More fun times in New Orleans

Here are more photos from my family's Christmas trip to New Orleans.

One thing we did was ride the streetcars, a lot.  It was a fun way to get around town and doesn't cost much ($3) for an all-day pass.

We even got to see them flip the seat backs for the ride back. 

Keep in mind, if you want to go through the Garden District, you need to catch one of the green streetcars.  Also, part of the Garden District route is undergoing repairs so there's a bus shuttle in that section.

One nice thing, the streetcars have a leisurely pace so it's comparatively easy to take photos.  Here's a darling cottage in the Garden District.

One problem with photographing in the Garden District - trees.  So very many have large lovely trees planted smack dab in front of the houses.

At one point, the four of us were in the area of Tulane/Loyola Universities.  We took a very pleasant walk through a portion of Audobon Park.  Lots of people strolling and others who were getting their jog in to help offset the Christmas calories.  I love the live oaks (I think they were live oaks) with their branches stretching out and resting on the ground.

Our hotel (The Saint on Canal St) had some lovely Xmas decorations, but didn't go ALL out.

The trees in the lobby were lovely, but I really didn't realize how understated things were until I went to the Roosevelt Hotel to get a late lunch.  (Their Grown Up Grilled Cheese sandwich had 3 cheeses and tomatoes.  Yummy.  (Sound effect:  my jaw hitting the floor as I walked in.)

Oh. My. Word.  They really do it BIG.

Papillon

Xmas in New Orleans

After my mom died in April of last year (2012), my sisters and I decided to do non-traditional Christmas celebrations for the next few years.  Last year we went to Colonial Williamsburg.  This year we decided to go to New Orleans.

My older sister did yeoman's work and found us a very nice hotel on the edge of the French Quarter at a really terrific rate.  We all (me, two sisters and BIL) flew in on Sunday, December 22nd and were greeted by a thunderstorm.  After landing, my plane got to sit on the tarmac for about 30 minutes because the ramp people at the airport gate didn't want to operate the ramp during repeated occurrences of lightning.  I can't say that I blame them at all.

We found a very nice man named Kevin who had a large van (not minivan) and a valid livery license and made the soggy ride to the hotel as pleasant as possible in the circumstances.  (Considering that NM has been in drought conditions for several years now, it may be heresy to admit that I was so over the rain in a short period of time.)

The hotel we stayed at was The Saint on Canal Street.  Here's a photo of the nighttime view from my hotel room.

And here's the daytime view.

 

The next day (Monday the 23rd) my older sister and her husband went to the WWII museum.  My younger sister and I decided to take the Hop On, Hop Off tour of the downtown area.  Here's one of the gorgeous houses in the Garden District.

 

We also went by Mardi Gras World where they've been making stuff for the floats in the assorted parades.

 

The item hanging up on the left-hand side is some sort of large fish.

Then we got to see the mighty Mississippi river.  A LOT more water than I've seen since I came back from Colonial Williamsburg.

For a long time in early U.S. history, Louisiana was the only place where women could own property.  One of those owners was Micaela Almonester Pontalba who built some of the oldest apartments near/on Jackson Square.  She helped to bring some design ideas from France such as ornate balconies and first-floor breezeways.

The ironwork contains the Baroness' monogram (A/P).

That's all for this blog entry.  There's more to come.

Papillon

 

Snow - really

Yesterday I posted about the tiny bit of snow we'd gotten.  Mother Nature laughed and dumped about one inch of snow on us.  I think it fell sometime after 5:00 AM because the newspaper had snow on top and bare ground underneath.

It looks like the local 'critters' were out and about in spite of the snow.  There were some bunny prints but they must have been out and about while it was still snowing because their prints had been partially obscured.  On the other hands, the local bird population obviously waited until the snow had stopped.

The snow looked rather picturesque caught in the needles of the pine tree in the front yard.

I do love digital photography.  Instant gratification and all that.

Papillon

Snow - sort of

Today is the first day of this season that I got snow at my (current) house.  Granted it was about 1/64 of an inch and most of it melted when it hit the ground.

Here's a small amount sitting on my car.

I also drove through some brief snow showers during the late morning. 

The whooping and hollering you hear is from all the area skiers.  Taos got 18 inches.  Skis are being waxed even as you read this.

My new house is coming along.  The paint is complete.  The laminate floor is almost down.  I was hoping it would be finished yesterday but no luck there.  It now looks like it'll get done on Tuesday. 

