Winter Tree Hunt

Happy December, folks!

This past weekend, recovering from the delicious food comas from Thanksgiving, Mr. K and I went to get our Christmas tree with some friends in the mountains.

Did I mention it frosted that day?

Of course the drive up to the mountains was like entering a magical world. Be prepared to enter the winter wonderland.
God is so good.

We just missed the icy roads from the night before. Yet seeing these guys on the hairpin turns eased my mind.

Rock on, sanders and plowers.

But seriously. Look at that fog with the frosted trees.

Just beautiful.

As Mrs. C said, "It looks like Narnia!"
Indeed it did. I half expected Mr. Tumnus to pop out from behind a tree.
Perhaps this one?

Or to see the Badgers and the rest having their party in the midst of the snow.

Enter the frostline

From here up, we saw nothing but icing on trees.

It may be that I was quite hungry, for all I could think of was icing on gingerbread.

Come to think of it, I should make some gingerbread.
But that requires the use of a really good wooden spoon.

One of my favorite shots

Then again...I do have a mixer and a dough hook. Hmmm...Methinks I shall do it.
Anyway, back to the drive.

Of course, this shot is just as pretty as a few of my faves.

 I love trees and snow.

Another favorite shot

With the scenery that's around here, it's hard to choose between the photos.

And then we stopped off at the Valles Caldera.
This next shot is what I call the cover of a music cd shot.

And then we had to get a shot.

From there I could get more shots of trees and snow.
Which...you know...I did.
(You know you love it too)

It's so pretty 

 Oh baby.

And the best part is knowing this is where they shot some of Little House on the Prairie.

I can imagine it.

So then we were off again.

 And before we knew it, we made it to the spot we could start looking for trees.
So glad the C family had their Jeep to drive up the mountain. Our Ford Focus would not have made it.

A few times we stepped out and surveyed the trees.

A few duds. But then...

Ahhh. The sweet spot. But the trees had to wait. We needed lunch. A quick bite and some hot chocolate later, we were ready to head out.

Mrs. C is putting saws in Mr. K's backpack here. Very excited to search the trees.

After a bit of searching, we found a tree that was a possibility. Much better than last year's tree.
But it was a little short.

The one in front.

So I decided to take a pic of the place it was in case we wanted to come back to it.

So we traversed a couple fields and scaled some craggy areas.

I heard our friends and climbed the ledge to see them getting their tree.

There are three people there. Mrs. C is currently chopping it down.

Closer look.

But I had to go back and find Mr. K. He'd disappeared.

And we decided we'd rather a fuller shorter tree than a scraggly one. And so decided that the first tree was the best.

Then we loaded up.

Oh yeah. Mrs. C had a fun time coming down the mountain with her tree.

Yay jeans!

Selfies!

Smile Mr. K!

The Jeep got a new hood ornament too...temporarily that is.

Then it was time to hit the road home.

"On the road again..."

Goodbye Narnia!

Hello Mountains!

Black and white makes snowy pictures better.

Don't you agree?

But as we stopped to say goodbye, we discovered the best sight of all: Coyotes.

He's there, running from the loud Jeep.

Closer inspection yielded two lovely coyotes.

And if you look closely, you can see the head of one as they went over the hill.

It was the highlight to our trip.

Trees for both our homes, photos of nature that make my heart sing, and then two coyotes.

I love this land.

Until next time,
Bisous!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hi all,

So...I think I must be crazy.

We're hosting Thanksgiving this year and have another couple coming to share it with. Their family can't make it so, here we are.

I'm doing the turkey.

Not that big a deal really.

I mean, it's not like the bird hasn't defrosted in the fridge the last two days...oh wait.

So it's currently on the counter in the hopes it'll defrost in time for it's big debut. Slow goings when the fridge keeps things extra cold, even on the bottom shelf.

FYI: It's been known to freeze the top of my coffee in a mug on the top rack. Gotta love an old fridge.

Anyway...

Made my first cranberry sauce from scratch this year. 

Yes, I bought a can of sauce as a back up in case I failed the recipe.

But...

