End of the weekend

This past couple of weeks have been mildly painful.  Literally.

On Tuesday, January 6th, I fell off of a parking lot.  Once again, literally.

The parking lot had two parts, an official part which is paved and an unofficial part which is dirt.  The paved section is about an inch higher than the dirt section.  I was walking facing into the sun and in the glare didn't notice the divide between two sections.  I rolled my ankle and did a 3-point landing.

The small area of road rash on my right palm is almost completely healed.  The large area of road rash on my left knee is about 80% healed.  It's still got some scabbing and a large area of red where I lost a layer or two of skin.  The biggest problem is the right ankle.  It's still swollen and rather achy.  There also may be a small fracture.  Eew alert -- According to the X-rays, a ligament may have pulled loose a tiny section of bone.  The X-rays are a bit ambiguous. 

So, I'm now looking at having an MRI scheduled.  And some physical therapy.  What a pain in my....umm...ankle.

On a more fun note, after a couple of weeks with no balloons, a bunch were back up this morning -- almost a dozen.

A fun angle.

Starting out close together.

 

Then the balloon on the right started to fire their propane.

And continued to rise.

It's been nice to have sunshine after the snow we had earlier this week.

Papillon

 

Holiday's End

It is sure going to be tough going back to work tomorrow.  I freely admit, sloth is my favorite of the (alleged) seven deadly sin.  I've gotten a lot of books read and lots of sleep time.  I'm sure gonna miss it.

In typical Albuquerque metro fashion, the end of the weekend was sent off via balloons.  At least a half dozen were up and cruising this morning.

And another one.

I wasn't sure if this balloon was officially landed or if they were changing passengers.  It was chilly out this morning and I didn't hang around long enough to find out.

Ah, well.  Back to work tomorrow.

Papillon

New Year's - 2015

Last night was spent quietly enjoying some champagne and snacks.  It was funny, even though I had the TV countdown on, I really didn't need it.  When midnight rolled around, there was lots of noisemakers and fireworks in the neighborhood.

This morning I woke up to cloudy skies and a light dusting of snow.

Fortunately, it was cold enough when it started to snow that there wasn't any ice, just some dry snow.

Later on, the clouds went away for the most part and the sun emerged.  As can be expected here in the Albuquerque metro area, folks celebrated by launching a couple of balloons from the park out back.  Balloons normally go up in the morning, so I was startled when I heard the propane whoosh around 2:00 PM.

The above two balloons seem to be a joint effort.

About half an hour later, I heard another whoosh.  Et, voila!

I'm not sure if the bumble bee color scheme balloon was with the first two or if it showed up independently.

Typical Albuquerque metro celebrating of the holiday.

Happy New Year!
Papillon

Christmas 2014

The time off so far has been fun.  My sisters and BIL came to town for a few days.  We did a lot of tourist things and went to a bunch of local restaurants.  A good time was had.

One thing that disappointed me was the lack of hot air balloons.  I talk all the time about how we see balloons in the air all year 'round.  No such luck.  I guess all the balloonists were working at their day jobs in the days leading up to Christmas.  My younger sister did get lucky on Christmas Day.  She went out to get the newspaper and there one was at the end of the street.  She took a couple of photos (I don't have copies).  They left on Friday and wouldn't you know, one took off from the park out back this morning.

In looking at my last post, this appears to be the same balloon shown in my previous post.  I guess they're a balloonist that resides in this neighborhood who finds the park a convenient launching pad.

Today I added to my small amount of Christmas decorations.  While my sisters and BIL were in town, it occurred to me that putting Christmas tree balls in my cut glass bowls would be pretty.  I was at Target today and they had decorations on sale so, what the heck.

I think they look very festive.

Happy Holidays!
Papillon

I Love Long Weekends!

Here it is, day 3 of my 4 day weekend.  I've been having fun so far.

Thursday was very quiet, I watched football for part of the day.  Two of the games were lopsided so I spent part of the afternoon reading a good book.

Friday had more activity.  The dining table I've been using at the new house fitted nicely in the old house, but was a bit small for the new one.  (OK, it occurs to me I need to start calling it the current house, since I purchased it over a year ago.)  Plus, the chairs I'd been using at the old house were in fairly crappy condition so I got rid of them when I moved.  In the meantime, I've been using folding chairs with the old table.

