Elflog & more

I didn't have my camera with me when I spotted this butterfly on my neighbors flower, but I did have my 'phone...didn't it take an excellent photo? I was so happily surprised. The flowers framed in the fence are in another neighbors yard. She grows beautiful roses, too. On Friday morning, the shelf was empty except for the smily face sticker and the Make Art mini-poster. A FOUND Cat flyer was on the pole. A quiet day at the shelf. I decided to show you the view from the west, including the bus stop sign so you could get a better idea of the relationship. Later in the day, on my second dog walk, I put some thing on the shelf and took down the FOUND flyer since the cat is now back with it's family. Oh, another thing, on Sep. 27, I found something I'd left on the shelf, a paper item dated Sep. 17, further up the block on the sidewalk. It was pretty shabby looking, like it'd been walked on for the 10 days it was lying there. Curious!

Elflog update

I have Saturday and Sunday morning photos of the shelf to share with you, plus a photo showing how the shelf is located near the bus stop, and also, the BIG news - what I learned on Saturday morning.

A neighbor, who lives on that side of the block with the shelf, saw me taking a photo Saturday morning, and said “Isn’t it a shame?” I thought “oh boy, she's the one who cleans off the shelf.” She then told me how she found the “Make Art Not War” in the gutter and put it back on the pole, as well as returning other items she finds tossed down. She said “I put this here,” pointing to a red leaf. She went on to say “some mean person is doing this.” True! When I told her I was photographing it regularly, she said that she was, too. I asked if she knew about the shelf itself; here’s what she told me…some man put it up to hold his coffee cup while waiting for the bus. When he got on the bus he’d leave his cup there. Wow! I never saw a cup there! This was amazing news to me. How does she know this? Next time I see her, I’ll ask if she saw the construction of the shelf. This is getting even more interesting. I’ve started dating my contributions (the paper ones) and writing “Elflog” on them. Now that I know there is another “friend of the shelf” I’m feeling supported in continuing the effort of placing surprises on it.

ElfLog update

Someone put up this cool card that says Make Art Not War. It's stayed up now for two days. Yesterday a PTA notice (green circle) went up, and was gone by this morning. Little stones appear and disappear, flowers come and go, my little plastic bags filled with a quote or a message disappear. I'm hopeful!

yummy food

Here are some images from last night's dinner. The bread turned out wonderfully, the honey cake with honey butter was yummy, Marilyn's quiche, Jessica's sesame noodles, Phyllis' selection of noodle and tofu dishes plus more made for a very yummy meal. It was good to be with family and friends.

At the market

I had to post this image. I love the way the produce looks, as much as I love cooking and eating it. Amy had set up some of our produce shares at the end of our market time. The only items missing from this group are our eggplants, peppers and tomatoes. If you'd like some of my recipes, check out Sprout Organic.
Cooking is so relaxing for me. I'd been feeling kind of down since returning from vacation, oh no wonder, because aside from the humidity (did I mention how humid it was?) the trip was sooo good. I spent some time cooking today, and it's lifted my spirits. We're having family and friends (who are like family) over tonight for dinner to celebrate the new year. We're putting together food. which is so fun. I made my radish spread (see Sprout for recipe,) some tiny salmon cakes, farfalle with my home made pesto, a honey cake, some honey butter to spread on it, and a bread, which is still in the bread maker. I borrowed the bread maker from my friend Phyllis and this is the first time I'm using it. I'll let you know how it turns out. It smells good. I used to make bread from scratch years ago, same time as I made my own yogurt, and sewed clothing and crocheted and ........aaaagh, I was so crazy busy!

ElfLog

I get such a sinking feeling when I see the shelf has been cleaned off each day. What does this mean? There had been three white ribbon "Xs" glued to the pole, one of them has now been peeled off. Today, I left three plastic bags, one on the shelf with a message in it, one with a note card I made, hung on a nail on the pole, one was something that I got at the art-o-mat event, which I hung on another nail. Tomorrow, I expect the shelf to be empty. No one wants to play with me any more! Waaaa.

Happy New Year 5768

Happy New Year - Rosh Hashanah 5768!
I had no photo of a shofar, no photo of apples and honey, no photo of a round challah, just some lovely orchids to remind me of the loveliness of the world, to turn my thoughts toward the new year ahead, to hope for peace, for us all, shalom, salaam, paz. For all of us health, kindness, connectedness, compassion.

Some final images of San Juan.

My last images to remember San Juan by... our lovely hotel entry way, the blue bricks that paved the streets, the sculpture in the little park in front of El Convento Hotel,
and the ubiquitous "vejigantes, " this one a cute stuffed toy in a souvenir shop window.

the last morning, cominando

We walked down the little street along the front of our hotel, towards the bay of San Juan, passing this house numbered with dancing nuns, to see the statue to the Rogativa. Behind us, a peach colored house, in front of us a view of the bay and the old city wall. Our time in viejo San Juan was coming to a close. Just a bit more to show you.

Calles of viejo San Juan

Dinner and some español

We were planning to have dinner at Amadeus but it was closed! We walked down Fortaleza, but many places were closed ...hmmm.. Monday night low season...si. The places that were open didn't interest us. We ended up at Istanbul, the only Turkish restaurant in Puerto Rico. We had a tasty dinner. Carlos B had a chicken plate and I had an assortment of appetizers, which was perfect for me. Funny to have Turkish food on our last night in San Juan! So here is a list of some of the language I learned and used: cerebro esta lleno, hipocondriaco, las nubes, coqui, para lavarse mis manos, preferisco sintheticos (sp,) esta lejos, and more but I can't remember anymore. This was a pretty fabulous, unexpected holiday. Tomorrow, we'll have a few hours to explore a little more before heading to the airport. Hasta la proxima vez.

Our last full day on holiday...

We grabbed our cups of coffee from the 24/7 coffee pots on the terrace level early this morning, and ascended to the pool terrace, where we saw this beautiful sky. We spent some time reading before going out to breakfast. We found the bakery that we'd gotten pastries from on our first day, and had breakfast, as well as more pastries. After that, we took a taxi to Plaza de las Americas (yes, amigos, I went to a mall willingly) to try to find Salsa music CDs. Chuck got three CDs at Borders and I got Book 1 of Harry Potter in Spanish, which was something I'd planned on. What a good way to increase my vocabulary. See the coquis hanging from the ceiling in the mall? It was a good place to be for a few hours, to escape the humidity. Our cab driver, Cristian, was very nice and arranged to pick us up at a specified time. It worked out great. We got back to the hotel, went back up to the pool area to enjoy the breeze, until time for the nightly wine and cheese reception.

A day with friends...part dos

The black bean soup was yummy, as were the views of the playa from the hotel terrace. We sat for a long time, visiting , chatting (si, en español,) and watching the palomas and a tiny lizard.

A day with friends...

We spent a lovely day, yesterday, with los padres de Carlos. They took us around to see a few sites then to see the Marriott Hotel & casino where Carlos Sr. works. It was very impressive, very big, very active. The pool had fountains and slides, a bar where you sit on a stool in the water, and places to sit and enjoy looking at the ocean, which we did after lunch. The lunch was a buffet where we could sample lots of things we might not have otherwise tried. For dessert, we tried some typical sweets, majarete y tembleque. I managed to speak español with the madre, feeling pretty pleased with myself that I could be understood, though I’m sure I sounded like a niña.

Some views to share...

A view of the fountain at the start of Paseo de la Princesa. A drive-by photo of the ocean. The tiles on the stairs in our hotel. Some lovely memories of a too short holiday.

On our walks...

The totem commemorates something important but I didn't write down the inscription so I can't look up the words in my dictionary. It was very tall, made of ceramics, and very intriguing. After a cool down at the hotel, we went for a walk along the water side of the old city wall. These spikey sculptures were quite striking by the old wall. We walked along Paseo de la Princesa, where there were stalls with crafts and snacks. The nightly wine and cheese reception is lovely. We spoke with some of the other guests, a couple on honeymoon from Israel, leaving for their cruise this morning,; a family who sailed away from England and ended up in Antigua, which is their home now. They're here with their 2 year old son and 6 week old daughter. Chuck spoke with a man and his daughter; he's from Minnesota and Costa Rica. I wonder who we'll meet tonight! Off to the roof top jacuzzi and then, excitement, we are meeting up with Carlos C's parents!