Odds and Ends

I finished a novel last night - Time and Again by Jack Finney. The copyright shows 1970 and the story line involves time travel to the 1880s; the protagonist is in New York City. It was a fun book that I got at my book club Christmas party last year. I was thinking about the differences between 1970 and 1880 and that got me going - thinking about the differences between 1970 and now. It was all kind of mind boggling considering the World Trade Center hadn't been built yet, among other things ... and then I heard a horse clop, clop, clop down the street and I thought about my own time travel...

Next morning I went out to play with my new camera and found this gigantic cactus - perfect for trying out various settings:




We went to Chapilca the other day to try to find homespun yarn (to no avail, alas!). It is a very dry place, except for where the river runs through it. The church is quaint and they've found an excellent use for old tires - a playground outside of the church:
I always love the use of English names for things; so many signs seem totally random:
(doesn't look big time to me!)

And this little shop in Vicuna - named Canabis with pirated Disney princesses painted on the side of the building:
Chile is one of the worst countries on the planet when it comes to pirated stuff - they flagrantly ignore most intellectual property laws.

And a few family shots for posterity ...

The In-laws:
Boy:
Girl: