Sunday, April 20, 2014

Espiritu in Arizona, and other little surprises


    After sailing Espiritu through Mexico, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Honduras, Belize and finally, Florida, we shipped Espiritu across the country and back home to SoCal.


                                                          Espiritu sailing through Arizona


                 It was a tough decision, but we're so happy to have our girl back home.
                                                   As always, it's been a busy spring.



            Today is Easter Sunday, and I'm the midst of my "natural" egg coloring experiment. I'm using strawberries, tumeric, blueberries and peas. I'll let you know by sundown if it works. :-)




         We did finally get some snow this winter and spring. This shot is of a pastoral art scene which developed naturally in the cracks on the icy surface of our frozen Green Valley Lake.



                                                    And another icy view...




                                                   Green Valley Lake and sky




                          Our Christmas gift to each other was a juicer. This is one day's portion.
                                   We survived a 3 day fast. Will we do it again? Time will tell...



             The 100+ year old town of Redlands is at the bottom of the mountain,
                       and it's where we go when it's time to do some provisioning.



                          Chris: "Where shall we go first -- the watch repairman or the cobbler?"



                                                                The sky over Redlands



                 I've been doing some actual paid gigs in our little bluegrass/old-timey
                 band "Grits 'n' Grady."  Chris just joined the band as well. Yeee-haw!




         I've been doing some babysitting for this local GVL charmer Sylvana in recent months. Her parents were kind enough to recommend me for a job in the local mountains...


     ...and I'm now a camp nurse for the "Inside the Outdoors" science school, which bring 5th and 6th graders from the Orange County School District up to the mountains for 4 days of nature, science study and fun.



                                               I couldn't be more grateful.   :-)





      I photographed this spectacular White Ermine moth on the door of the nurses office. He stayed there for almost an hour. I'm pretty sure he wanted some medical care, but he doesn't speak English and was unable to tell me what his medical complaint was, so he finally flew off.


           


                            And finally, last weekend our impossibly photogenic family got together
                             on a rooftop restaurant in Laguna Beach to celebrate several birthdays.




                                         



My niece Lauren and the matriarch, Nana



                          My niece Paige's iPhone -- I can't believe this thing still works!





                                                              Lauren, Matt and Courtney,
                                               who is fresh back from a semester studying in Paris




                                                     Grampa, deep in contemplation




                 My niece Lindsay, and blonde hair flying everywhere in the ocean breeze



                                   Next up? A family ladies trip to Sedona, Arizona.
                  Can't wait to share the photos with you. And you? What's up with you?
                                     Do tell. I want to hear EVERYTHING...   :-)