Pic-of-the-Month for May 27, 2021

 Hola Amigos,

Where, oh where does the time go?  Can you believe it is already the end of May, and just one month until the end of our Baja season for this year.  We plan to head north on June 26 (always a Saturday so Ben can enjoy the Clam Feed at Oasis Hotel in Loreto at the end of our first travel day!!)  Until then, there are things for us to do here, including trying to stay cool!  Maybe I could/should get Ben to go swimming?!?  Looks pretty nice right now.  Temps have been in the 80's to 90's now.  Yes, that's a LOW temperature of 80!  It's about this time of year that I start missing cool Oregon nights.  

This was my view this morning as I was getting in my 2+ mile daily walk.  As I was thinking "phew, it's getting warm...this soft sand is hard to walk in...that sun is sure bright in my eyes", I decided what a blessing it is to live here and be able to walk every day in this beautiful place!  I could be walking in the cold rain, or inside some mall (dangerous if I'm carrying money!  I might have to stop and shop!)  Instead, I get to enjoy this.  Now, if that doesn't entice some of you down to visit, I give up! I just hope my tennis shoes hold up for another month...both pairs are getting pretty tattered!  By the way, Zoey is doing her shorter route these days.  It's just too hot for a black dog (she tells me) to go that far.  Especially one who refuses to get anywhere close to the water to cool off!   

We finally, finally took the '56 Jeep out for an adventure ride to Muertos Bay north of here.  The coast road can barely be called a road in some parts.  Very steep, very rocky, extremely narrow (you hope like everything no one will be coming from the other direction as there are few places to pass).  The good thing is, the Jeep ran exactly like it should have.  The new carburetor worked very well, and the nice new electric fan kept the radiator cool.  (Didn't keep us too cool!  It was quite a hot day!)  We went with 4 other couples in their rigs, and all had a great time.  The reward is there is a restaurant at Muertos Bay, so we all tanked up before the trip back home.  

  The start of the "rough" road.  First thing is up a steep, steep grade.  

Then over some rough, narrow road (Ben says this was one of the good parts!)  Notice the drop off on my side!  

We made it to Muertos Bay, had lunch with everyone, then Ben and I decided to go back via Hwy 1 (San Antonio and San Bartolo) instead of over the rough rocky part.  It took us 3 hours (with a couple rest stops) to get from the start to Muertes Bay, and a little less than one hour to get back home after putting more air in our tires at a gas station in Los Planes.  More pictures of our trip are in our May 2021 photo album.

What else are we doing?  Ben always has several projects going.  I think the car collection is mostly done, but there is always maintenance.  He's been working on a couple of wood-working projects, including adding rockers to an old Mexican chair.  He rebuilt one for our friend Rosy a couple years ago, and added a nice leather seat from Miraflores leather works.  Rosy and Hector Manuel found another chair to match it, other than it didn't have rockers on it.  So, Ben added those, is in the process of refinishing the wood, and will then take it to Miraflores to get the leather seat added.  It should look very nice when he's done.  He's also cleaning up the garden...we got a lot of nice vegetables out of it this year, and he's already ordered seeds for next year!  The burros have been enjoying the old corn stalks, green bean vines, lettuce and whatever else we can give them.  It's very dry here this year (not much summer rain last year), so the wild burros are suffering, as are the free-range cattle and goats.

I've been doing my "spring" quilting.  I made one for Ben and I for our Oregon trailer bed, and I'm making one for a grand nephew who should be making his appearance any moment now.  I used the same pattern on both, but the baby quilt is a bit more colorful!  The big one includes some squares that I embroidered, and that took several years to get done!  So, the cutting and piecing took less than a month, but that hand-work slowed me down a bit.  (I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with the embroidery anyway...this seemed like a great option).  

I managed to get the big one done in time to send it north with the couple who will do the finishing; batting, backing and machine quilting.  They happen to live down here near us in the winter, and go back to Oregon and their quilting business in the summer.  (That must be why I do my quilting in the spring!)  

And here are the basic blocks in the baby quilt.  I'm thinking of stopping at 6 blocks, since I'm running out of cute prints!  We'll see how ambitious I am.  By the way, this pattern is called "Bear's Paw".  

As I said earlier, we are planning on leaving the end of June.  In the meantime, we have a few dental appointments, a quilt to finish, new water line to hook up (come on, water company!) and a freezer to get as empty as possible.   

We hope to be able to visit many more of you this summer than last summer.  We have had our vaccinations, and are good to go!  If you'd like to see us, send us a note, or call us, and we'll see what we can work out.  We'd love to see you.  

Like I said, more pictures are in our May 2021 album for your enjoyment.  Maybe I'll get another "Pic-of" out in June.  Or maybe I'll wait until early July.  😏  

Tus amigos en Baja

Harriet, Ben and Zoey