Pic-of-the-Week for December 20, 2016

Hola Amigos, and Feliz Navidad!

Yes, it's beginning to look a bit like Christmas here.  We have put up our several years old agave bloom stalk that we use to hold our decorations and lights, and it's looking more "Charlie Brown Christmas Tree" every year!!  I think we need a new one, but this one will do for now.

Thankfully, our weather is nothing like the snow and ice storms Oregon and Washington have been having and we haven't had our little heater on at all the last several weeks.  It is kind of cloudy and coolish today, but it has been sunny and bright; several days of calm, then several days of wind.  That way, the kite boarders and wind surfers don't get too worn out!  

It has been a quiet couple of weeks.  Ben didn't go to the car show in Cabo San Lucas where he won top prize last year.  The timing was bad for it this year, and they usually hold them on a Sunday when we are busy at church.  Ryan's college buddy Ken was here with his girlfriend for a while, and they just escaped Portland before the ice and snow storm hit there, so were very fortunate.  They sure enjoyed the sun and warmth here!

We are happy that our hummingbirds are beginning to show up in force again.  I believe that Hurricane Odile from a few years ago was very hard on the hummingbird population.  Once they found our feeders, there are more and more coming and using them.  

These two are young Costa's hummingbirds.  The one on the right has a few purple feathers on his head.  He will grow in a beautiful crown of violet feathers soon.  The one of the left looks like a female.

The motor is finally back in the boat, but not quite ready to go yet.  There are still bits and pieces for Chuyito to do to finish up, but he's got a job right now captaining a boat touring the Sea of Cortez for some fishing. He said the ship was over 100' long. Must be rough!  We're hoping he's back in a couple weeks to get this little guy sea-worthy.   At least Ben is able to get around in his shop and clean some stuff up.  

The weather was so hot earlier this fall that I delayed planting my garden.  Now, I'm happy to say, we have some Walla Walla sweet onions, spinach, arugula, radishes and lettuce coming up.  I should plant my beans soon because my canned supply is almost gone.  Love 'em fresh, love 'em home-canned!  

Our dendrobium orchid continues to put out multiple bloom stalks and blooms. For something I was ready to throw out a couple years ago, it is doing very, very well!  

A since it's Christmas season in Mexico, it's tamale time!  Ben ordered this for breakfast the other day, and he said it was delicious!  We do enjoy our Mexican food available here, and there are some wonderful folks who know how to prepare it!  

We get to see pictures of our Grandkids, and talk to them on Skype pretty regularly, but the picture of Aaron that Rebecca sent the other day was a "shocker"!  Aaron has taken to cutting his own hair.  I can't believe he did all that with just scissors (and didn't jab himself!)  We're thinking he was going for the "monkish" look....just not quite centered.  Like Rebecca says, he's definitely right handed!  And he has such handsome red hair!  Sigh......

From our casa to yours, we wish you Christmas Blessings, 

and a Prosperous New Year! 

Isaiah 9:6

6 For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given,
    and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
    Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Hasta el proxima año,

Tus amigos de Baja

Harriet, Ben, Ryan, Sam & Zoey

Pic-of-the-Week for December 7, 2016

Hola, Amigos...

Another two weeks (and a day) has quickly gone by while we enjoy our sunny, but coolish, days here in Baja. By coolish, I mean that the morning temps have been in the 50's, highs in the 70's.  And that is cold for some of the Mexican homes that have no heating systems except for a few light bulbs and the cooking range.... and blankets!  It is supposed to warm up to the 80's this next week.  (Smiley face!)  

Yesterday was a beautiful calm and warm day and good enough for snorkeling ... at least for our friend Maggie.  We visited them at their new home yesterday, and when we got there she was down on the beach visiting folks from England and Germany who are here to take kite boarding lessons.  Of course on non-windy days, they need to do something else, so were snorkeling there, too. Those rocky areas attract a lot of fish, and she said there were hundreds of them out there.

Ben got our little propane heater working the other day, but it took the whole day to do it, and taking the thing completely apart and tipping it over to get to the little bits and pieces.  The gas supply line had separated from the igniter (he found that after much trial and error).  At first, he tried to order the igniter unit, but found that the shipping would be about $75 for next day air to get it to friends coming down soon.  Ha!!  Forget that for a $35 part!  Next he tried the store in Salem where we bought it.  They didn't have it.  Then he tried another one in Medford that wasn't real quick in getting back to us.  In the meantime, he managed to get the supply line back into the fitting by carefully, and with multiple tries, drilling out the fitting.  After about 10 or 12 times out to the shop to drill it again, it finally worked, and the fitting clamped nicely around the line.  Sure is nice to have a "Ben-of-all-trades" who can figure this stuff out. 

For those of you who have heard Miguel de Hoyos, our favorite guitarist, when you've visited us....he was back in town!  Hooray!  We got a front row seat for his last night here a few days ago, and really enjoyed his mastery of the guitar.  He claims he will be back again in January or February (with Alex on the violin), so we are pleased about that.  Check out our December 2016 album for a couple sample videos of his music. 

We are getting ready for Christmas...making our guest list to Christmas dinner and checking it twice or thrice.  Ben hopes to smoke another turkey, and I'm sure we'll have all the dishes to accompany it.  Ryan got our little stick tree out of storage and it is set up in the living room.  It's not decorated yet, but it's on the list of things for me to do!  Mañana!  Here's what it will look like....  Or something like that!!  At least the lights are already on it, so I don't have to deal with them this year.  




Ryan has a couple friends coming to visit for a while tomorrow, and they are our first "long term" guests this year.  I guess the weather hasn't been cold and miserable enough yet for the rest of you to consider a Baja vacation!  Ryan will be gone for several months mid January thru March or longer, so we'll have two guest rooms available then.  Something to think about!!  You can sit in our garden and watch the hummingbirds! 

Oh, I almost forgot... Ben took the 1929 Ford pickup to a car show in La Paz and won another prize or two.  I went up on the bus on Sunday afternoon, and got there just as the sun was going down.  

Isn't it pretty?!
  

I've got two photo albums for you to look at this week.  The November 2016 has some "end of the month" pics, and I've started the December 2016 album (and lucky you, a couple videos of Miguel playing have been uploaded).  


Hasta la proxima vez,
Tus amigos de Baja,
Harriet, Ben, Ryan, Sam & Zoey (who snuggle together on cold mornings!)