Our annual return for this event was even more special for us this time because we brought along a new member of the family, Tasha (short for Rosewood Montage), a Pembroke Welsh Corgi.  We also brought along a new element for our setup, a dog pen (click on the above image for larger view).  Advantages of using a dog pen are noted below.

Tasha’s happy now, but when we returned home from our previous outing our local Corgi breeder, Liisa, told us that Tasha had just lost her first litter (via emergency C-section) and was depressed.  Liisa had to be out of town for a few days and asked us if we could house her, and if it worked out, we would also have an option to buy her, which we did upon Liisa’s return.  Tasha now brightens our days as we cope with the pending loss of our 15 year old Pug, Pau Hoa, who was diagnosed with a malignant mast cell tumor  (She can be seen in the upper right corner of the above photo).

We all had a happy time walking in and around the wildflower displays in Palm Canyon Campground.

On Friday we loaded the Corgis into their carriers strapped to the back folded down seat of our F-250 truck (see Traveling and Pet Safety), positioned the Pug on a floor cushion under Larry’s legs and took off to visit the Farmers’ Market at the Borrego Springs Christmas Circle and enjoyed delicious tacos from Jilberto’s Taco Shop.  We then drove north on Borrego Springs Road exploring various parcels of the Galleta Meadows Estate displaying free-standing welded iron sculptures created by Ricardo Breceda.

One such sculpture is a depiction of Father Hermenegildo Tomás Garcés (April 13,1738 - July 19, 1781) accompanied by his dog holding a bone.

In 1768 Spanish Franciscan Garcés was assigned to Mission San Xavier del Bac near present day Tucson, Arizona.

He conducted extensive explorations of the Southwest and assisted Juan Bautista de Anza in establishing an overland connection with New Spain through the region of the lower Colorado River.

A sprinkling of wildflowers can be seen in the foreground, while snow is seen on the distant mountains in the background.

After visiting and photographing other sculptures (which will appear in my next article), we returned to camp.  Below is a photo of our dog pen.  We have discovered the benefits of dog pens in that they can provide a safe, secure, and shady place for our dogs and help us manage them during meal time.  In this photo Tasha is on a runner and has chosen to enter the pen to relax.  The pen is held in place with bungee cords attached to the table.

Bob and his wife, Theresa, joined us for a Chinese fire pot dinner.  Bob is our veterinarian and has a 30′ Classic Airstream.  Charcoal burns in the chimney of the fire pot/hot pot heating the soup and cooking the ingredients that guests place into the soup with a small wire basket.  Noodles can be added to the soup as a last course.

Tom Yum, a Thai kaffir lime chicken broth, was used as the soup and the following ingredients were provided: raw shrimp, sliced boneless skinless chicken thighs, cooked pork meat balls, bok choy, chopped cilantro, shredded Nori seaweed, and roasted peanuts.  Guests chose from a variety of condiment sauces.

A happy time was had by all…

But there’s no place like home.

I have enjoyed going barefoot in the Airstream (and in the house for many years) and was fascinated to learn of the benefits of going barefoot.  The human foot is an anatomical marvel of evolution with 26 bones, 33 joints, and more than a hundred muscles, tendons, ligaments, and sensory receptors.

According to Vibram (maker of FiveFingers), to keep our feet healthy, they need to be stimulated and exercised.  Stimulating the muscles in our feet and lower legs makes us stronger and healthier, while improving our balance, agility and proprioception. The wearing of shoes can impede proper alignment and movement within the ankle and foot.  “Shoes are bad”, says Adam Sternbergh in his article, “You Walk Wrong“, in the New York magazine.  He discusses the benefits of barefoot walking and presents a three-part guide on how to walk better.  He mentions that there are groups, such as the Society for Barefoot Living, which help people learn about barefoot walking and the “barefoot lifestyle.”

See the You Tube video, “The Barefoot Professor: by Nature Video“.  Harvard professor and runner, Daniel Lieberman, shows that barefoot runners tend to land on their fore-foot and generate less impact shock than runners in sports shoes who land heel first.  Barefoot running can be more comfortable and could minimize running-related injuries.  Interest in barefoot running jumped recently with Christopher McDougall’s 2009 best seller, Born to Run, which follows Mexico’s Tarahumara Indians, who run long distances wearing thin rubber sandals or no shoes at all.  See Tarahumara: Pillars of the World.

