Hola, Amigos,
Two weeks have sped by, and it's already time for another posting from Casa Purkey in Baja California Sur!
Spring has sprung, we celebrated Easter Sunrise service on the beach once again, and we are anticipating starting Daylight Savings time here in Mexico next Sunday. The weather is warming up, the wind has quit blowing regularly and has changed directions, so we're starting to get winds from the east and southeast, the normal summer directions.
The Easter Service went well. We were up at 4AM, on the beach with all the sound equipment in the truck ready to set up at 4:30. Ben and Ryan had all of it ready to go at 5:30AM. The service went very well, other than our Spanish interpreter didn't show up until just before 6, and since he didn't say the Spanish part, the English portion was done just before sunrise at 6:15!
You can listen to the service AND our singing from our church web site at http://www.eastcapecf.com/sermon-archive/ . Yes, that's me on the piano, hitting a few wrong notes here and there! (It's pretty dark at 5:30 in the morning, ya know!!) I don't have any pictures yet from this year (I was kinda busy), but this is a lovely one from last year.
Easter time is the most popular time of the year for Mexicans to vacation, especially here on the beach. The weather is not too hot, the water is swim-able, and the music can go all. night. long!!! In fact, when we got to the beach at 4:30, there was a group of people still playing their music loudly, and it continued at least part-way through our service. They did eventually quit, and we enjoyed our time on the beach anyway!
Here's a picture of a camp set up where the dogs and I usually approach the beach. There were actually 3 big groups right here; Dad and Mom and all the kids and aunts and uncles and lots of dogs!
This is the more remote, quieter area. There were volleyball courts and beer tents and so forth set up in the Los Barriles area. That was the most crowded I think I've ever seen those beaches!
All is back to normal now, and there was a contest for the kids...each one who delivered a full bag of garbage (and there was plenty) received a toy! Not sure if that's encouraging people to toss their garbage or not....??
Ben has been busy working on his boat, trying to get it ready for fishing by late April or early May. We had the upholstery re-done in La Paz, and we did the "bumpers" ourselves, and installed them last week. (Padded boards that go around the interior so you don't "bump" your knees and legs against the side of the boat when you're fighting that big fish).
He's also finished a woodworking project, pictured below. It's a beautiful box that he made for a specific purpose. If you can guess what he stores in this box, you get a week's free stay at our casa here in Baja! (No big deal, all your stays here are free!!) But give it your best shot!
Our Bottle-Brush tree is going gang-busters this year. It is blooming like crazy. You may remember when we had three blooms the first year, and were so excited! This year, It's hard to even count the buds and blooms! We are still thrilled with this tree, and are happy that it seems to be happy, too. The top picture shows one flower blooming, and lots of buds. The next is a close up of several blooms.
What is even more fun is taking a picture of these at night, where they look like fireworks! Amazingly beautiful.
Easter afternoon, (after naps!) we took a drive north with our friend Alexandra to show her the cave paintings in a remote area. We stopped in El Cardonal for lunch at a new hotel / restaurant there, and discovered that the cook is the daughter of Mama Fuentes, who, with her husband Arturo, ran the Baja Beach Club restaurant that we used to frequent in our early years here. It was just north of Punta Pescadero, and had the most wonderful Mexican food...very authentic and delicious! The oldest Fuentes son, Arturo Junior, was the contractor who built our home here. The restaurant has been closed several years since Arturo senior passed away. Fortunately, Senora Fuentes taught her daughters how to cook, and we had a lovely meal there. We're hoping to go back, in spite of the miserable roads!
Oh, and we did manage to find our way to the cave paintings. We took the dogs so they got some exercise, too.
Going backwards in time, the week before Easter we decided we had time to take the Woody to San Jose Days for a parade and mini car show. Going to these is always an adventure, especially when the car battery was dead the day before!!! Yikes! Ben charged it, and we managed to get it started and on the trailer the day before. It barely started Saturday morning when he was driving it off the trailer, so we drove around a little bit to charge it up, then had breakfast. It started again after breakfast, and we lined up for the parade (they wanted us 1st in line, right behind all the floats)!!! We made it all the way through the parade, and to the car show, but needed a push when the car show was over! Turns out the battery is bad, so we'll need to get a new one this summer in the States. 6-volt batteries are hard to find here in Mexico.
As usual, our very photograph-able car had lots of pictures take of it. I caught these two little boys admiring it! Each car received this flag to use as they wished. Ben insisted I have my picture taken with it. Translation: "I'm not old, I'm a Classic!"
We enjoy the parade route through San Jose...skinny streets and lots of folks waiting to see the sights.
Two weeks have sped by, and it's already time for another posting from Casa Purkey in Baja California Sur!
