Isabela and I walk to La Playa Los Cerritos. Greg drives as he wants to get in the water at daybreak before all the other surfers show up.
Splendid morning views!
I throw the ball in the water for Isabela and she loves to swim out for it. The water is warm and inviting. I have on my suit under my clothes just in case I feel like swimming.
We should all be as happy a dog on the beach with a ball.
There are some birds out looking for food, and I am lucky enough to capture them with my camera.
There are only three surfers out when we get to the beach, and Greg is one of them. Soon there are many more of them. The waves are mostly closed out, but you can’t stop a surfer from going out if there is a chance to catch a wave.
Greg catches one!And it closes out.
Isabela is really having a great time this morning, and she doesn’t tire of chasing the ball into the water. She shakes the water from herself and goes back for more.
When Greg comes in, I decide it’s my chance to take a quick swim. Just to say I did. It is so warm in the water it is hard to believe it’s Christmas.
Wild life used to be staying up past 2AM. But for years now my life has not been that kind of wild. Usually in bed by 9:30PM and up before 5AM is how I roll these days. But I’m enjoying a wild life just the same.
Yesterday we were visited by quite a few tarantula hawks and across the street on fence posts overlooking the Pacific Ocean were three handsome caracaras. Usually you see them farther back in the desert, but apparently they were enjoying the ocean view for awhile in the morning.
Tarantula hawks are found in every continent except Europe and Antartica. In the United States, they are found in the deserts of the southwest. We have them in Baja California Sur where I live.
The blossoms provide nectar for the tarantula hawk.
While adult tarantula hawks are nectavores and feed on flowers, they get their name because adult females hunt tarantulas as food for their larvae.
An adult female will paralyze a tarantula with its stinger, and then transport the spider back to the hawk’s nest. Once there, the female lays an egg in the spider’s abdomen, then covers the entrance of the burrow to trap the spider.
Once the egg hatches, the larvae will feed on the still living spider for several weeks, avoiding vital organs to keep the spider alive until the larvae pupates into an adult wasp.
Males do not have stingers, but females have a ¼ inch (7mm) stinger. They will not sting unless provoked, but their sting is reported to be the second most painful sting of any insect.
Roadrunners are one of the few animals that will risk being stung to feed on tarantula hawks.
The caracara are carrion eaters, but they also hunt lizards and snakes. They often share carrion with vultures. The Crested Caracara is a medium-sized, bulky raptor with long legs. Around here they sit on poles like this and trees and cactus (cardon) to get a good look at their surroundings. Having long legs means they are as adept on land as in the air.
I see birds on those fence posts a lot, but this is the first time I’ve seen caracara there.
We never tire of our wild visitors, we can often be found sitting on the deck admiring their antics. Life here at our home in Baja California Sur is satisfying even during a pandemic. We are blessed.
2020 has been such a challenging year for the entire world. It has taught us a lot about others and ourselves. We all cope in different ways. Sometimes we don’t cope at all, and then there is a sunrise on Thanksgiving that gives promise to something greater than ever. Today was a day when one sunrise photo just wasn’t enough. The farther I walked the better it got. I hope you enjoy these as much as I do. Happy Thanksgiving 2020.
It was a lot of fun making all the illustrations and putting them together with my poem. I’m looking for an agent or publisher. Here is the whole book. Let me know what you think. Thank you.
November 1 & 2 Dia de los Muertos is celebrated to honor deceased loved ones. It is not a Mexican version of Halloween. The two traditions are different in so many ways.
Today I am honoring my mother, Floy B Nichols-Stephens, who lived to be 103. She was my role model and I love and miss her so much. On this day, I am honoring her with an ofrenda, which is a tradition in Mexico.
The tradition includes flowers, prayers, water for the journey, the deceased’s favorite food, candles, and stories and remembrances of the loved one’s life. It is a celebration rather than mourning.
I still need to get some water and food for this, and one thing she loved was chocolate chip cookies, so I’ll be baking them today.
The last stanza of “On Death” from The Prophet, by Kahlil Gribran
For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?
And what is it to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?
Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing.
And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb.
And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.
When I was a teacher, I gave my high school juniors an assignment to make a collection of poems in different categories as a part of an introduction to poetry unit. Two of the ten poems were to be original, and the rest they were required to gather from books by other authors. The students had to thoughtfully comment on each of the poems, including the two they wrote themselves. One of those original poems had to be a poem that celebrates who they are. This was to be a spin-off of Walt Whitman’s “I Celebrate Myself and Sing Myself.”
It got me to thinking about celebrating and singing myself, and how many of my family and friends have inspired me and guided me to look for and feel the positive in life. I learned from them that we should celebrate ourselves regardless of what is happening in our lives…sometimes in spite of what is happening. No matter what the circumstances, no matter how easy or difficult the experiences, it is all worthy of celebration. Life is just life and life is good! I celebrate myself and sing myself.
The tune of my very own song is a joyful one, full of laughter and mystery. The people in my life surround me with love and I face my challenges with competence and confidence. I’m secure in the knowledge that failure holds the promise of true and pure learning. Oh yes! Lots of that!
I have a big, round life. Just when I think it’s going nowhere, it circles around and makes a satisfying a tie-in to its previous self. This is not a life that is going in circles though; it is a life in full circle, made of valuable, interesting and sometimes happy connections.
Mine is certainly a life worthy of celebration. And in addition to the inspiration from family and friends, I owe a lot of my energy for perseverance to nature. Those palm trees and other plants that, not only survived the hurricane a few years ago, but are going strong, growing new branches and hanging in there, are great mentors telling us, “Don’t let life’s storms get you down.” Consequently, I think it wise to stand with our shoulders back and our heads held high. Let’s greet each day with a happy dance. Gloom is for cowards. At least that’s what I keep telling myself.
