Sunday, November 22, 2015

Weeks 44, 45, 46 and 47: Project 365, the 2015 Edition

October 22 - November 22

It's embarrassing that I'm posting a whole month's worth of photos in one shot. In my defense, we have been a little busy. But I also admit I haven't made P365 a priority this past month either.

It was obviously ridiculous to try and winnow it down to one photo a day during the time Jon, Nat and Adalyn were here, but I finally decided I'll just do a whole separate post about their visit and then it was a little easier to choose representative photos for each day.

I also plan to do a separate post on the arrival of grandchild #3! Elizabeth Ann, henceforth to be known to one and all as Betsy, was born November 9th! You might want to prepare yourself to be barraged by photos of my adorable grandchildren in the coming week :)

Thursday, October 22

Ivan made gluten free bread for the first time and it was yummy! We'd already cut into it and buttered a couple of slices before remembering to grab the camera.

Saturday, October 24

While looking for a place Jon and family could stay the few days they'd be spending in Carlos Paz, we ended up across from this hotel that was getting a new roof. There was a line of men on the roof, one on scaffolding half-way up, and several on the ground, forming a human chain for getting the freshly mixed concrete up to the roof and quickly spread. It's quite fascinating to watch the rhythm they establish as they swing buckets full of heavy, wet cement from one to the next.

Sunday, October 25

Election day in Argentina! It ended up with a tie so a run-off was scheduled for November 22. When I went to google something that day, this popped up, showing the ballot box in the colors of the Argentine flag:

Monday, October 26

Ivan finished putting the drywall up on the ceiling of our hallway. Here you can see the last little bit he had to cover. Completely forgot to take before pictures, so this is all we have of that project.
So glad to have that done! He got it taped and mudded and would have had it painted by now, too, but he fell victim to food poisoning which put him out of commission for a few days. Not fun!

Friday, October 30

There's a large seibo tree down the street from our physiotherapist. It was in bloom and absolutely gorgeous! The bright red blossoms are the national flower for Argentina (and Uruguay). Notice the carpet of petals that have already fallen to the ground.

Saturday, October 31

We make monthly shopping treks to Tadicor in Cordoba. We like it much better than Walmart (although we still have to go to Walmart to get a few things that Tadicor doesn't carry).

Thursday, November 5

Jon, Natalie and Adalyn arrive!!!
It was so fun to finally meet our funny, curious and adorable granddaughter in person!

Friday, November 6

A tour of our fair city of course took us to Lago San Roque where Jon snapped this photo of us with Adalyn:

Saturday, November 7

Our friend (and my Spanish teacher) Marcela invited us over for lunch. Adalyn was entranced by the nine puppies that were only two weeks old!

Sunday, November 8

While her dad and mom spent the day and night in Cordoba, we thoroughly enjoyed having Adalyn all to ourselves :) She is such a little ham!

In the evening we visited Magdalena. I'd made a Shutterfly photobook using pictures from the past seven years, since Ivan first met Julio (who passed away earlier this year), and Jon brought the book down for us (since I do not trust the postal system here at all). Magdalena was thrilled with the book, and charmed by little Miss A.

Monday, November 9

Welcome to the world, Elizabeth Ann!
Betsy weighed 8 lb. 8 oz. at birth and measured 20.25" long. She's a beauty, just like her mama!

Tuesday, November 10

After traveling down to Sta. Rosa on Monday, we set out to enjoy some peaceful time in the country. A storm had swept through the night before, so roads were muddy and there were a lot of limbs and leaves down from the heavy winds. But we enjoyed our walk through the neighborhood anyway.

Wednesday, November 11

Nat put the cutest outfit on Adalyn and we got a few photos before she whipped the bow out of her hair. Girl's not a fan of hair doodads!

Thursday, November 12

We went out for lunch and after she was done, Adalyn got hold of the lemon from her dad's plate. She makes the funniest faces, but she actually really likes them and kept sucking and making faces for quite a while. Funny kid!

For supper that night, Ivan and Jon got busy in the kitchen. We ate well!

Friday, November 13

Had to get some family photos by the "Familia Hoyt" sign. Little Miss A was tired of the photo session by this point and it was all we could do to hold onto her :)

I absolutely love this photo of Jon, Nat and Adalyn taken down by the river!

So many great memories from their visit! We are so happy they made the long trek down. It wasn't easy, traveling so far with a toddler, and we are beyond grateful for such a gift.

Saturday, November 14

No photos! I took a bunch but something happened to the memory card in the camera and I can't get them off. Jon's going to look into what we can do to try and salvage the photos so maybe I'll have a photo later on.

It was a sad day, as we had to take them to the airport and say goodbye :(

Friday, November 20

Back out to Sta. Rosa, so I could do my annual washing of the cushion covers, and re-organize the kitchen cupboards again, as we prepare for the summer season. So many people use the house and everyone has their own idea of where things should go. When we were out there with Jon and Nat, I found the three parts of the salad spinner in three different places!

You might remember I made the cushion covers using some nice indoor/outdoor fabric so they spot clean pretty easily. But once a year they do require laundering, and I'm always so surprised and pleased with how clean they turn out. You can see them hanging on the line in this photo I snapped through the kitchen window.
Although the main reason for the picture is to show how a severe hail storm shredded many of the leaves and decimated most of the clusters of grapes that were just starting to form. Afraid we won't have enough to make grape jelly this year.

Saturday, November 21

Ivan was busy finishing the sermon for Sunday, his binder, papers and Bible spread out over the sofa, so I got all comfy on the bed and used headphones to watch an episode of "Escape to the Country" on youtube. It's sort of a British House Hunters, and I cannot get enough of those quintessential English cottages, converted barns and Georgian houses. I'm quite addicted to the show!

Sunday, November 22

Guess what?! Google has the same picture they had October 25 -- only this time it's for the presidential election run-off. No news yet on who's ahead; we'll just have to wait and see who wins!