I didn't. *smile* You can find the recipe I used here. 

Only five ingredients. Can't beat that!

Cranberries

Orange Juice

Cranberry Juice

Orange zest

Maple Syrup

15 minutes later, it thickened and is now delicious and oh so lovely.

Up next, attempting a high altitude pecan pie (p.s. you add another egg and cook a little longer at an average temp). It's a must for the desserts in our house.

And you know what they say:

You can take the girl away from the South but not the South out of the girl. 

(And you better bet your booties I'll succeed in that endeavor.)

BTW, I've always wanted to know who "they" are. We say it all the time in conversation.

Perhaps it's from past Southerners? 

Or maybe philosophical thinkers? 

Celestial Seasonings writers?

Who knows. One day I'll find out. For now it's under lock and key from the commoners. 

Or so they say...

Agh! Stopping now, I promise.

To add to the menu, I'm also making some sweet potato casserole-in a crock pot.

I know, I know. It bucks tradition. 

But hey, it's the 21st century. We have technology and honestly what is a crockpot for but to free up some space in the oven. 

And let me tell you, that's a very good thing on Thanksgiving.

What else...maybe a salad. We have cider. And some wine. Guess that's all I'm doing. 

Our friends are bringing the mashed potatoes and green beans and some other things. 

For that, I am so thankful.

What else has passed since my last entry?

Well we did have a little holiday called Halloween. (Again, sorry for the lack of posting!)

Mr. K and I went as steampunk aviators.
Mochi was a little witch. (the hat lasted just long enough for the picture)

This shot reminds me of those vintage pics with a girl and her dog.

We had 9 trick or treaters. Probably would have had more, but we went to a party. 

All in all, it was fun. 

A week or so ago, I experimented with making biscotti.

White chocolate cranberry biscotti with nuts

It was so delish!

I will be making them again. 

Of course, we also had our first snow.

So pretty. 

Alas it melted just a few hours later.

But then we had another dusting.

And someone refused to come inside.

Saucy little minx.

She loves snow. Must be all that Nordic blood in her.

That was the night before.

In the morning there was a delay (I know, not much snow for a delay- but the roads were icy). 

So Mr. K and myself and a few friends went to the dog park to play.

And the best part was teaching M how to throw a snowball and run away.

And maybe this part too.

Sleepy puppy.

So with that last image, I wish you all a restful and joyful Thanksgiving.

Until next time,

Bisous!

Time To Catch Up Before It Doesn't Cut The Mustard

Hi everyone,

It's been a bit busy here. But we're going to play a little game of catch up to bring you all up to speed.

In September my Aunt and Uncle came to visit us.

So we went on a few excursions to Taos and Santa Fe and around our town. Very fun!
(Even if we happened to take the long route home once...)

Anyway, here's a recap of their visit!

We went to Taos to go to the Taos Drum Factory Outlet. I thought I'd seen drums...I was so wrong. This place had so many it was hard, even knowing what you were looking for, to choose one. Which was exactly why we spent a little while there. But it was great.

My relatives got to meet the drum maker and artist and say hello. The same artist who painted the buffaloes on their older lampshade was there and recognized his work and said he had changed it up just a little since the last time. But that he'd paint it again for their lamp.

How awesome!

 I found a little clay adobe hut, complete with hanging chiles, that is an incense burner. It'll go nicely on our table for Christmas and our nativity. The cool thing about the incense is that it's piñon and mesquite incense. It'll smell like a wood burning fireplace in our great room.

And I'm thrilled. We don't have a fireplace, so if I can get that wonderful woodsy smell this way, you bet your booties I'll do it.

After our purchases, we hung outside taking some photos. It really was a lovely day, a bit bright for photos, but in everything else, gorgeous.

My Aunt K and me. Photo taken by my uncle

Love this shot. Especially with the mountains behind.

These teepees were huge. 

Now, there are a couple ways to write it. Tipi or Teepee. I have yet to decide which is the right way. But I do know that these abodes are not typical to the Southwest. Here, the most typical dwelling is a Pueblo adobe house. The ones in the picture are more of the Plains and Canadian tribe dwellings.

