And BLAM! Its Summer

 Or how we went from the high of 79 to 91 F. overnight. Apparently, we have had 11 Saturdays of rain. Needless to say, everything is growing like mad. I was able to harvest my lettuce starters after about 3 days!

Today was better than yesterday when I had a guy come to clean out my dryer hose and vent. He "inspected" it and said, "That will be $249." It had been represented to me as $179, which I was prepared to pay. He said I needed the "deep brush" cleaning. I asked him to leave. I'm going to use Butch, the handyman that Ann is sharing with me.

Today I started off with an oil change and they said I don't need a brake job. Honda of the Desert had sent me an email saying it was time to check the brakes. I'm trying to avoid the Honda dealerships on either coast since their goal always seems to be to sell me more services. Naturally, I want to keep the car in as best shape as possible, but I don't want to do something before it's remotely needed.

From there I went a bit further into Hadley to the Esselon restaurant to have a lovely brunch on their patio. Meanwhile, it was warming up but not too hot outside. I had a fabulous breakfast egg and sausage sandwich on ciabata bread, with a mashed potato patty, and fresh green salad with lots of carrot shavings. Unfortunately, the darn mosquitoes decided to make me their brunch. As far as I know, I only got one bite.

Then it was reverse direction (toward home) and on to Whole Foods. Yep, their artistic food displays won me over and I got some watermelon hunks, green olives with lemon slices, and other stuff. My fave was "sushi" which was veggies wrapped in lettuce and a thin rice wrap. Oh, yes, I splurged on a pre-

Catching Up Time and How Was Mexico?

 

    

Yes, the quilt is still  pinned. I had two (count 'em) machines out of commission. Now I have one working but haven't been able to try it out. I've got to quilt this (sew through the three layers). I have never dealt with these colors before -- the pumpkin is way out of my comfort zone. But it was free and this will go to philanthropy, possibly with a teenage recipient.

Here's my wee sign for the Hands Off rally at Palm Springs City Hall. I'm told about 3,000 people showed up. I don't know if that's an exaggeration, but there were a bunch of people there! This was about 3 weeks ago, before we went to Mexico.

Here's my friend, Eric. He made really good signs. With the God comment, he was imitating those horrible Westboro "Christians" who would not only harass gay people every chance they got, they even picketed at funerals of LGBTQ, hurling insults at their families.

 

The POTUS sign is also Eric's.

April 7 On the Copper Canyon Tour

I found out I do like Dos Equis!

Our first hotel room in Phoenix. The patio was nice. Then we crossed into Mexico at Nogales.

Bathroom Art

April 8  Boat ride on the Sea of Cortez.

Private Funicula 

Views from the boat.

Lots of bird poop makes the white.

Mom enjoyed the ride almost as much as I did. The dinner was primarily seafood and it was delicious!

In the morning, before the boat ride, we learned everything there is to know about creating pearls in oysters. 

Carlos, our oyster guide, is standing near a net full of oysters. They have had a small bead inserted into the oyster. The net will be submerged in the Sea of Cortez. They have to plant them deeper due to the ocean's warming. The oysters like the colder water. Unfortunately, there is less food for them at that level. So it takes longer to grow the oyster/pearl.

It was quite a walk down to the oyster shack where the primary occupation is scraping barnacles off the oyster shells. Barnacles can make it impossible for the oysters to open their shells to eat.

I couldn't resist taking a picture of the art in the hotel lobby.

April 9

Need I say more?

April 10

Waiting for the train to the Copper Canyon. The train is in the background.

After the grueling (long!) train ride, we boarded a bus to get to our hotel at the edge of the Copper Canyon. Here is our first view at about 8,000 feet. 

 

 

This is the view from our hotel room. 

I really enjoyed the view from our balcony.

April 11

The woman is showing how she makes her baskets while our guide tells us of  the fibers and pine needles are gathered for the baskets. (Yes, they have pine trees with LONG pine needles.)

April 12

The next morning, I found the mist to be beautiful.

I enjoyed the view and did some hand sewing. I wasn't interested in zip lining, a hike, nor the cable car across the Canyon. Mom did that. (That involved getting on a bus again to get far enough down the mountain to go to those playgrounds. I rested.)

April 13

Central Cultural Museum in Paquime

Then it was back on the bus to go to a potter's house, where she was going to demonstrate her art and give us lunch.

Yes, there is a pot under that fire. The pot was covered by a bigger pot. This is an original kiln. Below, Lila the artist is on the right. Camilo, one of our guides -- and interpreter -- is on the left with the black over the shoulder pack.

And this is the lunch the artist 'made' for us. No, that's not lasagna. It's seven layers (another woman counted them) of tortillas with a bit of tomato on them. And, of course, rice and beans. It's a good thing she's a sculptor. Her work is beautiful. Her cooking is not.

And I'm out of pictures. Aren't you glad? 

One thing they didn't tell us is that in order to re-enter the US, the bus driver had to unload all of the luggage for a search. That meant that we had to bring our luggage across the border -- which was 1/4 mile away.  We had two small suitcases, two large suitcases, 2 canes, 2 purses, and two walkers. Our guy organized a Mexican guy to help us, but he only took the two big suitcases and he dropped them at the door. He could not cross the threshold into the US. We finally got through customs and waiting outside sitting on a wall waiting for the bus. Finally our guide said we could go across the street and wait near the convenience store. Luckily, it was overcast because, in all we waited over 2 hours for the bus. 

So it definitely was an adventure, but I now know that 7 hours on and off a bus each day is too much for me. I also realize why a lot of the people there think we are rich Americans. Because compared to them we are VERY rich. It made me count my blessings.

I am too tired to proof this. I'm in the middle of packing to return to Amherst and I've been up since 5 a.m. Maybe a nap is in order ...