Project 365, Weeks 15 & 16

Once again playing catch-up. Lots of photos from the past two weeks to share!

Two weeks ago we headed to Sta. Rosa on Monday. That night missionary friends arrived from Buenos Aires, delivering a suitcase another friend had brought from the U.S. in March. One of the items was a Shutterfly book our daughter put together (wedding pictures!). Which I've enjoyed showing to everyone I know -- from my hairdresser, to co-workers, to the people who own and manage our favorite tea store in Belgrano (they said hi, Wally and Katie!). And now I'll share the front cover and a few pages with you :)

Of course I have some outdoor photos from the country to show you. Can't go to Sta. Rosa and not take plenty of those! It's kind of hard to tell, but there's a bird sitting on the rock by the river. It's yellow belly and brown "coat" blend in so well with the river rocks and water.

The neighbor's horses were taking a nap. I think, anyway. One was resting his head on the other -- until I started snapping pictures.

We were there to get things ready for a young couple who will use the back bedroom suite for the next six months. Money saved from not paying rent can go to buy materials to build a small house on a lot purchased shortly before they were married. They work with a drug and alcohol rehabilitation ministry nearby and can eat their meals there but needed a place to sleep, and just get away.

While Ivan worked on installing a secondary door between the 2nd and back bedrooms (to provide more privacy, like at hotels with connecting rooms -- either or both sides can lock their doors) I painted the frame around a storage area above the tub in the main bathroom. So here are the results of our labors...

Installing this door was a challenge because the door frame is wonky, measuring 71 cm across at the top, 70.3 cm in the middle and 70.6 at the bottom. In the end he had to remove the middle hinge to make it work right.

Creating a secure storage area was important because the storeroom where we keep all our personal junk  stuff  household items is part of the back bedroom suite. Adding lockable doors to the space above the tub allowed us to safely stash a few basic items (towels, bedding for one bed, pillows). [Everything else we brought back to Carlos Paz to store in the garage.] The bath is just too small to get a photo of the whole storage space above the tub, but here's a partial shot:

As you can see, the space slopes with the roof line, which meant he had to make odd-shaped doors. It's so nice being married to such a handy guy!

Toward the end of the week we visited Aldo and Mirta in Rio Tercero. Mirta is a dear friend of Rita's -- I could be wrong, but I do believe they've been friends since grade school! And Mirta has saved Rita's letters over the years, carefully keeping them in a binder which we will hand deliver in a few weeks; they should be invaluable as Rita works on writing a family history.

On the drive over we passed a church in Santa Isabel that Ivan remembers his family helping to build, so we stopped to take a photo:

[The building isn't wonky, just my photography skills.]

Upon our return to Carlos Paz last Sunday we were greeted by this glorious display of roses at the front of the house...

I love that roses bloom here for 8-9 months out of the year!

I took an early morning walk one day and came across this new construction. Looks like a small condo development is going up.

We went to Cordoba twice this week. Our co-workers own a foreign built vehicle that's almost impossible to get parts for, but they found a place in Cordoba that rebuilds old parts so we took them in. This gorgeous turquoise jeep was parked nearby:

Yes, my passion for all things aqua or turquoise continues unabated.

Later on we had dinner with friends. Most of the family had gathered to celebrate Valentina's first birthday -- she looks a little sleepy in this photo taken near the end of the evening but cousin Juan looks ready to party through the night -- hope he let his parents get some sleep :)

And we returned to Cordoba on Friday for the big artisan fair. Around 750 vendors from all over South America set up for this 10-day show. I am particularly fond of things made from wood, like this lovely pie server. Isn't the wood grain lovely?!

And Mari, this photo is for you -- the gloves you won on my giveaway last year were made by this woman! I found her at the fair again and Ivan took her photo.

So ends another looooong Project 365 post.

Can't promise things will improve any time soon. We leave for furlough in just over two weeks, and we have SOOOOOO many things to get done before then. Ivan is trying to get tramites (paperwork stuff) handled... appreciate your prayers about that. The two items we really need are still in limbo -- and not for lack of our trying! If they don't get done before we leave, I'm not sure how it will affect some of the legalities of living here.

And our co-workers are moving into our house while we're gone so I have to pack everything in the closets and dressers, plus a lot of personal decorative stuff because they'll be using the space differently than we do.

So you can see why I won't be around much in the next few weeks :)