Brightwing RV

Joline's Blogs

2010-04-01T13:50:00.001-07:00

This is Joline's personal blog. Mostly about her RV Travels in 'Brightwing' - the 5th Wheel Travel Trailer.

For more current information on her Young Living Essential Oils, or to contact her, see:
http://oilyscents.wordpress.com/

For Joline;
You can login to your webmail here.

Ben Brown's Labyrinth

2006-05-01T10:20:00.000-07:00

Ben Brown's Labyrinth ... West Belen Mesa, New Mexico
Ben came to town and some members and friends of the Harmonious Earth Community gathered at dusk to walk and honor Ben's beautiful marble labyrinth down Twining Lane to Socorro County towards the observatory and up on the eastern hill. What a sight to behold.
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I first met Ben Brown in October of 1995 ...

... when we both arrived in Albuquerque at the same time to view the land we had bought in New Mexico while still in California, sight unseen! What an adventure. Ben had a friend with him and I had two. We 5 hung out together for 3 days then enjoying the sights, exploring our future homeland and hospitality of our host, Nathan. Even though we have emailed over the years, yesterday was our first on site contact since then. So it was a joyous reunion. Ben has been to New Mexico often, but since I travel a lot our twains have never met until now.

After introductions and get acquainted talk, the smudging began.

(Smudging picture with Betts here).

This is Steve Saunders traveling with Ben.

(More pictures here)

For those of you who are new to labyrinths (different from a maze) it can be described as a walking meditation, going to the center of the self and back out ... a path, one way in and the same way out. For more information, Google the word "labyrinth" and you will get more than you bargained for.

Ben's particular labyrinth is a Chartres Cathedral 11-circuit design, located near Paris, France.

It was rediscovered in the mid-1980s and since then there has been a huge resurgence of interest in labyrinths. I have been very fortunate to know and to be acquainted with the folks involved in this movement from the beginning. Names like Sig Lonergan now of England, Nicolas Finck, Richard "Feather" Anderson, Alex Champion, the Rev. Doctor Lauren Artress of Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, Taffy Lanser of Cave Creek, Marty Cain of the Northeast Kingdom, John Wayne Blassingame .... and so many others.

You can see more pictures of a labyrinth and story in my past blog of around March 12th, 2006, from Cave Creek, Arizona.

So until the blog site wants to cooperate with more pictures ... see ya later

2006-04-27T22:32:00.000-07:00

Goodbye Jay ....

Jay Roper, hanging out with my sister for the last 20 years, made his transition today, April 27, 2006. He had just finished a game of golf, one of his most favorite things to do, when lightening struck ... his heart failed. He left behind his two adult children and their families and Sister Sue's pretty good-sized clan, and many friends. A Celebration of Life BBQ will be held in Lodi, California, on Sunday, May 21, 2006.

(I have a picture of Jay that will not download right now. Come back later.)

See you at the next station, ol' buddy. Your catching smile and high energy will be missed.

2006-04-27T21:08:00.000-07:00

Truth or Consequences, New Mexico ..... a stopover on my way home to Belen.

Found the highly touted White Coyote Cafe before settling in for the night. Oh, yum!

Will be home in Belen by tomorrow. G'nite.

2006-04-26T09:01:00.000-07:00

Silver City, New Mexico ... high atop the world!

After living in New Mexico for four years, I have finally arrived in Silver City, (29 miles north of City of Rocks) a town that sprang to life during the summer of 1870. I checked into the Rose Valley RV Ranch and settled in for a few days.

Early morning view from Brightwing ....

The discovery of silver brought thousands of miners. Merchants followed in their footsteps to provide services and goods. Tents and shacks that initially housed commerce were rapidly replaced with buildings made of local brick. Building continued for several decades, leaving behind a wealth of brick Victorian homes, adobe structures and solid commercial buildings. The railroad arrived in 1883.

I heard that Vicki's Eatery had my kinda food ... and I was not disappointed.

Across the street from Vicki's is this painted building.

And next door ....

A series of devastating floods beteween 1895 and 1906 (because they cut down all the trees and the Monsoons came, as they do every year in the summer, duh). What used to be Main Street is now known as the Big Ditch, named after the Panama Canal. It lies some 55 feet below street grade and is now the watercourse for San Vicente Creek.

Unfortunately several streets are closed due to street renovations and it is very hard to get around. Now it's time to head for home tomorrow with a stopover in Truth or Consequences.

May you all be blessed with Peace!

2006-04-23T16:21:00.000-07:00

City of Rocks State Park, New Mexico .....

This weekend the Los Lunas (New Mexico) Willowbenders, a chapter of the American Society of Dowsers (ASD) met here for their 2006 spring campout, to attend the park's Star Party, to check out special energy spots, special time portals, to find hidden pipes for the ranger, teach the ranger to dowse, for comaderie and good cheer. Eight of us showed up.

Approaching the park.

Dianne Murphy, Gary Plapp, Betts Richter and Trudy Clawson working on first breakfast.

Big Rock!

The Bathing Beauties! Enjoying the mineral baths at Faywood Hot Springs just down the road.

(Sally McClure, Trudy, Gary, Dianne, Betts)

Sunset Friday Night.

A highlight in this state park are their Star Parties held throughout the spring and summer months. One is scheduled for this weekend on Saturday night. Lucky us. Unfortunately, the night sky was clouded over and there were many (someone counted 100) disappointed people. Being the observant dowsers that we are, some of us noticed chemtrails overhead all day Friday. So we asked the question: Is the cloud cover due to chemtrails? Answer: Yes. So we asked for divine help to clear the cover for two hours and prayed that it would be so. It didn't work. It always works when we ask for help with rain. This time the answer is the cover was man made and not a natural phenomenon. So there you have it, believers and non-believers.

Such is the world we live in ....

More to come .... stay tuned!

2006-04-23T05:29:00.000-07:00

City of Rocks, Volume 2 ....

The View from Brightwing ....

Tom Fessenmeyer doing breakfast ...

Reiki session to fix Sally's sore shoulder ... Betts, Dianne and Sally with Tom giving his overall blessing.

View from the visitor center ....

Tom and Blitz

A good time was had by all. Happy Trails!

2006-04-19T06:44:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday, Sister Sue!

2006-04-16T18:33:00.000-07:00

Bisbee, Arizona ... what an interesting place.

At the Life on Wheels conference in Tucson in mid-March I learned about other RV clubs and discounts and decided to join Passport America and the Escapees (SKPs). So I finally uprooted myself from Tucson and headed east on I-10 going into the Benson, Tombstone, Bisbee area of Eastern Arizona. Well, first of all I did not know it was rather mountainous and that Bisbeee is/was the largest copper mine in the world in its heyday ... closing in the mid 1970s. Duh! I just never knew.

This one is called the Lavender Pit. There are many more. I thought it was named the Lavener Pit because of its seeming color. No, it's named after William Lavender.

Here is what the countryside looks like, devastation all over the place in my opinion. The consequences of open pit mining. Notice the size of the car in the lower righthand corner.

So I decided to park about 10 miles out of town in a Passport America RV park at 50% off (such a deal - $8.75 a night) and am beginning my exploration. The RV park is a lovely country club only a couple of miles from the Mexican border in a town called Naco AZ. Border Patrol everywhere. Hmmmmmmmmm. Their literature assures us there is nothing to worry about. Immigrants are not interested in stopping around here. They want to get as far away as quickly as possible. If you look at my Datastorm map, I AM on the border. So Hola from Mexico.

So I went to town to find the post office and it was just across the street from the Bisbee Coffee Company, a bustling place if I ever saw one.

Main Street winds up a hill with shops crowded along both sides of the street.

I stopped in the Prickly Pear for a Cuban ... oh, yum ... a grilled concoction; you get to pick and choose. I chose a Philly Steak with the works.

I came back a second day and continued exploring up Main Street. The High Desert Market and Cafe is just that, full of organics, yes! and cool desserts and Italian kitchen imports.

Across the street from the market is a statue of The Copper Man, a tribute to the copper miners of years long past and to the heyday that once was. Bisbee is now a historical site, the entire town, and entrepreneurs of all types have arrived to entice you to visit ... including some fine restaurants.I don't want to leave Bisbee without mentioning the Queen Mine ... both an underground and land tour. Friends have said, "Don't miss the underground tour." Haven't made up my mind about touring any of ths. Destruction of our land and earth is disturbing for me. I felt the same way when I traveled to Vancouver Island in Canada in the mid-'90s and my heart was ripped open with all the clearcutting I saw up there, the destruction of all the FORESTS .... and I still have nightmares about all of that. I'm just a pussycat, but I love Gaia, our grand Mother, Mother Earth!

More later ...

2006-04-07T08:32:00.000-07:00

Announcing Christmas 2005 pictures and December house redecoration are now posted in the archives for January 2006 and December 2005, Enjoy!

2006-04-02T08:36:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Today, Adam .... BIG 25!

Roaming around Costa Rica this spring exploring his world. Love you so much .... Gramma JoJo

2006-03-29T09:22:00.000-08:00

Life in Tucson for a couple of birthday weeks ... I love to CELEBRATE!

Arrived back in Tucson after the Life on Wheels conference plus 5 days with Cousin Otie.

We celebrated my birthday together with dinner at Sweet Tomatoes in Tucson.
Oracle is 30 some miles north of Tucson, so we drove to the big city, woohoo.

Friend Doris Walenta and I celebrated our two birthdays a week apart with a smashing dinner at Bazil's up on Sunrise in Tucson. That yummy dessert was a gift from Bazil's. (That's a glass of vino there in my left hand .. you can hardly see it)

The view from Doris's condo at Kachina Hills near Sabino Canyon in Tucson.

Happy Birthday everyone!

2006-03-26T11:52:00.000-08:00

Settling down in Tucson .....

Enjoying the fantastic body work by Benita Gettel. This lady is awesome. Here she is with her family in front of her darling home near Old Town ..... including her ocotillo fence ...

four little Japanese Chin (hope I got that right ....)
.... and Jackie, age 15. Trying a hi-grain effect on this picture. Hmmmmmm, not sure about that finish.

And a Tucson sunset, ahhhh.

~ Goodnight ~

2006-03-25T11:57:00.000-08:00

Visiting with friends .....

Suzy Seay (See) and I caught up on things at dinner at the Eclectic Cafe out on Tanque Verde in Tucson. I met Suz on the Copper Canyon trip in Oct. 2003. We have stayed in touch ever since.

Here she is with her cat BAT.

Lots of love 'n light .....

2006-03-21T14:11:00.000-08:00

Chilly in Oracle, Arizona, visiting with Cousin Otie ...

... am learning Picasa, a free photo program from Google and am about to surprise you with more recent pictures, woohoo!

On February 9th I left Belen and the winter weather with a small supply of "winter clothes." This past six weeks has been more on the chilly side ... but at least the ground is not frozen. It snowed here in Oracle all day Sunday ....

It's 5500 feet elevation ... melting as soon as it hits the ground. These are the front stairs and side deck on the left to his new house. Cannot believe I did NOT take any more pictures.

Cuz and I have been burning up the midnight oil getting caught up on family and lots of picture sharing. We figure it's been 20 years since we last were together at mom's in Modesto. His mother and my father were siblings. Otie is remodeling an abandoned Baptist Church on his property here as his latest home and hopes to move in in July. It will be a stunner. He does all this by himself, even making all the cabinets in the wood shop of a nearby school.

He has this cute little car ....

More tomorrow ... we are going to the big city of Tucson to celerate one of my BIG birthdays. Stay tuned!

Spreading light and love all over this earth ... me and Brightwing.

2006-03-18T21:28:00.000-08:00

Life on Wheels ... Pima Community College, Tucson ...

What a great week with old and new friends at the RV LoW Conference. I met Larry and Orene Brown out on the Miracle Mile and we caravanned into town so we could park together in the parking lot ...

...dry camping it's called.

Larry and Orene, Mary and Dave Gardner from San Francisco

John and Joline

John is a friend of Larry and Orene's (he has a DataStorm, too) and they met down in San Carlos, Mexico (near Guaymas) where they were all spending the winter.

[Reminder: Larry and Orene I met at my first DataStorm Rally in 2004 in Kerrville, Texas. They bought an RV lot in Tierra del Sol in Florence, Arizona, last November and are staying there now after the winter in Mexico. Ah, the good life. We have been rendevousing ever since.]

There were probably 100 rigs all piled in together while we attended classes, and learned a lot. The Gardners were parked next to me, the Browns in front of me. We hung out a lot together.

On the first day I took a class entitled "Batteries." Isn't that exciting? It is a precursor to the second class on solar and I knew from the first class that my system is not/has not been operating correctly. The instructor was swamped with questions, but fortunately through his wife I enticed him to pay my Brightwing a visit ... and sure enough, we needed some new powerful wiring. Greg Holder's the name, from Portland, Oregon, a real pro and full of knowledge and expertise. He lined me up with Ron, a roving RV doctor and student of his, and the next day I missed classes in the afternoon to await Ron's arrival. Arrive he did. There sure was a lot of tongue clucking over my battery install. All was righted ... and golly, gee whiz, my solar now works like a solar should.

A lot of the fun in RVing is meeting up with the people you meet on the road, and over the years with the aid of email and cell phones, it becomes part of life finding and meeting up with the folks you know. DataStormers have our "map" that locates us wherever we are and that helps us find each other. If you click on the above word "map", you can find my location any day. You have to scroll waaaay down to me, I'm # 865.

There are sooooo many classes in the world of Rving, that the next really big shew is in Moscow, Idaho, beginning on July 8th. I have a zillion unanswered questions ... and how long have I been RVing? Well, since Feb. of 1989. Amazing how much you don't know and have yet to learn. I have paid plenty of $$ through the years for not knowing enough and have just kept plowing on .... well, it's never too late to learn. Now, on reflection, if you think these seminars are expensive to attend, I think over the years you could save a bundle by doing this stuff up front. My two cents. [Alas, with Brightwing I, I didn't know such things existed. Too busy working for retirement, hehe.]

Sending out my love and light to you and to the cosmos!

2006-03-13T08:58:00.000-08:00

A Day in the Labyrinths ... Cave Creek, Arizona ... the Phoenix dowsers are having their monthly meeting.

Taffy and her main labyrinth at her home in Cave Creek.

A gorgeous day with snow capped mountains. Chris and Jim Guld passing each other in the labyrinth.

Thoreau is the name of the center stone in the labyrinth. There is a firepit nearby ....
Taffy's wonderful geodesic dome house. There is a second, smaller labyrinth in the front of the house to the left. She is now planning a third. If you want to know more about labyrinths, Google the word and you will be busy reading for hours. [The system won't let me download any more pictures .... hmmm-m-m-m. Will continue this to a new day and see what happens.]

2006-03-13T07:45:00.000-08:00

More Labyrinth Pictures from Sunday in Cave Creek ... on the way to Carefree, hehe

Jim is learning to dowse and Chris is sitting in a fairy ring that I dowsed (Yes, Virginia, there are really such things). Chris also found her object (a yellow/purple golf ball) by dowsing. And she won a prize .. a diamond clip ... [dime-in-clip, get it?]

This is a full-sized pic of the firepit. Nice to have for nightsky ceremonies, etc. Or just tellin' each other ghost stories.

2006-03-12T07:06:00.000-08:00

Chandler, Arizona .... Sunday ... lots going on and I keep runnin' outta time ....

Am taking the camera with me today, hooray, so maybe we'll have some pictures. It has rained here in the Phoenix area for 2 straight days. Reminded me of California. But this morning, ahhhhh, the sun is gloriously shining once again, the world is green, fresh and alive!

Jim and Chris Guld (you gotta visit their blog. They inspire me no end) will be picking me up at noon to drive to Cave Creek where the Phoenix chapter of the dowsers will be meeting to learn about labyrinths and to walk Taffy's labyrinth. Taffy Lanser is someone I've known for many years and I've always wanted to see her geodesic dome home. She gives workshops on labyrinths. So today is the day! So need to get a movin' along here and will post pictures tomorrow.

I am making a resolution to take pictures, post them and keep up with this blog, which is my way of journal keeping. See you tomorrow.

Love 'n hugz .....

2006-02-22T19:40:00.001-08:00

Quartzsite, Arizona .... ooh, boy, a looooong time since I posted here.

Well, the entire month of October 2005 was spent in Arizona with friend Marilyn ... remember her? ... attending the dowsing conference in Flagstaff, then moved on to Scottsdale for a "What the Bleep" conference, and then visited in Phoenix and Tucson, arriving home on November 2nd. And Marilyn flew back to the East Coast.

Housemates Diane and Lea had moved to Prescott AZ while I was gone and the house seemed so empty upon my return. So the brilliant thought was to unpack from my California move four years earlier, decorate, buy some furniture, paint, paint, paint ... and, voils, it all camae together by mid-December just in time to go to California for the holidays.

New Mexico's late fall and early winter weather this year was so spectacular ... warm days, cold nights, windless, bright blue skies each and every day ... it was very nice to be there, so was in no hurry to "leave for the winter." I did, however, shove off on February 9th headed back to Arizona and have been here ever since ... well, except for a little foray into So. California along I-10 to visit friends in Idyllwild ... that was a real adventure with the rig .... narrow, unpaved roads and Dale and Jane live way, way out thar at the top o' the world. And I don't have any pictures, dratz. Am out of the habit of taking them. The Christmas pictures are still on the camera.

Cousin Otie Millen and I connected around Christmas time. To my surprise he has been living near Tucson for the last 2 years, building a home in Oracle. We figured it's been at least 20 years since we last hugged ... so he came by today right here in Quartzsite on his way to L.A. What fun! And I had the camera right under my nose ... and again didn't do it. For shame! Oh, the wonder of cell phones to help folks do these kinds of things. At least with ease anyway.

Well, am closing for today and wonder if this will keep up. Stay tuned.

Blessings to all ...

2006-01-07T07:25:00.000-08:00

Happy were the Holidays with lots of pictures with family in California .... ...

Adam ... Alex ... Andrew with Brent ... Gram with Sophie

Forrest and Karyn ... together 30 years. Lookin' good!

Sophia and Brent, age 5 ... they really do love each other!

Grandma Frances with Drew and Brent

Sister and Brother ... Sue and Fori

Christmas Eve Dinner at Karyn's

Christmas Dinner at Francie's
Adam ... going to Costa Rica in the Spring.
Kiss Me!
Brothers!

That's my family. We were all together for a change. Nice.

2005-12-15T09:55:00.000-08:00

A Christmas Present to Myself ... a new house ...

Pangs of domesticity hit around mid-November. Moving to New Mexico in January 2002 I was in a hurry to hit the road and I never really unpacked. So here's how it unfolded.

Painting and redecorating is such a mess. A lot of scrubbing and elbow grease. That's a Murphy bed on the right side that got moved to the end wall ... wow, what a good idea. In the very back you are looking into the large bedroom/office area ... which did not get touched this go round ... that room housed all the stuff from the living area while we were arranging things.

A father and son did the whole paint job in one day ... 16 hours. The Murphy bed is now moved, didya notice?

I decided on a red wall ....

The new furniture and rugs arrived and the place is transformed.

The pictures from California got unpacked and laid out ....
The last picture is looking into the kitchen area. The bathroom got the works, too, and the kitchen got freshened up with paint and new curtains. I am so pleased with it all that I might never want to leave .... well, not for awhile anyway.

2005-10-01T09:30:00.000-07:00

Belen, New Mexico ... My How The Time Flies ... When You're Having Fun! .... there's no way to catch up. Briefly I arrived home the last week of August from the summer trip around Utah, Wyoming, Colorado and Northern New Mexico. Highlights were the Young Living Convention in Salt Lake City. Friend Trudy Clawson of California joined me for one heckuva week of lots of new information, reuniting with old friends, a joyful annual occasion. Trudy flew home and I went over to Evanston to visit with son Greg and family. They were busy and excited getting Son No. 1, Gregory, (Grandchild No. 5) off to college in California.

I needed to backtrack to Salt Lake for some satellite repairs/update and so after a week of that headed south to I-70 and then south some more through Moab and over to Ccrtez CO, Durango (had dinner with Louise Garnett) and then Pagosa Springs to revisit from 10 years ago when I fell in love with the place. Friend Susan Junta moved there a year ago so reconnected with her ... and stayed more than a week (time melds into one long rolling space) and Pagosa just suits me to a T. If all goes well, I shall return next summer for a longer stay (when it gets hot in NM).

After Pagosa I moved on down to Taos, New Mexico, and just hung out for about 4 days. Then Angel Fire was only 26 miles away and my Chinese restaurant friends from Belen had moved their operation to this top of the world place, reminiscent of an Alpine ski area, the Yu family, mom, dad and 3 kids. I found them happy, thriving and their restaurant packed every night. Jack Yu is such an excellent chef and I so enjoyed visiting with them and being properly fed, yum!

A Belen/Albuquerque/Harmonious Earth friend, Robert Griffin, moved to Mora/Cleveland, New Mexico, earlier this year. He joined up with a community by the name of Hummingbird Ranch and I wanted to see what he/they were up to. I really enjoyed my two days there and spending time in the highlands of Northern New Mexico. Still lots more to see and do.

Stopped in Santa Fe on my way home to Belen and enjoyed a meal with friend Judy Barrett and daughter Jennifer. It all passed by so quickly and then, voila, I found myself going through my back gate with the rig and, plop, we landed and have been here ever since.

September was filled with community activities and houseguests, plus Katrina and Rita .... Patricia Burke and Diane Moriarty came out from California, and so did Daughter Karyn and husband, Forrest ... their frist trip to New Mexico. They all seemed to have a good time. There were visits to the mesa, lots of good food, an Equinox ceremony at our community center site (on the mesa), a Tom Kenyon (sound healer) 3-day event ... a group of 267 ... pretty impressive ... a yummy buffet at Nathan's in Albuquerque ... the Godfather of us all ... such exquisite fun!

And housemate, Diane, has decided to return to Prescott, Arizona, and so there will be changes, a new chapter ... a new trip headed for the dowsing conference in Flagstaff, leaving Oct. 6th ... and friend Marilyn (co-pilot on my 2 Mexico trips) will fly out from Baltimore on Monday, Oct. 3rd, to join me in a romp around Arizona for at least a month.

And no pictures were taken. That's just the way it is.

Except for the sunset during the Equinox ....

(will post pic later) so you have to come back.

