Santa Fe

     While visiting #2 daughter in Denver, we took a little trip south to Santa Fe, New Mexico. It is about a 6-7 hour drive from Denver, and very beautiful. You can see forever, there are cattle and horse ranches and plenty of miles of wide blue sky and pastures.  I expected to see tall cactus and sand in New Mexico, but it is red dirt and small scrubby bushes, not a cactus to be seen, except the one planted at the rest stop in the landscaping!! All along the trip you could see mountains in the background.

                                Sangre de Cristo Mountains in New Mexico

 We saw antelope grazing in areas like this, but did not stop to take pictures.Why were we in such a hurry???

  Here is the lonely cactus bush thing at the base of the pine tree at the rest stop. Oh, my, we are such tourists! 

Santa Fe weather was beautiful. We were there for the July 4th weekend, and although it got to 91 in the day time, if you stepped into the shade, it was cool. There is NO humidity (unlike Kansas!) and it cooled down to low 60's toward evening, and was that cool in the mornings.

Being the rabid shoppers we are we headed to the historical downtown Santa Fe, which happens to be on Route 66!

This is Santa Fe's plaza, with a city park to the left, and stores around all 4 streets of the square. This was the end of the Santa Fe trail that started in Independence, Missouri. The church at the end of the street is the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi.(see related post)

     The park in the center of the Plaza
                                                                                     

Below is the La Fonda Hotel in historic downtown. A hotel of some kind has been on this corner for almost 400 years. La Fonda has been here since 1922.

Inside the lobby of the La Fonda Hotel.

The Palace of the Governors faces the historic plaza and American Indians sell jewelry under the overhang.

 

City ordinances require that buildings in the historical district of Santa Fe, reflect the adobe style. By an ordinance passed in 1958, new and rebuilt buildings, especially those in  historic districts, must exhibit a Spanish Territorial or Pueblo style of architecture, with flat roofs and other features that model  traditional adobe construction.

 

     Above is a parking garage in historic Santa Fe. Can you tell? 

Lots of turquoise colored trim on buildings.

Our hotel lobby below.

                                                                        

                                                                

                                                                              

The best photo moments

I love family photos. We all do. It seems, though, that at the moment you take that photo, you don't know if it is going to be a keeper, a prize, a unforgettable moment. It takes time to make photos valuable. Time for the events to marinate in your memory.  Can you remember being lined up, as a child, so someone could take everyone's pic, and how you would rather be doing something else, or it was hot, or you were tired? Do you remember being the photographer and  trying to get everyone to cooperate for just one pic, that turned out to be 4 or 5 until you got it right, until everyone was smiling, until it was perfect? I have two photos that are out on display in my home that I see every day. The first one was taken on a weekend at the lake, when all my  cousins were together. I remember it being taken, during a long, hot day of  swimming  picnicing, and playing. All we wanted to do was anything  but have our picture taken. Time has made this a perfect picture.

That's me on the far right.

I was the photographer of this picture twenty some years ago. It is of my daughters at their grandpa's farm.

 

  Time makes some of  

"The Best Moments".

Befores and Afters

I wanted an old hutch I could paint. It would be nice for the screened in porch on the back of the house. I could keep the sheets that I cover the porch furniture with in the winter in the drawers. Yes, I could definitely justify a small purchase! I found an old hutch on CL (Craigslist.com) and it wasn't much money. The only thing that worried me was it had a laminated top. A little sanding, and two coats of primer before the paint took care of the surface. It is not getting a lot of use anyway. Here's the before:  the top part:

Before, the bottom part.

This was the decoration at the top of the hutch I wanted to change, so I glued on those little wood appliques.

Here's the after:

I kept the original hardware, which has that  rustic look, (think Pottery Barn, only cheaper!)

Wood appliques

Here is a hanging hall fixture that was brass that I desperately wanted to replace, but instead repainted with a $1.00 can of spray paint, and $1.97 for candle socket covers. The plastic socket covers crumbled in my hand as I took them off to paint!

Before:

After:

At least I didn't spend this much at Pottery Barn for these:

Gothic Lantern $269

Brunswick Pendant $149

   

It's About Time for Picnic Tables!!

As summer approaches, it is time to drag (literally) out the picnic table. Picnic tables have almost become a thing of the past, due to patios and patio tables, much more comfortable on the back. But I am nostalgic about picnic tables.


Years ago,when we bought our second house, we had started our small family of two tiny girls. With a huge back yard and an equally huge tree, I wanted a picnic table. We had a screened porch for furniture, no patio, so a picnic table seemed perfect. Excitedly, we got a kit from the big box store, and brought it home to put together. It went together without incident, but the wood was soooo green it still leaked sticky sap. We couldn't use it for awhile, but eventually we were able to, and for the girls it became a stage, a covered wagon, a hiding place, and who knows what else. The girls preferred to eat their little lunches on summer days with  a blanket on the grass, or take lunch boxes up to their tree house. So the picnic table sat. In later years I stored the picnic table in the shed. It was a pain to move each time we mowed.


A few years ago I got out the old table and slapped some white paint on it. Every summer I drag it out of the shed now, and position it under the big old tree where the tree house used to be. We still don't use it much, but I love to look out and see it there.

But I didn't get it dragged back into the shed this winter, and it looked pretty sad.

Here are a few other picnic tables. Don't they make you want one?

Wow! She IS the picnic table!

I'll take this one on the beach!

Oops! All I ever get are squirrels at my picnic table!

Can't wait to do a few tablescapes on the old picnic table this summer! See you then!

I am joining THE TABLESCAPER for