Weeks 50 and 51: Project 365, the 2015 Edition

Tuesday, December 8

On our daily walks we've been enjoying handfuls of mulberries picked from trees along the costanera. They're so big and so tasty!

Thursday, December 10

Ivan has been trying to grow rhubarb and this year we finally had enough for a pie! Well, half a pie. I harvested the rhubarb from all three plants and ended up with enough to add to some strawberries for a strawberry/rhubarb pie. Grateful that we can buy pre-made gluten-free pie dough from the new store in town.

Sunday, December 13

While taking out the garbage this evening Ivan saw this huge rainbow! No way to get it all in one shot so he took pictures of each end.

Monday, December 14

After my dentist appointment I walked around town for a bit, stopping by a store that sells home goods and toys. On my way out I picked up this advertisement. The prices are for individual items, not sets. Keep in mind that the exchange rate was (at that time) just under $10 pesos per dollar. Still pretty pricey, in my opinion.

Wednesday, December 16

In Sta. Rosa for a week! Because school just let out and most things are on hold until after the holidays, we had no commitments between the 15th and the 23rd, so we grabbed this opportunity for a much needed break. I know I've shared photos of the euchalyptus trees before, but I just can't help myself. I love how the bark peels and shreds. This particular tree was peeling all the way to the top (which was quite high!).

Thursday, December 17

Today is a very special day: It happens to be Jon's birthday, Kyle and Tina's anniversary, and it was also the day the Wright brothers took to the air for the first controlled flight, back in 1903. Some pretty special things have happened on this day.

I haven't had time to do anything crafty since finishing Betsy's quilt so I brought the sewing machine and a box of fabric to play with.

Friday, December 18

Late in the morning we drove into Belgrano to do a little window shopping before the stores closed for siesta. I always enjoy seeing what the chocolate store has created for the holidays. They had reindeer pulling Santa's sleigh but I didn't get a decent photo of that. Instead I'm sharing the chocolate chess set.

I'd find it very hard to eat something that pretty.

Saturday, December 19

The house in Sta. Rosa is part of a neighborhood called La Rinconada, and we've enjoyed keeping tabs on the new construction there (five new houses in various stages of construction!). Mostly these are summer houses but two homes are lived in year round. There's this cool tree along side one of those, but I don't know what it's called. Anyone out there know? It's got fern-like leaves and fuzzy flowers that remind us of feather dusters.

Sunday, December 20

In our meanderings in Sta. Rosa, I spied this cool mosaic tile floor on the lower level of a building. I see things like this and automatically think "That would make a beautiful quilt!"

Monday, December 21

The first day of Summer here in the southern hemisphere! Google had this fun graphic to celebrate the occasion:

I created this little collage of funky Christmas trees. The one on the left is in a courtyard of shops in Belgrano. No idea what the form is made of, but it's covered in some kind of shiny fabric and decorated with balloon "ornaments". The one on the right is outside a new tire business located just off Route 5 on the road that we take back to the house. Each day we'd go by and they'd have a little more done, until finally it was all finished with a green paint job, gold and silver paint dots to serve as ornaments and plastic red bows that will withstand the elements.

What's the strangest Christmas "tree" you've ever seen?

Tuesday, December 22

Another very special day: Simon turned two! Kyle and Tina created the cutest train table for our train-obsessed grandson and he loved it, so I borrowed their photo.

I am not going to show you every single thing I made during our break in Sta. Rosa. Suffice it to say I went a little crazy and had way too much fun sewing! I started out making some fold-up totes using this tutorial. I ended up making five and cutting out enough for 13 more.

I also made six hanging towels (four were gifts and two I kept to use in Sta. Rosa), a couple of fabric covers for notebooks and colored pencils, an artist's brush roll-up kit, and a padded camera strap cover. Here's a sampling of what I made:

Thursday, December 24

We arrived back in Carlos Paz Wednesday evening. We thoroughly enjoyed our week in Sta. Rosa but it's always good to be home. Especially as the weather heats up, and we have the benefit of having air conditioning in the casita :)

We have rarely gotten Christmas cards since moving overseas, so imagine our surprise when Ivan went by the post office today!

Not only were there lots of Christmas cards, but we each received some birthday cards as well. So much fun opening the mail!

I love, love, love this Simon/Betsy mashup that Tina created using the same outfit and pose on each kid. Isn't this great?!

We got to Skype with both our kids and their families today. Here's a photo that Kyle took while we were watching Simon help his mom decorate the cookies.

We love the technology that allows us to stay connected from so far away!

For the second year in a row the Molinas invited us to join them for Christmas Eve. Ivan made himself comfortable in the living room and chatted with Pastor Jorge while the women put the finishing touches on dinner.

This is the only picture that turned out okay. I'd forgotten the flash was turned off until I was taking this one, so all the others were fuzzy, and then I was too busy enjoying the meal to remember to take more. At midnight we watched the fireworks from their balcony; fireworks have actually been outlawed but that didn't stop a good number of people from using them.  

Friday, December 25

Merry Christmas!

¡Feliz Navidad!

Our gift for one another this year was a small, hand-painted, ceramic nativity set reflecting the cultures of northwestern Argentina.