2005-07-10T10:00:00.000-07:00

Good Sunday Morning from Monticello, Utah ... Day 3
Am on the road again, hooray, for a spin around Utah, Wyoming, Colorado and Northern New Mexico. Time? 6-8 weeks.

Left Belen at 12:45 p.m. on Friday, July 8th, after stopping for new trailer tires at Big O. Crossed the Continental Divide and arrived in Bloomfield NM exhausted at 4:30 p.m. and slept for 14 hours. Whew! Preparing to leave on a road trip is somewhat tiring.

Woke up a new woman and proceeded on through Cortez CO and into UT for the night, here at Mountain View RV Park. A nice little oasis where my satellite went up without a hitch and we're on the way to Salt Lake City to attend the Young Living Essential Oils annual convention. Trudy Clawson will fly in from California to join me on Tuesday, the 12th.

Meanwhile, to catch up .... I flew to Oakland CA on June 22nd, rented a car and drove to Marin to spend a week with daughter Karyn and family, and friends. The week flew by, naturally, and I ended the week with Harmonious Earth friends in Livermore and Alameda before flying home on the 28th. Took lots of pictures and here are just some. It's hard to choose.

Here are my 3 grandsons, boys of Karyn and Forrest Craig.

Adam ...................... Andrew/Stephanie

........................and Alex.

Daughter Karyn with THE TWINS, Sophia and Brent, age 4-1/2 (father Andrew)

And tucked in for the night .... (my blog program has made some changes to the format and I don't know the drill yet)

One morning old, dear friend, Clyde Brehm, and I met for brunch.

Friend Cindi (see picture below Clyde) remodeled an old house into a spanking new little cottage in Novato. The prices are still steep ... will you believe $679,000 for a thousand sq. feet?
Next is Shakira. We met in around 1987. Met for breakfast at the Golden Omelette in Novato. On my last morning Karyn and I went to the Half Day Cafe for a breakfast only they can prepare, omigod, and sitting right next to us is Kristiina and Michael, my former tenants in the little house out back in San Rafael. We were a family on that piece of property.

I left Marin after a wonderful week and drove to Alameda to pick up Patricia Burke to continue the drive to Livermore for lunch with hostest Barbara Rawles, and other old friends, Gloria Kasdan and Diane Moriarty. We all began our journey together with the Harmonious Earth Community back in around 1995. Many of us have moved to New Mexico since then and some remain in California, always such fun to get together, break bread and have a grand ol' visit. (The pictures won't download/upload? just yet. Later.)

The flight home was normal, except now one has to change planes in Phoenix, a drag ... but BW-2 (my awesome truck) was waiting for me at the Park 'n Fly.

One more highlight in my life before signing off and preparing to move on out .... several of us gathered at Gary Plapp's for the 4th of July ... a potluck supper and fireworks. Gina Polsinelli (Gary's sig. other) was visiting from California, Tom Fesenmeyer, Cecelia Downer, Sally McClure, Sharon Mayo and me all showed up for a glorious 4th. I forgot my camera, for shame.

And another highlight (with no pictures) We have a focus group in our community named the grantwriting/reforestation project. We are learning to write grants and the initial project is to reforest New Mexico (once a forest of 38 species of oak and redwood) and we intend to start with our West Belen Mesa with one million trees. Yes, one million! I did manage to attend a number of their twice monthly meetings during the 2-1/2 months I was in town.

All for now. Time to shove off for Moab UT (one of my favorite places on earth), then Green River, Salida, Provo/Springfield and the KOA in Salt Lake City by tomorrow noon. See you next time.

30 for today.

2005-06-18T15:30:00.000-07:00

Belen ... a lazy Saturday in June ... almost the full moon and Summer Solstice
The trip to Kansas City was a delight. Travel went smoothly both ways, though long with all the terminal waiting and early arrival to catch the terrorists, egads!

Albuquerque to Kansas City has a weird flight schedule, two times daily, 6:10 a.m. or 7:35 p.m. either way. I chose the early flight going and the late one coming back. Char, who was driving from Nebraska City, Nebraska, picked me up at the airpot on her way into town and we met Kay John Helms at the hotel and off we went to the Elephant Bar for lunch. That began a fun, hilarious weekend with women I have known since 1942. We continued on together through high school, scattered for college and marriage with family ... but we (9 of us) stayed connected through the process of a Round Robin letter ... it goes around and around like the Energizer Bunny ... you take out your old letter and put in a new one. From time to time we would have a live reunion and lately they are more often as we get older. We don't want to miss a thing! Six of us made it this time and here we are:

..........Me..........Joanne.......JoAnn.......Kay.......Jean..........Char

The garden view from our rooms ...

Our departure date was Monday and everyone had a flight home at a decent hour. Mine was 7:35 p.m., remember? The suttle to the airport was $45, so I decided to rent a car for the day and did just that and drove myself to the airport. It was a fun, wonderful day. I found a large regional library near the airport and spent several hours there checking email and doing a little business. Mimi's Cafe, one of my favorites, was right around the corner for a delicious lunch. The car seat folded flat so an after lunch nap was in order.

I have to say that Kansas City is a beautiful metropolis. The trees are magnificent. The natives are most friendly. Shopping and food? You'd think you were in the SF Bay Area. Drawback? Weather, of course. We did experience some rain and the frequent tornado watches, ho-hum, but that doesn't compare to what happens in the winter time. Shhh-h-h, I know. I grew up in Nebraska, remember? Well, maybe you don't.

I had intended to go to a movie in the p.m. but had so much fun just driving around that, poof, it was time to return the car and head for the gate.

Will end this by saying that I have a ticket for California for Wednesday and will be flying out there for a week. This is support the airlines month. Looking forward to it.

This is home now and the memory I leave while traveling, the West Belen Mesa with the Manzanos to the East. Photo courtesy of friend Jim Van Hoose.

2005-06-08T11:20:00.000-07:00

Hola from New Mexico ... looks like I got blogged down in "stuff" here at home. So will touch on the highlights with some pictures. I arrived home to Belen on Saturday, April 23rd.

Spring did not happen when the calendar said it should. We jumped right into HOT summer. But then the tables turned and now spring/early summer is here like it's supposed to be. Wonderful cool mornings, warmer afternoons, and cool breezes again at night. Glorious sun, no wind, just lazy days.

On April 26th Doris Walenta and Mary Ryan came to town to visit their land ...

(still looking for their picture ...)

... with dinner after at the Luna Mansion.

I am remembering a fun day on Saturday, April 30th in Albuquerque at The Pit(a huge indoor colliseum) where Gary Plapp and I went to the Gathering of Nations, my first, where the Native Americans gather for dancing ...

... and eating and socializing. The "dress" is breathtaking together with the dancing.

The male ...

The female ...

... and the child.

The Harmonious Earth Community garden is planted this year with a Goddess Garden overlooking it all. This statue of Quan Yin is gifted from my garden to theirs, since I have two that came all the way with me from California to New Mexico.

The community greenhouse.

Betts and Barbara working in the Goddess Garden.

Chief Gardener, Carol Hart, is holding one of 25 bare root poplar trees gifted to the community by Betts, plus 25 hackberry bushes, that will become part of the windbreak in our experimental garden on the mesa. These plants are planted in mesa soil in new containers to give them a gift of life on the mesa while becoming established.

And here is the King of the Garden ...

... HRH Pierre Peacock!

In May our community was invited with others to the Michael Melendrez (Trees that Please) annual Arboretum Open House ...

... and here's Mike, always teaching, and we are always learning.

He told us all about making humus for the soil (earthworms and other beasties) and how to plant trees in New Mexico, and we bought the video .... which a focus group of our community is in the process of learning all about. We have an ambitious plan to write a grant to buy and plant one million oak trees to help return New Mexico (at least our Mesa) to its native forested state. I am a member of this group when not traveling.

I am also charged with researching and teaching others how to bring in the water the Hopi way, a process that I am familiar with. I wrote an article on this 10 years ago, imagine that. It involves labyrinths, water jars ... meditation and other-worldly things.

On May 14th, as a group we visited Ben Brown's labyrinth project on his land.

That's Dianne Warshak and me walking the labyrinth.

On the same day we visited Mesa Tom's property where Tom proudly showed us his new well, pump, his gazebo and water feature for all to enjoy. Here we are filling water jugs to help Tom water the thirsty plants. Remember this is high, 5,000 feet, dry desert.

And the water feature that Tom is building. There is a pool for circulating water on the far side.

Somehow I missed a shot of Tom's wonderful gazebo up on the top of his little hill. Folks gather there for gorgeous sunsets aplenty.

Seemingly always busy, I flew to Salt Lake City on May 27th, rented a car and drove to Evanston, Wyoming, to attend grandson Gregory Stone's high school graduation on the 28th. Grandpa (Pops) Bob Stone and wife Dorothy (good friend, too) drove up from Riverside, California, and we all had a grand time. Mom Cathy Stone was under the weather with pneumonia and was supposed to be on strict bedrest, but nothing was going to stop her from her son's graduation.

The graduate's family ....

Get the red shoes!

Paternal grandparents ... Joline and Bob.

Other paternal grandparents ... Dorothy and Bob.

Just friends ... Greg and Suzie off to college together.

Am now preparing this week to fly on Friday to Kansas City for MY high school buddies (the Round Robin 9 group) 75th birthday celebration. Later in the month a flying trip to California before preparing the rig to hit the road again on July 9th. Whew!

Take a deep breath and smell the roses.

## 30 for today

2005-04-21T20:57:00.000-07:00

Apache Gold ... San Carlos, Arizona .... hunkered down at the Indian Rez outside of Globe after a very lonnnnng day. It started out okay, the first hour, and then when I unplugged the electricity there was NO 12-Volt! Won't bore you with the details, but I did have a previous appointment at Dillon's RV Repair in Apache Junction (on 60 east of Phoenix) for a toilet repair (the flushing mechanism.) So I arrived at 9:30 a.m. and left at 4 p.m., twiddling my thumbs all that time waiting, and waiting and waiting for parts, etc. The no 12-volt was a bad breaker. That got fixed and the toilet works like brand new. So I finally feel like I'ma headin' home. To relieve the stress I ate a whole carton of Haagen Dazs ... well, almost. It's time to post pictures.

My Baby Sister Sue celebrated her 70th birthday on Tuesday. I sent her the tulips because she deserves them and because I thought it might help take her mind off "the big" birthday. Isn't she gorgeous?

In March Sue's grandson, Brandon Tiago, went into the Marines. His Grandpa and Sue's first husband, Joe Tiago, Jr., was a General in the USMC. General Joe had a massive heart attack in 1979 and is no longer with us on this plane. Brandon is the first child of any of our children or grandchildren to go into the military.

Here's Sue, Lori, her daughter and Brandon's mom, the Hunk, and his Great Grandma Zeta (Sue's and my mom, age 95).

She's really a Great Great Grandma because of the twins, Sophia and Brent, down my line. And here they are last summer down at the farm. I just love to show them off, wouldn't you?

Well, that's 30 for today. G'nite.

2005-04-16T18:00:00.000-07:00

Chandler, Arizona ... Hacienda Solano Resort ... Day 10 ... can you believe this? Guess I'm having too much fun ... nah, just catching up with chores .... you know, get the oil changed on the truck, two weeks of laundry, visiting with friends, get the hair cut and etc.

Before I forget it, the pictures of our (Marilyn and me) visit with Doris Walenta in Tucson are now posted in the last day, April 7th, in case you are following along with this saga.

Continuing on ... when I arrived here in Chandler (Phoenix metro area) I found Bill Gangel in a nursing home recuperating from breaking a vertebra. Bill's wife is Charlene (Char) and we have been friends since 6th grade. How'z that for longevity? They live in Sun Lakes nearby. Another old school chum is JoAnn Tierney, who also winters here in Sun Lakes. The three of us are part of a group of nine who belong to the Round Robin, a newsy letter that we have been circulating UNBROKEN since 1948!

Here's Char, Jo and me relaxing before going to dinner hosted by the Tierneys.

And the Tierneys ... JoAnn and Bernie.

And their lovely home in Sun Lakes. They live in Denver in the summer months. That's Char and Jo out front.

Last Sunday I found the Life Force Chapter of ASD (American Society of Dowsers) and caught a shot of Mary Marie Satterlee and Clay Smith.

Being an 18-year member of ASD, founder of the Digital Dowers (a cyber chapter) and former Trustee, it is so enjoyable to attend the meetings of other chapters and meet up with long time friends. Clay has a new i-River MP-3 recorder that I immediately spotted and it looks like my next toy, hehe. Clay followed me home to oogle my satellite and other toys ... a kindred spirit.

The featured speaker for the day was Serge Martel, a modern American Indian Shaman who is shown here with his L-rods testing energy and auras.

And, of course, they end their day with a potluck that filled the spirit and the belly.

Today Char reports that Bill is doing so well that he might come home on Monday. I will capture his picture before leaving the area so all of you interested in Bill's progress can see for yourself.

My project for today was to hook up a new DVD player to my cupboard full of electronics ... and, oh, dear ... not my forte`. Somehow I managed to do IT! All because the DVD of "What the Bleep Do We Know" arrived in my mail from home ... and I can hardly wait to see it again, and again, and again.

I am soooo excited about that movie that I am intending to sign up for the Scottsdale (Phoenix) Prophet's Conference entitled "What the Bleep" in October. Found an RV park near the resort where the conference will take place and intend to run up there tomorrow to take a look. I am believing my good fortune!

Thought for today:

"You have to strive every minute to get rid of the life
that you have planned in order to have the life that's
waiting to be yours. Move, move, move...."
--Joseph Campbell

2005-04-07T21:40:00.000-07:00

Tucson, Arizona ... Whispering Palms RV Park ...

Going back to the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, March 30th.

On the way home from Puerto Penasco (Rocky Point, the American name,) ...

(apologies for the dirty windshield) ....

... we spent one night at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. They have a lovely RV park once limited in RV size but now expanded and experimenting with the big rigs. The view was breathtaking, calming, one with all that is.

The desert is just beginning to bloom.

We arrived in Tucson on Thursday, March 31st, and Marilyn began her much anticipated visit with her brother Guy and his wife, June. I checked into the Whispering Palms for a week.

On Sunday Marilyn and I went to the Unity Church, which is always a haven away from home. The Tucson church has a lovely sanctuary, a terrific husband and wife team of ministers, and their grounds around is a lovely desert landscape.

Hanging Fruit Cholla.

Ma and Pa!

Cholla and Ocotillo (the tall stuff)

Palo Verde trees.

That evening we met up for dinner with Suzanne Seay from our Copper Canyon trip. She took us to a Mongolian Barbeque which was delicious and outstanding.

On Saturday I found the Tucson Dowsers, who had three women sharing the speaker's platform.

Phyllis Winslow, Ellie Drew and Mary Wolken-Rodriguez.

Homer Hefty, co-founder with his wife, Marge, of the Tucson Dowsers many years ago, crossed to the other side in late 2003 and found his voice in this realm through Ellie Drew, who has written a best seller book: "Partnering with Spirit:Homer's Journey." I so resonated with Ellie that I made an appointment with her for a private reading. Fascinating!

Our last night in Tucson, Marilyn and I were invited to break bread with Doris Walenta, a New Mexico landowner (all three of us) in the Harmonious Earth Community, a friend and artist ...

That was Marilyn overseeing Doris making a most delicious spinach salad. The dinner that followed of angel hair pasta, kalamata olive bread and a fine Pinot Noir ... together with the company ... ooh, lala.

Doris does sculpting, being her mode of expression at the present moment. She went to Italy to take a class, went to the quarry to pick out her "stone," and this is the finished result. Magnificent!

Doris is also an expert on clay and teaches classes in Tucson. This is a sample of her many vases displayed in her home.

Marilyn went to the Tucson Airport this morning, April 7th, to fly home to Baltimore. Home. Well, her car is there and her daughter and grandchildren. I think her home is now "on the road" as it appears is mine, having spent only 3 months in New Mexico during 2004. Her trailer is in Florida, where she will drive to pick up before April 15th. Hmm-m-m-m, tax day. I am a good girl and mine are filed long ago.

This ends the Baja 2005 trip. Thanks, Marilyn, for calling me last October and suggesting such a journey. What a ride!

Our prayer for protection each morning
as we started out. It will be my prayer
each morning as I start out henceforth:

The light of God surrounds us;
The love of God enfolds us;
The power of God protects us;
The presence of God watches
over us;
Wherever we are, God is!

2005-04-02T17:06:00.000-08:00

Tucson, Arizona ... the days are blurred ... one runs into the next.

I added more pictures to finish up the March 30th entry, so you might want to scroll down for that if you visited here and thought it was finished.

Will be here a week, and have some lovely pictures from Organ Pipe ... so stay tuned.

Happy Birthday, Adam!

Love 'n hugz .... eGram.

2005-03-30T21:56:00.000-08:00

Puerto Penasco (Rocky Point) Sonora, Mexico ...

Since our insurance doesn't expire until mid-August, it intrigued us that we could actually go back into Mexico on our own. We heard a lot about Puerto Penasco on the Sea of Cortez but located in a different area. The safest way to go we were advised was to exit Mexico in Tecate like wew did and travel over US 8 to Gila Bend in Arizona, and go south from there. We arrived in Puerto Penasco Easter Sunday afternoon, end of spring break. Hallelujah! Thank God it was the end!

The town was packed with people. We were able to find a place to park in the Playa Miramar RV park for $17.60 per night down by the beach. If you have expectations you will be disappointed. We settled in and then decided to cruise the town, hehe. There is a one-way road/street that circles through the Old Port part of town (where all the action was) and nothing was moving. We followed a car that turned left out of that mess and we followed him/her out of there, actually found a street parking place, read the local advertisements re restaurants and picked the Costa Brava which was in plain sight. It was a lovely choice to eat, obviously caters to Americans (English speakers) which takes the adventure out of the experience, but, hey, it's okay at times.

Tiredness and common sense took over after that and we went back to the rig to settle down for the night. The night was looonnng ... kaboom, kaboom, kaboom BANG, (cherry bombs?) and fireworks all night long with the revelers going to day break. The town cleared out very fast by early Monday morning and the clean up crew went to work and did a very good job of digging out the trash and cleaning the streets. Marilyn talked to someone on her early morning walk who told her that the town had just gotten the street sweeper. Good timing.

Monday we became tourists and went back to the Malecon (the boardwalk area), saw the fish markets, the views and had lunch.

This is the view from the Malecon .... notice the parasailer in the distance. Marilyn did this in Cabo San Lucas. I did it 30 years ago in Acapulco, once was enough.

And another view ...

This man sells candied fruits and colorful items to eat ...

Walking a little further along, this statue is quite large, The Shrimpman ...

Rocky Point is so named (I'm guessing here) because of the rocky beach ...

We stepped into Lily's for lunch and I ordered this very attractively served chicken quesadilla ...

This is a restaurant built out over the water.

After a couple of hours in the fish market area and the Malecon, we drove 8 miles out to Sandy Beach ... where they are building a jillion highrise apartment/condos/whatevers ... welcome to Waikiki, you name it. It was swarming with families mainly, all seeming to have a good time swimming, water skiing, sunbathing and enjoying the various pools. No golf course, no nothin' ...

And the beach is sandy ... how'd you guess?

Marilyn gifted Brightwing with a wash job ... the price in Mexico is far superior than in the U.S. and with that we left this morning headed for Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument just back over the border into Arizona.

Those pictures will show up on the next edition of this blog.

30 for today and g'nite.

2005-03-28T23:49:00.000-08:00

AFTERGLOW ... RVW Baja 2005 Tour ...

Julie and I are looking for a way to make a CD of this trip. We will include all pictures and articles sent this way beforehand. This is being written on Sunday, April 17, 2005.

Meanwhile, Val Fitzsimmons sent in these pictures today for sharing.

This appears to be Happy, Portia and me sampling the clams on our first evening at Santispac Beach ...

I am fascinated by the play of the sunlight in this picture
of I don't know who swinging at the pinata at Catavina ...

Val is sharing these nice pictures of her taken at various places.
Sorry I don't know where they were snapped.

Hey, come on ... send me those favorites.

2005-03-28T21:04:00.000-08:00

End of the RVW Baja 2005 Fantasy Tours trip for 20 rigs, 35 women and one token male

(Hey, he was a much needed tailgunner, and a good one, too). This blog for this fabulous trip is now completed, but there will be an afterglow for a looong time.

The relevant dates for blog reading are February 22 through March 28, 2005. As the days roll by the various blog entries are archived off to the right of the current page. I will publish here pictures that come to me via email and/or stories that are crying out to be written. So check back often to see what's posted.

For starters, JoAnn Goldsmith sent me a picture from the Monday, March 7th (Day 15) Back Country Day Trip in Los Barriles. In the middle of the day Ann, Val, Shar and Marilyn jumped into the hot springs ...

Rosalie sent an email today stating that she and Julie just arrived home in Benicia, California, "exhausted but safe and sound. Trip home uneventful, thankfully."

2005-03-28T16:43:00.000-08:00

Puerto Penasco (Rocky Point) Sonora, Mexico ... hey, how did we get here?

The urge to check out this place on Mexico's west coast along the Sea of Cortez began to germinate shortly before our 34-day tour ended. Guess we didn't get enough of Mexico. No way, Jose. But before continuing on with this little adventure there are stories to tell and pictures to post.

Our Fantasy Tour spent our last two days (Day 33 and 34) at the Estero Beach RV Park near Ensenada culminating in our farewell dinner at their restaurant. My camera was having a bad hair day so the pictures are limited. Maybe that's a good thing.

Our wagonmasters presented each of us with our very own Easter basket filled with goodies and our tailgunners gave each of us a memento from Estero Beach.

I caught Burle and Happy as a last gasp ...

And squeezed out one more picture of Pat Vine celebrating her birthday. The cake was provided by the restaurant and it was one of the best cakes I ever tasted.
This one's a fake. They had the real deal all cut and ready to serve once the candles were out.

That's saying a lot more than for the food, which was probably the worst meal I had on the whole trip ... mainly because it seemed to be stale, prepared way ahead, the tacos were tough ... well, 'nuff said. We had already turned in our trip evaluations so this one got missed ... Fantasy, are you reading?

The next morning was busy getting ready to leave early at 7:00 amid the lingering goodbyes ... 34 days together through thick 'n thin creates some pretty tight bonds and longlasting friendships. Initially there were to be two exit strategies; one group crossing the border at San Diego and the other crossing 43 miles east of San Diego at Tecate. I don't know if there ever was a San Diego group but we were in the caravan heading for Tecate. We traveled for three hours through some of the most gorgeous farmland, gentle hills, vineyards and roadside flowers that I have EVER seen. It also was the Ruta de Vino, a wonderful wine making area of Mexico. What a surprise. Reminds me of what Napa Valley might have looked like fifty years ago.

Many folks seemed to be dreading the U.S. Customs crossing, but Marilyn and I did a little visualization and prayer beforehand and our crossing was swift, easy and uneventful. Hooray! Several of us headed out Highway 94 which would eventually put us onto I-8 to Yuma. Through the CB I heard continuous exclamations of joy and ecstasy over the increased size of the road, a steady single and/or double line and such happiness over being back stateside.

I found a pay phone at a small oasis to call Verizon to reinstate my cell phone which had been on vacation hold since February 22nd. The pay phone was attached to a small place advertising "Old Fashioned Hamburgers and Icecream." Tasted pretty good after such a long absence. Well, not the icecream.

So we continued on to Foothill Road about 14 miles east of Yuma and found a neat little RV park called Foothill Village. We slept pretty good ... it had been a long day and we lost an hour, going forward into Mountain Time. Didn't even put up the satellite. Joline must be sick. No, just tired. But the next morning we were all rested and hip to go to Puerto Penasco. We turned south at Gila Bend and stopped at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument ...

Marilyn snapped this one of me in a lovely setting out back of the ranger station.

Our intention is to spend one night in their campground on our way back to Tucson later this week.

My email brought this to me today and I am guided to share it with you.

Love and Ego

"We are not responding to this instant . . .
if we are judging any aspect of it.

The ego looks for what to criticize.

This always involves comparing with the past.

But love looks upon the world peacefully and accepts.

The ego searches for shortcomings and weaknesses.

Love watches for any sign of strength.

It sees how far each one has come and not how far he has to go.

How simple it is to love and exhausting it is always to find fault,
for every time we see fault we think something needs to be done about it.

Love knows that nothing is ever needed but more love.

It is what we all do with our hearts that affects others most deeply.

It is not the movements of our body or the words within our mind
that transmits love.

We love from heart to heart."

-- Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

2005-03-27T21:59:00.000-08:00

Bahia de Concepcion Playa de Santispac ... Sunday 3/20/2005
by Star Reporter Rosalie Woods ...

Julie and I spent a marvelous afternoon yesterday kayaking ...

... mostly observing a nearby small offshore volcanic island where the brown pelicans roost (as well as a colony of gulls). None of the birds were afraid of us, allowing us to float around and among them. We got closest to a pair of oyster catchers who ignored us and went about their business, making their little cries and poking their bright orange pointed bills into the water.

The pelicans roost in colonies. I suppose you could call it a pelican rookery. There were numerous birds in full breeding plumage with their bright yellow topknots and deep reddish orange bills. We even saw some with "fertile" plumage, which is bright red on both sides of the throat from ear to ear. The nests are rather haphazard with the birds taking full advantage of fallen cacti and the large sticks of vegetation. There was busy traffic in and out of what looked like communal areas of roosting from the top of the small mountain to the base where it met the water.

A blue heron ....

It was all very calming and hypnotic to watch. Some folks started worrying about us not knowing that I am a very strong paddler with over 20-years experience in kayaks.

Alas after almost 1½ hours we had to turn back. It was almost evening and the wind had come up with white caps cresting at the end of the island, blowing onto our faces.

Another very special Baja moment.

Not even 11 AM yet and another special moment.

After taking our binoculars out to observe a tri-colored heron fishing in front of our rig, we walked down the beach to a mangrove surrounded lagoon that empties into the bay. We were greeted by a white ibis patiently stalking her prey in the tiny waterbed. Gorgeous bird!

At the end of our stay at this beautiful, awesome beach, we rearranged the rocks from our campfire.

2005-03-25T21:46:00.000-08:00

Ensenada BCN, Estero Beach Hotel and RV Park ... Day 31, 32 and 33 ... Racing for the Border, or so it seems ... not unusual.

Day 31 began what is called the Baja Gas Gap ... a 220 mile stretch with no gas/diesel. That is not a problem with the big rigs, but it really stretches my pickup truck. However, if I can drive it fuel efficiently it's a piece of cake. I did that ... twice, going and coming.

The driving day was very pleasant, especially after we perfected our morning talk with our angels asking that the 18-wheelers only appear on straightaways and that the road be several feet wider ... it was purrrrfect every time. Whew, what a blessing.

More Cardom cactus ...

... and lovely views.

We spent the evening of Day 31 back at Santa Ynez RV Park in Catavina at 1754 feet elevation, which made the temperature rather chilly.

Van and Joy put together a Pinata which they hung in a tree and here's Happy swinging away.

We all shared in the results.

Talk began about crossing back into the U.S. border and what you can take, how much, and customs and all that. Judy said the max on liquor is one liter and she had more than that and did we want to open some bottles and share? Well ... sure. In the end Shar and Marsha also came over to our "house" and those were some bottles ... all prize winning Windsor wines (Merlot) from the Alexander Valley up home in California.

Judy and Diane ...

Shar and Marsha ...

Marilyn with the dead soldiers ...

And a few people slept pretty good all night.

The second half of the Baja Gas Gap was a long driving day, approximately seven hours. Our morning prayer and angel talk went well and the results were fabulous.
We listened for several hours to the Sirius satellite radio, which worked all the way to Cabo San Lucas and is still performing flawlessly. The scenery was breathtaking and my little ol' digital camera cannot capture the magnificence of the Baja in the sweeping panoramas. Here's my best ... not bad ... from a moving vehicle yet.

We arrived in Estero Beach near Ensenada early afternoon of Day 34, March 24th. A group tour of the famous Blow Hole happened this morning (I didn't go so no pictures) and our farewell dinner was tonight, Day 35, boohoo. Some are ready to head for the States, others are sad to go, me included. The farewell pictures will be posted over the weekend. It's a 7 a.m. call tomorrow, egads ... the last of those ... won't miss 'em, for those who know me know I don't move anywhere before noon. I've been a good girl, learned to eat a "rolling" breakfast and take sponge baths all before 7 a.m. and brush my teeth at the rest stop ... such barbarism.

It's been a great ride ... all the way down and all the way back.

That's 30 for today.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

2005-03-23T22:00:00.000-08:00

Note: If you read this entry earlier, some more has been added throughout and at the end.

Catavina BCN ... Rancho Santa Ynez RV Park ... Day 31 ... brr-r-r-r (54 degrees this morning inside the rig) the weather changed dramatically ... back into the winter clothes ... hmm-m-m-m. Memories of basking on the beach.

We had a lovely day driving north. The wildflowers are ablaze everywhere. Our Kodak moments came and went so fast we couldn't get the camera coordinated. Everything is green, green, green. It must have rained the entire time we were gone. It rained on us most of the morning.

So this is a good time to catch up. Lots to share. Going back to last Saturday night, Day 27, March 19th ... Santispac Beach ... early evening found many at Ray's Place, a restaurant not to be missed, according to the local lore ...

Ray's has a neat little bar ...

Shar, Linda and Val were enjoying the scene ...

As well as Kathy, Pam and Doris ...

Another table found Ann, JoAnn, Betsey and Marsha ...

Ray has a menu on a board and it is ALL fish, except the last entry, a New York steak. Since this kid eats little seafood because of the mercury contamination and my week's limit had been reached ... this is what I ordered. And was it good.

Yes, I checked out the Mexican beef and determined
it is fit to eat (healthy).

The sign over the bar reminded us of a house rule ...

They were out of rice pudding with Kahlua ... dratz ... so we went up the beach to Ana's ...

... to see what she had for dessert. A little chocolate cake topped with flan ... very popular in these parts. Hint: You can get it at Costco.

Day 28, Sunday morning at Santispac Beach, our last, boohoo.

Burle had been advertising for several days about his Pie Iron breakfast, you bring your own bacon, egg, and two slices of bread. So we did.

This is a group hunkered over the fire cooking their breakfast in a pie iron,
a cast iron contraption that has a top and a bottom and they clamp together, with a loooong handle.

Burle helping Pam ...

This is the finished product, yum. Cheese was added to your creation by Happy if you chose.

Cannot reveal who owns this shirt ...

After breakfast this was a day of diving for chocolate clams, kayaking way out with the birds, and Star Reporter Rosalie has a story for you with pictures.

In the afternoon a group gathered to practice for the video that Pam Byers wanted to make of "our" song, "A Little Cottage in the Woods," ... this is another one; song that is.

A little cottage in the woods [Make teepee overhead with hands]
A Little man by the window stood [Shade eyes and look afar]
Saw a rabbit hopping by [Cup hands like a kangaroo and bounce a little]
Knocking at my door. [Knock on door]

Help Me! Help Me! Help Me! he said [Raise arms in air 3 times]
Before the hunter shoots me dead [Shooting gesture from side to side]
Come inside, come inside [Scooping motion repeatedly]
Safely to abide. [Petting up arm motion]

Here's the deal. You demonstrate and sing the words first time around. Second time the first line is in mime only, and you sing and demonstrate the rest of the words.

Third time around the first and second lines are in mime and the rest is aloud. Continue through until the last time is total silence with the mime motions. Also the 5th line Help Me is outloud each round. Before the end the participants are doubled over in fits of laughter and much stress is alleviated.

This is the second line: A little man by the window stood.

Now, wasn't that just the most fun?

At 4:00 was the Doggie Fashion Show.

Michele appeared with her one-man band and she let out the clarion call: Let the Dogs Begin.

There was a lot of fuss and staging.

This is Sydney ...

And the three Schnauzers Cody, Star and Peanut.
Cody and Peanut are the parents of Star.

Cody is doing a little showing off ...

And then Peanut got into the act.

Tinker was being a bit haughty ...

Kipper and Brew next appeared .... Brew trying to be incognito.

Jinx was showing off ...

Tootsie became a Mexican dog and had a time keeping her hat on ...

And you all remember Maizie?

There is another dog named Paulie, a border collie ... I didn't see him around in the fashion show, but here he is from another sneak shot earlier in the trip.

The show ended with judges awarding first prize to all the entrants. The judges were supposed to be all the folks who do not have dogs, but I don't think that's what happened. Anyhoo, a good time was had by all. I think the prizes were Hershey bars. For dogs? Oh, well.

Note: I tried really hard to show off all the dogs (the cats were all hiding under beds) and my apologies if any are missed. Please let me know.

We left very early the next morning headed for Santa Rosalia, a French Colonial mining town of old. The sun was just coming up.

And as we turned right on to Mexico 1, this sign was just ahead.

Santa Rosalia for Breakfast ....

We left so early we were in town by 8:06 a.m. Right across the street from where we parked is an old locomotive ...

Copper was mined in this area from 1870 to 1950. The homes in Santa Rosalia are mostly French Colonial and made of wood from the Pacific Northwest. Most of the streets are paved, unusual for Mexico

We walked down the main street to the church designed by Eiffel, as in Eiffel Tower, which was prefabbed in France and shipped over.

I stopped in for breakfast at the local hotel where they served in an outdoor dining room right on the street.

Marilyn went across the street for lobster tacos and joined Ann, Shar, Marsha ... and why are you hiding JoAnn?

After the two-hour stopover in Santa Rosalia, we headed for our visit to the town of San Ignacio ... this is the mission church built in 1728 with walls of lava rock four feet thick with a very high arched ceiling.

Trip trivia: To make a phone call in Mexico you find a booth like this on the street ...

... and with a prepaid phone card purchased at most places of business you make a call.

Marilyn and I had a little adventure with the rig while in town. Going in was a snap and going 3/4 of the way around the plaza was also. When we decided to leave the 4th side was totally blocked with policia and a huge tour bus and so we went straight up the street. Eventually (you guessed it) we ran out of street. Turning left or right (as in most situations like this) are narrow unpaved streets/roads and one must then make an important decision.

In our case there were two of us and Marilyn started walking ahead around a blind curve to see what's up. I stayed with the rig and kept smiling and nodding to the crowd that began to form ... after all, there is this huge behemoth idling in the middle of their small narrow street and this is a call to the neighborhood to come out and take a look. Typical.

Marilyn came back and announced that there was a place around the corner where we might "possibly" turn around. What the hey, there is no other place to go ... so she climbed in and we proceeded. The outcome of the story is good, we were able to turn around by backing into the front yard of the Police Station, with nobody paying one bit of attention to us.

So now it's time to head for the Rice and Beans RV Park where we will have dinner and spend the night.

While waiting for dinner on their delightful porch, I spied this old oven off the deck.

Doris ordered a guacamole with chips.

And Rosalie ordered a shrimp soup.

Oftentimes I get so busy doing something else that the pictures for the rest of the story don't quite get taken.

Here's Rosalie enjoying her dinner ...

... and the rest of us (Julie, Pam, Doris and me) are, too, we just didn't get photographed.

More trip trivia: Electricity in RV parks can be problematic. The local source seems to control the amount you get and it oftentimes is too high or too low ... in either case it can ruin your electrical systems ... computers and whatever else ... beyond repair ... egads. So it is important to travel with an inexpensive polarity checker and a volt meter and an expensive surge protector. The other part of this is to be able to step down electrical needs from 50 to 30 to 15 amps.

2005-03-22T20:30:00.000-08:00

Guerrero Negro BCS ... Benito Juarez RV Park ... Tuesday, March 22, 2005. Today is my birthday!

A lobster dinner at Mario's and it was supposed to be a surprise ... but, the beans got spilled the night before, sort of ... but it was joyous and fun nonetheless.

A four-sparkler cake ...

Thank you all for your gifts of love and joy, a great card ... and No. 74 will go down in history.

Namaste`

I honor in you the divine
that I honor within myself
and I know we are one.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Marilyn wrote this poem as a gift to me ....

LIGHT OF THE OPEN DOOR

by Marilyn Brodhurst
terrificpoet@aol.com

She leads me to the light
Of the open door
And I see myself
As an angel of light ~
The light that she is
Washed from all pain
Of who I thought I was
Or wished to be ~
Reflected only in the beauty
Of her light into the
Child ~ angel that I am.

She leads me to the open door
And my dream vanished
Into the reality of light
Where I walk with no resistance
To what is, but see
Only brilliance of love
Beaming forth from all
Matter and life and there
I stay found in an inner world
Of love divine.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There are several days to get caught up with including:

A Kayaking Day ... by Rosalie Woods
The Pie Irons ...
The Doggie Fashion Show ...
A Little Cottage in the Woods ...
Rice and Beans ...

and other fun stuff ....

2005-03-20T10:45:00.000-08:00

Another Version of the Bee Story ... like a Letter to the Editor?

by Julie Lawyer ... Another Star Reporter

Dateline: Santispac Beach, BCS ...

My partner is allergic to bee stings. We didn't and don't want your bees to move to our rig. They could be hard to remove and dangerous to allergic people. We were next to you and I asked to move. I talked to the tailgunner. I believe he said "They won't sting you if you don't mash 'em." Not the same as they don't sting. Anaphylactic shock is not fun on vacation or not. We just wanted to move away from you so my partner can enjoy the outside if she wants.

There are breeds of Stinginess Bees in Australia, as well as in Bwindi Forest in Uganda, Brazil, and Costa Rica. I don't think we are there.

Please note that what some may call terrified to others is prudent and reasonable.

julielaw2@aol.com

2005-03-19T20:50:00.000-08:00

Bahia de Concepcion (Playa Santispac) Day 26 and 27 ...

Friday, March 18th ...

We had a pleasant drive this day. Had a road incident on the way, though. It seems a very old Mexican truck held together with spit and glue stopped dead in the middle of the two-lane highway with no shoulders, and in this place about a 10-foot drop off on either side of the road. The folks ahead of me managed to go around the stopped truck (although I learned later that Thelma and Louise were not so lucky ... their passenger side mirror connected with the stopped truck's driver's mirror, egads, for the second time.)

I couldn't see to go around safely so stuck my nose out and there was an oncoming bus. I was out just far enough that the bus had to crawl by. When I began to go around again it seems that my trailer could not clear the stalled truck ... so there I sat in the oncoming lane and nobody could move in either direction. Except the locals just went down the embankment and swished right around. The Mexican people are very innovative. The car ahead of me went down into the ditch, is what I call it, took out his battery, installed it in the stopped truck, which then started and they rolled it into the ditch and we all moved ahead with dispatch without much ado.

So we continued on our scenic journey ...

... and arrived in time for lunch at the Santispac Beach. The tide was out a bit later and the clammers were out in force to provide dinner, which Happy joyously cooked up Thai style ...

The camera didn't get there in time to show how full the bucket was, but here's the melted butter and garlic ... oh, so yummy ...

... and the empty shells to prove it.

Diane Davis, scheduled to be with us on this trip but had to fly in later to La Paz ... she is traveling now with Judy Fontenelle... Happy presented Diane with her special flowers ...

The picture didn't turn out all that well ... so here's another picture of Diane with Macie.

Soon after arriving Linda Cartwright pitched her tent room to help keep out the creepy crawlies and those that bite and sting.

Then out came the hotdogs ...

I think the camera had too many margaritas. Hello Joy and Rosie ...

Then Marsha decided to firewalk ...

With Ann, Rosalie, Kathy, Happy and Portia all doing their thing.

And I decided to try S'mores.

This group was just sittin' around watching the fun ...

That was Shar, Marsha, JoAnn and Marilyn.

And, oh, yes, we closed the evening by singing that crazy rabbit song, "Help Me! Help Me! Help Me! That isn't the name but that's what everybody remembers with great fits of laughter.

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Saturday morning, March 19th ... Day 27 ... a gorgeous day, beautiful sunrise, calm, smooth sea, birds singing, fishing boats out ...

Good morning Brightwing and BW-2 ...

A short walk down the beach, I turned around and ...

Macie and Kathy are up with the sun ...

And Happy and Burle are providing us with breakfast this morning with Happy's famous banana pancakes with banana syrup, bacon, strawberries and OJ.

... to be continued.

A good thought for today:

"Dare to live the life you have dreamed for yourself.

Go forward and make your dreams come true."

—Ralph Waldo Emerson

2005-03-18T20:30:00.000-08:00

A Day in Loreto ...
The Life of a Turkey Vulture ...

by Rosalie Woods, Star Reporter ...

There is nothing much at Puerto Escondido so we car pooled to Loreto, a quiet little town on the Sea of Cortez. It has a nice malecon (promenade) but mostly vacant enterprises like maybe a hurricane demolished it and it hasn't been brought back up yet. Also it was slated for massive development, infrastructures put in, etc. but investors bailed out in droves after 9/11, with drastic lowered expections for tourist expansion in the wake of stricter security precautions.

We were able to observe an intimate moment in the life and death of a Loreto resident when we were visiting the Catholic Church.

A single police car escorted a modest pickup truck bearing a silver coffin and numerous bouquets.

Behind the two vehicles, the modestly dressed men in their work shirts and jeans, the women in dark skirts and dresses, followed on foot. The Mass lasted quite some time before the people followed the casket out of the church. The policia reappeared and led the group of mourning walkers to the cemetery. The tableau was solemn and a simple demonstration of respect.

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Back at Puerto Escondido at dusk, the Turkey Vultures circled and soared in their evening kettle gathering. It seems they roost collectively in the palm trees surrounding the park swimming pool. Their bones are extremely hollow for their size and they are much better at soaring rather than flying. When they arrive at the palms to sleep, it cannot be described as a landing. What they do is arrive. It is a dead stick, crash landing into the palms and whoever else got there first. It goes on for some time until all of the birds are settled in for the night.

The next morning is almost as amusing. They manage to travel to the Cardon Cactus where they perch with wings outstretched like they are airing out their armpits. They can't really soar until their damp wings have thoroughly dried out in the sun

From the bedroom window of our rig, we could see cardinals, orioles, wrens, doves, finches, and flickers as they chattered away in the bougainvillea.

Now onward for three days of camping on the beach.

rowzeewoo@aol.com

Reminder: Click here to follow us in Baja. Scroll down and click on the map. Find #865, Joline

2005-03-18T14:41:00.000-08:00

Bahia de Concepcion ... (Playa de Santispac) Day 26, 27 and 28 ...

We arrived here this morning close to noon ... what a beautiful white sand beach. Ah, three nights.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, we spent two nights at Puerto Escondido (Hidden Harbor) at the Tripui RV Park ... we stayed there also on the way down. Remember the goats?

Our arrival was Day 24 and the driving trip was relaxed, the scenery in reverse (remember there is only one road in Baja, Mexico 1, so it's the same road down and back up.) Somehow going back (so far, driving wise,) is much more pleasant. Maybe it's because as a driver I am now "conditioned" to the narrow roads, NO shoulders, the 18-wheelers and buses, the roaming cattle, the stopped, broken down vehicles in your lane, road workers working within inches of your vehicle, detours, vados (arroyos with flowing water when it rains), topes ... kaBUMP when you miss one, potholes (lots)... it all seems natural now and flowing with life. Well, that's MY movie!

Here are two pictures of our driving views ...

Think our windshield needs washing.

Yesterday was our second day there (Day 25) and we carpooled 15 miles into Loreto, a nice little town, 30,000 inhabs. Marilyn and I drove in together (the others carpooled) and we found a lovely, shaded spot to park on the street in front of a festive building with an interesting window.

As we walked down the steeet into a quaint, older part of the town we saw a group of our own having breakfast at the Cafe Ole. We later came back there for lunch.

We walked on past and came to Posada de las Flores, a hotel. The doors were open and so we stepped inside. The scene, the ambience was breathtaking.

We were told that the hotel was only six years old (one of three built in Baja) and we gasped at that; it looked like hundreds of years old. As we looked up we were told that that was the swimming pool ... on the roof.

I took another picture of the pool because if you look closely you will see legs hanging down. Look close now.

I saved the exterior of the hotel to last, because you will see the persons attached to those legs sitting on the roof, hanging over the edge actually ... whoa there.

We turned the corner to visit the oldest human settlement in the Californias, founded by the Jesuit Juan Maria Salvatierra in 1697 with the establishment of the mission Nuestra Senora de Loreto. (Our Lady of Loreto.)

Just as we started to walk toward the Mission a funeral procession came around the corner headed for the church. We stopped to watch, of course. The casket was in the bed of a pickup truck with all the grieving participants walking behind.

So we walked back to Cafe Ole, had a delicious lunch, and then retreated back to the icecream store (a very popular past time for all on this tour) for a double mango in a waffle cone, yum.

I sat down on one of the benches that surrounds each tree on the street and Marilyn snapped a shot of the trees "stitched" together for blocks at a time.

Driving back to Puerto Escondido we went off road to a place called Juncalita, so the sign said. The road was a doozy but we persisted. BW-2 (my NM vanity plate) does have 4-wheel drive. She can go anywhere. What caught our attention from the road was a beach with RVs on it. This road led to an established community of mostly RVs permanently parked with palapas built up around them and overhead and then other rooms and patios flow from that. They had many beautiful flowers and some had vegetable gardens. Marilyn snapped a few shots as I was hanging on to the steering wheel.

2005-03-17T21:32:00.000-08:00

Puerto Escondido (Hidden Harbor) BCS .. regressing for a moment ....

Reminder: Click here to follow us on the map. Scroll down and click on the map. I am #865, Joline

Day 20 ... The Sunset Cruise, Yes, in Cabo San Lucas ... knew something was missing. I find it best to add these snafus right here rather than go back ... it really gets confusing.

So to get on with this story ... let's go back to that Saturday night of March 12th when we all boarded the Oceana for a lovely sail in the breeze, warmed up with margaritas ...

and friendly folk, a little soft music and an anticipated gorgeous sunset ... that was the expectation ...

The birds were flying about wishing us bon voyage ...

... but not to be! Just as we were about to pull anchor and glide seamlessly out into the harbor, a whistle blew, the closing gate flew open and charging down the ramp were at least 50 pre-pubescent teens and their chaperones heading straight for our boat. How could this be? But it was true. They were all lit up and ready to celebrate a young girl's birthday.

So with the music blaring, the kids screaming and running around up and down the aisles stepping on our toes for almost two hours, having the cake with candles, Happy seized the day (or the night in this case) and began dancing with the kids.

And so the sunset arrived as scheduled and was enjoyed by all. I think.

So for a little calm after all that noise ...

"Tension is who you think you should be.
Relaxation is who you are."
-- Chinese Proverb

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The Glass Factory Tour ...

One day while visiting Cabo San Lucas, the group traveled to a glass factory to view the blowing of glass and making of glass items. There is a beautiful glass tree, Christmas tree fashion in their lobby.

There is another beautiful window back in their shop ...

... and because I went on a different day, a Saturday and the workers were gone, this is a view of their work space with the kilns, etc.

Why did I go a different day? Well, I missed the original tour and some of my friends came back with THE WATER GLASSES that I coveted in Mulege and could not buy them there because the store was out of stock, dratz. So the extra trip to buy more so I would have a set of eight to take home. Such fun!

The Bees Knees ....

Another little side story ... while parked in the Villa Serena RV Park in Cabo, a swarm of bees decided to locate in the hitch box of my rig, good lord! Believing we are all one, being an environmentalist, believing in life for all things, several of my trip mates are terrified and/or allergic to bees ... what do we do now?

After the others determined that I did not want to kill the bees, and learning from Burle (a master beekeeper) that it was obvious a queen had gotten into the box, it looks like a dandy place for a nest ... that as long as the queen is in the box the worker bees will come from far and wide to assist her, and stay with her, I might add.

So Pam decided to bring over a small barbeque and smoke them out.

That's what a hitch box looks like. Smoking them out didn't work.

I spoke with the head bee deva asking that they move and Marilyn spoke to the queen, who said she was tired and just resting. None of the above seemed to work.

Next Portia told the park owners and I am told that they got someone out to remove the queen, whatever that means and however they did it. We were not home at the time.

The next morning we had more bees than ever. I relented and allowed some wasp/hornet spray to be used. We hitched up and left anyway. These bees do not sting, I am told.

We drove to La Paz via Todos Santos. The next day we had more bees than ever. The same spray was used. They seem immune.

Three days later we left LaPaz and are now in Puerto Escondido ... and the bees are still with us. They do come and go. Does anyone out there know what is happening and know what to do? If so, plese write to me: joline@direcway.com, thanks.

Not the end of this story, though.

2005-03-15T21:03:00.000-08:00

RV Casa Blanca... La Paz, Capitol of Baja California Sur ... Day 21 and 22 ...

A little trip trivia: Mexicali is the Capitol of Baja California Norte.

We left Cabo San Lucas on Sunday morning, March 13th, headed for La Paz, with a three-hour stopover in Todos Santos, home of the California Hotel ...

... which included an optional gourmet brunch, which you can guess I opted for.

Judy, Pam, Joy and I shared a table and dined al fresco.

The menu was divine and much to choose from. Three of us chose the omelette with fresh asparagas and brie, omigod. Besides the gorgeous fruit on the plate are refried beans and small new potatoes. Wonderful Mexican coffee and cinnamon buns were offered while we waited.

After lunch several of us strolled through the bar ...

... and into the Emporio ... an artsy gift shop.

Julie went searching the internet for information on Todos Santos and this is what she found:

Sometime in the mid to late 1980's, the word got out that Todos Santos was home to "the" Hotel California made famous by the Eagles' song in the 1970's. In the 1990's, the rumor had reached "hipper" journalists in the US and the first articles started appearing in major newspapers, like the Detroit Free Press article in 1996.

As other journalists heard of the rumor, momentum increased and the story soon became a full fledged urban legend. New writers used the original articles to justify and support their conclusions. Journalists would come to Todos Santos and do "research", but they already knew what they wanted to write and so they sought out people who would verify what they had already accepted as fact. No real investigative reporting ever occurred.

The souvenir shirts say "Hotel California, since 1928." That claim remains unverified. Gene Kira in "The Unforgettable Sea of Cortez" writes that in 1952, "Hotel California opened in Todos Santos by Antonio 'El Chino' Tobasco." Was that when the hotel was built? Or did the building become a hotel in 1952?

In a Feb 2002 email, Gene states that although his notes are in storage, he remembers that the building did exist before it became the hotel and that "El Chino" used to serve Chinese food in his restaurant at this location and would publicize the meals by way of loud tinny speakers mounted on the roof. Gene promises more details when he finally unpacks his reference material in the future.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

RV Casa Blanca, La Paz BCS ... Day 22, Monday March 14th .... group picture and city tour.

The first thing this morning is a group picture, all dressed up in our "purple" shirts (gift of the tour company) including the pets. All folks with pets also received a colorful bandana for their pet to wear in the group picture. Although there are a few cats with us, it was all dogs who showed up.

Not all the dogs with us are appearing in this one photo, but I will be doing an all pet photo day with the dogs and a few cats (if they'll let me take a picture) here before long.

So with great fanfare here we are ...

Right after our Kodak moment, Carlos with his local bus picked us all up ...

... and took us on a city tour. Besides driving around we stopped for awhile near the Cathedral where a funeral was happening ...

... where there was a lovely hibiscus garden ...

...and the city plaza was across the street.

Marilyn and I stopped in on an art class being conducted in the park area and here she is talking with the teacher.

On every corner of the plaza is a shoeshine stand, wondering from where their business comes when it seems that everyone is in sneakers or sandals .. well, the tourists are.

Our bus next took us to the Ibarra Pottery factory ...

... where a lot of fascinatin' stuff was going on. It sure looked like a lot of their beautiful items were being sold. Living in an RV where things rattle 'n roll, their delicate pottery wouldn't last long in my rig.

Our next stop was the weavers, folks making all sorts of woven articles.
Here is a man spinning cotton.

And here is one of their very old, all wooden looms, where this person is making
a roll of woven material like what an upholsterer would use, for example.

Business was pretty brisk there, too. I even purchased some place mats, sorely needed for my rig.

Back to the RV park and time for those pesky chores that RVers get involved in like laundry, dumping, getting propane gas, polishing and cleaning, checking email, going for a swim, chatting with neighbors ... another caravan came in while we were gone ... a group that has been following us by one day for about a week now. And their wagonmasters have a DataStorm dish just like mine, whadya know. Their two sons somehow found me out there and told their folks that somebody named Joline was following them around.

So yesterday ended with one of Portia and Kathy's famous margarita parties and a clean-out-the-refrigerator potluck. It's been said that is the best one we've had.

Day 23, March 15, 2005 (The Ides of March)

Today I got a haircut, hallelujah. Marilyn and I drove around for quite awhile looking and finally spotted a "salon." Besides getting a good cut (hard to find on the road) what fascinated me the most is that the business had NO running water. To shampoo my hair, a helper person stood beside the beautician holding a bucket of warm water, which we negotiated (as between, hot, warm and cold) with neither of us speaking the other's language. I will guesstimate she used less than a half gallon of water to wash and condition my hair. Amazing! Her price? 90 pesos or approximately $9 US. That is about 1/10th what I pay elsewhere. She received a nice tip.

Tomorrow is a looonnnng driving day (for us, as we average 35-45 miles an hour ... yes, the elephant train moves slowly, but the company is so good.

So it's 30 for today and g'nite.

"What lies behind us and what lies before us
are small matters to what lies within us."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

2005-03-14T21:30:00.000-08:00

Encore At the Villa Serena Bar, March 11, 2005, Day 19
by Star Reporter Rosalie Woods ... 8:30 PM et seq

Some of us so enjoyed the music of Jaime Martinez last night at the lobster dinner we returned to the scene of the crime for an after dinner drink tonight. Marilyn, Julie and I took a flashlight and walked over.

[View along the walk. This house is growing flowers on the roof]

Almost as soon as we entered Jaime began singing "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" in Spanish. It was lovely. He reminds me of Stevie Wonder a little bit. More like Ferron. We listened to him as we watched another night of fireworks over the Sea of Cortez.

One very nice custom of the Baja people is they don't bug you to hurry up. Once your fanny is planted into a chair, it can stay there all night long which ours did until the musician stopped playing. Our drink of choice this special night was Mexican Coffee which we ordered in order to observe the machinations of the preparer as we were seated too far away from the action the night before to really enjoy the performance. It actually is quite a dessert with tequilla, kahlua,sugar, orange, ice cream etc. among other ingredients.

Even though we understood the words to virtually nothing, the music was beautiful. Jaime sang only one song in English, "Moon Shadow" by Cat Stevens (who the U.S. now refuses to admit back into our country.) Julie recognized it immediately. It took me a little longer. Actually, a lot.

It was late and we almost postponed going until after the sunset cruise tomorrow. Good thing we didn't. He won't be back before we leave. It was a wonderful evening.

rowzeewoo@aol.com

++++++++++++++++++++++

Missed pics from the night before.

More salsa. All the salsa is good,
the hot, hotter and more hot.

Rosalie and Val ....

View of the Sea of Cortez, aka Gulf of California,
from the Villa Serena Restaurante.

View from the sunset cruise a bit earlier this night ....

~~ Sweet Dreams ~~

2005-03-13T21:15:00.000-08:00

More Memories of Los Barriles and East Cape RV Park ... Day 14-16 ...

Checking in ...

A leisurely stroll around the campground ...

... finds Shar dumping (This is a little chore that RVers engage in every few days.)

And the rest goes in here.

A favorite mode of transportation locally, down the arroyos, up in the hills, over hill and dale ...

Our last night found us all at Tio Pablo's for a fabulous dinner (each one seems to top the last). This is a good beginning.

It's fun to watch Happy's changing wardrobe.

My table ... me, Pat, Betsy, Marilyn, Louise, Thelma Val and Linda C.

Okay, it's time to tell the story of Thelma and Louise.

You've heard of those two.

In October 2003 some of us were together on another Fantasy Tour to the Copper Canyon of Mexico, over on the mainland. So the story goes as our Wagonmasters (same on both of these trips) were getting acquainted with their new trippers, as Portia tells the story, when she was introduced to Rosalie Wood and Julie Lawyer, Rosalie purportedly said, "We are your Thelma and Louise." They didn't even own an RV, had never driven one. They rented one! They wanted to go on that trip. So a seasoned RVer or not, I'll let you imagine the sorts of antics those two got into.

But I'm here to tell you they insisted, persisted, existed, and resisted nothing ... bought their own rig after that trip and have never stopped ... I don't think. Now a priceless, seasoned pair of RVing Women par excellance!

And to finish this little piece, Baja California Sur has come of age. No third world country here.

My little inspiration for today:

If you don't like something, change it.
If you can't change it, change your
attitude. -- Maya Angelou

2005-03-12T22:15:00.000-08:00

Cabo San Lucas ... Villa Serena RV Park ... Day 20, March 12th,
by Star Reporter Rosalie Woods.

RVing Women Take Kamikaze Glass Bottom Boat Ride

The early morning glass bottom boat ride out to Los Arcos ...

... and Land's End ...

... with Monoliths along the way ...

... where the Sea of Cortez meets the Pacific Ocean ...

... was a bit of a kamikaze trip among all manner of marine craft. Due to the presence of two cruise ships, soon to be three, in the harbor ...

... the water was afloat with the revelers ...

... and other glass bottom boats,

... kayaks,

dive boats, fishermen, yachts ...

... and even a schooner or two.

Apparently it is not the breeding season for the Frigate bird as their rookery was empty except for a few brown boobies gazing down upon us.

So much for looking through a glass bottom boat.

///

Dinner at Antoine's? No! Lunch at Pancho's? Si!

Joline likes good food so Julie and I (the three gourmands finally found each other) joined her in her truck to El Restaurant Pancho Villa ...

... just off the main drag at the corner of Hidalgo and Zapata Streets. We had excellent parking karma as free curb parking miraculously appeared, not a red or tow away zone, just waiting for us near by. A couple of ex-pats own and obviously lovingly run Pancho's Restaurant and Tequila Bar.

Everything about the place is clean and cheerful-the painted tables and chairs, the Mexican Revolution décor and memorabilia, the wait staff. Everything is brilliantly colored; no drab anything here.

We wanted to order one of each menu item but considering they have over 500 brands of tequila, including one for $62 US per shot, we exercised some restraint. We did have three courses each, though (in addition to three types of salsa and chips ...

... and a particularly good margarita). That's a Michelada in the center.
Recipe for that is on the Giggling Marlin Day in Los Barilles.

We started with a half order of Sopa De Tortilla,

... the best ever, which consisted of chicken, avocado and corn tortilla strips.

This would have been plenty, but gluttony prevailed and I went on to fish tacos.

The fish was generous quantities of fresh grilled and cubed mahi mahi (aka: Dorado). The good news it was NOT fried. I can't imagine any better anywhere.

Joline and Julie both had chicken tostados and they felt the same about their entree. Not to leave a flan in Baja untested, we all had Flan De Coco (coconut) for dessert, which, to be trite, was to die for; i.e., conscious language, "to live for."

All of this most civilized and leisurely lunch was attended by strolling musicians one of whom kissed Joline on the cheek after the concluding chorus of Besame Mucho.

By then we left for the truck, which remained where we left it, in one piece with all its wheels still attached. By the time we reached Villa Serena RV Park it was swim time for Julie and siesta time for the rest of us until the evening fish fry.

10-4.

2005-03-11T22:10:00.000-08:00

Cabo San Lucas ... Deep Sea Fishing Trip with Paula Gibbs and Pam Wright ... Day 18, Thursday, March 10, 2005 ...

Two of our RVing Women went a fishin' yesterday and, boy, howdy, did they strike it hot. This story is secondhand, doncha know, so here's what little I have to share. But we have some great pictures. I will try and get one of them or both to tell us all. As I was downloading pictures from Pam last night I asked her if she had any help landing the BIG one (a trophy size 150-pound tuna), and she said, "No, and I have the bruises on my thighs to prove it." So the here's the rest of the story.

This is Pam working on that big one!

And here she is with her prize!

This is Paula and Pam having fun showing off some of their day's work.

Paula with her 20-pound dorado ...

Paula and the big tuna ....

Pam showing us another tuna ... and am I confused now as to what is what. What I do know is that they caught 240 pounds of fish yesterday, provided dinner tonight and had some smoked and I don't know what they did with it all.

What a fish story!

2005-03-11T20:07:00.000-08:00

Cabo San Lucas, Villa Serena RV Park and Restaurante .... Day 18 by Rosalie Woods, Star Reporter ....

Our lobster banquet on the terrace overlooking the Sea of Cortez as the sun set behind us into a pale pink and blue sky while the stars popped out above was delightful. We were serenaded by Jaime Martinez ...

... singing reminiscent of Jose Feliciano, while he accompanied himself from the small bandstand. He is quite good and I bought a couple of his CD's.

Tailgunner Burle Dawson ordered a Mexican coffee as an after dinner drink ...

... and it is a major production to serve one at the table.

Several stages are involved including multiple flambes and pouring tequila and kahlua from varying heights.

Quite a dramatic end to a fun meal.
That's a scoop of vanilla icecream on top, yum.

ttfn and lots of XOXOXO

2005-03-11T07:25:00.000-08:00

Cabo San Lucas, Day 19 ... Baja Fantasy 2005,
a poem by Marilyn Brodhurst ....

BAJA FANTASY 2005

With the Southwind* blowing against our back
We headed for Baja, kayaks on rack.
It’s a Trek in need of Titanium nerves,
Complete with vados, topes, and curves!

Among mountains we climb just like an Eagle
Hoping the next Pemex certainly has diesel.
An Adventure it is, but only for the Brave
As we trudge over rocks in search of caves.

The Eurocoach’s Jeep jostles over washboards and ruts
Leading women with Spirit and phenomenal guts
To a waterfall splashing into a jewel-green pool,
While just down the road is a hot spring – “coo-o-ol”!

A Hitchhiker stares as we single file by,
Wondering why Vacationers prefer not to fly.
They see Minnie Winnie – she looks like fun,
And NASA’s Airstream rocket shining in the sun.

No Admiral could be prouder of his seafaring mates
Petting whales over bow, and fishing for bait.
We pull in Dorado, grill fish on the shore,
Swim with sea lions, and roast marshmallows for S’mores.

Our Coachman Catalina has a tool box well packed
To handle any breakage or seal any cracks,
While Isata carries our own Nightingale,
And DataStorm brings us personal e-mail.

No Northern Lights brighten the sky,
But we’ve our own Dutch Star as a beacon of light,
And Sunrise greets us along Pleasure’s Way,
Manana, por favor, muy bien, we can say.

Like an Arrow in flight, we’re steady and sure,
Past La Paz, Los Barriles, to Los Cabos we are lured.
Swingers on the go, we toast with margaritas,
Transformed into lilting, dancing senoritas!

Marilyn Brodhurst © 2005
terrificpoet@aol.com

*italics = rig names

2005-03-10T06:24:00.000-08:00

Cabo San Lucas, Villa Serena RV Park ... Day 17 and 18 ... by Rosalie Woods

LOS CABOS

Days 17 and 18, March 9 and 10, 2005, halfway point.

Hey Frank. Hope you don't mind being just one of the girls.

Notes made at 3 AM when I was wide awake and couldn't figure out how to get on line or remember how to use WORD.

After a short, comparatively painless drive down the eastern coast through the Tropic of Cancer, caravanning only with rig #17, Barb, Linda and their three Schnauzers, we arrived at this metropolis. The change since my last visit a few years ago is most dramatic. The Mexicans have done to this Cape what the Americans have done to Maui. It is wall-to-wall development from the aeropuerto to Land's End-condos and golf courses and tennis courts and luxury hotels. I hear there is even a Wal-Mart Super Store. I hope that is only a nasty rumor. As you would imagine, the traffic is horrendous. Not as bad as Tokyo, Cairo or Boston but horrendous none-the-less. The Mexican highway #1 is now four lanes: actually six counting the frontage roads (laterals). The Costco hot dog/pizza pavilion commands a magnificent view of the town, harbor and Los Arches.

The Villa Serena RV Park was tricky to get into since all turns must be done from a lateral not the main road. It is the first place we have stayed where we are near enough to the highway to hear the considerable road noise

There is a small bar/restaurant/swimming pool on the bluff above and behind us, which is lovely. It seems isolated and Julie enjoyed the 180-degree view of the Sea of Cortez as she took her afternoon swim. We expect to have a lobster dinner there this evening. There was a small fire works display there right before we fell asleep.

Even though we have a good surge protector, the voltage got dangerously high so we decided to unplug the electricity to avoid a blowout. The night was comfortable and a small inverter allowed me to use my CPAP machine. After breakfast we expect to visit a glass factory and pewter smelter in the AM then an afternoon swim and siesta.

All for now with love, Rowzeewoo

With extra hugs and kisses to my darling Isabella Rose from WooWoo

2005-03-09T09:20:00.000-08:00

Greetings from Paradise ... East Cape RV Park, Los Barriles BCS ... Day 15 & 16 .... leaving today, Day 17, around noon for Cabo San Lucas ...

We are at the mid point of this adventure, going by so quickly.

But first we need to catch up again .... busy part of the world ... beautiful, warm breezes, stunningly blue/green water ... lots of fishing ... lovely flowers ... very Hawaii like, but not quite as lush due to less rainfall, puffy clouds in clear blue skies, and, yes, some great food. The Americans who live here and the wannabees absolutely LOVE it here. There is an international airport just down the road that serves Cabo and makes it close enough to here for folks to get back and forth easily. And, of course, there are the private jets parked nearby, too.

Our first day at the East Cape RV Park the green grocer opened for us in his little teepee and it is very nice to be able to buy fresh fruits and veggies and good eggs ... hallelujah. The natives use copious amounts of limon (LeeMOAN), the Mexican limes, to purify their food, "kills the parasites," as they say. In this rig in addition we use the therapeutic grade essential oil of lemon, soak everything for 20 minutes, rinse, dry and store. We also use Clorox brand (very important) bleach (1 teaspoon per 20 gallons) in our fresh water holding tank, and all these precautions seem to keep the beasties away. So we are enjoying fresh salads and veggies every day.

Another comment that may seem obvious, this blog is being written from my Baja experience, and Marilyn, too ... but there are 30 something others doing a jillion different things for their experience, and this book isn't big enough to share what everyone is doing. So this blog is just the tip of the iceberg.

I want to thank all who interpreted Si Toma No Maneje, which means Don't Drink and Drive. It seems so simple once I know the Toma word.

So on to the "boat trip north up the coast" on Tuesday, Day 15. The intention of this excursion was to see the land from the water, have a gourmet lunch (you can tell that would appeal to me) at the Giggling Marlin, learn a little history and then return.

Waiting for the skiff to take us to the Too Awesome ...

Loading the boat ... that's Linda Brown coming aboard being helped by First Mate Rob, Captain Jerry's son-in-law visiting for a couple of weeks from San Jose, California.

