Muchacho Polaco

My neighbor Salvador was kind enough to give me a bunch of vines to make clippings.

I did some research this afternoon and can safely conclude these are pothos. The scientific name is Epipremnum aureum.

Yun and I went to a coffee place a block  from our house this morning. On the way back we stopped at a park to let the dogs of their leashes. This is where I found the above two plants growing. They are both vines that seemed to grow in full sun and in shade. I took a couple clippings in hopes they’ll propagate in water. I’m not sure how to determine what plants will grow this way and what plants will not.

Also, I have no idea how to identify plants in order to get more information. We know a couple botanists here in town, so I will start there.

I found this growing outside on a walk with the dogs tonight. It’s either a golden pothos or a philodendron. I can’t quite tell. Its glossy like a philodendron, so that would be my first guess.

The best part is that it was growing outside. The variety I have in the house doesn’t seem to do so well out doors.

Some friends and I recently had our first book group discussion via webcams and Google Hangouts. The video quality was surprisingly good and much better than anything I ever get on Skype (especially for this many connections). The meeting was at 8am and Luke appears to be the only one that didn’t wake up 5 minutes prior to connecting. Derel linked in from Portland, Jeff from Phoenix, Luke from Austin, and Matt from Tucson.

Our first topic is the trinity and our first book was Delighting in the Trinity by Michael Reeves. This was Luke’s selection and surprisingly it was excellent. I wrote a review on Amazon here. The richness of the book for me was to see that the doctrine of the trinity permeates everything in the bible and is deeply relevant in how I relate to God and to others.

A good friend of ours passed away a week ago in Tucson and as such we traveled to Tucson to attend the funeral service. Our friend Bob Miner was only 67 so his departure was entirely unexpected. It was of course terribly sad to see him go, but believe his absence from the body means he is present with the Lord.

Ben, Luke, and Jeff also made the trip to Tucson and we had the opportunity to spend some time together at Matt and Dana’s along with Phil. We had a great time smoking cigars and discussing deep theological matters. I wish it could have been under different circumstances though. As always, Dana impressed us all with some deeelish food. I can’t recall the last time I had lamb, but it was superb.

When we travel to Tucson we take the opportunity to do some shopping for things we are not able to purchase in Mex, or are much cheaper in the US. Dog food is a regular purchase as are other food items. We also do some clothes shopping and I found a great smoking shirt on this last trip. Here’s a photo that better shows off the pure awesomeness.

We went to Guaymas yesterday after church to celebrate Dr. Vargas’, Martha’s, and Gab’s birthday. It’s cooling down a little bit and isn’t so humid, so it was nice to spend the day outside. Abe has a new pool now which we spent most of the day enjoying. After dark the bbq was started up and we had some spectacular carne asada.

So Yun continues to feed and provide water each day for the dog outside which we have learned is named Ernesto. He looks so sickly. He often does not want to eat, but is always very thirsty. He does however like Yun and trusts her when she approaches.

We liked Kino beach so much a couple weeks ago that we returned again last weekend. It’s a close drive, so going weekly is not inconvenient. The water is cooling down now to the low 80s and therefore feels much nicer than it did even a couple weeks ago. It’s still incredibly hot here and on the coast it is also humid.

We tried a different part of the beach on this trip. It was nice, but not as nice as the place we had previously found. We got there later this time, so we stayed until after sunset. The only problem with staying longer is that there were three police checkpoints upon our return, which I’m guessing are to ensure people are not drinking and driving. These checkpoints slow traffic down considerably.

Yun and I went to Kino last Sunday to spend the afternoon at the beach. It’s been nearly 10 years since we last visited and it is much nicer now. It is only an hour from our house. And despite being the busiest day of the week (Sunday, the only day Mexicans get off) as well as the busiest day of the year (Mexican Independence Day), we were still able to find a nice stretch of secluded beach.

The water was much cooler than Guaymas and given how hot it is, it was so refreshing. The dogs played in the water until completely exhausted.

I once thought sand dollars were rare finds. However, I found hundreds of them last weekend and they were all alive. I’ve never seen them alive before. They live just below the surface of the sand I’m the shallow water.

We’ve been getting reports of a hurricane heading north into the Sea of Cortez this week. We were able to experience this many years ago in San Carlos. Huge waves and lots of fun.

We’re back doing interviews again for full and part time shifts. It would be great to be fully staffed as soon as possible. We get a lot of applications, so Yun does a phone interview first to screen who we do in person interviews with to help save time.