I'm going to have it deep cleaned by the local Molly Maid folks.  So far, it looks like I'll be spending the Thanksgiving weekend moving the small stuff.  It'll help work off the calories from Thanksgiving day!

Papillon

Weird commute, pretty color

There was a major accident on westbound I-40 during yesterday's evening commute.  Because of that, lots of people bailed off onto surface roads.  Which means my normal route home was CONGESTED and it took LOTS longer to get home.

While sitting in slow moving traffic, I took this picture of some of the autumn's color.

And a bit later, this one.

Gotta love those colors.

Papillon

New house - decisions, decisions

I've lived in my current house since 1992.  It's a small house on a large lot.  When I bought it, I contemplated doing lots of DIY on an admitted fixer-upper.

Over the years, I've discovered that I thoroughly dislike doing DIY.  I'd much rather pay someone to do the work for me.  I've also discovered that I have WAY, WAY, WAY more yard than I will ever utilize. 

In May of this year, I decided I wanted to reverse my situation with a bigger (not HUGE) house on a significantly smaller lot.  I called the realtor (Patricia) that I'd used to buy my current house.  She was a real sport and took me around to see a ton of houses.  There were a couple of houses that came close, but had factors that made me turn them down.  One backed up to commercial real estate space that hasn't been developed yet.  I decided I didn't want to buy the house only to have a McDonalds put in at a later date.

Finally, in late August I found a nice house that is spacious but is not a McMansion (keeping the McDonalds theme going).  It's on a much smaller lot, although I do have a 3-hole putting green in the backyard.

Now that I've closed, I've got lots of things to get done.  Utilities are on and in my name.  I do have to call a plumber.  When the gas company tech tried to start the water heater, the pilot light igniter didn't (ignite the pilot).  The tech said it's probably a problem with the wires and I'll probably need to have that small unit replaced.  No hurry so waiting for a Friday off to call the plumber.

One of the nice things is - I don't have to HURRY.  My current house is paid off and so I don't have to move NOW.  That said, I've decided to redo the flooring and paint before moving.  Much easier to do with an empty house.

I've called and met with folks to get estimates to me.  Waiting to get all the results back.  I plan on removing the wall-to-wall carpet (which I loathe) and put in laminate instead (much easier to clean up pet messes on laminate).  I spent some time at Lowe's yesterday and really like something called 'Galveston Oak' - brown with lots of blonde notes.

As to paint, I had been thinking a nice green (not emerald, more subdued).  Then I thought I might do a nice neutral brown.  The problem there happened when I noticed all the browns that I liked had a distinct pink undertone.  That could get really 'precious' very quickly.  Instead, I'm back to green.  It looked really good up against the 'Galveston Oak' (the brown looked blah).  I'm leaning toward 'Pale Pasture' - color for the walls but not TOO much.

It's the one on the left.

It'll be nice to get this all done so I can start moving stuff over.

Papillon

NM State Fair

It certainly has been quite some time since I last posted.

In that time, we've gotten rain, rain and .... even more rain.  From what I've heard, this has been the rainiest September - either ever or for a very long time.  Parts of NM have been flooded and we've not heard those words for several years.  Some folks say the state is still in a drought, but it's hard to think that when I know parts of the Albuquerque metro area have gotten multiple inches of rain in a day.

A friend went to the NM State Fair last weekend.  She got rained on.

I went today and the weather was lovely.  It was warm but not hot and was quite pleasant.
Here's a photo I took of the main intersection of the fair.  Today there were firefighters answering questions and showing off their equipment.  They had put three ladders trucks in place and were displaying some garrison-sized flags.

I don't do the Midway.  I hate riding things that make me want to throw up, so I don't.

I did check out the exhibits in the arts and crafts area.  It's too bad that I've been in such a creative drought for the past couple of years.  There was TONS of cross-stitch and not much I could see in the way of needlepoint.  I probably could have cleaned up if I'd had something current to enter.  I may have to get myself in gear.

I used to like going through the exhibits in the Lujan building.  For some reason, not so much today.  If I could, I think it's because there aren't any of the weird and/or funky exhibits.  There used to be a booth that would 'analyze' your handwriting.  Not here this year.  There was another booth that carried all manner of scissors and tweezers and other implements.  Again, not here this year.  There were a whole bunch of really slick booths with all sorts of over-eager staffers who didn't hesitate to leap out at you as you walked by.  Not nearly as much fun.

