the saddest of news

We have found out that our dear friend, Sandy Crowder has passed away. Of his forty eight years, our circles of friends have overlapped for more than twenty years~Rich and I intermitently just cry. Even though you may not see someone all the time, they may still hold a special place in your heart. I remember him being there celebrating my twenty first birthday, I remember Thanksgivings with him and a outrageous birthday of Richs involving golf and the Zebra Club.

I remember him expanding our circle of friends with his friends and family. Plus the Bocce Ball Tournaments were soooooooooooooooo fun for us, reconnecting with him, at his ranch in Lotus, all with one goal in mind~FUN! Sandy embodied joy and a love of life. Please enjoy these pictures and though our circle of friends is now smaller...it just mean those of you, our rare friends and family, in our lives are that much more important.
Life is precious and delicate~love you all!!!

to dye or not to dye...

Ok, my friend Nick came over for a play date. I wanted to tie dye sheets and initally they came our great...then I washed them...they turned dingy and lost there sparkle. Was my mistake only using Rit dye?

never knew how much I hate roosters....

What the hells up with all the roosters? No matter what time you go to sleep, it wasn’t a guarantee of a good nights sleep, between fishermen yelling to each other at 5am before they head out and the frackin roosters. Someone at the Oasis Hotel needs to re-locate those bastages…or make a nice stew!

The next morning we pack all our gear, and still have a left over bag that goes to Skip and Bevs for safe keeping. No sense lugging unnecessary weightsince we had to carry are gear in our kayak from island to island. We head out in vans to our “put in spot” and the first problem that we notice is the ruder doesn’t work….Chewie with Paddling South actually said something about how this would really screw the perro! Ha! 45 minutes of gerry rigging it, they got it at least secured. We are four tandems kayaks and two singles for our guides. We head to a national aquatic preserve after a short kayak, when we toured in the San Juan Islands we kayaked six hours a day…here its more like 2-3. Once we landed, I realized that this was the most remote camping that I’ve ever done. Just the 10 of us…like Survivor! …or LOST! During the day is was super hot so we did loads of snorkeling and the other Richard did do the best Jaws theme ever! foreshadowing The first days hike took us up in elevation (yes Rich had his GPS there) over 1200 feet to the other side of the island. When we got there we were treated with that afternoons dolphin show…unbelievable. We found dolphin bones, what a trip! On the hike back we were joined by a tarantula…at this point its sinking in that this desert paradise has risks too.

The guides, Antonio and Jorge were always finding ways to tire us out so we hiked, kayaked and snorkled most every day…by the end…there was a little mutiny. The next day while kayaking, we saw

The Rooster theme was haunting us…but isn’t this frackin cool fish. I wonder what the creator was thinking with this one!?! Although this was impressive, it was the surrounding school of shark that really freaked me out. They followed the rooster fish was circled around and the funky dorsal fin surrounded by single dorsal fins FINS> Rich and I were intrigued and then blown away when the entire school went under our boats. The water is crystal clear and we could see these 4 plus foot fish…the guides reverted to Spanish and they said, “nooooooooooooo those aren’t sharks” but I don’t believe them. See the picture, that’s exactly what these fish looked like, minus fisherman, boat ect. The last picture is of a bat ray, these were so cool, the would horizonaly jump a foot out of the water…looked like they were jumping for joy.

Next nights wildlife encounter was a rattlesnake and swarms of bees. Thankfully they canceled that days hike. And as a point to how rustic it was, we pulled up to one beach, and Jorge points confirming the bathroom was designated beyond the barbed wire fence…you needed to grab the shovel, dry bag with TP and the ammo box (for which to burn your TP) you must dig a minimum of 6 inches to do your business-oi, I paid for this adventure didn’t I…I could have been down by the pool with a drink with an umbrella in it, a shower, bed, tv…oh I digress…

The next installment will have highlights of the hours that we spent throwing rocks at rocks and collecting seashells that we couldn’t take home…so we just took pictures of them….

Intermission....

Rich figured out a way to make Pizza on the grill with clay tiles...yummy

putting it to words

I'm finding it daunting how to put to words just a fab-bo vackay and do justice to both my fam and new friends....so its early sat morning, one cup of coffee down and I;ll try to smack this outta the park. We arrived in Loreta two sat.s ago, checked in and walked to my uncle and aunts place. Lo and behold it was two blocks from our hotel. Uncle Skip and Aunt Bev were sooooooo welcoming and really helped us get our bearings there. Rich and I haven't traveled together, to another country, where we didn't speak the language. And its freakin unbelievable how much the communication thang can prohibit us from getting a beer/ride/hotel room/pizza ect... So the first night we went all around Loreta, learning were the ATM was (it spits out peso...very important) safe and good places to eat, ice cream shop, the church (mind you we were there Easter week...loads of church activities), the store and base camp of Skip and Bevs. Plus we experienced Skippy's high fiber Tequilla Sunrise, twice the pulp and no skimp on the booze! Even bigger surprise was finding out the my cousin, Ali and his family was showing up the next day. Now I haven't seen Ali since my dads funeral 11 years ago.

