Hard to believe I’ve been here three weeks and either I am getting more lazy or the sun gets to my head and my body is weary at night! Just a few quick notes.  Puerta Vallarta brought a week at the lovely time share, logistics and getting settled took too much time, sunsets were great, the walk to a little town north always brought me joy and a special day and night in a mountain village with a good room for only about $15 U. S. dollars a night-how unusual!

Too bad there aren’t more repeats. South on a bus ride to my old stomping grounds of Barra de Navidad , watching the weigh-in of   a sailfish at 116 pounds at a fun-filled tournament.  Then a bus ride for 20 minutes and stayed four days at the seaside accommodation  at Melaque–the only beach where the surf doesn’t put me in a total twister!

Flew out from Manzanillo to Oaxaca via Mexico City-divine leg room, stewardesses in red and blue, colorful scarves in a brand new plane.  Now in Oaxaca for some time, enjoying other adventures I didn’t get around to last time.  Another mountain (hills!) town where pines and a nice breeze  alleviate the pain of traveling in a “collectivo” to save money! (six including driver  in a small compact!) Military Processions one day and today Flag Day–plus 5 policemen on every corner I swear! ( for what I don’t know!) I am more than protected.

Before I know it I’ll fly to Leon, bus to San Miguel Allende and finally catch up with my friend Mary.  It will be good to not always be charging around on my own, though I do perfectly fine, thank you.

A BIG P.S.–Keep previewing this crazy thing and it’s been too long since I’ve known how to add/and/or delete photos, so you either have too many(!)-one, or in this case some missing  too.  I give up for tonight!!

You’ll want this address!  1113 7th St. New Listing in Old Town with a new roof! Add a bit of your own magic, but the elements speak of yesteryear perfectly: like leaded windows, large entry w/ parquet for that special antique or art work.(currently shelved area). Wide moldings, spacious dining room(or use for family room) unfinished attic for additional br. Good storage in kitchen. Alley access to detached garage and attached workshop or hobby area

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqLH5Q94S_s

Nostalgia lurks again today.  It seems my present is often both blessed and clouded with the past: and a continuing wish to write about a mother’s life as I am immersed in her letters. Memories of family gone, sepia photos of ancestors.  Or moments of loves lost and minutes of sad– along with hearty laughter or drippy tears. This history is the stuff of all humankind, the microcosms that bring meaning and appreciation for our lives and those whose genes we carry.  I remembered the great aunt who must have had a disturbed life and hung herself. I am angered that our nation doesn’t provide more care for mental illness. This made me do a repeat “look-and-see” at the Northern State Hospital book, subtitled “Absence of Light,”  a photo collection produced by our Skagit Valley Camera Club. On the first page, I was drawn again to the privileges we experienced with instructor Dick Garvey, whose tribute I posted on FB a while back. Some of my images are shared in this blog.

The larger experience was our individual take on what happened inside of us as we aimed our cameras at desolation, peeling paint, deserted cow stalls or glorious stained-glass windows in a silent chapel. We found weeds imbedded in barred windows, yellowed prescriptions, old patient records, lobotomy apparatus and lonely chairs.  My discovery of a book with the title “No Hiding Place” (which was used on the book’s cover) summarized it all.

Amidst the abandonment, loneliness and isolation, I marveled at what those mental patients would have also seen to bring them a chance at some peace: what else other than nature itself.  Beauty in stately grounds, massive trees and flowers were there.

I believe anyone looking at these historic images will be moved by them.  Here is a link to the Blurb book you can preview and buy.

http://www.blurb.com/b/987154-northern-state-hospital‎

Sunday morning fog was not quite pea-soup thick, and I started to exchange my photo foray for chores. However, a later promise of sun sent me across the valley in search of a pleasant outing.  Stopped near the Casino for the Pintail duck, headed north east,   and  the eagle and his harem were back near the Edison slough. 

Guard your life well on that road,   with everyone armed with cameras, praying they are not roadkill.  Alas, I don’t  have a huge lens, so usually settle for shooting birds on the wires.  Pushing east, I thought”why is it that everywhere the long-necked trumpeter swans are, their dining choice is always in a distant field?” I did find they favor mud too.

 I also discovered on this jaunt that the day evolves on its own, and the beauty of the ride is our Skagit County life unfolding.

Up river, the mountains were shining.

Fishing on the Skagit River was the pastime I saw most.  On returning to Anacortes, the white refinery smoke was wisping its way to meet the dark velvety clouds- which were in both the east and west.  Mt. Erie and adjacent humps were hunkering down for the night. But just as I parked at Seafarer’s Park, I looked east once more and the mountains were a luscious pink, gracefully bidding the day goodbye.

