i'm with the drummer

 

what are you doing this weekend?  with sunny skies in the forecast i hope to go for a bike ride with my boys to check out the without masks: contemporary afro-cuban art exhibit at the museum of anthropology, visit the pop up shop at le marche st george, and cheer on stefan at his first gig (!) this sunday night.

the students of sonic planet rock school perform june first at the fairview pub.  it's amateur night!  if you are in the area do come by, threadsafe plays at eight.  we hope to see you there!

image of dave grohl via here.



21/52 weeks

kai:  he is growing tall and lanky; all legs just like his dad.  there really is no distinguishable difference between the two of them.  

how many animals is too much?

there's a disagreement in this house about how many animals is "too many".  stefan says two cats only; i say two cats plus a dog (i have her name picked out) and maybe a bunny running about; kai says two cats, a couple of guinea pigs plus a dog and some fish.

 

it's painful knowing that you'll never be able to have all of the kinds of animals that you want.  



cute guinea pig

 

 

 

 

 

and you?  do you have any animals?

 

weekend pics

the weekend involved a lot of house tidying, a huge hit of lovely friends over for dinner (stefan cooked a big pot of minestrone soup, focaccia bread and tiramisu!), some walking in the light and drizzle rain while kai was getting wet and muddy in his mountain biking class, and a trace of lounging.   all in all, a relaxing weekend.









 



 

hope you had a lovely + relaxing weekend too.

our trip to cuba, part two - las terrazas

las terrazas, a unesco biosphere reserve, is an eco village that has been in place since 1968.  the village is picturesque and overlooks a small lake.  it was designed with nature preservation in mind making its natural surroundings ideal for hiking.  the sierra del rosario was once full of booming coffee estates (back in the early 1800's) and efforts are being made to grow more coffee on site.

speaking of coffee, patio de maria is a small coffee bar overlooking the lake and, according to stefan, makes a really good cuppa.  not surprising since the beans are grown right there in front of the terrace. 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 





this vegetarian restaurant uses solar energy and their own home-grown  vegetables.  the bread was to die for, so good!



  

 

 

 

 

 

we really wanted to stay for longer however hotel moka was completely booked up.  hotel moka is cuba's only eco hotel with lovely flower gardens, a pool (bonus for kai!), and a tree growing through the lobby.  the view from the shower was lovely thanks to the huge window!



hiking in las terrazas is guided.  we traipsed through the mountain, passing by two coffee ruins - san idelfonso and el content - which are immersed in the jungle.  we learned about the local fauna, food, and animals too.  when our guide pointed out an avocado tree, he was shocked to know that i pay four dollars for two small avocados.  can you guess how much avocados cost in cuba?  a mere twenty cents for a gigantic one, crazy, right! 

anyway, we made our way to a local home where banana stealing roosters, an ugly turkey, and a cute kitten live.  here, we drank coffee, sampled honey, and ate the most delicious bananas.  kai had his banana stolen right out of his hand by a rooster, he was giggling so hard that such a thing happened! 

the lovely 10km hike ended at idyllic natural swimming pools... naturally.  the baños del san juan was a lovely site to while away an afternoon.  and, some really delicious (unbelievably good!) chicken was eaten :)))



 

 

 

 

 

 



 



coffee plant





 

 



my boys jumped and jumped and jumped some more...



  

 



las terrazas was kai's favourite place. if we had more time there he would have happily hiked and swam his days away.  me too!

our trip to cuba, part three to come next week.