Reducing Your Carbon Footprint

Hey Ya'all,

I've had a wonderful morning and wanted to jot down a few thoughts before heading out to the bibliotecha and lunch. Don't worry, I'll bring my camera with me...and use it.


Jerry and I love to have lazy mornings drinking coffee on the lanai...we drink this wonderful Colombian coffee named OMA. It's smooth and creamy and delicious! As we sit there - me journaling or reading my "How to speak Spanish" books and Jerry reading the paper (I say that loosely because it's in Spanish) - we like to watch the birds and plants and sky. 

This morning I brought my mini quilts downstairs to work on while I was having my second cuppa. Here they are upstairs a couple nights ago.

As I was beading one of my mini quilts this morning, I got sidetracked because I have this container of beads that aren't sorted. OMG - NOT sorted!!! 

Norma will understand.

I haven't beaded a lot in the last couple years so it hasn't bugged me (too much) (the unsorted part) but I decided to trot upstairs and bring down my box of empty containers just waiting for something to be put in them. And then, guess what? 

I sorted beads. 

See those little tubes of beads? I  put them in there. And that tin top with the beads in it is just a fraction of what I still need to sort.

It's not as if I don't have a gazillion things to do to get ready for our trip to the States...finishing the minis being one of them, I just couldn't help myself. I have this compulsion to sort and organize (and I'm afraid Sophia has caught it). 


There is a method to my madness though. I was looking specifically for tiny blue seed beads for that mini quilt laying under the tin top and I just couldn't help myself. I figured if I sorted out some of those in the jumbled up box (not pictured), it'd be easier next time I went looking for just the right thing. As I said, it's a compulsion and I just couldn't help myself.


You do understand...don't you Norma?


So, as I'm sorting beads, Jerry is talking about the hummingbird feeder he made and wondering why it isn't working. (He has a lot of time on his hands). I told him I'd looked online (after he made that first one) and found some videos that showed how to make them and offered to pull them up for him. 

That was the end of my bead sorting for now. Thank goodness. I don't know why I said that because I really enjoy doing it. It just makes me feel a little crazy. I'm sure Norma will get it.


So, upstairs I went again...(because the computer's up here) and pulled up hummingbird videos for Jerry.


Did I ever tell you how I ended up in a cast the second week we were here in Colombia? I was walking to Hillary's house and as I strolled along under a bower of bougainvillea and yellow trumpet bushes (they were big), I noticed hummingbirds drinking nectar from them. I love hummingbirds. So, of course I was looking up and walked right off the sidewalk into what I thought was a hole and sprained my foot. Doc said it was a hairline fracture but I'm ignoring that.

Anyway, I digress.


He got busy making his bird feeder while I got out the paint stuff he needed to make it attractive to those little beauties. And...as many of you already know, I have another compulsion. 

I can't throw away paint. So, when he finished with the red (that's the main color they say hummers are lured in by), I of course, had to use up what was left in the tray.

After adding red stripes to the borders of my mini quilts, I laid out some of my wonder undered bits and pieces and got out a bag of rubber stamps. Uh - which I'd sorted yesterday when I was thinking about using one of them for my business/contact cards.

Here's how they turned out...

Anyway, here's what those pieces look like after stamping...

And if you look down to the blog entitled 'Bohemianism' you'll see some of them after I painted the last layer. I love to layer. As Sue Benner says, 

"Layer, Layer, Layer".

Here's a muddled picture of the first stamp I used...

 And the second stamp, which I made under the tutelage of a very dear lady named Dorothy who could teach us ALL - even the Colombians - how to make something out of nothing.

 I also used the following stamp without even knowing what it was until I'd stamped it a few times. After I figured out that it was a star container holding Christmas ornaments (is that what you see cuz I'm still not positive) (yard sale find), I stamped it onto paper, cut it out and glued the pix on the stamp so hopefully, I'll know next time.

BTW, Be sure to clean your rubber stamps as you go when using paint or else it'll dry on there and get really nasty. I found this pad at a yard sale and love it. 

I put a little of the cleaner on one side and rinse water on the other. Then, any time I put the stamp down, I set it on the damp surface and it keeps the paint from drying. You can use damp baby wipes for this too and then incorporate them into your projects.

Now my little tray of what used to hold the red paint is about dried up so I spray a little water on it and just paint something that needs another layer. The brush(es) still hold lots of paint.

Then I like to spritz again and just dump whatever drips there are onto a piece of fabric that needs over-dyeing and hold it up and let the rivulets go where they will.

Not finished yet. After washing out my brushes in a container with a small amount of water, I'll sop it all up with another piece of fabric or paper that needs some color. 

If I've been using the stamp cleaning pad, and the colors aren't muddy, I like to spritz that too and dump it on the next thing I get my hands on that needs a face lift.

Then, and only then, will I take my brushes and containers down to wash them in the outside sink which is next to the washing machine which you can just barely see part of  through my jalosied, gated, window...

That's the view from my upstairs dressing room because I was too lazy to go back up to get the camera to take a picture of my awesome outside sink when I went down to clean brushes. 

And I feel great about making those little pieces of fabric that are much more interesting and sometimes downright pretty...AND,  I'm doing my part to keep my environment clean. 

I think they call that reducing your carbon footprint.

Tonya's Birthday!

My niece is celebrating her birthday today in Virgina.

Happy Birthday Tonya!!!!!

Tonya was born in South Carolina and then moved to Biloxi, Mississippi for a couple years before my sister and her hubby divorced - at which time she moved to Virginia. Back in with mom and dad. Good Old Mom and Dad!

I was a young teenager and fell in love with this little 2 (or was it 3) year old. I babysat Tonya every afternoon and weekend while my sister worked and it got to where we were together so much, she called me mommy. I always said she was my first baby. And everybody says she's just like me. Poor thing. I say if she's like me, she's a much better version of it.  

Isn't she gorgeous?!? She has a big heart and she's full of fun and mischief and everybody loves her.

It was taking me forever to look for a good, current picture of her in my 24,500 or so pictures so I gave up and copied the one above from her facebook page. 

I love technology. I'm a bit of a dinosaur but this world wide web thing is just awesome and I have to say it again...it feels so good to be connected again after the last three weeks of little or no internet. 

We really haven't done anything exciting lately. I had planned to go to the US Consular Agency here in Barranquilla today but then found out they close at noon every day. 

We need to let them know we're here and just have a few questions to ask about this and that. I really want to find out if there is a group of Americans that meet anywhere in the city. 


A few years ago, we were at a New Year's Eve party in Miami with much of Pedro's family and one of his cousins has an American wife, Doris. She told us that when she lived here, she found a group of American women that provided a much needed link to home. They met on a regular basis and from Doris's point of view it was important that we find something similiar. So far, no luck. 

I've asked around quite a bit but no one knows of any such group(s) so I'll find out at the Consulate if they know of any. I can't wait to go to that part of town and take pictures because it's an area that IF I've been to, I didn't know it. 


Speaking of pictures...

Very often, just before sunset, the sky turns a yellow/pink color that I haven't been able to capture yet. When I saw the light the other day I ran out front and took some shots of and around the house. 

That one is of Jerry acting goofy. You can't see them too good but he has on SANDALS. I've never know him, in our 32+ years together, to wear - or even own sandals. He decided one day last month that he wanted something that was easy to slip on and off and that could get wet. (He's the one that waters the plants). If you really want to see his feet, you can click on the picture and it'll get big. 

This one is of our little garden out front facing our neighbor to the southwest...

I still need to paint those gray pots, but like the walls out back around our lanai, I'm waiting until rainy season is over. 


I swanee, you can be outside in bright beautiful sunshine one minute and within seconds, a huge dark cloud has the whole neighborhood covered. 

If you ever want to see the wind direction you can always tell by the clouds because they move so fast. That's good for us. Breezy weather is our friend. I have seen very few still days. 


Oh, and here's a pix (taken that same yellow/pink evening)of one of the vendor's that goes by the house. 

He sells pig skins in those bags hanging off his cart and I'm not sure what else. I'll have to stop him next time I see him and find out what else he sells and give him a copy of the picture - even if it did turn out blurry. 

He enjoyed waving for the camera but didn't slow down one whit. His contraption is built on a bicycle so he doesn't have to walk but he's going uphill and believe me...it's easier.


Here's another one of Jerry, who has just finished building Sophia a sailboat, which she asked for. And of course, What Sophia Wants...Sophia Gets. (Sing it to the tune of What Lolita Wants...) (Wasn't that the name in the song?!? I googled it but didn't see the results I was looking for)

Anyway, that really cool sailboat lasted for about 3 seconds but they had a good time building it. It was a rare and auspicious occasion for Jerry to visit the playroom.

And...I got a picture of the Whistler in the middle of the night last week. Here he is on his lonely trek through up our street...

And this...is the recycle guy...

Have I told you how great the Colombians are about recycling? They use up everything. Nothing is wasted and I totally love it. I've always lived frugally and respect and admire that they are so conservative with their resources.


OK - just one more thing and I've gotta go. 


Here's a picture of the result I got from another one of the techniques from Beryl Taylor's book, Mixed Media Explorations. 

As instructed, I cut strips of watercolor paper and sewed them together with free motion stitch. I didn't take a  picture of that step so use your imagination. You could use anything for that layer but that's what Beryl called for so that's what I used. 

Then, I wonder undered a piece of sheer fabric (might be chiffon) to the stitched watercolor paper.

Next, I took Jones Tones puff paint and pushed it through a stencil onto the sheer fabric.


After that, I got to play with the heat gun and it's really a blast to watch that paint puff up. I didn't mean to burn / melt the fabric but since it happened in one spot, I burned it in other places as well. You know...Art Happens. 

This is one project I'll definitely do again. I loved it. 


There might be instructions in the book to go over the raised edges with gold paste or wax, which I'll possibly do the next time this piece reaches the surface of the bin it's buried in. Or not.

It's one of the techniques I used a couple years ago on this quilt...

The above piece is called Mending Wall. I used the puff paint in a different way on this one but it was just as much fun. You gotta get some of that stuff. And, me, I've gotta get busy and use mine up.


Next time I add a post I'll show you the technique that I loved the most from Beryl's book. Gotta go play.


Later alligator!

Bohemianism

Wow! I just started typing my blog address and hit 'go' before highlighting the correct page and here's what came up in Wikipedia...It kinda, sorta describes me to a T... 

Bohemianism is the practice of an unconventional lifestyle, often in the company of like-minded people, involving musical, artistic or literary pursuits, with few permanent ties. Bohemians can be wanderers, adventurers, or vagabonds.

The term bohemian, of French origin, was first used in the English language in the nineteenth century^[1] to describe the non-traditional lifestyles of marginalised and impoverished artists, writers, journalists, musicians, and actors in major European cities. Bohemians were associated with unorthodox or anti-establishment political or social viewpoints, which were often expressed through free love, frugality, and/or voluntary poverty.

The term emerged in France in the early 19th century when artists and creators began to concentrate in the lower-rent, lower class gypsy neighborhoods. The term bohémien was a common term for the Romani people of France, who had reached Western Europe via Bohemia.^[2]

<sup>It's really funny to me that people told me all my life that I was bohemian and I never really knew what it meant. I did relate it to the starving, free spirited, art lifestyle but didn't necessarily see myself in that light. But in reading the above exerpt, it really does kinda fit me. What do you think?!? 


Early in life, I had gotten to where I called myself a gypsy because I'm always the one to instigate moving and we've moved a lot. I'm sure if it'd been up to Jerry, we'd still be in Yorktown, Virginia - where we met, married and birthed our two chilluns - which wouldn't be bad, but then I would have missed all those wonderful people, places and adventures along the way. 

And BTW, Jerry's last name, Wade, which has been mine now for 32 years as of this September 9th, means "Wanderer". Betcha didn't know that.


So, it was meant to be. I'm living my destiny if not my dreams. And...bohemian life IS good.


Now if only I could eat candy, cookies and chips without gaining weight, compromising my health or rotting my teeth. (What does that have to do with Bohemia)?!?


So...our last venture out into the city of Barranquilla was to stop at TelMex, our local phone/internet/fios provider, and Complain. I speak just enough Spanish now, that I was able to get my message across loud and clear. I did keep a smile on my face because I was afraid they would just cut me off and I'd never have service of any kind from here on out. That's the way many of the Colombians, not all, do business here. If you push or fuss too much - that's it. You're out of the system. Too bad, so sad, no internet connection for you.

We did enlist the help of a very kind, muy amable, gentleman, John Imitrola, who has been working our neighborhood to sell telephone landline service for TelMex. We had met and talked with him a couple times previously when he rang the doorbell with his cold calling. He made the mistake of waving to me when I was on the balcony last Saturday and I hauled him up into the house to let him know I'd buy telephone service when they got the internet working. (It had gone from intermittant to nada). He called the company for me and raised hell. (He's allowed since he's an employee). They promised him they'd be here Sunday afternoon, which didn't happen, but he did call again for us on Monday, just mere hours before we arrived at la oficina to Complain. 


Lo and behold, a TelMex technician came on Tuesday morning and fixed it! Fixed! He had to tighten every spot that needed tightening in the house and on the pole outside (the same pole that caused our electric to mess up last month) but we feel confident that he did it right and I'm a happy camper.</sup>

<sup>This is our electrician, Christian, on said pole (taken last month when we only had half of the electric working in the house).



And BTW...I asked -in Spanish- for a discount at the TelMex office since we hadn't received service and got almost the whole amount owed knocked off  our bill (for TV and internet). Cool, huh?!? And Pedro got off the hook.


I love not having to bug him (Pedro) for every little thing. He doesn't mind and will do anything we ask but I know and you know it's a pain. He's a good son-in-law. He's in Bogota this week. Lucky him.


I've been working on my mini quilts again. I'd gotten to a point where I was just pissy enough not to go into the playroom for 3 days (because I was pouting about the internet problem) and finally got over it and started playing again. I added paint to the borders of these mini's and used up the left over paint on the fabrics hanging in the picture below it.</sup>

^{I was inspired by my wascly wittle wabbit...}

<sup>Yep. That's Sophia. Even though it's blurry, I was lucky to get this shot because it only lasted a fraction of a second and those glasses were off again.


Anyway, she just bounds up the stairs when she comes over and gets right into making art. She usually heads for the glue shelf and tries to pilfer a tube along the way to her own special spot - but I always catch her and sometimes she wins and other times I do. 

She is the only other person I know that loves glue. If you look at my post "It's A Brand New Day-A-A-Hay" below you'll see the project that started this addiction. 

I probably have 60-70 (I stopped counting just now at 30) bottles/tubes of gel, glaze, paste, glue, additives, etc that I need to use up before it dries up and she is happily helping me achieve that goal.


And yes, I did sniff glue ONCE, about a million years ago with great trepidation and fear and have never wanted to do it again. What an instant, horrible headache. Now you know what's wrong with me. 


Partly.


But I digress.


Back to the first of the week. We walked to the end of the block after talking and smiling to the TelMex people last Monday and there, on the corner, was this little art shop. It's called DisenArte and the owner is a graphics artist with really colorful, wonderful everything in her shop. 


They have classes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday each week and I can't wait to go the the class they're giving on Friday which is called "Resina". 

I didn't see an example of the actual finished product but I've wanted to play with resin for years and here's my chance. I'll take pix and let you know how it goes. I bought a picture there of a hand giving the peace sign which I'll post later too.


Speaking of pictures...did I ever show you the view from the end of my street?</sup>

<sup>Well actually, this is around the corner to the end of the street. A two or three minute bicycle ride from the house, but we have close to the same view just a 30 second walk away. It's the Western edge of the city and it's always, always beautiful. 


On the other hand, there are parts of the city that aren't as beautiful in the same sense but fascinating nonetheless.</sup> 

^{The above picture was taken while we were walking from the Centro Colombo Americano Bibliotecha which is just close enough to down downtown to be a little scary. There's a mall at the end of the street that we were headed to. We don't like malls as a rule, but it has a decent food court where we can get typical Colombian food and sit in the AC for awhile. 
  
OK - gotta get busy beading those mini quilts pictured above. (I have fallen in love again with hand work). It's that Beryl Taylor again. :)}

Poor, Poor, Pitiful Me - Or Not

I wrote that last post on Sunday night during the 1 1/2 hours we were connected but just posted it now because again...no internet. It's getting frustrating. And my Sophia is sick with a cold and fever. And I've got a cold. And that's not the way to attract good things so I'm gonna shut up.

My last picture from Sunday (last post) is of my play room, a place I love to be - where I can listen to music and make art to my heart's content. 

I have two very dear friends that live in the Tampa Bay area and I miss them horribly.We got together every month (at least) (before I moved) to have a play day. 

Back before Christmas, we made crowns (we are of course, Queens) (or at least Princesses) which we started at Davida's house and finished at Trish's where her wonderful hubby, Gary, took this picture.

I like to wear my crown when I'm in the play room because it just feels good. And, it makes me think of my buds whom I miss so much. I have to admit though, that there are times I feel a little foolish wearing it - like when I go out on the balcony to hang artwork to dry and there are 14 people passing by on the sidewalks looking at me. Gringo loco. I can just hear them thinking that. Or at night, when the light is on, I was pretty sure you could look into my windows from the street and see me where I'm working  so I took this picture the other night and yes...now I know that all those people passing by can definitely see me up there. 

But, I don't CARE. Much. I will though, limit my dancing to the back of the room.

I worked some more on the wallpaper technique from Beryl Taylor's book, Mixed Media Explorations. A couple posts ago, I'd loaded a couple pictures and then realized I wasn't finished yet. (Have you noticed I'm not real good at following instructions)? The last step was to add foil, which I did and here's what the finished (for now) pieces look like...

I

I like them both - a lot - but my "Let it Be" script is pretty much gone. And, when I peeled off the foil, it brought some of the wallpaper with it which left a few white spots but I just went back and touched them up with a bit of paint. May be that if I hadn't used textured wallpaper I wouldn't have had that problem. These pages will probably sit in my 'special' bin of surface designed fabrics and papers for awhile before I figure out what to do with them.


Down in the "Create Your Life" post, I showed you a picture of this quilt...(the one hanging on the gate balcony door)...

As you can see, I cut lots of strips of fabric to make this piece. (Beryl had me in a stripping mood) (Thank goodness they couldn't see that from the street). 

Again, I got out my special fabrics and specifically, those with Wonder Under already on them. I save every little bitty piece of it and will eventually stick it somewhere. 

After I finished what I'm going to do with this quilt - for now - I had a bunch of strips of fabric left over and didn't want to mess with putting them away so I decided to make some mini pieces and challenged myself to use only the left over strips. Here's what came of that project...

Don'tcha just love them?!? I had so much fun putting these together that you can't even imagine it. They're small - the longest one being about 8 x 15 inches so you can imagine how small the pieces were that I used. I love doing that! Using up all those little scraps and bits just makes me happy. I've free motion stitched a little bit on them but am no where near finished yet. Here's what some of them looked like before I started free motion stitching -

 
The thread work makes a big difference. I worked on them awhile today but stopped when a big horrible thunder storm came over the house. It knocked the electricity out for a couple hours and when it came back on, VOILA! I have internet. It might be the modem.

So. I have to tell you about our shopping experience yesterday. Jerry and I have been saying we're going to buy Sophia a pair of shoes for a month now and when she was at our house yesterday morning, we decided that it was the day to go shopping for them. 


We waited for Hillary to get home and then went to a mall called Junico and in the first store, we found a couple really cute pairs of shoes. When the sales lady tried to put one of them on Sophia's foot, she forced it a little (it was a tennis shoe) and that was the end of shoe shopping.


We left that store and went to the next, and the next, and the next, and the next...all to NO avail. Sophia repeated "I want my pink shoes", "I want my pink shoes" "I want my pink shoes"!!!! about 2 gazillion times. Here she is, shopping for lingerie, with her pink shoes on.

She would fuss and fume and kick and scream every time we tried to put another shoe on her foot and eventually every time we even tried to show her one. I explained to her that women needed at least ten pair of shoes in their closet and that this was good training for her but she just didn't want to get with the program.


So, we went to another mall with a better food court and had some lunch...thinking that would improve her shopping experience...and ours. After looking in every shoe shop there and with only one shoe store to go, she finally, FINALLY, saw a pair of shoes that she was willing to try on. 

I'd told her earlier that if she'd get a new pair of shoes, I could take her pink shoes to my house and fix them (because they're getting a little ragged). She must have remembered me saying that (I'd forgotten) because, while in this last store, she asked me if I'd fix her pink shoes. I assured her I would and lo and behold, the sales clerk brought out a pair of tennys with princesses on them and hearts that light up with every step. We scored!

She was delighted, and allowed us to put them on her feet (me on one side, Hillary on the other) and Mommy says she hasn't hardly taken them off since she got home yesterday! 


Here is a picture of her as we were leaving the mall...

I don't even want to think about what that fist was all about.

Wondering What / Who The Whistler Is?!?

We live in a neighborhood called Los Nogales which is the name of a tree that grows abundantly in this area. Almost every house has an iron gate around it for protection and some have private security guards. In the really rich neighborhoods, there are guards with machine guns. Pretty freaky.

Anywho, in our barrio, we have a neighborhood security guard who does not have a machine gun. At least not that I can see. Each house that chooses to...pays him 30,000 pesos (that's about $15) per month to walk up and down and around the block all night long watching out for us. There are bad guys here. 

When we first moved to Barranquilla, we put a window unit air conditioner in the downstairs bedroom and blew up our air mattress and slept in the cool (until we got our first electric bill). But that's another story.

Every now and then I'd wake up to the sound of an exotic bird outside and finally said something to Jerry about it. He, of course, hadn't heard a thing with the AC running non-stop and didn't know what I was talking about...until we got that electric bill and a new bed the next week and moved upstairs to our UN air conditioned bedroom. Then, with the open windows, he could hear the bird too. 


You don't know how many times that week I heard, "I'm gonna shoot that &$#%^& bird if I ever get the chance". 


One night I heard it right outside our window and jumped out of bed to see if I could see it - but the only thing I saw was a man in a blue uniform walking up the street. He came to the crossroads, walked down 2-3 houses, turned around and came back. When he turned around I was sure he had heard the bird too because it had just whistled and I figured he was looking for it just like I was.

Then to my amazement, I saw him put a whistle in his mouth and realized HE was the bird. 

After I had a good laugh, I woke Jerry up to tell him I'd found the bird and he should load his shotgun. :)


So anywho, last night when I was finishing up my blog post, I mentioned that it was time for bed because I'd heard the Whistler which meant it was getting late. He starts making the rounds at about 11pm and I'll try to get a picture of him to show you.


Speaking of pictures...As I mentioned in my last post, Bogota, the capital city of Colombia, is only 428 miles south of us but because it's in the mountains (the altitude is higher than that of Denver) it's always rather cool - if not downright cold. The temperature rarely goes above 70 or below 40 and it's the same year round. If I'm wrong about this please leave a comment.

Yep - those are the mountains straight ahead.


Because of the weather (it drizzles a lot), there are flowers everywhere. Beautiful. lush, colorful, abundant flowers. The grass and trees are green and it's a truly gorgeous city.

Also because of the weather, people have energy and you can feel it in the air. After getting over the shock of being cold, I loved, l-o-v-e-d having and feeling that energy.

This next picture is of the inclined plane we rode up on to the top of the mountain to see Monserrate, a beautiful church in a heavenly setting.

Here's a pix of Monserrate from the base of the hill.

And here's a view of the city from the church looking down. (Yes of course we went up to see it).

Sophia took it all in stride and was right at home there. 

We all loved Bogota and I can't wait to go back BUT...on our second night there, Jerry and I looked at each other and said at the same time, "It'll be sooo good to go home".


Barranquilla, with all of it's heat, humidity and mosquitos is becoming home to us and it's really wonderful to be able to share it with you. But I miss the USA like you wouldn't believe.


OK - so after getting back home I did those alligator quilties that I wrote about here a couple weeks ago. This is what my studio looked like back then...

I've fine-tuned it a little since then, but it's crowded and messy looking, even though it's a huge room. I don't know how I had all of this stuff in the house we lived in in Tampa! 

That yellow chair is the one Sophia sits in when she works on a project. The table under the quilts is glass so we can make any kind of mess on it and not worry too much about cleaning it up.

Connected

Wow! My internet has been up and running for at least 3 hours today! I'm so excited!

Jerry and I spent the morning being lazy and enjoying FOX news before taking off on another adventure. We hailed a taxi a couple blocks from the house and headed out to shop for groceries. 

When we arrived at Villa Country (a small outdoor mall), there was a sidewalk sale going on which delighted me and made Jerry wish he'd stayed home but he found a comfy pair of shoes for 10,000 pesos which translates to about $5 and got happy. 

I saw a little oilcloth bag with a Picasso like painting on it that I loved and after saying no to the price they were asking, we did our shopping. Walking back by a couple hours later, the salesgirl saw me and called me over to say she still had the bag and would come down on the price that I'd offered earlier. So, I got my $5 deal too!

We also found a really cool surprise for Sophia but I can't say anything about it because Hillary (her mom) (my daughter) informed us that she didn't want us buying anything else for her. I know it's bad but we couldn't help it. Once the cat's out of the bag, I'll show you a picture of it. It's way cool.


Speaking of pictures, here's one that I took from the Coco Beach Club.

The restaurant/bar is on a roof top on the Northern tip of the city. It's a very relaxing place with good music and beautiful views. By the time we were ready to leave, the place was hoppin.  If you could see past all of those buildings, my house is about smack dab in the middle of the picture. Behind me is the Caribbean and a beautiful sunset.

Here's a picture from another roof top experience:

Jerry and I went to the top of the Hotel Dan Carlton and ate at...would you believe...Tony Roma's?!? It's a rotating restaurant with good food, great music and was a really fun experience. I can't wait to go back again at sunset to get pictures of Barranquilla at night. 


Anywho, the picture above is a view from the restaurant facing East. You can see the Magdalena River in the background which borders Barranquilla all the way down the East Side of the city.

Villa Country, where we went shopping today, is in the middle of those high rise buildings way back over there. It's a beautiful area but unfortunately the streets turn into arroyos when it rains.

Here we are before eating our ribs and baked potatos...

This next picture was taken, on a different day, in the midst of those skyscrapers that you see in the shot above:

We love seeing the donkeys and horses pulling carts throughout the city. We see them on a daily basis in our neighborhood and have bought many items from the street vendors - including plants. (See "Oh Happy Day" below). This fellow was hamming it up for the camera so I had to add his picture to the blog.

OK - just one more picture and then I'm headed to bed. We went to Bogota, 428 miles south of here and the capital of Colombia, for a long weekend in July and there was graffiti everywhere. The city allows and encourages the population to paint on the walls, and I took about 100 pictures of graffiti; mostly from the window of a taxi or bus. I have to get back there on foot and do them justice by taking better pictures. I hope a quilt will come of it. Here is one of my favorites:

Welp, the Whistler just went by so it's definitely bedtime.


Create your life.