January 2017-Painting, Dancing and Mercado de los Pulgas

I have a wonderful friend here, Margene, who is a fabulous artist.  She paints in oils, she etches, she does water color-almost every medium you can think of.  She is one of these multi-talented women who can bake up a fabulous dessert, sew,  and create art out of most anything.  Lucky for me, she invited me to join her painting group, and though I have nothing I can show you yet as my work is pretty embarrassing so far, I am having a ball being with these wonderful women artists:  Margene, Diane, Rosie, Norma and Judy.  I started with them, doing a simple colored pencil drawing at a friend's house, who lives by the ocean.  It was challenging but fun.  Then we went to this old abandoned building to paint on the road to Pilar.

Margene, Rosie, Diane and Judy

This was the scene that I drew.  The most beautiful setting-I wish I could
do it justice!

Margene chose a simiar view.  She and Joe have lived here
for over 10 years.  They are from Jackson Hole, WY.

Judy is getting ready for an art show at the Galleria in a few
weeks and is madly working on paintings to sell.  Judy and her
husband, Larry, have a place in the Ranchitos and in Durango, CO.
PS  She sold 5 paintings in one day!

Rosie is here 3-5 months a year and owns a vineyard in Idaho
with her husband, Norm.  She is a sweetheart!

Rosie is a wonderful abstract artist.  I love the suggestion of
the arch and the beautiful colors on the right.

This is Judy's finished product-so watery!

 There are so many good musicians in town.  One of our favorites is Sensa Nova.  The lead singer has a fabulous voice and one of our favorite places to see her is at the Captain's Club where you feel like you want to dance to every song.  There are usually lots of people we know who come.  This night we met Andrew and Debbie and brought Cindy with us.  I also danced with Giselle, a friend of Norma's from Germany.

We often have breakfast on the deck.  The papayas here are
to die for.

 Our favorite shelling beach is Cochorit, down past Empalme.  There is usually no one there and this day was no different.  I collected about a half a bag of mostly clam shells-some huge and striped yellow and white.  There are also many dove shells, cones, whelks and horns.  I was looking for more sand dollars but didn't find any this day.

This poor gull was stuck in the sand when we arrived and
couldn't get out.  Jim got a walking pole from the car and
got him up out of the water but it seemed that he had a
broken wing.  We hoped he was just stunned but we
think he probably died after we left.  We made a heart out
of shells around him.

A beautiful blue heron entertained us for most of the time
we were there.  Boo didn't seem to scare him away.  I think
Boo knew he was probably too big to cross.  In the distance
you can see some of the equipment here.  They seem to be
dredging the sea bed and are building a hydro electric plant here.
Kind of sad:  this used to be a beautiful beach community.

 Guadalupe had a welcome back party for Cindy and I was invited to come along.  Guadalupe lives in Marina Real in the most gorgeous house!  Her brother, the architect for the house, drowned many years ago and his plans were completed by someone else.  There were 4 Mexican women:  Guadalupe, Marta and Marielise and a lovely woman, named Kita (or something that sounded like that), Guadalupe's best friend from Hermosillo.  The conversation was a mixture of English and Spanish and the food was very Mexican:  Machaca, Chicharrones, Refritoes, tortillas, gordas with chicken, fruit candies and chocolates.  It was a wonderful afternoon!

The view from Guadalupe's pool
I didn't take a picture of the girls or the inside of the house
because I didn't want to be considered rude.  It is amazing:  very
contemporary but filled with huge paintings of colorful flowers
and abstracts that Guadalupe paints and items from all their
world travels.  There is a whole upstairs devoted to her children
and grandchildren when they are in town.

I love this little statue of a child on the wall of our house!  It
apparently was put there by the first owner of the house
years ago.

This sunset is so red, you hardly can tell there are bougainvilleas in the
foreground and the sea in the background.

A gorgeous sunrise over the cloud bank turns the water golden.

Another foggy day-it is pretty though.

A Sunday rolled around again and we decided to go to the market in Empalme to look for an easel that Rosie had seen there.  Unfortunately, the streets were flooded and lots of the little storefronts had to move.  Although we stopped and asked everyone, we never did find an easel!  We did find some $3 T-shirts and lots of vegetables, however.

They sell everything here:  furniture, food, clothes, appliances, electronics-you name it and they have it-except for the easel!

We stopped at our favorite taqueria for fish tacos-absolutely
wonderful, except for about a 20 minute wait!

During our wait, Jim was approached by this woman who
came up to him holding her rosaries and crosses.  We thought
she wanted money but the lady next to us, who spoke English,
said that she thought Jim was a priest and was asking him to
pray for her.  Doesn't look all that much like a priest, does he?

 Later that night we met some friends at the Sunset Grill for dinner and Jazz.

Jim, Cindy and I were on time for a table set for 10!
The others watched the football game and were 45 minutes
late.  We kept the table warm for the others!

