Yesterday I went to Home Despot to pick up turf, but since it’s got a very limited shelf life they only have it in the mornings. So I had a wander round the area and took an a bunch of photos that I’m preliminarily calling “If life gives you girders, make irn-bru“. Here’s the link to the pix. And here’s my fav:

This morning I went to get the turf and practiced pronouncing the Americanese for it in the car, sod, pronounced sard. Here’s the b4 and after:

You may also see notice new bushy fern things which were advertised on craigslist.org for free, heather or lavender, the beginnings of a honeysuckle and solar lights which may stop working once the walnut tree gets its leaves on and casts the entire endeavour into shadow…

Can’t compare it to yesterday’s screening of Serenity in London (great review from Londonist here). but the 40 year old virgin and Rilo Kiley & John Cale gig were not bad at all. Sita reckoned that 40-yr-old was the best film of the Summer yet, she might be right, i laughed a lot for a (sober) matinee… still, roll on Serenity.
It hit 96 degrees in Downey yesterday hence all these trips to the air-conditioned cinema, shall be v. glad to see clouds come Thursday.
A few photos from yesterday here…

My new favourite beach town for those on a budget…

Chacala, is about 10 minutes beachwards from Las Varas and 3 hrs from Guadalajara and is absolutely gorgeous. We rented a house for the 7 of us with a pool and everything. Brought the BBQ and had 48 hours of no internet (though it was available), sun, sand, seafood and Pueblo Viejo. We arrived late afternoon on Friday, stayed in the pool all evening, cooking up a storm of hamburguesas and suchlike. Then Saturday, arranged to have people come and cook camarones al mojo de ajo and a la diabla around the house in the evening and explored the town on foot and by boat. Monica clandestinely baked sita a delicious chocolate cake and all.

On Sunday we came home and went to the Lucha Libre in the evening followed by the Famosos Equipales cantina and yesterday (Sita’s birthday) went out for breakfast, then Tlaquepaque then (and I’m going to spell their name wrong in protest of them not allowing cameras) a FANTASTIC Mexican/Thai fusion meal at Annnitttta liiii followed by imported Californian wines chez nous. Plenty of Chacala photos on Flickr, and as per usual my favourites below:

Let’s start with Friday. I got home from work around 5ish and Sita and I took Mr. Atticus to the beach where he was correctly identified as part schipperke by a stranger. This happens with alarming regularity, many denizens of Santa Cruz appear to have an encyclopedic knowledge of dog breeds. My in-built dog reference guide has bulldog and poodle with a big gap in between. anyroad, after much leaping around and photography we headed home, put Atticus out to pasture and brought Klem and Lulu in for a hop around the furniture… Then we went out for a sophisticated romantic dinner at Pearl Alley Bistro with fine wine and rare meats, dessert and an espresso, all bankrolled by my folks as birthday treat. We went to Well Within and on the way out saw a friend from Scotts’ Valley High, where I used to work, we spent 15 minutes in the street catching up on the goings on of the last few months, and agreed we’d meet up for a beer in the near future. We said our goodbyes and then, as one, turned around and said let’s have them now. Lo it came to pass and we spent the rest of the evening getting through pitchers of Newcastle Brown in the Poet and Patriot pseudo-Irish pub and talking nonsense. Result. or ‘Epic’ as some readers of this blog may say… got home settled Mr.A into his deluxe doggy bed and hit the hay… cue saturday morning. – TO BE CONTINUED- Have to go and watch sita play netball with girls from ucsc at the local elementary school.

Sun streams in throught the window, coffee gets brewed, breakfast is slowly knocked together and a nice long phone call from me mum’n’dad arrives… after that i saddle up the Nissam Altima, get me mobile, radio and camera together and I headed off into the Santa Cruz mountains for to explore the sights and sounds. I timed it just right to hear Car Talk, This American Life and Wait, Wait Don’t Tell me on NPR. And when they ran out I had a few episodes fo the ‘The 99p Show’ burnt onto CDs. Went all along route 9, stopping at the summit for an hour’s walk or so with well pretty views, then moseyed on to Saratoga for a coffee, a muffin and to pick up a copy of The Wave and then onto town…

On the church clock, usually the apostles come out every 3 hours. For Christmas they swapped the apostolitos with nativity figures and played Jingle Bells. Couldn’t be any more christmassy than that. Doing grand, enjoying the holiday. We went round Jose’s family for Xmas dinner last night. Very laid back and fun. Life is good. Merry Christmas Y’all

Here’s a few photos me dad’s put up on teh intarwebs from their iberian travels. Dad- you’re missing out by not using flickr. Use the Flickr Uploadr and bob’s yer father’s brother. People can leave comments and stuff then. Just an idea… yer username’s john_f for the record 🙂 Today’s additions include a few new car/surrounding and railway pix…

Oh and T, thanks v. much for the comment. 1006 isn’t an actual scrabble score though, it’s a rating calculated by how much you win/lose by against other rated opponents. I think my highest online score was around 550 pts… if you ever download the game (it’s free) let us know and go easy on me 😉 Hope it’s all sorted out with your jardinero, too.