Not much really. The shoreline is ever-changing, but always a delight and I am thankful to live at the furthermost south end of San Pedrito in El Pescadero, BCS.

Heaven is my home. Every morning we take the trail across the street from our house and we’re on the beach in under a minute.

 

A quick walk and my toes are in the water.

Living on the Shores of the Pacific

It’s not merely the waves

or the sun or the sand

It’s more than the spray

or the crash or the splash

It’s not only the sparkle

or the rocks or the fish

It’s the wonder of it all

A whipped cream of an ocean dance

With the vapors and song of the shore

to erase our worries and make our hearts sing.

 

Bienvenidos a el Verano

(Welcome to the Summer)

Just a tad humid so far, and still the occasional marine layer hanging around, but summer is definitely here in Southern Baja. It’s so quiet around here too, as those with 2nd homes have gone to parts elsewhere. I like it quiet, but most folks would say it’s quiet even when it’s high season. Just depends on what you call quiet I guess. El Pescadero and Todos Santos are not big cities. Más como pueblos pequeños. (More like small towns).

Here are some sights around my place:

Sour Pitaya

“The sour pitaya is a sprawling, much-branched cactus, with branches up to 3 metres long (see also the image below). The stems are dark grey-green. Where their tips touch the ground they can take root, so that eventually this cactus can form thick, impenetrable thickets. This cactus is a near-endemic of the Baja California peninsula, although it also grows in a small region of mainland Mexico. It is a dominant plant in many desert regions of Baja California. The name “sour pitaya” refers to the fruits, which are edible but not as sweet as those of the organ pipe cactus. The plant produces large white flowers, usually in July – September.” Taken from http://archive.bio.ed.ac.uk/jdeacon/desertecology/cacprof1.htm

Santa-Maria Barrel Cactus (This one is huge)

or

Ferocactus santa-maria

The flowers are so pretty on these cactus. What am I saying? All cactus flowers are gorgeous.

Bananas soon!

Golden Barrel Cactus

These aren’t native to Southern Baja, but they are all over in pretty landscaped areas.

We used to have two, but one died after about a year.

Agave (front and center) and Cardon

Traveler’s Palm (Ravenala madagascariensis) and Arika Palm (on right)

Travelers palms are actually members of the bird-of-paradise plant family, and is more closely related to the banana tree family than the palm tree because of the shape of the leaves. It’s a fast grower. The traveler’s palm gets its name from the fact that thirsty travelers could find stores of water in many parts of the plant including the leaf folds, flower bracts, and inside each of the hollow leaf bases each of which may hold up to one quart of water.

– See more at: http://www.palmtreepassion.com/travelers-palm.html#.V2rDrle_2u4

Ah, the fragrant and lovely plumeria!

Our Finch on our Cardon

We call him ours, as he and his main squeeze have been nesting here and raising their babies.

They sit on our kitchen window bars and watch me cook.

“Stand up and be Counted!” says my hibiscus.

Our friends planted the top of a pineapple and lo and behold…a baby comes into their garden.

A tree in our friends’ yard puts out this beauty. We don’t know what it is. Do you?

Wouldn’t be summer without bougainvilleas and mangoes.

The flower of the nopal cactus graces our front yard.

Hibiscus that haven’t opened and a visiter. Look closely at the photo above in the bottom, left quadrant.

Here’s a close-up of the dragonfly on my plumeria bud.

Mangle–Mangrove

Coastal region native plant.

We were lucky enough to have a lot of these mangroves on our property. They don’t transplant well at all. We give them a little water and they are flourishing.

All the low growing bush-like plants are mangrove. In the summer they have those pretty red berries.

See more @https://tosea.wordpress.com/2015/10/28/mangroves-the-trees-of-life/

Next time I will include the beach. It’s not summer without spending time at the beach, right?

But wherever you are, enjoy your life. Every single moment.

…

What makes for a more exciting afternoon at the beach than

a dog surfing contest?

…

The recent 3rd annual Dog Surfing Competition at Los Cerritos was definitely a hit with all who attended. This contest is a fund raiser for Pescy Dogs, getting its name from the town El Pescadero, where it’s located.

…

Our community’s organization, Pescy Dogs, works 24/7 to provide shelter, medical care and most importantly love for sick, injured and/or homeless dogs in the El Pescadero area, BCS. http://www.pescydogs.org

…

Kim of Baja Zen http://baja-zen.com works tirelessly to put on this fun event.

