Good smells are in the air

The honeysuckle and the jasmine are competing for their fragrances right now.  Walk out onto our front porch, and the scent of the jasmine just surrounds you.  Walk out into our backyard, and the fragrance of the honeysuckle is just everywhere.  It's the last year for both of them.  The honeysuckle - which figured into our Easter egg hunts for those light yellow plastic eggs.  PERFECT hiding place for those eggs.  Then there's the jasmine - which is where cardinals made nests every single year.  For some reason, they did not make a nest in there this year.  Next fragrant thing to bloom will be the Mimosa trees.

I think that is going to be a requirement for our next house - we will definitely need to plant some honeysuckle and some jasmine.

It's a year for roses

I mean, really, this rose bush has never looked this good....

And look how nice the tomato plants and the green bean plants look in Guillermo's garden!

98 days

That's the number of days we have left here in our house.......

Houston yesterday

Guillermo and I got up EARLY today (early for us, anyway) - we got up at 5:30am, so that we could get out on the road by 6.   Today is the day we decided to go to Houston, since we finally had everything we felt was required to be turned in to get our visa for Spain.  The closest Spanish consulate is in Houston, so that's where we had to go.  There is no mailing the stuff in, it has to be delivered in person.  It was a great day for a drive - cloudy, sometimes a little misty, and traffic wasn't bad here and in Houston.  We stopped at a Taco Cabana in Seguin for breakfast and to fill up the car.

We got to Houston around 9:20, and finally got to the consulate around 9:40.  We had spent the evening before trying to get each one of the required documents translated into Spanish,  but we failed to do one - our marriage certificate.  They looked over all our documents and seemed to be happy with it all, except for that marriage certificate.  They wanted it translated, too.  Ok, the consulate closes at 1pm.
So, we left the consulate, and we're not from Houston, but we had to somehow find a place where we could use the laptop to get that done.  (At this point, Rebeca'd be saying, well, if you had a Blackberry, all you'd have needed to do was look it up!)  ANYway, we went back out to Westheimer (where we thought we'd have the most luck) and saw this print and copy place, went in, but they didn't have wireless for us to use our laptop.  And since we had our laptop with us, we just didn't want to pay to use their computers.  So, back out on the road.  Then we saw a public library, and figured if they didn't have wireless, well, they'd at least have computers there we could use - for free.  Who ever heard of a library not opening until 11am?!??!?  But  (once they opened), they did have wireless, and we spent the better part of an hour trying to get that certificate translated - what would we have done without Google Translate to help us on our way!?!?!!?

Of course, things just can't go ABSOLUTELY smoothly rough.  It is now 12:30, and the certificate is totally translated, all we needed to do was place our flash drive into their computers and get the thing printed.  BUT, since we used Open Office to create the document, and their computers don't HAVE Open Office, our document could not be recognized!!!!!  Bless that employee's heart, she tried her hardest to help us get that document open, but it just wouldn't.  It is now 12:40.  So, we race out and decide to go back to that Print and Copy store, to see if maybe they can print it from their computers.  We took our laptop in with us just in case.  The next thing we knew, the employee told us she had printed it and even showed it to us!!!  It looked like gold.  We actually felt like we had a chance now to get back to the consulate before they closed!!!  We gratefully paid, rushed out to the car and got back to the consulate at 12:52.  We park, rush up to the 6th floor and - we did it.  We got everything turned in.  We breathed a happy sigh of relief, and decided to go eat at a Greek restaurant we had seen on the way in.
We are JUST about to pull out of the parking lot of the consulate, when we remembered that the lady at the consulate had said she was going to change the type of visa we'd be getting, but we didn't actually change that information on our application.  So, I turn the car around, and drive right up to the door of the building and Guillermo runs back up to the 6th floor to check about that.  They tell him not to worry, they were going to change it themselves anyway, when they entered the information electronically.
Ok, so we're done now, and NOW we can see about getting some good Greek food.  We drive over to the restaurant, (which is several blocks away) and as we're looking for a parking spot at the restaurant, we remember that WE DIDN'T PAY FOR THE VISAS!!!!!!   We were shocked that the lady forgot to ask us for the money, but to get a visa, you need to pay.  That's all there is to it.  Those applications were going nowhere if they weren't paid for.  So, we had no choice - we had to try.  Guillermo gets on the cell phone to call her (it is now 1:20pm and I'm circling the parking lot at the restaurant) and the lady from the consulate is just as shocked as we are about not having paid, and she said if we can get there within the next 10 minutes, she'll wait - to just knock on the door.
Houston traffic (and traffic lights) don't let you get anywhere anytime soon, but we tried our hardest to get back to the consulate - getting there at 1:33.  Again, park at the front door, Guillermo racing up to the 6th floor.  He knocked several times, and finally finally the lady answered - took his money, gave him a receipt and NOW we are finally done.  For real.   But by this point we are OVER trying to get some Greek food, and decide to just eat at a Lebanese restaurant that was close to the consulate.  What a disappointment - most tasteless Lebanese food we've ever eaten.
Nontheless, we accomplished what we went to Houston to do, so from the restaurant, we went to REI to look for a coat (and while in that store, reminisced a little about when Fernando was with us in that very same store and we were all shopping for the South America trip).  No luck with a coat this day, so we got back on the highway and headed home.
We were glad to have gotten the visa process on its way and now all we can do is wait........

