...And IT all started as a simple search for empanadas...

...In this most civilized city of Buenos Aires

Reminds me of Paris

The people...The architecture...the coffee!

My Husband was meeting with the Emir of Dubai for business

or

maybe it was just a guy from Mendoza...

So...I struck out into this fair city in search of an empanada.

simple task... No?

I heard the banging of the drums and the honking of the horns as a demonstration
was forming...and closing down the avenue
around me.
I was just looking for empanadas...remember?

Vying for a better look...and asking the marchers what their voice was...

I was assumed to be media with big camera clicking away
and was pushed to the front
for better coverage

then...uno policia...

..A few more

Then a strong line...keeping the peace?

I never quite understood the plea...Working on my spanish...

But...by gum...I was right there with them!

I found my empanadas in a tiny corner shop...

They were worth the march...
each flaky, tender morsel.
As I lunched on them back in the hotel

...with some champagne...just a bit.
hey...it was on the house!

Vive la democracia!

Vive la empanada!

...and it all started with a parade at dusk...

Really.Just For us.
or so we thought
In the languid, steamy colonial town
of Olinda Brazil.
Touching the equator
or so it felt

Even the dogs were immobile in the afternoon
heat.
speed bumps

The pace was
slow
sleepy

Color in this laid back town
was less than shy.

And now 8 hours further south
by plane
we land in the just melting spring of
Buenos Aires.
Leather boots, jackets
the energy of a BIG city.

...the adventure continues...
when we can find internet access.

And….They’re off!

Olinda, Brazil…Pousada dos Quatros Cantos

Then...

Hotel del Casco San isidro Argentina

lastly... Buenos Aires…

See ya on the return…have a great few weeks!

we hope too!

Who knew???

Well…I imagine many of you are more hooked in than I…But I just did not know there was a top model home contest going on.

The models homes are finished…the voting is happening now.

Do your part.

Vote.

This one is from a designer from our little town…Jill Shevlin…

Go Jill!

Back to packing.

Really? The truth.

I haven’t even started yet.

~ sigh~

Breathing space…

Photos: Houzz

Breathe in…

Breathe out.

Packing for a looong road trip.Well... plane trip.

I’ll post when if I can.

Miss ya!

Prayer in the form of peanut butter. And chocolate.

Everyone I know who has the disease chooses to live.

Vic chooses to live.

Determined, stately, strong. Spitting at the malevolent face of cancer.

Surviving.

The man with the gentle puddle of soulful blue eyes.

Has the steel of a Vietnam Veteran behind them. A marine.

This propels him. His family propels him. A life-force field.

He lives.

I?

I can cook…I can bake. Yes I can do that.

Peanut butter? Chocolate? Creamy?

Yes. I can do that. Happily…

as a gift of love. As a gift of strength.

I… don’t know close up how this beast preys. How it consumes . how it maligns

But wish

no pray…

That somehow the peanut butter and chocolate will be a magic tincture of good over evil .

The beauty…the therapy…in baking for a friend

is that each added ingredient has meaning…has memory

The mere whisking of ingredients is indeed prayer.

for wholeness.

for health.

for peace.

for hope.

And so I whisk...

Dum spiro… spero

From the Latin: As I breathe…I hope

Make your own Chocolate Peanut Butter prayer from this recipe

Ok…so how does one….

Hang plates on the wall so they look spiffy…not uniform…

probably not showing shiny brass looking hangers???

Hmmm?

Photo: Canadian House and Home

Photo: Cote de Texas/Wheat's home

I ask…because I have some plates…

Have a spot…

kismet!

Now, on another tangent…answer me this…

Don’t you think these raw B&W pics would curl at the edges?

Or do only mine do that?

Photo: Canadian House and Home

Conspiracy?

***Postscript*** we recieved INSTRUCTIONS from Canadian House and Home how to do the photo wall...I love them..Yea them!!!

Walking around the garden on a rainy Saturday afternoon…

I’m always amazed…

looking through the glass of a camera

dreadlock croton, blanchetiana bromeliad

How amazing and perfect this outdoor world is

Bananas

Colors…that you may never think to put together

explode.

Cavendish Banana flower

In perfect symphony

Bamboo palm seeds

I

The greens vary from deep

to lime

sweet potato, pygmy date palm

The pink explosion is resplendent

Bromeliad

phenomenal perfection

blue ginger

Fibonacci in coral...

Pinecone ginger...when cut to bring in for an arrangement it smells so softly of ginger...I love it.

Who knew a rainy Saturday could hold such beauty?

who knew.