Thursday, December 8, 2011

Storms. sealife and parties

Here's the horses that travel from one end of town to the other, selling rides to tourists. That day they actually had takers!




We wanted to show you the results of the recent storms. Between high winds that created big waves and high tides, and then a big rainstorm that brought rivers of water running down the banks, people on the beaches have a lot of cleaning up to do.



You should be able to zoom these photos, and see that this cool concrete landing and stairway, along with the retaining wall in front of it, got pretty much trashed.





Watch out for that first step!



A pretty starfish that Carl found.


A really cool jellyfish that Dan found- he and Cheryl have a picture of an even bigger one:
http://cheryl-dan-mexicanmadness.blogspot.com/




Carl picked it up with his bare hands and brought it home for more detailed inspection.


And we continued our walk...





We went to an event at Pinky's last night. For those who have been there, it's very cozy right now. The windows are covered with canvas and the pool area is thatched off with palm leaves. It looks great, and it's considerably warmer than I thought it would be.

The event was this- bring a  blanket or a soccer ball or a donation, and get 3000 pinky bucks to play blackjack with. Then about 9:30 you take your winnings and there's an auction for various prizes. There were a lot last night. The big prizes were a snorkel set, a series of visits to a dentist for teeth-cleaning (not thrilling to we anti-dentites), and a weekend for two at one of the Sonoran Resorts.

Carl and I figured most people would be bidding on the big stuff, so we started bidding right away, and got a bunch of great stuff:

Handmade Christmas ornaments- yes, we do have a tree.:
Car mats:

A set of mugs that will likely go to the neighbors:

And two pretty ring holders for people who collectively own 2 rings. But we thought they'd look nice next to our pewter-look elephant.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Artsy day

First, a neighbor incident. I like the people next door, except for one named Julia, who clearly dislikes us but comes by once every few weeks with a “raffle” to which I am supposed to contribute 50 pesos. I’ve been doing it, even though I am convinced that if my name were to come up, she would throw it away. I know from her mother who takes care of everybody that she has a chronic illness that means she needs medication, and they don’t always have it at the free clinic. So I always think, ah, what’s 50 pesos to me?

But she’s so frigging rude!! The other day she snatched the 50 pesos and walked away, and I said, hey, don’t I get to write my name down? (in Spanish, of course, so more like, “hey, can I write?”.) She said, I’ll write it down!, and stomped off. I think maybe next time I won’t be interested in a raffle.

Anyhow, onwards..it was Lalo's 7th birthday yesterday, he proudly announced, so we gave him a hotwheels (thanks, Jen) and a banana. Diana came over to do some sweeping so she could get some money to buy him something. No party for him, though...

Yesterday was "Art in the Park" in Las Conchas, which is actually in my mind more like crafts in the park, although there are some items that could be called art.

Here are Naomi's extremely cool designs:


Some giant shells- no idea where they found these!

Some metalwork:

A hand-crafted saddle:

and a sacred native maze sculpture. Photo credits go to Carl again!


Then in the evening we were invited to a "show and tell" at the Baja Cantina:
"Artist and writer Becky Hendrick will present a number of "spoken word" projects at Baja Hotel, Saturday, November 26th, at 4 pm. Guests can enjoy a drink while looking and listening to Hendrick's works that have been inspired by her visits to Puerto PeƱasco.
Becky Hendrick teaches at the University of Texas at El Paso. She and her husband, sculptor and UTEP Professor Willie Ray Parish, divide their time between their homes in La Union, New Mexico, and the Mirador area of Rocky Point.
Hendrick's paintings are in numerous private, corporate, and museum collections including the Mississippi Museum of Art, El Paso Museum of Art, El Paso Holocaust Museum, and Lone Star Park in the Dallas area.
She is the author of several books on art appreciation and the creative process. At her "Show and Tell," she will exhibit a few photos and share some of her books."

She read some charming stories about acquaintances here in town, some of whom we know, and a couple of people who were in attendance. Her photos are great, you can see them here:

http://web.mac.com/beckyhendrick/Becky_Hendrick__Artlife/Photos.html

Becky herself:

Adrienne, a friend of hers and ours, who is Shadow's dog sitter. The bags are Becky's new thing to keep her hands busy, bags crocheted out of plastic grocery bags.

Some of the crowd - between Becky and me is Maru, our hostess. 

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Mariscos Festival!!

That was fun. Mariscos means seafood. So we went down to the Shimp Plaza (what better place to have a seafood festival?) where all the finest restaurants in town set out their best dishes and you pay a ticket or so for each. (10 pesos or about a buck each). We ate lobster bisque (exquisite), clam chowder, pasta, and crab cakes that were like little crispy upside down cupcakes full of crab and veggies and potatoes, which I loved. Those were  from Don Julio's. Jen, we're going to have to visit Don Julio's again, this dish would indicate it's improved. Luca from Pane y Vino had wonderful ravioli, and a clam amuse bouche that amused Carl no end.


The culinary school booth- they had marlin pasta, a spicy rice dish with shrimp, handmade chocolates, and some Italian salamis and breads. That tall man in the middle is our Mayor.

There was entertainment too- the guitar class performed and their teacher sang. A memorable version of "Ain't no Sunshine". "every time shes goes awaayyyy"


The guitar class had quite a cheering section!

Earlier a jazz band played. The weather was cloudy but warm, it was really a fun event!


There were booths featuring local art.


And local crafts.

And across the street the Bomberos washed their trucks.



All in all a great day! And we didn't have to cook dinner, we're still stuffed.Come down and enjoy this great town, folks! Thanks go to Carl for all the pictures!

Sunday, November 6, 2011

November

The number one difference between September and November is: I sleep with a sheet on now. Very cozy.

Usual beach walking attire- couldn't do this at 8 or 9 AM now, though.

Usual Roll in the sand.
Usual swim

I've let my basil go to seed, and I'm collecting the seeds so that next year I can grow again. There will likely be thousands of seeds by the time I'm done. Meanwhile we're pollinating the neighborhood via the many insects attracted.

Not too much going on here...here's a video that's incredibly cool. Made of over 2000 still pictures.

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Random Photos

We took Shadow for a walk on the updated Malecon the other day.

Lots of palm trees

Coyote Grill got a paint job



I love my shrimper.

And Beauty

Diana's helping out every Saturday by sweeping the patio and cleaning the patio furniture. I pay her some and keep some back as a savings fund for when she starts secondaria (high school).

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Cedo

CEDO INTERCULTURAL CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF DESERTS AND OCEANS
is a very amazing group to have down here. They don't mind me sending pictures of things I find on the beach that aren't in my books, and asking them "What is this?"

This was the latest. We had never seen one of these. So I sent the picture off to CEDO and their response is below.



We are pretty sure you took a photo of a cannonball jelly fish.  Here is a scanned copy of the article the CEDO published on these critters back in 1994: