Pic-of-the-Month for May 2019 - part 2

Hola Amigos,

I told you I might write 2 this month, and I have time this afternoon, so thought I'd catch you up on our activities for May.

This photo is from my morning walk today.  Zoey and I are still walking 6 days a week, but as it gets warmer (and more chance for snakes) we aren't always going the 3+ miles.  We did get Ben's brother John to go with us while he was here on vacation most days, and I took him to the Flag Monument and a few of the bike trails, too.  The other day, we discovered this new fence and sign across one trail that I hike regularly.  Hmmmmm...  This could be a problem for a biker coming down the hill!!  We'll see what happens next fall when the bikers are back!  I have a feeling there may be more barbed wire fences coming soon! 

In the meantime, I enjoy checking out the scenery and the plants.  The Pitahaya cactus are blooming now, and they are so pretty!  

Of course, while I was looking for these, I completely missed the Night-Blooming cactus in my own garden (walked right by it!)  By the time I got home that day, it was just closing up.  I took a picture of it anyhow!  I haven't figured out if it blooms more than one night or not... Another bud is forming on this cactus, so I'll try to watch it more carefully!  

It is getting quiet here in the neighborhood.  Many people have migrated north already, and traffic around town is much more reasonable and easier to navigate.   My piano student decided to quit a bit early this year since she's so busy with other school things, and Ben has "finished" working on cars 24 x 7!  There are still things to do on them, but they can wait! 

We took the Jeep on a long anticipated ride to Muertes Bay....except we didn't get there!  The Jeep refused to run decent on steep, rocky roads, so after getting 2/3 of the way there, we turned around and had lunch in the little town of El Cardonal.  According to the local mechanic, it needs an "off-road" carburetor, and we haven't been able to find one....yet.  Or Fuel Injection...  (Next year!)  In the mean time, we enjoy taking it around places here, including down the beach to Rancho Buena Vista for a cool drink and/or a dip in the pool.  Here's a couple pictures from our aborted trip to Muertes Bay (which you can see in the distance to the right of the top picture!)  

 Here's a nice, mostly deserted beach.

I finished up my latest little quilt and sent it off with brother John to be mailed to my quilters in Oregon.  It turned out pretty nice, and I'm anxious to see how the flannel backing that I sent will work.  It's the first one I've done that doesn't have borders, too, so binding it will be interesting!  

Ben's brother John had a great time while here, and left for Oregon yesterday.  We even stopped in Miraflores at the Leather shop to get him a belt the day he flew in.  His waist is so small he has trouble finding ones that fit (really!)  He found one he liked, and the leather guy shortened it while we waited a few minutes!  We took him on Jeep rides, and he finally got Ben to get the Model A out, and he was our first rumble seat rider!  (It was dusty, so needed to be washed before we could take it to town!!) 

After that ride, we put the new cover on it and will probably keep it under wraps until it's time to haul it to Oregon.  

Our daughter Rebecca's family is in the US, and they will be in Oregon in July and August while we're there.  We are looking forward to seeing them all again.  

Eleanor said the cow in this favorite restaurant near Chicago got smaller.... I'm thinking someone got bigger! 

















Ryan and Charlotte's little girl Olivia is growing quickly.  She's 9 1/2 months old already!  Her hair doesn't look red in this photo, but it sure looks reddish in other photos!   He says she is a very happy girl.  

I will probably post one more of these before we leave Baja.  Currently, we're thinking of leaving here the last week on June, but if it starts getting hot, we might leave sooner.  

I have posted more photos in our May 2019 album.  Feel free to check them out.  The captions don't show when you do the slideshow, but if you click on a picture, it should open up with the caption to the right.  If not, click on the "i" in a circle (info) on the upper right of the screen.  


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

Pic-of-the-Month for May 2019

May 14, 2019

Hola Amigos!

Hey!  I'm early this month, but so much has happened so far this month, I may even get around to doing another one later on (maybe not!)  Anyhow, this one has lots of "car" stuff.  Oh...and Happy Birthday today to my sister Shelley!  

We had friends visit!  Our Cessna flying friend, John Hirons and his friend Sue Crosby, showed up in early May at our casa.  Actually, we met them in La Paz first.  They landed at the airport there, and we met them for brunch at one of our favorite restaurants, Maria California. We happened to be in town to pick up our 1930 Model A Roadster from Majalca Body Shop where they were doing final paint touch up and polish before the car show.  Then, Ben and I drove it over to the La Paz Ford dealership so they could display it for the week before the car show (and we didn't have to haul it home until the show was over).  Here we are entering the show room floor! 

And here we are inside.  All work stopped as we brought it in and set it up!  It was lots of fun seeing Ford employees check it out.  



Later that week, Ben hauled in the '28 Ford/Martin-Parry Woody and parked it next to the Roadster.  Pretty cool!

Amidst all that excitement, I had another birthday while John and Sue were here to help me celebrate, and we did a tour out to Cabo Pulmo and Los Frailes so John could check out some of the runways down that way where he has landed in the past.  We also posed for a picture by one of the huge cactus in the area.

