Hola Amigos!
Happy New Year! Feliz Año Nuevo! Were you wondering if I was going to come through with a final update for the year? Well, I'm kind of surprised myself. Time does fly, and things don't always get done in a timely manner. By my clock, I have a few hours left to get this out to you all.
We have been busy, busy, busy! Gardening, quick trip to Oregon, parades, car shows, company, Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas concerts, ATV fun ride, Christmas dinner, major tree pruning, walking, multiple trips to La Paz to get things done, and at least one trip for fun (combined with the car show). I hope I can remember the highlights but not bore you to tears!
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| Karan and I on a morning walk. Cousin Tom took this pic. Nice job! |
I took a quick trip to Oregon in early November to get two skin cancers taken care of, and expected cool, late fall weather. Well, I got full-on winter! Freezing temps, strong wind, snow, rain, and more snow! The weather was bright and sunny several of those days (still very cold), but the day I left from Redmond airport, they had to de-ice the plane! Thanks to my good friends Tony and Janet Kronemeyer, I got my appointments in Bend taken care of, (they dropped me off and picked me up!) and I managed to get a flu shot and Covid booster done, too. And I snuck in a little bit of shopping as well. The Kronemeyers also hosted me at their lovely home in Sisters.
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| The Three Sisters in Oregon after a nice fresh snow fall. |
When I returned to Baja, there were a lot of things scheduled for the rest of November. For the first time in 2 years, due to Covid shut downs, Mexico was ready to celebrate Revolution Day, November 20. We have participated in the local parade here since Ben has restored his 1929 Model A pickup quite a few years ago. That vehicle is a popular one for the Queen and princesses to ride in. The 1928 Woody is used for the younger royalty. I let my cousin Tom Malpass drive the pickup this year (my usual job) since they were visiting us for the week, and he just loves to double clutch!! (Ha!)
special event in town for all the Non-Profit organizations in the area, including the one Ben and I are part of, "Feeding the Hungry". Fortunately for us, our neighbor Brian got involved and had a fun "The Price is Right - guess the cost of grocery" game, and Gordon Blackie, the FTH financial guy, invited all his neighbors from his RV park to come play the game and vote for us. It was a great time, and believe it or not, our group won the vote for the most liked non-profit! As a result, we won $2500 US from the local Real Estate company that put the show on. That was a great benefit to our organization, which assists the needier people in town with regular monthly food vouchers. On Thursday that week the 24th, we hosted a Thanksgiving dinner for 10 of us. Ben smoked a turkey that was delicious, as usual! Of course we had the requisite pumpkin and apple pie and pecan bars, and all the goodies to go with it. Cousin Tom said it was ALL good!
That weekend was the car show in La Paz (the 26th & 27th), and the organizer, Hector Manuel Amarillas convinced Ben to bring his Woody, and Edgar Majalca, the man whose body shop restored the 1930 Roadster, asked him to bring that car to demonstrate his workmanship. SO.... multiple trips to La Paz hauling cars on the car trailer, and figuring out where to park the trailer, and jockeying Model A's from here to there. The show was at a different venue this year, the city Performance Theatre, and it was really quite nice, other than lack of shade and limited restrooms! Anyhow, Ben got both cars there, parked in the "Model A" area (there were several others). Then, as a surprise to us, Edgar Majalca proceeded to polish the Woody with his special ceramic finish. Wow! It was beautiful! What a treat. OK....it was worth it bringing both cars.
After the car show, Ben had to make several more trips to La Paz to haul Mel and Katie's car to a repair shop, and to get the "extra" Model A back home! Thankfully, Hector Manuel let us store the woody at his house (which is very close to the Theater).
Phew! What a busy week in a busy month!
December has been slightly less busy, with a lot of work around the house, and a few fun things thrown in the mix. Gordon Blackie, our Feeding the Hungry(FTH) financial guy, is also a great ATV trail maker, and organized another fund raiser for FTH, a 28 mile long fun ride up in the hills, down arroyos and canyons, on the beach, through areas with ditches you didn't think possible to cross, up beautiful arroyos with water running in them. He had also set up rest stops where you could get a cold beer or soft drink or water, and even one area with a campfire where you could make a S'more! Or have tequila shots! You don't realize how amazing this countryside is until you can get up there and experience it in that way. Anyhow, he did a fantastic job as usual, got lots of folks to help him with the Country Music theme, and didn't lose one rig! Kudos to Gordon for a job very well done!
On December 17th, I played the piano for the singing group at the Saturday Market. We sang some good old Christmas Carols, and many folks got into the spirit and sang along. Fun time, other than trying to keep my music pinned down with the wind blowing! This was the view from my piano before the music started.
The next week, I went to a Cookie exchange party (YUM!) and on Christmas Eve, to a Soup share party. On Christmas Day, we again had a total of 10 for dinner. Pic is of the cookie exchange.
After all the celebrations, we've been very busy getting things done around here. Ben got out his chain saw, and has been pruning (severely) some of our Mesquite trees. He then clips all the leaves and little branches off, then uses his chop saw to cut the remaining branches into fire pit sized fire wood. He has done an amazing amount of work, and finishes the work so it's all neat and tidy every day. I help by dragging limbs to the pruning spot, or raking up debris, or holding a branch with a rope so we don't loose them over the bank. We've both ended up with scratches on arms and legs, since Mesquite are very thorny. But we have been enjoying the fires in the evenings.
OK. That's about it. If you've got this far, congratulations! You have persevered! Oh, by the way, I managed to log 725 miles walking this year. Hopefully, I'm a bit healthier, and can do the same next year.
Have a great New Year, and we hope to hear from you whenever you get the chance.
Picture albums! November 2022 December 2022 I'm working on captions. It may take a while!
Hasta la proxima vez,
Tus amigos de Baja,
Harriet, Ben & Zoey
