De lluvia y flores

(Domingo 16 - Sábado 22 Junio ) 

Isn't life great when you are busy busy busy! Sunday morning, and Carmen wants to buy plants and make our small garden areas beautiful! Ania had said that she would give us a start of an asparagus fern, so we called her and invited ourselves to their home to get this plant, in spite of the fact that she had a bad cold sort of thing. We just knew that she would feel better with a visit from us, though this might not have been the case. Turns out that the best fern was amongst poison oak. No thank you, but there were more. We ended up soaking a pot (so that we could pry the plants out) that had both the Sprenger's fern that we wanted for a hanging basket in our new bathroom, plus a lace fern that is now outside near the car gate, plus a Murraya paniculata (mock orange, orange jasmine,) which is now happy planted in our petite front yard. We also got Trevetia ahouai (Nariz de payaso or Clown's Nose plant, aka Bishop's Balls) which is not doing well, plus a ground cover, Saxifraga stolonifera, that is actually potted near the asparagus fern in the bathroom. Dan built a shelf for plants, near the ceiling under the skylight for a small Cabeza de Negro, which will send it's leafy vines up into the skylight well.

On our way home we stopped by a little nursery that sells trees and shrubs, plus ground covers. Here we bought a four foot tree with longish branches and covered with the most beautiful flowers. Turns out this is a Bauhinia monandra, down here called a Pata de cabra for the shape of the light-green leaves (“goat's foot”), but you might know it as an Orchid Tree. Also we purchased a small Pata de elefante plant (Beaucarnea recurvata), which you might know as a Ponytail Palm, although it's not a palm at all. These grow slowly can can become very large, but can be maintained small when potted.  We were back home we then realized it was Fathers Day, but no one had called during our outing.

We thought it best to dash out to the floral market area in town right away for a quick trip to be back home by the time Dan's daughters might be calling. Several purchases here. First we spied a passion fruit vine (Passiflora edulis), with it's most beautiful delicate purple-blue blooms. (We inserted a picture of this flower in the last post.)  Dan had been searching for one for a while, and is already anticipating having his own crop of these tasty fruits (around here called maracuyá, but in Guatemala he bought this refreshing fruit as a granadilla, “little grenade”). Next were purchased two Mandevilla vines, one white (aka Chilean Jasmine) and one a rosey deep pink. All three of these vines are potted on the bedroom terraza level to climb the walls and fence.

We spent a long time deciding on which hibiscus to purchase, which for some reason here in Mexico is called a Tulipán. However, if you look this word up on the internet, all that shows are tulips, a bulb flower we are very familiar with, grown in the Skagit Valley of Washington, and Holland, of course. We finally made a decision, only to have a man pick up the plant just as we were reaching for it. No other of that color. Bought our second choice and so far our chosen spot has not made it happy. Maybe it's in too much sun, or too dry? The bloom is 6.5 inches across, pale magenta with white-orange fringes, with a vivid red-yellow stamen.

A lush lavender-bloomed Plectranthus mona is planted between our palm and plumbago out front. The Pachystachy lutea or golden shrimp plant is still in it's pot. We have high hopes of a finding a special new ceramic pot for it, and will be set on top of our back area grill until it gets big enough to plant behind the car, where we can see it from the living room. We see these wild in the forest edges and they can get up to five feet tall. Then of course there is Carmen's favorite of the moment – the Clerodendrum thomsoniae. This is the Bleeding Heart vine with white flowers with dark bright centers of red. It was a very popular plant in 19^th century Mexico, for it's tri-color appearance of the country's flag. It grew out of favor due to being difficult to maintain in other parts of the country, as it requires shade and lots of water. Hopefully it is happily planted near a north window to grow up on the fence there.

So far the sweet corn we planted does not seem to want to grow. Only three of the nasturtiums have sprouted and the sweet peas are being shy. Our carpenter was here tuesday, thursday and friday, finishing his work. Removing and then refitting our laundry room door after taking it to his shop for painting, fitting & attaching all the various trim pieces that were left off the doors and windows waiting for the walls to be painted, and putting up a shelf in kitchen over the refrigerator space.

