There must be something about December

When you're overloaded with holiday stuff, and even say no to some of the practices, there is always more to overload you. Well, me I mean. And I keep saying yes to more things to do!

This was the final result of my granddaughter's clay project...I hope I can see it after it had been fired...not sure if she's going to put black slip into the grooves she carved. I hope she takes a pic of it  when it's finished.  Kind of Medusa, isn't it?

So the day I was leaving Ohio, I planned to get up early to beat the rush hour traffic. Didn't work like I planned at all. I kept waking up for hours, every 3-8 minutes, at least from 4-6 am. So when the alarm went off, my poor old body bravely got out of bed, drank a half of my coffee that daughter-in-law made for me, took my morning meds, and lay back down and went to sleep. I ached all over, and was nauseous.  Great! (I had taken a flu shot, better not be sick!)

 About 2 hours of good sleep (or was it 3) I was finally ready to hit the road.  Traffic was really good at 10 am! But I went on the wrong interstate out of the loop around the city, and had to backtrack and get on the right one.

 I had stopped for gas and saw this truck carrying a couple of pristine army ambulances...so later as I passed it I had time to catch a shot or two.

 However, after about 4 hours (including some stops for gas and you know...) I was getting tired again. That means I start coughing hard, and I didn't want to drive at the same time. I was aware that getting over-tired also leads me to lung infections. So I made it to Lexington KY, and found a motel pretty early.

There are mountains all through Kentucky and Tennessee, so it's a beautiful drive even on dreary cold days. At least all the snow had been the day before.

You can barely see the top of the distant ridge has some snow on it. I never saw any along the highway! Whoopee for that! Home by mid-afternoon, and mostly unpacked that night!

On Monday I'd been asked to help out at the office at church this week. And on Tues. another woman called and said she'd also volunteered to help. So Wed. there we were trying to get the computer to behave.  Something had jammed the email program, I kid you not!

We just kept getting error messages. Then we had our friend who does i.t. come look at it, and I finally found my note as to another way to get to the email which worked.  But none of us could fix the problem.  And let's just say every time I thought something I wrote on an update to the newsletter, (which had some major flaws originally) was going to work, it later gave problems.  My friend said "it's like Mercury retrograde again and again."

We didn't turn off the computer, but put it to sleep. And we'll both look at things again tomorrow!

The sad news was finding out my friend who had been working there up till Thanksgiving week is very ill and won't be working for a long while.

I napped each day, and then had good 9 hours of sleep each night, and right now (knock on wood) I'm feeling almost normal (for me.)  I've got a long pottery sale on Saturday coming up, and have to spend as much time as possible getting things tagged and packed into bins.

On to Santa Fe

I was on my own now...which meant drivers don't take photos much...unless I could pull over or had the front position at a red light. (OK, some of these might have been as I started back forward from a stop.)

 There's the end of that mountain range (The Sandias)...I'm going beyond it!

 Ah, but more mountains are up ahead...

Sof after checking in at a motel, I went exploring in Santa Fe.

 Downtown is fantastic...all these old buildings that are mainly stores, galleries, and restaurants.

 The square is blocked off so traffic goes around, but pedestrians can go see whatever is there.  My friend in Black Mountain who used to live in Santa Fe told me that the jewelry sold by Native Americans on one side of the square is all juried so it is authentic and good quality. I couldn't see them as I drove around...this time.

 Many of the streets were one way, and the one I was on ended at the Bascilica Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi.

 I'll have more photos of it later!

 Another view of the plaza.

 And this view actually shows the Native American jewelry vendors on the far side of the street.

I went back to the motel and took a nap. All these new things to see were tiring me out! I went out to dinner later on, and then tried to stay up late (writing blogs, what else?) so I could get used to the time change.  I keep wanting to eat 2 hours ahead of everyone else...as well as wake up in the mornings!

Today's Quote:

We all walk in mysteries. We are surrounded by an atmosphere about which we still know nothing at all.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe