Life is good in El Pescadero and Todos Santos, but it can be better. It’s time to get out there in the community and help promote learning about the wondrous sea turtles that swim and nest here.

In Southern Baja California (Baja California Sur) we have many sea creatures that need protection. My goal is to provide the local educators with materials for their classrooms regarding the olive ridley and leatherback sea turtles (tortugas marinas) who come to our local beaches to nest.

I have seen the females laying their eggs and the hatchlings heading to the ocean. What a joy it is to witness! But human activity is responsible for the decline in population. For years people have been driving on the beaches here, which negatively impacts nests and the hatchlings. Light pollution causes problems for the females laying eggs and for the hatchlings that are drawn to the light instead of the ocean. Many governments have protections for sea turtles, but still, eggs are taken and nesting females are slaughtered for their meat and skin. Fishing nets also take a large toll, frequently snagging and drowning these turtles.

Teaching the students will inspire them to protect sea turtles (and other ocean animals) and encourage others in the community to do likewise.

I am putting together educational kits with materials for the students, some of which are consumables like informational coloring books. Other items in the kits will include books, videos, hands-on items, posters, etc. Most of these are either in Spanish, or in Spanish and English. I designed and purchased 100 stickers and 20 adult t-shirts for the teachers, and purchased many of the books already.

If you follow my blog you know how much I love the environment where I live. I have learned so much about the sea turtles and I want to help others to fall in love with them as I have.

Female turtles go back to the beach where they were born to nest. They lay between 80 and 110 eggs in a clutch. Only one in a thousand will make it to maturity. The olive ridley won’t be mature for mating until she is 15 years old. Other species will have to make it to 35 years. Birds, dogs, people, and crabs are some of the predators that eat the eggs, turtles, and hatchlings. If a hatchling makes it to the ocean, other predators and unhappy circumstances await them. It’s a wonder any of them live to breed.

The GoFundMe site helped me to raise money for my project, and my neighbors, Bill and Cathleen Small, have contributed many valuable items like a book binder and the initial purchase of many books, stickers, 20 T-shirts, and supplies. My husband doesn’t mind that I have spent our own money for this cause too, but I have now decided to do some local fundraising selling t-shirts, stickers, and reusable grocery bags. Thanks to the generous donations from my GoFundMe donors, I was able to purchase 100 adult t-shirts in various sizes and colors, and 200 more stickers, plus 200 reusable grocery bags to promote saving the environment from plastic. There is so much plastic in our oceans. Sea turtles eat jelly fish and the plastic bags in the water look like their favorite food. No Plastic! ¡Sin plástico!

Now I have to get busy and get out there with everything. The shirts and stickers will be ready for pick-up September 6th, but the grocery bags will take another week. The good news is that I was able to purchase everything locally in La Paz at Compusign, the tiny orange shop on De León.

The money I make from the sale of the items will go for more of the consumable items like the informational coloring books (using paper and ink…lots of it), crayons, and colored pencils for the schools, and for more posters and books. It is such a gratifying experience to work with the educators and the children. So far I have two schools on board. One is in El Pescadero and the other is The Palapa Learning Center in Todos Santos. If all goes well, I can grow this project to include more schools.

My goal: Teach the children about the sea turtle and they will grow into adults interested in protecting these creatures and their environment.

Although I met my goal of $1,000 with GoFundMe (I get to keep $966 and the rest is for the site), donations are always welcome. There will be on-going expenses to keep the schools in consumable supplies, and of course I want to expand to more schools. Want to donate and join me? https://www.gofundme.com/f/viva-la-tortuga

¡Viva La Tortuga! ¡Muchas Gracias!

A lot is being said these days about mindfulness and living in the moment. According to what came from a Google search for mindfulness, it is “a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique.”

I guess it’s not that intuitive, and yet it can be practiced and therefore learned. I’ve always been one who likes to just “let the day happen” to me. I’m a lover of spontaneity. Plans sometimes need to be made, of course, but as a retiree I have the luxury of letting things happen.

