Of course, plenty of time in the ocean. I love the ocean here, warm and pretty calm
Yup, it’s like a bathtub.
Handing out the color powder, Shira has some purple in her hair ahead of time. The sun, the water – faded it quickly.
Since it is Club Med, there are all kinds of fun activities. this one is color wars. Or Holi for non Hindus? Of course, do it at the beach so everyone can then run into the ocean.
of course, I stood back and took pictures.
Happy and covered with dye. Becky had green in her hair for over a day until she washed it.
Going sailing on the little catamaran. It was short, a few days later Erez was able to go out alone and really enjoy the sail.
To be honest most of the time was spent on the beach, reading and drinking Pina coladas.
Back in the day, Painting with Yishai, he was probably 2.5 years old. So as you can see, I’m doing the painting.
Most of them that is, I was told there are raccoons, I don’t like raccoons, we have them here, happy to miss them.
The resident Iguanas are all here. I think they have stopped feeding them the fruit rinds and just let them exist on their own.
When they are young, they are bright green and blend in with the grass and greenery.
As they age, they change color – or is it just sunburn? they develop a wattle and I’m not sure if that big bulge is his ear. Very prehistoric looking, probably just very small dinosaurs that survived.
The crows were everywhere, making a racket and a nuisance.
Heron? I don’t know! There were also plenty of pelicans, they dived bombed for food. Aytan wanted to catch one, very glad he didn’t.
Then there was Yellow, Garfield or 45, he has at least 3 names. A stray that has been adopted. The staff feed him, the guests love him.
Aytan loved him.
He liked Aytan back, for a while until he went to other guest for attention.
Every year we take one son and his family on a nice vacation. It was time for Erez, Becky, Aytan and Shira again. With Aytan’s issues, going back to ClubMed in Ixtapa made sense, although after this week it looks like they have outgrown it.
This is a thing now. Shira wanted us to get a group picture here, did we? No, but here is the sign.
One of the views from breakfast, lovely.
It was really hot and humid. I didn’t complain, after no sun in LA, I was fine with the heat. Notice what it did to the photos, the lens picked up all the moisture in the air and distorted the image somewhat.
I tried to get a shot of the new moon and Venus, you can hardly seem them because of the haze, although with my eyes, Didn’t see that haze.
The night before, with Mars, it must not have been quite so humid.
Other sunset. There were a few cloudy evenings, so we didn’t see the ball of fire but the sky was beautiful.
Those colors!!! Nature is beautiful
The new moon. The tree is blue because of a blue light thing on it.
A lot of time was spent at the beach. Look how happy Aytan is! He adores being in the water. The only ocean I like! It is hot and calm – so much so, that poor Erez even got stung by a jellyfish.
Relaxing by the pool. Although, most of our time was spent at the beach. The resort was empty, only about 300 guests, so there was no problem finding chairs under the palaces at the beach.
Dressed up at night.
I bought myself this cute owl.
At first I took a picture of these two, thinking, I can pull out my needs and make these. I still might do that, beading isn’t any harder on the eyes than cross stitch. I’m glad I bought the buho- the owl
It was called a culmination, they didn’t wear robes, it was really lovely.
This is what a 5th grade in Los Angeles looks like, a mishmash of kids, many born here, but the parents came from all over the world. This is also a wonderful Charter school, with an emphasis on reading – real books, not propaganda .
getting her diploma. There are 43 kids, they all had to write and read a statement. Some were long, Shira, like me, was short and sweet, Education, learning, friends, community. Lovely. That was the bulk of the program, not too many adult speeches. How it should be.
Becky had the chore of taking Aytan to Disneyland so they could buy this mortar board. Adorable.
There is a tradition that the 4th grade prepares the snacks for the graduation. They always have a cupcake with red food coloring, Shira was not the only one to get red all over her face.
I know, Levi looks very silly here, for a while they were ‘boy-friend girl-friend’ that was before she got so tall. I know his mom Leesa from the quilting world, I knew her for a few years before Shira and Levi met at school. They will be going to different Junior Highs – that is life.
Other friends.
Her teacher.
A few weeks ago, Shira mentioned that now frogs are her favorite and she wants earrings with frogs and knives. So I went to Etsy, and look what I found!!!
Opening the gift, look at her smile.
I love it when a plan comes together, I also love the things I find on Etsy.
I did knit some on the trip, didn’t bring any cross stitching, so was very happy to get home to this.
Solomons Temple, this is a huge project, so expect some interludes of smalls. Although, I have to say, I am really enjoying this.
I finally got to 10%. On the dot.
This is what it looks like, I still have a very long way to go.
since then, adding a lot to the Temple as well as some of the side flowers. there are quite a few very pale colors, its hard to tell the difference, many will be surrounded by other colors, but notice the flower to the left, hardly visible. I look at the picture of the finished project, and it looks similar. I have to get used to the idea that not all colors pop!
At the SFVQA last night we got some bad news as well as a wonderful speaker. The bad news, the church has been sold, so now another organization I belong to is looking for a new home. What lovely times we live in… But Paul was sharing his quilts and this is an amazing red and white that took him 7 years to make. It is a story of his quilt and life journey. He mentioned the importance of some of the blocks, you can tell, just looking at this, that this is personal.
Some of my favorites, yes he used the applipop washers fro the circles, they really are a fun tool. And yes, I really like anything that reminds me of a Baltimore Album.
Celtic know, I remember way back when, attempting this and giving up. Basically one needs to make a lot of bias tubes.
The hills are still somewhat green, most of the walk was down in the canyon.
There was plenty of water, none of us have brought walking sticks, and those rocks were submerged. Wimps, we didn’t want to get our feet wet, it is still very cloudy and cold.
A little waterfall, I rarely see something like this – it is usually a small trickle
Someone has named LA, New Seattle, because it’s been months since we’ve had sunshine and real warmth. People tell me: just wait, it will be hot soon and you’ll regret it. I won’t, maybe they will, I like the heat, otherwise, I could be in the real Seattle or Portland – well no, actually not, if LA is crazy town, those place are even crazier. My visiting friend was telling me that in Portland – no more drive through restaurants – because of the idling cars – well what if they are driving a Tesla?
I didn’t frame this picture, but I must say, it’s the best of the lot.
Here is the whole group of us. Good to hike with friends.
I have some very nice chairs in the front yard and if the sun ever comes out, I’ll be sitting out there. I felt the need for something cozy outback. I was thinking of a swing, but then opted for a beanbag.
The box that became houses is what this came in.
Here it is, beginning to poof up.
Mostly poofed, a few more hours and it was really full and fluffy.
Joel tried it out, he’s not sure he wants one of his own, he is happy with the chairs in front
No sun, wrapped up, scarf, blanket, I am cold! We have seen a little bit of sun, I even have fallen asleep on this chair – very very comfy.
A few more beach scenes, the volleyball courts are full.
Looks like a high school was having a final day party. some of the kids and teachers are warmly dressed.
Others didn’t care and wanted full sun.
It was so clear, Catalina looked much closer than 22 miles away.
All Kinds of license plate show up at the beach, this one clearly drove all the way through Canada and then down the coast, they haven’t washed the car yet.
Three weeks is a long time not seeing the grandkids.
On the only sunny day of the week Westley and I went detectoring. No he didn’t find anything but some trash. He mentioned how lucky he is when he goes with Mama, wonder when he finally figures that one out….
I don’t have a picture with Cam, he wasn’t feeling well, stayed home from school, I played some games with him, but not pictures.
This time for real, Eyal graduated from pre-school, he participated last year without going on to kindergarten, he went to T-K, next year it is on to a charter school.
They had a song and dance routine, no he doesn’t have much rhythm. Although the cute girl next to him sure does.
I ordered a beanbag chair and it arrived in a very large box, we cut it in half cut out windows, and the two of them have their own house.
You can’t really tell, but in the picture on the right, Eyal is in the box, he is just scrunched down hiding.
Aytan, on the last day of school, playing UNO with classmates. Since the lockdown school has been hard for him (thanks Grusom – who’s kids never lost a day of in school teaching).
