Kitchen "after" photos

See also the "before" photos in another entry from today, and look at the May 3 entry as well for more "before" photos.

Kitchen before and after

cranes on the creek and peonies

Here is a photo of a nice bicolor peony.

I tried to photograph these cranes that were sitting motionless on the creek. I could only see them from a distance behind these grasses.

Nina and (mostly) Phelps demolish a wall to make room for the new refrigerator

This morning I checked the measurements on line for the new refrigerator arriving later today and realized that it would be about one 0r two inches too tall for the existing space. Not wanting to send it back, and also finding that all the alternate refrigerators seem to be just as tall, we went at the wall with a hammer, saw and crowbar! What fun. (Years ago, when the previous owners built that stupid compartment, the refrigerators must have been shorter.)

Cathy's wedding pix

The dingo ate my baby

Here's Daisy, our sweet Australian cattle dog. But they are part dingo (check out the eyes), and they do get into everything. Daisy now has figured out how to open step-on garbage cans by pressing on the lever. See what she did with a two-pound bag of cornmeal.

Juan Soler's new business venture

This is a real article. This is not a fake. Juan Soler is now shilling for sanitary napkins.

Credit for this article goes to the March 6, 2007, issue of TVNotas magazine. Thanks for Marycelis Pacheco for a translation at this site.:
http://maripach.blogspot.com/2007/03/why-men-should-never-promote-feminine.html

more photos of our trip to amsterdam

More photos of our trip to amsterdam

Trouble on the set in La Fea Mas Bella

I have taken the liberty of translating an article from Mira ! magazine on our favorite show. The non spanish speakers will appreciate this.
Tension, exhaustion and war of egos in La Fea Mas Bella
By Mary Carmen Cruz, translated from Mira! Magazine, Feb 19, 2007

It’s been one year since taping began on LFMB, and the consequences of this long coexistence have begun to take their toll—and in what a manner!
In a word: the actors of this novela can’t stand it (or each other). They seem fed up with living together, seeing each other every day, to put up with the errors that cause slowdowns. They sit backstage and don’t say hello to each other, they pass at a distance. They look at each other with disdain. They are exhausted with the stress of taping that is like a forced march.
Angelica Vale and Jaime Camil are privileged: they have their own dressing rooms. The rest must share and at times disagree about every little thing.
Jaime Camil is the one who comes latest, and on occasion, for him or for Angelica, they must slow down work and the others are angry. Among themselves they are critical, but in front of the actors, they shut up.
One day, Paty Navidad (Alicia) became very ugly with Rosita Pelayo (Lola) for speaking badly about her. Tired of her commentaries, she answered with shouting. Furious, Rosita shut herself in her dressing room, while Paty left the area and could not get a word in.
Angelica Vale left for the production of “La Oreja” (don’t know what this is) and slowed down taping. Juan Soler was furious and asked of the producers, “Has Camil already gone?” “No,” they told him. Notably bothered, he kept quiet.
Mienwhile, Nora Salinas went to change for the following scene and closed the door of the dressing room. When Elizabeth Alvarez (Marcia?) wanted to enter, she didn’t have the key and shouted for the dressing room mistress to open the door. The mistress came and immediately opened it.
Sergio Mayer is unbearable, they whisper. He doesn’t have a nice tone when he asks for things. (Sounds like Luigi!)
Sergio walks back and forth in the corridors. He gives instructions to his chauffeur and with an arrogant tone goes out without saying goodbye to the girls of the “cuartel,” who were commenting on what was going on between Navidad and Pelayo. Later, they stayed in the dressing rooms and did not go out until they were called for a scene.
The best looking say they are not jealous of the others, but with the way they look at each other, they are clearly not telling the truth.
Juan Soler was the last to start taping, and he says that he is already exhausted (figures . . .).
Jaime comes in with his natural hair, and sits down to have someone get it ready. Angelica Vale comes with a scary face, accompanied by her assistant. Without anyone asking, she gave explications like “we shall see what we shall see” (I’m not sure I really understood this last part).
For all, one notes the hostility. They know that this novela is the most successful, but they seem to be fed up. All plan on going away to enjoy themselves when taping is finally finished.
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