Friends we are leaving behind

Feathered

Night Heron

Sandy Crane

A frequent guest for meals

Who else would live three trees away?

Leasing from  Mike and Bebe next door


Notice anything similar about each of the photos?  IT'S SUNNY!!!  Remind me why we are leaving.

Broads on Quads

The INVITATION:  While DB was in Kaua'i I was invited to join a group of women from the Land Yacht Harbour (trailer park) who explore the desert every Wednesday on all terrain vehicles.  Like DB, I didn't have the right equipment- no helmet, googles, boots, firearm, or jacket with a scary name on the back.  The broad who invited me has her own three seater quad and an extra pair of googles so I joined Dit, her sister Sandy, and her dog Erin for a wild Wednesday.  So far, I've been invited back twice.  We've all returned safely but let me tell you, what happens with the broads.....

Broads on Quads

I've learned that quading is a little like skiing:

• You go into the mountains
• You can get really, really cold
• You might go off a cliff
• You can get lost
• Your equipment is important
• Your equipment can break
• You go really, really fast

I've also learned that quading isn't at all like skiing:

Desert Lavender- AHHHHHH

Ghost Flower

• I've never seen a rattlesnake while skiing
• There isn't a Sand Patrol if your equipment breaks
• You bring your own lift
• There aren't any snack bars in the desert
• You use different quads

I love the patches of wildflowers we've found,  the gold mine,  the old settler's grave.

Beavertail Cactus

One aspect of riding out in the desert, over hill and dale, eating someone's dust,  making someone else eat your dust, laughing your head off- partly out of nervousness and partly out of tiredness, with a bunch of broads is that you're constantly reminded of being a kid playing with friends.  When was the last time you sang while going over a washboard road just to hear your voice warble?  Or spun out on a sand dune?  Or shared a brown bag lunch?  Or sat next to someone eating a peanut butter and butter sandwich and traded bites?   

Lunch Stop

Monkey Flowers

It's been too long for me. 

Boaring NOT Boring

DB visits Mikey in Kaua'i

It wasn't easy to see Mike and Michelle leave Carnation.  But the time had come to seek greener pastures and they left for the greenest spot on earth, Kaua'i.  Mike grew up on Kaua'i and still has family and friends living there.  Michelle easily finds friends and makes them family so the transition was smoother than for most.  Despite working three jobs they take time to make others feel welcome and DB took advantage of their standing invitation to experience Kaua'i.  And experience it, he did!

Wild pigs, boar, javalena: they are all the same and wrecking havoc in Arizona, Texas, Florida, Kaua'i, and  numerous other areas.  The problem is that  a sow may give birth twice a year with litters as large as 24.  The other problem is THEY ARE DANGEROUS!  Mikey and his childhood friends are respected boar hunters.  DB was both excited and a little nervous to join them.

Laws are very specific regarding pig eradication; only certain hunters qualify, in designated areas,  and in some cases knives not guns must be used.  DB didn't pack for the hunt- no boots, camo, or weapons.  He didn't kill this little piggy but was with the group that did and was awarded the prize, the boar's jaw.  I was less excited about that than the smoked and frozen pork he brought back with him on the plane.  It is by far the best tasting piggy I've ever eaten.    

This little piggy went to the smoke house.

The prize

Those of you who prefer your meat presented in less graphic detail will be happy to switch gears to  the more advertised island vacation.  Next stop: rainbows and waterfalls.

The treasure is what you see

Michele is one heck of a good cook and works at a restaurant and a Poi factory.  On her off day she treated DB to a river excursion.  Unfortunately, at the end of the trip DB's belief that swimming in warm waters is DANGEROUS was reinforced by a certain sighting.  This 12 foot shark was in less than a foot of water just off the beach.  No more boogie boarding for this tasty boy!

You can take Margaret off Mercer Island but you can't take the Mercer Island...

Casa Verde was Margaret's last stop after visiting an aunt in Los Angeles and son Mark at the University of Redlands.  There really was no way to prepare her for the shocking contrast.

Bearing Very Welcome Gifts

So we immediately threw her into the water with the Lions Club Bar-B-Que Dinner and Variety Show at the Lake Tamarisk Community Hall.

Violin Variety

Second Hand Rose Variety

Margaret didn't sleep well that night.  I'm not certain if it was the chocolates we devoured after the show or the show itself.  But she's a good sport and I convinced her that her stay wouldn't be complete without a drive through Box Canyon, and a stop at The Slabs and, of course, Salvation Mountain.  As Margaret pointed out, Box Canyon was misnamed, so we renamed it "Not a Box but a Drive-through Canyon."  Her reaction to the Salton Sea is best described in these pictures:

Our next stop was the "Ski Inn" in Bombay.  I'd read that a stuffed corvina, a highly prized fish of the Salton Sea, was mounted over the bar and we were ready for a beer.  The corvina was gone but our bartender told how JD had reclaimed the trophey (earned by merely owning the boat in which it was caught) when it looked like the bar would finally sell, but the deal fell through because the buyer was a felon, and were we interested in buying the "Ski Inn" ourselves?!? (Without the stuffed fish, of course.)

I figure that he'd appraised our appraiser friend for a perfect mark when she'd asked if he had any local specialty beers on tap.  Ah, Margaret!  You can remove a lady from Mercer Island but you can't immerse her in desert rat custom in two days. There ain't no specialty breweries at the Salton Sea because the majority of tourists, discounting Nancy and her friends, are destitute hippies, destitute desert rats, and destitute hippie rats, and the locals don't care what they drink as long as they can do it often and out of the heat in a lightless bar.

Fortunately, Margaret felt quite at home when we arrived at The Slabs and Salvation Mountain.  This was folk art at, if not it's finest, most certainly it's most audacious.

I know I have to replace the Saab, but will this give the right impression?

Or this?

Both The Slabs and Salvation Mountain are featured in the Sean Penn directed movie of Jon Krakauer's book "Into the Wild."  That night we watched the DVD in the Casa Verde theatre.  It left all three of us a bit depressed so we passed the Oh! Chocolates and the mini-keg of Hangar 24 Craft Brew from the Redlands.  Both gifts, several times.  We all slept well that night, even Margaret.  She woke refreshed in the knowledge that she would be back home that evening and I woke refreshed knowing that we hadn't finished off the beer and chocolates.  DB woke looking forward to another sunny day with golf to play. Sevi, well, she always wakes refreshed- several times a day.        

Salvation Mountain Revisited

We LOVE visitors; they give us an excuse to visit and revisit places we enjoy.  Cousin Sally and her husband Rob dropped in for a few days.  Despite the below normal temperatures we hustled them off to see the Salton Sea, Salvation Mt, and Borrego Springs. It's not often that you can get smelly, saved, and soused in the same afternoon.  

We drove south on the west side of the sea, stopped to experience the flavor of empty marinas and fish strewn beaches, and buzzed by the Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Recreation Area, also known as Quad Heaven. 

Our lunch stop was Carlees in Borrego Springs.  Great burgers and great beer.   

DB, Sally, Rob and I experience Salvation Mt.

Street legal in the Slabs

I think it was all the salvation that wore us out.  We returned to Casa Verde exhausted and after dinner settled onto the couches for a viewing of our family favorite DVD, "Sordid Lives."

San Miguel de Allende Writer's Conference February 18-20, 2011

Bookends desperately needed!

Back to Mexico

I was reading the spanish translation of "The House on Mango Street" when an email arrived announcing that Sandra Cisneros was to be the keynote speaker at this year's writing conference in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.  Checking my Continental Airlines miles I found we had more than enough for a round trip ticket from Palm Springs to Leon/Guanajuato.  Flight booked; hotel room reserved; bookends needed.

View from my room at Hotel Real de Minas 

New friends who write at night

New friends who write at day

Sharing a shot with new best friend who drinks night and day

Colonial Home Tour

Plaza Portrait

Bookends found!

It had been more than a year since I spent a month in San Miguel studying spanish.  This time instead of a rooftop apartment I joined the conference attendees and stayed at the hotel.  I took part in all of the conference activities as well as pre and post "activities."

Dancing with the Dolls

San Miguel door and impressive word choice

El Charco Botanical Garden Tour 

Fireworks at our  "Viva Mexico" Fiesta

Meeting Sandra Cisneros

REALLY HAPPY MEETING SANDRA CISNEROS!