Jul 14, 2011
Today is the big date I have been anticipating. I am checking into the hospital at 6AM for surgery at about 8AM. I should be home in a few days. Meanwhile any enquiries can be directed to Colin via email shown at the top right on this page.
….what a gorgeous full moon out there….a great omen I think!
Jul 13, 2011
..this puts a whole new meaning in the word green. The following article was written by Maureen Dietrich for the Mazatlan Messenger on June 11, 2011.
What makes this special is that it happened and is happening on the Isla, Stone Island, where we winter.
House Constructed of Plastic Bottles Gets Thumbs Up
For four months Flor de Liz Mayo López, a member of the Ejiditarios of Stone Island, collected plastic bottles from garbage bins, the beach and neighbours with a particular idea in mind. She was going to build a house with them.
Yesterday, she and her two sons happily showed off their new lime green sand-filled plastic bottle home to members of the State Secretary of Social Development (Sedesol) and municipal director of social services, Héctor Peña Tamayo.
The construction, said Peña Tamayo, of the home of Señora Mayo López and two of her neighbours each with an area of 4×4 square meters, by 2.7 meters high, required 6,000 free plastic bottles and approximately 40,000 pesos in additional building supplies.
Carlos Castañeda Valenzuela of Sedesol applauded the initiative, the first of its kind in the State of Sinaloa, and promised assistance for another 12 families on the island who are collecting bottles for their own unique home.
The project, Peña Tomayo told media, was begun in an effort to eliminate unstable homes made of laminate which dot the island.
Said an enthusiastic Castañeda Valenzula, the building materials not only help the environment but as well provide a comfortable home and a buffer against climate change. Beginning tomorrow he promised to apply for a budget to build more of the plastic bottle homes in Mazatlán and other communities.
Lime green and environmentally friendly, Flor de Liz's plastic bottle home.
What is really and truly amazing is that Mary Kay Ray who lives on the Isla posted on her June 9th blog about possibly building a community centre on the Isla out of plastic & glass bottles. This was 2 days before the article came out on the plastic bottle house on the Isla. A reader sent her the following link on how schools were being built in Guatamala. http://www.care2.com/causes/building-schools-with-recycled-plastic-bottles.html
I don’t believe that Mary evens knows about these homes. She in currently on a road trip but you can be sure I will be getting in touch with her ASAP.
I can hardly wait to get there and become involved. What a great project.
Jul 12, 2011
I wonder if one day she is going to catch this critter.
The other day she let us know that the chipmunk was 'right there'! Do you see how her tongue is all curled up in anticipation?
So we looked out the window and sure enough there it was...just below our window on the neighbours garden toad stool.
When the window is open I have to really watch her to be sure she doesn't go thru the screen in her attempt to catch the critter.
Yes she is cute in the photos but she was not so cute keeping us up all night Sunday. She was sick, poor thing, coming out both ends. It was hard on all of us but especially Colin who left at 6AM for Osoyoos on just under 2 hours sleep. Everyone is back to normal today. I’m off to Kelowna for a few errands including dropping off the completed passport applications. Have a wonderful day everyone.
Jul 11, 2011
….just as I was taking shots from down below, Colin was shooting from the plane.
Just a small section of the wonderful place we live in.
I have to thank Colin for taking these photos & as well for highlighting our two properties. Now you can see how easy it is for us to say to the girls "go to the beach" or "go home". As you can see our park home is on a huge site, with three rv's right behind us. The lot in the middle at the top is for sale, the house will be moved very shortly. Robert & Michele are on the right with the green umbrella and awning.
My next learning curve may be photoshop! I had no idea this could be done.
One day we will sell our park home and design a new one on this beach site. We are waiting for the market to pick up before selling unless you or someone you know are interested!! The one in blue with the arms up is my neighbour Donna and I am in front of her taking a photo of Colin's plane while he photographs me. What a team we make!
Jul 10, 2011
Last Tuesday, July 5th we were greeted early morning by a hot air balloon gliding towards the lake. A beautiful start to a perfect day.
You can barely make out the tiny yellow balloon just to the left above the trees. Colin had taken a few shots for me but they have become lost in cyber space.
Thanks to Robert I can show you this. So nice to have an alternate photographer just down the road.
Then Colin was off and running. I can’t even remember how many jobs he was doing this day but I did pack breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner to go. I know he didn’t bet back till after midnight. This is a typical good weather day for him in the photography world. I think my husband must have been missing me because he called and left me a voice message. Unfortunately I was on another line talking to my Dad so did not get Colin’s message for a few moments. I had to listen to it twice. Once because of the background noise and a second time to make sure I understood what the message was. Too bad you weren’t here Dad, you would have loved what came next.
The message said something to the effect that he was doing aerials in a float plane and would fly over.
So I rushed out and tried to capture a few shots on my point and shoot. Soon I realized that he was about to do a second flypass. I decided to get my semi pro neighbour involved but he wasn’t responding. Turns out Robert was on the phone with a business situation. Meanwhile our other neighbour Dave got ready to take some photos. I tell you I had all these shots being submitted for publication. The rest of the people on the street were starting to come over, what the heck is going on? “The plane, the plane, it’s Colin I said”, fantasy island style!
...and then it happened, the plane landed!
At this point I am going, I need a better camera so I ran over to Robert's where I discovered he was on the phone. I took this shot from his place.
Then I must have taken this one. I only this because the shots are sequentially numbered. Too much happening, way too fast for me.
As her husband was still on the phone, Michele grabbed his professional Canon and shot this. Amazing photo!
While Michele shot this one I was running back to our site and missed all the close ups. That is Colin in the coral shirt. Great shots Michele. You are hired!!
By then the pilot was turning the plane around and planning to take off. Lake landings don’t come cheap! I was and still am so upset that I missed the close ups. Meanwhile Colin ( as he told me later ) was wondering where I was, he says he saw all these different people on our beach site but not me. No, I was just trying to rush between sites. Big massive ‘sigh’!
Merci Robert for this shot.
I got back to our site to wave a distant adios mi amore. It was fun!