And soon Rosalie followed ...

We began the journey .... some lovely homes along the shore.
There are a lot of those.

Captain Jerry giving us the drill ...

Full speed ahead ...

And the wake ... with Macie and ... is that you, Julie?

Rosalie, Pat and Macie ...

Julie and Alice ...

Linda C. and Linda B. enjoying the ride ...

Judy and Paula ...

This is a red house being built on the side of a cliff, almost ready for occupancy with the stipulation that it can NEVER drill a well. All water must be trucked in.

Alice driving the boat ... with Michele and Rob ...

Betsy and Pat talking with Happy ...

Happy is always beautiful and joyous ...

We skiff in for lunch. The welcoming party ...

The Giggling Marlin Beach and Yacht Club ...

But wait .... first ...

Alice ....

Barbara ...

But what are they doing?

Rosalie ...

Are they nutz?

Linda B.

Oh ... they get a prize. Notice the bottle in the assistant's hand ...

This is the entertainment at the Giggling Marlin BEFORE lunch.

Those were chicken enchiladas. Linda Cartright really enjoyed that.

Oh, oh, here's another dish of salsa ... pretty good, yum.

Rosalie's chili rellenos ... too pretty to eat, well not quite. She finished it off.

My Michelada ... oh, is that a delight. Take one chilled beer mug rimmed with salt, add a big dash of limon and frosty cold ice and pour one beer over all. Pacifica seems to be the preferred brew in this place.

The view while having this wonderful gourmet lunch totally enjoyed by all.

The person you can hardly see didn't want her picture taken anyway. Shhh, it's Judy F.

This delightful place is located on the Bay of the Dead, so named because of a boating accident and great loss of life many years ago. There is now an attempt by more enlightened folks to rename the area The Bay of Dreams, Bahia de los Suenos.

And we returned to the Too Awesome for the trip home.

I don't know about the rest of you, but this kid was too pooped to pop and disappeard for the rest of the day.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Marilyn read this aloud to me this morning from the book she is reading ....
which seems so appropos for this adventure, doncha think?

"When we surrender we have the joy to explore.
Not knowing what to expect is happiness."

A quote from "Beyond Fear" by Don Miguel Ruiz, page 127.

2005-03-06T22:30:00.000-08:00

Los Barriles BCS (Baja California Sur) Day 13 and 14 ...
Another grand day in the sun and the surf's up. We traveled about 90 miles from our remote beach northeast of La Paz to Los Barriles and the East Cape RV Park, a lovely piece of paradise. Hooray, we're here for 3 nights.

On the way we passed through some neat looking small pueblos, clean and all spruced up for Sunday visitors. Many restaurants practically on the road. We didn't/couldn't stop at the moment but Marilyn is getting quite good at snapping photos while on the move and here is the church at El Triumfo.

She has also been practicing snapping the shutter at just the right moment while moving to capture a road sign or two. We are also getting good at translating. Unfortunately, we don't know this one yet.

This one we do know ...

Mexico is famous for its topes (TOE-pays) On the mainland there is a picture of a speed BUMP. Here we get the above ... and if you do not slow down to a CRAWL ... well, your rig and the contents inside suffers.

Last but not least is Marilyn's favorite ...

Ganado MOO.

Going back to yesterday, still at Playa Tecolote , the Sassy Sisters organized a 4:00 p.m. BBQ on the beach ... Paula Gibbs went fishing ...

... and they BBQ'd her catch ...

... and the rest of us ate ...

... which was all quite good. The ladies brought the rest of the meal ... lip smackin' good, yum ...

... and hung out until dark.

Allie, Lou, Val and Pat.

Burle has to eat in the kitchen {:-(
Linda Brown is looking on.

Joy Bondy, our former Coast Guard gal ...

Judy F., Alice and Judy M.

Macie (MACK-e) who makes nice things from wood.

Yvonne and Jan. Belated Happy Birthday Von ...

And Shar getting some rays ...

Pat, Betsy and Mary hanging out on the wall ...

And then it got dark and Kathy made a good fire for roasting marshmallows ...

to make S'mores.

That's 30 for today.

G'Nite ....

2005-03-05T20:30:00.000-08:00

Still at Playa Tecolote ... Desert Safari by Marilyn Brodhurst, a Mulege trip and pictures on Day 9, March 1, 2005 ...

Desert Safari to Cave Paintings

Our local tour guide, Salvador, picked our group up in his 14 passenger van (which we noticed had seats upholstered in 4 different patterns) at 8:30 a.m. Our first stop was in the town of Mulege to register with the officials and show our i.d. since we were going into a National Park. Shortly after leaving town we passed an orange orchard, stopping by a home that sold fresh “organic” grapefruits and oranges. They were 4 pesos a kilogram which amounted to 40 cents for 7 small oranges. Here's Doris and Joy ....

We then began our safari-like ride over dusty, rocky, dirt roads through 15-20 miles of desert country. Salvador (who is standing in front of a Chardon cactus close to 500 years old) stopped at one spot to give us a brief description of several local plants and their uses.

Here’s a few that I remember:

The palo blanco is a white barked tree whose bark is used in tanning hides.

A bush that is family to the ocotillo and looks like it, has a red blossom on it which helps relieve toothaches.

The barrel cactus can provide you with water if you slice the top off, make a well, and wait a few minutes for the water to collect.

Marmalade can be made from the fruit of the Chardon cactus. The pulp from this plant prevents infection and stops bleeding.

The root of the cholla cactus makes a tea that reduces headaches.

The leaf of the Cresole bush can be put in your shoe to cure athlete’s foot and a tea can be made from it to relieve kidney stones.

Candelia, which is a leafless green stem resembling a candle, has a thick white sap which is a strong laxative and is also used in making candles.

Now don’t go quoting me on these. They are only to show you the variety of plants here and all the uses the people have found for them. We even found two small mushrooms about the size of a thumbnail peeking out from the fine dust.

We continued our bumpy ride, stopping twice to open gates to a private farm. At the farm house we registered again and paid 40 pesos for our access privilege. In the distance we could see 3 peaks, part of the Trinidad Mountain Range and our destination. Finally we arrived at the foothills, and began our climb to the cave.

Doris, Linda and Pam ....

We came to a dam that the government had built in the early '90’s. There had been no rain from 1980-1990, so steps were taken to prevent an inevitable flooding. When the next downpour came, it was so violent that part of the dam was washed into the town. This is a gypsum weed, which is an hallucinogenic, next to the wall of the dam.

We arrived at a pool of water and had the option of swimming around the next boulder or taking a small row boat with Salvador.

A few more rocks to climb and we were at the mouth of the cave. Many large boulders filled about half the cave, but the pictographs on the wall were very clear. Salvador gave us a brief history of the Indians who lived here, mostly the Colchimes, but there had been Indian groups here before them. Some of the paintings dated from 1500-3000 B.C. No one knows who made the first drawings.

We could clearly see a red deer upside down, a figure of a person identified as a male shaman, fish, and several small while handprints. These were made by young children whose hands were burned and then placed on the wall. This allowed them to become eligible to be the next shaman.

After scrambling down the rocks, loading the boat (10 to a trip) and boarding the van we were eager for lunch – served at the small farm house. We were served tortillas, goat cheese, fresh sliced tomatoes, onions, refried beans and marinated chilis, yum.

Ten minutes down the road we made another stop, walked through a river bed and viewed some very faint petroglyphs high on the canyon wall. Salvador pointed out several fish, a whale, female shaman, and on a large lower rock a coyote.

We continued our trip home, passing several large alfalfa fields, and seeing cows, horses, donkeys and ostriches. Because of the heat we opened our side van door – truly safari style!

That's 30 for today.

2005-03-05T12:30:00.000-08:00

NEW DECISION .... PARTY PICTURES HERE, NOW ... AND THE CAVE PAINTING TRIP.... so remember this day, Saturday, March 5, post #2 ....

A little computer tip: If there is a picture below that you want to capture, just right click on it and Save As ... and remember where you saved it.

On the evening of Monday, February 28, 2005, the ladies of the Baja RVW (RVing Women) caravan embarked from the campground into Mulege to the Las Equipales Restaurant by van or (they call it a taxi) ... hey, Alice, who are you mad at?

Here is one of our many tables.

And the margaritas began flowing ... is that the word?

And then came the salsa, which I determined to be the best ever ... until we hit Puerto Escondido.

And then a group of earlier shoppers presented Wagonmaster Kathy Larson with an addition to her wardrobe ...

... with the help of me and sister Portia Anthony, the other wagonmaster ...

They are also known as The Sassy Sisters.

Dinner was served ....

This was actually a roast pig, something the Rotary Club does around here.

And then the music began, a trio of musicians ... this is Happy Dawson and Pam Wright enjoying the rhythm ...

Happy doing solo ...

Unfortunately Burle was home with the you know what, the stuff you take those little pills for. Happy and Burle are our tailgunners, remember?

While the music gets hotter 'n hotter, your roving camera took a few pics of the rest of us ...

Alice Ferracane, Marsha Bagby, Shar Parra, Judy Miles.

Allie Bowers and Lou Bee.

Barbara Roeder, Linda Brown, Rosalie Woods and Julie Lawyer

Meanwhile here's the conga line coming down the hall ...

And going ...

JoAnn Goldsmith and Ann Matlock.

Rosalie took this of me.

And there was more of the juice ...

Joy Bondy andJudy Fontenelle.

Joyce Frasher and Pat Byers.

Judy Miles and Paula Gibbs.

Julie Lawyer and Portia Anthony.

Marilyn loves to perform.

Michele Oudin and Alice Ferracane.

Pat Vine, Betesy Simmons and Doris Wood.

Janice Wilkes and Yvonne Roberts.

Well, oops, that's all of the pictures of this one helluva party. The battery ran out of juice. But a swell time was had by all. If you didn't, well ....

G'Nite.

NOTE: 3 people missed .... so sorry ... I WILL DO A FEATURE ON ALL 3 BEFORE THIS TRIP HAS ENDED. LINDA CARTWRIGHT, VALERIE FITZSIMMONS AND MACIE AKA SHIRLEY MC LAUGHLIN. MY APOLOGIES TO ALL 3. IF THERE IS SOMEONE ELSE, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!

We are presently in Mountain Time.

2005-03-05T08:31:00.000-08:00

Tecolote Beach, Baja California Sur ... Day 12 and 13
Hooray, the sun is shining this morning... yesterday was overcast all day. Starting off with some housekeeping matters .... it seems like maybe I never told you how to follow us on the map. Duh. So click here at any time, scroll down to my number 865 and click on joline. There are 5 levels of viewing our position. The little satellite picture moves every time we go to a new spot.

Another sidebar here: THE PARTY PICTURES from our dinner in Mulege can be seen back at Day 8 where they belong, and the all day trip to the CAVE PAINTINGS with pictures and story by Marilyn can now be seen on Day 9, again while we were in Mulege. Those were a very busy 3 days. You won't want to miss all that action.

There are also additional pictures posted at our Puerto Escondido stopover on Day 10.

Continuing on with our Tecolote Beach story .... last night on Day 12, we had a margarita party on the beach and celebrated Lou Bee's birthday ...

What's left of the wonderful home made cake by Happy Dawson ...

A little birthday dancing ....

Dinner with Linda Cartwright ...

and Val Fitzsimmons ....

... by a walk down the beach ... and during the walk home ... a gorgeous sunset to end a perfect day.

"You have to strive every minute to get rid of the life that you have planned in order to have the life that's waiting to be yours.
Move, move, move...."
--Joseph Campbell

~~Sweet Dreams~~

2005-03-03T20:35:00.000-08:00

Tecolote Beach, La Paz, Baja California, Sur ... Day 11, 12 and 13 ... what happened to Day 10? Had to look at the trip roster for that one. Yes.

Day 10 ... We spent the night in an RV park in Puerto Escondido. This was a back-in place and so, deep breath ... Marilyn took the wheel for the FIRST time and with help and proper instruction she successfully backed in the rig!

Another comment about RV travel .... here are the "toads" or "tags." In RV speak: towed vehicles. These are unhooked usually before entering an RV park and here they all are lined up.

For dinner we walked down the road a bit to a lovely little restaurant where we watched some beautiful goats, a mama and one-month old babies cavorting on the lawn while waiting for the troops to gather ...

I was so fascinated with the coloring on the multi-baby, and they wouldn't stop moving long enough to take a picture with all three in the same frame, so here's another shot of that colorful baby.

Also while waiting to go in for dinner ... a peek at the pool.

We enjoyed the salsa and fresh fish ... and I have declared this to be the best salsa in all of Baja ... so far .... I thought the party salsa was the best, but I don't know. It could be a tossup.

After dinner some had a little campfire talk, and I came back to the rig to work on this blog.

The takeoff time this morning? 7 a.m., egads. I thought this was retirement, hehe. This is our 7-hour driving day.

But it was worth it. We saw the most spectacular sunrise over the mountains and some water, barely visible.

You know what? I don't know where this picture was taken. It is entitled "First View of the Sea of Cortez."

Our welcome to La Paz is the Whale's Tail ...

We wound around the waterfront in La Paz ...

The Guardian of the Harbor ...

And arrived in Tecolote around 3 p.m.

We are now parked ON the beach .... some rigs are in the high rent district with a view ... we have a peek at the water from the balcony, tho, so does that count?

View from the bathroom window ...

Dinner on our own. How about leftovers?

... All that we are is the result of what we have thought. ...

Our prayer each morning as we take off:

The Light of God Surrounds us,
The Love of God Enfolds us,
The Power of God Protects us,
The Presence of God Watches over us.
Wherever we are, God is, and all is well.

And so it is.

~~Sweet dreams~~

2005-03-02T22:00:00.000-08:00

Puerto Escondido, Baja Sur, Mexico, Mulege, Day 7, 8 and 9 ..... getting a bit behind here ... the time flies when you're having fun. I apologize for not keeping my promise of having this blog caught up by yesterday afternoon ... but I got lost in the laundry, hehe. Next thing you know it's time for our evening briefing and a little backyard BBQ. So the last thing that shows up here are the whales. How does it get any better'n that?

So venturing forth ... after the big day with the WHALES (they deserve all caps) we drove the next day to Mulege (MOO-la-hay) for 3 nights. I was there 30 years ago and notice they have paved the streets, a blessing. It is a charming, small village noted for its fishing, palm trees and other recreational sports.

We breezed by St. Ignacio on the way ...

... another little oasis crying out to explore. One advantage to the location of Baja, if you're driving, to get back to the States you take the route you came down on and so we will have another chance to see all these little nooks and crannies that got missed on the first pass. You can bet we are making our list.

There are many, many roadside shrines usually built and maintained by family members of loved ones who died at that place. Living now in New Mexico, the custom is just as prevalent there.

In Mulege we stayed at the Villa Marie Isabel RV Park and the bougainvillas caught my eye as we drove in. Spectacular!

Shortly after arriving we spotted Happy on the way to the laundry.

We keep track of each other on the road by this identifier on each vehicle and hopefully a CB inside. Brightwing is No. 18.

The first real day there most of us went to town for purified water and were told the fish tacos on the square are THE BEST! That's Judy with Marilyn behind her.

While on the square we ran into a few of our fellow travelers.
Marilyn, Rene, Mary and Judy.

Linda and Barbara ...

On leaving the downtown area we swung by the old prison, now a museum. Not a good idea. Let's just say most folks walk there. So we took a picture anyway to attest to the fact we went there and survived the drive. BW-2 did just fine. Whew!

And Judy wanted to see the mission, so we found it and actually parked and went in.

The Bell Tower.

Friends told us about some little cottages for sale near our RV Park so we stopped in there on the way home.

But the door was locked and ...

... so we went exploring on our own. We found out the price is $69,500 for about 800 square feet. You decide. But they're cute as all get out.

Now I know y'all are just dyin' to hear about THE PARTY that night. Well, it was a humdinger and I am too pooped to pop right now. We will be stashed at Tecolote Beach for 2 whole days (and 3 nights) starting tomorrow night (it's a long haul tomorrow...we're told 8 hours driving) and I will try to keep a promise to get that party on here. You are in for a treat.

G'nite ....

2005-02-26T20:00:00.000-08:00

Guerrero Negro, Day 6, Saturday February 26th .... WHALE DAY!

The tour bus picked us up at the campground at 2 p.m.

We drove for about 45 minutes to the boats. We passed a very large salt producing plant, which is the main industry of Gro. Negro and has been here for 50 or so years. Sorry, no pictures. I was hanging on for dear life in the bouncing bus and it takes two hands to snap pics. Besides you've all seen salt, yes?

We pretty much filled up three dory-like boats. Hi, Marilyn.

We motored out towards sea for about 10-15 minutes. Not much happened right away.
I could hear the ladies calling the whales, praying to see the whales, and I personally talked to them, told them I loved them and to please come and make our day. I'm sure everyone was doing their own special calling.

And then Big Mama surfaced very close ....

Another one began diving nearby ....

And then another ....

Oops, caught the tail ...

And for about 45 minutes we had one big show of mamas and babies. They got braver and braver and gentler and gentler until the energy was one ... we were all one. It was a magical moment in time.

And then I caught Pam petting the whale ... what a thrill!

At one point a sister boat came our way ....

A late lunch was served to us by our boatman (factory ham on white Wonder Bread, a can of Coke and a tasteless apple) They try, honest they do. Judy's two Golden Retrievers LOVE apples ... and they don't care if they're tasteless.

Here's Kipper and Brew with Judy.

We arrived home at sundown to Mario's RV Park and you can see the satellite down at the end on top of Brightwing.

G'Nite

2005-02-25T19:55:00.000-08:00

Guerrero Negro ... reporting on Days 3 and 4, I think... Tonight there are pictures to share from yesterday and I'm lost in this story, so bear with me. We did do the 300 mile thing... and guess what? Somebody was mixing up miles and kilometers. We logged 219 miles from gas station to gas station ... so there was plenty of gas without all that can/bottle shopping ... but what the hey, we're on an adventure, remember? It is a wonderful happening. When things get a little tight, we just tap our thymus and hum a little ditty, "Heart Teach My Mind." It works every time.

Let me introduce you to our wonderful, handy and helpful tailgunners, Happy and Burle Dawson. They were a huge help today when one of our rigs broke down 80 miles away, and, yup, you would never guess it was Portia and Kathy, our go team go, what would we do without them wagonmasters. I will post a picture of 'em if I ever get them together in the same frame ... a feat.

Now back to yesterday's story .....

After getting "the gasoline" for the death defying 300-mile march across the desert, we settled down to the beauty of the countryside, commenting on how good the road was, though narrow, whew! when the 18-wheelers go charging by within INCHES .... and we wondered what they are doing with all the cactus that appear to be "farmed." Probably making a lot of tequila, whoopee.

The scenery is rather buccolic and, oh, so green. The rain this year has broken most records ....

A Century plant.

We heard about the boojum trees and the boulders but were not prepared for what we saw, is it a moonscape? Is it Alice in Wonderland? Are we on another planet? Well, the energy was like nothing experienced before. You decide.

This is called the Catavina Boulder Field.

The boojum trees are described as looking like an upside down carrot (minus the greens) and we couldn't figure it out until we saw a baby boojum up close.

Marilyn went on a four-mile walk before our evening briefing and she took the camera. For all of you who know me, you KNOW I don't do four mile walks. She took a few shots and here's one.

Back to the evening briefing, here is Kathy pontificating.

And then Portia finished up (can't get these two in the same frame)

Then of course we all sat around the campfire, drinking margaritas ....

Shivering is more like it.

Yup, the special effect really is smoke ....

After the margaritas ....

And this is Maizie who sat through it all in her little lavender chair.

We shared a potluck (quite good, I might add) supper before hitting the sack.

30 for Today.

2005-02-24T21:44:00.000-08:00

Catavina, Mexico .... Day 4 ... hey, where's Day 3? Boy, am I behind. But hang in there. Tomorrow we arrive in ... can't find my book to tell you where we will be for two nights ... but have lots of pictures to share. We were in Vicente Guererro last night on Day 3. Today and tomorrow is a 300 mile trek total with NO gas stations. My truck can only go 200-250 miles. Do you think we'll make it? Our angels do. Stay tuned for the exciting photo finish. We'll either get there or be sitting beside the road waiting for a gas truck. What?

Well, guess it's time I publish our song .... sorry, can't even do that. The copy is not where it is supposed to be. But you WILL get to sing it, hehe.

G'nite.

We shove off at 7 a.m. tomorrow. Egads!

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We now have a copy of our song that we sing for empowerment every once in awhile.

RVING WOMEN

RVing Women, hear us roar, in numbers too big to ignore
as we travel in our rigs across this land. In this
country we are free to roam, from sea to shining sea,
and it's nice to join a club that understands.

"CHORUS"

Oh, yes, we are wise, but it's wisdom born of pain.
Yes, we paid the price, but look how much we gained.
If we had to, we can do anything. We are STRONG,
we are INVINCIBLE. WE'RE RVING WOMEN.

==================================

Pull a fifth wheel with your truck, a travel trailer or popup;
If your motorhome's a Class A, B, or C, I don't care what rig you drive,
RVing Women's by your side. We're a sisterhood of women who RV.

(Back to "CHORUS")

We are not afraid to live as we climb up in our rigs
And set off across America so Free ... see Grand Canyon,
Mt. Rushmore, Our Nation's capitol of course, New York
City, Hollywood and Kentucky????

(Back to "CHORUS")

So there you have it!

====================================================================================

Marilyn was reading to me this morning from her journal while driving along and I was suddenly touched by how differently we are viewing things ... so here's her wonderful perspective on Day 3 ....

Wednesday, February 23rd, Ensenada to Vicente Guerrero ... 110 miles. We found out at the briefing this morning that we would need to go 300 miles without a gas station. Joline said 240 was the most we could go, so we were left with the only choice possible ... go find a gas container and take extra gas with us. I volunteered to walk two blocks (more like four) to Gigante (small parking lot so we didn't want to drive.) I bought a five-gallon water jug (no lid for it so I made one of rolled cardboard). On the way back I went into Napa Auto Parts and bought a two-gallon jug just to be sure we'd have enough.

We left the campground at 9:45. The others preceded us. It was a cloudy day with stretches of sun. The driving was slow as we went through several small villages ... some a dozen or so homes. Santo Tomas was a little larger and is known for its excellent wine. Vineyards could be seen on both sides of the road ... just barren stalks at this time of the year, all in orderly rows with supports for the new branches.