So before our kayak adventure begins, we get to have Sunday night dinner with the bigger Houser gang. Yeah and another Skipper drink...Pina Coloda...all these drinks that I've stayed away (I am and idiot!) now mind you we are shoving off 7am, the next morning with six other crazys and two guides to kayak from island to main land to island just outside of Loreto. That's when my Uncle Skip at Sunday dinners says to Bev, "I'm not going to tell them the story" Bev counters" good don't." Nothing can really stop Skipper from telling a story, so they go back and forth a couple times only resulting in him telling all of us the story of the kayaking guide who got stuck between the mainland and the Isle of Carmen in the Wind. She called in to the Marina Captain that she was in trouble, her guidee's had returned to the island but she was trying to make it back across...and she was in trouble. Now mind you she's on a channel that anyone could listen to, so all these other fishermen were listening to her cries for help. Two and a half hours of it until she lost her battle with the sea. OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOhhhhhhhhhhhhhhKay, time for us to go and start our adventure!!!...no words were exchanged between Rich and I on our walk back to the hotel that night...more later.

We're BACKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK

Greatest Vackay ever, perfect balance of family, new friends and adreneline pumping adventuring...more to follow lata but for now, here's a taste!!!!

March Madness....ha! see the pun?

In case your in need of something unbelievable http://www.roundtablepizza.com/RTP/HI/

ok, the train track fire reaked havoc with my allergies but we made the most of the weekend.

Ok, tried doing the soldering framework on a glass piece and it looked crappy. So now I need a new way to frame my pieces...metal ? (Sean?) wood (anyone?) ceramics (???) oh, and how do you like my home-made windchime.

Donna Summers...

ok, one eye on American Idol and one on Blogger...but the weekends like a million miles away.
Took the girls to Goethe, alive with Spring, sun and greenery. For me Goethe is my church and we worshipped happily with our family.

Then Lori O and I went to a early show tied to Second Saturday...young artists with avantegarde stuff...some good some crap.

Sat nite we had a good adventure seeing Bryce's improv group, Project Dufflebag perform at ARC. It was an event, kinda like a live "who's line is it anyway." Bryce commanded the stage when he occupied it and works/plays with a diverse load of crazies!!!! But no one was crazier that the person I sat next to (not you JO) during the first half of the show. Yes I sat next to Marilyn Manson lookalike who was overcaffienated twitching the entire time and a laugh louder than anyones! //simon is harassing the first singer// Bryce Rich's pix were too dark but his video brings it back, MM's laugh included :P

//Frakin DVR is freaking out, is anyone singing Bad Girls, Bad Girls... toot toot,
ahhhh beep beep//
///screen's totallly black now, love technology when it works...gotta kick the sh at outta something. buh bye!

Beautiful weekend

I worked in the studio all day on Saturday, while Rich worked. Then we watched Family Man with Nick Cage-Loved it!!!! Sunday was for chores....these pictures reflect what I accomplished and what Rich accomplished.

new glass hot off the presses

I need to do some clean up but I love the results thus far......

Dig...Dig---Dig...Dig---

Well the long anticipated house remodel is under way at the Pyles... Stay tuned to this channel for regular updates and progress photos of the transformation.....So far the electrical trenh has been a fun day of hard pan diggin....6 or so hours and alot of gatorade and the SMUD box was in place. Mark finished off the trench tonight and hopefully the Inspector will sign it off early next week. Can't wait to find out whats next....Till next time SEEEYA

girls gone wild

Ok really middle aged girls gone wild! Sherrilina and I drove down to Santa Cruz Friday night to Anna's beach cottage. Yes two blocks from the beach. The girls laughed, danced, shared stories, drank and just had the best time. Oh yeah there was utimately eating and shopping with a splash more drinkie drinkie. Anna hosted the greatest vackay with fresh cooked cookies, coffee and a bit of comedy all in the coolest house ever. She has her certification in Feng Shui and it shows, I could sit for hours just looking at her pictures, no detail to small was completed with flair, mirrors, flowers, lights, fountains and buddahs everywhere. It was delicous.

Rich however stayed home and worked diggin a huge ditch at Mark's. The Pyles are starting their remodell....best of luck friends. Love me the long weekend!!!! K

phase two

the rain came, kicked some ass and went on its way..

Rain came and went...yeah and I tried some glass hearts for V-day. Not much else to report.

Sushi-bowl

Chef Rich made us great sushi and smoked a tritip with beans. Great Game but tempered by no more football...boooohhhhhhhhhh