I’ve practiced patience, problem solving, forgiveness, and critical thinking a lot in my life, but this mindfulness business is different. I like to think of it as just allowing myself to be. I say, “Go ahead, Universe. Sock it to me. Not too hard though; please be gentle.” I may not be fragile, but I don’t like to hurt.

Lately I’ve been attempting to accept the death of my mother each day, each moment as it comes to me and I realize she is gone from this life.

Each morning I rise to greet a new day. A day with the knowledge that my mother is no longer taking breaths. My heart aches, but it is also happy. Happy knowing that Mom got her wish and her prayers were answered. She was past ready to make this transition from life to whatever death may mean. “Please God, take me. I’m ready.” She used to cry out at night pleading with her god to let her die. “I want to die.” 

How realistic is it to think that someone of her advanced age, 103, would want to go on living? She felt her job was done and her body was done and it was time. She felt that way for years, and yet her heart continued to be strong, though the rest of her body had seemingly given up. 

Suffering with dementia, she had diminished cognitive abilities, and yet sometimes she’d have just the right answer to a question. When we’d read to her, she often made all the expected and appropriate responses to the story or article, laughing or making other sounds of comprehension. 

The stories would float away almost immediately. You could read the same story over and over to her, as you would a child who likes the same story to be read again and again. Only in Mom’s case the story would seem new. 

Dementia gives real meaning to living in the moment, as all the other moments simply fade away. It’s not purposeful mindfulness, but it definitely hits the core of it.

In this moment then, I’m off to focus and enjoy my own “now.” Hope you enjoy yours too.

May this holiday season be free of strife and full of love and happiness for all. Blessings abound and as this year ends we are reminded of how much we have for which to be thankful.

Jingle all the way!

The Baja is a special place for sure. I’ve written many a time about the splendor that is The Baja.  We haven’t been the only ones who have known this, but it seems that now the entire world is looking for a cool spot to settle in and enjoy retirement or a second home or some such thing. Not just us. Sigh. Oh, I know what you’re thinking. What a selfish person I am.

I guess if you are thinking that, you are somewhat correct in your assumption. I would prefer that nobody else moved here. I loved how “sleepy” our little area was when we moved here eight years ago. But, time marches on and things change. A lot. Okay, so I get it. I don’t have rights to say it should stay “sleepy” and I can’t afford to buy up all the land to keep it natural. After all, I bought and built. Why can’t other people do the same? Well, they can. And they are.

And no wonder. It is beautiful here.

The Sierra de La Laguna Peak

The turtles aren’t having as good a year this year because the ocean washed most of the nests away. But I’ve seen two hatchings and got a video of a couple of the babies (out of about 100) on their way to their ocean life.

Hatching 12-14-2018

It’s always a thrill to witness these babies heading into the sea. Like watching the sunset every night, I never get tired of it. Early this morning the moon was over the water and dipping into the clouds. The moon show was worth being out at 6AM.

Moon set 12-22-2018

The simple pleasures of living here give me reason to be grateful for this place. But now we’ve been discovered BIG TIME. Once we were the only people on our road who were here in the summer months. It gets humid in July through September (September is pretty horrible). But we love the summer because it’s so quiet again when everybody goes on their merry ways back to their “other” lives. This summer was anything but quiet.

There were five places being built at one time…all within ear shot and sight. There were more than five places being built in our area, but some of them I can’t see from our house. The growth that was once gradual, has exploded.

The construction this summer was relentless. The noise was bothersome, as was the construction debris all over our roads. We had two flat tires from it. The number of vehicles parked all over our neighborhood doubled and tripled on occasion. It all took away from the peaceful, easy feeling I usually have.

Guess I have a lot of growing to do myself in order to embrace the population growth. I do a lot of work on myself, but sometimes I let it all out. It just gets to me. Selfish? Want to keep it to ourselves? Yup. Guilty on all counts.