But running and walking barefoot outside can lead to infections and injuries.  We routinely check every campsite for glass, nails, screws, and anything else that could puncture a tire before we back in the trailer.  So I became very interested in Vibram’s FiveFingers.  See Bryan Walsh demonstrate wearing and running in FiveFingers in the Time video, “Is Running Barefoot Better for You?“.  All of this made sense to me so I found Vibram FiveFingers KSO in my size locally.²  They can be ordered online, but, if this is your first time trying these, it is better to try them on in the store to insure a proper fit.

Read the review in Seattle pi Lifestyle article “FiveFingers foot gloves a runaway hit“.

See Wired Science article, “To Run Better…” by Dylan Tweeney, which includes sidebar tips on “How to Run Barefoot”.

NPR’s Weekend All Things Considered host Guy Raz tried on and reported on FiveFingers in NPR’s story, “A Shoe for Barefoot Runners“.

Even poet, author, and artist Marshal South preferred to go barefoot at Yaquitepec during his experiment in primitive living from 1930 to 1947.  He wrote in is article, “Desert Diary 11″, “Ordinarily, bare feet are the rule at Yaquitepec.  Wood gathering however calls often for the navigation of savage sections of rock and thorn where barefoot caution would consume too much time.  So we dig out our Yaqui sandals for the job.  Probably the oldest and simplest human device for foot protection, the sandal is still the most comfortable and healthiest thing man has ever fashioned in the way of footwear… Generations of abuse in ‘thoroughly scientific’ shoes have spoiled civilized feet to such an extent that they have to be entirely re-educated.  But once the sandal technique is learned the foot enters upon a new and better life of freedom.”³

However, there are times when going barefoot or in foot gloves or sandals just won’t do.  So I recently bought what may be the most comfortable shoes that I have ever worn: Merrell’s Encore Groove.  Merrell began in the Green Hills in Vermont and has been providing outdoor enthusiasts with quality performance footwear for over 26 years.⁴

I am now looking forward to taking my FiveFingers and ten toes out on our next camping trip and enjoying what should be a spectacular wildflower blooming season due to our recent rains.⁵  In the meantime, Larry and I have begun taking our FiveFingers (and two corgis) on walk/runs around our local Chollas Lake three times a week and are already experiencing the fun and health benefits.  See Ultra Marathon Running Movie - Indulgence and Copper Canyon Ultra Marathon in Born to Run.

Notes

1.  Also known as shoe gloves, foot socks and barefoot shoes.

2.  REI in San Diego was temporarily out of stock in this model, so I found mine at Adventure 16. Model KSO, “Keep Stuff Out”.

3.  All 102 articles and poems written by Marshal South for Desert Magazine from 1939 to 1948 can be read in Marshal South and the Ghost Mountain Chronicles: An Experiment in Primitive Living, 2005, Edited and with a Foreword by Diana Lindsay and Introduction by Rider and Lucile South, Sunbelt Publications, San Diego, CA.

4.  History of Merrell

5.  See DesrtUSA’s Desert Wildflower Reports 2010 - Southern California

It is now the dead of winter.  One winter storm follows another, even here in the desert.  Heavier desert rain this season is a good harbinger for a prolific, early wildflower season.  Just a few weeks ago we saw lush, green growth and the bright red flowers of the Ocotillo in Hellhole Canyon.

There is already a hummingbird nest with two eggs in our California Bay Tree just outside our den window.  We are in the middle of the third rain and windstorm this week and rain is expected through Saturday.

Each morning we peer outside our window to see if the nest survived the storms and each day we are amazed that the brave and dedicated mother is still there, hunkered down over her eggs.

During my last visit to Marshal South’s home, Yaquitepec, on Ghost Mountain, I thought about the bravery of Marshal South and his wife, Tanya, in choosing this desolate site for their experiment in desert primitive living and in raising a family here.

I contemplated about their experiences as recorded by Marshal South in his over 102 articles and poems written for Desert Magazine from 1939 to 1948.*

At one point the South’s windup kitchen clock failed and I was mesmerized by Marshal’s story of the making of his sundial and his reflections on time, as written in his Desert Diary 10 — October at Yaquitepec:

“So again, in peace, with neither tick nor tock time marches on at Yaquitepec…”  (Allow time to slow as you savor reading this.)

“and the unhurried, silent shadow moves round and round on the chisel-marked granite block that stands on the terrace.”