I did stop by a booth that makes all manner of funky pasta.  I bought some flavored with Hatch green chile and another with Thai citrus flavoring.  It should be yummy to eat.  I also made my usual stop at the Watkins booth to get my dip flavorings.  I love their stuff since they don't use a TON of salt.  There are a couple of booths that sold dips, but in the past I find I can't eat more than a couple of bites without being overwhelmed with a salty flavor.

Papillon

Rain today

This morning I woke up to rainy-looking clouds.  No rain.

During the day, we went from mostly cloudy to mostly sunny.

Then, this evening more clouds rolled in and we actually had a couple of brisk showers roll through.  Hooray!

We not only got rain but a double rainbow.  The top one is rather faint and is kinda hard to see.  But it's there.

Papillon

Titanic Exhibit

The New Mexico Museum of Natural History (here in Albuquerque) is currently running an exhibit on the Titanic.  (It runs until the end of October for those who are interested.)

I went through it today and found it to be interesting and informative.  Example:  the Titanic had been designed to remain afloat if up to 4 of its water-tight compartments were flooded.  However, the iceberg punctured 6 compartments and the Titanic was doomed.

Part of the exhibit is the facsimile boarding pass you get when you approach the ticket taker.

This is based on the actual boarding pass that passengers received.

On the back of each pass is information concerning one of the actual passengers who was on the ill-fated voyage.

So that you don't have to squint, my passenger was Mrs. Edgar Joseph Meyer (nee Leila Saks).  She was 25 and lived in New York, New York.  She was a first class passenger.  She and her husband were returning from Europe to attend the funeral of her father, Andrew Saks.  (Andrew Saks was the founder of Saks department store.)

At the end of the exhibit, there is a board which tells you the fate of the passenger on your boarding pass.  I'm happy to report that Leila Saks Meyer did survive.  Sadly, her husband did not.  (They had a two-year-old daughter who had stayed at home.)

Leila Saks Meyer was not the only survivor to experience a double tragedy (the death of first her father and then her husband).

I recently read a book, Rich Men, Poor Men, by Phyllis Ryerse.  It concerns the family of Arthur L. Ryserson (a distant relative of the author).  Arthur Ryerson and family were touring through Europe when they were informed that their college-age son had died in a traffic accident. 

At the time, there was a coal miners' strike in England.  A large number of ocean liners (which used coal for fuel) were sidelined and the Titanic was the first available way for the Ryersons to get home for the funeral. 

Also on board was William Ryerson - a VERY DISTANT cousin of Arthur Ryerson.  Arthur Ryerson was very wealthy (his steel mill is still in operation).  William Ryerson was NOT so very rich and was a worker on the Titanic. 

Arthur Ryerson did not survive.  His wife and 3 of their children did survive (in addition to the son who died in the traffic accident, they had a daughter who'd remained behind in the USA).  So, Emily Ryerson had to deal with the death of first, her son, and then her husband.  (Their governess, Grace Bowen, and Emily's maid, Victorine Chaudanson, also survived.)

William Ryerson did survive.  He happened to be standing near one of the lifeboats.  He was asked if he could row.  He said yes, and was put into the boat.

A different book, Titanic Survivor, is a memoir by Violet Jessup (the survivors' list has her as Violet Jessop).  She was a stewardess (like a maid) on Titanic.  She not only survived the Titanic sinking, she also survived the WWI sinking of Titanic's sister ship, Britannic.  I'm not sure, but I think she also worked on the third sister ship, Olympic.  (Olympic did NOT sink, but was eventually decommissioned and broken up for scrap.)

I found all their names on the lists.  It was so sad to see all the names of those who didn't survive.

Papillon

Good News!

My visitor bunny was back today.  It hung out under the tree in my front yard for a large portion of the afternoon.

I'm not sure which bunny provide lunch/dinner for the coyote, but I'm glad my little teen bunny is still around.

Papillon

RIP???

A while back I posted about how a bunny from the latest generation has been hanging out in my front yard.

I haven't seen it for several days, but that's not unusual for the local rabbits.  You see 'em for a while and then don't for a while.  So, I wasn't worried.

Until this afternoon.

I was in the backyard pulling weeds and ran across some bunny parts left over after some critter (likely a coyote) had had a hot snack.  Not a lot there, but enough to see what had happened.

Sigh.

The size was about right for my recent visitor.  I guess it got complacent or surprised or just really unlucky.  I know coyotes have to live, but they don't have to treat my backyard as their personal buffet.  Dammit!

Papillon

Taos Photos

Well, I'm a bit embarrassed.  I thought I'd left my camera behind in Taos -- with all my photos.  Imagine my surprise when I was rummaging in a bag I'd taken with me on the trip and, voila!  There, in a side pocket I thought I'd already looked through, is my camera.  Woohoo!

