I am wishing for you, my family and friends,

PEACE

Peace tonight,

peace of mind, peace in your heart,

 in your lives,

 peace, love, laughter,

 inside and out,

peace.

 From our house with the funny Christmas Palm

to your hearts - PEACE

We are lucky.....

North America and Mexico have a great view of tonight's eclipse.

Since posting my last information on the eclipse, I have seen several different years given since the last one.  ABC News said 456 years, Space.com said 372, so I don't know which is right.... there has only been that one recorded in 2,000 years.  We don't have to wait that long for the next one though - Dec 21, 2094.  Only 83 more years!

Also my times were not broad enough - the first bite out of the moon from the earth's shadow is 1:33 AM EST.  Totality is 2:41 EST for 72 mins, ending at 3:53 EST, ending at 5:01.  If you are only going to dash out for a second - the darkest of the eclipse will be about 3:15 AM EST.

In addition tonight is the Ursids meteor shower and since the moon will be darkened for over an hour we may be able to see the meteors.  Usually they when there is a full moon and they are hard to see.

This Tuesday, December 21, at 12:47 PM, EST 

is the Winter Solstice,

and a Lunar Eclipse that begins at 2:41 to 3:53 AM, EST.

The last time they happened together was 456 years ago.

Us and the lucky residents of 1564!

It was a busy year,

Galileo was born and Shakespeare baptized,

and that same year

Michelangelo died.

It will be quite a night in Cuyutlan.

It is the last night of the Festival for the Virgin of Guadalupe.  After the dancers arrive in the main street across from the church, the Toritos come out, (young men put on bamboo cages made to look like bulls - toros, so toritos is little bull)  Below is a photo of the unfinished frame in back of the church. 

Fireworks are strapped on these cages.

At certain times during the dancing, the rockets are lit and the torito runs, that's right, runs through the crowd.  People are screaming, running every which way.  It is a blast!  Do I have to point out that would never be allowed in the united states.  Last time I was almost trampled by a little old lady trying to get out of their way.  Ok so her shawl was slightly on fire.....

The best part is the Castillo (castle) that is set up in front of the church.  It too is a bamboo structure and filled with fireworks.  When lit a chain reaction of explosions and fireworks are set off. 

Lots more screaming, it is very exciting.

Finally the top is lighting up, the fireworks spin the top around and it actually lifts off and flies into the black sky.

I wish I was in Cuyutlan tonight.... Especially tonight.

view from the beach.....

That's my good friend Betsy who just graced us with a nice long visit. She was working on her base tan in Florida on her way to the Caribbean.

It was pretty funny.  We had just gotten what I considered a cold spell.  I was wearing a jacket and scarf and she was in her bikini tanning.

We went into the grocery store on the way back from the beach. The man at the check out look at both of us, then said that he could tell who was visiting who.

She thought it was just me and that I was crazy until the afternoon we met with our realtor friend at a house we wanted to see.  Edna got out of the car with a big white down jacket on with the hood up, "freezing out, isn't it?" she says as she hops out.

I certainly have acclimatized to Florida!  Being warm is easy to get use to....

Really Big Cat.

This is not the actual bobcat I saw in my yard last night but one very similar. One main difference was that the one in my yard had it's head up and was just strutting along!  Not watchful like the one in the photo.

Here is how it went.  I was sitting at the table in the yard, toward the back under a large oak tree, it was just starting to getting sun setty.  I am facing the south line of the property toward a small chain link fence with a flower bed I planted all along it.  I am maybe 15 ' from the fence.  I am reading.  Something catches my eye.

I look up and this big, huge, gigantic cat is right in front of me and calmly walking down the south property line between me and the flowers, down the lawn, toward the back.  He never looks at me or gives any indication that he knows I am there.  I panic inside but know to keep still.

Once he has walked deep into the empty lot behind us - I run into the house.

I was terrified.  It was not rational. It was primal.

He was so huge, so close and so calm, he owned the place, not me.

When they said that there was a lot of wildlife here in Florida, I did not think they meant my yard.

One of my favorite authors just won the Nobel Prize for Literature

Mario Vargas Llosa

These are 2 of my favorites books

 The Feast of the Goat is about the horrid dictator of the Dominican Republic from 1930 until his assassination in 1961.  It is a political thriller, told by a young girl returning to the Dominican Republic 30 years after the assassination.  She had fled as a 14 year old girl and she came back for answers.

The Storyteller is about a Peruvian man who is living in Europe and becomes fascinated with a remote tribe living in the Amazon.  It is a detective story that becomes so much more as Mr. Llosa comments on the implications and ethics of the developing region and the cultural impacts.

Viva Peru!

Beth's new book - check it out!!               http://www.blurb.com/books/1628133

Front cover

back cover

I am proud to announce that my name has been added to the Marine Turtle Permit that the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Imperiled Species Management Section gives to the Coastal Wildlife Club every year which authorizes them to survey sea turtle nesting areas. There are 3 long term permit holders and several of us have been recently added on an existing permit. This authorizes us to, conduct nesting surveys, conduct stranding/salvage activities, relocate for conservation purposes, screen nests when needed and maintain and display preserved specimens.

These are the Loggerheads that nest on our beaches here, Caretta caretta. Yesterday I got to get very hands on. About 3 days after a nest has hatched, volunteers excavate the nest, look for surviving turtles, count the unhatched eggs if any and count the egg shells to know approximately how many were in the nest.

This excavation was especially important as Kate and Jacob, 2 samplers from the University of Florida were on hand to collect unhatched eggs and dead hatchlings. They are collecting data from many nests and trying to see if there is any connection with turtle mortality and the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico this spring.

That's Wilma in the first photo digging the first nest and showing us how. 

I got to dig the the next 3, it was very interesting.  Emily loved it.

 The first nest I excavated had lots of unhatched eggs, they thought it might have been due to too much water over the nest.  We had a few big storms, one that actually washed out several nests.

 All three nests had egg shells, evidence that healthy turtles had hatched and made it out of the hole.  The average caretta lays about 100 eggs and that is about what we found in each nest.

One nest even had 2 baby turtles that were still alive and seemed to be stuck in their shells.  Those were kept in a bucket, on wet sand, with a towel over them until it got dark that night and then released to fend for themselves.  They fell asleep like all good babies.  Most reptile babies never see their parents.....

We felt really good that we had saved 2 baby turtles!

The cry of El Grito!

Viva Mexico Independence!

200 years!

September 16, 1810  -  September 16, 2010 

It is interesting that they celebrate this date that is the start of the war of independence, it was not until August 24, 1821 that the war ended and Mexico had thrown off the Spanish parasite.

I wish I were there to take part in the celebrations today, they are going to be fabulous! 

The Mexicans know how to celebrate.

This year is also the 100th anniversary of the Mexican Revolution, which is celebrated on the day it started as it too took over 10 years for Mexico to go from a dictatorship to a constitutional republic.

More celebrating on November 20th of this year.

Viva Mexico Revolution!

Viva Mexico!

New hope for Tenacatita......

http://guadalajarareporter.com/news-mainmenu-82/pacific-coast-mainmenu-87/27539-federal-legislators-weigh-in-on-tenacatita-beach-conflict.html

Guadalajara Reporter, Friday, September 10, 2010.

Federal Legislators Weigh in on Tenacatita Beach Conflict

"Increased pressure is being put on the state governor to lift the police blockade in Tenacatita and reopen road access to one of Jalisco’s most popular and unspoiled beaches. Legislators in the federal Chamber of Deputies (Mexico’s lower house) unanimously passed a motion Tuesday calling for state authorities to reopen the highway leading to Tenacatita beach and banish the police officers and private security guards preventing the public from visiting the beach.

Jalsico Governor Emilio Gonzalez has not responded to calls to reopen the road leading to the Tenacaita beach.

The legislators also resolved to set up a working committee to keep an eye on the situation at the beach, which is now virtually inaccessible to the public and patrolled by guards in the employ of wealthy Guadalajara businessman Andres Villalobos, as well as a few armed state police officers.

Villalobos has closed off the road – the only access to the public beach – since the beginning of last month when he won a court injunction to evict dozens of families, who for decades had been living and working on a disputed swath of land adjoining the beach.

The violent eviction – involving 150 armed state police officers – outraged members of the local farm commune (ejido), who have claimed possession of the land since the 1960s and were granted land titles through a federal titling program in 2006. Villalobos, on the other hand, says he purchased the land in 1991 and obtained the federal beach concession in 1993.

Families evicted said police officers used excessive force during the eviction (tear gas and rubber bullets were utilized, it was reported), although Villalobos maintains it was his staff and police that came under the severest attack.

Legislators this week asked the federal government to “intervene” in the dispute to “avoid social instability in the region.”

They also want the federal government, through the Registro Agrario Nacional, to “reevaluate” the boundaries in dispute in order to “find a solution between all those involved.”

Many foreign citizens are caught up in the dispute, as members of the ejido have been selling off plots of titled land in the past few years. As many as 20 foreigners who bought beachfront land in Tenacatita are now no longer able to access their plots. Some have filed suits in state or federal courts but Villalobos maintains the case over ownership of the land has reached its two-decade conclusion, and therefore the ejido has no more legal recourse. Thus, he says, he was entitled to take possession of his property and has no obligation to respect any other ruling, regardless of the court it is filed in.

As of press time, Jalisco Governor Emilio Gonzalez had not responded to the legislators’ concerns, nor had he answered a call from the State Human Rights Commission to open up the road to the beach.

Gonzalez has been accused of being in collusion with Villalobos, although he has tried to distance himself from the affair. It is no secret, however, that he is keen to see massive tourism development in the area known as Costa Alegre, that stretches from Barra de Navidad in the south to Chamela in the north. The governor is already embroiled in a similar confrontation with locals in Chalacatepec further north, near Tomatlan, where the government is heavily involved in developing a mega-project he has labelled the “New Cancun.”

La Huerta’s municipal government has thrown its weight behind the evicted residents but state officials appear to be obstructing all their legal moves.

According to Publico newspaper, Gustavo Moises Toledo Martinez, the Ministerio Publico (state district attorney) official in La Huerta, refused to listen to the complaints of around 100 evicted citizens filed against Villalobos’ real estate company Inmobiliaria Rodenas. Only when La Huerta’s mayor accompanied them to the office was Toledo forced to hear them out, said Salvador Magaña, a former councilman and representative of the ejido.

Meanwhile, Villalobos has appeared on several “friendly” television channels in Guadalajara to justify his actions. He seems to have no sympathy for the people he has evicted, many who are now reported to be facing severe economic hardship, since they can no longer sell seafood to visitors at their beachfront palapas.

Apart from Rodenas, Villalobos runs a successful security company, Sepromex, that is a major provider of services and private guards to the Jalisco state government. He also sits on a government security commission. He is the current president of Expo Guadalajara and a former president of the Guadalajara Chamber of Commerce, an organization that is backing him fully in this dispute. (The current president of the chamber sat next to him at a recent press conference when he defended his actions.)

Villalobos’ connections in the state government and with local politicians run deep and he has publicly congratulated Gonzalez for his “bravery” in helping him evict the low-income families of Tenacatita. His lawyer could not tell this newspaper how much his client paid for the 42 hecatares of land in dispute, but Proceso magazine reported recently that it was a “ganga” – a bargain or rock-bottom price. He says the land had previously been in the hands of the widow of former Jalisco governor Jesus Gonzalez Gortazar.

Sepromex is included in the list of government providers published on the state government website. Its address is Pedro Moreno 1336, Colonia Americana, Guadalajara. The telephone numbers are (33) 3825-5200 and 3825-5202."

Hope, a beautiful thing.

I will not live in fear.

Oh I am so in love with my new grandson!

ARRRRHHHHHHHH

a virus has been eating my computer!!

On Wednesday my computer started acting weird, it kept popping up messages that said I had a virus and I had better buy their software quick (and expensive) to take care of it.  It took over my computer - all the pop-ups warning me WERE the virus!  It would not allow me to run anything else and it finally started shutting off my computer and restarting it if I tried to do anything.  I spent all day and most of Wednesday night trying to get rid of it.  I was out of my league.  I took it to the Computer Emergency guys and I just got it back.  I am so hoping that the virus is now truly gone.  It was not too comforting to hear him say, oh if it does not work bring it back Monday, we won't charge you again.  Monday?  Oh I hope not, I hope it is gone.  At least I can use my computer now.

It is amazing how much I am attached to my computer.  It feels like my life line.......I am not sure that is a good thing.  I will think about it too much and maybe figure it out.

PS

Oh and the virus named itself as malware doctor, and antimalware doctor.  There is a program that is good, called Malwarebyte anti-malware, notice the hyphen, that is the difference!  This program is free on the web.  

