Prayer Tablets

I had some exciting news a week or so ago. There is a juried photography exhibition called "Krappy Kamera" that I entered back in December. This is an annual show in it's 11th year. The photographs have to have been taken with a camera that has a plastic lens, or is a pinhole camera with no lens. I shot all of my black and white China images with the Diana + camera which classifies as a 'krappy kamera'. I submitted 6 images, and this one, Prayer Tablets, was selected. So on Friday I worked in the darkroom all day and printed, matted and framed it to send to the Soho Photo Gallery in New York. It felt great to be working in the lab making art!

Tree Rats

So, I was thinking it would be great to have a bird feeder since we have a nice big window in the living room. We've had the feeder out now for about 2 weeks, and I have only seen one living creature eat from it...a squirrel. Yep, no birds, not even a sparrow, but this very agile squirrel that can hang from his back legs, tilt the feeder and eat away! He usually eats breakfast, second breakfast, and perhaps lunch as well :-) Our neighbor at our old place, Ze, can't stand squirrels, and calls them "Tree Rats", so here's our cute tree rat.

Inside the green house

We have unpacked most of our boxes, but, sadly, as you can see, no art hanging on the walls yet! Thanks to our friend Karen, the wooden floor in the living room has a nice big rug. We are still getting used to all the quirks of an old house, drafty and strange noises.


The stove is ancient and takes some getting used to, but at least it works! Friday we had our first dinner guests for Quick Curried Chicken and it was a fun evening! We are enjoying the luxury of having a washer and dryer as well. Samantha has come to live with us and finish out her last semester at Nampa High. She really likes the large basement space!

Moving in a blizzard

Our casita

Needless to say, this past week has been a white and cold one in Nampa Idaho. Of course this is when we decided to move! Thanks to our great friends, Brent, Nic and Alejandra and our new friend, Carol, we were able to make the switch without too many problems.
We have now been in our new place for a whole week. It is a cute craftsman house with more space and quirky character. It even has a yard and a picnic table out back. We will make good use of that in the summer. We are still renting, and are glad that it's not totally ours. We aren't ready for that level of adulthood :-)
Today, Jan 5, it snowed for most of the day and this is what our place looks like in the snow!

Brent helping us move from the apartment

Mamita and I, Christmas 08

We have had so much going on lately, it's been a whirlwind. Mom was here for a short 'n sweet visit right after finals, before Christmas. This was her first trip to Idaho, it was nice of her to brave the cold instead of heading to Florida! It was a cozy stay for her as we were still in our apartment. I did get to show her our new place before she left. We took her around town, went to the Bistro, shopping, Winco, church, and the Rec center for step aerobics! We played many hands of Nerts and made Snickerdoodles. It was great to see you mamita! Come back when it's warmer! Love you.

Wild Hogs

Christmas morning

As much as I dreaded this day, it was a pretty cool one. Brian was indeed giddy with delight that he was finally able to buy his Harley on Dec. 6th. It's a Sportster Nightster, and I now know way too much about Harley Davidson motorcycles. We got a screamin deal on the bike, from a great lady who later gave us her 10 yr old washer/dryer for free! So dedicated and excited, Brian even went riding yesterday in 28 degree weather before all the snow hit. Crazy. He is wearing his helmet for all those who are just as worried as I am. Pray for him, and me :-)

Thanksgiving in Seattle

Pike's Market

It has been awhile since my last post. The task of writing seems daunting if I let too much time elapse. We had been anticipating our trip to Seattle over Thanksgiving for some time. Thursday morning we headed of on an unknown journey from Nampa to Seattle. We had lunch at a diner in the middle of nowhere and arrived in the rain & dark at about 6pm. We stayed with a friend on Queen Anne's Hill very close to SPU and downtown Seattle. The weather was a balmy 50 with lots of moisture and greenery, something that is lacking this time of year in Idaho :-)
Downtown Seattle had many fun things to see, we walked along the bay, saw the sculpture park, ate salmon chowder at Pike's Market, and went to the Seattle Art Museum. We also had some great Mango curry at a Thai restaurant in the China town district that was amazing!

Fresh fish at Pike's Market

The main attraction, of course, was to hear Over the Rhine play at the Triple Door (a very swanky dinner theater that was small and intimate). They are one of my favorite bands; a married couple who write their own lyrics, and hail from Ohio, the great midwest. The evening was everything I hoped it would be! The concert was like enjoying great time with friends from home as most of us sang along with Karen and Linford. They played many of their old as well as a few new songs, and even played "Don't wait for Tom" upon my request! Gracias a mi esposo por este regalo tan amable!

Karen Bergquist and Linford Detweiler of Over the Rhine