Thanks, Kim!

…

Even if you missed the dog surfing contest at Los Cerritos on June 5th,

you still have a chance to donate to the Pescy Dogs.

 http://dogsurfcompcerritos.com/donate/

…

We’re just a hop, skip, and jump from Todos Santos, but Pescadero has a different flare because we are more of a farming and beach community than our neighbor to the north.

 

Surfers share the beach with the fishermen too.

 

Danito, a local farmer.

…

If you’re a surfer anywhere on the west coast of North America you’ve most likely heard of Los Cerritos. Any day of the week you will find people and dogs enjoying the beach, but on June 5th it was all about the canines!

 

 

 

 

 

Local surfer, Perry, helps Marshmallow get out for a wave in the first heat.

The dogs were into it.

 

Here goes Marshmallow again!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back to the contest: Sully is Tillman’s brother. And Tillman was a famous canine surfer, better known as a skateboarder. He has his own Facebook Page too: https://www.facebook.com/TillmanSkates

Sully has lots of spunk and style. See for yourself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cala brings home the prize for Carlos and Paula of Todos Santos Surf Shop. Way to go!

 

 

 

 

 

1st Place: Cala of Todos Santos—sponsored by Todos Santos Surf Shop https://www.facebook.com/todossantossurfshop.activities/ and Explora Baja https://www.facebook.com/explorabaja/?fref=nf

2nd Place: Pirata from our local Cerritos Beach—sponsored by Baja Zen and La Katrina Surf Shop.

3rd Place: Sully from Scorpion Bay—sponsored by Tillman.

Best Wave award went to Pirate sponsored by La Katrina Surf Shop https://todossantos.cc/shops-and-business/la-katrina-surf-shop/ .

…

See you all next year at Los Cerritos for another fun dog surf contest.

Visit the official Dog Surf Contest page if you like: http://dogsurfcompcerritos.com

 

Purée a bunch of mangoes in a blender or food processor.

Add a little sugar to the mangoes and blend some more.

Pour this mixture into a shallow pan.

Let freeze for 2 hours.

Blend this mixture again. Set aside.

Whip some heavy whipping cream with sugar and vanilla till it forms peaks.

Add the blended frozen mango mixture to the whipped cream.

Mix well and then return to the freezer

in the container you want to keep your ice cream in.

Freeze for 3-4 more hours and voila–Mango Ice Cream.

Invite your friends over and get ready for a treat.

It’s the creamiest, best thing we’ve ever eaten.

 I know I did’t give you measurements** for the ingredients,

because I often just wing it.

That’s what I did here, and I think I should have used more

mangoes to how much whipped cream I used.

Next time.

Trust me, that next time will be soon.

You get the hang of it, right?

**I used about half what is in this bowl with about 2 cups of whipping cream.

Sugar it up, but mangoes are super sweet. You don’t need much.

No matter how you do it, if you love mangoes, you’ll love the end product.

Go for it!

 

 

Millions of mangos! Our friends, Bill and Shauna have mangos coming on their old 3-story tall mango trees. These close neighbors open their beautiful place for friends to come pick mangos.

We got two five-gallon buckets FULL of the gorgeous fruit yesterday. We’re in mango heaven right now.

These mangos below are going to “Hippy Steve” to feed his pigs.

Steve doesn’t live far from Bill and Shauna’s place.

 

I estimate that they have 15-20 beautiful mango trees, not to mention all the palms and ornamentals and agave (for tequila). The agave are in the forefront of the photo below.

 

 

Heavy with Mangos.

The trees and the ground are covered in this tasty fruit.

 

 

 

See the buckets in Little Red (our Polaris)?

 

This place is lush with beauty and talk about peaceful.

It doesn’t get better than this.

You can imagine how many birds show up here.

 

 

Below are the pits and peelings (looking down inside the bucket yesterday).

I actually love this photo for some reason. Maybe it’s just me, but I think it’s pretty.

Tomorrow’s post will show you the ice cream and I’ll explain how I process mangos for using in our smoothies, etc.  Come back tomorrow for more mango news from beautiful Pescadero in Baja California Sur.

