Heirlooms

I recently had a chair reupholstered that belonged to Papa's mother.  She passed away 45 years ago so the things we have that belonged to her are very special.  I chose a polka dot fabric and am using the chair in the guestroom of the Tucson house.  The quilt draped over the top of the chair was made by my grandmother about 60 years ago.  It's perfect with the polka dot chair! 

Thanksgiving

Papa and I had a wonderful Thanksgiving week in Falls Church, VA, at daughter Claire's house.  She and David have a beautiful home and they were gracious hosts.  Amongst our activities...we ate at my favorite Lebanese restaurant, enjoyed a morning of walking along the National Mall and visiting various monuments plus the Museum of American History.  David's parents, Doug and Pat, arrived on Monday.  We had not seen them since Claire and David's wedding in September 2008.  Whitney and Toby arrived on Tuesday.  What fun to see our new grandson!  We had dinner at Fuddrucker's on Tuesday night, did some pre-cooking on Wednesday for Thanksgiving Day and made homemade pizzas and Italian Cream Cake for dinner.  Thanksgiving Day was packed with cooking.  Doug prepared the turkey and he and David made beautiful antipasto trays.  We had Aunt Rhea's squash souffle, green beans with buttered almonds, mashed potatoes, caramel sweet potatoes, tossed salad with fruit, cranberry/cherry sauce, homemade biscuits, pumpkin pie, and maple pecan pie. Was a wonderful week!  We have much to be thankful for!

Great Falls

Papa and I flew to Washington, DC on Saturday evening and are spending the week with daughter Claire and her husband David.  Yesterday we hiked at Great Falls State Park.  The volume of running water was incredible for us desert dwellers.  Claire and David got engaged at Great Falls so it has a lot of sentimental value to both of them.  We are so happy to spend time with Claire and David as they are just back from a year in Baghdad, Iraq.  Love our family!

Driveway

Our next door neighbors in Tucson had their driveway replaced a couple of weeks ago. 
They got a great price and their concrete contractor was anxious to do more work, so he
gave us a bid to replace our driveway that we couldn't refuse.  We feel like we have our own economic stimulus project in the front yard!  It looks great and is a vast improvement.

Posters

I received three posters in the mail today from http://www.shortrunposters.com/.  I will frame and use them in the Tucson house.  My favorite is a photo my sister-in-law Mary, took a few weeks ago when visiting for a few days.

Guesthouse

 

I spent some time over the past couple of days preparing the guesthouse for our next guests.  

I washed windows and generally tidied up.  There is still artwork to hang, but it's 

starting to feel like a "fun place" to stay.  Love having guests!

Sunday Morning

Every Sunday morning, Papa and I enjoy our routine of getting up in time to watch This Week with George Stephanopoulous, then we turn to Meet the Press, and finally check in at CNN with Fareed Zakaria.  While all these programs are going on, Papa makes luscious pancakes with maple syrup, we have lots of coffee, and we read other news online.  This routine is a good thing!   

Deer in the Yard

Deer are plentiful on our ranch.  We built our house in "their space."  We love having them come into our yard by the house.  We have two drinkers hooked up to the house via a rainwater collection system.  The past year has been dry, so most recently deer have been coming near the house to get water.  We enjoy having them so close!

Ticking off the List

I am in Tucson this week as we are having the driveway replaced, with lots of guys working every day.  While the whole front of the house is torn up, I'm working on various projects that have been on my "to do list" for months, like adding a ruffle to the bottom of the guestroom drapes (because my first pass yielded drapes that were too short!), touch up painting after new lighting was installed in the guesthouse, washing windows...  You get the picture.  After installing a new fountain piece in the pond over the weekend, I picked up about two dozen goldfish today.  I hope we can keep them alive!   

Makes Me Smile

I left the ranch at 5:30 this morning to get to Tucson in time to meet two men who were working in our yard.  It seemed a rather hectic morning and when I sat down for breakfast and coffee around 10 a.m., I checked my email and heard from a friend I haven't talked to in over a year.  What a treat!  Hearing from longtime friends and family makes me smile :)

Photo taken in January 2009, on a family trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Working in the Garden

Papa and I left the ranch this morning and drove to our Tucson home.  We worked all afternoon in the garden, with saws, nippers, and a rake.  A dumpster will be delivered tomorrow, so we can pile in all the dead and trimmed limbs.  We spent a month in the spring trimming and cleaning the front garden.  Now we are working in the back and will be very happy to get the whole property cleaned up.  I love working in the garden!  

Drapery Project

Over the past week, I've been sewing drapes for daughter Claire.  She chose to have striped drapes with two different fabrics sewn together and then lined.  As one pair of the drapes are 84" long finished and I don't have a surface in my house, except the floor, to accurately measure, they have been quite a challenge.  I will take more photos when they are hung at Claire's house in DC later this month. 

New from Old

Papa built a new mirror frame this morning from some pieces of old hand hewn wood that we found in the corral of the original homestead on the ranch.  That canyon was settled at the turn of the 20th century by Ernest Schilling, recording the homestead in 1906.  Mr. Schilling most likely hewed the wood by hand.  We treasure the few things we find on the ranch that someone worked on over 100 years ago.  We hung the mirror in our mud room near the entrance to our ranch house.