Getting to explore locally, though still with plenty of time in the car.

Now that we got all those colossal driving adventures out of our systems, we have enjoyed exploring more locally.  And since yesterday was a love-versary (27 years) and tomorrow is our wedding anniversary (19 years) I thought I'd start with a fun photo of us love birds on a family father's day date in Todos Santos.

Let me go ahead and get Led Zeppelin stuck in your head, too, as I say good times, bad times, you know we've had our share.  Being back in Baja has brought on a deluge of super fun reflections of those early wild + carefree days, as well as some painful memories before we knew what the heck we were doing.  Okay, so we still haven't figured it all out by a long shot, but we've worked hard + I can happily say I have never felt so grateful + full of joy about life + our relationship as I am today.  

Continuing on my ultra corny path I am just going to say how fantastically lucky I am and how much I love + adore these punks!

Enjoying seeing Todos Santos through new eyes and playing the tourists.  

Back when we lived here, people always talked about the pottery of this guy Marcos + we set out to see it/meet him a few times but always got side tracked on other adventures.  I seem to recall our friends, Judy + Jay, made it to at least Candelaria, if not San Vicente, to see where some of the local pottery came from, but we still never got there.  Then, for a wedding gift our friends Mayra + Greg gave us a gorgeous, large piece with lid, that I have kept as a piece of art but have been afraid to cook in and ruin. So a few weekends ago we decided to take the day to drive into the foothills of the Sierras to finally find Marcos and his works.

We foolishly thought it would get cooler as we went up in elevation and got closer to streams and waterfalls.  Oh no.  It was just below 110 the entire time.  I got a little panicky about getting stuck.

After a leisurely 1.5 hour drive, I was encouraged to see we were still on the right road.  

I was hoping the mangos would be ready.

They were not; they were rock hard despite their pink blush.

It is fun what you can notice when driving along at 10 kph.

The tree was growing around the Virgin, cradling her into the niche.

We finally made it to Marcos's house and he was so accomodating.  Here he is showing us his simple, rustic studio and basic tools - including an old corn cob he uses to shape bowls.  He let us play a little with the clay he gets locally from the mountains.

This is his wood fired kiln where the magic happens.

Posing with Luca while we picked out pieces.  

Marcos also sent us to his neighbor Ramona's house to check out her pottery.  

Here are some of the pieces we bought.  Not only are they beautiful but they feel really lovely in your hands.  And they can go in the oven, on the gas burner, and in the campfire.  I just need to be brave enough to do it!

We also need a better kitchen for storing our wares.  We were slated to get a hurricane last week.  Fortunately, we didn't get slammed, but I brought all the pieces in for safety just in case.

We continue to enjoy the local critters.  This dude was doing his push ups when Max saw him - maybe getting a little territorial about the local ladies.  

No hatchings yet, but a number of new turtle nests.  Unfortunately there have been a lot of vehicles driving on the beach too.  This particular turtle left 12 half dug holes and I am not sure she actually laid.  I think they sometimes hold off if they don't feel right about the conditions.

And here is the exact reason LZ gives for forgetting to do chores some days.  He sees this fuzz ball and his mind goes blank and he has to snuggle.

Honestly, I get it :)

So that is a little bit of what we've been up to.  We're more than 2 weeks post shots so we have had the extreme joy of dinner at the neighbor's including *hugs* so that has been incredible. The temps haven't been too bad considering it is July, but the humidity is gross and I am using it as an excuse to slow down and do more knitting + chilling.  

I hope that you had a safe and happy 4th and are getting to enjoy summer vacations/staycations/downtime.  Much love to you and yours.  And thanks.