River Parade

Guillermo, Mom and I went to the Fiesta River Parade this evening!!  Guillermo took a short nap when he got home from SAC, and then we decided to head on over to pick up Mom since we were unsure of what the traffic was going to be like.  We had a smooth drive over to her house, which was at around 4:45pm.  We were amazed.  We saw Linda and Jacob for a few minutes at Mom's house and then we took off.  Driving into downtown was easy, too!  We think we were arriving at a good early hour, and also the day was overcast and very cool, so that was probably keeping some people at home.
We found parking right away in the garage closest to the Hilton Hotel (where our parade seats were).  While I walked over to the Hilton to pick up our wristbands for our seats, Guillermo and Mom went into Schilo's restaurant and had a cup of coffee while waiting for me.  I had no problem getting our wristbands, and soon I was back at the restaurant.  We all ordered a cup of their delicious split-pea soup and Guillermo also ordered a Reuben sandwich and I ordered potato pancakes, which I shared with Mom.  With our hot cups of coffee and the good food, we were nice and warm sitting inside that restaurant.  (Too bad I forgot the camera!)
After eating, we walked the short walk over to the Hilton Hotel, and took our seats.  Really good seats too!  Right up front and next to a bridge over the river, so as the floats went by we saw them emerge slowly through the bridge.
But, the weather was COOL, bordering on cold.  None of us really dressed warm enough for the wind that kept blowing.  Nontheless, we enjoyed being out there.  The floats were beautiful and fun - we had some beads,  a bag of potato chips and a fiesta medal thrown our way, so that was exciting!  The couple sitting next to us even gave Mom some of their beads, which she wore for the rest of the parade.
We left the parade in good time to get back to that parking garage and get our car out before it became hopelessly gridlocked.  It was a fun evening!

Fernando's blog

Fernando has a great photo blog - it's called a "photo-a-day" blog, so every day he posts one picture.  The website is santarosa.aminus3.com.    We start every day by checking to see what picture he posted, and we just love it.  Sometimes the commentary he puts on his pictures is as good or better than the actual picture!  Enjoy!

Mainly pictures

Backyard is looking good right now.

More poppies in Guillermo's garden

In all these years, we've never had these purple flowers so beautiful.

And the roses, they've never been this abundant.

The roses out front are just spilling out the fence.

The purple irises are starting to decline, but the yellow irises are looking great.

Garage sale

Yesterday we had our first of 3 maybe 4 garage sales in preparation of moving.  Got up VERY early to get ready for it.  Guillermo and a neighbor went out at 6:30am to put signs up on our street and on Bandera Rd.  I stayed here and started setting up things in the dark.  As it turned out, people really didn't start arriving until about 8, so next time we aren't going to get up as early.