We went to a wonderful New Mexican restaurant called: Ranchos Plaza Grill.

My Aunt and Uncle

The food was great with generous portions and delicious to boot!

But my favorite part was the interior. 

Hand painted walls to resemble a village. Adorable!

And just a heartbeat away, visible from the patio was the backside of the San Francisco De Asis Mission Church. After lunch we had to go see it. And even though it was only the exterior, it was beautiful. It has been the subject of art for many artists: Georgia O'Keefe and Ansel Adams to name only a couple.

The weather started turning a bit wet...but a piece of bright blue caught our eyes.

And there, hanging in the doorway of a beautiful adobe building was a lovely wreath of red chiles.

Now, I have seen these chiles hanging on houses all over New Mexico. We even had a chile ristra here when we moved into our rental until it fell in a bad snow storm. I thought nothing of these chiles, just thinking them a beautiful accent of Southwestern culture.

I was wrong.

It's apparently a tradition and a great one at that. Hanging chile ristras in the doorway symbolize welcome, an invitation to visitors. And apparently also a belief that they will provide an abundant harvest for the coming year. You can read more about them here.

Aren't these two just so cute? Awww.

Well, after our lunch and the briefest visit to a church, we were back in the warm car and on our way up to Taos. That town is wonderful. Lots to see and do. All sorts of Mom and Pop shops as well as antique stores, but what it's known for is it's art...and skiing.

I told Mr. K that we'd have to go back in winter sometime and go sledding (neither of us downhill ski) or cross country skiing.

On our way back home, we decided on taking the scenic drive. And let me tell you, it was very scenic.

But with the sun setting, we thought it best to head home.
Little did we know we'd miss the turn off (which isn't very well marked and if you see it, you'll see the hairpin turn that it is). So...we missed it.

And then realized an hour past the turn that we'd missed it...

So, we had a two hour drive back instead of an hour. We were a little hungry by the time we made it home. But the stories we have from the drive made it all better.

On another day we went to Santa Fe and walked around. It was a feast day and we visited the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi.

In the courtyard going in was a statue of the Native American saint, Saint Kateri Tekakwitha.

And the cathedral is stunning. If you ever visit Santa Fe, please go visit it.

We wandered and went into the Santa Fe Art Museum.
They had a lovely exhibit on Georgia O'Keefe while we were there.

 And then we walked around the plaza and came across a parade for the Fiestas de Santa Fe.

I love the horses.

 And then it came time to say goodbye. Thanks Aunt K and Uncle B for the visit! It was a blast!

So what else has been going on?

Well, there was a small thing called a Blood Moon Lunar Eclipse. (Kind of sounds like a YA novel, in my opinion.)

And with Mr. K being a computational nuclear astrophysicist...we kind of wanted to see it.
Besides, we got to break out the telescope.

At the beginning. Spooky, huh?

We had fun posing for it. Luckily it was a warm night and pretty cloudless.

Mr. K set up the scope in our backyard and we sat down to enjoy watching it happen.

A few hundred shots later, a four legged nuisance sticking her wet nose on my lens, and a couple of phantom spider scares (hey, we have black widows and brown recluses here), I managed to get a good shot.

You can even see a few stars if you look closely.

We love where we live.
Oh yeah, forgot to mention this guy.

We had another visitor: Mr. Praying Mantis on our screen.

 As for the garden...

I'd like to say that it went well, but what I can really say is it went...well, rather small. Maybe I should have replaced that chile ristra.

Potato harvest- made exquisite rosemary mashed potatoes

And then we had these.

Looks big until you realize the tomato is the size of a golf ball. *sigh*

Our cucumber. The one and only.

And then we had these guys.

Leeks.

I think I'll have to rethink my placement of my pots for next year. Either that or start growing them in February in our garage...
Although, I'm thrilled we had kale and rainbow swiss chard. I was worried since the first shoots were eaten completely to the ground by green worms and aphids.

But I wouldn't change where we live in the world. It's perfect.

 So, until next time,

Bisous!