The hills are lovely. Everything is so green! We arrived at the campground about 3 p.m. after very, very carefully driving down a muddy hill and through several large pools of water in the road. Burle (tailgunner) had gone before us and said it was safe. We stayed at Posada Don Diego RV Park which was quite open and nice compared to last night. A restaurant and gift shop was on site. I bought a small white purse for Ciera (granddaughter) here.

We had a briefing at 5:00, then dinner on our own. We ate in the rig ... yummy chicken finished in a heavy cream sauce with Portobello mushrooms and fresh steamed artichokes, my first!

TerrificPoet@aol.com
(my wannabee avocation)

2005-02-23T07:01:00.000-08:00

Ensenada, Mexico .... Campo Playa RV Park .... end of Day 2 ... ah, Mexico. We are parked next to an all night disco .... lovely chamber music to sleep by, hehe. I am running out of descriptive words to stay positive by all the rain, whoosh. But it's hailing in other parts of the world ... so count our blessings.

Monday night, Day 1, we had a Get Acquainted gathering and margarita party ... that is part of a trip to Mexico.

We received our name tags and some pretty purple Fantasy Tours shirts, showing at the bottom of the picture.

Portia (wagonmaster) serving up the juice ....

Tuesday morning, beginning of Day 2, we exchanged dollars for pesos, received our visas, and off we went at noon, the appointed hour. Amazing that such an undertaking could get off on time.

That's Brightwing in the front there. Not everybody is in line yet.

After crossing the border and in the confusion some of the rigs got "lost," including us ... Marilyn and I were talking, relaxed and enjoying the ride, when we came to a "Y" in the road and I asked my trusty navigator which way do we go?

Her travel directions were not handy and I had to choose, the wrong way, of course. (Ahem, we were told to follow the signs to Ensenada.) But being seasoned travelers in Mexico, we stopped for directions. No problem, complete a U'ie and go back two exits and we caught up with the rest at the next toll road booth. Well, not quite. Little did we know that about 5 of our rigs were missing ... including the Wagonmasters (ouch) ...

Our first view of the Pacific Ocean ...

Hey, Marilyn, how tall is that overpass? (For you non-RVers: the height of an overpass is VERY important.)

Some of the scenery along the way to Ensenada.

Break time .... the coconut shack.

Marilyn and Pam enjoying the break .... oooh, that coconut milk and meat is soooo good. And good for you.

Mexico proudly flies its flag.

A well deserved rest stop.

Winding around the road, narrow but good paving ....

And all ended well at the campground where we parked in good time and walked across the street to a pre-planned welcome dinner ... enjoyed by all, I hope. I had filet mignon myself, very good. Not bad for opening night. I will post pictures at the dinner if some of my maties will send me some. I forgot my camera.

Stay tuned. More later.

30 for today.

2005-02-20T20:58:00.000-08:00

Chula Vista CA ... KOA RV Park ... Hey, we arrived early afternoon yesterday. Several of our trip mates were already here. By today almost everyone has arrived. Excitement is in the air. We went out to breakfast ...

Marilyn, Judy and me ....

and made a last run to ...

and Whole Foods today and the fridge is crammed.

We shall eat well south of the border. Why so much food, you say? Well, this is mostly organics and clean food to keep us healthy, wealthy and wise.

The KOA Kampground here is not so friendly. The first time in 3 years of traveling with my satellite and there is a tree right smack in the middle of things that "can't be fixed." They seem to choose to not be helpful ... and so no TV either. I was able to sign up with an outfit called Hotspotzz and for one month's rent get WiFi ... which is working marginally. So my grand plan of checking out MY system before going south is not to be. Just another challenge in the scheme of things when you travel by the seat of your pants ...well, sometimes.

Tomorrow is a holiday (Presidents' birthdays) and the banks are closed. Guess no one figured that out. So instead of leaving early Tuesday morning we shall depart around noon. Crossing the border with 21 rigs can take a loooonnnnggg time. It did last time. Again, we shall see.

Meanwhile, Marilyn and I plan to do a little sightseeing tomorrow. Until then ...
here's a picture of my sweethearts celebrating their 4th birthday on December 18th.

Brent and Sophia ....

And while we're at it, here's a 5 generational picture: Great, Great Grandma Zeta, (95), Great Grandma Joline, Grandma Karyn, Daddy Andrew, and the twins, Sophia and Brent.

That's 30 for today!

2005-02-19T18:30:00.001-08:00

To continue on in the early evening, our next stopping off place was the Fiesta RV Park in Indio, California. I called old, dear friend Patricia (Patti) Cates, now Brenner who lives in Sun City in Palm Desert, not far away. The next day we went to her lovely home to go out for lunch.

On the way there we stopped for an entrance view of Sun City.

Marilyn took a picture of the two of us out front.

We drove over to the Boulevards Restaurant within Sun City.

We visited with Patti after lunch in her beautiful family room.

We said our goodbyes and snapped a shot of her corner lot.

And stopped off at Curves on the way home to work off lunch.

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER CAMPGROUND ... This is where I began writing this saga ... at the Thousand Trails Oakzanita Campground at Descanso, California going north on Highway 79. We stayed there 4 nights, traveling one day to Julian, California, an historic spot in its own right ... famous for its apple pie and other sweet things.

Marilyn had boysenberry pie (in the rear).

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The Cedar Fire - October 2003... found my grandson, Adam, fighting this fire with the CFD (California Fire Department) together with an engine unit from the Novato, California, Fire Department of which my son-in-law, Forrest Craig, (and Adam's father) is one of their chiefs. Adam was a mile away. It was a devastating fire and it took the life of one our own, Steven Rucker, and burned badly several of the other fine men. Friend Harry Lehmann, Novato resident and friend of the Ruckers, has written a lovely song now on a CD entitled "Sirens of Mercy."

Now that I have spent a little time in the area where Steven died and the others so courageously fought this deadly conflagration (started by a careless camper, I think) I want to add these pictures to the memorial.

This is the way the area looks today, 16 months later.

And another shot ....

While driving toward Julian from our campground we found this sign near the local volunteer fire station.

We found out in town that the local citizens dedicated the road where the trouble happened, firefighters trapped, in a small town named Wynola down Highway 78 west of Julian... a dirt road just past the school house ... and renamed it Rucker Road.

As always in the aftermath, new life springs forth and today the famous surviving apple trees are in bloom, as are the daffodils ... spring has sprung .....

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest
appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.
--John Fitzgerald Kennedy

2005-02-19T07:40:00.000-08:00

Continuing on from last night and moving right along to Saturday, February 5th, I drove to Maricopa, Arizona, (about 30 miles) to visit with Janet Palm Hedgepeth and her partner Byron. Janet and her brother, Kevin, are the children of best friends, Art and Marge Palm of Redding CA, and the Palms and the Stones raised their children together in Southern California in the 1950s.

This is Janet and Byron taken at the local Indian casino where we broke bread in their all you can eat buffet.

On Sunday, February 6th, I went down to Sun Lakes (about 9 miles) to meet up with high school buddies and their hubbies for brunch at the Oakwood Country Club.

We had so much fun that I forgot to take pictures (shameful). Evermore resourceful, here are some file photos of Char and Bill Gangel of Nebraska City NE and Joanne and Bernie Tierney of Denver.

On Tuesday, February 8th, I picked up Marilyn Brodhurst at the Phoenix airport. She got on the plane in cold, snowy Baltimore. Marilyn and I will be traveling for 2 months together in the Southwest and then on tour in Mexico with 21 rigs and 42 or so women. But, wait, we're not there yet.

Our first stop was Quartzsite, Arizona, for 3 nights about 150 miles west of Phoenix and 20 or so miles from the California border. The desert flowers are incredible with all the rain. Yes, rain, and lots of it.

The main focus of going there was to have the solar system on Brightwing checked out, updated, and whatever else was needed. For two nights we stayed in the parking lot of RV Lifestyles, the solar place, and also reconnected with Paula and Alan Connell, who work at RV Lifestyles, live in their 5th wheel there all winter and summers they are camp hosts in a cool federal park in Utah.

Shameful, again, no pictures, not even file photos. We potlucked dinner on our arrival and got to visit on 'n off for 2 + days.

On our second morning we drove over to Rainbow Acres to visit with Jim and Chris Guld who are parked with friends, Frankie and Dick, at their winter "community center." Their rig is on the far right side.

Here's Jim and Chris ...

They have a DataStorm satellite stystem like mine, tra-la, are computer techs, and fulltime around the country working and earning a living on WiFi (wireless) stuff. Chris is responsible for this blog (Chris is another Marilyn's daughter whom I met at a Prophet's Conference in Santa Fe, lo, several years ago ... networking is such fun) and Jim knows how to keep my wireless up and running. My plan for this Mexico trip is to provide a WiFi hotspot for all my trip mates. Way cool!

On our third day there we took the truck and went "downtown" Quartzsite. Here's Marilyn doing a little shopping and foolin' around.

This is Marilyn's Harley, hehe.

On the third night, Saturday, we invited Chris and Jim over for dinner. Marilyn has volunteered to be the head chef on this trip. Ain't I the lucky pup?

She is scouring the onboard cookbooks for recipes for which we have the ingredients, and, voila, she found a recipe that parallels the Stone family Julia Child recipe for chicken supremes or THE chicken as my family knows it. We had the organic chicken, of course, the organic whipping cream, the balsamic vinegar and the Gray Poupon mustard. The Gulds brought a large jug of Bergundy wine .... and omigod, what a feast!

Here's Chef Marilyn working on the supremes ....

The night was a gorgeous starry night on the desert, and Chris snapped this photo of Brightwing settling in for the night.

We left Quartzsite on Sunday early afternoon headed for the Palm Desert/Indio area of Southern California. Will continue with our visit there next as it is time to break camp today and head for San Diego. We're almost caught up, huff-huff, puff-puff.

30 for today.

2005-02-18T18:58:00.000-08:00

Thousand Trails Oakzanita Campground, Descanso CA up Highway 79 off I-8 (mountains northeast of San Diego) .... hey, that's a mouthful of where I am these days. Cannot believe it has been way over a month since I last posted. So where to begin? How about the beginning of this journey which I am calling the Baja 2005 Trip?

After completing my 2004 income taxes Hooray! I left Belen on Monday, January 31st headed for Show Low, Arizona, first night out. Other than being cooooold (6300' up there) the weather was delightful. Blue skies and puffy white clouds all the way.

The second night I made it to Queen Valley, Arizona (about 50 miles east of Phoenix on Highway 60) to visit Leah de Bruyn who just bought a home and moved there. I parked out in front for the night and snapped her front view with a giant Suguaro (you know that tall cactus?) Ones this size can be 200 years old. They are protected in Arizona.

Day 3, Wednesday, I arrived in Chandler (sort of a Phoenix suburb) to my favorite RV park in that area, Hacienda Solano Resort, for a week. I just like hangin' out there. It's close to all the things I like to do. There is a good haircutter there, too, and I made sure to get an appointment ahead of time.

So on Thursday I drove down to Casa Grande (half way between Phoenix and Tucson) to visit with Lin and Dave Brenneman from Redding CA who were snowbirding in the area. She is in my Young Living downline and we had never met. So when they took off some months ago to travel around the U.S. for a year we vowed we would meet up somewhere. And so we did. Dig the size of their magnificent home.

Have one more picture of Dave and Lin.

More later.

30 for today!

2005-01-10T15:40:00.000-08:00

Belen, New Mexico .... What a hiatus ... sounds like some holiday. Well, in a way it was. Thanksgiving was yummy and fun at Raquel's house in Albuquerque and the next few weeks were spent coming down off the road trip and gearing up for the next. This time a plane ride to the Oakland airport in California and 16 days with family and friends in Marin. The twins turned 4 (such fun) mother turned 95 a bit earlier in October ... and it was just good fun to be with the California bunch. I took a run up to Redding to visit Marge and Art Palm and Lotte Bowen and returned to Livermore to spend a night with Barbara Rawles. My jillion pictures are still on the camera and one of these days I must deal with that. When that happens I will post them here.

Meanwhile, New Year's has come and gone (spent with Patricia Burke and Gloria Kasdan in Alameda). Friend Marilyn Brodhurst will be flying out here soon to join me in our planned trek to Arizona, then San Diego to meet up with our "tour group" of 21 rigs and 40 something women, on Feb. 21st and off to Baha we shall go for over a month. Who knows? It could be longer.

Friends with the Datastorm satellite already parked at the tip of Baja tell me the satellite is working well and I am upgrading to something to enable me to have WiFi so my trip mates can then tune in to my system and get their email. The changes I am making will also enable my computer person to dial into my computer via satellite and make changes and/or make repairs no matter where I am. I'm looking forward to learning the technology. That's happening this week.

Cannot leave New Mexico without my taxes being taken care of, egads, and I have not even started. The month is evaporating. So off to see the Wizard and g'day for now.

2004-11-24T23:42:00.000-08:00

Belen, New Mexico .... settling in from 2 months on the road. Arrived home last Sunday, the 21st, and arrival can sometimes have its challenges. All is in order by today, Thanksgiving Eve, and all is well. Diane is in the house salt brining the two Diestel turkeys she will be contributing to our community dinner in ABQ tomorrow. You never salt brined a turkey? It is mucho delicious. My offering will be fresh green beans lightly steamed and smothered in garlic, lemon juice and olive oil, plus seasonings, yum.

Tonight Yu Garden, a local Chinese restaurant honored their customers with their annual turkey dinner (food they have learned to prepare since arriving here, and they have learned well). I overdid it. What a feast. Hope I have room for more tomorrow.

I love being on the road and love being home. I am grateful this season for giving thanks for the opportunity to be able to create the healthy life I enjoy, including many friends, my family, my oils, many interests that bring great pleasure.

I am still getting over the loss on my computer of pictures to share and have temporarily lost interest. But I have many, many others so will dig around for something appropriate and close with my heartfelt wishes for you to manifest your dreams. Am reading a magnificent book: "Of Monkeys and Dragons: Freedom from the Tyranny of Disease," by Michele Longo O'Donnell

Thought for Today:

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest
appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them."
-- John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Liquid Roses by Jim Van Hoose.

2004-11-13T16:15:00.000-08:00

Safford, Arizona ... Aren't you tired of me complaining about being so far behind? And all the pictures are again lost, so I am depressed about blogging today. I picked Safford as a new place to go and stay for ahwile. It is located 160 miles east of Phoenix and very near the New Mexico border. I looked it up on the internet and one of the stats is that it has a population of 33,000 people and is 2928 in elevation. There is one RV park, Lexington Pines, and it is just the nicest place to be. Friendly folk, great manager, good vibes! The weather has been warm days and chilly nights, my favorite ... but today it is COLD. So we drag out the heavier clothes. Found Curves and Mary, the worker bee there, was so welcoming.

I met Betty Drake my first day here when she invited me to share with her a piece of her freshly baked peach pie. Yesterday Betty and I went to see the movie, "Shall We Dance?" It is the best movie ever ... Richard Gere, J.Lo, Susan Sarandan. A feel good movie that should appeal to everyone.

CeCe, the manager, is just the best concierge and a lively activity organizer. She right off the bat asked me about natural healing, don't know why, maybe she smelled the oils? And she is telling everyone of my magic oils. Maybe that's why I'm here. I have often thought about having classes at RV parks but did not pursue that path. Maybe this is why I'm here.

I'm here because I wanted to spend some time in a small town in Arizona to study tax lien certificates, a subject that I took a weekend workshop about and have all the CDs and materials and internet stuff ... so why can't I settle down and get started? Such puzzlements. But the verdict in the Peterson case got my attention last night, and the craziness around Arafat's death depicted on CNN kinda captured my gaze ... would this ever happen in America?

So will end this ramble and post the latest picture of the twins sent by their dad, Andrew, my grandson.

2004-11-04T08:45:00.000-08:00

Casa Grande, Arizona .... hopelessly, helplessly behind, sorry 'bout that. To trace where I've been .... well, after leaving Chattanooga I headed west and just sorta lopped along I-20 in a southwesterly direction connecting with I-10 around Van Horn, Texas. Then it was a mad dash to Las Cruces. It rained and rained every single day. Could hardly wait to get to Arizona. Cruces welcomed me with the biggest rain storm of the year. When it rains that much, nothing dries out ... that does not fit in with my personality. I did connect with Kathe Pass and we went to Old Mesilla for lunch, a delightful day. I have many fond memories of Las Cruces in the 1990s when I went there once a year for four years to the Southwest Dowsers Conference, a joyful experience and lots of stories from there. Unfortunately, that conference is no more ... the organizers have grown older, some have died, some have divorced, and so it goes, as the world turns. I had a long, delightful phone conversation with Bill Munn, who is still there.

I am remembering now driving through Midland-Odessa, Texas, Dubya's country ... egads, how bleak. Chemical companies, everything to do with drilling for oil ... such negative energy I couldn't get through there fast enough.

So after Cruces I went to Tucson, had a wonderful dinner with Doris Walenta, and after a few days of renewing my connections with Tucson, headed to Casa Grande, where I am now preparing to lower my dish and move on to Chandler AZ, southeast of Phoenix, for a rootin'-tootin' Dixieland jazz festival which begins tonight. Maybe while there I will be able to get my pictures ready for this blog and catch up some more. Been playin' catch-up, got tickets for flight and car to California for Christmas.

Today my friend, Margie, in Redding CA is in hospital having major surgery and so is friend, Elizabeth, in the Bay Area. Friend, Char, in Nebraska had knee surgery on Tuesday and the latest report is she is doing just fine. Three good friends in one week, that's a ton of prayers.

And the election has come and gone. God Help us All.

Well, checkout time here is 11 a.m., and so it's time to get this rig ready to roll.
More later ....

Thought for today:

May the Forces of Light Be Empowered to Turn to Good
All Circumstances upon this planet Earth.

May the Forces of Light be Empowered to Turn to Good
All Circumstances within the United States of America.

2004-10-19T09:40:00.000-07:00

Cottondale, Alabama .... Central Time ... hopelessly behind, but I promise to catch up with pictures. To remind me of what I want to share:

1. Pictures from Memphis.
2. Amish Community in Ethridge TN
3. Tennessee River Ride in Chattanooga

Alabama, my first time staying here (need to add Alabama to my states visited). The scenery is hilly, lush, green (because it rains all the time) and HOT, 80 degrees for late October, MUGGY, lots of rain, or it has been since I arrived. I drove thru AL all day yesterday and spent the night and will be driving through the state for most of today. This body looooongs for the Western Sunshine. Again confirming my suspicions of what I intuitively know: Sun, Sun, Dry, Dry is what makes me happy for weather/climate. Time to lower my dish and hit the road. Will be back soon.

Thought for today:

"The great paradox of the 21st century is that,
in this age of powerful technology, the biggest
problems we face internationally are problems
of the human soul." -- Ralph Peters

2004-10-13T18:45:00.000-07:00

Natchez Trace Wilderness Preserve …. Hohenwald TN ….. rain, rain, rain … some sun, fall colors …. warm, now getting cooler … lovely lakes … a dam …. restful …relaxing, all post Young Living Essential Oils convention in Nashville where I met friend Marilyn Brodhurst of Virginia Beach and we spent our time together at the Opryland Hotel … my goodness what a place of opulence, huge, fun.

This is Marilyn. She moved into Brightwing with me for the convention and her friend, Sunny, took her van down to Natchez Trace.

The convention was held in the "Delta" Port, one of many spokes of the wheel.

The convention opened on Thursday and my pictures aren't so hot. The room was dimly lit and my pictures had to be taken off a big screen that I could see very well, but it's not made for cameras, not mine anyway.

Here is the Young family opening the convention. Mary with Jacob and Gary holding Joseph.

There were many displays of products in the lobby. This one
is all essential oils ... therapeutic essential oils, the passion of
my life.

Berry Young Juice, of course. The highest juice drink on the planet in terms of anti-oxidants and vibrations as tested by the S-ORAC scale and other scientific tests, 60% Chinese Ninjha wolfberries, other juices and essential oils of lemon and orange.

The convention was grand, wonderful teachings, new products … hey, they rolled out A.R.T. (Age Refining Technology) their first in the new cosmetic line … I bought a kit … how could I resist? after they showed compelling photos of “old” skin (mine) and “young” skin of a former life. The new technology is proving to restore old skin and we learned all about collagen, liposomes, fibroblasts, photolyase enzymes and endonuclease enzymes all which help repair DNA damage, the cause of skin aging. Marilyn and I took many “before” pictures of each other on my digital camera. What a hoot that was.

What an exciting time to be alive, I’ll tell you.

One more picture of our stroll around the Delta Port, a fountain "playing" its water to the music.

For the next 3-1/2 days we parked near one another in the Natchez Trace Wilderness Preserve. This preserve is a Thousand Trails NACO park, for those who know about those things, located about 100 miles southwest of Nashville. I spent time getting caught up with email and other web related activities … like paying the bills and enjoying the fact that there is no alarm in the morning.

There is no CURVES anywhere near this place. First time ever in all my travels around this great land that a Curves is not here. That is my workout place of choice for the past 2-1/2 years, an old friend … but a bright light. There are two in Chattanooga.

My absentee ballot arrived in Belen, was Fed-Exd to me, and is back in the mail.

Tonight is the third presidential debate, and tomorrow we will head towards Chattanooga, first visiting an Amish community near Lawrenceburg. Chattanooga lies on the Tennessee-Georgia border. Am thinking of taking I-20 west just south of Atlanta when it’s time to get going in that direction.

Thought for today:

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them." --John Fitzgerald Kennedy

2004-10-05T08:10:00.000-07:00

Hope, Arkansas ... Dashing to Nashville .... Ah-h-h the sun is shining. After yesterday's gullywasher all day long climbing north out of Texas, the sun's rays are a most welcome sight. As a child of light, it is always stressful to experience daylong gloom. I am on track with the mileage game, only 450 more to go. Will post one of my favorite pictures from back home in New Mexico ... my beloved mesa.

Thought for Today ...

"As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world -- that is the myth of the atomic age -- as in being able to remake ourselves." -- Mahatma Gandhi

2004-10-02T15:35:00.000-07:00

Buckhorn Lake RV Resort .... Days 3 and 4 .... the rally is over and we have the afternoon off (to play golf) and will gather again at 6:00 for a farewell Texas style BBQ. So I get to play catch-up.

The Motosat guys arrived from Salt Lake City at dinner time Wednesday evening, and for me it was fun renewing old friendships. Jim Pendleton kicked off the rally with a rousing welcome and spent a bit of time going through Motosat's interesting history. What fun to be part of such a saga, cutting edge technology that Jim would not let fall through the cracks.

Here's Jim ....

Next Jim introduced Royal Lamb, currently VP of Production, but in the beginning they all wore any hat that fit.

Here's Royal ...

Love that red shirt. Between Royal and Ed Travis, the two of them kept us pretty occupied for the rest of Thursday and all day Friday. Ed is their chief engineer and between them they have developed 5 new Motosat products this year, whew! Busy boys. They brought the new toys with them and they were all on display throughout our time together. A silent auction is happening right now to hopefully deliver all the goodies to new owners by later tonight.

Here's Ed ....

There are many fine sponsors of this event and 3 meals a day have been catered and served starting with breakfast Thursday morning. Many fine prizes have been won by just about everyone during a raffle each evening after dinner. Yours truly won a package of 24-minute-in- length CD-Rs, which can come in mighty handy. I have not seen those yet, so learned about a new product.

A little gadget that I covet is a San Disk, a penlight sized affair that has a USB port on one end, you plug it in and you can capture 128 MB info off anyone's computer and transfer it to your own. Like on the Motosat computer are 2 pictures, one with a large field of blue lights on all the DataStorms impressively shown that I would like to share with you, and coulda if I had one of those gadgets. The second picture is a roomful of folks showing off their new blue light key chains (with the lights out). The blue light is a signature for the DataStorm. I received my blue light special this trip. (My system is an original and blue lights had not come into play then.) That was worth the whole trip. And I got my birds on the wire "fixed," so now can receive both satellites 110 and 119 for the Dish Network simultaneously. Guess I'm boring you totally by now, so will move on.

During different breaks George and Charlene Campbell brought in their magnificent Raffin organ (only 4 of these in the world, or is it the US?) In any event it's a rarity, all hand made in Germany and the man who makes them is getting quite old.

Here's George showing off his delightful music machine...

And when you volunteer, you get to wear the little Swiss hat ....
This is Phillip.

There is a monkey somewhere. Maybe he will come out tonight.

Got to spend some time chatting with Orene Clarke and
Larry Brown from across the table. The State of Texas
is sort of in the middle there, but they are very clever
centerpieces on each table. As far as I can tell, they are
the only other ones here who intend not to vote for Bush.
But I haven't talked to everyone yet, you see. And the
subject doesn't necessarily come up, doncha know. The
first debate was Thursday night, so there was a little talk,
but not much. Probably a good thing.

Caught a Kerrvile sunset last night, except this is facing East!

This is an array of the products that Motosat brought to the rally. The platform for this blog changed some time back and I don't know how to move a "picture" to some place else, dratz. In its former incarnation I dealt with URLs, not pictures. Oh, well. I'm trying to tell a story chronologically.

Birds on a Wire (below)

DataStorm Dish (below) that I'm all excited about. Aren't you glad you asked?
This is a new, gray colored dish finished with a coating so slick that rain, snow
moisture of any kind cannot stick to it, and so neither can the DataStorm logo
stick to this. They buy their dishes from Direcway and the magic is in the
mount and the upper controller and such.

This is the new D-2 controller that is next on my list. I think I will
wait until all the bugs are smoothed out before buying, but this little
gadget will allow me to put up my dish with the push of a button and
bypass the computer. Wow! Dream on, girl!

This morning, Saturday, Don Bradner (below) held a large group hypnotized with his vast knowledge of things computer, and satellites, and networks ... and what a gift. Don is the person who started and continues to maintain the DataStorm Users Group. Pay us a visit if you like. You can find me on the map, #865. The 2 rallies that have occurred both grew out of this group.
Last year was Tampa, Florida. Next year? I heard rumors of California.

The sunset is supposed to be here to finish off this day's message ... but in time I learn these new things and maybe moving pictures around will happen soon.

A thought for today:

Prescription for living a life of integrity, fulfillment and happiness:

1. Be impeccable with your word.
2. Don't take things personally.
3. Don't make assumptions.
4. Always do your best.

From "The Four Agreements" ...
Don Miguel Ruiz.

2004-09-30T07:30:00.000-07:00

Buckhorn RV Park ... Day 2 ... Meet and Greet happened last night. We brought our own meat for BBQing and the rest, yum, was furnished all the way through peach or apple cobbler ala mode. Way to start! Jim, Royal and Ed all from Motosat arrived just in time to eat. They are excited to share with us all the new stuff.

My DataStorm friends, Suzie Richardson and Gary Gruber, from Santa Fe arrived late afternoon. They are parked two coaches over, neighbors. Suzie and I discovered each other online earlier this summer and so we looked forward to meeting up. We are sisters. Ah, the world is full of sisters. And Gary could be called a brother. Yes, the world is full of brothers, too

Together we met up with John and Kim from Brentwood (east Contra Costa County in the SF Bay Area). John is a retired firefighter and Kim is a retired landscape architect. They are here in their 5th wheel to learn about fulltiming with a DataStorm and possibly buying one. These boomers know how to retire early. Both couples spend a lot of time in Mexico doing things like language imersion classes, and art, and, well, learning.

The five of us spent the entire time talking together and, poof, it was time to go to bed. Well, time flies when you're having fun. And, John and Kim are parked right across the street.

This is the view of the office from my site. John and Kim are parked just to the right off camera. I took this picture before I knew that it was John and Kim parked nearby.

And the windmill is lit up after dark ....

I am hoping that someone will climb the hill across the street and get a night picture collectively of our "blue lights." Each DataStorm has a blue light when raised in the air, and it's kinda fun to see them all together, a sight only to behold at a rally, such as this.

This is early morning and classes begin at 9:00. I am making a several day supply of oatmeal and the water boiled dry while my head was here. So starting over. It's steel cut oats and they need to cook for 30 minutes. But, oh, so good! More later.

2004-09-27T19:35:00.000-07:00

Buckhorn Lake RV Resort .... Day 1 ... Settling in ...

The grand entrance.

The earlybirds. My satellite is on the far right, second coach in.

The earlybirds gathered last night for a potluck supper, yum. Somebody had chicken and pork fajitas brought in and the gang furnished all the side dishes. I scrounged up an organic watermelon which blended in just swell. First I met the co-chair people.

Here's Charlene and George Campbell. They live in Charleston, So. Carolina and winter in San Diego. They drive from coast to coast and back at least once a year. This year it will be twice, egads. Click on their name above to see their website and their fabulous organ grinders.

And here's Sheryl and John Prather. They call this place "home"
and do workamping while here.

George, while checking out my camera, took a shot at me.
My flash does not go off when it is getting dark, and so my
pictures are darker than I'd like. And, no, that option is not
on my camera, the one where I can override with flash. The
things you eventually learn about your camera.

I had my hair cut the day before leaving. Oh, well.

The windmill is a centerpiece of the park and is located in
front of ...

... the Red Barn, where all of our activities will take place once
we get going on Thursday morning.

I went to downtown Kerrville, [population 20,000] 7 miles. Nice town. Spotted a nail place and stopped in for a pedicure. Found Curves, only they were closed for their afternoon nap. Drove around to get oriented, found IHOP, had a sandwich and came home. San Antonio is one hour away by freeway, the same distance that I am from Albuquerque, hmm-m-m.

My refrigerator (2nd one, 11 months old) seemed ill and so had the mobile RV doctor out, who
said, "Yep," and ordered parts and said he would be back some time this week. This one is still under warranty, so we shall see what happens next.

Mt. St. Helens is making rumbles and the candidates are preparing for their presidential debate number one.

A nice thought for the day:

"The choice between love and fear is made every moment in our hearts and minds. That is where the peace process begins. Without peace within, peace in the world is an empty wish. Like love, peace is extended. It cannot be brought from the world to the heart. It must be brought from each heart to another, and thus to all mankind. " --Paul Ferrini

2004-09-26T23:20:00.000-07:00

Kerrville, Texas .... just a quick note to say that I arrived safely this afternoon at my first destination this trip, Kerrville TX. My first time driving in and through the Texas Hill Country and because of all the rain, it truly is a beautiful spot. (Never thought I could say something good about Texas) Because of the altitude of 1700 feet, this area seems to escape the humidity problem. This is also a very gorgeous RV park! The rally begins on Thursday (this is Sun.,) but there is lots to explore. Tonight there were probably 20 people at a community potluck, folks already here. It's fun to be early rather than late. Nice people. It's also 11:20 p.m. so g'nite.

Thank you to my angels, guides and teachers for the safe trip ... the time just flew on by. Sirius radio helps.

2004-09-26T07:49:00.000-07:00

Ft. Stockton, Texas ... well, how did we get here? Driving, of course, from Belen on my way to Kerrville, Texas, to meet up with the DataStorm Users group rally. Sorry there are no posts since Sept. 13th, my baby's 47th birthday, ahem ... he had a grand celebration up there in Evanston WY ... but I needed to stay on focus in order to leave on time on Sept. 24th, which I did, hooray.

My first night out was in Roswell NM. A big surprise there at how big that town is ... is it a city? There aren't any pictures of the landscape ... it's all flat and the road straight arrow. There was one helluva rain storm in the night which lowered my TV satellite automatically ... but that's okay, it was time to go to sleep anyway. The office of the RV park where I stayed was selling alien rings for 25 cents and had little alien blow-up images swinging in the wind from the rafters. I was informed of an important UFO Museum in town, but passed that by in order to press ahead and get out of NM to make me believe that I was really on the road.

I arrived here at the KOA in Ft. Stockton early enough to practice getting my big satellite up, since it's been 3 months since I've had to fiddle with it. I had some doubts as to whether I would remember everything. Well, it went straight up and all went well except it wouldn't clear, or pass whatever it has to pass. So I had to make a call for help and was reminded that I needed to clear my modems, probably, and that did the trick. So am happily sending and receiving to my heart's content, loverly.

The calculations say that I have 241 miles to go to Kerrville, maybe I'll be there by tonight. Am on I-10 and Kerrville seems to be there, too. I am early by plan so I can rest and relax in one place and absorb all I need to and then I will feel ready to move on, which will be to leave Kerrvile next Sunday, one week from today, and make a mad race to Nashville to attend the Young Living Essential Oils convention. Will meet up there with friend Marilyn Brodhurst.

Speaking of Marilyn, she called last night from Chatanooga TN at the RVing Women's convention and guess what? We are going to travel together for 34 days with Fantasy Tours through Baja CA leaving San Diego on February 21st. She talked me into it. That got my motor running, hehe. Fantasy Tours is the group I/we toured with in Mexico and the Copper Canyon one year ago, same leaders and tailgunners. What a delight that was. This will be 20 rigs and 40 or so women. So stay tuned. I promise pictures soon.

A thought for today:

"There is little room left for wisdom when one is full of judgment" -- Malcolm Hein

2004-09-11T08:12:00.000-07:00

Goodness gracious! I'm still here, alive and well. Just checking in with you, and me, and now I don't know how to catch up. Nicolas and Elizabeth were here for a day or so at the turn of the month and the time since then has been ... well ... I just don't know where the time has gone. Well, first is N and E in front of the Luna Mansion, where we went for a lovely meal.

Met Betts and Gary and Gina, all California friends and dowsers, sharing bread ...

We spent the better part of the day exploring our beautiful mesa, and then before you know it, the visit was over and off they went back to California.

This past week involved rounding up the troops to attend various meetings and a workshop regarding our invalid zoning ordinance here in Valencia County. Almost too much politics for me, what with all the razzmatazz going on with the national campaign for president, egads.

Today's email brought a welcome message from Suzanne Keehn, a wonderful friend in California, and SHE is starting a new political party, the Centrust Party, based on John English's recent book entitled "The Shift - An Awakening." I signed on. Never got in on the beginning of a political party before, hehe.

So it's time to go in the house and prepare to attend our community meeting today, starting with a potluck at noon. So at least I showed up today to keep this blog alive and hopefully next time will be sooner than almost two weeks .

It is now 13 days and counting until shove off time (circa Sept. 24th) headed for Kerrville, Texas, and the DataStorm rally. Til next time ....

2004-08-28T14:59:00.000-07:00

Enjoying the Olympics from Athens ... what a beautiful place, and, yes, they got their act together to pull it off. There are some events that are astounding because I have never seen them before .... beach volleyball, syncronized diving ... old favorites .... gymnastics, (the judging is rather sad) regular diving ( my-o-my ... dives that were not even invented yet in my day (remember, mom was a swim coach and had us in the water all the time, swimming and diving, and, yes, synchronized swimming ... ) but routines nothing like I saw last night. Track and field ... brings back memories of my own endeavors a jillion years ago. Ah-h-h, I love those summer Olympics.

It seems that adding new pages to this blog is becoming a once a week event. So we will have to live with that. I left off with an iminent visit by friend Leah DeBruyn of Los Vegas. We had a swell five days with dinner one night at the Luna Mansion. (I finally got a picture of the outside. Isn't this a magnificent old treasure?) The dining area is on the lower floor and the upstairs is all bar and lounge area. Smoking is still allowed in New Mexico (shameful), but at least the new owners have banned smoking in the restaurant, hooray.

And Leah posing in front of a giant of a tree out front.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday we spent the better part of each day on the mesa. My second batch of pics are lost (again) on my computer but here are some memories of our Friday adventure. Leah's friend Beaucoup arrived from Texas on Saturday and those are the pics that are hiding .

We met at the Rio Rancho diner at the eastern edge of the
mesa to catch our limosuine ....

Driven by our tour guide, Joan Artiaga ... friend, artist, musician,
politician, jack of all trades ... such a wonderful person ....
drum roll, please ....

And here's the group that toured the mesa on Friday ....

John (Shirley's, Nathan's cook, son), Leah, Joani, Carla,
(Trudy Clawson's daughter) and Kira, Joani's Indigo
grand-daughter, and me taking the picture.

We stopped by the temple site (Celestorium) ...

And I took a more sweeping picture of the sound healing
temple with Leah posing at the side. Yes, that is a copper
pyramid on top. This site is one of four on the planet doing
what it came here to do as directed by the Hathors, an ancient
Egyptian civilization, guided by sound healer Tom Kenyon,
friend of our Harmonious Earth community.

On Friday night we went to dinner at Nathan's in Albuquerque.
Shirley cooked such a superb meal, yum!

Here's Nathan with Leah and Carla ....

And here's the 3 of us ... who ate ourselves silly ....

I have found my pictures taken on Land Tour Day 2, but they are in a place on my hard drive and I don't know how to get them into My Pictures so I can resize, etc. Stay tuned for more. The sky turned absolutely magical and I sure would love to share those pictures with you.

Many Blessings ....

2004-08-17T08:02:00.000-07:00

It's getting longer and longer between posts ..... harumph! It must be getting time to hit the road, doncha think? Life is getting too settled in, but then it's kinda nice. New Mexico is actually GREEN, the rains are magnificent, the air temps are in the low 80s and lower ... imagine that? The Olympics are in the air ... am glued to the tube at night watching all thos gymnasts and swimmers 'n divers. Synchronized diving. Never saw that before. Am totally fascinated. Am bedazzled at Athens' ability to pull it off and dreaming dreams of what might have been. My mother was a swim teacher/coach and her dream was to have Olympic children swimmers. It worked for both of us (baby sister Sue and me) until we discovered boys, each in our own time. Remember this was a parent's dream.

Oh, well, this is as close as I get to the water these days.
The hot tub in the backyard in Belen. Brightwing is parked
just to the right.

I saw some movies since we last chatted. One Sunday several of us gathered in Albuquerque to see the documentary "Outfoxed" and another one titled "The Corporation." That was a long day and a lot of popcorn. Some of us liked it and some of us didn't. Now I have a DVD of "Outfoxed" because I forgot I ordered it. Oh, well.

The following week some of us went to see "What the Bleep Do We Know?" and that is a keeper. I would like to own that DVD when it comes out because it would be really cool to view it over and over to discover all the nuances and subtleties of that movie. I liked it because Ramtha, as channeled by J.Z. Knight, was the entity that "woke me up" in 1986 via videotapes and life hasn't been the same since ... thank goodness. I am forever grateful to that energy and for the path I was catapulted on to ... my very own spiritual path ... as if I/we were not on it anyway, I just wasn't aware. Oh, to be awake and aware! The last 18 years has been quite a trip. Wouldn't have missed it for the world. The whole secret is learning how to be IN the world and not OF it. It's terrific once you figure that one out.

So it's time to close and get ready for Leah tomorrow, who will be a houseguest for awhile. She is coming to visit me and tour the land and have dinner with Nathan ... which will keep us all busy for a few days.

Just a reminder of our beautiful mesa ... a most sacred spot
on this planet ....

Desert owls living on the mesa ....

And another glorious sunset ... ahh-h-h.

"Myths are public dreams; dreams are private myths. By finding your own dream and following it through, it will lead you to the myth-world in which you live. But just as in dream, the subject and object, though they seem to be separate, are really the same." ~Joseph Campbell

2004-08-08T08:54:00.000-07:00

Sunny Sunday in Belen .... good morning! Well, I have some new pictures for you today from our wild and wacky storm and the famer's market on Friday. Such excitement LOL. Last Monday was a rain storm, the likes of which I have never experienced. Diane and I were running from window to window and then out to the patio with a metal roof, omigod! The noise of the rain hitting the roof was sooooo loud that we could not hear each other talk, imagine that. It turned out that a little hail was mixed in to increase the decibels and we were awestruck. The rain seemed to just plop, then was over, then we had a weird sky. I ran for the camera and this is how it turned out. A gorgeous double rainbow ... however, the pictures turned out brown.

Same camera, several days later and the colors at the farmer's market are bright and yummy. Still trying to figure out what was happening after that storm. What was in the air to make the pictures turn out in the shades they did? It happened so fast that there wasn't time to stop and look and try to figure out. I just pointed and shot.

Friends, Ann and Wayne Larson, are kind of cropped out
of this picture, but their farm is lush and lovely and nearby.

This is friend, Beth Crowder. She keeps us in eggs year
round and other goodies. Her Christmas boutique in her
home in December provides many gift items that she and
hubby, Les, make. He's the beekeeper, honey and candle
person. His picture did not turn out well. Will catch him
next time.

I love the Farmer's Market. More next week.

Guess I should mention (this is a diary) that many of us convened on Wednesday night back at the Valencia County Courthouse and the fireworks sorta flew. In a nutshull, the 1999 Valencia County Zoning Ordinance was declared invalid (don't know why yet ... I can guess) and an emergency was announced so the commissioners could declare a moratorium for 2 weeks to get direction on where this is going. As mentioned before, our community is very much against a large polluting power plant being built, designated heavy industry in a light industry park. So there will probably be lawsuits and other undesirable results, but you can bet this citizen is keeping a watchful eye.

And to end the week, yesterday, Saturday, the Harmonious Earth Community had its monthly potluck and meeting and we oohed and ahhed over Gary Plapp's computer rendition of our vision for a community center. The boat seems to be launching. Still working on the papers to file the non-profit status, but we are now a bonafide New Mexico corporation, hooray.

May God Bless and Keep You All Safe and Happy and Healthy .....

Namaste`

2004-08-02T07:32:00.000-07:00

Good Monday Morning .... Hey, we're into August ... as the time just zips on by. Our pleasant high 70s temperatures have melted away and it's back to high 90s during the day. The weekend was busy with tenants moving out, new people looking for a new home, and a small group of us went to the movies on Sunday.

First we saw "Outfoxed," a documentary on the Fox News Channel, and then stayed on to watch another documentary called "The Corporation." A full afternoon of sitting in a hot, (A/C wasn't working too well) arts-house-type, small theater in ABQ. But it was fun. It's been a long time since the owner of the theater, a 40-something, and his volunteer friends made announcements from the front, the crowd cheered, we ate popcorn and settled in with new friends to watch the day's fare (5 hours, a marathon.)

By dinner time everyone disappeared except for Ed, Gary, and me, (we had carpooled together) so we turned towards home and took in the Luna Mansion for a relaxed, yummy dinner. Here's a mesa sunset to close down the day ....

This beauty courtesy of Jim Van Hoose.

2004-07-30T09:46:00.000-07:00

Days still flying by .... just now feeling like the world is a bit brighter. Have had a rough week with that tooth pullin' business. Have determined that the trouble lies with an exposed nerve ... but it's feelin' mo bettah. And so it was a good week for the Democratic Convention. One could just lay around and watch whatever. It was so nice to turn on C-Span, who just puts the cameras on the action and let YOU be the analyst ... whew, what a concept. Those talking heads just get in the way with the real thing. Oh, well.

I am content with Kerry and Edwards. Anybody but Bush, at this point. If you want to know why I say this, it is because I am an environmentalist, I LOVE MOTHER EARTH, and the Bush Admin. is ravaging her. It's called RAPE. I am in pain daily over the antics of that bunch, making it okay to pollute the air and water, rather than trying to reverse it. Making it okay to cut down old trees and rain forests, ad nauseum. They appear to be HEART-less and SOUL-less. Moreover, it does not make sense, to me. So that's my soap box for today.

Let's see what wonderous pictures of peace and tranquility I can find for today ....

This is part of a collection called "Fancy Fruit" that someone sent me recently.
It's kinda fun ....

Here's a Hawaiian sunset from March 2003 trip .... well, it's either Maui or Kona, take
your pick.

Aloha!

2004-07-26T13:50:00.000-07:00

A bit Behind here .... exciting weekend, kicked in the butt by my tooth pulling adventure. Oh, well. So between trying to find nourishment to pass through my somewhat locked jaw, continually wanting to nap (to heal, of course) and learning to grant write, buy tax lien certificates (what a concept) and do good deeds with real estate ... oh, wow! And spend a whale of a lot of money (how did that happen?) But it's all for the good cause. It takes money to make money. Didn't someone say that once? I usually go for the brass ring, and I really did it this time. Anyway ....

So just before this adventure began I met my friend Suzie Clark from Michican for lunch at the Wild Boar Steakhouse (becoming my neighborhood favorite place) and we enjoyed the Joline salad. Yes, they have designated a salad that I dreamed up and it is now on their menu. Gee Whiz.

So here's Suzi ...

and here's how to find the Wild Boar ...

Oh, you want to know what's in the salad?

Well, it's very Atkins. No carbs.

