new rug and a rose

one errand we also ran today was yet another trip to the hardware store for some odds and ends. i've wanted a dining room rug since we got the table and we finally got one today. i love it!  also found a beautiful rose in our garden.

visiting race horses

jose's coworkers took him out to lunch today and got him a giant card and a bottle of wine to say goodbye. he makes so many friends wherever he goes and i feel bad that he is being uprooted once again, just as he was getting to settle in and like it here.  after lunch we went with his friend to see some of his race horses. the place where they are stabled is just down the road from us. the horse above is his champion long distance racer and the funny bird reminds me of the pukeko birds we saw in new zealand last christmas. it was such a beautiful day today - we did some gardening and laundry and lazing about :)

dinner party

jose is going to work in derby for a while which means we'll be apart for several months.  it's going to be awful and really difficult but it will allow us to save for our US trip next year and a few other things which will be really helpful. to thank his new friends from the airport we had a dinner party and stupidly i got no pics of any people but just a few shots of food. oh well.  it was a fun evening and we had lots of food - stuffed olives, salteñas with limes, a big green salad, spicy lamb kabobs with yogurt/tahini sauce, and then his friends brought fabulous apple pie with cream. oh and plenty of local wine. it was yum!

yay salteñas!

a great pic of jose about to tuck into a big plate of salteñas bolivianas.  we've both been craving them - well i have a special soft spot for these really.  every time jose would go play soccer in cusco i would first insist we stop by the salteñas shop and pick up at least three (with sliced lime to put on top) so i could indulge myself while he enjoyed himself.  it became our thing.  i miss them so much (and tamales but those are too hard to make) and so made up a big batch yesterday.  yum! 

yummy dinner and miski!

we enjoyed a great dinner yesterday care of our new recipe book. had grilled lamb kabobs with yogurt/tahini sauce, side salad, and a local (and really good) shiraz.  it was so good!  miski nosed her way into the photo of course because she wanted some and felt very left out.  second pic is of miski demanding her morning hello scratches and dancing.  i love watching jose with miski - it is so cute.  she has him wrapped around her little paw :)

man in uniform and a kookaburra!

jose looks so dapper in his airport uniform i made him pose for some pictures.  i love the one of him with miski.  that's her special spot and is the best and sunniest spot in the house.  she loves it there but only if she's not allowed on the couch to snuggle with me :)  a kookaburra sat right outside our house today - really cool because i don't see them all that often. he was very cute, very small, and i was hoping he'd laugh for us but sadly he was very quiet.  he was harassing some smaller birds that have made a home in one of our very overgrown bushes in the front.  it's been a very pretty day but i think it's going to be very stormy soon...eep! this afternoon jose and i made lamb kabobs with yogurt/tahini sauce and also the filling for salteñas (i'll finish making those tomorrow).  yum!

photo canvases!

some more have finally arrived. we put one up in the bedroom. it's nice but it seems a little bit too small for the space but not sure what to do about that.  put up another one of miski up in derby in the living room and then a wooden piece in the entrance. the pic of jose will move eventually, there just happens to be a nail there we can't get out of the wall. last photo is of jose enjoying our new computer and miski lounging