Halperin & Christ

two groups of guests arrived today, jeannie and mike in the afternoon and francie and denise in the evening. francie and denise came with their kids juliet and mac. it’s starting to feel like an event here. we had our first big dinner, ratatouille, made from all the wonderful vegetables we bought at the biloxi farmer’s market.

we purchased tiles for shirley’s house in biloxi today and procured a tilesaw from two young men with hopeforce who have been in biloxi working for free for the last several years. tomorrow we should be ready to start on the mosaic project. shirley seemed to like the design and was very happy that the colors matched some of the fabrics she already has.

it’s very hot……hot and humid. the weather announcement says 92 degrees but it feels like 97. something to do with that unrelenting humidity. it does do wonders to the skin though. quite a different temperature than when we were here last. the beach is lovely though and the balmy breezes at night are a pleasure.

visited two projects under construction today in biloxi: shirley’s house, pictured to the right and mary pat and tony’s house, designed by the visiting architectural students. both houses are interesting and creative, shirley’s is high up in the air, just like patty’s. apparently that is the code now, houses must be a certain height above flood level.

shirley’s job is being run by seth who is on a rose fellowship in biloxi for three years.  he’s a graduate from new orleans, originally from indiana. he and eric should have some hoosier items to discuss.  shirley seems to be up for a tile mosaic on her kitchen floor so this afternoon was spent searching for tile. you know it is bleak when home depot has the best tiles available. the challenge here is doing interesting design with very limited resources!

we are happy to report that cvs pharmacy is selling canvas shopping bags……of course they are not up front at the register but still….it’s a start.

we made it to biloxi….gulfport that is. actually, the two are joined into one big long city that runs parallel to the gulf coast.

all very uneventful….we were pretty bleary from waking up at 4 am to take a 6 am flight.  the plane from houston to gulfport is tiny. you would feel rather claustrophobic if you were much taller than 6′.

our house is fabulous, one block from the beach and we have been serenaded all evening by the marriott hotel rock band! a major step up from the shrimp shack!

it’s definitely not marin. the grocery clerk at rouses supermarket decimated a forest of plastic trees just to bag our cart of groceries. there was no stopping her, she was on autopilot. not a consumer provided bag in site………….and the beach…….litter strewn along the gorgeous sugar sands. hard to believe people leave trash behind at a spot they obviously enjoy.  evening at the beach was still really lovely, long expanses of sand, very shallow water and a balmy evening breeze. the day on the other hand was hot! 90 plus degrees!  we’ll definitely be working early.

driving through gulfport it is once again shocking to notice what is not there: concrete slabs with no houses sitting on them, big gaps between homes in what used to be a dense suburban setting, crumbled downtown buildings, bits and pieces of what once must have been a lovely town.

we’re looking forward to meeeting up once again with our friends from the Gulf Coast Community Design Center to see what they have in store for us. we’ll keep you posted.

home sweet home. we are back….hard to believe but here we are. hank was greeted by another cream colored vw parked right in front of our house! made him happy.

those stalkers, barb and david are with us again! we can’t seem to shake them. every time we want to go wine tasting there they are.

seriously speaking, we thought it would be a poetic or at least a symmetrical end to travels with hank if we went wine tasting with barb and david at the end of our trip just like we started. they kindly obliged. (actually it was their idea and we jumped on it.)

so here we are in paso robles drowning our return from sabbatical sorrows with zinfandel, tempranillo, syrah, and any other potable local product.

the wine country here is absolute gorgeous, in fact our whole drive up the coast (starting in baja) has been lined with all colors of wildflowers. the last day was dominated by yellow mustard, purple lupen and orange poppies. the wineries are tucked into rolling hills covered with old oaks and linked by beautiful vistas of greenery in all directions.

we left fran’s mom after a relaxing stay of about 10 days. eric finished up a very short “honey do” list, while fran caught up with old family friends.  a quick one night stop over at the state beach in carpinteria ($35/night, yikes!!) for old times sake.  we did eat at the palms, with many remembrences of amor, even took the baked potato for breakfast the next day. we observed the seals for quite awhile, all they do is bask in the sun, swim and flop about. what a life!

after carpinteria we drove up to pismo beach and walked along the water enjoying the sunny weather and watching the world go by. many people were out and about, walking, surfing, skimboarding, making out and engaging in other beach activities.

we ate the obligatory fried clams, cruised the down town and headed further north to join our friends. we found them in a downtown winetasting store. (quel surprise!)

that evening we had tasty thai food and spent the later hours playing pool, singing karaoke (wide open spaces by the dixie chicks) and blending into the local flora and fauna. (we didn’t blend that well but eric’s excellent pool playing made up for any discrepancies.)

today we made the winery rounds till we could drink no more. we topped the day off with a fabulous dinner at artisan restaurant.  still on sabbatical……

we are slowly reentering…..hour by hour, day by day, week by week.

we did see a fabulous exhibit at the skirball museum that is worth blogging about. it is called the inflatable crown . two guys, a balloon artist and a photojournalist went around the world for 3 years making balloon crowns for people and then photographing them with the crowns on. there are photos of norweigan soldiers, a mongolian family on horse back, a thai baby, an african woman, a british policeman, etc. all wearing fantastic balloon crowns. it is really a brilliant show well worth seeing.

the skirball is a wonderful center with many great exhibits and also pleasant spots to sit and watch people, have lunch or just hang out.

we have been catching up with old friends, sleeping, reading, walking…..nothing quite as exciting as a road trip but all good.

