Desert Magnolia

..and marathon croquet match. That's how my offspring spent their Saturday evening. Wearing ridiculously glamorous clothes (hers were white, with a lovely hat to match; his were ridiculously film noir ala Woody Allen glam), sipping ridiculously glamorous beverages and rubbing elbows with impossibly glamorous others. They spent the day shopping vintage stores in Manhattan, found very cool outfits, then took a train north to the pahty. They had a ball. They looked...amazing. The Western sibs that took New Yahk by storm? In the West, we (empty) nested. And spent time with old friends. The friends we knew before we were a married couple. The friends whose wedding we attended, and the first we invited to ours. The friends who were there when I came down with what we thought was bronchitis, but turned out to be early mommyitis. Special friends. Old friends. Good friends. The kind that have known us forever, and we them, and we're closer than ever. Which is saying something ...

We have weird weather around here, and one of the things it likes to do is rain while the sun is shining. Which it did this morning while I was out on the trail. So, I'm lubed up in SPF45, wearing a hat and sunglasses and am getting rained on. It was awe.some. Cool and the smell of the rain on the desert plants was spicy and sweet and delicious. And I saw a double rainbow. My double rainbow looked a lot like this one that I found on CBSNews.com A.mazing. Which we all know is an omen of many good things to come. Happy Monday everyone!

All of the bulbs begin to pop up green foliage when it warms a bit, and now is the time in the high desert. On a quick recon of our front and back yards yesterday I saw tulips, hyacinth, daffodils and crocus popping up. The tulips are already 8" tall! And in a good year, they bloom by my birthday, which makes the event extra special somehow. Tulips.com Image provided by Jennifer Morrissey of her garden in early April. Gorgeous, huh? I may be suffering from tulip envy. For sure I am. Yesterday afternoon I got home a little early, changed into my running clothes and was on the trail while it was still light. And warm. And comfortable for a nice leisurely jog my first day back from New York. And did I mention I wore shorts? And a long sleeved tee shirt? This time last week I was freezing my buns off in NYC...so the warmth is welc...

There's cold, and then there's the cold that takes your breath away when you breathe in too deeply. We've got that right now. Clear, blue skies, and frigid cold temps. There's just enough warmth in the sun to cause the enormous icicles that have formed along our roof to break off, sort of a mini calving like you'd see in the Antarctic when an iceberg cleaves. And loud, a big CRACK! happens, and then Whump! it hits the ground. The governor just issued a state of emergency for the entire state. And asked all of us to lower our thermostats ten degrees! Right. So, if we're having issues keeping pipes unfrozen with normal range furnace use, what's going to happen when/if we drop that range ten degrees? That's the difference between liquid and frozen water. Ten degrees doesn't sound like a lot, but it is. And I'm pretty sure she's not going to have her staff lower her thermostat by the ten degrees she's proposed, then put on her silk long...

Spring in New Mexico can bring just about any combination of weather. It often snows unexpectedly, dropping 40 degrees in just a few hours and surprising us all with a big, wet, heavy snowfall. Sometimes it rains, like late last night. Big, fat raindrops falling hard for about a half hour. Our new peach tree out back got a lovely drink, and we're hoping will pull that fresh water up into itself to sweeten the essence of peaches to come. And the wind, well, the wind blows whenever it's not snowing or raining, which is most days. A fine layer of sand tends to settle, a layer full of allergens, so those who suffer (like my family...), have a difficult time avoiding the pollens that tend to bring on the hay fever. Remodels. This one, in spite of the terrible, parenthetical plumbing crisis that occurred right after Hubby and brotherinlaw demolished the bath and before actual reconstruction had begun, is finished. The tile looks amazing. The 4" white, shiny, Subway tile th...

Our weather changes quickly, and often drastically. Especially if there's a storm system nearby. Something about a weather phenom created by the 10,000 foot mountain next to the city (5,000 ft. a.g.l.). If you live here, you should know about this. I've lived here all but two years of my life, so I know this. Or I should. So Saturday I was all, 'Hey, I have some energy, I've made a dent in my Saturday To Do list and it's currently not snowing, so I'll go out for a run. It'll be great! Maybe a little wet, but hey, I've been rained on, hailed on, mudded, blown nearly off the trail and baked by Mother Nature during runs in the past, so not  much will stop me! I'm a Nature Girl. Rugged. It'll be good for me.' I wore layers. I'm not stupid. And a hat, and sunglasses, and sweats. And lip balm 'cuz I hate chapped lips. And I hit the trail. Note: There were visible clouds in the area when I left the house, but it appeared to be ...

This has been a weird weather week, supposedly due to an enhanced El Nino effect. (local media loves El Nino...) We're between storms right now, and it's downright balmy out. Balmy. With a bit of a breeze. There appears to be a nasty, threatening, dark cloud bank north of us, but it's just sitting there looking ominous. Turns out we're due for a series of storms through the weekend, some rainier some snowier, but moisture, precip and general weather pandemonium are promised. My friend JL went to the library today to stock up on her reading selection. She picked up some beach-y stuff as well as some cuisine-y stuff (ok oenophilic, actually). She's ready for a day 'in front of the fire, wrapped in a blanket, animals close by, and simply enjoying the weather madness and reading quietly...' Can't beat that image. But I might add a beverage to the mix, just to round it out. Wish for snow. Lots of it. We need it, we deserve it, and hey it is WAY too ...