Pic-of-the-Week for April 29, 2014

Hola Amigos,

It's a good news, bad news kind of week.  We received both on the same day.  The good news: another Purkey, a girl, was born yesterday to Ben's youngest brother Greg and his wife Cherlenne!  Ryan and I were discussing the age difference between all of his first cousins, and we figured it is about 52 years!  Wow!  I guess when there is about 21 years age difference between the first generation siblings that a spread like that is possible! 

The bad news is that our good friend Ray Whipp has been diagnosed with lung cancer, and it is advanced and terminal.  Many of you met our British friends Ray and his wife Rita when you visited us here or when they traveled in Oregon with us.  The Whipps moved from Baja several years ago to Scotland, then Spain this past year, so they could be closer to medical care that was affordable.  Please pray for strength for Rita and their daughter Tracey as they care for Ray in his final months.  This photo of Rita and Ray is from the beach in Florence in 2010.  If any of you want to send a note of encouragement to Rita and Ray, check with me for their e-mail address.

 

It has been a fairly quiet week here.  When the weather starts warming up, people who spend winters here start their migration north.  Easter vacation is over and mainland Mexicans have returned home.  The two weeks around Easter are usually very crowded and busy here, especially on the beach.  They set up their tents and their stereo systems and have a ball.  We see an awful lot of  cars with all the camping gear loaded on top (because the family of 6 or 7, and Grandma and an aunt or an uncle or two and the dogs are all inside the car!) 

We were invited to a friend's birthday party at Rancho Buena Vista; he barbecued chicken, ribs and other goodies on his portable barbecue, Skeleton Key Band played live music, and everyone left in town showed up to help Rick celebrate! (At least it seemed like that!  Where did all those folks come from?)   Rick is on the right in this photo by his barbecue.  

 And the band played on.  Great music, by the way.  (The fellow in the white shirt is Mark...he and his friend Tito in the blue shirt played at our Easter service last Sunday on the beach). 

What is there not to like about this place?  I love Rancho Buena Vista!  

Ben's brother John will be joining us next week, and Ryan will be leaving again a few days later to meet with a friend in LA for a birthday concert.   It is looking like Ben's boat will not get in the water again this year.  He has been working on the teak woodwork, but he has so many other projects going on, and trips to La Paz for this and that, and a possible Baja flying trip in a few weeks, that our time for fishing is disappearing.   He has given me permission to advertise it, and I just might take him up on it!  (Anyone interested in buying very nice little fishing boat, licensed in Oregon?)   Another one of his projects is getting the Woody ready to haul north.  We're taking it to a National Model A Car show in Puyallup, Washington in July, and he is very particular!  Our painter friend Caliman was over last week to touch up some paint on the gas tank, and it looks very pretty now.  Caliman is a real pro with his work.  

I will leave you with a sunset that we enjoyed from our veranda the other day.  Life is rough, but someone has to do this. 

A few more photos are posted in our April 2014 Picasa album.  Newest ones are always at the bottom.

Hasta la proxima semana,
Tus amigos en Baja,
Harriet, Ben, Ryan, Sam & Zoey 

Pic-of-the-Week for April 22, 2014

Hola Amigos! 

It is a beautiful morning here in BCS!  The sun is shining, the birds are singing, the temp at almost 8am is 70.3F.  The doors are open, the dogs are fed, Ben is on his second cup of coffee (I'm on my first), the garbage can is out waiting for our twice a week pick-up, and it can't get much better than this!  

We had a lovely Easter Sunrise service on the beach again this year with our local church, East Cape Community Fellowship.  Ben is in charge of the audio equipment, and the service started at 6:15AM, so he wanted us up out of bed at 4:30, and there on the beach by 5AM.  Sigh.....  I set the alarm, but it didn't go off.  I did wake up at about 4:50, so we scurried around and got there by 5:10, probably.  (The clock was on AM instead of PM when I set it the night before, so even though I set the alarm correctly for 4:30AM, it didn't go off at 4:30PM, like I wanted it to!)  Anyhow, with willing helpers we were able to get everything going on time; amp, piano, mics, speakers... It was lovely.  Probably 150 or more folks were there; Americans, Canadians, Mexicans.  And we had breakfast afterwards at the home behind the beach, even though Don and Lynn are currently in Alaska, they let us use their courtyard patio for the occasion.  

In the photo below, you can see Richard giving the Easter message and Fransisco translating to Spanish, along with the sun rising behind the Bass and piano.  

The sun came up on schedule, too!  It is a rather busy beach that early in the morning.  Several boats were hauled by and launched during the service!  We were smart enough to set up the equipment just out of their path!  There were also many Mexicans camped on the beach for Easter week, and when we got there first thing, someone still had loud music playing, that must have gone on all night long!   They did turn theirs off before our service started, muchas gracias!  

