Category: Travel

A Visit to Oaxaca, Mexico

My husband and I had a marvelous trip to Oaxaca, which is nearly the southernmost state in Mexico (only Chiapas stretches farther south). We were there for a week with five days of touring and a couple days on our own. The scenery is stark (it’s very desert-like), but the city of Oaxaca and the Oaxaqueños who live there are wonderful.

I love murals and so many of the ones I saw were brilliant. These were indoors in a shopping area.

While we were there, the state of Oaxaca celebrated Dia de la Samaritana, or Good Samaritan’s Day, which falls on the fourth Friday of Lent. In addition to the decorations everywhere, people gave out “agua fresca” (fresh water), which is water flavored with fresh fruits, herbs, flowers and other ingredients. We had horchata that day. The “Papel Picado” (the paper decorations) were so lovely.

Another part of Oaxacan culture that I absolutely fell in love with were the alebrijes (ah-lay-bree-hiss). These are carved figurines made of wood that are painted bright colors in fantastical designs. The ones below are from a museum exhibit of the work of Manuel Jiménez. He popularized the wooden alebrijes.

I bought way too many alebrijes at the artisan markets. Some were for family, but most were just for me. This one with the cat family sitting on a bench is my favorite. <heart emoji>

I have a ton more pictures (like of the wedding parade we became impromptu members of), but it would take many more newsletters to show them off. I don’t want to put you all to sleep, lol. Suffice it to say, it was a fabulous trip.

Some of you reading this might remember my science fiction trilogy, Tankborn, Awakening, and Rebellion. I now have a new series planned that’s a spin-off of the world of the Tankborn books. The first book, Mishalla’s Courage, is published and the second book, Pheno’s Treachery, will be available later this year.

Click here to order Mishalla’s Courage as an eBook for the device of your choice. It’s also available at that link as an audio book and as a print book edition with color illustrations.

I’m planning five more novellas, all featuring new characters introduced in Mishalla’s Courage. So you’ll want to get started now with the first book.

August 6, 2025
Light at the End of the Tunnel

In the literal sense rather than figurative. My granddaughter wanted to sit in the first car of the DC Metro Red Line, and we managed to get the front seat. I couldn’t resist a little video.

June 25, 2016
Aww, Go Fly a Kite

Well, it seemed like a great idea at the time. Go to the park and fly kites. The breeze was pretty brisk in DC today, and the nearby soccer field wasn’t in use, so a great opportunity to get the kites into the air.

Oh, and did I mention the tall trees lining one side of the soccer field? I’ll get to those in a moment.

My granddaughter was having some trouble getting her smaller kite into the air, so her dad helped her get the larger kite up. She was doing great. She got it up so high she was at the end of the string, and both the kite and my granddaughter were proud and happy. I was meanwhile doing my best to get her little one to fly, but did I mention I suck at flying kites?

This next part wasn’t my fault at all, though. Really, it was the wind’s fault. The wind and physics. The pull of the kite got so strong that it pulled the handle of the string holder right out of my granddaughter’s hand. My son took off after the handle as it scooted along the grass. But he wasn’t fast enough.

One of the trees lining the field was plenty fast though. It snatched up the yellow handle of the kite’s string holder, and zip, pulled it about twenty feet up into the branches (okay, the wind pulled it, not the tree). Next thing you know, the tree is flying the kite, not us. Nor did the tree seem inclined to give the kite back.

So, now the conundrum. How do we unhook the handle from the tree branch without losing the whole thing, kite, string, and all? Luckily, along came a man who’d come to walk his dog and we conscripted him onto the CSI: Kite Rescue Edition team. With his help, we tossed the other kite’s string over the branch where the yellow handle was caught. Unfortunately, although we could jiggle the branch, we couldn’t get the yellow handle to work free.

Then I noticed a few PVC poles with soccer flags on one end and a metal stake on the other. With the assistance of the dog walker, we cobbled together three poles and by pulling the branch lower with the other string, we got the yellow handle free. Unfortunately, the rest of the string was still caught in the tree.

