December at the Almaguers

I loaded up these pictures but couldn't remember in what sequence this blog loads up picture. They came out all out of sequence. This was a great December so far, and I took many photographs that I was happy how they came out. Dora and a Christmas Tree. Black and white photos convey more emotion that the color photos. The warmth of the white lights bring across those old feelings of being a child on Christmas, feeling that anticipation of Christmas morning.

Grandma and grandchild. Grandma's joy of giving will always be more rewarding than the joy of receiving. Christmas is a holiday that helps us a grandparents brighten up the lives of our grandchildren.

In the corner of our house sits this doll in a basket on top of a wig box, in front of an old walking cane. All bathed in an cool afternoon sun light.

Grandma reading "The night before Christmas" to a grandchild who for the first time in her life understand Santa Claus and chimneys. We bought this book for Carlos when he was little, only he was too old to believe in Santa by the time we bought the book.

Caroline finds an Christmas orb on the Christmas tree.

So many places to explore, so many things to touch.

Christian.

The best things about Christmas are the Christmas hugs.

The happiness of a grandchild in the arms of grandma.

The days before Christmas became fewer and fewer. Some toys were under the Christmas tree already, not as gifts but for the grandchildren to play with. They played Christmas music and that music brought huge smiles to all of us.

It is so easy to be silly when you are young and dont' worry about what others think.

But with all the lights, TV commercials, toys, Christmas trees, etc., this month is still for family first. The best memories are not from the expensive present or the big dinners, but from the quiet moments with family.

Start of December and ending '08

Lily was over a couple of weeks ago. Isabelle dressed her up as a cheerleader. She loves those boots.

The cold weather finally got here. We turned on the fireplace and enjoyed some time together. That coffee sure tasted good. We had to add another stocking to the fire place. Caroline is the news grand child and this will be her first Christmas.

Lily and Isabelle decorated this end table. Bell is Isabelle's and Cinderella is Lily's. We bought the music dolls for them last January and put them away. We gave them to the girls the day they came to decorate the Christmas tree with Elfida.

We tried to get Izma to stay by the Christmas tree and she kept wanting to run off. Finally I told Elfida to stay in the picture and we got this nice photo.

Elfida got up and Izma just stayed there. I had taken the camera off the tripod and hurried to get it back on. I took this one and Izma stayed there waiting for me to take more pictures. She is a smart dog. We had her outside for two years. Last month we decided to make her an indoor dog. She had done great and now sleeps on her pillow downstairs. She figure if she didn't poop or pee inside she wouldn't have to sleep outside. Now she lets us know when she needs to go out and she lets us know when she has to come back in. She takes care of business quick.

Thanksgiving Day and after

The night before Thanksgiving Elfida gave the turkey a good hot bath in the kitchen sink. Carlos had come home, so we watched a movie with him at home. Elfida had made steaks for dinner. Carlos ate three! He called from some where near West to make sure dinner was ready when he got home cause he was hungry.

The next morning he came down for breakfast with a hand print on his right shoulder. He said it was from sleeping on top of his hand. It went away after about a half hour.

See how well defined the hand print is?

That afternoon Maiko made last minute preparation on the cooked turkey. We had Maikos family, Dora and Sam and Carlos over for the feast. Oh, the food was soo good. We ate and talked and ate. We then went into the movie room to watch the Cowboys play. They won again. Elfida and Maiko were very happy.

Cause grandma spoils her, Isabelle got to get a turkey leg. She and Lily had to eat in the little kids table.

Isabelle went and got dressed all by herself. We have bought them different outfits that they can play dress up with. Those are Isabelle's boots and Isabelle's cheerleader outfit. Lily is in constant trouble because she loves to talk back and then ignores her parent when they try to make her do something. I had a talk with her Friday night, so far she has been behaving. I don't know how long it will last.

We ate too much! Maiko and Carlos vegging out after eating. As long as they are not too close they can sit quietly. Once they get close they go back to being little kids and start wrestling.

As soon as they were both on the sofa they were wrestling and laughing like little kids. They didn't notice me tying their shoe laces together! That was funny.

I had connected all the video game machines to the LCD projector. Carlos and Maiko played bomber man. Carlos bought the game station in Japan so they could play all the vintage Nintendo games. Later that night Maiko showed Isabelle, Lily and Isabelle's cousin Gabi, how to play the game.