Another nice thing about Easter week is that the construction project near us stopped for 4 days (hooray!)  Peace and quiet in the barrio for a few days was wonderful.  They've been working pretty much non-stop (Saturdays and some Sundays) for several weeks now.  They've almost got all the second story walls up and will be starting on the bond beam soon.  It will probably be as tall as Mary and Craig's house to the left of it when it is done, so we will be losing some ocean view from our veranda.  Oh well...life goes on. 

The local birds are giving me lots of photo opportunities, and we have a pair of the Pyrrhuloxia in residence!  I managed to get a shot of both of them on the feeder at once!

I thought that was very cooperative of them!  

Sam and Zoey like this time of year because the lizards are coming out, and the chipmunks are scurrying around collecting the seeds the birds might have missed (or getting them before the birds do!)  I got a really nice shot of them on one of their hunting trips...wondering "which way did he go?" 

 
That one is good enough to use for the 2015 Dachshund Calendar, don't you think?  

We went to Peter's birthday party last week.  His parents always put on a good party, and their place is beautiful;  they have a pool that they let us use and a putting green, too!  And the flowers are beautiful, which I enjoy.

And in our garden, we had the first bloom of our giant Nopal cactus. We'll have hundreds more, according to the buds!

More photos are in the April 2014 album.  Be sure to watch the video of our friend Mark singing at the Easter Service.  I didn't get the whole thing, but you can get a nice sample.  

Ryan is coming back tomorrow, and it will be good to see him again.  The dogs will be thrilled, I'm sure!  He's their designated "petter"!  

Hasta la proxima semana,
Tus amigos de Baja,
Harriet, Ben, Sam & Zoey

Pic-of-the-Week for April 15, 2014

Hola Amigos,

Tuesday keeps rolling around, so you get another peek and taste of life in Baja yet again!  

It has been a more quiet week since we had no guests, and things got done around the house and yard.  Ben "attacked" our Mesquite tree out front, since it has grown enough to block some of our upstairs view.  We just hope that it isn't in shock from the severe pruning!  The birds may be missing their favorite branches, but the ones that are left are easier to get to!

This is the view from upstairs now... no bushy branches impeding the view!
 

We've been watching the progress of construction on the house in Vista del Mar, and they did a roof pour on Saturday.  They had about 30 workers, two concrete mixers, lots of buckets and wheelbarrows, sand, gravel, cement and water.  Everyone had a position to work, and they got it done.  

Here's a link to a video I took that shows the process, and the owners watching from the neighbor's house.  Roof Pour in Baja  It was a hot day, and these guys were all out there until the job was done!  They are hard workers.  Walls are going up quickly this week. 

A couple weeks ago I told you about the Pyrrhuloxia ... the Cardinal looking bird.  I had one visiting the feeder a few days ago while I had my camera close by, so I got several good shots of this guy.  His top knot is sparse, but fun!  In contrast, here's the Cardinal sitting in the neighbor's tree. His hairdo looks like he uses butch wax!!  Neat and tidy and up there!  

Last night we enjoyed dinner on the veranda with friends who have a condo at Mar y Sol.  We enjoyed the view, the meal, the moonrise and visiting with friends.  They, like many other friends here, only come on vacation, but are thinking seriously about retirement and more time here.  They do have a lovely spot! This is the view from their balcony towards our casa.

Then the full moon rose (and I didn't have my "good" camera").  Just gorgeous!  And no, I didn't get up later that night (or early this morning) to get pictures of the Blood Moon eclipse.  Slept right through! 
 

We did enjoy our fresh Baja fish dinner al fresco with friends in candlelight and moonlight!  

More photos are in our April 2014 Picasa album.   If any of you are having trouble getting to our "real" album, just add this to the end of the URL address, and it should go to the correct album instead of the Google Plus album. 
?noredirect=1

Easter is next Sunday, and we're preparing for another sunrise service on the beach.  Just in case you can make it, it starts at 6:15AM this year.  Sunrise is at about 7AM!   

Hasta la proxima semana,
Tus amigos en Baja,
Harriet, Ben, Sam & Zoey

Pic-of-the-Week for April 8, 2014

Hola Amigos,

We had a busy week with our guest Lydia, all the way from Austria.  She went touring around the countryside; north, south, and east.  She went to a style show and bought some really neat new clothes, she went to an all you can eat ribs and chicken dinner and concert, she shopped for souvenirs, she toured deserted beaches and mountainside villages.  She had a great time here (she said) except for the sunburn she got when she went kayaking.  YES, she used sunscreen, but with an hour on the water around noon, and possibly some of it washing off as she waded in the water to the kayak, it wasn't as strong as it could be.  Anyhow, I took her to the doctor, and even that visit was enjoyable.  Very short wait, prescriptions written and filled, very reasonable prices, and a good looking doctor!  She was happy!

 As you can see from the photo below, we had quite a regatta!  Good thing Jim and Pat have 3 kayaks so we could borrow one!  And I have to admit that I got a sunburn on my back (I'm in the green kayak on the left.)  I was so anxious to get into my kayak that I forgot to have Ben put sunscreen on my back.  I had done my legs and arms...that back is tough to reach!) 