On a related note, a friend of mine has been downsizing.  She mentioned she was getting rid of her old dining table and getting a smaller one.  Having spent lots of time with my quilt group around the old table, I knew it was in good condition and even without any leaves added was bigger than my old one.  So, I asked her how much she wanted for her old table.  She quoted me a price, et, voila, I had it moved to my current house yesterday.  It's looking good.  (It's pictured with 4 of the 6 REAL chairs.)

The runner was made by another quilt buddy several years ago.  It's got an Xmas theme so fits in well with the season.

This morning I was awakened by the sound of people celebrating the weekend with balloon rides.  From the noise, it sounded as though they touched down in the park to swap out passengers.  Here are a couple of them.

Later I went to the Rio Grande Arts & Crafts Festival.  I saw lots of lovely things, but restrained myself from going heavily into debt by buying them all.  I did get a couple of Xmas gifts so it was a productive trip.

I'm not sure what I'll be doing tomorrow, but I plan on doing it in a leisurely fashion.

Feeling thankful,
Papillon

Afternoon flights

Usually we'll see hot air balloons in the morning.  It's unusual to see them in the afternoon.  So, I was surprised to walk out this afternoon and there were four of them.

I'm thinking they were taking advantage of absolutely perfect weather.  It was clear, not too hot, not too cold, very little wind.

One loitered over the park in back of the house for a while. 

The others were north of my house and heading farther away.

From the related color schemes, I'm thinking they belong to a local company that specializes in giving balloon rides. 

It was fun watching them.

Papillon

Lovely weather - and then not so much

The day started out clear and nice.  Not surprisingly, there were balloons up early.  This one hovered over the park out back and then hit the burner, lifted off and headed north.

The first three photos were taken from my back patio (facing south).  The last photo was taken after I walked through the house and out the front door (facing north).

The weather forecast said that clouds would move in and the wind would pick up later in the day.  I went to brunch around noon.  There were clouds building on the western horizon - big, fleecy, white clouds.  When I walked out after lunch (about an hour later), imagine my surprise to see big, BLACK clouds much closer than the western horizon.

I headed west to check on my 'old' house that's for sale.  Keep in mind, on the west side of the ABQ metro area, there's a whole lotta open space.  As I'm driving along, the wind SUDDENLY really kicked up and put a whole lotta dust in the air.  At one point, I could barely see the car in front of me (about 6 car lengths away).  All I could see was their tail lights.  Fortunately, I was able to drive through the dust cloud and clearer air.  When I got to my 'for sale' house, you could feel that the temperature had dropped several degrees. 

Needless to say, I did a quick check of the house and headed back to my 'new' house.  I got back and prepared for some really nasty weather coming in.  Only to have it all peter out.  A few sprinkles, a few more wind gusts and then, nada.  Oh, well.  The rain would have been nice, but I'm glad it didn't turn out anything like it initially threatened.

Papillon

Balloons Overhead

I was awakened this morning by the whooshing of propane tanks firing as balloons floated overhead.  I suspect they most likely didn't launch from the Balloon Fiesta field but more likely from some open space on the west side of Albuquerque.

It was lovely weather this morning.  However, I'm suspecting the evening Glowdeo may be cancelled.  Some nasty looking clouds are moving in from the west and I think I'm hearing intermittent thunder.

Papillon

Getting Caught Up

Last Sunday (6/29) I went to an all-day seminar put on by Mike Dooley.  I've long gotten his upbeat emails from The Universe.  He is a proponent of 'Thoughts Become Things'.  I had a good time and am glad I signed up for it.  Here's a picture of me with Mike.

I spent a quiet Fourth of July.  This woke me up Friday morning.  I don't recall seeing this shape of balloon years ago.  They seem to have become more popular since I've seen at least 3 different balloons of this shape in just the last month.

I'm not a big fan of going to one of the live Fourth of July events.  I did that many years ago and now prefer to watch the shows on TV from the comfort of my air-conditioned living room.  Sipping an adult beverage/libation. 

It turns out my neighborhood likes fireworks as much as they do Xmas decorations in December.  Neighbors a couple of doors down on either side had lots of fun.  Here're the folks on my west side.

 

Today I went shopping for more furniture.  I found a nice nightstand plus a couple of end tables for the living room.  It'll be fun to put them in place once they are delivered.

Papillon

Sunday Morning Balloons

After several quiet weekends, the balloons were out in force this morning.  There were two balloons of an unusual shape, I got a picture of one of them.

Normally you don't see special shapes on routine weekends.  However, there was one this morning.

