caracolina

We just got back from S.B. where we visited our Aunt and Uncle for the first time since last year. We felt a little nervous about how they’d be but were pleasantly surprised how well they were doing given the circumstance. We left Phoenix Friday midday and reached La Casa B. around 10.15 PM, a […]

Read the rest of Easter in Santa Barbara

We had planned to make this an “away” weekend, but exhaustion overwhelmed us and we stayed home. John still working on sorting out all our audio files, me tinkering in the knitting and crafting departments. Today we visited Ikea to finally buy a replacement for our clothes drying rack. Would you believe that our metal drying […]

Read the rest of Trip to Ikea

Kirk and Rachel met us early in the morning for a walk on the beach where we saw wreck of the ship “Peter Iredale“. We also checked out some of the woodsy trails in the State Park and spotted a few mushrooms. Then the guys headed back to their hotel to check up on the […]

Read the rest of Fort Stevens – Nehalem Bay

After breakfast at Frankfort’s Crescent Bakery we headed north for a short drive to the Point Betsy Lighthouse, then returned briefly to Frankfort where I filled up a bottle of water from the local mineral springs and hunted down a few locally made “Frankfort” stickers. Finally on the way south we stopped for some apples […]

Read the rest of Frankfort to Niles

We made it! After flying to Chicago in the wee hours of the morning, picking up the rental car and throwing ourselves into local traffic with a northerly aim we hit the shores of Lake Michigan. I can’t get over how tropical this lake looks in the sun. Of course I pretty much immediately doffed my shoes and […]

Read the rest of Vacation!!! Phoenix to Chicago to Fond du Lac

I got up early and drove down to the Phoenix Public Market to meet Celia, Jimmie, and Pam. This was the first time I drove myself downtown; I was really nervous but I stared at all my destinations on Google streetview until I felt I knew where I was going. My hands were still tingly […]

Read the rest of Driving Practice – Phoenix Market – Photo Forum – Buffalo Exchange

It was high time for us to return to S.B. for a visit and what could be better than a long weekend? To make things easier on us we didn’t leave Friday afternoon to struggle with the traffic but instead got up early Saturday morning and had a good drive without any problems. We spent the […]

Read the rest of Labor Day Weekend in Santa Barbara

Sonal and her mom invited us to dinner tonight. We couldn’t actually remember the last time we’d been over for dinner, but it must have been 1-2 months. This time we feasted on pav bhaji, one of our favorites, especially the way Sonal and her mom make it. Lucky me also was also able to […]

Read the rest of Dinner with the Patels

Tonight we were invited for dinner at Rinku’s house. As we stepped in, everyone was, of course, surprised because they had never seen John without beard. Rinku couldn’t stop laughing of course. We watched Rinku’s engagement video, which was very well done with nice music and made me tear up just a little. Our little […]

Read the rest of Dinner with Rinku’s Family

Today we rolled out of bed before 4 AM to drive out to Tonopah. The Farm Stand was not quite as busy as it had been – not surprisingly considering the heat and humidity. I loaded up the boxes for the CSAs right away, but it took uncharacteristically long for the local folks to come […]

Read the rest of A busy day