So now we were controlling the kite, more or less, but further unfortunately, we apparently couldn’t fly the kite as well as the tree could. The kite stuttered in the sky, then gave up the ghost, falling into a tree across the street. We were about to go over and ask the homeowner to give us a call when the kite fell when I suggested we cut the string so we could get it out of the tree.

Once the tension in the string was gone, the kite started sliding out of the tree. By the time we ran across the street, the kite had fallen on the roof of a neighboring house. While we watched, it slowly slid down the roof into my son’s hand.

At that point, I think the kite said, “I meant to do that.” It might have even snickered a little about how well the tree had kept it in the air. Although it did admit my granddaughter had done a pretty good job flying it too.

It took a while to reel in all that string. As we headed home we pretty much laughed all the way.

The kite wasn’t the least bit apologetic.

May 8, 2016
Danger, Will Robinson, Danger! Family Vacation Photos Ahead!

If pretty pictures of scenery bore you to tears, just click on that X in the corner of your screen. If you’re willing to look at gorgeous vistas and me looking particularly awkward on a horse (even though I really ought to know how to ride), scroll on.

The Three Sisters, seen from our condo’s balcony.

It was our son’s and daughter-in-law’s idea to do a combined family trip (the grandkids, their parents and both sets of grandparents). Since we all live in hot summer locales, a trip to somewhere cooler seemed like a good idea. So Alberta, Canada rather than, say, Arizona was the destination of choice. The Northern California contingent left behind triple digit heat in exchange for temperatures that never topped the mid-8os. That’s a vacation destination.

Yes, I own a horse and ride often. Maybe I just look so confused because it’s a Canadian horse.

My son’s goal was for us to “see pretty things” in particular in as many modes as possible. We therefore hiked, biked, drove, rode horses, gondolas, and ski lifts, were transported by buses with gargantuan wheels (those that visited the nearby glacier), took a tour boat, canoed, and hiked some more. We ate–a lot–and didn’t skimp on desserts. For instance, the best ice cream in the world can be found at Cows in Banff.

We also had a great opportunity to see various critters. There was the grizzly bear we saw below us while we were on the Banff Gondola. There were also elk, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, various birds, and a particularly vicious chipmunk.

Happy to be viewing this big fellow from the gondola rather than up close and personal.

This chunky, over-friendly fellow (he climbed on my lap) is an example of what happens when you feed the wildlife. Big fines for that sort of thing.

I’ve been told this is a Clark’s Nutcracker. Or it’s possibly a Black Beaked Fiffer Fluffer.

The view from the top of the Banff gondola where the chipmunk lives. Pretty jaw-dropping.

Also, we ignorant Americans learned a little something about Canadian history–namely that July 1st is Canada Day. We watched a great local parade in Canmore, and then oohed and aahed at fireworks afterward.

Fireworks with the Canadian Rockies as a backdrop. Well done, Canada. Well done.

July 14, 2015
#LA14SCBWI: Schmooze, Learn, Get Inspired

The view from my room at the Century Plaza #LA12SCBWI.

I’m really looking forward to my upcoming trip to SCBWI-LA, the annual summer conference of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. My flight down to LA is at a much less ungodly time than my usual trips–it leaves at a very civilized 10:15am.

Besides all the fun and inspiration of attending panels and keynotes and seeing author friends I only see at conferences, I’ll be seeing a couple of l*o*n*g time non-writer friends. We’re talking one friend I went to kindergarten with and another friend I met in college (which believe me, was a long time ago). I think my college friend and I haven’t seen each other for close to 30 years. I’m also going to be meeting up with a brand-shiny-new friend I met by chance at Burbank airport.

I’m also thrilled to be participating in a We Need Diverse Books™ poolside chat on Saturday (more info here). This will be my first time taking part in an “official” WNDB event, so it’s pretty cool.

Anyone else going to LA? Or any other conferences you’re looking forward to this year? There are so many great ones. Which are your favorites?

July 30, 2014