Another episode of “my Gita”**

**Italian for short excursion

I love the habit of setting out without an organized agenda, traveling where the spirit leads– this time from Anacortes to Westport.   I take the ferry to Port Townsend, then on to Sequim where everything is wrapped in lavender, and street corners have purple tee shirts and purple flags. I revel in two festive farms for more photo ops.

Next, I feel wind and wave power down on popular Dungeness Spit—11 miles walking, round trip.  I did not engage.  Instead, I hopped down the trail to see it (and the lighthouse) from afar, and then discovered a culinary surprise of those eensy weensy blackberries on the trail–yum.

Day Two: my Camry heads southwest up to our drop-dead-gorgeous Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic Mountains. Thousands of years ago Lady Bird Johnson’s forebearers must have planted these roads with floral borders of striking yellows and blues.  First, the drive yielded a bit of tunnel vision through the rock faces, bursting out the other end to scenic vistas.  Teddy Roosevelt did a good thing in creating our national park system.  At each turn of the twisting road, a new surprise.  A new wildflower book helps with their identity.

I stop at the Visitors Center where one wall boasts painted trees and has bright blue spiggots for filling water bottles.  (Remember, only one percent of all the water in the world is for us to use.  The rest is in oceans and ice.)  On a nearby dirt-and-roots trail a brave ten year old skips all the way down, but I long for walking sticks! It is so refreshing to see parents on the trail reading the signs about nature to their children, teaching them stewardship. (It takes 450 years for a plastic six-pack ring to decompose.) I notice  that eating and drinking in nature’s atmosphere enhances the salivary glands.  Here, trail enthusiasts were bar-happy (as in eating energy bars).

People complain about paying for  passes required for both state and national parks, but many spend it on foolish things.  Why not delight in the real thing–life in the natural world.

Next, it is on to Forks, home of Twilight and 120 inches of rain per year!  Teens mug for the camera with the life-size paper “stars” of Bella and Edward. The food choice was not great. But  why do we want to have our destinations be like home?  All over the world, in spite of strip, mini, and giant malls–and don’t forget Starbucks –all looking alike, there are always intriguing nuances in the unusual that we need to appreciate. So often people travel somewhere expecting certain givens, but it turns to another thing entirely and your experience then is very different–and that’s good.

The afternoon hurries on, and a long drive down the coast, without seeing it.  Finally, the ocean reveals itself in all its glory, including all the tsunami evacuation roads.

Well-trod asphalt trails through the pine-filled dunes bring out the people watching in me. Someone with a little newborn in a sling, four year olds with state-of-the-art sunhats, a young girl in pink bike, pink shoes, and pink helmet.  Everyone is happy in the natural world.  Surfers miss waves, dogs fly through surf, and, of course, bikini-clad girls mostly sunbathe.  To culminate the next morning’s adventures,  I even take the time to do a “drive on the beach” thing.

Leaving Aberdeen to return home, I see a chiropractic sign that says “crawl-ins welcome”.  A good laugh is what I need, since I have a long ways to drive.

Though living in a seaside town, if I venture away from home, it usually is another water-related excursion.  Saturday I took a great Gita (Italian for a short trip) to Whidbey Island, opening the fun day with breakfast at Knead and Feed in Coupeville.

(http://www.kneadandfeed.com/).

For starters, the fast-paced, but very friendly staff is so marvelously down-home, that one even takes the time to admire my silver sailboat pendant. I enjoy the scrumptious spinach and feta scramble with roasted potatoes, accompanied by extra-thick homemade toast.  Customers can watch them knead the bread.  No wonder everyone is salvitating! Some only stop by for takeout of gigantic orange cinnamon rolls.  I forgot to reserve so joined others who wander the shops on First Street, waiting for their cell to ring–“your table is ready!”  The place is tiny and has very few tables, but there is room for me at the crowded long communal table and I hear all sorts of intriguing conversations up close.

A huge grassy meadow is the backdrop for the farmer’s market and the library has a book sale- so my passion for reading gets a boost!

Next, I head for Lavender Wind Farm. Must foregoe the namesake lavender ice cream and instead energize myself with the other passion: the camera.

Moments later, I miss the ferry to Port Townsend on the Olympic Peninsula, such an old-fashioned downtown with almost all the buildings built before 1910. http://enjoypt.com/

I buy my senior walk-on, round trip ticket for $6.20 for the next sailing and the woman-in-the-window smiles– “You’re from Anacortes, aren’t you?  I’ve seen you there.” (Small-town idiosyncracy).

Parking right on the highway is allowed, and in front of me, a bumper sticker reads, “Don’t believe everything you think.” Ah, all need this wisdom. A beach walk keeps me busy for an hour.  Masssive caches of intriguing driftwood pile up adjacent to the very clear, rock-filled shoreline. Families fishing, retirees gathering the wood, (probably for crafts), and dogs bask in the sea air.

The ferry pilings offer nesting landings for gulls and chicks cavort under mama’s watchful eye.

Inside, the ubiquitous puzzle tables keep some busy. Smooth sailing and a couple of tries for tying up the boat, and the walk-on herd almost runs off the ramp. They anticipate people watching, massive doses of food and music, boutique shopping and avant-garde movies at the famous, old Rose Theater. Some head west for the Olympic Mountains or beautiful Sequim. (http://www.sequimwa.gov/

My way-in-the-past memories of PT always centered in the annual Wooden Boat Festivals, but more recently, I am content as an ambience-seeker. But first a stop at the most extensive used-and-new books store, William James on Water Street (great example: new $15 paperbacks for $3.95).

On to enjoy the newer Marine Center, which is a must-see for anyone under the spell of “water,” like me. http://www.nwmaritime.org/ . I walk by the Tide’s Inn, where “Officer and a Gentleman” was filmed, and stand in line for the return ferry, where everyone snaps ferry photo-ops and texts like crazy to show where they are.

A return to Coupeville for my second meal of the day– a sole/soul scoop of Italian gelato to compliment the book I’m reading–Bella Tuscany by Mayes.  Italy:  the dream vacation.  Probably in another lifetime.  Meanwhile, I live vicariously through its pages.

My straw hat has been missing since morning, so I return to the lavender farm.  All is quiet, no one around, and there it sits on a picnic table–no theft in this beautiful location. The sun is going down and I catch the last rays on West Beach and Deception Pass State Park.

I’m almost home. The radio plays “Little Things Mean a Lot”–that oldie speaking of romance, but interpreted by Ruth as my perfect “Gita.”

A big apology for not blogging during the rest of my wonderful vacation in Mexico.  I got so busy, then was too tired at night to take the time to post.  But I will catch up on some of those marvelous moments for  you.  In the meantime you can always find the photos on my Tango of Photography link.

But today I’m sharing about a great Island Photography Workshop.

I’m not a morning person. My mood was a bit off getting up at 4:30 a.m. last Saturday to catch a ferry to Lopez Island. I headed out with my friend Leslie for a San Juan Island photography workshop.  Seven Skagit Valley Camera Club http://www.skagitvalleycameraclub.org/ members and two instructors:

http://www.photomattbrown.com/

http://www.johnsedgwickphotography.com/

We actually believed the weather forecast for the weekend: nice, warm! Supposed to be in the high 60s.

First off, no coffee on the ferry (we were too early!) except a machine which we declined.  Bright spot was a hint of sunrise at the ferry dock,with some pinky glow near the mountain. Second on the agenda- breakfast at the brand new market/deli/fabulous general store and more at Lopez Village. http://www.lopezvillagemarket.com/

Island prices sometimes get a bad rap for being too high, but the decadent Raspberry Scones  I enjoyed could not be found here for the price! We set out for Center Church, the skeletons of some old reef net dories, then lunch with a great Asian Chicken Salad at Matt’s favorite watering hole- http://www.galleylopez.com/

The day’s haze and cool temps didn’t keep us from trying some shots.  Light is light, but sometimes we get too fussy! Here is my fave.

Sunday another early rise and cheap coffee($1) right at the Lopez Landing. Then breakfast at the Hungry Clam at Friday Harbor, and off to see the foxes. We heard about how easy it was to get a sighting, but  the National Park  issued the warning: “A Fed Fox is a Dead Fox.”  People have been feeding them and they then depend on that and in the winter when the tourists are gone they starve. The early bird (photographer) gets the….fox!  One student got a photo, but the rest of us missed out. American Camp was the place where a pig almost started a war! Here’s great history.

http://www.nps.gov/sajh/historyculture/american-camp/

Learned a lot, laughed a lot, and prayed for better light.  The best light was AFTER we got on the ferry to return to Anacortes.  With histograms, reflectors, polarizers and other tips of the trade in mind, we were tired, but happy. I have posted most of my shots on the Tango of Photography link included here. Look under Photo Workshop set.

I still have much to share about Oaxaca, but I’ll get back to those fine memories soon. Yesterday we finally saw blue skies here in San Miguel Allende where traveling friend Mary and I have been for ten days without what most folk come for: glorious sun.  It’s been cold here, and sleeping in my clothes is not ideal. The rains have been big downpours, but Mexico’s drought-ridden land is very happy now. And I can get about the business of camera work.

San Miguel, the cradle of Mexican independence is quite the eclectic collection of art workshops, talented musicians, operas, unique lectures and church architecture that wows. Since this is a hot spot for expats from the U.S. and Canada, it’s hard to practice much Spanish. Haute couture “tiendas” boast Louis Vuitton shoes, and restaurants vie for international acclaim.  We make do with uninteresting breakfasts at our budget hotel and wine, fruit,  bread and cheese in the room.  Of course  we do splurge, but usually for lunch. I love the cobblestoned streets and alleys, the pepper-colored stuccos, and my favorite past photo is a blue door shown in my book ” Give me the Blues.”  (See links to the right)

I will be hiring a skilled SMA photographer (whose books I  have) to guide me in my search for light.

http://www.robertdegast.com/pages/behind.html

Next on the agenda is my first dance lesson at Arthur Murray (3^rd year). Trent puts me through my reviews of salsa and rhumba with great pizazz and I am smiling.

Late afternoon  I maneuver  the narrow sidewalks carefully not willing to be one of the fallen women.  Just as I think I will proudly boast to my family that I have only “almost tripped thus far”, it happens again, but I remain upright.

Every evening I  read the blog from a new friend I lunched with in Oaxaca. She now roughs it in Chiapas. http://oaxacaculture.com/2012/02/yaxchilan-remote-mayan-site-in-chiapas/

In comparison: our “camping out” moments are tame. Splicing lamp wires with scotch tape, begging a portable heater from the staff, and wondering why one day cleaning service is so different than the next.  But we are grateful for borrowing space in the hotel frig. Life moves along joyfully.

By now I am in San Miguel Allende- fourth straight year in a row: my “coming-home” spot in Mexico.  This grande dame is a well-known town(west of north of Mexico City) and filled with beautiful light, old buildings, my favorite photo ops-ancient door knockers, windows, churches. Warm smiles from those who serve– and so much more-usually!  This time around, however, there are  unusual rains here, lots of clouds like my Pacific Northwest, so warm sun is the only thing missing. Mexico is glad though:

:http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/31/world/americas/drought-and-cold-snap-cause-food-crisis-in-northern-mexico.html

My first return visit is to  the Biblioteca, the sharing library here with so much going on: music, lectures, and movies.

“  For more than half a century the Biblioteca Pública, considered one of the best bilingual libraries in Latin America, has served the community of San Miguel de Allende. Aside from its holdings of more than 60,000 volumes in Spanish, English, German and French and its many lecture, film and theater events, the library grants scholarships to young students and offers cultural activities.

The Biblioteca is a non-profit organization that relies on the public’s generous donations and revenue from the businesses it has established over the years: the weekly newspaper Atención San Miguel, the House and Garden Tour, the Café Santa Ana, the Teatro Santa Ana, La Tiendita, a and the Bodega de Sorpresas”

Today I  browsed through incredible coffee-table size books, every page a true page-turner with art work, interior design, indigenous native information. A young man plays his own compositions at the piano, excellent coffee at the cafe, and many line  up for the annual writing workshop, which due to the budget I can’t attend. We buy tickets for a wonderful lecture tonight from the photographer and writer I hired a couple of years ago. ” The title of the talk is “Church vs State in Mexico: The Cristero Wars.”where the church couldn’t even bury or hold masses,(1926-1929) De Gast, a photographer and writer, is a long-time San Miguel resident and the author of, most recently, The World of San Miguel de Allende: An Uncommon Guide, and nine other books. The talk will explore the origins of the Wars and present details of the savage fighting and political squabbling that ensued.

Another blog I read  (below)

http://worldtravelwithanne.blogspot.com/2011/01/weavings-in-of-bulmaro-mendoza-in.html )

fleshes out the info on my past blog about the  village of hand-woven rugs(near Oaxaca)

“Bulmaro Perez Mendoza, a master weaver heads a community of rug weavers in the village of Teotitlan del Valle. Traditionally, Mendoza and his family use only natural dyes, mohair and pure wool for their beautiful rugs and wall hangings. No chemical dyes or acrylic blends here.

The raw wool is purchased in local markets, washed in the river to remove impurities, then carded and spun by family members including Mendoza’s wife, mother, grandmother and great grandmother.

Each year a grand family outing sees all 25 family members of the Mendoza clan take to the mountains where they harvest the plants used for making their natural dyes. Using “cochineal” for the color red, alfalfa for green, marigolds for orange, and for gold they harvest pomegranate shells from plants growing alongside the path leading to their pueblo. Nut shells produce a rich brown and the huisache plant, black.

Hand woven rugs made on family built looms using wool purchased from local farmers and dyed with their own plant dyes, are absolutely stunning. I left having acquired not one, but two treasured heirloom rugs”.

Misc. pictures for you to enjoy from Oaxaca. Please also look for the set of Oaxaca photos on my Tango of Photography portion of the blog.