REFLECTIONS ON MY JOURNEY...SO FAR

It's about 3/4 over if you go by current life expectancy statistics. My journey that is. It has been a great ride, thanks in great part to my partner in life, who has been with me for more than half of it. You could call mine a "balanced" journey-lots of fun and enjoyment, balanced with hard work and the fulfilment of my professional and personal responsibilities. Before I met Linda, I owe much of my foundation to my family. Values and attitudes were taught and learned, including that most precious lesson that life if replete with risks worth taking. The second more-than-half has been a glorious path of professional and personal fullfilment hand-in-hand with a partner who has given me strength, and supported and loved me unconditionally. Together, we brought to life two oustanding human beings, who fill our lives with hope and excitement. I think the next quarter of this journey will be as good if not better that the previous three. JIR      

CREATURES OF THE NIGHT AND OTHER INTERESTING THEMES

Just before I left South Dakota for the latest road trip to Montana. I was wrapping it up in the kitchen during the tail end of dusk. Looking out the kitchen window, I caught sight of a large sillouhette on our driveway. I grabbed the camera, but as soon as I opened the front door, the extra-large size jackrabbit sped off away from me. I dissapointedly started walking back to the house, only to see another much smaller sillouhette on the concrete part of our driveway. This creature was quite a bit slower and actually seemed to willingly pose for his/her picture (can you discern the smile?).  

                      Wildflower seeds given to us by our sister Alice are now sprouting in our front yard

Hydrengeas (probably miespelled) in the front yard

Our "rock garden" continues to flower despite an obvious lack of soil.

Mother plant African Violet on the right, offspring on the left. Don't ask me how, but there has obviously been a mutation. JIR

ONION ODDITY

The Ramirez family does not make any claims to having a farming heritage. You could certainly question that fact by discussing our recent vegetable garden ventures, including those of our children and spouses. I have always been proud of my grandfather's dairy farm in Cuba, which consisted of 2 cows he milked for family and neighbors. I would not know, but I'm almost sure totally organic and unpasteurized.
Not having seen and experienced this before, I'm excited to publish pictures of what is really a mere accident-2 onions which we never harvested last year. Hibernating through last winter was no easy feat, which may explain the blosoming energy of these plants now that Mother Nature is rewarding them for their determintaion to survive.
I don't know what is under under the earth beneath this show of beauty and energy, but who cares, there are plenty of onions at the store. JIR

GETTING TOGETHER IN PORTLAND

Priorities in life often define values; ours have been our marriage and our children. We decided visiting Danny and Lindsay was overdue, so we took a trip to rendezvous with them in Portland, Oregon. We enjoyed good wine and beer, delicious food, but most importantly each others company. We also got a taste of Portland's culture attending the World's Naked Bike Ride and the Gay Pride Parade. It was a fabulous weekend. We won't wait this long to get together again. JIR

Cruising

Here it is, the final quilt that began with the sound of a tsunami of motorcycles descending on the Black Hills in 2009 for the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.  Normally for us it is quiet where we live, but on this early morning, Jake and I sat outside and listened to the slight buzz that invaded our normal quietude.   When I drove to town, the 'buzz' became a roar and I found myself lost in an invasion of motorcycles.  It was both a frightening and a thrill.  As I tried to manuever through their tight lines to get to my errands later in the day it was nerve racking, and when we went to Sturgis on Friday Night, the power of the hundreds of thousands of motorcycles was a 'wow' eperience.  Since I find I either need to write down my experiences or come up with a quilt design that fits them to move on, the quilt design came to me.  So I had to complete it.  Now I can start the next one. Believe it or not, it will be a scene from a cartoon movie Jorge and I watched last week, "Tangled."