So I have to start teaching myself about what’s truly important and how I can remain grateful for everything.

Watching the whales breach and blow can help. Seeing the rays jumping out of the water is always a treat too. Often we spot a pod of dolphins and lots of baitfish in the water. We are treated to gorgeous sunrises and sunsets and we have many wonderful friends.

Sunset

Sunrise

Rojo Pequeño, Little Red, takes us on adventures.

Olive Ridley covering her nest in 2017 on “our beach”

One year there were lots of seahorses that washed up onto local beaches.

As seen from my deck.

A woodpecker enjoys the sun.

Rays jumping

I’m going to end today with a photo of a little kid who was playing on the rocks at the beach. If I had grandchildren I know they would love it here like this little boy does.

I don’t know this child, but he reminded me of my youngest when he was this age.

I’ll keep focusing on the natural beauty, and what I can learn from all the new people who are coming here to enjoy paradise too. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Usually there aren’t any rocks showing like this, but the sand has been disappearing. The beach is narrow now. Many of the turtle nests have been washed away.

As you can see, this marked nest has been damaged by Mother Nature.

There’s about 15 yards of beach left, where once it was 100 yards.

We can still walk on the beach and we remember one year in the eight we’ve been here where you couldn’t walk because the water was all the way up to the bluff.

I have to be careful throwing the ball for Isabela, as she keeps her eye on the ball and not where she’s going.

It’s fun to witness all the changes every year. The beach will return to its “normal” before long.

The French have a saying, “Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.” The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Sounds about right, don’t you think?

I’ve been trying for seven years to photograph a roadrunner. I’ve learned some things about them, but haven’t had the pleasure of getting any photos until yesterday. On the way up to the mountains in the morning, a roadrunner was in the mood for posing.

Got this as he was jumping up onto the rock.

Like all creatures, he has some great camouflage going on.

I love how he showed off his tail.

Here’s a short article from Audubon: https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/greater-roadrunner

According to everything I’ve read, they can run about 15 mph+ but it’s no match for the coyote that can run more than twice as fast. So the cartoon show is misleading. Road runners eat beetles, worms, scorpions, rattlesnakes, and lizards, among other things, and never need to drink water.

This shot is my favorite. You can see the orange on his head in this photo.

We took a leisurely morning drive into the mountains to see Marcos, who makes the pottery we like. He made me some spoon rests and we drove up to get them.

As usual, Greg asked him if he had any other pieces to show us. He did. I bought them. I’m so spoiled.

One cool thing about Marcos’s pottery is that you can put it on the burner or in the oven. It’s beautiful too.

You can almost smell the lasagne can’t you?

I’m going to paint the spoons and give them as gifts.

These are some of Marco’s small spoons that I painted.

Yesterday’s trip to the mountains was delightful. Isabela loved playing in the little streams, and the sights were heavenly.

This is a tiny sample of our collection of beach glass.

Collecting beach glass has become an obsession. When we have company, they get right into it too. Mostly we find clear and brown pieces, but we also have a few blues and two colors of green–one of them that Greg calls Coke bottle green.

Over the last 7 years, we have amassed quite a bit, and now the time seems right to make something besides my little turtles.

Isaac, the young man who made my frames shown in a previous post, framed two pieces of glass that I have been holding onto for a couple years. Yesterday I worked on one of them. I attempted to put a turtle in the first one, and a couple of fish. But you have to play “Where’s Waldo” to find them. The first window came out okay, but not exactly what I had been hoping for. I wanted the turtle and the fish to show up. I can see them, of course, but you probably can’t. Oh well. It was great fun to make.

It looks better in the window, but I had trouble getting a photo to look right. You get the drift.

My second attempt at this messy project (glue on every part of my fingers and hands and clothes) was more fun and the abstractness brought me great pleasure. It created itself pretty easily. If I were to continue to do this kind of thing I’m sure it would get to be even more fun with practice.

It’s a shame I didn’t get very good photos of the frames. They are beautiful drift wood and so appropriate for the beach glass.

I “got lost” in placing all these little pieces and finding just the right ones for each spot. This is my kind of way to while away the hours when I have nothing special to do. Retirement is the best job I’ve ever had.

Rustico Frames

I learned about a young man who is using what he finds in the environment for creating picture frames! He’s amazing. Seed pods, parts of palm fronds, drift wood, palo de arco, and other organic things make for rustic, delightful frames for some of my (dare I call it?) art.

Our friends, Carlos and Paula, gave me Isaac’s cell number and I made arrangements to visit his shop. It was full of all sorts of wood and  local organic finds. He showed me some of his work, and we talked a little about what he might do for the frames I wanted.  I gave him only minimal directions, as I could see he was a true artist and his ideas were going to be perfect.

Isaac is a strong, but gentle young man. He is a fisherman and carpenter, and in his shop are beautiful pieces of wood for a bench he is working on. Plus he has many gorgeous fish prints; some of which are framed in drift wood. I just knew he would make my stuff look amazing. And he did.

This is a photo of my paper mosaic I did quite a few years ago in a class taught by N.E. Hayles, an extremely talented local artist in Todos Santos.

You can find her at http://www.nehayles.com

I can’t say enough about how talented and sweet NE (Nanette) Hayles is. I’ve been inspired by her work, but more importantly her humanness. She is an amazing woman whose mission is to share her art classes with anyone who wishes to receive. She makes an amazing lunch to go with the class and the experience was so much fun that I’ve done it twice.

Water Color Sunflower

I’m a complete novice with water color. My neighbor, Linda, is a true expert in the medium. She has been so kind and generous to provide me with materials and instruction. Her passion is doing portraits. It would take me years of working in the medium to get anywhere close to being able to do a portrait. Water color isn’t easy at all. But Linda has the patience of a saint when she teaches her classes. Can’t wait till she comes back from her “other” home in Idaho. We’ll have more classes then.

My acrylic painting is only 5″X7″ and I asked him to make this one plain with drift wood only.

Water Color Desert Sunrise

I did this and some other water color paintings with Linda. I think Isaac’s frame is perfect, don’t you?

Here’s Isaac:

Like most men, he doesn’t smile for the camera. Check out the Corona poster.

One of his fish prints (pargo) framed.

Dorado, but not framed yet.

Trigger Fish–unframed.

This one is my favorite:

Gotta go practice my ukulele now. Life is so darn sweet.

There are ospreys, falcons, shore birds, pelicans, wood peckers, finches, orioles, crested caracara, kestrels, herons, frigates, and a myriad of other birds we’ve been lucky enough to see and photograph.

Osprey

Oyster Catcher

Falcon

Woodpecker

Frigate

Crested Caracara

Scott’s Oriole

Osprey

Heron

Long-billed curlew

Pelicans

I don’t know the proper name, but I call these vultures.

Brown Pelican (adult breeding)

Blue Heron

Scott’s oriole

House Finch

We saw this in the Sierra Laguna Mtns. What is it?

I have seen many roadrunners, but so far I haven’t been able to get a photo. Beep beep!

Because we have lots of trees and foliage at our house, we have lots of bird nests and bird droppings around here. I love the birds, so I’m happy even though they make huge messes all over. It’s a small price to pay.

Donkey or mule?

http://www.wideopenpets.com/donkeys-vs-mules-whats-the-difference/

This might actually be a mule. I’m not sure. What do you think?

Definitely a donkey.

I wish I could include the delicious perfume these plumerias send out.

desert rose and hibiscus

Beauty and the Beast

Okay, so it’s a tree, but it has flowers.

I make it a habit to carry my camera with me wherever I go. I am so often rewarded.