Shira was a giraffe in her school production of The Lion King, of course she was great. Luckily she is tall, so we could see her very well.
And that’s it, I’m sure I’ll have picture of Aytan and Shira from Club Med
I’ve been posting for almost three weeks, as long as I was gone, and once I finish this series, we go with our oldest son and his family to Mexico for a week, so another break.
Our final leg of the trip was a 7 day boat trip around the islands from Dubrovnik to Split. The sun was shining, reading up on the deck was lovely.
It was a small boat, holds 35 passengers, there were 27 of us, from the US, Australia, England, Ireland, Chile and Puerto Rico. Here is the adorable captain Duye, 31 years old, owns the boat, and is father of three boys, one of whom joined us on the last night.
This is how the boats will often dock, island harbors are very small. Ours is the first boat. On Hvar, we were 7 in a line up of 10 boats, which means hopping from one to another until I reach the shore.
On one of the islands there was a lovely lake, we took a small boat ride, visited a monastery and then, a lovely walk back into town.
because the harbors are so small, most days were at sea, Duye would find a nice cove and some people would go swimming. This was fine the first day it happened, but once I realized that this is the daily routine, and that we’d only arrive on the islands in the later afternoon – not so happy
The water was too cold for me, and there were jelly fish, yes the swimmers got stung.
Narrow walkways on Korcula. The left looks pretty empty. The right is a residential street – for locals, notice the laundry and all the plants. An airbnb wouldn’t take time to tend to all that greenery.
Supposedly this is Marco Polos birth house. Who knows, it became very clear that Croatia is a very poor relative of Italy and they needed to prove themselves at every turn.
All of the Islands have a walled city, being on the Adriatic means many naval attacks. Because there wasn’t much development here for centuries – they remain and now are the staple of the tourist industry
More vacation vibes.
This is the entrance to the Blue cave, it is always narrow and shallow, but the day we were meant to go in, the sea was very high, so it was a no go.
We were able to go to the green cave instead, also extremely beautiful.
Was this Vis? I don’t remember, I am interested in the old building that is falling apart which a slightly newer one has been add on. I wonder if the old one is still in use? It might be.
The Island of Bol.
The only one with a real beach and not just a rocky shore.
Checking out the water.
Disembarking, on Hvar, not our final stop in Split, this is where we walked through 6 other boats.
Our final cups of coffee on our last day in Split.
The only real sunset we saw during our whole trip. on the Island of Brac.
A wonderful amazing trip. Hopefully there will be many more.
It was rainy, it was cold it was windy, it makes for a beautiful sea.
The famous walls of the city.
The Onofrio fountain, This used to be the area in town where everyone congregated. It also used to have 12 different animals up there. Only the dog remains, well, pigeons have no problem photobombing everywhere.
Finally, in Dubrovnik there was talk about the war in the 90s. Our local guide lived through the bombing in the basement of her house. There are a few reminders of the damage, most were fixed. Some remain as reminders of the war. I noticed that there is shrapnel damage on the street sign for Jewish Street.
The synagogue in Dubrovnik is no longer active, it is simply a museum.
That wonderful Hebrew script, wishing you well as you leave.
We had rain! It was cold, it is a little hard to see, but there is plenty of shrapnel damage here as well.
steep stairways in the old city. People used to live here, these days most of the local residents have left and it is all hotels and Airbnbs. There is no community feeling left for the locals – so they moved out to newer neighborhoods.
The sun came out in the afternoon! We drove to a cute little town called Cavtat, this was the view along the way, spectacular.
Here we are in Cavtat, with friends from the tour, it was sunny and bright, I had gelato for lunch, my own cone!
Views from above included the cable car.
At night we went to the Cave Bar, are you noticing familiar people? Yup, Jo in the front is quite the photographer.
I did it! I was able to edit down this video that Jo took so that I can share it here with you, when they built the hotel above, they discovered this cave and they built a bar into it, in the final scenes you can barely see the stalactites as well as the ocean below.
And next, we go on a small boat and visit islands.