“… It wasn’t originally intended to be a sundial.  In the beginning it was part of a crude homemade grain mill.  But another mill superseded it and in the course of time the upper millstone of the discarded apparatus was broken.  Then one day the old clock folded its hands at 4:33 and we were without the time.  Which didn’t matter much, for ‘time’ is an illusion anyway.  But there is a sort of habit to the counting of it.  So I resurrected the nether millstone with its central iron pin — which was a long iron bolt cemented into a hole in the stone — and set forth to make a sundial.”

“… It was winter when I made the sundial and I still have chilly recollections of ’shooting’ the North Star through the old gun barrel, lashed to a post…”  “There are teeth-chattering memories too of leveling and wedging and sighting under the chill starlight as I arranged the granite block on a big boulder pedestal in the exact position necessary…”

“… Our sundial works.  Sometimes it proves, when checked against the haughty mechanism of expensive visiting watches, to be fifteen minutes or so out.  But who would worry about a little thing like 15 minutes’ error?  Certainly not here on Ghost Mountain, where there are no ‘limiteds’ to catch and where the golden sheen of the sun wraps the desert distances in a robe of glow…”

“… and dim mystery that is timeless.”

“What is Time, anyway?”*

Great thinkers have contemplated about time over the ages.  (See video of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity illustrated here.)

This is food for thought and, with a little champagne (and appropriate music), I’ll muse on and contemplate the passages of time and other mysteries of life and the universe.

*(All 102 articles and poems written by Marshal South for Desert Magazine from 1939 to 1948 can be read in Marshal South and the Ghost Mountain Chronicles: An Experiment in Primitive Living, 2005, Edited and with a Foreword by Diana Lindsay and Introduction by Rider and Lucile South, Sunbelt Publications, San Diego, CA.)

Yaquitepec is the name Marshal South (poet, author and artist) gave to his adobe house that he built atop Ghost Mountain, where he and his family lived from 1930 to 1947 in an experiment in primitive living.  Some consider Marshal and his wife, Tanya, as the original hippie family.  It was the time of the Great Depression of the 1930s, when people were without money, jobs and houses and went back to the land to survive, some, including Marshal and Tanya, by homesteading.

Years earlier they enjoyed camping trips to this area and loved the peaceful beauty of this desert wilderness, which enabled them to be creative in their writings after establishing a home here.  Marshal wrote articles for Desert Magazine and monthly drove his 1929 Model A Ford 14 miles to the town of Julian to pick up mail and supplies.  Some in Julian considered him an outcast because of his lifestyle.  Even though he painted a frieze for the Julian library, he was buried in the Julian Cemetery in an unmarked grave in 1948 (it is now marked with a headstone placed by his son Rider in 2005).

Along the way, Bert photographed this Agave plant, called Mescal by Marshal, who used it as a food and fuel source, among other things.

We started photographing the deteriorating ruins under increasingly cloudy skies.

After four prior hikes up here, I finally found and photographed the Souths’ kiln where they fired their pottery.

It is located about 500 feet east of the house and was built from the surrounding granite rocks.

Although it was mostly cloudy, the night sky had pockets of clearing, revealing stars.  Bert lit up the opposite side of this structure with a strobe light and took the image seen in his article, “At Yaquitepec, Atop Ghost Mountain in Anza Borrego, January of 1940 Was a Very Good Year“.  Afterward, he reviewed his photos (below).  Tall agave stalks are seen against the night sky lit up by El Centro, fifty miles away and the largest U.S. city to lie entirely below sea level.

Bert’s headlamp lit up the yard in front of Yaquitepec.

Earlier during the magnificent sunset, I reflected on the ongoing return of Yaquitepec to the earth and, like Marshal, I celebrated the life, beauty and spirit of this special place.

Marshal wrote in his first article for Desert Magazine, “Desert Diary 1 - January at Yaquitepec”, “And New Year is somehow a joyous finale of the glad season.  A wind-up and a beginning.  And it doesn’t matter much whether the wind is yelling down from the glittering, white-capped summits of the Laguna range and chasing snowflakes like clouds of ghostly moths across the bleak granite rocks of our mountain crest or whether the desert sun spreads a summer-like sparkle over all the stretching leagues of wilderness.  New Year’s day is a happy day just the same.”

And, all in all, for Bert and I, New Year’s Day at Yaquitepec was a happy day and a great way to start the new year.

(All 102 articles and poems written by Marshal South for Desert Magazine from 1939 to 1948 can be read in Marshal South and the Ghost Mountain Chronicles: An Experiment in Primitive Living, 2005, Edited and with a Foreword by Diana Lindsay and Introduction by Rider and Lucile South, Sunbelt Publications, San Diego, CA.)

Also see Diana Lindsay’s website, MarshalSouth.com, for additional information, articles, images and links.

And see the video trailer of John McDonald’s 76-minute documentary, The Ghost Mountain Experiment.

For us, it was a time to relax and enjoy the ambiance of this peaceful and beautiful desert setting.

Larry brought along a juniper wreath made from the Hollywood junipers from our home, which looked quite festive as it held a candle lantern on our picnic table (seen above).  He also brought two delicious homemade artisan sourdough bread rounds, made using the “No Knead Bread Baking Method” (seen below).

I joined Charon and Alex, Rich, and Bert on a hike up Hellhole Canyon.

Hellhole Canyon hike is a popular introductory backpack trip for many youth groups.  It is located south and west of the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Visitor Center that climbs up toward Culp Valley.  According to Diana Lindsay in her book, Anza-Borrego A to Z: People, Places, and Things, 2001, Sunbelt Publications, this canyon was named by William Johnston “Wid” Helm, who used the canyon to move his cattle on and off the desert for winter grazing.  He reportedly said that this canyon was “one hell of a hole to get cattle out of”.

A sign at the beginning of the trail alerted us that mountain lions have been sighted in the area.

Bands of ancient metamorphosed sea beds can be seen on the north canyon wall.

Indeed, we found a marine shell here (as seen below, held by Rich).

Also along this canyon we saw new growth (due to recent rains) of lush, green ovate leaves and bright red flowers of the Ocotillo.  This provided an opportunity for Bert to use his photographic skills and capture a stunning image of the blossoms.

Bert wrote in his recent post, “Hellhole Canyon — Or What’s In A Name?“, “To dramatize the flowers I needed two strobes, which I always carry. I then set the  camera to manual mode, enabling me to overpower the light from the sun. To do that I set the shutter speed to 250th of a second and the aperture to f-22 or less.  Look through the view finder of your camera and you’ll see the dial (at least on the Nikon D300) shows an under exposure of about three stops. Without the strobes your picture would be mighty black, but the strobes are set correctly, and they illuminate the subject. However, you’ll need an additional set of hands to hold one of the strobes.”

I gladly became the additional set of hands, while picking up photography tips from an expert!

My next article will cover what Bert and I experienced and photographed during an evening hike up Ghost Mountain.

Meanwhile, I’ll relax to the music of Blue Moon, accompanied by ukulele.

Indeed, as we approached Galleta Meadows, Gomphotheriums appeared to be grazing.

We parked the truck a safe distance away and consulted our guide.

Diana Lindsay, in her book (based on her Master’s thesis, edited by Richard Pourade), Our Historic Desert: The Story of the Anza-Borrego Desert, 1973, A Copley Book, writes that millions of years ago, this area was covered with seawater, extending from the Gulf of California (also known as the Sea of Cortez).  Anza-Borrego Desert State Park (the largest contiguous state park in the United States outside of Alaska) is located in Southern California’s Colorado Desert, a part of the Sonoran Desert.  While crossing the Colorado Desert in 1775, Father Pedro Font recorded seeing signs of former maritime life here, including many piles of oyster shells (see this Fonts Point video).  Many land fossils found in this park date from about two to three million years ago, and include the remains of mastodons, ground sloths, camels, horses, wolves and musk oxen. This is illustrated in the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Visitors’ Center.

It is also illustrated by life-size steel, free-standing art structures, such as the Gomphotheriums above, created by artist, welder, sculptor Ricardo Breceda and commissioned by Galleta Meadows Estate owner, Dennis Avery, for his property and open to the public.  The area draws many visitors, especially during the spring desert wildflower season.

These sculptures, such as the Giant sloth below, represent vertebrates of the past that inhabited the Anza-Borrego region during the Pliocene, Pleistocene and Miocene eras.

Along with mother and baby ground sloth…

And mother and baby camel (Camelops)…

And a kneeling camel with a Christmas ribbon on its tail and, perhaps, keeping a vigilant watch for storm clouds, Santa Claus, or the Polar Express…

See desertusa.com’s video of these sculptures at the Galleta Meadows Estate.

