Patt with Two T's

    This year, instead of having a boutique at my house, I am participating in an Open Studios event with many other artists.  We have locations up and down the coast, and I will be showing my work at Laura McHugh's new home in Half Moon Bay.  It's much easier to find than my house!  She's right off highway 1, just south of 92, on Poplar's west side.   Laura's address is 285 Poplar St. HMB.   This year I have new woven chenille scarves, knitted fingerless gloves, felted  hats, and of course, many unique beaded pieces of jewelry.  Our bees have also contributed this year--wonderful fresh honey we've named Granada Gold!  I only have a limited amount, so come early to sample the honey and take home your own jar.    I hope you'll come by to say hello, do some holiday shopping, and find something fun for yourself.  Maps of where the artists' studios are open.are available through the artists and in local busin...

monkey island greeter tapir fur--this was the baby; full-grown is all one color  the family demonstrating squeezing the sugar cane which eventually becomes rum, but we tasted it right out of the shoot...and strained through a cloth we'd rather not talk about dinner our last night at the Ramada next to the airport--causa, a Peruvian dish with potatoes, avocado, crab...delish Had to cross yet another suspension log bridge to get to the island where Explorama has their other lodge and the river people tribe we visited our dance partners--well, mine was a very ancient man, so he's not in this picture.  They later took off those tops when we were buying from or trading with them.  Matthew said maybe I should have brought some bras to trade.... the little tarantula I saw on our walk on our way to the rum factory How we relaxed after lunch on our tours when we were at a lodge.    I suggested getting a couple for the living room.  Matthew getting the energy ...

  Just as we sat down to dinner last night, the rain started up. Abelardo said if it was just a small bit, we might get outside; otherwise, it would be too slippery. Before long, it really started to pour, so our evening tour, which I know includes tarantulas and snakes, didn't happen.  We ducked out as the show started which we'd already seen.  Today we were to go to the Yague Indians' village, then to the rum factory. But we ended up being connected with an OAT group of 12 or 14 and the family of 6 we came in with (the dad is a doctor and they've lived here for 15 months, but are now headed back home to Mississippi), so we first stopped at a clinic OAT helps sponsor. The clinic was started by a female doctor from Wisconsin who came here 20 years ago on vacation and saw a need for medical care. She was able to get sponsors to build the clinic, which has continued to grow. They have both medical and dental facilities there. Whitney said it's similar to the ...

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I got my wish for a better day today. We got to get up leisurely and be out by 7:3 0 when they serve breakfast, the Abelardo said we would meet around 9 to head for monkey island. Another family was with us, but they were just here for the morning—he is one of the owners/administrators of Explorama. I figured we'd be seeing monkeys in trees like we do in the wild, but when we got there, we were greeted by several who climbed up on us and wanted to play. They also like to lick our skin for the salt, which was plentiful since it was already hot and humid and I was sweating profusely. My hair hates this weather...as does the rest of me. Anyway, we had a great day seeing about 7 or 8 types of monkeys, some who came over to us or took bananas from us, and some who just stayed in the trees, but came fairly close to get food. They're all ages, and most are rescued from people who had them as pets and gave them up or were found a...

  Well, I guess I can say I finished the canopy walk...two fingernails less and a strong understanding that I'm not, nor will I ever, be considered a trekker. And thank goodness for that~! We got our wake-up knock at 5:15 this morning, but I was already up. Huh? Me? Yeah, I know....but I fell asleep reading at 10, so actually got my 7 hours in. We were the last to arrive at the boat, though we weren't late. The Peruvian family with 3 young kids, an English-speaking couple who could be from Canada or the US, and 2 Peruvian young ladies were on this trip with their guides. For some reason, the 2 girls are sharing the guide with the family, which is unfortunate for them since the little girl, who's the youngest and about 3, whines and cries a lot. Well, a parrot did bite her finger when she was offering it food at lunch... Anyway, our boat ride was 2 hours long—we went to their Explor-Napo lodge, which is 75 miles down the Amazon from here. We got there in time...

So to continue, Susan missed MP completely as well as all meals at the fancy hotel due to illness; Ginger made it from the train to MP, then had to sit most of it out due to the same. The rest of us had Santiago, our guide, lead us for 2+ hours around MP with explanations about the history, the sun dial, about how the different neighborhoods were set up... He is a good guide, though a bit long-winded and would stand in one place too long with much information—hard to stand still all that time and not have my mind wander. Things haven't changed much—just like back in school. Too bad I couldn't knit and listen... I was worried about not being able to keep up, even had dreams a few days before about the steps being about 4' tall and impossible for me to climb, but I did fine. The place is so fascinating, you can't help but want to continue to see more. However, at the end of his walk and talk, I was ready to rest or find some shade. The day was beautiful and perfec...