It’s easy to let difficulties get us down. The heroes are the ones who say, “Okay, bring it on! I can handle this!”
Somewhere inside each of us is a place we can retreat, be still, and listen to our own hearts. Then we can muster the necessary tools to dance with whatever life presents. Oh, and it might help to ask for help when we need it, to hold each other’s hands, and to listen to each other.
More precisely, come into my kitchen (cocina) where I prepared our Prickly Pear Cactus fruit (tuna) into a delicious drink.
In the summer every year our prickly pear cactus shows off all its splendor. First it’s the gorgeous orange flowers and then in late summer the fruit (tuna) come out.
Mostly the birds get them before we do, but this year I was able to get some of them without bird pecked holes in them. Also, the little juancito that lives around here loves to eat all the cactus. They are a burrowing animal that resembles a tiny chipmunk. They are annoying because they are like a little gopher. In fact, the Mexicans we know refer to them as gophers.
I was successful in getting my first batch of these tasty fruits and I felt so excited.
Today was the day I would try to eat them for the first time. The plant itself is about 10 years old, and I’ve had it for 8 years. It has been through a very damaging hurricane (Odile) and it broke a big section. So, we planted the part that broke off right next to what remained, and now we have one gigantic plant (that is really two). The paddles on it are thick, not like the prickly pear cactus you probably have seen. And the spines on this one are so tiny and numerous, and you can hardly see them in your fingers and hands. Ouch. The pads, or nopales, on this plant are huge and fat.
Cactus pads (nopales) are eaten year-round, but it’s only in summer that the fruits reach maturity. Our tuna are deep magenta in color and the outer skin is green until it’s ripe and then it’s red.
We have two other prickly pear plants and they are more like the kind you see in San Diego, CA and in AZ. They put out beautiful yellow flowers. The pads are thinner and have more distinct spines to watch out for. Actually, they are so distinct that I rarely get them in my fingers, as I can see where the darn things are.
Today I made us two awesome drinks with the fruit (tuna) and lime, water, sugar, and ice in the blender. I made a syrup out of the rest of the juice to save for making more yummy drinks for us.
Wash the tuna. Put them on a platter to dry.
Slice off the ends and then slice down the center of the fruit, making two halves.
Remove the fruit from the thick skin and put it in the blender.
The color of the tuna is so vivid.
Blend them well.
Pour through a strainer to get all the juice and throw the blended seeds out.
The blended seeds are strained out of the juice.
Pour the strained juice back into the blender to make two glasses (about 2/3 cup of juice) and blend with 4 Mexican limes and 1/3 cup of sugar, 3/4 cup of water, and a whole tray of ice cubes.
Oh my! The heavenly and refreshing drink is our new favorite. Next year we are going to be diligent about getting the fruit before the birds and juancitas get them. If you are lucky enough to have these in your yard, you must try getting the fruit. Wear gloves. Even if you think there aren’t spines, there are. Believe me. Wear gloves.
A slice of lime and a reusable straw in a pretty glass. Yummy.
in our dealings we are cautious
to stand for our democracy
daily news just makes us nauseous
say farewell to the hypocrisy
Let us bring on the clarity
and justice for all citizens
who strive for racial parity
and work for equal privileges
sobered by the many portents
of governing calamity
feeling sick with all the torments
of the POTUS and his vanity
This is a good time to read this poem. It speaks to what is going on in America and other parts of the world, but he wrote it for America. He wrote it for himself. And for you. And for me.
Some days my mind is so wound up in the tangles of troubles we are experiencing in our world today that I can’t concentrate. I feel off balance. Sad. Disturbed. Worried. Full of fear. What’s going to become of us?
We are all looking for positive ways to get through this scary and confusing time of a pandemic and all that comes from it. We continue to struggle with racial tensions, our individual responsibility for them, how to ameliorate them, in addition to how do we care for people in nursing homes, prisons, how do we educate our children, which monuments should we keep and which should we replace. Oh, and there’s also that thing about putting food on the table when you don’t have a job anymore.
I hear people asking a lot of questions. People pointing fingers. I’ve done some of that myself. I’ve also been pointing my finger at myself.
One of the big questions in my mind is why are people so adamant about individual rights at a time like this when a small personal sacrifice of wearing a mask can help? Why is that so hard?
In time of crisis it is necessary to work together and whatever the inconveniences, we need to support each other, instead of demanding individual freedoms. We must come together even more than we do in war. We must demonstrate solidarity. Let’s ask a lot of ourselves. Let’s dig down to find our individual greatness, strength, and respect for ourselves and others in order to beat this virus. Do it for the common good. Wear a mask and keep the required physical distance. And in the meantime, if you have the means, give to your local food bank or some other organization that helps people in your neighborhood who need it.
I am looking inside myself to find some ways to change my own behavior in order to allow for others to enjoy the freedoms I enjoy. I am working to educate myself about what it’s like to be a person of color, those who live without the privilege I have.
Reading books, articles, listening to podcasts, and joining in dialogue with others is helpful, but it is also very difficult because it’s work. It’s very painful personal work. I feel like mud is what runs (slogs) through my veins instead of blood. I feel it as a stomach ache. And I’m person who is known for how I laugh, and now I just feel ugly and depressed.
Sometimes I need a break from it. I crave a good escape novel or movie. A meal with friends and NOT talk about what’s going on. So I treat myself to a break. I walk on the beach with Greg and our dog. I paint. I listen to the birds. We watch the sunrise, the sunset. I take a nap. All good ways to restore and refresh.
What are you doing to make necessary changes so that we can live and love in health and harmony in our world? What are you doing to get through this turmoil?
