The Birthday Girl

I woke up this morning to some wonderful birthday greetings from friends and family. Thank you all so much for sending good wishes and your love this way. Here is the birthday girl getting ready to share her mocha cake with Bryan, sitting on the 3rd floor terrace of a pastry shop we love. I don't even know the name of the place but it overlooks the street that runs into the Jardin, Calle San Francisco. Below us we could hear the ankle bells and drums of the Indian dancers who were celebrating in front of the Parroquia.

My birthday is special because it coincides with the celebration of the city's patron saint, San Miguel, which includes plenty of fireworks, parades and other festivities over the next week. With this in mind, I would like to share this beautiful video, San Miguel de Allende: The Heart of Mexico, which I just saw today. It is the one presented earlier this year to UNESCO, along with tons of documentation, to secure World Heritage status for San Miguel de Allende. www.terrazassanmiguel.com/heart_of_mexico.html Enjoy.

Obama -- Si Se Puede

Obama has come to San Miguel, at least his paper image has. (That is some random woman posing with him.)

About 450 San Miguel Democrats convened at a beautiful hacienda to fundraise and console each other about the state of the economy. It was very impressive.


There was a silent auction, a raffle, and you could get your photo taken with him for one Obama buck (worth 20 pesos or about $2 each). And of course any function wouldn't be complete without mariachis.

















We were newly returned so we ran into lots of friends. Here is Jo looking etherial as usual in her Obama button and beautiful necklace and shawl.





















And here are Yoli and Victor in front of a painting being auctioned as part of the silent auction.














It feels good to be back in San Miguel. As I write this, fireworks are exploding somewhere out there in the night and preparations are being made for the fiestas for the city's patron saint, San Miguel, next weekend. Stay tuned...

Back in San Miguel!

We're back in San Miguel after a stopover in San Diego for Melissa's wedding shower on Sunday. Here we are with Beza and Dennis.

When I am away I forget the lovely sounds that surround us here: the jaunty tune played over and over by the propane tank delivery truck, the old man across the street who chips rocks starting early in the morning and is building a lovely new wall, the tin worker whose workbench touches the back wall of our house and clanks on tin all day, and of course the chickens and dogs contribute.
Here is the view of the new, almost competed wall from our 3rd floor. For some reason his pile of building rocks in front has grown since we left.













Our first order of business was to get hooked up to the internet so Monday afternoon we went into their office and signed up for another 6 months. The installers arrived in their cheerful car which is still flying the national flag from the Independence Day celebration last week. Unfortunately our old modem was faulty but we finally got everything working this morning.

















Here they are stringing line from our third floor balcony to the pole across the street.

















This afternoon we made our first foray into town and had a first class hamburger at the recently opened Oliver's Hamburguesas.














Then we checked out (from the outside) the new Starbucks on the center square. and the place where you can now rent Segways. Much has changed in 6 months but that is ok.

One last photo of our dining area with the placemats we bought in Cambodia and the calla lillies from my sister Joyce. It makes me smile.

Seattle, Victoria and Home Again

1,200 miles later we are back home and glad to see gas prices are dropping. We actually found a $3.99/gallon near our house! The Prius did well averaging 52.6 mpg since we returned from the California trip.

Seattle provided several beautiful shirt-sleeve days for walking downtown. One day we left the car behind and took the ferry to Bainbridge Island with our friend Barbara where we enjoyed refreshment overlooking the marina. Bainbridge is a lovely town with easy ferry access to Seattle.





Victora BC was a late addition to this road trip so we headed back north from Seattle and took the 3-hour ferry from Anacortes to Sydney BC and drove down Vancouver Island to Victoria. Our hotel room gave us a great view of the water, a houseboat marina and the seaplanes taking off and landing. A walking trail took us along the water into the Inner Harbor and the stately Empress Hotel. Bryan took this photo because all the taxis here (and in Vancouver) are Prius. Smart decision by them.








One day we took a ferry to Salt Creek Island. It was supposed to be a hippie hangout but it looked like the hippies of the 60s were pretty well established and comfortable in their oceanfront homes and shops. This gate and a lot of guys with big beards were the only hangover of the 60s we found.

One more ferry ride back to Port Angeles and we headed home, heeding the the call of raspberries and blueberries waiting for us to pick them.

Rainforest Hike

Saturday we hiked to see petroglyphs on Cape Alava, the westernmost point in the contiguous United States. Here is Bryan standing, we think, on that point.
















The hike took us 3 miles through Olympic National Park rainforest, mostly on a boardwalk, and emerged onto the beach where we found the rock carvings a mile down the beach. The boardwalk was ok but the beach presented a challenge with fallen trees, driftwood. really large rocks and incoming tide.





















Fortunately our room had a really large soaking tub to recover from the adventure.

Olympic Majesty

Our July road trip started in Portland on Tuesday and took us north to Long Beach Washington for one night. The next day we took our time, stopping to explore historic towns, including the clamming/crabbing town of Tokeland. (If you want to go pick up that boat, I'll tell you where it is.)

We continued around the Olympic Peninsula to Discovery Bay where we have 4 nights in a super-comfortable condo right on the bay with plenty of time to explore the area around Port Townsend and Port Angeles.

The highlight so far has been a hike along Hurricane Ridge; the wildflowers were so plentiful and the Olympic range still has plenty of snow. It felt like we were in a Sound of Music video.






























We replenished our supply of U-Pick raspberries and took a look around a lavender festival in Sequim, We have one more full day before we head back south to Seattle for two nights. Once we booked the Worldmark resorts for this trip we decided to add Victoria BC so we will head up to Canada after the weekend.
















More as this trip continues.

Joyce and Bob's House Concert

All around South West City, Missouri, acoustic music fans mark their calendars for the second Saturday in June at my sister Joyce and her husband Bob's house concert on the grounds of their 120 year old home. About 150 people show up, some arriving Friday night for choice camping spots around their ponds. By mid-day Saturday the kids are swinging on ropes into the pond or canoeing or generally running around while their parents pick and strum and enjoy good food.

This year the entertainment featured Shannon Wurst and 3 Penny Acre , with Ernie Hill opening.

After the formal part is over, the picking, strumming and singing goes until the wee hours followed by a hearty breakfast in the morning. I'm glad I got to be there there this year. And in answer to the obvious question, no, I don't play...but I listen real good.