 I brought some seeds with me and bought some plants at Carmelita's when I first came down.  I'm growing thyme, basil, sage, mint, rosemary and have one little tomato plant that now actually has a tiny green tomato that popped out of the flower we found last week!

Another fabulous day with the ladies, painting at Diane's hacienda in the desert.  Her place is just darling.  She has all kinds of animals, has little buildings for office space, kitchen, bedroom, etc., a hangar for their plane (her husband, Joe, flies an ultralight) and a great margarita deck and garden area, let alone their property (below).

Rosie and Judy
Not too shabby a setting

This was the view I chose to paint.  Unfortunately, I overworked
it way too much.  Still can't show anyone my art yet.

Diane in the garden area, outside the kitchen
Today, she made us Campari cocktails-OMG-what a way to paint!

Margene and Norma painting the fountain in the garden

The sand dollar tree

The kitchen building

She grows the most amazing fruits and veggies!

Diane's painting-definitely frameable

Judy's-definitely saleable

Rosie's-she is so talented and fortunately, she enjoys
helping me!

Back home again!

Without the fog.  Today the water was dark blue and light green-the camera
doesn't do it justice.

I think this looks like a painting!  I may try to paint it!

January in San Carlos-Boats, Dolphins and Beautiful Sunsets

Our friends, The Andersons, were celebrating their 25th anniversary by taking us and another couple on a boat ride around San Carlos.  They have owned an interest in a beautiful 36 ft. fishing boat for a few years with several other families.  This year they decided to sell their share and this was the "farewell tour".  It was chillier than usual but the best day we've had on the water in the 4 years we've been coming down.

Hooked, our wonderful boat for the day

Dave checking out the Fiesta Condos and Hotels.  One was finished
(on the right) and the other was never completed.  It has sat there
unfinished for all the time we have been coming down.

We passed the Roca San Nicolas, which
was full of interesting creatures.  This was
a breeding male pelican.

Martini Cove, where we enjoyed some champagne
and cookies!

Lynne and Dave

Jeff and Trish

My handsome husband

Jane, dog lover extraordinaire-like all the Andersons

The way home was into the wind and chilly so some braved the elements
but Lynne, Boo and I chose to be inside out of the wind.

The chilly side

Roca San Nicolas
Can you see the great blue heron on top?  They nest in the cacti here.

Cormorants, gulls and pelicans on what is called (strangely) Roca San Carlos
Such a small spot for that big name

Our house is the two story right in front of the green tree in the middle of this picture.  We do have the most wonderful view.

First sighting of the dolphin pod

 There are many bottlenose dolphins in the Sea of Cortez.  They love to play in the wakes of motor boats and even come close to kayakers.   Apparently the fishing boats attract fish that the dolphins feed on.  We often see them swimming by in Shangri-La Bay, below our house.

We were just thrilled with how entertaining
they were today

Such a show off!!

Lots of jumping and spinning about today

Back home for a sunset watch from our margarita deck

Leaves on the big tree in our cactus garden
Does anyone know what it is?  There are a bunch of little buds on it-how
cool if it blossoms while we are here!  This is the tree that you see in the
big picture above behind our house.

The Tetakawis from our deck

When the clouds, the sun, the sea, the mountains and palms all line up
for sunet, it is extraordinary!

And the skies in the evening on the front deck are to die for!

Boo likes them, too!

A big sailboat landed in our bay for an overnight, right
below us.

Bill Thompson, at the country club

Jim and I stopping by for a Sam Rainwater concert

Bill and Cheryl

Elizabeth in Jim's shirt

The ever-present Frida-this time at Blackies'

This is Boo, enjoying the sunshine on the front, seaside deck.  It's interesting
that it is so much warmer on this southeast facing deck.  The margarita deck,
the cactus garden and entrance to the house and garage are at least 10 degrees
cooler.

This is one of our bougainvilla plants.  They don't last long in a vase, but
they sure are prolific and beautiful.

We finally got the kayak blown up and in the water.  We
had a wonderful day exploring Shangri-La Bay, around
the rocks, islands and caves.  No pictures
from the water yet-too afraid to bring my camera with me.
This is our little teeny garage.  I'm amazed we can fit in here.

From our entrance and cactus garden.  That's an organ pipe cactus, which
is well known in these parts.

Another sunset from home-can't help
but take pictures every time!

Our neighbor, who doesn't seem to be here.  They call it
the ice cream house-you can see why.

At Piedras Pintas (Painted Stones) for a few hours
The rocks here are gorgeous.  Right now I'm collecting
seashells to fill our fountain, but I may have to start
collecting rocks again soon.

I don't know who has more fun-us or Boo.  There was
another couple here today-very unusual for us.

Love this moss

Could almost be Ireland

Running free at the sea-what could possibly be better than that!?