Lots of salad greens, the darker the better, with whatever you like in it, cukes, onions, tomatoes, avocado, you know, your favorites, then sprinkled with blue cheese crumbles, or gorgonzola, or parmesan, you get the drift, topped with a freshly cooked and sliced piece of meat, steak, chicken, fish, whatever you like, crusted with a 3-pepper crust (oh, yum) and then with your favorite dressing. I like balsamic vinegar and a good olive oil. If the meat is warm, (and it should be) and there's lots of pepper flavor, what happens in the bottom of the very large bowl is a juice from the meat and other liquids all marinating together, and that is the very best part of the salad. Now if one were to have a slice of good bread (verboten on Atkins) ... but if one were to indulge ... what a treat to swipe that bread through that juice .... ahh h-h-h. Otherwise a spoon will do.

So later on the week we rounded up a pile of community folk and neighbors and trotted on down to the Valencia County Courthouse in Los Lunas, our county seat ..... drum roll ...

... to urge our Commissioners (5 of them) to revisit their approval of a fraudulent map that would allow the building of heavy industry, which permitted a big power plant to be built too close to residential. A majority of the Commissioners agreed that our county's zoning history has been spotty and at times non-existent (sleepy Mexican village, remember) but the giant is waking up. This was a big win for the citizens ... and so we celebrated. I caught some pictures after the meeting with Joani, Paul K. and Betts just as a gorgeous sunset was happening.

A few minutes later Commissioner Paul Trujillo, a really good guy and on our team and the Commissioner representing our mesa land) let me have a photo-op with him (He's the guy in the middle)

So then the dentist business, yuck, and then the grant writing weekend. No pictures from that one, but there were 5 of us from the Harmonious Earth Community and by melding our ideas and energies together I know that we can write some awesome grants to get our community center going. Our application for a non-profit 501(c)(3) has been filed and we are just waiting approval. We need a 2-mile road to the property, 13 buildings, landscaping, parking, equipment, a well, septic system, solar system, lots of trees and landscaping, all for 110 acres of gorgeous mesa land in Central New Mexico. It is happening. The energy is in the air.

And the local temperature has dropped, dropped, dropped. It is really heavenly for the last 4-5 days. It can't get any better than this, yes!

Namaste`

2004-07-21T08:48:00.000-07:00

6 Days???? Whaaaaa! Well, guess I must be having fun. Well, I am ... but not what you think. These lazy, hazy days of summer must be getting to me. It is HOT, no doubt about that, but the swamp cooler in the house and A/C in truck and trailer work just fine.   A phone call from a friend got me to a presentation in ABQ re grant writing, and since that subject interests me because of our non-profit community, I am now signed up for a 2-day workshop this coming weekend, sheesh! This is leading me down another path, I can tell. It might be fun and financially rewarding at the same time. Who couldn't use a little extra pocket change?

Suzi Clark from Michigan has been visiting in the area and we spent a pleasant Sunday visitin' and eatin', not too shabby.   I took some pictures but the camera is still in the truck. Tonight is the Valencia County Board of Commissioners' meeting which involves all us good citizens and a proposed power plant in the area. We went through this a lot 2 years ago, and then it ended up in the courts. The court stuff is all over and the community is back to the drawing board. So I have been helping to round up at least 50 warm bodies to show up tonight. If it's not obvious, we are NOT FOR a power plant in the neighborhood (3 miles from my house). We do have pristine air around here and we intend to keep it that way. Between the local stuff and the national stuff we citizens have a lot to do to keep vigilant. I guess this is what you do when you don't have a job to go to any more. Thank goodness for that!

I am making plans and intentions to return to the road around mid-September, so don't give up on me and my traveling.   The goal is Kerrville TX for the DataStorm (my internet satellite) rally and then on to Nashville for the East Coast Young Living Essential Oils convention with Dr. Gary Young, my hero for good health. I intend to meet up with friend Marilyn. We were strangers, then housemates who became friends on last year's Mexico trip. Now she owns land here in NM, too, and eventually she might end up down here. And so the world turns, hehe!

More later ....   XOXOX

"Myths are public dreams; dreams are private myths. By finding your own dream and following it through, it will lead you to the myth-world in which you live. But just as in dream, the subject and object, though they seem to be separate, are really the same."   ~Joseph Campbell

2004-07-15T20:26:00.000-07:00

Belen NM .... well. I have new choices in formatting this blog. My hidden helper is very busy. I am just checking in with you who follow my life in this diary. I don't have much to report or say except that it is very HOT here with some mugginess ... most unusual, not the hot part but the muggy part. Humidity was 75 today, in the house. Am thinking of all of you and wonderin' what everybody's doin'.

A little plan is forming regarding the next trip. There will be a DataStorm Users (internet satellite) rally in Kerrville TX the end of Sept. Four days later Gary Young will be putting on the East Coast convention in Nashville TN ... I can make that. and four days after that ends there is a Dixieland Jazz Fest in Branson MO. I can make that. Might make a nice little trip, doncha think?

Andrew's birthday (oldest grandson) is Saturday and am thinking especially of him. He will be 26. Here's a picture of that boy. I remember the day he was born on July 17, 1978. That seems like a long time ago. I was hoping he would get here before I needed to leave for the granddaddy whitewater trip down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon in a raft. No digital cameras then, so no pictures on my hard drive.

And here's Drew with his twins, Sophia and Brent,
age 3-1/2 .... Happy Birthday, my Man.

Here's a couple of pictures that I lifted from my friends Chris and Jim so you can get the flavor of the sport. Seeing their recent pictures brought back a jillion memories of the Marin River Rats, a group of whitewater rafters in the late 1970s who all met through Helen Eng of Mill Valley, and over five years together we went down 12 major rivers and had a ball. How cool is that?

As I recall, I was home in Terra Linda (San Rafael) when Andrew was born,
but only home for 3 days between whitewater trips that summer. I know I
was invited to be present at the birth but declined. Not my thing. I think
that's a private event between the mommy and the daddy. Just my
opinion, okay?

Here's to a swell weekend ahead and wishing you all lots of love and
fun, fun, fun.

2004-07-12T12:40:00.000-07:00

Belen NM .... Crazy Monday and I still cannot find the Farmer's Market pictures. So I can find the ones I took at the Harmonious Earth Community meeting on Saturday.

Driving up I spot a Hummer in the drive so know I'm at the right place. Nathan started out with Lincoln Town Cars, then Lincoln Navigators and now Hummers for all the folks who work for him. Gil and Danna work for him.

This is Gil and Danna's house in the summertime with a green lawn. It is so colorful due to Mike Melendrez' "Trees That Please" beasties ... that's another whole story .... part of the story is that New Mexico was once a FOREST of 38 species of oak trees. Many in our community want to replant the mesa and we have a beeline to one million trees available in a grant ... so we're workin' on it.

The gathering started off with a potluck and here's Louise cookin' the chicken.

While checking out the chicken I looked over at the community garden and saw the corn as high as an elephant's eye ....

After lunch we had our meeting with wonderful people all sharing their ideas and trying to follow an agenda ... well, sort of ... and we have what we call a Guardian leading us through the maze. Today's Guardian is Charmian ... sharing an outstanding medidation.

Here's Gil during a break ...

The afternoon concluded with a new guest, Nicolette, sharing her channeling skills with the group. (No picture).

And I drove home to my little neighborhood past Del Fuego Park and turned right down Dulcinea to the end, where I live. After Cecelia and I stopped in at the Wild Boar for a late, yummy dinner.
She stayed the night to drive home to Albuquerque in the cool of tomorrow morning.

2004-07-10T09:47:00.000-07:00

Belen NM ....sorry about the duplicates. Have spent 2 hours this morning trying to straighten it all out and am hoplessly lost. Also, the new pictures I took at the first of the season Farmer's Market yesterday are hoplessly lost, too. So I'ma gonna go play with my community friends over at Gil and Danna's today. A winter shot of where we meet.

And in the spring ....

2004-07-08T10:32:00.000-07:00

Belen NM .... continuing on with the story .... we kept driving north, east, north, east and finally when we saw the Santa Fe railroad tracks I knew we were close to New Mexico State Highway 6. We did see some buildings and a lot of trucks (common sight in New Mexico) and stopped to ask for directions (we're women, you know) and spotted a trailer full of lovely goats going somewhere.

We found we were 200 feet or yards (can't remember which) from Highway 6! Indeed!

Zippin' on down the highway we reached our appointed rendevous just in time for dinner at the Luna Mansion where it was delightful to meet up (after my 6 months absence) with Danny and Penny Griego, the "new" owners a year ago of this great restaurant in Los Lunas. It was once a Harvey House,and Mike Melendrez's grandmother was born here, but that's another story.

AND I neglected to snap a picture of this glorious piece of this area's history. Shameful. But I promise a picture soon.

So here's Danny and Penny and a picture of one of Penny's gorgeous flower arrangements. She owns a wholesale flower shop, too.

Rupali from Sabinal joined Lea and me in a great feast. We were enjoying the good wine too much to remember to take more pictures. Aahh!

What a day!

2004-07-08T09:34:00.000-07:00

Continuing ... after my heart-breaking disaster of last Sunday in losing a LONG post, am doing things in pieces now.

Moving on to Sunday and the party at Nathan's to celebrate the 4th of July and his birthday ... following are pictures to tell the story.

Entering Nathan's lovely property and walking up the long drive ...

Arriving into the front courtyard, to the right is Nathan's front door.

In the middle of the courtyard is a fountain with, you guessed it, a model of a "rig" with a flame coming out of the top. Wow! The flame was out when I arrived but I tried to get a picture of it when it was re-lit just before dark, dark and you have to look closely to see the flame at the tippy top.

So into the house to survey the food prep going on in high gear in the kitchen.

Didn't get too many "people" pictures, ones you can recognize at any rate, but here's Jo and Will, couple on the right (bride and groom now for about a month or so).

Back outdoors into the courtyard where the party is beginning to go into full swing.

And the music played on and on ... oh, how delightful. Joani Artiaga and her daughter inspired Chirin and her partner to get up for a swashbuckling Latin dance.

I snapped Chirin (a Thai professional dancer extraordinaire) sitting down, her dress is so colorful, but was so engrossed in watching the dance that ... you guessed it... no picture, sheesh.

We sang Happy Birthday to Nathan ....

And Nathan pontificates ....

But he has his cake and eats it, too ...

And after dark and the glow of good food and good company, we all headed for home to watch many exhibitions of fireworks in the night sky.

2004-07-07T12:06:00.000-07:00

Belen NM ...After my last disaster in trying to post a very wonderful weekend and losing it ... am game to try again after a few days rest.

Saturday morning began the day with Lea Walters, visiting here from California. We enjoyed breakfast at the Wild Boar Steakhouse (our new and upcoming restaurant and just down the street, can you believe that? A dream come true). At noon we picked up Joan Smith and journeyed to the mesa where Tom Fessenmeyer lives for a mid-day celebration of Mother Earth (Gaia) with Joan performing a real, honest to goodness pipe ceremony. Joan is a community member and a Penobscot Indian from Long Island NY. Ed Clibborn joined us. Following is a picture of Joan after the ceremony, no pictures are allowed during.

This is Tom, me, Lea and Ed ....

And Garuda was looking on ....

Garuda came home with Tom from a visit to Bali. Garuda is also the logo/mascot of Indonesian Airlines.

After an enjoyable visit with everyone, Lea and I decided to go to the Celestorium, the sound/healing temple engineered by Tom Kenyon and the Hathors, an ancient Egyptian civilization, over on the Nicolas Duran de Chavez ranch, near my future home site 10 acres. The roads were drying up after the 100-year rain of a week ago and we made it through to the temple.

Next we decided to drive down to the Rio Puerco River nearby, but after driving for quite awhile I knew that I had passed some cow trail down to the river and we were headed north to parts unknown.

The above picture courtesy of Jim Van Hoose.

Believing that now we are more than halfway to Los Lunas (our dinner destination) we might as well be adventurous and plow new territory. It was kinda fun driving around and around and around the mesa playing lost (we really weren't ... because there is Onstar on the truck, the cell phones worked, we were headed north by compass, and following the river north.)

How could we be lost? Well, actually we weren't, but when checking with Onstar we had only progressed north 3 miles in 1-1/2 hours, 7 more to go and it IS getting late, and the gas tank is going DOWN.

Stay tuned ....

2004-07-04T12:58:00.000-07:00

Arg@!*!hh .. I spent 3 hours this morning making up a special 4th of July post with lots of pictures ... and when I went to publish, my satellite went down and all was lost .... weeping tears of something. Guess you will just have to imagine what it was all about! My community is celebrating in the next few hours and I must leave .... Have a Safe and Happy 4th of July.

Love 'n hugz ....

2004-07-03T06:59:00.000-07:00

Belen, NM .... Well, it's been a few days once again. That seems to be the pattern. Busy times around here, or I am doing less. Whatdaya think? The activities on our mesa are going strong and the end result is just out of reach at the moment. A coupla more weeks. Can we wait that long? You'd think after 10 years that that would be easy ... duh, well ... I feel like a kid waiting for my birthday to hurry up and get here.

Here's Cowboy and me ... aahh, Cowboy. Cowboy is our mesa security person ... I met him in 1995 or 6 on my first visit. He's a real tootin' rootin' six shooter sheriff's deputy and he and wife, Lori, live in a small guard trailer. Twice I camped on my land and twice Cowboy brought me water, like 20 gallons at a pop. He came by each day to make sure I/we were all right. If I remember correctly, my friend Ruby and I made 2 trips here in the mid-90s in Brightwing I.

Sooooo today Lea Walters, visiting here from California, and I will go together and join with others on the mesa at Tom's house for a "Gateway" ceremony ... something important for the Albuquerque area. I took this picture of Lea earlier in the week as we were part of the cheerleading crowd at NAT 1.

Tomorrow is the 4th of July and many of us will be celebrating at Nathan's home/palace in ABQ. Always fun to go there and experience how the other half lives, hehe.

If any of you reading this want clarification of names, places or things, send me a personal email. Obsfucation right now is necessary. Explainable later. All for today as it is time to git. BW2 (awesome truck) is all spit and polished, yet again, for another trip to the mesa.

Today is Mother Earth's Day, well, a special one. Every day is her day. Ciao!

2004-06-30T06:59:00.000-07:00

Belen, NM .... Fast post today. Exciting times on our mesa ... and I cannot get my pictures off the camera, oh, dratz. Am at the dentist all day today working on new expensive ... sigh ... bridge. Gotta keep those teeth a chewin' But will have more "mesa news" by tomorrow ... all is looking very good for those who are interested in knowing.

All is well in my world! And LOVE, lots of it, is flowing.

Don't you wish you knew what this is about? Well, you'll just have to wait.

2004-06-27T16:09:00.000-07:00

Belen, NM .... Well, it's Sunday afternoon and clouding over. It did this yesterday and, wow, what a thunder and rain storm. It plops an inch or two and disappears. Good news for this drought ridden area.

I believe I left off with going to the movies on Friday. Five of us finally gathered to see "Fahrenheit 9/11" and what a whopper. We all enjoyed it immensely. Michael Moore is a very talented person. I can see how he won the Cannes Film Festival, especially since the Europeans dislike Bush and the movie is good, so how could it miss over there? The jury is still out in America as to its success. A meal at Mimi's after completed a satisfying day in Albuquerque. The country folk came to town, hehe.

Saturday I stayed in the county, Valencia, that is, and went to the VACARA Field Day for amateur (ham) radio operators, of which I am one, tra=la. Our community had a class in January just before I left on "the trip" and I managed to pass, squeaked through is more like it. Amateur clubs all over the world have a once a year 24-hour radio-a-thon (don't exactly know whatcha callit) and it is a competition to see how many stations you can contact in that marathon. Don't think there are any grand prizes, but those men are dead serious ... and they have a lot of fun. Another reason for the field day is to check all the equipment, always ready for that emergency or crisis that hams all over the world are known for and are oftentimes first responders.

Our class of 10 last January will become the beginnings of our mesa's civil defense team.

The day began with a BBQ lunch and then the heat drove the newbies home, whew! As usual, the ladies all had call signs on their badges but I only saw them working the food. So what else is new? Nothing much has changed there.

Anyway, I took some pictures to prove I was there, I guess, and here are some fellas seriously working the "key" doing Morse Code at a fast pace. On closer look, I don't see any fingers on the key, but I swear that's what they were doing.

It was nice to see community member Joan Smith there, and I'm sorry, I don't know the gentleman's name she is sitting next to.

Ed Clibborn of our community sat across from me while eating lunch, so it was easy to snap him.

Gary Plapp sat next to me, so I couldn't shoot a picture so well, and, of course, I forget to take pictures of me. Oh, well.
And I forgot to snap the fellow cooking the hotdogs and hamburgers. He had a hot job.

This club meets once a month all year round, so maybe I will get involved. I am NOT a person who knows an ohm from an amp and never will. Interestingly, I did this thing in the early 1970s and passed barely then. At that time you had to pass Morse Code at 5 words per minute and your license was only good for 2 years. Somehow the license lapsed, and here I am again doing it all over. LOL.

Ooohh, a giant wind is whipping up ... nasty. It can do that in New Mexico. It came from nowhere. I am in the trailer and it's a rockin' and a rollin'. So here's a soothing picture to quiet the nerves ... a beautiful place high up in the Rockies near Red River Valley ...I went through there last summer. It's somewhere between Montrose and Durango, Colorado.

2004-06-25T09:48:00.000-07:00

Belen, New Mexico .... Good Friday Morning. The pictures from Sunday's Solstice gathering are now on my computer and ready to roll ... after much angst and hand wringing. Not sure I know how to rectify this challenge, but will know next time I try to download. Some days this technology business is overwhelming ... but I keep on keepin' on ... a glutton for punishment, hehe.

Firstly, I took a picture of the view of the Sandia Mountains across the street from Whole Foods Market just to show you the rural atmosphere of Albuquereque.

On Sunday, June 20th, 10-12 Harmonious Earth Community members and friends gathered at Carol Straw's lovely home in Tijeras in the mountains east of Albuquerque. Carol has a vortex/portal in the rear of her home overseen by an ancient entity called Chakewa (phonetic) and with the assistance of Gary Plapp, who led the solstice ceremony, we paid honor at this location to Mother Earth, Father Sky, and all the directions in ancient Indian tradition; a day of Thanksgiving.

This is Gary lighting the sage for smudging ....

The group first gathered on Carol's patio for drumming and smudging before going to the vortex/portal further into the yard.

This is Carol calling the participants with the Tibetan bowl ....
Theresa is on the right.

This is young Gabriel Fontes and mom, Raquel, calling the gathering with drum and rain stick ....

This is my good friend, Cecelia, looking on ....

More drummers .... Cecelia, Rupali and Raquel ...

Preparing for the ceremony ... the new face is Peggy ... and Gabriel's big sister is barely in the picture on the left.

Mystical Maya, Carol's wonderful border Collie, got into the act.

Sylvia and Betts added to the festivities ...

Gary smudging Theresa ....

We walked out to the vortex/portal and the ceremony begins ....

While waiting my turn, I looked down and saw these sweet, little flowers struggling to appear in the parched surface of the dirt.
The Albuquerque area is in an extreme drought condition.

Honoring our ancestors with cornmeal and water, (nobody had any tobacco; no surprise there) the ceremony concluded.

I have lots more pictures, but this is long enough for now.

Tonight some of us are going to see the movie Fahrenheit 9/11 in Albuquerque. More on that tomorrow. Also tomorrow is our Ham Radio Field Day for 24 hours.

Ciao for now!

2004-06-22T09:51:00.000-07:00

Belen, New Mexico .... The days are rolling by and here it is Tuesday. I have lots of pictures on my camera from Sunday's solstice gathering at Carol Straw's in the East Mountains, a lovely place, Tijeras. And it was at least 15 degrees cooler ... something to remember. Nothing is working to get the pics off the camera, so off to the computer store this afternoon ... long sigh .....

Yesterday was a visit to the dentist and the good news is I need a bridge; the bad news is the cost, $5,000. In the same mail is news of good things happening with our gas drilling on the West Mesa ... stay tuned. Meanwhile I found a lovely picture of the spot I parked in Maggie Valley NC for a week last year at Water's Edge RV Park. I could live in Maggie Valley, one of the 3 or 4 spots on earth that I can make that claim. It's near Waynesville up in the mountains west of Asheville.

2004-06-19T07:17:00.000-07:00

Dateline .... Belen, New Mexico .... It has been 4 days since my last post ... you'd think I am too busy. Being off the road is totally different than being on. Am settling into my "home" routine and I can't think of anything that exciting to share with you, yet. The most interesting thing on the horizon is what is happening with our gas wells out on the mesa ... and we must wait another 2 weeks.

Tomorrow is Summer Solstice and my community does celebrate, and we are. A potluck and ceremony in the Eastern mountains. Michael Moore is coming to town with his new movie "Fahrenheit 9/11" and a group is forming to go to Albuquerque to see that on the 25th of June. The gardens are growing, the Farmer's Market will soon open, and the lazy daze of summer are here!

What is SOOO nice is the blue sky, no clouds, no rain, no storms, no wind, just the birds, the bees, the butterflies, summer sounds, the faraway train whistle, and the summer heat just kinda goes with it all. The swamp coolers work just swell, keeping the proper moisture in the inside air.

Here is a summer scene from my photo collection. I took this picture on my way home through Colorado in August 2003.

2004-06-15T10:54:00.000-07:00

Another Day in Paradise .... Between schlepping between house and Brightwing, this poem just came in my email. I think it fits the bill perfectly this fine morning.

I have no need to save others.
I have no need to rescue others.
I have no need to outshine anyone.
I have no need to out-think, out-perform, out-produce anyone - including myself.
I do not need to know anything.
I do not need to be an expert.
I do not need to fix anyone, or change anything.
I do not need to dazzle, impress, or inspire anyone.
I do not need to be the hero of my own story.

In truth, I am organic, evolving, and fallible.
I allow things to unfold naturally, and I trust the flow. I joyfully accept and experience my humanity.
I need nothing.
All already is.

Blessed be.

~Aaliyah LivingWell~

Dowsing the Celestorium .....

The Celestorium is the beginnings of the Hathor (Ancient Egyptian Civilization) Sound Healing Temple on the West Belen Mesa, brought into being with the help of Tom Kenyon and his Hathor friends. This piece of land is very close to my 10-acre home site on this beloved mesa that is so dear to our Harmonious Earth Community hearts. (Click on the underlined words.)