Here are some ceramic chickens that are posted along the edge of the front porch.  Allegedly, when Dennis Hopper was in Taos while working on 'Easy Rider', he would get pie-eyed and take potshots at the chickens.  They look pretty good in spite of it.

 

Here are some photos of my room.  It was called the Nicholai Fechin room.  Fechin was a noted portrait artist.  I was surprised they didn't have an example of his paintings in the room, even it's just a copy of some sort.

 

 

For those not familiar with Southwest architecture, this is a kiva-style fireplace next to an adobe brick wall.  It got cool in the evenings, but not enough to need to use the fireplace.

 

Next is the nice old-fashioned (looking) bed and chest.  The bed was comfy and I had no problems getting to and staying asleep.

 

When Mabel Dodge Luhan built the main house, she knowingly built it RIGHT NEXT TO the boundary lines of Taos Pueblo.  While looking around Mabel's property, I saw this sign.  (For those who are wondering, I made SURE to stay on Mabel's side of the boundary line while taking the photo.)

 

Over the years I've seen any number of 'No Trespassing' signs.  This is the first one I've ever seen that mentions a Pueblo Warchief -- or any other type of Warchief for that matter.

I may post a few more of my photos in the future.  I sure did have a good time taking them.

Papillon

 

 

 

New Generation

We have a fair amount of wildlife in our neighborhood.

In the past few days, I've spotted an adolescent bunny hanging out in the front yard.  She/he is so very cute.

Here's a couple of photos of the bunny.

 

In the above photo, she's got a little dirt area all scooped out.  It's in the shade so it's nice and cool in the afternoon.  Plus, it's close to a bushy tree that provides a nice area to run to - just in case.

 

Equally cute in profile.

Keeping an eye on the wacky person with the camera, you never know when I might just run amok in a bunny-killing frenzy.

Papillon

 

Weather Hi-jinks

We've been in drought conditions for several years now.  This summer Mother Nature has been making up for lost time.

Last night, the weathercasters were talking about how Moriarty (east of Albuquerque) was getting a lot of lightning.  I walked outside around 11 PM and sure enough, there was a lot of lightning off to the east.  It looked cool, but like 'not a big deal'.

I went to bed around midnight.  It's a good thing I had today (Friday) off because I woke up and my alarm clock was flashing, meaning the power had been off for a while.  If this had been a work day, I'd have been late to work.

I'm not sure when the power went off and for how long - after all, I was asleep at the time.  In calculating the time the clock had been flashing, it looked as though the power came back on around 4:30 PM. 

Tonight, the weathercasters said that between the hours of 10 PM and 4 AM, the Albuquerque metro area got 1,000 lightning strikes.  Wow! 

Right now, 7:15 PM on Friday, it looks like we've got another storm moving in.  Lots of wind and clouds. 

Staying under cover,
Papillon

A Night at the 'Topes

Albuquerque has had a Triple A baseball team for decades.  When I moved here, the team was the Dukes, so named because this area was originally a land grant from the king of Spain to the Duke of Alburquerque.  (Note:  the correct Spanish spelling includes the 'extra' R.  This means the 'correct' spelling of the city of Albuquerque is 'incorrect'.)

The team was sold to a group in Seattle and moved there.  After a few years, the decision was made to see about getting another team to move to Albuquerque.  The team arrived and was named the Isotopes, nicknamed the 'Topes.

A friend and I went to last night's game (July 20, 2013).

 

We had a good time.  Unfortunately, the 'Topes did not have a good time and lost 4-2 to the Omaha Storm Chasers.  Here the 'Topes are on the field - probably in the top of the first or second inning.  They're not wearing their regular uniforms, since this was Dukes Retro Night.

 

 

You may be able to notice some storm clouds behind the stands.  We didn't get any rain at the stadium, but when I drove my friend home, we could see there'd been rain at her house.

 

After the game, there was a fireworks show.  Very pretty.  I got a couple of shots, but the multiple 'blooms' rather confused my camera as to what to focus on.

 

 

 

All in all, we had a nice time.

 

Papillon

 

Taos

Well, since I left my camera behind in Taos and someone else is most likely using it, I have no personal photos to show.  However, the instructor (Jill Badonsky) did send some photos to the participant.  Here are a few to show you our surroundings.

This is the main house that Mabel Dodge Luhan built.  (Photo taken by Jill Badonsky)

At the top is the solarium.  It has a fabulous view, but you need to clamber up two sets of stairs, one of which was built to accommodate people under 5'2".  The second is perilously close to being a ladder.

