We’ve had several days of unseasonal rain this past week: gentle light rain that is warm and wonderful.  Disappointing for the tourists, but the locals here LOVE the rain.  Water is life here and it’s lovely to look across at the mountains and see them so green.  Our friends at the market, the organic farmers, are ecstatic as two of them were horribly impacted by Hurricane Odile and have had to start some crops, trees, and irrigation systems from scratch.

I’ve always loved the smell of rain and Ron found a wonderful video in the New York Times that explains the phenomenon: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/27/science/how-the-smell-of-rain-bubbles-from-the-ground.html?_r=0.  Enjoy!

We’ve had some cooler weather this past week and even some rain, which is very rare for Cabo this time of year.  Regardless of where in the world you are living, there is nothing to warm your body and spirits when the weather is cool than soup – wonderful, healing soup.  I had a beautiful head of organic cauliflower from the market up the road and decided to try this recipe that I had seen recently (http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/cauliflower-soup?xid=dailyrecnews-01-09-2015).  I used fresh thyme from just outside our front door – add some fresh sourdough bread with either butter or olive oil and voila!  The only thing that I would do differently with this recipe in future is to roast the cauliflower in the oven for additional flavor.  Either way, this soup is delicious!

When our dear friends, Stretch and Mary, were visiting us over the holidays, they brought down two spaghetti squash for us to enjoy.  We ate one of them while they were here and I just got around to cooking the other one last night.  I saw this recipe and thought that it looked delicious – and it was!  Here’s the link:  http://allrecipes.com/recipe/spaghetti-squash-with-pine-nuts-sage-and-romano/detail.aspx?src=VD_Summary.

Ron starts his season in Southampton, New York on the Memorial Day long weekend and we always calculate the time we will need to drive there from Cabo San Lucas via northern California.  We decided to leave home earlier this year to ensure that we could be in Santa Clara, California to be with Ron’s Mom on Mother’s Day.

The night before Mother’s Day, we had stayed in Santa Barbara to see David and his girlfriend, Jake.  Driving north the next morning, on Mother’s Day, we pulled off the freeway to get gas and I noticed cars and people were in the field across from us.  It took a moment to realize that it was a cemetery that we were looking at across the road and all of the people in the cemetery were visiting their mothers or other special women on this day.  It took me several minutes to regain my composure and to share with Ron how very fortunate we both are to still have our Moms.

We almost lost my Mom in 1997 when she had a couple of serious heart attacks.  Following this critical occurrence, she made some significant changes in her lifestyle because she decided she wanted to live, and we celebrate her choices, and her life, every year since.

Mom Matthie

My Mom is an absolute gem, a spark plug, and a constant inspiration in my life.  She is my best friend and I am so grateful for the relationship and closeness we share.  We communicate almost every day, despite the distance between us when Ron and I are in Cabo or on the road, and have found that the technology of FaceTime, Skype and the phone have been a valuable lifeline for us.   We’re closer now, even though there are many miles between us much of the year, than we’ve ever been, and I am so grateful.

Ron’s Mom is 95 years young; still living on her own in their family home of over 60 years, driving the streets and freeways of Silicon Valley WELL, and sharing her love with people she cares about with the food she prepares.  She is an amazing woman and we were so grateful to be able to spend Mother’s Day and a few more days afterwards with her.

Neither of our precious Moms had easy childhoods.  Instead of making these women bitter, I believe that it made them appreciate the value of family and made them wonderful mothers.  They are strong and fearless women, who have set a great example for all of their children to follow.  They have survived their childhoods, childbirth, losing their husbands and many of their friends over the years, but they continue to live fully and love us with all of their hearts.

Sometimes we hold on to situations that happen in the past and find it hard to release the grudges we carry, but it’s important to know that our mothers, like us, have done the very best they knew how.  Without healthy and normal family lives to pattern from, these women created loving homes for their families and gave much of themselves for all of us to thrive.  The capacity of both of these women to love is unlimited and unconditional.  As their children, it’s so important to realize how precious our time is with them and to love them, just love them, with all of our hearts.