A Mortar!

I love this!  Doug and Meri gave us a handmade olivewood mortar and pestle for Christmas.  It feels beautiful, and the grain is gorgeous.  Thank you so very much!  I'll use it too, since we have the AeroGrow and fresh herbs.

Could It Be....?

The signs are up....

 There are drums in the streets....

 And spectators wait patiently.  Maybe, perhaps... it's Carnaval time?

Yay!  It's time for parades and performances and general partying across Uruguay.  Carnaval has begun!  All these pictures were taken at the Three Kings Parade (Llamadas de los Tres Reyes Magos) on January 6th, Epiphany.  It's a practice parade for the big one in a few weeks.

Bottoming Out

I've got the cross stitching done on my Silvery Tree.  Only need to bead it now.

Pottery from Poland

Marlena and Leo gave us these wonderful pottery pieces from Poland for Christmas.  I love them!  They're bright and pretty and practical.

Crazy January #3 - Heartsease Pansy

I love doing crewel, and don't do as much of it as I'd like, so... why not take this opportunity to start some?  The whole design's no larger than four inches round, so it should go fairly quickly.

On to the Edge

After doing a quarter of the heart, it's time to put some edge onto the piece.

Wandering the Old City

 When my son was here, we wandered through Ciudad Vieja, the part of Montevideo that was settled first.  We started at Plaza Independencia, the location of General Artigas' mausoleum.  His ashes are in the big urn in the center of this picture.  Artigas is Uruguay's George Washington, except they exiled Artigas.

This is the remains of the gate leading into the old city.  It's the oldest structure in Montevideo.

As we were walking down the pedestrian way, we saw a string quartet playing Vivaldi.

 A picture of the cathedral in Plaza Matriz.

Just a neat doorway.

Which evidently was the entrance to the Smurfs hideout.

Spiffy old lamp by the port market.

View up the street from the port market.

One of the many parillas in the port market.

Same here.