wow it's really been a looong time since I was last here! Not that I've been doing nothing: I've been busier than two dawgs in a dawg-haus! Of course in late 2010 workups to the upcoming America's Cup in SF Bay started with first Oracle's USA Team training in the bay alone on their AC45. Soon they were joined as the Artemis Racing teams, as they have two boats also, and it was nice finally in 2011 seeing the four boats infrequently in the bay waters. In spring of 2011

just a few new images from recent days

.....now that I am back in Rota and trying to pack more stuff to be ready for the next future trips I have to make to move my stuff from Spain to the states... not easy at all but not impossible either.

The last three has now completely destroyed two more suitcases, for a total of three suitcases useless. This is a lesson: do not pack your suitcases to the limit (in this case 70lbs each) and buy a durable suitcase that will last and endure. I just feel sorry for the people who had to handle my luggage and the pain it was as it was falling apart.

The weather has been completely HOT or hotter. So I am back to my pre-USA routine of summertime 29hours a day use of several fans throughout my apartment, including one 50cm-wide fan that blows me away in the wind-storm sometimes. It helps a bit but never as effective as I wish it should be. I am just dreading August when the temperature will really rise... yes, hotter than it is now.I am quickly discovering a bike ride through the town even in the hot sol is better than an unplanned siesta in a hot apartment that I call my summertime "oven".

July Fourth in the states....

....for me will be in a military passenger terminal, waiting for a flight eastward to Spain, back to my apartment to start anew the work in clearing out my mess. Just spent a week-long weekend in California after delivering yet another two suitcases full of my life-belongings, and have many more trips remaining before I am done. Can't wait to return as the a/c I am experiencing throughout my time here has been wrecking hell on my allergies and sinuses, and to finally leave cannot be soon enough! Though I was on the road today, I managed to catch the last half of the Spain world cup match, and am so happy the spaniards are still in the game!!! I could almost hear the millions of spaniards screaming and cheering on their team wearing "red". Though I find it very difficult to follow the matches in the USA, at least I am finding a few places when one can listen to, or even SEE the matches when on the road. I was even lucky enough to find me a well-priced Spain jersey yesterday, which I wore today while the spanish team played.

Enjoy the pictures and remember I also have a lot of pics displayed at my newest website!!

i love lines!!

lines and windmills

it still supports though dead and broken

we will never forget!

i now know the difference between a HARE and a rabbit!!
or a jackrabbit!!

watched geese float down a fast-moving stream

a full moon seen at 35,000ft

i love flowers but bees are even more gorgeous!!

humans aren't the only ones who like the beach

trees are gorgeous even in dim light

it's just another day...

as forecast, it did rain almost all day Tuesday and again on Thursday. Both days brought out some fantastic storm clouds - the type that you see in documentaries or movies that make your heart rate increase. I took a break Thursday night to get to the beach as the little sky I could see form my windows hinted of some sunbeams - later there weren't but I wasn't worried too much.

So, I went out to shoot the sunset and I saw this huge rain cloud - actually two of them. One floated over the Atlantic and was huge.... another was to the north and slightly off the coast. I knew that I would get hit by this cloud as the wind comes from off the shoreline, and eventually

as I snapped pixs of the sand designs and sand-trees

I got completely and totally POURED on!! The storm clouds were however great and when the rain came down continually harder and the wind picked up even more, that's when I decided I wasn't waterproof and walked slowly towards a sun tarp set up on the boardwalk for a cafeteria. I was eventually content I got myself out of the rain as it lasted a good 10 - 15minutes!! As the rain subsided I returned to the water's edge, and as I turned to the south - from where I walked originally, I saw a huge complete rainbow starting over Rota and ending in the Atlantic!

By this time my shoes and socks were completely drenched along with fototaker, but he was at least happy he saw a Rota rainbow!!More pictures are on my facebook if you know me there, plus at my fotosite.

sunsets and boxes

unfortunately, cannot get to see a sunset inside a box, but i can surely leave a box to see a sunset!!!

;^)



just a few other sets that I've had the pleasure to see since I have been back..... enjoy!!!

well.....

I've been back in Rota over three months now, hating to move again and going through all of my boxes that I originally packed when I departed here over four years ago. Actually, I've been on strike now for some weeks - boxing and packing can be very depressing....

but I've been going out to snap the sunsets a few times, including tonight when I saw the wispy clouds from my bedroom window... so I went extra early to see if I could get some decent snaps....

Plus checking with an old friend who goes on little day hiking trips with a Rota hiking group, and I have decided when I return from the states, I'll try to sign up again and go on at least one hiking trip a month.... Andalucia is so gorgeous and there's so much I haven't seen yet.

The time always comes sooner or later.....

Rota sunsets are always gorgeous

... to make a critical decision, which I have made. My life, or what I perceive as a life, changes continuously, and now with my life in Rota once again, things have come to such a point that I have decided yet another important stage in my life must be made.

I am moving my stuff back to the states, and will eventually resettle in Eugene. I love the greenery there, the people are just as friendly as in Rota (though they don't speak spanish), and the sunsets are just as wonderful. It'll once again be only the third location in my life where I will not have a ocean near me but for a two hours' drive, that can be resolved.

As I type this, I am in Charleston SC awaiting a flight to Rota, after having gone through my boxes in SF and taken some things out to take with me, and left more of my Rota things in its place. This will be my life for the next year as I continuously fly back and forth to get my things back in the states, then eventually sell my apartment so I can resettle in Eugene permanently. The ash-cloud of mid-April was a nightmare for me and now I cannot get a refund for the unused portion. I expected that response though hearing it hits home sadly. I feel for those who are still away from their homes due to that event, as they possibly face the same fate.

It's not easy being a nomad, not in any life or country..... moving from one country to another is not easy and takes a lot of pre-planning. I just cannot wait to get back to someplace where I can call home and to continue to practice what is my passion: photography.

There are advantages to living in Spain and it's a gorgeous culture and life, but there's just so many things that I cannot tolerate, and a few of those is the constant smoking in restaurants and bars, and my inability to freely practice my love of photography. This has been an ongoing problem for over a decade, and I am putting an end to it. Does it mean I will never return to Rota/España? No, I can return anytime I so desire and I will....

there are other places with sunsets just as gorgeous

Now I just have to get accustomed to speaking english all the time!!! grrrrrrrr