New Mexico in May

Half Home – May 23, 2012

My sister, Joyce, and me

No sooner had we settled in than we decided to take off for New Mexico so we could see my sister one more time this year.  Joyce & Jim were visiting their son/my nephew, Tom, and his family in Albuquerque. We only had a couple days with them before they headed on to see their next son, but it was fun while it lasted.  We talked a lot and of course, played cards.  Chris suggested that Joyce and I spend some time at the Sandia Casino while we were in Albuquerque (there are casinos on Indian land) so the two of us took Sky and Forest there for lunch (my great nephews) and then hung out for the afternoon. Joyce played the slot machines, but I went into the poker room to see if I couldn’t play a bit of Texas Hold’Em.  I lost all my chips in about the first five hands, but there WAS a funny story involved.  When I sat down to play, the table was really friendly (8 other players).  They asked where I was from and when I told them I was from Australia, they were surprised and asked me a bunch of questions.  The lady beside me won the next hand, and I turned to her and said, “Wow – you did a really nice job!” 

She said, “What?”

I said, “Wow – you have a lot of chips!”

She said, “I beg your pardon?”

 “I said, Wow – you are really winning!”

She said, “OH!  You said, ‘Wow’.  I couldn’t understand you.  Now, did you say you came from Pennsylvania?”

“No, I come from Australia.”
“OH!  AUSTRALIA!  No WONDER I had a hard time understanding you!”

Don’t you think that’s funny?  It’s because I have SUCH a broad Aussie accent!  Tee hee.  Anyway, although I lost money at poker, I won on the pokie machines, so I came out $9 ahead! Hah!

After that, Chris stayed in Albuquerque, but moved to Elisa’s house (his daughter) so he could help her out with a couple of things.  I went up to Los Alamos to see my son, Jonathan.  On Saturday we went to the Los Alamos Kite Festival where Jonathan and Cael (my grandson) were volunteering – helping kids build and design kites.  I got lots of good photos of lovely kites so that was a nice day.

  On Sunday, there was the solar eclipse – I got some really good views of it through other people’s generosity and it was the most exciting eclipse I’ve ever seen.  I was quite impressed.

This guy constructed this machine that I watched most of the time.  

This shows the size of the image I watched - SO much better than a pinhole.

Ring of fire!  I also got a chance to share some of the special viewing glasses which made it look really cool.

Monday I did a few errands and caught up with some good friends.  Oh, and did I forget to mention that I won the weekly poker game at Jonathan’s house?  All his friends are afraid of this little old lady! 


Now we're back in Albuquerque - Chris is still helping Elisa, and both of us are helping Tom and Sara get their house ready for sale - as they might be emigrating to Australia!  You can imagine how much work there is for a chore like that.  But there is fun involved, too.  Stay tuned.