The following night I got the girls to stay over. We ate ice cream, candy, cookies, pie, popcorn, and lots of other junk food. Lily fell asleep while going from one seat to the couch while we watched "A Smokey Mountain Christmas. Isabelle watched the whole movie with us. Carlos had gone out, like a good son, he had spent the last two night with us. He even went shopping with us on Friday.

Elfida's flowers

Elfida bought some pots with plants that were flowering. I don't know the name of the plants. She planted them in the ground on our front yard and they kept flowering and flowering. Every morning she would cut some flowers and take them to work. She would also put some on a vase to decorate the dinning room table.

The flowers attract different insects. All looking for the sweetness of the nectar in the flower. This wasp was so green it looked like it was made out of glass.

Fluorescent spots, so bright they looked light lights. This butterfly visited the flowers for as long as I sat there and took pictures. Not shy at all.

Even a yellow jacket came to feed and was in a good mood. She let me get some close ups without trying to attack me. Twenty years ago, when I was still surveying, I got stung by this yellow jackets too many times. The most painful one was on by bottom lip, but the one on my eyelid was pretty close to that same pain.

The day was overcast. I switch to taking the photos using the flash. It really brought out the colors.

Now this guy and his kind have given me some pretty nasty blister too. He was the only one of his kind at the flowers. He stayed to himself and the other insects stayed away too.

Now this fellow was also by himself. Two years ago I spent the Spring and Summer fighting his relatives. They had built a nest between the wall under the balcony. Some days there would be hundreds of them. I was told that the only way to get rid of them was to remove the honey and the queen bee. What worked was putting screen wire all under the balcony so they couldn't get back into the wall. So far they have stayed away.

Some days I walk by and the butterflies lift off the flower in a huge cloud. They float around until I have walked far enough away. They return slowly back on to the flowers.

It seems that the more flowers Elfida cuts from the plants, the more they bloom. This late in the year and they keep growing. We had that one night when the temperature dropped into the 30 and I thought the cold would kill them. They are still here, still blooming, some yellow, some white and some with a tint of purple.

Duchess Isabelle

Isabelle was a Duchess for the 1st Grade Class. He grandma took her to get her hair done with Barbra, their hair dresser. We had bought the dress for her a few months ago and she hadn't needed it for any special occasion until this day.

Her tio Carlos drove in from Ft. Worth for the event. He got home and promptly laid down on the couch. Foxy was visiting and went to lay down with him.

The photos are out of sequence. Here is grandma with Isabelle and Lily. Obviously, Lily doesn't think the occasion is that special.

There she is with her Duchess hair style. She was very serious about her role as Duchess. The dress looked great on Isabelle and her hair, well, grandma was very proud.

The school was packed. Wall to wall parents and grandparents. All the kids looked great. I had to call work and let them know I was running late.

Lily was being herself. She talked, argued and fought with her Uncle Carlos. She got in trouble for talking back to her parents, too. She stays in trouble. Later on their mom dropped them off at our house and they got to spend the night with grandma. I left for work and in the morning stopped at the Michoacana and picked up some barbacoa for breakfast. Carlos actually got up early and ate breakfast with us. Maiko also dropped by after work to eat breakfast. He beat me to the house since I had to stop and pick up the barbacoa.

Halloween pictures

All the scary people were out on Halloween night. Elfida made sure she bought plenty of candy. We got had lots of kids and grownups showing up at the house. Even a truck pulling a trailer full of trick or treaters!

This group showed up and made our day. Check out the ladybug up front. The black cat is Isabelle and the clown is Lily.

I took this photo from the balcony. The NBA was interested in the guy with the gray hoodie.

Check out the cowgirl on her galloping horse.

This is my favorite. I took it from the balcony with a 200 mm lens and at 400 ISO and the camera flash. I was about 75 feet from the girls. Scary!!

Come January it will be President Obama!

We ate left overs from two nights ago (ribs) and followed the vote counting on TV. Elfida kept Maiko up to date by phone on the electoral votes from each state. I was ready to ask Elfida if she was ready to go upstairs, when they suddenly announced that Obama had won the election. It is crazy that they would know the results before the popular votes were counted. Then we hear the TV talking head say that Sen. McCain had already called Obama and conceded the election.
It certainly was a historic night. Sen. Obama will be our first African-American President!! It is finally coming true that any little boy or girl can grow up to be president of this great nation. Makes me prouder to be an American.