(Seen in the background of the above photo is Fonts Point, named after Pedro Font, a Spanish priest and diarist on the second Anza expedition, according to Diana Lindsay.  This bluff offers a spectacular view of the Borrego Badlands.)

Within the Christmas Circle is a pleasant, grassy community park that presents the Borrego Springs Chamber of Commerce Farmers’ Market every Friday, 7 a.m. to 12 p.m., November to June.

Farmers’ markets, sometimes called greenmarkets, provide locally grown produce harvested at its peak flavor and nutritional content and, since this produce does not travel far, farmers’ markets help conserve fossil fuels.  The farmers’ market experience has been likened to outdoor markets traditionally held in villages and town squares throughout the world and provides a less rushed opportunity to chat with vendors and shoppers, while one samples local foods and learns about local culture.

California is the largest producer of food for the country.  How food makes its way to the dinner plate is the subject of an excellent KPBS San Diego Envision 30 minute documentary, “Food”, seen here.

This KPBS program (along with this one) points out that San Diego produces 95,000 tons of oranges each year, and most of them are shipped to foreign countries willing to pay premium rates for some of the tastiest oranges in the world.  Ironically, most of the oranges San Diegans buy come from Australia, South Africa and Peru because we like our oranges to be seedless, pretty and easy to peel.  Larry and I now prefer to buy our oranges at farmers’ markets because they are sweeter and tastier.

We are lucky in San Diego to have 42 farmers’ markets.  Find your local farmers’ market here.

Seen on our holiday dinner table are sweet Medjool dates, shards of Gouda cheese, Garlic and Fine Herbs Boursin Gournay cheese on crackers, sun-dried tomato-cilantro hummus, and strips of Larry’s homemade and very delicious sourdough bread, made following the “No Knead Bread Baking Method“.

And after dinner, visions of sugar-plums danced in our heads.

Our mountains usually hold back rain clouds from the desert…

Resulting in mostly sunny days that we enjoyed by hiking and visiting the local farmers’ market and Gomphotherium and other free-standing art structures (such as the tall cactus below) created by artist/welder, Ricardo Breceda, at Galleta Meadows. (More about this in subsequent parts of this article.)

When we drove into Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, we saw another Airstream and someone cheerfully waving to us.  It was Mark and his wife, Mary, who had arrived earlier and were just finishing setting up camp directly across the road from our reserved site.

The following day I joined Mark and Mary on a hike up Palm Canyon (shown above) as Larry and the dogs relaxed at the campsite.  (Dogs are not permitted on the trails.)

Mark and Mary have a 2010 Classic Limited FB (with two solar panels) pulled by a 2008 GMC HD bright red diesel truck with a 52 gallon Titan fuel tank.

They are from Cape Cod and have spent the past two months on the road and have put over 6000 miles on their new trailer.

On the trail they marveled at the size of the palm trees and large boulders that had been washed down the canyon during the 100-year flash flood of 2004.

After hiking one and one half miles up the canyon, we reached a lush oasis of California fan palms supplied by a trickling stream.

(Above photo credit: Mary and Mark)

Over the next few days we enjoyed lively conversation and shared good food as we celebrated this festive season.

On the holiday dinner table below are Larry’s deep-fried potato pierogies, homemade banana-walnut bread, and sun-dried tomato-cilantro hummus.  Mary provided a couscous dish and sliced baguette, Brie cheese, exceptionally sweet strawberries and Medjool dates from the local farmers’ market.

Holiday cheers! Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas!

(Above photo credit: Mary and Mark)

The coyote (click here to see photo), Canis latrans, the “barking dog”, is a member of the Canidae (dog) family, has an average weight range of 15-46 pounds, and is found throughout North and Central America.  The name “coyote” is a loanword from American Spanish and is derived from the Nahuatl word cóyotl, meaning “prairie wolf”.  The coyote, known as “the song dog” by Native American Indians (according to Project Wildlife in California), often appears in Native American Indian tradition and folklore and is often portrayed as the trickster (and survivor) in these Native American Trickster Tales.

The coyote is a very adaptable, wide-ranging predator with an excellent sense of smell, vision and hearing, and hunts alone, in pairs, or in packs.  Each night at sunset, we heard the first calls of the coyotes, high-pitched sounds variously described as howls, yips, yelps and barks, most often heard at dusk and at night.