Linda and Jacob came over on Friday night, to spend the night with us so they wouldn't have to get up so early at their house to be here at our house at a decent time.  Kathy and Skye came at 7:30 and by 8:00 we were ready for the first people who came.

All in all, it was a good sale day.  The weather was excellent, mostly cloudy and cool so that was pleasant.  As is usually the case with these things, people came in spurts.  There'd be tons of people, then there'd be no one for a while.  The plants that we put out for this first sale sold the easiest and the fastest of anything else we had out.  And most people were so complimentary of our yard and all the roses that were blooming.   One of our neighbors even told us that whatever plants we plan on putting in the next sale - well, she wants to buy them all.

By 2:30, we were all pretty much beat, and by 3, we had everything that hadn't sold put back into the garage.  Maybe next sale, we'll keep our stuff out longer because even at 4:30, we saw lots of cars continuing to drive by.  But who knows if we'll be able to stay out there those extra hours!  And it will be hotter then!  Next sale is May 8th.

Thank goodness Kathy, Linda, Jacob and Skye came over to help.  Yes, Skye helped!!  She helped us put things away at the end.  Jacob was a BIG help with whatever we asked him to do - putting up signs, hanging clothes - whatever - he was always ready to help.  Kathy and Linda were excellent in helping keep an eye on people and helping sell several items.  Guillermo was a good cashier, when he wasn't cleaning out the garage.  He really got that garage straightened up and cleaned out - placing some things he thought might be worth selling out on the tables.

That night, I had a hard time sleeping - thinking of the sale and how the next sale is going to be even bigger.  Even though we sold a lot, there were many things that didn't sell in this first sale, and that was disappointing since we were hoping to be rid of those things by the end of the day.  But I guess if things continue to not sell, then we will have to just give them away.
And Guillermo mentioned before going to bed about all the decorative bricks we have lining the gardens by the house.  I hadn't even THOUGHT of things like that, but it's yet another thing we have to think about either selling or giving away.

Rebeca again in the news!

Here is yet another article about Rebeca getting her license!  :-)  This was on Landscape Online.

Rebeca Field

Rebeca Field, of SAGE Landscape Architecture & Environmental, Inc., has been promoted to project landscape architect after successfully meeting the Arizona State Board of Technical Registration’s requirements for licensure as aRegistered Landscape Architect (RLA). Rebeca will continue as a project manager and an environmental planner. She joined SAGE in 2005 and brings 8 years of design expertise to the team.

And on another note:
This morning we went to get fingerprinted!!  It's another requirement for our Spanish visa.  In about 2 weeks, we ought to receive our police record from the FBI.   Later we ate at a new Moroccan restaurant nearby for lunch.

Aaahh, Spring!

Beautiful weather, everything has "greened up", flowers are blooming..... it's lovely outside and it's hard to come in at a decent hour.  We usually come in later than we'd like, then it seems there's not much of an evening left to do anything inside.  Oh well, we are enjoying the outside for sure.
On Easter Sunday, we took a drive over to Linda's and Mom's house, taking a few of our special plants with us for them to take care of.  Here's a picture of the truck loaded up with a few choice plants for them:  a golden barrel cactus, a saguaro cactus, a desert rose, an organ pipe cactus, a lime tree and a lemon tree.
Our neighbor emailed us later that day, saying they saw the "jungle version of the Nissan Frontier drive by".

Our purple/blue Irises are really beautiful this year.

Here's what it looks like as we walk into our backyard from the garage.

The annual picture of this rose.  Guess this is the last time we'll be seeing this incredibly beautiful rose bush bloom.

Now a few pictures of Guillermo's garden.  He's been working so hard in it, and loving every single minute.

The green beans are in place, with their climbing fence ready.

The tomato plants are looking nice and healthy.

Poppies starting to bloom in the garden.  Guillermo can't wait for them to be done with, so he can have the space for vegetables.

Had to post more rose pix

The Lady Banks Rose is just so beautiful this year, and it's so HUGE!  Just had to post 3 more pictures of it, because it's at its prime right now, and then when the blooms go, that is the last we'll see of that rose bush.