The 60s and 70s were a tumultuous couple of decades in the United States of America. In a naive way, I thought the Civil Rights Movement in the US would change things. As I see it now, much of what I imagined was pure fantasy. The social unrest was just that. Unrest. It went on for awhile. People marched. People prayed. People participated in sit-ins. Some things changed. Schools stopped being segregated. The refrain “I’m Black and I’m Proud!” could be heard everywhere. I think it was James Brown who was responsible for that powerful cry.

Some attitudes didn’t change though. It seems they have lain dormant until here we go again.

Same problems. Different days.

I don’t want to be naive anymore. I don’t want the status quo either. Coupled with all the political divide, the racist attitudes, the anger and frustration that is playing itself out again, the global pandemic, and endless wars, we have a lot of problems. Sometimes as individuals, we may feel helpless, but there are many things we can do to ameliorate our problems.

I’m going to go with what I can do.

Just me.

You can do what you can do.

Just you.

Together we can do this. I don’t know about you, but allowing for helplessness isn’t going to get me anywhere.

In the middle of all this, I wrote and illustrated a children’s book. It was a dream of mine and I made it happen. It was one of the most thrilling days of my life when the book became available for purchase. The exhilaration was short-lived because one of my former colleagues who bought the book wrote me that it contained two typos.

As a former English teacher this is not acceptable, but unless I’m willing to part with more money–lots of it–$300.00 worth–it will remain a flawed book. I already spent close to one thousand buckeroos to make my dream come true. Now, I have learned more lessons in life. At least two. One: do a better job of editing the publisher’s copy. Two: learn to live with egg on my face.

I keep thinking of that adapted line from Proverbs in the Bible, “Pride goeth before the fall.”

Now, to put everything into perspective I have to take a deep breath and embrace the fact that this tiny problem of mine is not worth worrying or fretting about. I am a human being who has learned a lesson. One of many of life’s lessons. And as a woman who wants to remain a life-long learner this is a gift. Not my favorite gift, of course, but a gift nonetheless.

My life is very good. I am blessed with health and love and I live in a beautiful place surrounded with nature’s incredible gifts. I get by with lots of help from my friends too.

I have joined a group of women who are going to meet and discuss the racial divide in the world, and what our roles and responsibilities might be. They will differ I’m sure, but we are going to study white privilege, look inside at our own biases, and study topics like “school to prison.” We will learn how we can use our voices, join with others to do small and big things to help make things equitable.

As American women, we have the privilege to speak up, to act, in ways that all women in the world cannot. We must do it for our sisters. And our brothers too, because we will all be better off with a just and equal society.

Will my voice be heard? Will your voice be heard? I hope so.

The Tarahumara, (“where the night is the day of the moon”) as the Spanish named them, or Rarámuri, (‘the light-footed one’) as they call themselves, are an indigenous tribe who live in Las Barrancas del Cobre (The Copper Canyon) in southwest Chihuahua State in northern Mexico. The Spanish invaders came in the 16th century. That part of their story is a sadly similar history as many other places in the world.

A couple years ago, Greg and I did the El Chepe Train trip into the Copper Canyon and visited many places where we saw these people selling their basketry, weaving, and other hand crafted items. They have their own language and when we visited this All Girls Boarding School in Cerocahui, we learned that these students were being taught Spanish by the nuns who run the school. They are also learning about Christianity. I don’t know how their families feel about that, but many of the girls who live in this boarding school come from families that can no longer provide for their children.

Some of them are orphans. It costs 50 pesos a month for each student. They eat mostly rice, beans, vegetables, and fruits. The nun told me that the girls learn to cook and clean, do traditional crafts, as well as to read, write, and speak Spanish. They have a small store where they sell the items they make, much like their mother’s make and sell in tourist spots in and around the canyon.

As a former teacher, I was intrigued with the classroom doors (we didn’t go inside the rooms).

It reminds me of 1st grade decor that I’ve seen in the United States.

Here is the bulletin board as you enter the school:

Check out the section that is about the exportation of petroleum and Winnie the Poo in the right lower corner.

Like children everywhere, they take time to play.

And typical of little girls, they like to make their hair pretty.

The Tarahumara are famous for their ability to run long distances, either barefoot or in their traditional sandals.

