Good Morning….

Paula asked if I would mention Arizona…I wasn't really going to any time soon, but now that she did I guess I might as well!

This is what I see each morning off my front porch….so beautiful! This will be my view for three months or there abouts. It was going to be for six weeks, but after that miserable long drive, I don't relish doing it again in another four more weeks! I'll stay until the snow has cleared so going home will be more a pleasure than a struggle.

In keeping with the Southwestern feel, I chose bright colors. My friend Karen gave me three gifts for the season…two which I was able to open, one is still a secret.  The bags are really perfect for that corner!  She and I met in person for the first time when I had to drop off a friend at the airport…three hours from here.  Left at 8:30 and arrived home at 7:30.  Long trek.  Any other visitors will be scheduled to take the shuttle to Las Vegas!!

The photo is quite right color wise, but the cutest shows through. Karen put together this little kitchen angel complete with a note card.  So sweet! 

You can see my back door through the top of the photo, and my new pans to the left! Did you know they want you to 'cure' the non-stick pans now?  I had to wash them in warm soapy water, oil them, "fry" them on the stove on medium for 20 minutes, then wash them in warm soapy water again.  It was a lengthy process for me.  Now I just have to USE them!

This is Rudolph who is now hanging on my light switch in the dining area.  Karen knit him…isn't he darling!??!!

I just can't say enough about what a help and wonderful friend Bev has been to me.  She helped me find the house, to make sure worker bees could get in before I came here, and has been helping me find my way around.  She even did some shopping for me for paper goods before I came. What a jewel of a human being she is…such a wonderful friend.  Here she greeted my friend Leonora and I with coffee cups and coffee, as well as tea.  OMG! I had not brought a coffee cup with me, but DID bring the coffee maker! Hah!  I guess I was going to just stick my head under the spicket and drink as it the coffee dripped out! :o) Desperation! 

Now…I had to look up that word, spicket, as it is marked as incorrect. It is the word I grew up with, or at least remember most. I am sure my parents, both college educated, as were both their mothers, would have used the word faucet if they had time to think about it throughly.  I do know, however, that all outdoor water pipes had a spicket on top, and indoor ones we generally called faucets.  

I "relearn" every so often that the accepted spelling in families isn't the "real" spelling however. The word is spelled spigot, but the south does have it's way with words, you know! We lived in South Carolina…but I remember when my brother tried to jump over a spicket that was sticking out of the ground (he was about four or five) he did not jump high enough, so it ripped opened his thigh/groin area about four inches…so his screaming about the spicket, my mom yelling about the spicket, and my genuine interest in how the heck a spicket could make such a neat little tear and why didn't the muscle come all the way out instead of just hang there looking like the skin had been peeled back from a blanched peach….spicket has stuck in my mind forever! (He had a few stitches and was as good as new, the memory forever etched in my brain).

So below is a photo of my 16 year old Shih Tzu, Chuckie.  His first day in the warm sun in MONTHS. He just plopped himself down on the fake grass and stayed there for a spell.  Since the move down here he has been more active than ever.  He wanders around and around the house and outside, so I think that is good for him. None of us are too fond of the rocks, but they do walk on them.  I don't wear shoes too much at home so it is harder to get around out there unless I have a pair nearby.

So you have seen a bit of this and a bit of that….tomorrow I will post the new pattern that Liz put together for me!! It's lovely…I made a rather wonderful hot pad in the Southwestern colors…..even if I did make a mistake reading the pattern! It still turned out nicely. Will be fun to do the next one right!! 

Good night all!  You, too, Vikki Hooks!