I haven't mentioned our hotel in Ollantaytambo, which was quite nice. We had a room overlooking the front lawns and flowers. It's spring here, so everything is in bloom, which makes for a beautiful setting. This hotel, Pakaritampu, has three pet alpacas who get fed on the front lawn everyday. I woke and peaked out and what a great surprise! Our room had a little sitting room and lots of space, plus a TV, which we hadn't seen in awhile. We don't really watch when we're away, although we did put on CNN just to see what's happening in the world. When I get online, my netbook shows the time and also the weather at home, so I'm quite aware El Granada had better weather one day that we had in Peru. Yadda yadda...always the way. This must have been a Sunday, since Matthew was craving pizza. We were on our own for dinner, so we walked uphill to the square to see if any pizza was available. Ha! Before we even got to the square, we passed about 3 pizza p...

Dyeing day in Chinchero at the weaving center...this was purple with cochinel, which are a fungus found on a specific cactus plant. Notice I'm not lifting this heavy vat....but someone has to document and take the pictures..... Some of the lunch prepared for us at Nilda's....lupin, which I'd never had before, greens, favas, salad, tortillas, and a cuy came out also...guinea pig.  They eat their biggest meal at mid-day.  Below is us not following the tradition....eating a bigger dinner. Fancy dinner enjoyed by about 8 of us at the restaurant where Matthew and Susan took a cooking class that day,  The food was excellent...I missed a picture of the alpaca carpaccio,which was my fave, and this pasta and curry dish weren't mine either.  Everything was so pretty and colorful, I took pictures of them all!  Below is my beef dinner with the two sauces and pasta.   And just so you don't think all we do is eat.... Here I am trying my damnest to figure out what...

 I managed to get caught up with the blog today, but might not get any pictures on here tonight.  Dinner is in 15 min and it could take that long to cut, paste, and post!  So here goes: (by the way, we're having a good time, but I feel we've been gone a month)  The surprise turned out to be a shaman, which we found out when we unexpectedly stopped along the side of the road near a ravine and were told to bring coats. Cari introduced us to Pedro the shaman and said he was going to do a ceremonial ritual for our trip. As Nilda and Santiago collected wood for a fire, Pedro laid out a square cloth and started bringing out and opening many packages of colorful things, which he laid out in some order only he understood. He spent quite a lot of time getting ready, then stood and blew three times on some coca leaves and chanted. We were each given 3 leaves and told to make 3 wishes for our trip, blow on them, then distribute them over the offering he'd prepared. Nilda exp...

Monday we had our early wake up call at 5:30 because we were told to be ready at 6, but as with many things in Peru, there was a mix-up in communication and we weren't picked up till 6:45. Our group was already there, minus Cari, the tour leader, Patti, her good friend who went ahead a couple of days and met us in Cusco, and Susan who was erroneously told in Portland her bag had to go directly to Cusco and not Lima, so she went ahead to get it..but it was really back in Lima. Greg, Cari's husband was in charge of rounding us up and getting us to Cusco. Of course the flight was delayed till 10:10, so technically, I could have slept another hour... We met Ginger and Bob, more good friends of Cari and Greg, from Telluride, Sylvia and her daughter Amy from Ventura, CA who belongs to the Central Coast Weavers' Guild and knows Nancy Weber whose home I met at for several months in preparation for the weaving conference two years ago. Sylvia was doing some braiding on a small, hand...

1.        People walk up to you and start talking in another language and totally miss the blank expression on your face.   An old woman was seated next to me on the flight to San Salvador, and she talked to me a few times without any awareness I wasn’t getting one word.   I helped her into her seatbelt since she didn’t seem to know what to do with it and then ended up moving back a row since it was empty and Matthew and I could sit with a space in between us.   We had several people talk to us in Spanish as if we speak it fluently, and didn’t get that we were lost in language difficulties.   But by the time we’d gotten to Peru and were getting our bags, and a woman came over to me and asked a question, I knew enough to answer her question still without knowing one word of Spanish.   Watch body language… 2.        Forgetting to read the signs.   This was is in our hotel bathroom and says not to flu...

This is just a test post to see if those who signed up with the email reminder actually works.  I have nothing to post...other than I'm getting ready for what could be an interesting meeting on Thurs.   I'm currently working on weaving two rayon chenille scarves, have two new hats to felt and a wool flower to try felting too.  Taught a Kumihimo class last Sat to 6 people, which was fun and hopefully successful for them.  Tonight I hope to make some new necklaces before leaving the country.  And in my spare time....