There is a beautiful old church across the street from the school.

As an observer for only a brief time, I thought the girls seemed content. The nun we spoke with was very sweet with the girls, though she was rather no-nonsense when I asked her what she thought their lives would be like once they were old enough to leave the school. She said they could only do what they could do for them while they were there. She wished them well when they left, placing her faith in God, and she focused on the ones who remained. Her English was excellent, by the way. In case you are wondering, we did donate to the school. It seemed like a no-brainer.Ju

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As tourists we saw many Tarahumara people on our trip, mostly women and children, as they rely on tourism to sell their hand-made items.

I will leave you with a photo I took at the station when we were waiting for the tram that went back to the Adventure Park of the Copper Canyon in Divisadero after our zip line adventure.

The beaches have been closed for quite awhile, but we have been going down to the beach for a few minutes almost every day to throw a stick in the ocean for Isabela and look at the waves. There has been abysmal surf, which is a good thing, seeing that is nobody is allowed to surf right now because of the pandemic.

Today we were greeted with a beach littered with tiny baby lobsters. Most of them were still alive. The tide brought them in and left them stranded.

He’s no bigger than the palm of my hand. But when I put him in my hand, his tiny front pincers got me and I squealed and dropped him. I was more startled than anything, but it didn’t feel that good either.

In the 9+ years we’ve lived here we have not witnessed this, so it was interesting. We started tossing them back into the water, which in some cases was fruitless. The waves just brought them right back and deposited them out of reach of the next incoming wave.

Greg said we should have a bucket and then we could gather them and put them in a tide pool or some deeper water. Bingo! I was wearing my cap.

We walked over to the palapa on the end of the beach and then Greg walked onto the rocks where it looked better for getting them back in. There were others stranded in the rocks already too.

That accomplished, we continued on our walk to the next little beach.

At the next stop we found the same thing on the beach. We collected another hatful and released them too.

Mostly our knowledge of lobsters is minimal. We knew that lobsters live in and around rocky places in the ocean and they make a tasty meal.

Once home I decided to investigate the reproduction of the lobster. The internet is a good place to go of course.

“How lobsters reproduce is an arduous journey that takes as long as 20 months from mating to hatching. During much of that time a female lobster carries her eggs around on her underside, protecting and nourishing them.

When a female is ready to molt and mate, she selects the bachelor she wants to mate with, usually the largest guy around, by releasing a pheromone – a chemical linked to sexual attraction – in front of his den.

The fact that she releases it in her urine sounds gross, but apparently it works for lobsters. He responds by leaving his den for a brief bout of confrontation that somehow turns to compliance. As described by Dr. Jellie Atema of the Marine Biological Laboratory, she signals her readiness to mate by raising her claws and placing them on his head.” https://poseidonsweb.com/lobsters-reproduce/

According to the website, I learned that the female only mates after she has molted. The male takes her into his den and protects her as she molts, and once that has happened she receives the sperm from the male. Accepting the sperm doesn’t  mean she has eggs yet though. 

She carries that sperm around in her sperm holding place and when she has eggs, she pushes “10,000 to 20,000 eggs out of her ovaries, passing them through the sperm receptacle for fertilization. They’re passed along her abdomen, where a sticky substance glues them to the bottom of her tail.” https://poseidonsweb.com/lobsters-reproduce/

She hangs on to these eggs for a long time (go to the website if you want to know more).

I suppose finding about 100 baby lobsters on the beach doesn’t account for much seeing that they can have up to 20,000 eggs.

But I got some kind of happiness attempting to get them back in the ocean. This day has started out well. Hope you’re having a good day too.

At the ripe old age of 73, I have made a life-long dream a reality. I’ve written and illustrated a children’s book. It’s for sale at Amazon and Barnes and Noble online. Because it is a print-on-demand it is going to take 2-3 weeks for the purchase to reach you, but if you are a prime member with Amazon, the shipping is free.

Thank you in advance for supporting this endeavor. I couldn’t be more excited.

When we walk in the hills we are awarded such natural wonders.

Going up into the Sierra de La Laguna mountains is always fun. You never know what you’re going to see.

It’s always fascinating how much pink there is in ocean as reflected from the sunrise clouds.

Hope you enjoyed the little escape into the sights of Baja California Sur.