A Few Things

Farewell, my sweet lady! She was the first of my series of women portraits and still my favorite, and now she is going to live with the lovely and talented Sarah of theothermousie in the UK. I couldn't be happier that she found a good home!!

And take a look at this colorful bunch! I won a giveaway at Artsyville and received a wonderful little package of bookmarks, gift tags, cards and bottle tags. Thank you, Aimee, I love it all!!
Speaking of giveaways, while I was on vacation, I won two big ones over at Januarywish: 250 free printed greeting cards and 500 free business cards from Uprinting.com. Now I just have to decide which image to use and how to design them. Thank you Melissa! I feel like the luckiest girl!!

Now, to close, a few pictures from our evening out last night. We visited the rooftop bar we had discovered a few weeks ago and sat, sipping a beer and eating some delicious calamari (with a curry mayonnaise, which we weren't too sure about at first, but ended up loving!) and looking out on the Savannah river and our huge port. We normally aren't bar people at all, but the view is so amazing that we are planning to make this a weekly ritual - such a wonderful and relaxing spot!!

Daniel took this really (really!) unflattering photo of me eating, but when I looked closely, I loved the reflection in my sunglasses. (Click on any of the photos to see them bigger.)
Some of you may not like this view, but there's something about commercial ports that Daniel and I both love - the big container ships, the huge cranes, even the warehouses.
Tug boats going out to meet a cargo ship.



Just as we were leaving a big cargo ship came into the harbor with containers from Hamburg - a little greeting from my home country.

Later at home relaxing with the critters and a good book...
Hope you all had a fun and inspiring weekend!

Home Sweet Home...

I find that no matter how wonderful the vacation, it's always great to come back home. And I'm glad that's the way it is - happy at home and happy on the road.

Here's one more post with pics from our travels and then I hope I'll have more art to show you soon!! I plan to get painting again this weekend... I've got a commission to finish and have some ideas for new pieces!

The picture above is me writing my previous blog post at our favorite breakfast place. Daniel is having his morning coffee under a huge cottonwood tree.
The beautiful Rio Grande, where we used to walk our dogs when we still lived there.

Can you see the road runner (a big bird) so perfectly camouflaged in the photo below?
The dear friends we got to stay with. Peg and I worked together for seven years and they are like family to us.
Some of the lovely women I met through my work in Albuquerque.
More dear friends... Peter is a very talented illustrator.
We went for a little walk near the Sandia Mountains with a view over all of Albuquerque.



Later we spent some time in the fun Nob Hill area near the university. It's filled with little restaurants and boutiques.

From there, we stopped in Old Town and enjoyed the chile ristras so typical for the area.

Among all the little stores, we found a little chapel, which we'd never seen before.
The beautiful old San Felipe de Neri church, built in 1793.
And with this I thank you for coming with us on this journey back to a place and people we love.
Now I am off to finally visit some of your blogs again!! I've missed you all!!!

Dear People, Vast Skies and Colored Rocks

Oh, wow, so much is happening just as I am having such limited Internet access - I am noticing how much I love being connected to the world and you all!!

Daniel and I are still in New Mexico and having a wonderful time! It's amazing how much this beautiful place still feels like home to us. We've been driving a lot and seeing many of our family and friends, which has fed our hearts and nourished our souls!

There's something about the stark and awesome New Mexico landscape that speaks to me in a way that only the ocean does where we live now. By the end of this post, you'll be on photo overload, but I hope you'll enjoy traveling along with us!

I got to help our good friends put together some cabinets at their cabin, which I enjoyed immensely. I just love puzzles like that - very satisfying to my analytical mind!
Dinner with a number of very dear friends!!
And some precious time spent with one of our dearest friends in Albuquerque (actually, she is like family to us). This amazing lady is in her mid-80's and constantly exploring new things. At the moment, she is learning to paint with pastels and is quite good at it!!
We got to go to a Labor Day celebration with her and hear an amazing folk band play. Did I ever tell you that Daniel and I used to play in a folk band with our friend and her husband, who sadly passed away three years ago? Daniel played the hammered dulcimer and I played the folk harp and mountain dulcimer. We had so much fun playing and performing!! So many great things to do ... so little time!
We saw some amazing storms on our drives!

On our way to the Jemez mountains - one of my favorite New Mexico landscapes!

Dinner with Daniel's sister, Patti, and her husband, Dana (a very talented photographer), at their amazing place in a canyon in the Jemez Mountains. When we arrived, I had a bad cold. Patti did a Reiki treatment on me and by that evening, my cold was almost gone. The next day, I felt totally fine! She's also an amazing vedic astrologer! You can read more about her here.
Almost everyone we stayed with has dogs, which meant we got plenty of doggie lovin'!

The beautiful area in the Jemez mountains. Don't you just love the colors of the rocks?!


Daniel on an early morning hike while I was still snoozing...
We are heading back to Savannah tomorrow, which means that this weekend I'll finally get to visit your blogs again! Can't wait!!

Oh, before I forget, I was interviewed on the lovely blog "We Blog Artists." Make sure to head on over and take a look!

From the Road

We made it to Albuquerque...and immediately drove on to Colorado to visit some family and friends! Here a few pictures from the road so far...
The two pictures above are from the plane looking at the Rio Grande Valley.
We had dinner with some good friends who have the most amazing vegetable and fruit garden around their little house in one of Albuquerque's pretty old neighborhoods. It's amazing how much produce they get from cultivating this fairly small garden!

The next morning, Daniel and I had breakfast at our favorite breakfast place in Albuquerque - Flying Star. We were going to sit outside under the huge cottonwood tree, but it was actually a little too chilly!



The next photos I took on the gorgeous drive from Albuquerque to Denver.

With our Prius rental car!





Now we are on the way to Fort Collins and then the Jemez Mountains. It feels wonderful being back in the southwest, and we are both surprised how much this still feels like home to us!

I'm sorry I don't have time to visit your lovely blogs, but I'll do so as soon as I have a little more time! In the meantime, thank you for coming to visit here!!