Puerto Vallarta was absolutely beautiful over the last few weeks.  I was going to try to blog from there, but the internet connection at my house was not strong enough to upload pictures.  It was very chilly for the first 5 days that I was there.  My mom and I had to sleep with the windows closed, under lots of covers, and wore sweaters most of the day.  Mid afternoon was warm enough to go without a sweater, and that was about it.  It warmed up the day my mom left. 

We had a really relaxing time; we read, watched movies, ate out, had picnics on the bed watching movies, and walked on the beach. I am posting some pictures of the water, because I encountered something that I have only read about and seen in movies, a red tide.  It is an algal bloom, a type of algae, which is often phytoplankton.  It apparently can come in many colors, but this looked purple when you looked out at the water.  It was not really affecting my end of the beach, but down by the Four Seasons, the water in the waves looked almost black.  There were dead fish and sea snakes all down the beach as we took our walk the first day.  It was really interesting to see.  So here is the first picture of the red tide at Playa Careyeros.

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You can see it as an area that is a reddish purple color.  My neighbor told me that it had been there for a couple of days, and that it was moving south, so it was heading around the end of our little bay on the Pacific towards Punta de Mita. You can also see it in this second picture.

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Our house is next to a cliff, and this is where I took the pictures of the red tide from.  It is interesting, because as you can see below, there are hand tiled stairs going up the side of this cliff.  I have no idea who put these stairs on the hill, but whoever it was was an artist in his or her own right.  They are beautiful, almost like a mosaic.  All different tiles, different colors, different shapes and  sizes, broken pieces and whole pieces it is such a beautiful piece of art in the middle of nowhere.  It is amazing to see, and I think most people take it for granted when they walk on it.  I do not think that they think about the time, energy, and creativity that was put into these stairs.

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These are just a few of the tiles up there.  I have more that I will post later.  It is an amazing thing to see.

The two days after my mom left, and before everyone else arrived,  were nice.  I went to the fabric store in Mezcales, and bought oil cloth and fabric to make sundresses with.  I spent a whole day making a dress and a bag for the pool with the fabric that I bought.  I bought extra fabric to make oil cloth bags and sundresses for the website.

I also spent time reading, and read a new magazine called Life: Beautiful, which is absolutely beautiful.  It is a spiritual, bible based magazine.  I read an article about making journals.  It was a really wonderful idea.  I made the first one last week and gave it away as a gift.  I am also going to make more and put them for sale on the website.  The first one that I did I stamped Faith on it, and put a card inside with Heb. 11:1 on it.  It was really fun to make, and was a great gift to give.  I will post pictures of the next ones this week. 

I have also been working on some new hand knit scarves.  I am finishing the edging on the first one, it is a new “Faith” scarf, and I am working on a really special one in white with red fun fur letters.  It is “Forgiven”, white for purity, and red for the blood of Jesus.  It is really special to me, and I am happy that God gave me the ability and creativity to make them, and this blog. 

So today I am thankful to God for all of the things that he is showing me and doing with my life.  Today, I am thankful.