Indian Market in Santa Fe

We went to Santa Fe for the day - or morning rather - for the Indian Market, Aug. 18. Downtown Santa Fe is blocked off and there are booths set up all over to display everything from jewelry to art to pottery to clothes to saddles. It was like a big flea market. Some of the items were really incredible. Fortunately - or unfortunately depending on your view - I didn’t carry cash so I couldn’t buy anything. Guess I’ll just have to plan better next year. We were done looking by noon but we checked out the St. Francis church before we left.

It only takes an hour to get from Albuquerque to Santa Fe on I-25. We went up Friday night and stayed with friends. On the way back to Albuquerque we got stuck in construction traffic on I-25. We spent more time waiting to go about 5 miles than the rest of the trip took. Carrie and I had to entertain ourselves because Tania & Kirsten took a nap in the backseat. I dislike construction traffic - especially 3 lanes trying to get into 1 lane.

Oh well, I still had fun

peace

Orientation Week

My adventure in service officially began on August 1. Tania, Kirsten and Carrie arrived and we got settled in - sort of. Instead of being able to move in to the house a couple of weeks before Tania, Kirsten and Carrie arrived we got to move in a couple of days. And since there wasn’t a unit last year we had a new house and a lot of things were in storage with various people. I had my own orientation the week before the girls arrived and thought I’d be back Sunday afternoon to help get things a little settled before everyone else moved in. Nope - my hour layover in Dallas turned into a 24 hour layover because of weather. So I can’t help move the house stuff, I can’t get myself settled, no one’s really sure who has what in storage, what we might still need and I’m still not sure what I’m supposed to be doing. Stressful week to say the least!

We were able to get settled little by little the first week - we got furniture, beds and food - the important things. The support committee brought us dinner for the first week. It was nice not to have to worry about that while trying to learn everything else. We rearranged the living room at least 3 times - every time we got something new and had to fit it in. We learned where the library was - very important for Tania who reads 5 books a week. I thought I was a bookworm. We found out where the grocery store and thrift stores were. We visited Old Town for the Salsa Fiesta. And Carrie & Kirsten tried to make cookies without really following the recipe. I learned that chocolate chip cookies with powdered sugar substituted for granular sugar still taste pretty good - no matter what they look like.

All-in-all it’s been a pretty great first month. We get along, we have fun. I’m not sure if I taught them everything I was supposed to during Orientation Week but I think we’re getting it all figured out together.

peace