Celebration

Happy 89th Birthday, Grampa!

And! Moving day tomorrow....!

Fashion Icon

This week is all one big lead up to Grampa's 89th birthday on Sunday, and in honor of this family has been flying in, and the inevitable reach for the old albums is underway.

Going through all these old albums, and my recent expedition into my mother's closet has made me realize the profound impact my mother's fashion, when she was my age, has had on my style choices.

Mom: Bottom, second to right, Dad: Top,center

The Label on the back of this photograph reads, "Happy Birthday Jesus."

Her color, pattern, and shape combinations are really worth thinking about. It doesn't hurt that she is truly a beautiful woman. I decided to share a few photos we've stumbled on, and to publicly admit my deep admiration of my mother's fashion, and my envy at all those great threads she discarded before my time.

Ski Season

We've been getting a bit more snow here in New Mexico than normal, and at my parents house, east of Albuquerque and on the other side of the Sandia Mountains, the snow has been incredible. I've been spending quite a bit of time there, making sure Grampa stays safe, and last weekend Lou and I took the cross country skis out for their first ride since, I'm sure, 1977.

Kabira and Dakota, the dogs joined too. It was a lot of fun, and the snow made the forest I grew up in a whole new place. Louis was really flying on the snow, but I, I won't be joining the olympic team anytime soon.

As I'm writing this the snow has started to fall here in Albuquerque, too. A man on the bus let me know this is going to be the biggest snow of the year, and I'm quite excited. Excited with reserve, because we here in Albuquerque seem to always be dreaming, not experiencing, snow. A snow day is a very rare thing, though not for lack of wishing.

I've been chosen for the singer section of my folk music group. A bit by default as I don't play banjo, guitar, or fiddle. We're learning the song Buffalo Gals:

"And her heel kept a-knockin', and her toes kept a-rockin'

I danced with a gal with a hole in her stockin'

And we danced by the light of the moon."

Looking Back

Louis and I just moved back from Quito, Ecuador in January, and some days, like today I go through the pictures and take it all in. I'm really still in the process of sorting through it in my mind. A bit like, arranging it for how I will remember these things in the future. Reminds me of an episode on RadioLab about memory.

Its a bit strange being back in Albuquerque, and feeling a little bit like Ecuador was in another life. I've been asked what I've learnt or how I've changed. I really have been trying to isolate and name some real changes, but just about the only one I can definitively say is, I've developed a serious love of all things rap. And I mean your everyday radio top 40 rap. But, I don't see how Ecuador did that to me.

I'll be moving into my New Mexico home on March 1st with my two friends Brenna and Koby. I'm itching to get in (paint!) and settle back into the slow pace of things here. I'm hoping this blog will help me keep track, and also give me some dialog to remember along with all the pictures.

Relaxing.

This past week, I spent a day with Grampa after his gallbladder surgery. We went to the doctors where he informed me that they had sucked it out through his bellybutton. I had no idea thats how they do it.

When we returned to my parents house, the sky had covered us in a big, fluffy blanket of snow, and there was really nothing left to do but cuddle, snuggle and bundle up.

I decided to spend the time making a present for my friend, Hanna's, birthday. I made a lunchbag with some fabric lying around the house. In the end I'm pretty happy with it, but the fabric I used was a little heavier than I would use if I do it again.

The birthday was just what everyone needed. We went out to a friends house on the river, went roller skating, and spent a good amount of time soaking in the tubs. Its amazing how warm it was, being only two hours south from Albuquerque. My drive back was peaceful, due to the great cd Jesse lent me. And, I think Hanna likes the lunchbag, as I found it filled with lunch silverware while snooping through her kitchen the other evening.