We closed the trailer windows against the approaching chilly night air, fed the dogs and got them inside before they could become dinner for the coyotes.  Coyotes have been known to attack pets and livestock.  We also secured trash and food containers with lids and weights (rocks).

The coyotes usually waited well into the night, when our trailer was silent, before exploring our campsite.  We could tell that they had visited.  Sometimes we could hear their sounds right next to the trailer.  By morning, the dog’s water bowl was empty and marked with coyote urine.  Nearby was a fresh pile of coyote scat, consisting mostly of mesquite beans, which are plentiful at this oasis.

Coyotes are opportunistic and eat what is available, including the Back-tailed Jack Rabbit…

and Gambel’s Quail (named after William Gambel, an American naturalist, who died of typhoid while crossing the Sierra Nevada in the winter of 1849).  They inhabit and roost in brushy and thorny vegetation of southwestern deserts.  Listen to Gambel’s Quail here.

The coyote’s adaptability has helped it to survive the encroachment of “civilization” and has led to its success as a native North American species.  Coyotes are now thriving, even in suburban settings and some urban ones, and causing alarm and unease, especially after the recent fatal coyote attack on singer-songwriter, Taylor Mitchell.  Coyotes are causing flight delays at some airports.  Two recent incidents of coyotes biting people at Griffith Park, Los Angeles, California, prompted the authorization to kill coyotes, resulting in the death of eight coyotes and a public outcry.

Environmentalists believe that coyotes are necessary to maintain the balance of nature (for example, coyotes help control rodents and feral cats).  The coyote is a persecuted predator, according to Project Coyote, founded in 2008 “to create a shift in attitudes toward coyotes and other native carnivores by replacing ignorance and fear with understanding and appreciation”.

Project Wildlife says that humans need to learn to coexist with coyotes, and offers these tips.  Griffith Park is now taking a more positive approach by posting ‘Do Not Feed The Wildlife’ signs.  Additional information on the coyote and protecting yourself and your pets is found in these Frequently Asked Questions, presented by DesertUSA.com and in this video.

Coyote sounds enhance our desert experience and I always look forward to hearing them, just as I enjoy listening to Peter and the Wolf at this time of year.

The refrigerated pumpkin cheesecake came with us to this oasis in the southwestern Anza-Borrego desert region, once inhabited by Kumeyaay Native Americans from 1000 A.D to 1906.  We nestled our Safari between Mesquite trees and Creosote bushes.

The Creosote bush, Larrea tridentata, has waxy resinous leaves and yellow flowers that turn into white fuzzy fruit capsules.  This plant has an aromatic fragrance, especially noticeable after a desert rain.

The Safari’s windows are seen closed on this chilly morning at sunrise, while Larry was inside icing cinnamon buns in a muffin top pan just out of the oven.  Upon opening the trailer door, I was greeted by the spicy aroma of the buns and freshly brewed coffee.

By mid-morning it was time to open up all of the windows, and by afternoon turn on the Endless Breeze fan as temperatures outside approached 80 degrees.

We are very happy with our new lightweight Dim Sum Clock that hangs on a “L” hook screwed in on the end of the galley overhead cabinet.  Dim Sum is one of our favorite foods and this “must have” item for us goes well in the Safari.

The hour pieces represent varieties of dim sum, are handmade by San Francisco artist, Noriko Kuwabara, and mounted on a bamboo steamer.  Starting at the one o’clock position, the pieces include a potsticker, pearl ball (shrimp ball covered with rice), custard tart, crab claw, bell pepper stuffed with shrimp, spring roll, har gow (shrimp dumpling), fried wonton, siu mai (pork dumpling), fortune cookie (invented in San Francisco), wu gok (fried taro root filled with pork), and cha siu bao (roasted pork bun) in the twelve o’clock position.

Also seen in our galley is a replica ad poster (on tin) from the 1930’s Shanghai era.

Larry found this piece while browsing our local Goodwill store.

It features a woman in a traditional Chinese dress (cheongsam) sitting on a low Chinese stool and promoting Lactogen for infants and nursing mothers.

We renamed her “Yum cha“, which is a Cantonese term meaning “drinking tea” and now refers to the dim sum dining experience.  Yum cha has its roots in travelers on the ancient Silk Road needing a place to rest.

Our fall harvest celebration includes setting the Thanksgiving table early…

and enjoying that pumpkin cheesecake (displayed with Pygmy Date Palm seeds)…

and enjoying sunsets and dreaming of gardens in the desert sand.