The following photos and text are from the CNN website.

McCain called Obama at 11 p.m. when polls closing on the West Coast gave Obama the electoral votes to become the nation's first black president.
Obama thanked McCain for his graciousness and said he had waged a tough race, according to Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs.The new president-elect told McCain that he was eager to sit down and talk about how the two of them can work together. "I need your help, you're a leader on so many important issues," Obama told McCain.
In his victory speech to the nation, Obama said, "I just received a very gracious call from Senator McCain. ... I congratulate him and Governor Palin for all they have achieved, and I look forward to working with them to renew this nation's promise in the months ahead."
"While the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress," Obama said.
"To those Americans whose support I have yet to earn -- I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your president too," he said.

"We have come to an end of a long journey. The American people have spoken, and they have spoken clearly," McCain said. "Senator Obama has achieved a great thing for himself and his country," said McCain, calling Obama a "good man."
"This is an historic election, and I recognize the special significance it has for African-Americans and for the special pride that must be theirs tonight."McCain urged his supporters to "join me in not just congratulating [Obama], but offering our next president our good will and earnest effort to find ways to come together to find the necessary compromises to bridge our differences and help restore our prosperity, defend our security in a dangerous world, and leave our children and grandchildren a stronger, better country than we inherited." "I wish Godspeed to the man who was my former opponent and will be my president. And I call on all Americans, as I have often in this campaign, to not despair of our present difficulties, but to believe, always, in the promise and greatness of America. In a stronger, better country than we inherited."

"I wish Godspeed to the man who was my former opponent and will be my president. And I call on all Americans, as I have often in this campaign, to not despair of our present difficulties, but to believe, always, in the promise and greatness of America."

Me again:

Now that is the McCain I admired for years. This last year, he was a totally different man. His campaign was too similar to Bush's, too negative, too unlike him.

Tomorrow is a new day and a new era has come to be. We will have some trying days ahead. We still have the economic crisis, the war in Iraq, the same greedy CEOs running most of our major corporations, too many of our own government agencies spying on our own citizens, and the high crime in our cities, but there's a new sheriff in town. I hope he will be able to unite this country so it can once again be the bench mark that other countries measure themselves against.

Oh yeah, and maybe Joe the Plumber can go back home and quit being so annoying. : )

Rehashing some old photos

Nice cool breeze flows quietly through the bathroom window, drifts past our bed and smoothly wanders out the open sliding glass door onto the balcony. Over the wall, rustling the green leafs of the tree that stands guard outside lifting it skinny arms towards heaven like an old Indian praying to the yellow moon high above our world.

On the bright laptop, I see photos I took over two years ago while spending Christmas in Eagle Pass. Cuco Sanchez sings in my ear, a sad ballad about a man with a broken heart. Mocedades follows with their song imploring their love to "take them or leave them". The rest of the world's sounds blocked out by the head phones on my ears. A long thin wire attaches them to my MP3 player loaded with over 2000 songs from years ago.

My world right now is made up of artificial light and artificial sounds. The only thing connecting me to the actual world is the cool silky feel of that silent breeze. It glides slowly over my skin, gently pushing against the small, thin hairs on my arms. The cool sensation causes the hairs to stand up, creating a landscape of goose bumps across the surface of my arms. Small shadows created by the white light from the screen gives the skin the appearance of rough, raspy texture.

The bright glare of the screen floods out all other shapes in the dark bed room. Only the keys, may hands and the arms attached to them are visible. My fingers move up and down touching each key, pressing down, making the letters appear on that screen.

My eyes lids narrow, my eyes blink to refocus on the images, pictures... words. Pictures from over two years ago... in Eagle Pass... an old old song starts up. Agustin Ramirez sings now to a lover who's death he morns. The horn section comes through, dating the song to the early 70's. Chicano songs.

Light tapping on the bed, like a finger striking the side of the mattress... nothing visible. A slight pulling of the sheets... still nothing visible. I remove my headphones. An audible whimper, a small cry, like a puppy in pain... My eyes adjust to the darkness. A small black figure begins to form. Another whimper, the black figure becomes familiar, something I have seen before... A dog name Fifi. She can't talk, but I have known here for 11 years. We can understand each other well. I will end this post, she wants to go out. Nature calls.