last hours in ABQ
It's been a while since I posted here... and a lot has happened theatre and family wise but right now Albuquerque is on my mind.
I'm sitting out on my aunt and uncle's patio enjoying the glorious sun - in the shade. My parent's house is coming along beautifully. Slower than we'd hoped, but since longevity is the key here - my mom makes funny faces when I talk about inheriting it in 40 years - better to take the time to do it right. And not piss off the inspectors and city planning folks.
I don't remember if I've talked about the straw bale house here. I've been busy on FB with it, but the rest of my life has been so busy with theatre and festivals that I've had little time to just sit and write. And today, after visiting the house one last time and passing our plumbing/___? inspection, I have a few hours until heading to the airport.
It's been a nice trip. A little short, but complete. For the first time since high school I celebrated my birthday with my father, who's now really enjoying the house and looking forward to it's completion. It's going to have an automatic front door so my dad can go in and out on his own! We flew down on Saturday which was and epic adventure in it's own right...
At a very civilized 10:30 we took off to ABQ via SF. Knowing we'd have a layover in SF I called a dear friend so we could all have lunch together. It was a 2.5 hr layover. We got back on the plane and they started asking for volunteers to take a $400 travel credit and get in to ABQ at 10:15pm because they were overbooked or something. We did this, but the plane they were going to put us on was canceled for mechanical difficulties. So they put us on a plane to LA to catch a different airline's plane to ABQ. But we'd have another 2.5 layover in LA. So I called another dear friend and we met up for drinks in the center bar of LAX. Valet service, chrome elevator with funky music and oblong shapes of colored glass inlays. The bar had HUGE lava lamps and we sat with a view of the airport and surrounding lands. It was fantastic to see my best friend from college again and couldn't have happened at a better time. She's been pretty frazzled lately with a full time job, new baby and ill hubby, so this mini visit was just what the doctor ordered. After too short a visit, the bf and i were back on a plane to finally land in ABQ at midnight.
Not only were we able to see 2 dear friends, but we also made it easier to surprise my dad by coming in so late. And apparently our original flight was delayed 2 hours because of the high winds in ABQ. What would I rather, 2 hours with a friend I rarely see or 2 hours on a plane? I know my choice. :-)
And now we're at the build. I'm taking to the warm relaxed way of NM. I should drink more water, but the pinon (sp?) coffee is sooo good! And my mom's going to have a pinon tree so I can learn to harvest the nuts and make our own coffee. :-) Although I really wanted to help bale the house, at least I got to help install the arches on the outside of the house. I jokingly said that I knew exactly where my chair would be put. Between the two arches I helped to build. I learned some smart tricks for creating arches and measuring too. I'm sure they'll be useful somewhere else down the line.
Monday was my dad's birthday. We made his favorite meal, moussaka, had Greek wine and I made 2 cheese pies - 1 was chocolate with mint and the other was vanilla with fresh strawberries and blueberries. At his request. :-) I tried to get into a dress rehearsal of a local theatre but wasn't able to, so we spent time chatting and catching up. He had *no* idea we were coming. The look on his face when he woke up Sunday morning and we were there was priceless. We sang "happy early birthday" so he got sung to a lot!
I'm not sure why it's so much easier to take it easy and breathe when I'm away from home, but it is. Maybe it's because I feel more distance so can add more breath, maybe it's because I have a family focus I rarely enjoy, whatever the combination of reasons I'm liking more and more my time in the southwest.
I'm sitting out on my aunt and uncle's patio enjoying the glorious sun - in the shade. My parent's house is coming along beautifully. Slower than we'd hoped, but since longevity is the key here - my mom makes funny faces when I talk about inheriting it in 40 years - better to take the time to do it right. And not piss off the inspectors and city planning folks.
I don't remember if I've talked about the straw bale house here. I've been busy on FB with it, but the rest of my life has been so busy with theatre and festivals that I've had little time to just sit and write. And today, after visiting the house one last time and passing our plumbing/___? inspection, I have a few hours until heading to the airport.
It's been a nice trip. A little short, but complete. For the first time since high school I celebrated my birthday with my father, who's now really enjoying the house and looking forward to it's completion. It's going to have an automatic front door so my dad can go in and out on his own! We flew down on Saturday which was and epic adventure in it's own right...
At a very civilized 10:30 we took off to ABQ via SF. Knowing we'd have a layover in SF I called a dear friend so we could all have lunch together. It was a 2.5 hr layover. We got back on the plane and they started asking for volunteers to take a $400 travel credit and get in to ABQ at 10:15pm because they were overbooked or something. We did this, but the plane they were going to put us on was canceled for mechanical difficulties. So they put us on a plane to LA to catch a different airline's plane to ABQ. But we'd have another 2.5 layover in LA. So I called another dear friend and we met up for drinks in the center bar of LAX. Valet service, chrome elevator with funky music and oblong shapes of colored glass inlays. The bar had HUGE lava lamps and we sat with a view of the airport and surrounding lands. It was fantastic to see my best friend from college again and couldn't have happened at a better time. She's been pretty frazzled lately with a full time job, new baby and ill hubby, so this mini visit was just what the doctor ordered. After too short a visit, the bf and i were back on a plane to finally land in ABQ at midnight.
Not only were we able to see 2 dear friends, but we also made it easier to surprise my dad by coming in so late. And apparently our original flight was delayed 2 hours because of the high winds in ABQ. What would I rather, 2 hours with a friend I rarely see or 2 hours on a plane? I know my choice. :-)
And now we're at the build. I'm taking to the warm relaxed way of NM. I should drink more water, but the pinon (sp?) coffee is sooo good! And my mom's going to have a pinon tree so I can learn to harvest the nuts and make our own coffee. :-) Although I really wanted to help bale the house, at least I got to help install the arches on the outside of the house. I jokingly said that I knew exactly where my chair would be put. Between the two arches I helped to build. I learned some smart tricks for creating arches and measuring too. I'm sure they'll be useful somewhere else down the line.
Monday was my dad's birthday. We made his favorite meal, moussaka, had Greek wine and I made 2 cheese pies - 1 was chocolate with mint and the other was vanilla with fresh strawberries and blueberries. At his request. :-) I tried to get into a dress rehearsal of a local theatre but wasn't able to, so we spent time chatting and catching up. He had *no* idea we were coming. The look on his face when he woke up Sunday morning and we were there was priceless. We sang "happy early birthday" so he got sung to a lot!
I'm not sure why it's so much easier to take it easy and breathe when I'm away from home, but it is. Maybe it's because I feel more distance so can add more breath, maybe it's because I have a family focus I rarely enjoy, whatever the combination of reasons I'm liking more and more my time in the southwest.