This is the Juniper house, an annex that's about 100 yards from the main house.  (Photo taken by Jill Badonsky)

In the center is a large room that we used as our classroom.  My room was on the first floor on the left hand side.  That made it very handy if I forgot something.

One of a couple of fun features of the main house is the pigeon 'hotel' in the front courtyard. 

 

These have been in place since about the same time the house was built as can be seen in some of the old photos.  (Photo taken by Jill Badonsky)

 

Then there's this lovely old gate.

According to some information I read while there (and I hope I'm remembering it correctly), the pigeon hotel residents got so lazy, they wouldn't fly out of the way when vehicles drove in through the gate.  Mabel put up a sign telling people not to run over the pigeons.  Finally she just locked the gate to keep the vehicles out.  (Photo taken by Jill Badonsky)

All in all, it was a very lovely setting to be in while trying to jumpstart my creativity.

Papillon

 

Taos and Back

I am a big fan of Jill Badonsky who's an author of books about creativity and the muses who can help you along the way.

I get her e-newsletter and earlier this year she said she was going to have a creativity retreat at the Mabel Dodge Luhan house in Taos, NM.  I thought to myself - I'm just a couple of hours away from there and I've got vacation time - why not?  So I signed up.

I headed to Taos on Tuesday (7/9) afternoon.  There I met up with an amazing group of women.  There were 12 of us in total and it was just the right size.  Enough people to get a variety of viewpoints but not too many that somebody ends up (accidentally) being ignored.

Over the next several days we had a combination of amazing exercises in assorted sessions plus some down time so we could explore in and around Taos.  I had fun in the town plaza looking through and buying from various stores.

The Mabel Dodge Luhan facility is a fun venue.  It's her original house plus an annex a few dozen yards away.  They've done some minor updating (plumbing & that sorts of things), but otherwise it looks pretty much as it did when she was living there.  It's in the Pueblo style with some very low doors and squeaky wood floors.

I stayed in the Nicholai Fechin room in the annex.  Fechin immigrated to the US following the Bolshevik Revolution.  He was a portrait artist.  The room was a good size, but the closet was a bit small.  It did have a nice shower that I enjoyed.

None of the rooms had televisions or phones.  At first there were a few withdrawal symptoms, but I had planned ahead and had brought along some reading material.  I also brought along my laptop since there is a limited Wifi area in the main house.  I got on long enough to check e-mail and otherwise was computer-free as well.

Another nice part of the visit was the rain.  New Mexico has been smack in the middle of a drought for a couple of years now.  This year, it looks like we may actually have rain during the rainy season.
There was enough rain on Tuesday that there was a lovely double rainbow as I headed into town.  Later in the week we had a rain shower that lasted 30 minutes or more.  It started just before we started to do some energy/breathing cleansing exercises.  It lasted through our activities and ended with the sun out as we finished.  Very cool!

All in all, a good time was had.

Papillon

Rain!

As we've been told for the past several years, New Mexico is in a drought.  Thankfully, it looks like there may actually be some rain during this year's rainy season.

I actually got sprinkled on while driving home.  It wasn't much, but it's better than nothing.

As the sun went down, there were some really nifty and pretty clouds overhead.

And some more.

Gotta love the potential for rain.

Papillon

 

An Unexpected Visitor

For no particular reason I wandered out into my front yard this evening.  I looked up and there on the roof was a large owl.  Wow!

I grabbed my digital camera and attempted to zoom in on the owl.  The camera turned itself off.  I turned it back on and it said the batteries were dying.  AARGH!!!

I then grabbed my trusty 35mm camera.  It refused to turn on at all - the battery had died.  AARGH!!!

I took both cameras and ran inside.  I replaced the batteries in both and sprinted back outside.  The owl had disappeared.  AARGH!!!

Then I noticed the adult son of the next door neighbors was staring up into the top of a tree down the street.  Sure enough, there was owl WAY up in the top of the tree.  The son and I took several photos of the owl.

Here's one of mine.  Sorry if it's a bit blurry.

I THINK it's a great horned owl.  It was a pretty good-sized owl.

The local rabbit population was huddled under anything that would make it difficult for the owl to get to them.

Surprisingly, the local bird population didn't seem upset.  Lots of birds flying around and others chirping with no regard to attracting the owl's attention.

It was fun to see in spite of the problems with my camera.  (AARRGH!!!)

