I'm sitting here at my desk, looking out the window at a fine spring day. At this time there are a few students in the lab, but they're all on computers working on assignments or checking email. I notice it's been a while since I last posted; a lot has happened since then.
Last Sunday was Palm Sunday, but I actually went to church because the mass was in memory of my sister. She died when she was 10; I was older by 8 years. It's hard to believe that it's been 37 years since she died. During the mass, I remembered several things about Francis, mainly the way she laughed when she was younger, a laugh and smile that my daughter reminded me of so much when she was younger too. During the mass, there was a little girl sitting in front of us with her parents. That too reminded me of my daughter. The little girl would get restless and start moving all over the place and bug her father, who'd pick her up and hold her. Then she'd go out of the aisle and go back in; it's hard to contain your energy when you're that young, I guess. I remembered my daughter would get all restless and she'd start fussing, but of course, she knew what I'd do. I'd take her and we'd leave the church when the priest was talking, and we'd go to the convenience store where I'd get her some snacks; then we'd sit in the car and wait for her mom and brother to come out of church. She really liked going to church.
So during Spring Break, we went to New Mexico for a few days. My wife and her sisters actually went to visit their brother since he's been sick. We found out that sometime last year, he was driving and his car was hit by two semis. Imagine getting hit by two semis and not being injured; he sure was lucky. Anyway, one of my sister in laws really likes to go to visit the casinos. She actually won over $400, but lost it along with I don't know how much of her own money, but she enjoyed herself. Mary and I played the quarter slot machines, but we actually won enough to cover hotel and other expenses. I got some handcrafted souvenirs for the kiddos with what I won. Boy, we actually ate a lot over there. One thing: New Mexico restaurants do not serve migas, one of my favorite Mexican breadfast foods, but they do have Breakfast Enchiladas, filled with potatoes and bacon, sausage or ham, topped with one or two eggs anyway you want them, and of course, red or green sauce. Something else I enjoyed was a trip to Los Alamos and the surrounding mountain area; we also went up to the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The mountains actually still had snow and they were beautiful, especially when seen from a distance. None of the photographs I took actually do them justice.
I'll try to post one or two pictures later on.