Fence is down

Yesterday, the fence around our front yard came down!  John Fardal came over in the morning and he and Guillermo worked on it until about 3pm.  They brought the whole thing down from around one side and all across the front.  It'll take some getting used to because it sure looks different out there.  When they were done taking the fence down, they stored all the chain link and poles in the backyard, and then we all washed up a bit and went to eat at Chile Lindo.
Here's how yesterday morning went:

Guillermo cutting away vegetation from the fence that's coming down.

John Fardal working on the fence in front.

 There was one section of the fence that was quite difficult, but with lots of muscle power, they got it down.

This is how our yard looks now - without the fence in front.

That was Friday. On Saturday, today, we had our third garage sale. Wow, was it a hot day!! We hung a fan from one of the trees and that helped quite a bit - especially if you were standing right in front of it.
We didn't have too many people come by for the garage sale until about 11am, and then it got real busy until about 2. But there was always something going on in our yard. Jacob and Skye played in a little pool and also in a sprinkler. When my friend Linda came with her two kids, they joined Jacob and Skye in the water. Then Sergio and his family came over to get some more plants. John came by again today also, to put all that fencing on a trailer. All the while, Carlos is in the background digging out a tree. That looked almost impossible to do in this heat. But he did it. He dug that tree up and placed it in a big bucket! Then later, Chris starts digging up another tree. That was some tough work - especially doing that digging while it was so hot. Around 3, Carlos and Kathy pack up their truck with plants and the tree and leftover garage sale stuff.
So, we were quite busy with family and friends today. It made the day fun!

At Elrod

Looked forward to the afternoon today, because I was going back to Elrod for a party!!!

So, I arrived about a half hour before the start of the party so that I could visit with all the people I used to work with.  That was so much fun and it felt so good to be back there among my former coworkers.  Of course, knowing that I was just there for a party, and not to work, helped, too!

The reason for the party was to celebrate Sharon's retirement.  Sharon was my boss for my last 5 years there at Elrod and we became good friends in that time.  So, it was a pleasure to be there to celebrate this big moment in her life.
Sharon is second from the left and to her right is her husband, Joe, and on her left are her sisters Cecile and Patsy, and Patsy's husband Charles.

Then it felt like old times to be among this great group of ladies - who I worked the closest with.

In this first picture, I'm sitting with Lorraine, Kathy and Ann.

And in this picture are Betty, me, Angie, Lorraine, Jane and Kathy.

More plants leaving

Guillermo's friend from school, Sergio, came over today and filled up the back of his truck with plants.   He took the plants in pots we had set aside for him, and he also dug up many different kinds of plants from the yard.  He kept saying he felt bad taking all these plants, but we are happy to know our plants are going to good people.  By the time he left, his truck was full!  :-)

Lots of plants moving to new homes

Today was another big moving day for some of our plants.  Kathy, Carlos, Linda and Jacob came over at 10, and started looking at the plants they'd be taking back home with them.

 Laura (Rebeca's friend) came over around 10:30 and she picked several plants she'd like to take back to her house.

Betty, Ann and Sharon (friends from Elrod) came over around 11 and picked out their plants.  After everyone had picked out their potted plants, humidity and all, there was still energy left over to dig up some cannas, irises and daffodils.  Guillermo even dug out a plumbago for Betty!!

It's hard to believe, but as many plants as everyone took, there are still LOTS of plants left in our yard.  Kathy, Linda and Sharon even took some of our inside plants - so the inside of our house is starting to look a little stark.  Only to be getting starker..........

Oh, and we got a larger storage unit yesterday.  In a few days, we'll empty the smaller unit into the larger one, and then start moving things out of our house.

Dinner with neighbors

Three months ago, we started having monthly dinners with our neighbors.  It's always fun, and really, we should have started doing this LONG time ago.  But I guess with the finality of all of our situations here, that moved us to do things together as long as we could until we are all scattered in different directions.  We are at Henry's Puffy Tacos Restaurant.

Evan, Mary, Delores, Jesse, Alice, Ted, Vicki, Guillermo, and Matt

Mother's Day

We started out the day meeting Linda, Mom and Jacob at the Lourdes Grotto, because I mistakenly thought they were having a benefit lunch today - selling plates of Paella.  Where did I get that idea?  I saw it in the paper and I figured if it was in the Sunday Mother's Day paper, then it was for Mother's Day.  (I didn't read all the way to the date.)
Well, fortunately it was a cloudy and cool day, very pleasant for being outside.  We walked around the grounds there for a while after buying our meal tickets, but we were bewildered about why we saw no one eating anything, or why they hadn't set up any of the tables and chairs in the dining room.  So, after a while, Mom went up to this vendor who was selling bread, and asked him about the paella plates, and he told her, "Oh, that's NEXT weekend."  So, we look on the back of our tickets, and sure enough, it's next weekend.  Panic set in a little bit when we realized that we wanted our money back, because we did NOT want to come back next weekend.  We were so relieved when they refunded our money with no problem.  Both Linda and I were still stunned, though, because when we bought the tickets, and asked where the plates would be served, not ONCE did anyone ever say, "But remember, that's NEXT week."  We even talked to some guy in the parking lot about where the plates would be served and he told us, but he never said it was going to be held next week, either.
It was just as well, though, since the thought of standing in a line with all those people to get our plates wasn't very appealing, so we happily left and headed to Lion and Rose and enjoyed an appropriate Mother's Day lunch there.
After eating, we took these pictures outside the restaurant.

2nd garage sale

We had our second garage sale yesterday - and we had absolutely beautiful weather.  At times, it even felt COLD!!  It was cloudy the entire time, and the weather even waited until the sale was pretty much over with before it started sprinkling a little bit.  We sold some things, (plants were big sellers again), but STILL had to move stuff back into the garage.  Even Mom came to this sale, and it was a good one for her to be at, since the weather was so pleasant.   Next big garage sale is June 5th.  Too busy to take pictures.

Happy Mother's Day!

Almost forgot

So, I figured that we'd keep this house fairly normal through Melanie's visit.  It really was a good thing that she visited us at the beginning of May, this way, the rooms of our house remained more or less intact longer than they would have - well anyway, the rooms that we use the most.  You should see Fernando's room and the red room.  Total messes.  Anyway, since Melanie left on Tuesday, the time has come to start packing up more things.  Our house is going to really start changing now.  BUT, BEFORE THAT HAPPENS:
Today, I took all the books off of that bookshelf on the left, and then thought, "Wait, did I get one last picture of our dining room??"  So, since I wasn't sure, I put every single book back on the shelf and snapped this picture.

So many things happened in this room - lots of parties and holiday dinners and everyday meals with family and friends.  Rebeca eating watermelon as a toddler, and getting her clothes all red from the juice.  Fernando sitting in the highchair with his ten little toes hanging on to the edge of the table.  Rebeca eating salad and asking for "more sayud bessing, pease".  Mom's 80th birthday party.  Rebeca and Jason's engagement party. It's where we colored Easter eggs and removed pumpkin seeds.  Guillermo even used to type up his exams in this room, using an old typewriter.  Yep, a lot happened in this room in the last 30 years!

On the table, you can see some of the pink roses that we cut from the bushes that Guillermo dug up the other day.  

Melanie visiting

Melanie, my friend from high school came in last evening, and will be staying with us for two nights.  We took a long slow walk throughout our yard and field before coming in to munch on a little spaghetti and then some fruit.

Also, yesterday, Guillermo dug up 6 rose bushes from the front yard (I didn't think to get a picture of that!). They are our favorite roses and will be going to friends.  He will be digging up 6 more today.   There are just some things Guillermo will not leave in this yard.