This last weekend was the car show in La Paz, and we hauled the '29 pickup up there on Saturday morning.  With help from our friends Debi and Sandy, the guys got the Woody and Roadster out of the Ford showroom and drove them to the park where the show is held in downtown.  Ben had given Sandy some driving lessons with the Woody earlier in the week.  He was a bit nervous about driving in La Paz traffic, but did a great job!  So, we got our pickup over there a bit later, and had all three of our Model A's lined up for the evening parade!  What fun!  Ben led the parade in the '30 Roadster (after the police car and the pickup pulling a trailer with the Quaker State Girls and the music system playing LOUD music), followed by Sandy and Debi in the '28 Woody, and I followed in the '29 pickup with our friend Rosy (she and her husband Hector Manuel put on the show).  We were followed by about 20 other classic cars and trucks.  Lots of people in town and everyone was thrilled to be waved and/or tooted at!  And we never got out of first gear.  In fact, my foot was rarely off of the clutch!  Ben says these slow parade speeds are really hard on the clutch, but when the lead police car goes 5mph, there's not much you can do about it!  At least I didn't have to worry about double clutching...we never got out of 1st gear!  Barely got INTO 1st gear!

We managed to get all three cars back to our hotel parking "space" (behind automatic opening doors...very secure since we had the controller and the only access was through those doors). 

The next day, Sandy and Debi showed up right on time, and we each drove our assigned vehicles back down to the car show area.  We found out at that time there was a conflict of interests; Manuel had gotten a permit to use the park that day for the show, but it is a skate board park, and someone had made arrangements for a big skate board show and a bunch of live bands to play their music until who knows when!!?!  So, Manuel "punted" and placed the oldest cars (including all three of ours) across the street in a primo spot right by the bay.  The rest he squeezed in on the one block area, and a bit of Applebee's parking lot.  Someone set up a shade tent for us on the other side, and a nice breeze blew over there most of the day.  It was lovely!  This was first thing in the morning;  Ben got the red carpet treatment for his car.  Several people pointed out that I managed to get the statue in the rumble seat!  Pretty clever on my part (I just clicked the shutter...didn't realize it was in the rumble seat until someone else pointed it out!)   

Edgar Majalca, who owns the shop where we had it painted and body work done, set up a tent over it, and proceeded to wax and polish it....again!  He and several of his crew also dusted and polished the other cars over there.  He was very proud of that car, and I think he'll get a lot of business because of it.   (He had several cute girls passing out business cards and decals!)  

That evening, when the music at the Skate Board park was extra loud, Manuel started his presentations.  We won several prizes; one for the Woody because it's so rare, and one for the Roadster it being 89 years old and restored.  Then, surprise, surprise, we won top prize for the best vehicle for the '30 Roadster!  We were amazed, because there were some really cool cars and trucks there that have been lovingly restored  (see pictures in my 2019 May album)  but we weren't going to argue!  We were happy, and it was nice frosting on the cake of a two year intensive restoration project.  Now, I'm going to start driving it!  

We brought the Roadster home on Monday, and Ben is in La Paz today and tomorrow getting the other two.  Poco a poco they'll all be back in our garage, the Purkey Model A Museum! And now, maybe Ben will have time to do other projects, although he did mention to me yesterday that he'd like to upgrade the steering and transmission on the Roadster.  Sigh....
  
I have finally started on a new baby quilt project.  I have had some pretty flannels that I couldn't figure out how to use.  In this quilt, I'm combining them with regular 100% cottons to make this colorful pattern.  I'm also going to back it with the flannel.  I think it will turn out quite nice.  Here's what it looks like so far, and I believe I'm only going to add one more row.  Blue and green should be good for a little boy!  FYI, this is what they call a "Charm" quilt, one made with scraps, and all pieces exactly the same.  This particular pattern is named "Tumbler".  These strips are not sewn together yet at the bottom of the picture.  I promise it will be lined up nicely when it's done if you're noticing that it's not!

Our Jeep is working well now, and we've been taking it down the beach to the Round Bar at Rancho Buena Vista several evenings a week, and using it around town.  We also plan to do longer trips in it, as soon as Ben is done hauling Model A's hither and yon.  We saw the "Fuller Brush" Man's truck on the beach yesterday evening.  They were enjoying doing a little late afternoon fishing after a hard day's work.  I didn't see any fishing poles for sale on display, but they might be hidden in there somewhere!

Again, don't forget to look at our 2019 May photo album to see even more car pictures, and maybe a few grandkid pics.  😏😉

We're looking forward to Ben's brother John arriving next week for a nice long stay.  He made his reservations to help us drive cars in the parade, then the date of the show was changed, so we'll have to have a parade in downtown Los Barriles for him!  He says Sandy STOLE his right to drive in the parade in La Paz.  

We are here until late June, so if you want to come visit during some of the nicest, quietest time here, come on down!  

Hasta la proxima vez,
Tus amigos in Baja,
Harriet, Ben, Sam & Zoey