Spring has sprung, we celebrated Easter Sunrise service on the beach once again, and we are anticipating starting Daylight Savings time here in Mexico next Sunday. The weather is warming up, the wind has quit blowing regularly and has changed directions, so we're starting to get winds from the east and southeast, the normal summer directions.
The Easter Service went well. We were up at 4AM, on the beach with all the sound equipment in the truck ready to set up at 4:30. Ben and Ryan had all of it ready to go at 5:30AM. The service went very well, other than our Spanish interpreter didn't show up until just before 6, and since he didn't say the Spanish part, the English portion was done just before sunrise at 6:15!
You can listen to the service AND our singing from our church web site at http://www.eastcapecf.com/sermon-archive/ . Yes, that's me on the piano, hitting a few wrong notes here and there! (It's pretty dark at 5:30 in the morning, ya know!!) I don't have any pictures yet from this year (I was kinda busy), but this is a lovely one from last year.
Easter time is the most popular time of the year for Mexicans to vacation, especially here on the beach. The weather is not too hot, the water is swim-able, and the music can go all. night. long!!! In fact, when we got to the beach at 4:30, there was a group of people still playing their music loudly, and it continued at least part-way through our service. They did eventually quit, and we enjoyed our time on the beach anyway!
Here's a picture of a camp set up where the dogs and I usually approach the beach. There were actually 3 big groups right here; Dad and Mom and all the kids and aunts and uncles and lots of dogs!
This is the more remote, quieter area. There were volleyball courts and beer tents and so forth set up in the Los Barriles area. That was the most crowded I think I've ever seen those beaches!
All is back to normal now, and there was a contest for the kids...each one who delivered a full bag of garbage (and there was plenty) received a toy! Not sure if that's encouraging people to toss their garbage or not....??
Ben has been busy working on his boat, trying to get it ready for fishing by late April or early May. We had the upholstery re-done in La Paz, and we did the "bumpers" ourselves, and installed them last week. (Padded boards that go around the interior so you don't "bump" your knees and legs against the side of the boat when you're fighting that big fish).
He's also finished a woodworking project, pictured below. It's a beautiful box that he made for a specific purpose. If you can guess what he stores in this box, you get a week's free stay at our casa here in Baja! (No big deal, all your stays here are free!!) But give it your best shot!
Our Bottle-Brush tree is going gang-busters this year. It is blooming like crazy. You may remember when we had three blooms the first year, and were so excited! This year, It's hard to even count the buds and blooms! We are still thrilled with this tree, and are happy that it seems to be happy, too. The top picture shows one flower blooming, and lots of buds. The next is a close up of several blooms.
What is even more fun is taking a picture of these at night, where they look like fireworks! Amazingly beautiful.
Easter afternoon, (after naps!) we took a drive north with our friend Alexandra to show her the cave paintings in a remote area. We stopped in El Cardonal for lunch at a new hotel / restaurant there, and discovered that the cook is the daughter of Mama Fuentes, who, with her husband Arturo, ran the Baja Beach Club restaurant that we used to frequent in our early years here. It was just north of Punta Pescadero, and had the most wonderful Mexican food...very authentic and delicious! The oldest Fuentes son, Arturo Junior, was the contractor who built our home here. The restaurant has been closed several years since Arturo senior passed away. Fortunately, Senora Fuentes taught her daughters how to cook, and we had a lovely meal there. We're hoping to go back, in spite of the miserable roads!
Oh, and we did manage to find our way to the cave paintings. We took the dogs so they got some exercise, too.
Going backwards in time, the week before Easter we decided we had time to take the Woody to San Jose Days for a parade and mini car show. Going to these is always an adventure, especially when the car battery was dead the day before!!! Yikes! Ben charged it, and we managed to get it started and on the trailer the day before. It barely started Saturday morning when he was driving it off the trailer, so we drove around a little bit to charge it up, then had breakfast. It started again after breakfast, and we lined up for the parade (they wanted us 1st in line, right behind all the floats)!!! We made it all the way through the parade, and to the car show, but needed a push when the car show was over! Turns out the battery is bad, so we'll need to get a new one this summer in the States. 6-volt batteries are hard to find here in Mexico.
As usual, our very photograph-able car had lots of pictures take of it. I caught these two little boys admiring it! Each car received this flag to use as they wished. Ben insisted I have my picture taken with it. Translation: "I'm not old, I'm a Classic!"
We enjoy the parade route through San Jose...skinny streets and lots of folks waiting to see the sights.
Our garden is doing well (besides the blooming tree!). I am now harvesting green beans (yum), and am hoping I'll get enough to can a few batches. We have also enjoyed lettuce and cucumbers lately, and are looking forward to much more!
More photos are in our 2016 March Picasa album.
Hasta Abril,
Tus amigos en Baja,
Harriet, Ben, Ryan, Sam and Zoey, who like to explore old petroglyphs
