so it is always so exciting to see the church on Easter morning with all the beautiful Easter Lillies and an array of gold and white vestments on the clergy. Our Easter service always begins with the priest saying "Alleluia, the Lord has risen", and the congregation responds with "The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia". It's a wonderful time in the life of the church.

After the service, we had breakfast with friends as we always do on Sunday mornings, and then hurried home to change clothes and await the arrival of our precious family. For the first time in several gatherings, everyone was able to be here. It was wonderful!!!

Our original plans were to meet here, go to the park in Fort Worth for a picnic and then go to the zoo. We used to do this traditionally, but somehow, we haven't done it for a few years. The weather wasn't cooperating, so we decided to stay a the house for a while, have a Bloody Mary since Lent was over and decide what to do. As we were dirtying a few ice cubes, the kids went outside and rode on their skateboards and scooters.

Don't I have a grand looking bunch of grandsons!

They range in age from 8 - 29 and our great grandson, Ethan, is 13! I can't believe that I'm old enough to have all these handsome boys and that they are as old as they are!

After taking a vote (which some said was rigged), we decided to eat our picnic at home and skip the park as it was still both very cold as well as extremely windy. The food was good ... fried chicken, pimiento cheese sandwiches, deviled eggs, pickles olives and chips, and of course, chocolate cake for dessert. It wouldn't be a picnic without chicken and chocolate cake!

After lunch (and several Bloody Mary's), the kids decided to go on to the zoo and the old folks decided to take a nap and get ready for round #2!

Rachel took photographs for me at the zoo and it looked as though they had a great time. Be sure and check out the slide show that follows this blog to see lots more photographs of that part of the day as well as the family members and other happenings that afternoon.

This bunch always has a good time when they're together.

When they returned, the three young ones had an Easter egg hunt, I really don't know who had more fun, the boys looking for the eggs, or Boompa hiding them! The only bad thing about that is that he sometimes forgets where he put them so they all have to hunt together :-)

Most of the "big people" stayed inside during the hunt in order to keep warm. Since the back of the house is glass, we didn't miss out on a thing they were doing!

At one point during the hunt, I thought Ethan was going to go for a swim rather than hunt eggs. Fortunately, he changed his mind.

After the egg hunt, everyone came inside , snacked on what was left from lunch and then packaged up some doggie boxes for their lunch the next day.

Boompa had to sneak a peek at the golf tournament to see what Tiger was doing. We can't let a Sunday go by without a little sports TV!

To put a cap on the end of the day, Ian lost a tooth. I have no idea how much the tooth fairy will bring him, but however much it is, I'm sure he'll put it to good use!

And speaking of teeth, (retired Orthodontists wives always do) Ethan gets his braces off in a couple of weeks. YEAH!

We were up bright and early yesterday morning as we had a full day ahead of us. After our workout, we changed clothes and went to see our friend who had surgery last week. We then went to lunch, visited with another friend who is a shut-in and then went grocery shopping for them as it is difficult for them to get to the store. When we returned home around 5:00, I went across the street to visit with a neighbor who has decided to stop her dialysis. It was a small neighborhood gathering and we were able to say our goodbye's to her while she is still in good spirits. She's very tired and is ready to go to a greater reward. When I left there, I got home just in time to Dance with the Stars.

Today is another busy day as I'm getting ready for our trip to New Mexico. Must secure the area, get a pedicure and pack. I'll write more later. We'll be off to the Land of Enchantment soon!
I hope that your Easter holiday was as blessed as ours was. There's nothing on earth better than being surrounded by those whom you love and who love you as well. I thank God every day for my family and friends.

XOXO, Pcasso