Here's a shot with multiple balloons.

There were lots more balloons in the area, but most were too far away for me to get a good shot.  I don't want the balloon to just be a tiny dot on the sky.

It sure is a fun way to wake up on a sunny Sunday morning.

Papillon

Ups and downs this weekend

There have been some ups and downs this weekend.  Starting on Friday, we've had some rain showers move through each afternoon.  As I was leaving work on Friday, it had been raining, but stopped long enough for me to get to my car and get about halfway home.  At that point, it starts to rain.  No big deal, until it starts to hail.  Fortunately, it was only pin-sized, but it was fast and furious and VERY noisy and slightly scary.  I drove through it and finished the drive home.  No damage to the car.  Yeah!

Saturday morning started out with me running errands and then heading to the State Fairgrounds for a quilt/craft market.  Part of the way there, my 'low tire pressure' light came on.  WTH?  A few minutes later, it went off.  Again, wth?  I found a gas station and put in a few pounds in the front tires.  (The rear tire pressure was fine.)  In the process I got dirt all over my right fingers from the tires.  Sigh.

I had a good time at the quilt/craft marketplace.  I found several fun panels.  A couple I may leave as is, just sandwich, quilt and bind.  One, I may cut up and rework since I want a longer than wide panel and as is, it's wider than long.  It's kitchen/bistro themed and should look cute on the wall in the kitchen.  I managed to get all my shopping done while there was a shower going on outside.

I headed homeward.  On the way, I thought I'd do my weekly stop by the old house to check things are OK.  I got there, stuck my key in the deadbolt and started turning it.  Only to have the cylinder come part way out of the lock.  It then got stuck in position, which meant I couldn't get the key out of the lock.  Sigh.  Then, when trying to get things to a position that'd allow me to get the key free, it snapped off.  Sigh.  All items are about 20 years old so can't entirely say I was surprised.

I went to the new house and called a locksmith I'd used to rekey the new house.  He could be at the old house in about 45 minutes.  Hooray!!  I stopped on the way back to the new house and bought a new deadbolt.  I got back to the old house and read part of a Perry Mason mystery until the locksmith showed up.  He was able to replace the old lock with the new one and rekeyed the new one to match the old deadbolt key (I had another non-snapped one on hand.)  Problem solved!  Woohoo!

This morning (Sunday) was sunny with a few clouds.  Around 7:30 AM I woke up to hear balloons overhead.

And another - in the distance.

And two more.

I make it a point to sleep in on weekends so after taking these photos I went back to bed.  About an hour later, I was again awakened by balloons somewhere close.  I rolled out of bed and what do I see but a couple of different balloons landing in the park in back of my house.

I would have taken more pictures, but the batteries in my camera picked this point to start flashing 'low battery' warnings.  At this point, I got up and headed out to get groceries.

In early afternoon, more clouds started rolling in.  I know there are probably folks who'd planned lots of outdoor activities this weekend.  I, on the other hand, am glad to see the rain.  It sure made it easier to pull weeds in the backyard.  Not to mention giving me an excellent reason to stay inside and read a good book.

Here's hoping tomorrow goes well.  I've been feeling a bit paranoid when I've been driving (since Saturday morning), keeping a wary eye on where the 'low tire pressure' light is.  So far, no recurrences.  Keeping my fingers crossed.

Papillon

The New House

After coming back from New Orleans for Christmas, I moved into my new house on January 10th.  That was the day I was getting the phone and cable/computer transferred so I figured that was as good a day as any to move both me and the cat.

I was worried about the cat.  I adopted him about in 1999 and he's only ever lived with me in the old house.  He was majorly freaked out for about the first half hour.  He got steadily better after that and is now pretty much an old hand at the place.

At the old house I had furniture I wanted to bring with me.  Then there's the furniture I no longer want and, in some cases, rather loathe.  The furniture I wanted was moved over on December 30th.  The remainder is still at the old place waiting to go to either The Salvation Army or the landfill.

I'm still bringing over small stuff.  I've gotten to the point over bringing over the awkward to haul stuff like pots and pans and things that don't fit well into boxes.  But I'm beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel is a light and not a train.  I'm also hoping the I soon forget the annoyance of moving.

I did find one more fun thing about the new house.  Thanks to the park out back, there's the possibility of balloon landings.  I don't think this one actually landed, I think they just thought about it and decided to continue flying.

Papillon