On a lighter note......

We just celebrated Miss Emily's 9th birthday on April 30th

Very birthday like in her hat and lei

Lunch at Red Robin is great on your birthday,

they give you balloons and sing to you

opening presents with great grandma is pretty good too

great grandpa liked the cards

Beth made this gorgeous cake

it was do delicious.....

She blew out all the candles

Mr. A. thought is was pretty cool too

Happy 9th year sweet light of my life!

Is it just me or is anyone else uncomfortable with the murder of Bin Laden?

I just can't get into cheering.  Isn't the US all about justice.  Shouldn't he have been arrested and put on trail?  What, now we just murder those who know are guilty?  His body is dumped in the ocean so it can not be what- identified?  Then photos on every news station of the rooms they were murdered in like it was an NCIS tv episode or something.  Just the day before we murdered the youngest son and 3 grandchildren of Gaddafi's.....is this where my tax dollars are going?

I do no want to be part of some world wide secret covert espionage suspense movie and I certainly do not want to pay for it.  I want our leaders to get real about the problems in this country for most of the people - good jobs, fair wages, better education, environmental protection, alternatives to fossil fuesl and affordable health care.  Hell, even Mexico has affordable health care, that should shame us into doing something right there.

 The sad truth is that humans have not evolved, they are as self centered and blood thirsty as ever and have not learned to control or curb these impulses, no matter how civilized we think we have become.  We should be sobered by this event.  For a supposedly christen country, thou shall not kill - we have taken a lot of joy in killing. 

I am in no way saying that Osama did not need to answer for his crimes, I am just saying that I am not inspired by our actions and disappointed in our reaction.

Tell me it is not just me.....       

Imagine there's no Heaven

It's easy if you try
No hell below us

Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

                                    - John Lennon


Thanks John.  Let's all sing or hum a few bars of this tonight, we all know the tune.........

Cuyutlan house - some friends asked me to show them...

The house is on the corner of Puerto Angel, on the other side of the highway from the beach,

where you can actually grow things!

the entrance to the street is modest

inside new tile, screens and paint have made this an inviting patio

the bedroom, could you tell

sitting in the bedroom

I love long velvet drapes, they reminded me of old castles with stone walls

the kitchen is large and has new tile

  

and bright colors

the bathroom came out nice

I love the sink

the outside front of the house

the kitchen door

the hidden garden

with mural

there is a shop

side of shop (with tent)

looking back toward the bar b que

view to the back

a copper image of the Virgin of Guadalupe on the well....

for good luck.

Best kayak trip ever!

Yesterday we kayaked to this little Island.

It is about a mile from where we put in.  It was a rough trip out, we were fighting the wind and the tide.  We also had to cross the inter coastal waterway and the boats go through there as fast as they can so the water was always chopped up with boat wakes.

It was worth it though.

We explored the island, ate lunch in the shade, I let Willi skunk me at cribbage.  We did a little swimming, the first swim of the year.  Going back was much calmer and easier.

Lovely day.



I did not mean to leave you hanging, loyal readers. 

I was waiting for one of the key elements to bloom.

You can't rush mother nature. 

So back to the story....

My sweet husband cut a hole in the fence and put up this arbor.  We bought the arbor at Lowe's, normally William would build it himself, but we no longer live in the land of wood.  This was made of Western Red Cedar from Oregon.  We know well a timber industry that has tried to diversify from selling logs to well, arbors for one thing.

I think they did a really good job on this one.  It is well designed, simple and easy to put together.

The best part are these fast growing vines that are already heading for the arbor, soon to take over I hope.

Passion flowers, one of my favorites, this is one of 3 kinds planted near the arbor.  Not sure of the names, just love the flowers.  This one has many flowers already.  It was planted before the arbor in anticipation.

This one rescued from the nursery at Lowe's when we got the arbor, another passion flower.

This one is my favorite and the one I was waiting for. 

The man at the nursery warned me that these take over.

Great! 

Just the thought of these taking over makes me happy.

The star jasmine are blooming now too on the old arbor. 

The petunias are doing well too.

The colors on this one are iridescent in the sun.

Happy Spring!



Expanding into unknown territory.....

 This is the lot next to us.

 It is full of Brazilian Pepper trees, which are an aggressive invasive species.

 These cover the landscape and allow nothing else to grow.  Working with them gives one an itchy rash and if you burn the plant the smoke will make you sick.

So we bought the lot and hired the CAT to come in and get rid of them.  We want to make a garden and plant some citrus.



 This machine was amazing!  It chopped it up pretty fast.  Munch, munch, munch.

  He carefully cut around the couple native palms that had managed to survive on the lot.

 Remember how thick the peppers looked here in an earlier photo?

 Starting to make noticeable progress.

 There was one huge plant in the back that did take him awhile to take out.  I had originally wanted to leave it for privacy but the power company had come in the week before and killed it anyway because it was under their lines.  They notch the lower branches and put in some poison.

 Now we can see our neighbors for the first time.  You know us, of course a fence is coming and maybe some bamboo in front of it.

 This is how much metal trash we found!  We found lots more other trash too, truck seats anyone?

 The CAT is finished, our work begins.....

Tune in for the next installment and see what we did with this fence....

Happy 30th Birthday Cameron! 

This sounds corny, but it does seem like just the other day you were sitting on the floor putting together legos.

You were the sweetest little kid,

always smiling, loved anything with wheels, and you were fun to have around.

Hope you had a great day sweetie!!  Celebrating your way!

30! 

 Wow, I still can't believe it, but then I  always was a step or two behind you kids..........

I guess I still am.

Love, mom