It’s times like these that make me aware of how increasingly different our lives are from many other folks.

While others seem to be rushing around doing last minute shopping, worrying about whether the last Fed Ex packages will arrive, and taking trips to be somewhere else (I know because I read this on social media…and of course, I remember doing these things myself, though it seems a long way away from where I am now), we are having a leisurely breakfast and then going out to lay more bricks. We’ve never been much into the holidays, but this year, they are noticed even less than usual.

In  small nod to tradition, I did make a big pot of tamales yesterday. They were ok, but I’m not sure they were worth the trouble. (Brad might disagree; he liked them more than I did.)

At any rate, we wish everyone peace this holiday season.

We’ve been getting some good work done on the house this week, both on the exterior doors and adobe in the front room.

This little curved part will be where the corner fireplace will go. Lots of cutting of bricks and fussing with mortar joints on this part. (Mortar is still wet in this picture, which is why it’s darker.)

The weather here has been nice, in the 70s during the day and close to, but not quite, freezing at night. (We’re supposed to dip down into the 20s this week. I wonder if that will be the end of my tomatoes.)