Papillon

The Aftermath

So, as I said in my last post, on Memorial Day a house in my neighborhood blew up and burned down. 

Here's what the final result looks like.

And yet another shot.

 

This is what happens when you store propane tanks inside of your house and then they blow up.

Papillon

Weird and Scary Memorial Day Morning

I normally sleep in on weekends and holidays.  Today is Memorial Day here in the USA so, not surprisingly, I slept in.

I did briefly wake up around 7:00 AM due to an odd and loud noise.  At first I thought it might be a sonic boom or perhaps someone playing with a large firework.  It was not crisp enough to be a sonic boom so I decided to go back to sleep.

Later, I got up and headed out to run errands.  Imagine my surprise to see a LARGE number of emergency streets on the next street over in my subdivision.  Later on I found out that the loud noise I heard was a house blowing UP.  WTH?

Here's a link to a local newscast:
http://www.krqe.com/dpp/news/local/central/none-hurt-in-rio-rancho-home-explosion

It's good to know the house was not occupied so nobody was injured.  It's also good that none of the neighbors' houses were damaged.

As of about 2:00 PM, there were still fire department folks hanging around making sure the fire was completely out and also doing some research on how the fire started.

In the picture below, you can see some of the remains of the house just to the right of the fire engine.

The news reports said the fire involved some propane tanks inside the house.  They don't know what ignited them. 

This all has me wondering.  The house was allegedly not occupied and all utilities had been turned off.  So why would anyone have propane tanks INSIDE of their house?  I'm just saying - it makes you say HMMMM.

Papillon

Big Decision

I've been thinking about this for a long time. 

When I bought my house 21 years ago (moved in 21 years ago this first weekend in May), I had plenty of room.  However, after all these years, I've acquired a bunch more stuff.  Granted, I could get rid of some of it, but most of it I want to keep.

That said, I've decided to buy a bigger house.  No, not a McMansion.  If you buy a big house, you also have to clean all that extra space.  Instead of 2 bedrooms/1 bath, which is what I've got now, I want 3 bedrooms/2 baths and about half again as much space. 

I want to be like Goldilocks.  It can't be too big or too small.  It needs to be just right.

This morning I went by the credit union and was pre-approved.  This afternoon I met with my real estate agent.  (She's the same one I used 21 years ago.)  We spent a bunch of time getting caught up on what's happened since then.  We've got an appointment set to look at houses on my next Friday off.

I'm feeling happy - a new house!  I'm feeling scared - I'm getting a new mortgage!

Papillon

Treasure Hunt

I love going to Goodwill.  It's always rather like a treasure hunt.  Some days you find nothing much, other days, treasure!

I primarily go for books.  I like to have a good selection of reading materials on hand and I've found a lot of good things over the years.  One of my more fun book finds was a signed copy of Hedda Hopper's autobiography.  ("Thanks, pal!  Hedda Hopper")

However, starting a couple of months ago, I found some REALLY good items.  Specifically, some lovely cut glass.  I was at the Goodwill store on Paseo del Norte.  I'd found some books and was waiting in line to check out.  I looked into the glass-front case at the cash register and spotted three bowls.  One was a large bowl, about 10 inches across and about 4 inches deep.  Here's a photo looking straight down into the bowl.

The other two were smaller bowls, each with a different design.  They're about 4 inches across and are about 1 inch deep.  Here are photos looking down at each bowl and a side view of one of the bowls.

This is a side view of the 2nd of the two small bowls.

I got all three bowls for an average price on the tag of about $15 to $30.

At that point in time, I thought woohoo!  And that I'd gotten three lovely cut glass bowls for a great deal.

Yesterday, I was at the Goodwill store on Coors.  Once again, I found several books that I wanted to buy.  There was a line at the cash register so I wandered around the store.  I checked out their glass-front case but there was nothing in there I wanted.  I then wandered through the glassware section.  I didn't see anything I wanted on the first set of shelves.  Then I turned around and while perusing a second set of shelves, there was a lovely little cut glass dish.  It's a smaller version of a larger, similar piece I bought 25+ years ago.  Here are a couple of shots, one looking down (with an odd reflection) and one from the side.

It's about 3 inches wide and about 6 inches long.  As with the first three pieces, it's in good condition.  Yesterday I got an even better deal since nobody at the second store apparently knew what it was.  It was priced in line with the regular glassware and was only $2.99.  I snatched it up and went to the cash register.  I checked out and it's now mine!

All in all, I'm definitely going to keep my eye out in the future when I'm at the Goodwill stores here in town.

Papillon