hank is enjoying his rest, especially since he had a good bath.

the last of the mardi gras beads have found their home. the three young ladies next door are very happy about that.

we are both still suffering the reentry blues…..hopefully that will be over soon.

hank is sitting rather dejectedly in the front of fran’s mom’s house ready to take off.

we had a lovely dinner at toby and storm’s house last night.  storm is a true “hunter gatherer”, he made his own bread, including the starter, as well as the wine and the vinegar. he hunts, grows vegetables, cans and picks berries. michael pollen would be impressed.

more rest and relaxation for the next week in order to psyche ourselves up for the last stretch homeward.

we are in the midst of preparing our fourth travels with hank camarones al mojo de ajo dinner. we are a one trick pony we admit, but if it works why mess with it? beware all you bay area friends, mojo de ajo is coming your way.

another relaxing day of golf (is golf ever relaxing?) for the boys, hanging around, cooking and hiking for the girls. we are still working on the gentle reentry. emphasis on gentle.

we had a partial tour of the burn areas of the 2007 san diego fires. amazing what money will buy. many houses are practically rebuilt a mere 5 months after the disaster. all unbuilt sites are tidy and clean, the disaster relief area has been completely disbanded (probably due to no longer being needed) and of course the hills are green and covered with wildflowers.  not to compare one disaster to another but it is shocking to see how quickly the disaster response is in direct proportion to the wealth of the area. the destruction was of course much greater and wide spread in the gulf coast than in san diego but in the 2.5 years since katrina it seems as if much less has been done than in the 5 months since the san diego fires. we didnt’ see too much going on with green building but were glad to hear that several of steph’s friends were downsizing from the homes they had lost.

we were sad to leave our friends jeff and steph, who not only showed us a real good time, but also nursed us both through some reentry malaise of unknown origin, but definite affect. thanks for everything, and i’m gettin my 10 bucks back when you come to nor cali, jeff.

on to lala land.

hank came back to the u.s. filthy. it rained the day before we left mexico and all the red dirt from the unpaved streets splashed all over his body. everyone will be happy to know he has had a bath and is sparkling clean!

we are slowly reentering….back in the u.s…..back in california….and having a tough time. luckily we have landed gently in the home of our fabulous friends steph and jeff and their kids eric and rachel. we can’t think of a better place to start to come to terms with reality. steph and jeff have been taking great care of us and spoiling us rotten. we aren’t complaining. today eric and jeff played 36(!) holes of golf and fran and steph lounged about in mineral pools, mud baths, steam rooms and sun chairs at glen ivy hot springs.

our last few days in mexico were wonderful and remote. we were removed from internet, cell phones and sometimes even electricity and water.

we had our last fish tacos and participated in the carnivale in san ignacio which was fun but not too well attended. the next morning we took leave of our little paradise on the lagoon. we visited the lovely mission and zocolo for the last time.

once we got north of san ignacio the weather cooled down quite a bit but the scenery greened up a lot. we were fortunate to get a full wildflower exhibit in swatches of color that graced the hillsides and roads we drove through.

at ensenada we went to visit la bufadora a marine geyser or blowhole on the punta banda peninsula. the bufadora is quite impressive and groans as it spouts fountains of water sometimes 70 feet high. we visited on the first day of semana santa (easter week) so it was mostly mexican tourists on the viewing platform. we had a shrimp cocktail with a beautiful view of the bay below and spent the night yards from the beach listening to the waves lap the shore right below us. the next day we drove through enseneda, along the beaches between tijuana and rosario and spent about 2 hours crossing the border. we were so low on gas and the traffic was extended stop with little goes so we pushed hank along much to the delight of all the mexican vendors. many of them offered to help us.
 it is night and day crossing the border. you forget about the manicured highways, abundance of street signs and lights that adorn u.s. highways. we take it for granted that all our tiny side streets are paved, signals control major intersections and there are trash cans and rest areas everywhere. our tax dollars at work?

For the last two mornings we were awakened by an incredible racket of bird calls. First at punta arena, a deserted beach on bahia conception and then this morning on  a lovely lagoon, right near the city of san Ignacio. We have turned into major bird watchers but unfortunately we don’t have our friend laura here to identify what we are looking at.

Today we know it is mostly coots, some egrets and some other kind of diving bird that swims so low and goes so far underwater that everytime he (she?) has to come up he takes about 10 minutes to air and dry off his wings. It is a regular nature channel here. We have sat mesmerized for hours this morning watching the activity.

At punta arena it was mostly gulls. They swooped and dove and fished and seemed to be having a grand old time. The beach was beautiful, quiet and still, just a row of palapa houses with a small community of gringos and nothing else. We would have stayed longer if there was water to be had, unfortunately we were ill equipped and had only enough to cook and do our dishes.

We were visited in the morning though by the vegetable salesman from mulege and then another trio who were not only selling veggies but eggs, tortillas, empanadas and tamales. We availed ourselves of all of the above and munched on pineapple empanadas for breakfast and chicken tamales, fresh carrots and radishes for lunch. Last night we used the fabulous chard for a frittata as well as a bunch of vegetables for a crunchy salad. The vegetables here taste so sweet and fresh, nothing like what you buy at whole foods or any other market for that matter. Certainly not what we purchased at the mega in cabo!

We drove through some very barren, curvy and steep roads to get to san Ignacio which is a small oasis in the middle of a dry desert. There is a lagoon here with date palms and a lovely mission and zocolo in town. We had planned to stop over the night but like it so much we are staying another evening particularly because there is some kind of fair in town tonight.