Stu's Dorado

Stu went out to Santa Inez early this morning, solo, and came back with beaming stories of the amount of fish he caught. PLUS, there in his cooler was a 26 pound Dorado. He has an arrangement with La Palapa, one of the local restaurants. He donates all his fish, they clean and cook them, and Stu gets free dinners. We are going there tonight for some fresh Dorado. Yum!

Gary Graham

Gary Graham and a friend stopped by last week. Gary is a very famous guy in the fly fishing circle, and recently got inducted into the California Sports Hall of Fame for fly fishing. Super nice guy, and it was fun to see him

Macyman's Birthday

A few nights ago Mike and I ventured across the river nearly to the end, headed up a steep hill and found John Macy's house. What a view! Here are photos of the lighthouse, and up the river toward town. John Dinning, Chip, Bob, John and Mike were yucking it up to a new level. John made leg of lamb, mashed potatoes and gravy and a great salad. After a few hours of fun we cruised into town and stopped at a hot dog stand....perro caliente...and each had two hot dogs. I can't believe it!

An Adventure with Stu

One lovely afternoon friend Stu Sherman cruised up to our house on his motorcycle, and invited me to go for a ride. He had a helmet for me and we ended up in the most beautiful places! Here are a few photos from our ride into a forest nearby. Then we went too an old abandoned house. I can't even imagine how old it was, but lots of fun to see it. I had only been on a motorcycle one other time, decades ago. Wow, this was one of the most lovely adventures I have ever had. I will remember it always!

St. Joe River Idaho

After the festival Mike and I headed out in our camper to the St. Joe River in Idaho. So many pristine isolated camping spots. You can just stop anywhere along this beautiful river to fish and enjoy the wilderness...lots of signs to watch out for bears (yikes!), but we didn't spot any of them, thank heavens! It was a wonderful trip. We followed the river all the way into St. Regis, Montana, south a bit, then back west along the Clearwater River.

Lavender Festival '09

Gearing up to our lavender festival takes months of careful planning and dedication by Mike and our loyal staff members. Believe me, it's worth every minute! Always amazing how many people come to our farm. About 45,000 in three days, great food, many clever vendors with interesting products, quality musicians all three days. Here are a couple of shots...Mike and I taking a break across the street at our house, which we try to do several times each day. Funny shot of a sign on the back of a tourist's car, one of the chef's assistants who came back from Alaska to help cook during the festival, some of our devoted Red Hat ladies. A great time all around.

Ugh....another hurricane...Jimena

Gary and Tracy, Mike and I, went to Neah Bay. Fished, yucked it up, ate some great food, and mostly stared at the internet watching Hurricane Jimena. After Juan, then Julio, we were certain another "J" hurricane couldn't possibly hit Mulege, but it did. Six feet of water/mud/sewage over the top of our house. Amazingly our helpers down here took away our two boats, three ATVs, bedding, towels, electronics to high ground. September 9th we left Sequim with the truck packed (again) with hurricane supplies and stuff we thought we might need. Adan (our Main Man in Mulege) was at the house with a smile and twelve worker-bees, plus two chicas to help me inside the house. It was nearly 110 degrees all of the ten days we were in Mulege, no water, no electricity either. Fortunately, friends Judy and Bill Halvig reserved a room for us in the only hotel to have no flooding, Hotel Mulege, where we had air-conditioning and a mattress literally on top of a raised cement base. Oy...Our favorite restaurant, Scotty's was open, thank heavens, and we ate there twice or three times every single day. The mud and silt that infiltrates everything is tough to get out. Adan brought a pila filled with water and on top of his truck several times a day. Mike was super smart to bring a high-powered generator and a pressure washer. Without those two items we never would have gotten everything clean. By the way, some 1600 people lost their homes, about half the population of Mulege. Very sad, but amazingly enough these folks are resilient and now that we are here again for the winter, things are looking pretty damned good!

The Gypsy Kings and The Widmark

What a treat for us, and the second time around to see the Gypsy Kings. The first time for us was three months before we got married. The next day I left with Karina for Manhattan and London, Mike left at the same time to say good-bye to La Ribera. They were performing at the Paramount in downtown Seattle, and we thought they were amazing. Mike kept yelling out for them to play Hotel California, but they did'nt. This time around they were at Chateau St. Michelle Winery, which in itself is a spectacular venue. The grounds and shop immaculate and well planned. Mike and I checked into the Widmark hotel on Lake Union, so there are a couple of shots of the lovely room and the lake. We didn't get any shots of the Gypsy Kings, though I wished we had. We were only a couple of rows from the open-air stage. This time they played Mike's favorite song, Hotel California, and he was a happy guy. Stu and Deborah were there, somewhere in the back on the lawn. As the concert was ending everyone moseyed down to the stage area and danced and danced. Very cool to be able to do that.

Christina, canning cherries, Graham and Ashton

Christina came to visit, and boy was I happy! So wonderful to see my baby girl. She always looks so fab in short skirts and boots, and a smart little whipper snapper, too!

Smack in the middle of the lavender festival Ray decided to pick some of our Rainier and Queen Anne cherries....well, good idea Ray...they were ripe and ready to pick. I am not sure if he even needed a ladder, but he came back with baskets of yummy cherries. I hit the Co-op for cases of canning jars, but had never done this process before, so with lots of help from Ray and Mike we got it done. Aren't they beautiful? We regret not having brought down to Mulege any of these babies, cause there are NO cherries here in Mexico.

Mike Graham came to visit and stayed a day or two while he was working on his property. One night we bought some fresh white corn and had a feast together. It was great to see Graham, though we wished Pam had come with him, and the corn was a big hit, too.

Chelsea often brings Ashton down for a wee visit in the afternoons, and we love them both. We bought Ashton a pile of colorful books, and mostly during these visits she sits and looks at them. She reminds me of Karina as a little child, absorbed in books ALL of the time.

Harvesting and Purple Truck

Here is a shot from the upstairs of our house looking down onto our patio, and the lavender field. Another one of Sarah helping "The Boys" harvest. Look at the mint condition purple truck which was parked at our farm during the festival. I seriously thought about investing in that truck, as it was absolutely perfect. In one of our outbuildings Jose and the girls hung bundles of lavender to dry. We had a dehydration machine going 24/7, and four fans. The scent of lavender was overwhelming when you walked into the area. The bundles are held together with rubber bands, and hung up with big paper clips.

Sarah's Crab

Look at this huge Dungeness crab that Ray and Sarah hauled out of the trap this summer! Wow, was that tasty!

Broken Wing

End of June I snapped my left wrist. Let me say that it is not possible to curl your hair with one arm in a bent cast all the way up to your armpit. Ugh...all better now.

Finally we had a chance to have a patio party at our Sequim home. We had built a stunning patio with glass walls, a fountain, too. So many of our good friends showed up for dancing, wine and food. A ripping good time was had by all. Jake played some great music, as always. A real treat. Terry sang with his melodious voice some great Mexican songs, and Garland was entertaining us with his accordian....of course!

Road Trip with Vanessa

Vanessa and I drove back from Santa Cruz going through the Redwood Forest. Absolutely stunning trees. We stopped at a mystery place where things run uphill. Very strange and interesting. Then on the coast where it was cool and beautiful. I had such a nice trip with my oldest daughter. Had been years and years since we had been on a trip together, just the two of us. Thank you Karina for watching Epiphany and Sabian and making this lovely trip possible.

Schmidty called to say he had a bead on some fly fishing equipment for sale at a great price, so I sealed the deal. Here are a couple of boxes of lures we scored. Thanks Schmidty!

While Mike was in Mulege for his annual Man Trip with the boys, Vanessa and I drove to Santa Cruz for Christina's university graduation. Double Major with honors! Boy, am I proud of my daughter!