School's out!

How do you know you have too many animals?

What the hell is wrong with freedom? That's what it's all about.-- Easy Rider

When you wake up in the morning-- try and call your mother to tell her how you have a black eye from a cat. The dogs run in, barf on the couch and knock over all the cleaning supplies which begin to pour on the floor and the cats begin playing in the sticky castile soap. In less then one min. Sometimes you need a little less animals and a little more freedom. Today is that day for me.

First Class after the Hurricane

Well, the hurricane wasn't too horrid-- it was the first one without Nick!
Our house has a insane leak and I have my friend Martin(i) helping me seal it today, as it is dry and sunny again. My classroom collapsed from the downpour so it is the first teaching day without one. Guess that's one the list for the new adobe building this summer!

There is a volunteer program here and the school for a week this summer. Learn and help to build adobe classrooms, there is free room and awesome food-- send me a note if you are interested!!
Tomorrow is the tie dye workshop-- wish me luck!! I'll get lots of pictures, should be awesome. Speaking of pictures--

Here is Terry, Sheryl and Jazzy-Jazz's house during the rains-- wow. really really wet!!!

Happy Father's Day!

Hello Nick, so far away on Dias de los Padres.
This shows my love for you.
Mas Macho than most golf carts, si?

Free dress/ birthday day!

Party Time

Bethany

Duilio and Jazzy

Rigo, Perla and Xilo

So many cakes! They got wild on the sugar, well, I got wild on the sugar...

Jazzy-Jazz

Kevin and Duilio

Rigo and Miller-- you think Rigo has already had a long day?

Sassa and Xilo

Marshmallow Cake

Aquí is my pastel for Dias de los Padres y Madres fiesta mañana!So many dogs..

I think our house is done.

Here is the last of the construction. Our front gate. It looks so beautiful and is really wonderfully practical as the dirt from the road does not come in and coat everything and the dogs are trapped so we can leave the front door open. I have however locked myself out twice in the last three days... The rains started today. It was fantastic. A downpour, thunder lightening. The power went out and the wind broke things from violently whipping about inside. Astrid and I counted the thunder crashes until we were sure it was moving away then headed down to school. We wo't be able to walk the arroyo soon!

I'm reading an awesome book, Spirits of the Ordinary by Kathleen Alcala. It is wonderful book of Jews, Mexico, Kabbalah and love and gold. And the love of gold. They say in the book, " The first rain of the season. Praise be to God." I can dig it.

Today I had a moment where I realized why I moved here... again

I was resting in my classroom waiting for Sandra to walk around ringing the hand bell for lunch break as I watched a cinnamon humming bird darting in and out of the blue vining flowers in the trellis over my head. The tiny bird bounced from flower to flower for 5 or so minutes ....
As I watched, I heard a soft thump on the dirt of the soccer field. It was a yellow mango. I looked over at a 3rd grade boy gulping down water and wondered why he'd have thrown it at me, " he'd seemed to be enjoying art class earlier..." ....then I realized that just possibly the mangoes all over the school might NOT be from people's lunches but falling from the enormous shade trees.Yes, absolutely. Looking up I saw hundreds of mangoes hanging like small balls stuck in the tree. I picked up the one that fell and walking into the teacher's lounge which is wonderfully open to the breezes on two sides and peeled and ate the mango. Delicious. As I walked pack to the compost pile to drop in the pit and skin, and I ran directly into a plantain flower hanging over the path.

It might be 95 sunny shocking degrees everyday, but I love it here still so much.....

White Ibis

We saw a White Ibis the other day! So cool...

Tofu Pudding Recipe

I know this is long awaited...........
Here is my take on Mark Bittman's tofu pudding. I'm thoroughly addicted.

1 pkg tofu

8 ounces chocolate melted (I use a microwave)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Put all ingredients in a blender and purée until completely smooth. Chill.

Here is Mark Bittman's video

If you wanna get seriously insane just make a tofu peanut butter pudding too.

1 pkg tofu

5 T. peanut butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2T milk ( or more if it is wicked sticky)

Layer in glasses...look like a rock star for your 10 year old... oh yeah... you know you wish you were here.

Great Toothpaste Recipe

Lemon- Mint Toothpaste Recipe

4 T baking soda
1/2 t "lemon drop" stevia
10 drops lemon grass essential oil
10 drops cinnamon essential oil
7 drops spearmint essential oil
stir and use-- yum!

Sugar!

Here is our newest rescued pup! .....Sugar Daddy aka Dobby, the house elf!

Sayulita Animals

Look at the local paper here in Sayulita-- Astrid is doing her part in making the world a better place.

Caring with Compassion for a Healthy Community

Kids Save the Day

A six year old local boy was walking down the river and saw a litter of kittens. One was unable to walk, and knowing it needed help he picked it up and hitched rides over to Sayulitanimals. The boy wanted so badly for the kitten to be taken care of that when he heard we were unable to foster it he placed it on our sofa and ran out the door. Marco looked at the three week old calico's broken leg and was forced to make a decision.
Every Saturday, youth from Costa Verde International School give there time to create posters, walk and bathe dogs, and keep the clinic grounds beautiful. Miller, one of our volunteers, came in that day and saw the kitten and asked his parents to foster her. Marco reset the leg, put her in a cast, and they named her Patches. As she grew, Astrid, another young volunteer, grew fond of her. The parents agreed and they adopted the kitten. Now she is Phantom and happily playing in her new home.

Contact Us:
Veterinarian- Marco Alvidrez Garcia
Animal Welfare- Tamara Edwards & Sara Briner

Sayulitanimals
Manuel Plascencia #3
Sayulita, Nayarit

Tel. 01 (329) 291 3974

sayulitanimals@hotmail.com
marco_alvidrez@hotmail.com
www.sayulitanimals.org

Local Sayulitanimals animals who need homes

Donate Here.

This is great!

Heather's awesome cat video!!
Watch my super funny friend Heather and her cat Mioggi!

new dog!!

Yes! A new puppy has come in to our lives!!!

In the last few seconds that it took me to write that sentence she attacked my hand ten times, pulled all the bed sheets off the bed, and is now wildly attacking a smith sunglasses case...I know you have no pity for me..... oy.

She was found on highway 200 by my friend Ilene yesterday on her way to drop off her son at CVIS. Ilene saves cats and dogs like I do. She had over 20 at one time her husband told me. I asked my husband to send me a picture of the new puppy we took and he sent a photo of Dobby, the house elf.
And yes, she really does resemble Dobby and not just because Harry Potter fever has swept our house. She looks a good deal like a pure bred Vizsla. Which is weird. Pure breed dogs are not the usual street dogs here....Pure bred Chihuahuas being the exception... I do love seeing packs of wild Chihuahuas roaming the streets tipping over the trash cans. So sometime soon expect a new photo of Sugar! (Which is short for "sugar daddy" because Father's day is the closest holiday and she is a sugar crash in action, .....whew. She just fell asleep where she was standing)

Sick Day

Ahhh home sick with Astrid. I think she has an ear infection again. We tried to find an open doctor's office at midnight last night... no such luck. Although there were restaurants open-- who'd have thought? Sunday night in Sayulita... a whole world after 10 pm I don't know about, eh?

I went into school for one class today, the 3rd grade made Cairns with hot glue to hold them together. It is so hot here the glue is more consistently malleable than I'd hoped.... we then played a spirited game of art bingo...

Nick's life

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9T4goU3Nt9c

Happy Anniversary to us!

Today is Nick and my 12th year marriage anniversary.
He brought me coffee in bed.
It was so romantic... until Matzah vomited on the bed from chewing up a rosary Bones had pulled off the table, and Astrid woke up repeating "I have a sore throat." (and a 103 tempture)
Nick went surfing and I called the school to assure them that although my daughter was not going to be there I would still be teaching some seriously awesome art.
....12 years of marriage...

This is how Sayulita feels to me....

Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it. In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop;grass grew on the sidewalks, the courthouse sagged in the square. Somehow, it was hotter then: a black dog suffered on a summer's day; bony mules hitched to Hoover carts flicked flies in the sweltering shade of the live oaks on the square. Men's stiff collars wilted by nine in the morning. Ladies bathed before noon, after three-o'clock naps, and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum.

People moved slowly then. They ambled across the square, shuffled in and out of the stores around it, took their time about everything. A day was twenty-four hours long but seemed longer. There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it within, nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb County. But it was a time of vague optimism for some of the people: Maycomb County had recently been told that it had nothing to fear but fear itself."

- Harper Lee, from To Kill a Mockingbird

harry potter book

Astrid and I have just finished reading the first Harry Potter book. -- Thanks Mom! She loved it. In honor of starting a new book in the series we are making a fruit trifle. We also are going to call Skitters, Professor McGonagall.
Here is our recipe:

Pudding layers

• 2 Bananas
  
• 1/2 cup sugar syrup
  
• 2 packages tofu
  
• Handful of berries
  
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

In an electric blender or food processor, combine Tofu, bananas, sugar syrup, berries and vanilla extract. Process until the mixture is smooth. Chill for approximately one hour.

Cake layer:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/4 cups milk ( or soy milk)

10 tablespoons butter

4 large eggs

2 cups granulated sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350*F (175*C). Grease and flour a 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan; set aside.
2. In bowl mix together flour and baking powder; set aside.
3. Using an electric mixer beat the eggs at high speed until thick and lemony colored, about 5 minutes. Gradually beat in sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Gradually add flour mixture, beating at low speed until batter is smooth.
4. In a small saucepan, heat milk and butter just until butter melts, stirring occasionally. Add to batter, beating until combined. Pour into prepared baking pan.
5. Bake for 25- 30.
   

While cake is still a little warm, put half of the pudding in a large bowl, layer with cake and some berries or other soft fruit and top with remaining pudding.
Decorate with fruit if desired.

Birds!

Yellow Winged Cacique

This bird is everywhere right now. It is wonderful to see the bright yellow tail feathers in flight....

Some new pictures of....

Steve and Heather visiting

Ashley and Ben visiting

Nick smiling

Kirsten eating

Lina toasting

Kari, Amen, Steve and Mitch ready to surf

Nick doing his new job --He's a 9 to 5er

Oil cloth

Yesterday I made up a new lunch bag for Astrid out of "oilcloth". I know it is just pretty plastic, not real oilcloth but it is really inexpensive here and so beautiful.
It was very easy to find the instructions on-line and I made a pattern so we can make up a few for CVIS . Here is the link to the blog that had the instructions, Skip to my Lou.
My current favorite oil cloth patterns are these:

snacking on the tree of enlightenment... maybe

I'm newly obsessed over a local tree, the Syzygium jambos, or Bodhi tree. It is in front of my friend Belen's house and has the most delicious fruit. The seed rattles around lose in the body of the fruit. The coolest thing about it is that it is some say it the tree under which Buddha attained enlightenment. Some say that was the Ficus Religiosa, I'd rather eat this one...

.....ok I'm over cats.....

Crazy cat ladies love bad clip art

I know that I'm a bit of an extremist. It seems I might have gone a bit off the deep end here with all these cats. I did not ever even have a cat before October and now there are five. Five is a lot of cats. Like an Ebay "lot" which means it should be a "deal" but somehow it isn't.
I thought they would just sort of hang about and do cat things, sleep, lick themselves, sleep-- which is what might happen eventually but three of them are kittens so they are doing kitten things. In the last couple of hours I've been pissed upon, shat upon and utterly creeped out by a particularly determined kitten who wishes to nurse on my chest-- ahhgg! Not cute. weird. I just got those back, thank you, and there are no lovely hormones now making me feel joyous affection toward the suckling creature.
What's worse is I just lied to Nick about who shat on the bed-- I actually let Matzah take the fall! To what depths have I sunk?! I knew he'd give me a "yeah, too many cats" thing. I know! There are too many!! But damned if I'll let him know he's right.
But what now? I'm definitely NOT taking the gray kitten from Lina's litter....Oy....

Learning the ABCs of beach life

Well I don't care about history....

'Cause that's not where I wanna be...

I just wanna have some kicks....

This weekend kicks off another week of school closures due to the flu. I tell ya, I'm starting to miss those kids! I saw many of them out on the playa while Astrid was tearing the place up with her suave surf style. We have a full house of friends and family for a little while longer. I'm just waiting for Lina's cat to have some babies so we can throw some more critters into the mix

Chewin' at a rhythm on my bubble gum
The sun is out and I want some
Its not hard, not far to reach,we can hitch a ride to Rockaway Beach

Lately...

So Astrid has been home from school for nearly three weeks now due to the swine flu fear. Monday school is scheduled to return to normal and classes resume. We're really lucky during this time to have a house full of friends and family to keep us occupied. The restaurants all reopened today and we all celebrated with tacos.
So we've been eating in...and we've been challenging each other with dinner menus. Nick and I did fresh pasta in tomato basil cream sauce with arrachera steak and homemade mango sorbet. Astrid and Kari made a yummy salad with mango and peppers and cilantro, cheese tostadas and homemade pico de gallo topped off with pink princess punch, cookies and ice cream. Last night Kirsten made a papaya and lime salad, beans and rice, and a huge green salad and roasted chicken. Tonight? I see pasta and cilantro pesto, banana cream pie and fish tacos being made by Steve, Amen and Heather...hummmm I haven't minded the closures at all!!!

Chicaschedas

A most favorite quote of mine...

Who knows how to make love stay?

1. Tell love you are going to Junior's Deli on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn to pick up a cheesecake, and if loves stays, it can have half. It will stay.

2. Tell love you want a momento of it and obtain a lock of its hair. Burn the hair in a dime-store incense burner with yin/yang symbols on three sides. Face southwest. Talk fast over the burning hair in a convincingly exotic language. Remove the ashes of the burnt hair and use them to paint a moustache on your face. Find love. Tell it you are someone new. It will stay.

3. Wake love up in the middle of the night. Tell it the world is on fire. Dash to the bedroom window and pee out of it. Casually return to bed and assure love that everything is going to be all right. Fall asleep. Love will be there in the morning."
— Tom Robbins (Still Life with Woodpecker)

Nothing says teacher's week like....

School in session for only 6 days this month?
Swine-y.

New kitten!

.

Winky is our newest rescued kitten.

Someone supposedly threw her into the river and that is how her little arm got broken. See look, you want to rescue her too! She gets her cast off on Saturday. Astrid, Miller and Jazz will be on hand to watch I imagine, as they all volunteer at Sayulita Animals, the local non profit clinic. Then a couple more days to strengthen up and home to the menagerie!

Nick and I have a wonderful new deal.
I won't mention the non stop surfing obsession and he won't mention the plethora of fuzzy critters.
That's why we can celebrate a 12 year anniversary next month, eh?