Jim even mounted a sail on his Hobie Cat.  He said it had been in the package it arrived in for about 5 years.  In spite of light winds, he was able to get it to work and move his kayak pretty well.  

Sam and Zoey appreciated their time on the beach, but Zoey hates it when I am in the water.  She barks and barks and barks and we can't get her to shut up!  Argh!  She's just fine when I'm sitting on the beach with her in the shade!  Sam is very happy to wade in the water, but not Zoey.  Both Ben and I carried her out to about 1 foot deep water (which is over these guys' heads) and let her swim to shore.  She didn't like that much, either!!!  She can swim just fine...she just hates water!  

Lydia left yesterday, and as of 7am our time, is waiting in London for her flight to Austria.  Ugh.  Reminds me of some long trips I've taken like that.  She does love to travel, though!  

One of the things we like to do is share our great seafood with our guests, either at home, or in some of the restaurants around town.  Since Lydia said she didn't like shrimp or scallops or other seafood, we thought we were a bit hampered.  Then we found out the she didn't "not like it", she just didn't know what she was missing!  I gave her a bite of my coconut shrimp one night, and she decided that's what she'd order next visit.  She also enjoyed our salt water fish, as opposed to the fresh water fish she normally eats at home.  Anyhow, we all ate very well!  We even invited friends to join us in the banquet!  This is a photo of very satisfied diners after another great meal at El Barrilito! 

 
So, on the home front, the garden is doing well.  My beans are going crazy putting on new blooms (I guess it pays to water them deep and often!) so I'll be picking beans and processing (and eating) beans for the next several weeks.  Our Shaving Brush tree is about done blooming, but it did have flowers while Lydia was here so she got to enjoy it, too.  

Our calendar is pretty empty until our next guest arrives in May.  I guess Ben will start working on his boat (again) and think about putting it in eventually.  Our departure date seems to be creeping up, so I'm not sure how long the boat will be in (if it gets put in).  If he doesn't get busy fishing, he might have to work on the "honey-do" list that he created for himself this last fall! 

I have started an April 2014 Picasa album.  I've even got captions on most of the photos. 

Ryan is still busy in San Diego, so until next week, it's just 
Tus amigos de Baja,
Harriet, Ben, Sam & Zoey

Pic-of-the-Week for April 1, 2014

Hola Amigos,
Well, Ben and I have made a major decision to give up life here in Baja and move north.  HAH!!!  April Fool's!!!  Not ready to do that yet.  We've lived in each of our homes about 16 years, and we've only been here 11 years and a few months (we moved in Dec 2002), so we have a few years yet!  Better get your reservations in for a visit before we move somewhere not as fun!

We picked up our current guest Lydia on Sunday evening from the SJD airport.  It's the latest we remember ever picking anyone up, but she had a long, long trip to get here.  She is from Austria!  She flew from Vienna to London to Dallas to San Jose del Cabo!  Phew.  Almost as much fun as my trips to Jordan.  Anyhow, she made it safely and is enjoying her vacation here so far.  She was pleasantly surprised by her view of the Sea of Cortez from upstairs yesterday morning, since she arrived in the dark the night before. 

We took her to the lighthouse beach yesterday.  We haven't been there in ages because some big company bought a bunch of property out there and fenced off the access road to the lighthouse.  The company has since folded and we could again drive out there.  (Thanks to our friend Harold for reminding us where the first part of the road was located!)  

 They have built a new lighthouse since we've been here (the taller one on the right). 

 I told Lydia her outfit matched the colors of the water quite nicely!  Water was a bit too cool for swimming, at least for us.  She said her mother would love it!
 

This sailboat went by while we were there, and ended the day moored in front of Los Barriles.  There was a nice south breeze to get them there!  

We were disappointed in the lack of shells on the beach.  When we first vacationed here in the 1980's, this beach was loaded with all kinds of beautiful shells.  There are just bits and pieces now.  I guess the advent of the ATV access has made it easy for more people to pick them up.  

Other tours around the area are planned for the next several days; and probably some good old relaxing time, too.  And of course, we'll sample some delicious Mexican food from our local restaurants!  Last Friday, we went with friends Tony and Janet to La Trinidad restaurant near La Ribera.  We were pleasantly surprised by the good food and the ambiance of the place, and we'll probably go back, now that the days are getting longer (and Daylight time begins in Mexico this next weekend).  We DO NOT like driving after dark, since this is free range country and cows and horses and goats and sheep are all black at night! 

Cactus are blooming now, which makes a lot of the birds happy.  This is blooms from a Cardon, with many left to bloom.  Again, like many cactus, the bloom lasts one day.

 And to see how big these things can get, here's a shot of Lydia in front of one that must be well over 100 years old.  People have carved their names in the trunk of this one!

 
I've added some final photos to our March 2014 album (they were taken in March, after all).  Just look near the bottom of the album for the newest ones. 

Hasta la proxima semana,
Tus amigos de Baja,
Harriet, Ben, Sam & Zoey (who caught a lizard when we were gone yesterday and left it at our back door!)