   Paradise in Peril 

This gorgeous beach is Bahia de Tenacatita.  Half way between Puerto Vallarta and Manzanillo on Mexico's west coast, it has long been a destination for those escaping the crowds, looking for a quiet place to camp on the beach, or just to enjoy a fresh fish dinner while the kids swim in the gentle waves and babies play in the sand.

The crescent beach on the left is Playa de Tenacatita, the small one on the right, Playa Mora.  The few restaurants that are on the beach are on Playa Tenacatia.  In addition are a few small hotels, and recently 2 tiny stores.  La Mosca was the last restaurant on the beach, serving fish his sons caught that morning.  Past mosca there is no electricity.

The story goes that years ago an environmental rights group won a case against lights on the beach.  That beach is a prime nesting habitat for endangered sea turtles.  If there are lights on the beach, the turtles become confused and ofter go toward the lights instead of the sea.  There is a line of electric poles out to the end of the beach that have never been used.

Playa Mora has the distinction of having the beach of the bay on one side and the beach of the open ocean on the other.  It is a very special place.  In addition the bay side is home to a coral reef that supports a variety of colorful and fascinating fish and other aquatic life forms.  It is a safe and magical place to snorkel, one of the few on Mexico's Pacific coast.

I heard many years ago that the ownership of Tenacatitia was in question.  I heard that 2 ejidios and a developer were fighting over it.  I figured that is why it was still so nice.  No one was going to invest much until they knew and could prove who owned it.

Last Wednesday, August 4th, the people of Tenacatita were surprised and forcibly moved from their homes, the road has been barricaded off and guarded by riot police.  Horrible stories abound on a local La Manzanilla message board about the police take over in favor of the developer in Tenacatita.

http://members5.boardhost.com/lamanzanilla/index.html?1266882296

Many of us have family and friends who have deep connections with Tenacatita, going back to the 50's.

This is a photo I took there last winter, visiting friends who have camped on that same spot for 6 months for almost 20 years.

This knoll does not look like much, it is the end of Playa Mora.  There is a steep trail up to the clearing you can see in the photo.  We use to go up there for sunset, the view was unparalleled.  My friends sang Love and Gratitude to the evening sun with music and sounds.  It was a very moving and powerful experience.  

             

This is the view from the sweet little hotel I stayed in for the last 10 years......

and was hoping to spend many more.

This is the view from the beach in front of the hotel.  It is a magical place and I know there are many really good people working on making this right and winning this amazing place for the people, the regular people and not just another resort for the super rich.

and I was planning on taking my granddaughter there this winter to snorkel......I can still have hope. 

My 58th birthday was great!  Thanks to all of you who sent me good wishes - they worked!

Mom made me this awesome chocolate cake with her famous chocolate frosting!  Yum!

 I am one lucky girl

Have you wondered what I have been doing in Florida?

I have been walking the beaches,

with the Turtle Patrol!

This is a dedicated group of volunteers, the Coastal Wildlife Club, a non-profit with no paid staff, that patrol miles of barrier beaches protecting the sea turtles. Five species of sea turtle inhabit the Gulf of Mexico, 2, the Loggerhead and the endangered Kemp's Ridley, use the beaches right here in Englewood. It is very exciting. There are over a thousand marked nests. I can't wait to see one excavated - after the babies have crawled to the sea, they excavate the nest, count the egg shells, see if any are still in there having trouble and hope to find clues to saving these magnificent ancient creatures.


W. is looking at baby Snowy Plovers, on the last walk we saw the nests. They are also endangered and we are helping a sister organization with sightings and counts. The baby birds are so adorable. One of the most amazing things I have ever seen is watching them learn to fly that day! They ran on the first low ridge of sand, right into the wind, then flapped their fluffy little wings like mad and got 2 inches off the gound for a foot or 2. Precious.


Oh and the green thing W. is holding - we also pick up all the trash when we walk.



This is Palm Island, you get there by taking a small car ferry, friends in Washington, think 6 cars small.

and the views just go on and on....

the water is about 85 degrees,

it just does not get much better than this.

I wonder when you will be coming to visit.....

Happy Birthday Frida!

I wish I could have known you.

Thanks for the paintings.

that's the spirit!

Hope you had a good Independence Day!

I think when they said, burn your bra, they meant for you to take it off first.......

Happy First Day of SUMMER!

Does that mean I can take off my fleece jacket now?