Friends!

When I first retired and started writing this blog, my profile included this statement : 


Who knew that retirement would be so much fun? I enjoyed working with kids and books and technology as a school librarian, but now I love having time to myself for walking, riding my bike, taking photos, reading, researching, volunteering, knitting, writing, gardening, and blogging.


Well, who knew that retirement would hold such surprises? I just updated that rather solitary-sounding list of individual (or couple) activities to include, first on the list: 

but now I love having time to get together with friends

We've only lived here for two years now, but I had to smile when I looked out at all the cars parked along the road on Thanksgiving Day. We had a dozen friends at the table, and most of them are people we didn't know when we first moved here. 


Good old Las Cruces--it's a friendly place and we are so lucky to have so many wonderful new friends. 

Log Cabin, Big Sky (for Skywatch)

Oh, my. This photo could have been so much better but, just as I snapped it, my camera battery gave out and the recharged one was many miles away at home.

I wanted to commemorate our early morning moment of knitting together high above Las Cruces--my sister, our friend Helen, and me. In a perfect post, there would also have been photos of Helen's and Bucksnort's knitting projects held up against views of Las Cruces and the Mesilla Valley far below us. However, this week has been all about making do with reality, so you only see a curled-up piece of my log cabin knitting blanket held up against the beautiful Organ Mountains.

I just want you to know that the air was fresh and cold, the views down over the Mesilla Valley were terrific, and the quiet companionship without equal. We saw a proud and unafraid coyote ahead of us on the road, and we heard unidentifiable birds warbling their way through the cactus, chamisa, and mesquite. And the camera battery was dead, dead, dead. It was like our own little reality show--the best of our world intertwined with the small failures of everyday life.

For other views of the world and its skies, please visit Skywatch Friday.