Carrizozo / Pino Family Ancestral Home / July 2-4, 2016

The Pino family has lived on the ranch for more than a hundred years.The ancestral home, a stone's throw from the present house is currently in poor condition, but is slowly being repaired and renovated. It's an old adobe building with a lot of character. I love to walk through the rooms imagining what life was like so many years ago.

The Pino Family Ranch is located in the Chihuahua scrub desert a few miles outside the town of Carrizozo and at the foot of the Carrizo Mountain which peaks at 9000 feet. The ranch is approximately 2500 acres of open grassland and is not currently a working ranch.

Here are a few pictures of the old house.

Carrizozo Music / No Scum Allowed Saloon / July 2, 2016

Paul Pino and the Tone Daddies played at the No Scum Allowed bar in White Oaks. The bar is a great old west saloon in New Mexico's Billy the Kid country. This old mining ghost town once boasted a population of 4000.

White Oaks is about 12 miles from Carrizozo. These pictures were taken en route.

The saloon has an outdoor stage with lovely views of the surrounding Lincoln National mountains.

It's a tradition to follow the band here and listen to them play -- and to dance under the cool summer night sky.

I connected to wifi on the premises and skyped dad and mum. What a hoot it must have been for them to get a taste of the festivities of the evening. You'd be hard pressed to find anything in common between Hosur and White Oaks.

We left before the sewer backed up and sent everyone running except for Greg the bass guitarist who lost his sense of smell decades ago. All in all it was a great evening.

Carrizozo / Pino Family Ranch / July 2-4, 2016

Over the July 4th holidays, Raphael and I joined the "Pino Family and Friends Reunion" for the fourth time in five years. Their generous hospitality and welcoming nature has made us feel like part of the extended family. These are friends we've come to know and love. We relate and connect on many levels. It was a relaxing and fun couple of days.

Approaching the ranch house.

The ranch house.

Paul Pino, his siblings, cousins, and their families congregate from all over the country to reconnect with song and dance and lots of food, under the windy cloudless skies of the southwestern desert.
Below: In the shadow of Carrizo Mountain.

Forty plus individuals made their way to the ranch this year. A number of us stayed on the ranch, pitching tents or crowding into the already crowded ranch house. Others stayed in motel rooms in town; still others drove through staying for a meal and a couple hours of catching up on family news.

The ranch house patio.

Inside the ranch house kitchen.

We pitched our tent between two trailers and in the spot that had just been vacated by a nonvenomous bull snake. It was futile to put up the portable gazebo over our tent that we lugged along with hopes of being shaded from the fierce summer sun; the winds that blow intermittently would have picked it right up along with the tumbleweeds and tossed it helter skelter. We did string up a tarp above the tent as best we could for afternoon naps, but had to take it down in the middle of the second night for the winds thunderously whipped it around, it was impossible to sleep.

Everyone contributes to the communal meals. There is an abundance of enchiladas, tortillas, beans, chilli, chips, queso to name a few. I understand the day before we arrived, a pig was cooked and baked in coals in a pit. We took our juicer and made fresh carrot-apple-celery-ginger-lime drinks for everyone. I also took oatmeal cookies and fixings for a fruit crumble that we baked in the solar oven.

Below Raphael is making a shrimp appetizer--per kindness of Costco.

Carrizozo Flora and Fauna / July 2-4, 2016

This year the desert was green. Wild grasses were plentiful and the yucca elata blossomed abundantly. Their white clusters bright against the blue sky.

Wild rabbits--the desert cottontail and jackrabbits scampered behind every cactus. Gambel's quails paraded past our tent oblivious to the camera lens that protruded through the flap.

This rabbit and quail darted at each other back and forth in a little game of trying to get the other to leave.

This time we didn't see antelope and missed hearing coyote calls during the night, but we did hear the braying of wild burros--direct descendants of the pack animals that were brought by gold miners. During one of my early morning walks I spotted two of them in the distance, but didn't have time to switch to the zoom lens.

Anyway, here's the bull snake we spotted in the first few minutes of our arrival. Don't miss part of it on the lower left side of the picture.

Densem's Cottage on the Lake (Ontario, CA) / May 23-24, 2016

Spent two lovely days with Scott and Asha at their vacation house on the water. Good food and friends. Met Tim and Charlotte Orser and Margaret the tatter. Two games of Scrabble with Asha and Preeti, and a game of Wizard that included Emily and Erin as well, ended a delightful day. Erin was the victor; my final score was 10.