 

 

 

Riding in my VW Van down the dirt road, I’m singing that old Elvis Presley tune, “I’m all Shook Up.” That’s because dirt roads are anything but smooth. Everywhere we go here in the Baja, except for the highways and a few select roads here and there, we’re bouncing around getting all shook up.

 

Taxes in other countries are in sufficient amounts that the roads get paved. Nice. Smooth. Dreamy roads. But where we live, the roads have ruts and dips and holes and copious amounts of bumps and rocks.

 

You get used to it. Sort of. Some days you don’t think about it and other days it drives you crazy.  Not that I need much help to be crazy. But that’s another issue.

 

Taxes also pay for libraries, police, fire fighters, parks, etc. Consequently the services here are minimal.

 

 

 

There are several reasons to think of our home in the Baja as paradise, but don’t be fooled. There are drawbacks. More than just dirt roads too, and I don’t usually write about them. I’m not going to go on and on about them now either. Maybe some other day.

 

Instead, I’ll just sing. These are my four words for today: “I’m all shook up!”

 

Oh wait. One thing: when #^*!! people drive 100 miles an hour on the dirt road in front of my house, the dirt comes in through my open doors and windows leaving a nice thick layer of dirt over everything. Oh, how I hate that.

What are they thinking? This is the Baja 1000?

 

 

After I sweep for the 3rd time today, I’ll get back to my zen.

Happy singing again: I’m all shook up!

 

 

Rhythmical flow,

movement of rolled stone,

rocking my world.

Waves crashing,

ocean gifts of stones and shells

rocking my world.

Peaceful waves

 pounding, resounding,

rocking my world.

Searching shoreline,

plucking treasures from warm sand,

rocking my world.

Reconnecting stones,

nature’s pattern reinvented,

rocking my world.

Susie’s Rock Mosaic January 2016

Susie’s Wave Mosaic January 2013

 

Recently a dear friend of mine passed on a book to me entitled, Four Word Self Help, Simple Wisdom for Complex Lives. Don’t get me wrong. My life isn’t all that complex anymore, but this is a sweet book. I have chosen the four words: JUMP UP AND DOWN as my four words today.

Life has provided many opportunities for jumping up and down. I was a cheerleader in high school and did a fair amount of it. Don’t laugh. It was the only “sport” that girls were allowed back in my day. Title IX came long after I graduated from high school. Congratulations to all the girls and women who have been entitled to play sports since then. I’m jumping up and down for you.

It’s funny, but even as a 69 year old woman, I still jump for joy often. I’ve never stopped doing it and I highly recommend it to you. Let go! Show your happiness.

Here’s a photo of my 48 year old son and his 36 year old wife when they went on the whale shark trip in November last year with us. I didn’t ask them to jump up and down. They just did it.

 

Happiness is catching.

Makes you want to jump up and down, doesn’t it?

 

 

 

Each morning and each evening we are given the gifts of sunrise and sunset,

but they are especially full of nature’s song when you live by the ocean.

I greet each day with soft eyes, sometimes placing my hand on my heart. Sunrises will do that to me.

 

With each new day, we are offered a cessation of anxiety–if we take in the show.

Here is an offered gift from Nature telling us to be calm.

Moon set, early morning.

Sunrise means a pink sky and a pink ocean. How can you not be happy?

Lovely view from the beach to the mountains through the palms.

~~~

On the East Cape, Baja Sur, the sun rises over the ocean.

It’s hard to wrap my mind around that fact, as I’m originally from Southern California where the sun rises over the mountains.

But, it does indeed rise over the ocean on the East Cape.

It’s a glorious, full show of color with the morning birds looking for breakfast.

~~~

When the day leaves us,

I experience an overwhelming joy

that almost makes my heart ache as

I watch the sun fall into the ocean.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then there’s the green flash.

We see it all the time from our deck. We see it more as a green glow, but the photos below were caught with our GoPro.

It does, indeed, appear as a flash in these shots.

We had it set to shoot every five seconds.

~

 

These are from different days. A green flash? Believe.

 

 

 

Things I learned about the green flash:

• REFRACTION: the bending of rays of light in passing from one medium to another (e.g., air to water)
• Green flashes are by-products of the large varieties in astronomical refraction near the horizon.
• Green flashes occur because the atmosphere can cause the light from the sun to separate out into different colors.

 

 

 

In my Baja world,

join me as

I take a deep breath

and

savor the moments of sunrise and sunset.