Wordless Wednesday

Black Friday

We have never buckled under to "Black Friday" in our house. We find Friday morning a great day to stay away from stores, shops, and other commercial public places. This year, however, we thought we might do something just a little different - after all Krissie & David were visiting and we wanted them to have a Las Vegas experience.

So, with that in mind, we made some decisions. While the rest of you were standing in line, pushing and shoving to get those "bargains" we were sound asleep - at least until about 5:30 am. We roused everyone from bed, bundled up and headed out for "Black Friday!"

We didn't go far, but we don't have to to have our kind of "Las Vegas" experience. We drove out to Red Rock Conservation area and watched the sun rise. In this case it's more of a sun drop since the sun hits the tops of the mountains and works its way down. It is a beautiful site. While it was a little cool for Las Vegas, watching the sun come down the mountain was worth the wait - we all thought so!

This is JoAnn's personal favorite. Those are the Spring Mountains in the background.

We watched the sun come down the mountain and it was a beautiful vista. We weren't alone, but that was fine. We like watching the sun set at the beach, but this is just as awesome. It's a renewal.

Following our sunrise watch we drove about 4 miles down the road to a little area called Calico Basin, named for the rocks that look like a calico material. It is one of our favorite areas to visit. It has a small spring and meadow and is so peaceful and beautiful - especially at 6:45 in the morning. I took the following photos while we were there. There are more photos on my flickr account.

I had fun playing with this one and focusing on colors
as opposed to people. The women were horrified I took
the photo, but as a Grandpa I can get away with it.

David and I came into the meadow from a hill above it. I'd never done that before
and the colors and the light were awesome. We were the only ones there!

It's hard to find the fall colors in this photo, but the colors are about as good
as they get anywhere in southern Nevada right here.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

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Wordless Wednesday

The Quilt Shop is Open

We were blessed to have 2 of our children visit this week. Well, a child and a spouse, but once they become a spouse they are adopted into our family (in a literal sense). David and Krissie flew in from San Diego on Monday to help me and JoAnn out since JoAnn went into the hospital early Monday morning for a condition that has been resolved and is NOT life threatening. She came home on Wednesday, tired, hungry, and physically exhausted. She had been sick for 3 weeks, but we really didn't understand that until she got to the hospital. However, that has little or much to do with this post.

Because David & Krissie were here I was able to go back to work on Wednesday for what was left of a busy week. JoAnn finally made it home about 6 pm and she went almost directly to bed. We were all exhausted and went to bed early. Thursday was another busy morning at work and I took the afternoon off to spend time with the kids. David and I were busy reorganizing the garage and driving around picking up shelving, tearing down existing work benches, and cleaning up. At some point we came inside and the girls announced they had been to the quilt store!

I looked at them incredulously, thnking to myself, "Your mother just got out of the hospital and you took her to the quilt store! What is the matter with you?" They could see me warring with my emotions and began to laugh. Now I was confused. Finally they said, "We went to Mom's quilt store!" They had me, but it wasn't for the first time.

JoAnn reminded me that the last time we had Sister's Weekend at our house that I was sitting on the computer in her office when I watched our daughters come in several times and go through her well organized quilt storage area. For the girls it was like being in a quilt store and they all readily agree it's one of the best quilt stores they have been in. So Krissie, our lone unrepentant non quilter had finally repented and was quilting to making Christmas gifts for her sister-in-laws (no secrets revealed here). She learned pretty quickly under the steady hand and eye of JoAnn. Krissie did most of the work once she understood the basics.

It's still good to know that we can help our children in small ways that allow them to grow. We do enjoy having our children around and look forward to when we live closer to some of them and not have to depend on a visit to have them over, but it becomes part of a daily routine.

Wordless Wednesday