Here's the Bennington pontoon boat in which we toured the lake. The view of the house from the lake.

Trillium--Ontario's flower were just beginning to bloom and were scattered throughout the surrounding woods.

Bracebridge, Ontario with Cousin Preeti / May 22, 2016

Highlights - Everything

Cozy home with gorgeous surroundings and views.

Afternoon canoe ride on the river that runs below her property. All we had to do was carry her canoe down the slope.

A walk to Bracebridge and Wilson's waterfalls on the Muskoka River 

With Pepper

Aunty Joy Memorial Service / Toronto, CA / May 21, 2016

Joy Jyotirmoyee Christo Juriansz / January 22, 1922 - March 1, 2016

On May 21, 2016, about a hundred family members and friends gathered to remember and honor the life of Aunty Joy, my dad's sister.

Eight first cousins were present:
Mercy's children: Asha [first from left in the front row]; Preeti [third from left in the front row]
Mae's children: Vicki [back row, third from left]; David [second from right]; Christopher [first from right]
Joy's children: Brian and Russell [first and second from left]
Gerald's daughter: Lorna [second from left in the front row]

Reconnecting with family:

Aunty Maureen and Marilyn

Vicki and Eddie

Jonathan and 

Chris with ___ and Caitlyn

Brian and Jewel

Preeti came from Chicago to spend the day with us. Here she is getting her palm read by Aunty Barbara as Raphael looks on.

Ali and Leila the day after.

My spoken tribute at the service:

Message from my dad, Aunty Joy's brother.

Apart from our childhood together, I didn't get to know Joy until she married Frank. Our young families spent time together working at Spicer College and again in North India. Frank and Joy met my wife Birol before I had, and Joy and Birol got on very well. All too suddenly we were separated by their decision to migrate to Canada. There is nothing more heart-breaking than saying good-bye to loved ones leaving by sea. The ship takes an excruciating long time to get to the horizon, and we watched until we could see it no more, believing we would never see each other again, but we did--after seven long years, and then again after another eight years when I brought Birol for a visit. By then it seemed time had lost its relevance.

Birol and I remember Joy for her loving and caring ways. We spent many happy hours with Joy and Frank in their home. She was a fabulous cook. We went on camping trips together. And on one of their trips to India, Joy's dream of staying at the Taj Mahal Hotel was fulfilled.

I admire Joy for the person of integrity and character that she was; of the compassion and forgiveness that she exhibited in her life. I admire her because of her courage in times of adversity. What more can a younger brother expect of a sister?

My hope for you is that you will be kind to one another and hold on to the hope of being reunited with our loved ones on the resurrection morning.

With love, Uncle Gerald

MY TRIBUTE

In 1955 when Aunty Joy, and the others, immigrated to Canada, I had not yet been born; however, growing up I was the recipient of many gifts. Parcels would arrive from Aunty Joy with dresses, and baby doll nighties, and once a beautiful china tea set that gave my sister and me many pleasurable hours of playing. Later as a young woman with a family of my own, the gifts from Aunty Joy continued to arrive in the form of checks at Christmastime. In 1990 when I immigrated to Alberta, Aunty Joy and Uncle Frank were the first relatives to visit, bringing us a gift of a fine cutlery set. I was 35 and met Aunty Joy for the very first time then.

It was not until 2006, when I came to live with Aunty Joy at 57 Virgilwood. that I came to know her most intimately. Aunty Joy was a widow of a few months, and I as a result of unanticipated circumstances was alone as well. We were both lonely with aching hearts.

It was during this period that I was the beneficiary of her best gifts. She gave me the gift of caring—in the form of hot cooked meals that we shared together every evening after my long work day had ended. She gave me the gift of companionship—including me in her daily activities, whether it was folding laundry, cooking together for family events, or helping her choose a new outfit for her upcoming cruise with Aunty Christobal. She gave me the gift of trust—sharing with me personal thoughts and feelings. But most important to me was her gift of unconditional love.

At this time I invite you to watch a video with a brief message from my dad – and words from Aunty Joy recorded on her 90^th birthday. Let's listen to what she has to say.

Click here to view the video: