Hasta Luego

Doesn't "hasta luego" (literally "until later") sound better than "good bye?"  We hope to see you again soon. Meanwhile, it was a nice dinner at Princesa Marina with my favorite Spanish tutor Pablo and his mom and dad, Esmarelda y Gerardo. When we met Pablo, he was a little kid. Now he's 17 and getting ready to go to University.

Saying Good Bye

With great sadness, we said Good Bye to SarahJoy & Julio and the amazing Gabriel last night. It's way too soon to  be saying Good  Byes, but they leave today for my wonderful San Juan Island (which by coincidence is SJ's, too), and by the time they get home, we will be gone! We will miss you guys. Come see us in Peru!

Make Room for our stuff...

To edge Further South ...
 we need to get rid of some of our "stuff", so we will be having a studio/garage sale soon. That means that I have to "move out" for a while and make room for a lot of junk. Oh, I sorry I meant to say "previously owned items" of great value.

I may get in a few more painting before I close shop. I really don't need much room to paint. Just a drop cloth and 4 sq. ft of floor space close to an electrical outlet.

Shipwreck at Sunset

Laurie writes: So I snuck out into the studio to see what the artist has been up to this afternoon and discovered this great new piece of "wearable art," otherwise sometimes known as an original hand-painted tee-shirt by Gene. Great colors and design, yes? I told him to quit and leave it alone already! What is it about artists that they insist of doing things to their creations after they are finished? So far he has listened to me. He had better not sneak back out there to mess with it!

Lunch at Azafran

Laurie writes: Had a great time with friends at lunch today. We ate at a little outdoor cafe at the mall called Azafran, which is Spanish for Saffron. While chatting online with a friend about our lunch, it occurred to me to do a bit of research about Saffron, the most expensive spice in the world. It is actually the "stigmas" (little thread-like things in the center of the blossom) of the crocus flower. There are 3 stigmas in each flower and 225,000 stigmas are required to produce one pound of saffron. These stigmas must be hand-picked, which is why the result is the most expensive spice around! Fortunately only a very tiny amount is needed in most dishes, since it has a strong flavor. Its most common use is as the coloring in yellow rice. Most saffron is grown in Spain, where it is the main seasoning (and coloring) in paella.

Art About to Happen?

Laurie writes:  Hmmm...   I just walked through the studio and discovered this Tee-shirt sitting on an easel just waiting to be transformed into a piece of art. I think maybe something is going to happen out there today.

Getting our lists in order...

Gene writes: Laurie sent me a file of what we want in our moving sale. My task was to add sizes, brand names, and descriptions. I think I got most of the items cataloged.
This is a work in process, so there may be other things to be added or subtracted from the list. Then this information will be merged with pictures of the items to be sold.
TheTallGuy
Edging closer...

Celebrations

Laurie writes:  To all our friends and family in the US, we hope you are having a great time this Independence Day, filled with parades and music and fireworks and friends and family around you. We are thinking we should call our friends Madelle and Larry to see if they will let us listen in over Skype while they read the Declaration of Independence aloud to each other. I wonder how many other of you loyal Americans are participating in such a heart-warming activity today!
Now that it appears certain that I have survived my body-smashing cold, we've had a wonderful week. A brand new Italian restaurant for lunch with friends on Wednesday. In my favorite town Santo Domingo, no less, a great new discovery by Jon on one of his walks. We definitely want to go there again. Saturday I actually made it to my Conversation Group, following a nice casual lunch with Friends G & S. And today, a bagel brunch at Bagelmans with Emma and Jon and G (who doesn't like to be mentioned by name on the Internet). Nice mall walk after lunch with Gene, who has been loyal about doing his long walk every single day, down our hill to the mall and then circumventing the mall a couple of times to make at least a mile walk.
  It's 3:30 in the afternoon and it hasn't even started raining yet. I'm working on a web site to advertise the things we will offer for sale before the upcoming big move to Peru. And then maybe I'll do some work on Gene's art store website. Or on second thought, maybe I'll land on the couch with the new book that Jon just lent me!
  Happy 4th to all my friends up North!