Cats from the Wilkins-Foster Compound

Our good friends Etta and Jeff have two lovely daughters

and two hilarious cats. Etta managed to catch both of

them while yawning.....take a look at these pics....

Ignatz mid yawn.............
Gracie behind Ignatz...almost looks like she's yelling at him...
That's it-just had to share Etta's pics...

Dinner at the Burton's

Russell and I had a fun evening last night

at Rosie and Rays house. We ate and laughed and

drank some wine and laughed some more!

Scott and Cindy joined us and we all had

a great time......below are some wooden hand

carved Santas that Scott and Cindy made.

This year they were being sold at the

Real Mother Goose store in downtown Portland!

We are lucky to have a few....

Here's little Lily. She was found abandoned on the street

hungry, dirty and now very happy to be in such a good home.

Lily joins Tiger....they get along and play well together.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Zan and Auntie Kath make a T-shirt quilt

My sweetie pie niece Zan wanted help in making

a cozy quilt out of some of her favorite

and memorable T-shirts....

we really didn't have a plan...

but it turned out really cool...here are a few pics..

We are laying them out after having sewn a few pieces together..

this is after cutting the shirts into squares...
It's pretty random still....we learned a lot
about how to do this....and how NOT to do it!

But in the end we finished it and it looks great!

Yay Zan and Auntie Kath!

Merry Merry Christmas!

Merry Merry Christmas.....

Have a very Meowy Merry Christmas!

Our neighbors cat Lucky loves to

visit us. Here he is behind our trio

of little Christmas Trees.....

Annual Ross Griffin Christmas Gift Exchange Party -Part 1

Once again we kick off the Holiday Season

with Ross Griffin's Christmas Gift Exchange

We all make 8 handcrafted gifts and get together

at someone's home to eat, laugh,drink,laugh and

select 8 gifts to take home .

This year I hosted the party and we had a blast!

Be sure to read Part 2 after this to view the videos

I made during the party!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!

Kathe Brady made these delectable Chocolate Chip cookies

wrapped up in a cute bowl

and topped with a hand quilted ornament

Before we began to choose our gifts-we had to place

all our goodies on or around the table.... The first item I chose was the lighted and decorated

little tree in the background.

Sheila Wilson brought the trees......

There were so many items to choose from....

it was difficult to choose.... Kathy Reilly made these quilted fish-they didn't last long! We all had such a good time- seeing friends we haven't seen since the last party....time flies...

Kathy R , sis-in-law Julie and Jeanie (sp?)

obviously having a great time!

Sheila making her choice....

Here I am with one of my selections-

Julie Reilly made these very clever carriers

for hot or cold dishes....

Linda Graham also chose one of the food carriers...

Nanette and Jeanie trying to choose....

Valerie looks over the gifts

while Becky selects one of Chris Nolde's grocery bags.

Valerie chose one of Linda Grahams knitted mufflers...

Chris Nolde and her food carrier....this was a

very popular gift....actually everyone's gifts were

so creative .... it made it hard to choose...

Jackie chose one of Chris Nolde's grocery bags... Valerie was inspired by her trip to Sweden-

she hand painted glass plates and made gingerbread

cookies using Swedish cookie cutters...cute little horses..

All in all - we all had a great time-thanks everyone !!!!

Annual Ross Griffin Christmas Gift Exchange Party-Part 2

Kathy Brady was the hit of the party

with her hula hoop demonstration!

Rosie had made excercise hula hoops

for the gift exchange - and wow!

Take a look at this little video!

Nannette shows all of us a new way to put on a muffler....

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!

Leftovers from Mexico

Mexican leftovers??? Huh?

Thanksgiving has come and gone- but wait!

I have more photos from our Zihuatanejo vacation....

First- here's a lovely sunset photo taken by

the revered Don Roberto!

Our new friends Stan and Maggie left their

boogie boards with us...to pass onto

whoever we thought would get the best

use of them....but before they left-

Maggie got these great shots of us

playing on the boogie boards....Ready?

Set!

GO!

I am laughing so hard...so fun!

oooops........where'd I go?

Russell makes his landing.....

whew....do I have the WHOLE beach inside my suit?

We had a great time playing in the surf...

Thanks Stan and Maggie!!!

When we left we passed them on to Jose Luis

who runs a little rental shack next to the Catalina...

Next year we'll buy some the first day we arrive.....ole!

Just Desserts and All That Other Nonsense....

It's Thanksgiving today and all I have to do

is make a few desserts for our friends Malia and Daniel

who have invited us over to have dinner with their family

(more photos on that later)

So, first I made a Tarte Tatin- French apple caramel tart...

Then the traditional Pumpkin Pie ....

....and I could NOT help myself-

I also made a Pear Caramel Gingerbread Cake...

whew....fun though!

Now- onto other just desserts....

While our chickens Moochy, Blondie

and Michelle spent time out in the rain....

they LOVE being out of the coop...and don't

try to convince them otherwise...

the local squirrel was helping himself to chicken feed...

Oodles of Bushtits were feasting on a little bit of

suet....need to go shopping for more tomorrow...

Russell was downstairs finishing the huge project

of installing a gas fireplace insert.

Other than getting some help moving the old wood

stove out and placing the new insert into it's place

Russell did it all himself-from hooking up the gas line,

installing the chimney liner and electrical connections required.

It took Russell about a week to complete and now the

city folks can come inspect his work.

Please note all the soot etc on his face....

Cinderfella????

Russell is amazing to me- he can do anything!

Below is a photo of the stove - what an improvement!

Looks great- will keep our downstairs warm

and no more hauling wood indoors...!

Vacation in Zihuatanejo Wrapup.....

It's been a few days since we got back home

and we've just now sort of settled down

to our old routines ....here are some goodby photos

of our time in Zihuatanejo....The mile long stretch of beach....dotted with restaurants

and mostly small hotels
Goodby to Illario as he checks on the hatching turtles..
they'll be released into the ocean as we are flying home..

One last drawing made for friends....

My last Jamon y Oaxacan Queso Omelet with Potato Patties

Saying goodbye to dear friends.......

we'll see them next year in Zihuatanejo-if not before!

Saying goodby to the infinity pool that we used after

hours of being in the ocean...

and look! We don't appear to be much worse for

all the cervesas and frioles consumed in the past 2 weeks!

Just a few hours after this photo we were on our

way home....had a great time- we'll be back!

Our last Sunday

Today was a very busy day as this weekend

is a 3 day holiday weekend.

Bus load after bus load came into town from all

over Mexico and boy did they all have fun!

On top of that a huge cruise ship came into the bay

and boat load after boat load of tourists were

left off at the port. A good day for all the

vendors and restaurants!

This view is from our palapa-its a bit blurry

but you can see all the people in the water...

I'd post more photos but the internet system here

is a bit cranky...

Saturday Nov 14

This towel art is a very strange elephant...I think?
We think this bird is some sort of jay...
Russell with the Banderas Bay behind him...
our one fancy sit down dinner....

Sunset over Banderas Bay