Week 31

I didn't participate in Project 365 last week for two reasons. One was that my daughter had just gotten engaged and I just HAD to share that news :)  But also Ivan loaned our camera to someone and I had no way of taking any photos that week anyway. We got the camera back last Saturday and I've only missed one day since.

We had a crowd here a week ago for an asado: our co-workers and all four of their kids (the two oldest were on winter break from Bible Institute) and another family in our church. We enjoyed grilled beef and pork along with a rice and vegetable dish and salad. The kids, who had learned to make brownies in English class that week, made them again for dessert. Ivan ran out for ice cream to go on top, and I made some homemade hot fudge sauce. Can we say D*E*L*I*C*I*O*U*S?!

Here's a group photo after church. Unfortunately I wasn't fast enough and some folks had already left so we're missing five or six.

Monday we went back to a used furniture store we'd visited the week before and bought six dining room chairs and a couple of nightstands. These are the chairs:

I plan to re-cover them in an indoor-outdoor fabric which pattern and color is still to be determined. I thought I'd found the perfect fabric only to discover, THERE WAS NONE LEFT. Ugh. Why don't online stores take things off the site when they're no longer available?! Get my hopes all up and then dash them to the ground. Hmmmpf!

Tuesday I had some time for sewing and whipped up these coordinating aprons. We're not keeping them though. I made them to give as a gift for a special couple. Hope they like them!

Wednesday a couple of students took the bus from Cordoba to visit us one last time before heading back to the U.S. this weekend. Both have been studying at the university here this semester.

We also got to know another girl who returned to the U.S. a few weeks ago and I'm not sure we ever got a photo of her. It's been a fun experience to get to know these students and we hope we'll be able to do that with others each semester!

The girls stuck around for part of English class that evening, when Charlie taught us how to make bread. Here he is giving Lucas a turn at kneading.

And here's a short video clip of Ale mixing the initial ingredients together. At this point not a whole lot of English was going on :)

It's been beautiful all week with sunny skies and temperatures in the 50s and 60s -- perfect for walks along the lake. The city has begun installing these little cement posts along the costanera to prevent cars from driving over the park lawn.

You can see how well that's working...several cars have pulled right down to the lake -- obviously they haven't installed the posts around the entire perimeter yet.

[BTW, I hear a cold front is moving in during the next day or two so we might actually have a week of really cold weather. LOL  I am sooooo lovin' winters in Carlos Paz!]

And finally, on my walk today I snapped this shot from the end of our block. Look at that view of the lake!

This empty lot is not for sale but even if it were we couldn't afford to buy it. I'm sure it would sell for at least $100,000 U.S. Our neighbor next door who is currently building a house said he's turned down offers of $60,000 (when his lot was still empty) and he's in the middle of the block with no view of the lake.

Much as we love our barrio and being so close to the lake, we ARE excited about buying the lot by the river. I'll try to get a photo of that for next week!