A lady came to our gate with a few plants for sale. We really did not want the orchids she had, but she looked so down-hearted, that we bought two. Then Cosme showed up with his glorious mischievous smile with two large bags of plants! What can we do? He laid them all out on the porch and explained the beauty of them all. All 20 or so. We only bought fifteen. Now you must understand that these are very small starts, all epiphytes (manydendrobiums), plus a dark red anthurium. We paid cash for part of them and the rest is credited towards the plywood he will get when we are done with our projects. It was raining the whole time he was here, and he travels by walking and bus! He tied all the orchids that were not already growing on sticks of wood, into the branches of the bugambilia where they look like they took root naturally.

Wednesday we went to the INM (Instituto Nacional de Migración) office in Córdoba to hand in the papers for our permiso to be residents in Mexico. We decided to pay for the next three years at once, which will save us from making two more annual visits like these, and one full year of fees. The fee amounts to about US$150 per year, per person, to be deposited to the INM account at any bank. We did this at the Santander bank but a block away. Went back and handed our papers from the bank to the lady at Migración, only to discover that Carmen's last name was spelled wrong on the receipt. We had to go back to the bank and get that corrected. Back and forth up/down the three flights of stairs, plus stops at the Ofix store across the street for copies, but it all was done in about an hour or so. We assume it will go well, and when we are notified by computer, we will go back to the office and get our plastic coated ID cards. Then we will have 15 days to get to the city of Veracruz, or any other country border entry point, to get our car permitted by the Aduanas (customs office) there for the same period of time. After leaving the immigration office, we went to our family IMSS clinic to get lab and x-ray orders stamped validated (vigencia) for next Monday's hospital visit.

One night we had gone to bed and heard a loud crash. Discovered one of the planters we had hung from the upstairs patio, had fallen onto the ground onto the patio a story below. It was raining and the now wet dirt was everywhere. The plants seemed to be okay so they got replanted the next day. Turns out the weight of the pot, plants and wet soil had sheared off the screws holding the planter braces to the steel railing. Back to the drawing board on that idea!

Talk about lluvia (rain), then there was thursday night! It had been raining for two days, rather steady and at times quite hard. Around nine pm, just having commented on the downpour outside and how pleasant it was inside, dry and in bed reading, when Carmen noticed Gardi cat, who was lying beside her, looking over the edge of the bed. Assuming she would see a bug, she also stretched her neck that way. And much to our surprise, it was no bug! It was a rapidly rising covering of water on the floor!!!! The water was just about to go down our inside stairway, and was in all three bedrooms and bath. Actually we got the long squeegee from downstairs and Dan, at this point totally drenched from clearing the outside drain, ran back and forth pushing water out the door, back onto the terraza. Furniture that we could lift got put up on wood slats to help dry. Thank goodness for our curious cat! Dan had discovered that the drain on the deck outside the bedroom was covered with a plastic plant saucer, so the terraza had turned into a small lake, backing up the slight slope and into the bedroom! What a mess, but at least the floor got a good mopping!

The rain was so hard that it absolutely took one's breath away to be out in it to clear the drain, and to squeegee the water across the terrace towards the drain! Seems that we experienced our first real tropical storm – Barry! When constructed, Dan's idea for the terraza had been to build that surface one step down from the bedroom level, but interfacing everything with the existing levels in the laundry room and lower floor door & window lintels, moved that surface, when the slab was poured, to almost the same level as the bedroom,. This works fine as long as the drain across the deck is not covered or clogged. We did bring some empty “flood bags” from the US, to fill with sand and use at our front entrance where we had seen water pouring down the roadway. Maybe we had best get some of them filled, though the front yard was in okay shape after the storm, to use in the future for emergencies like this. And maybe a small sill in the doorway would be a good idea? Or a scupper off the terrace to complement the 4” floor drain?

Saturday started with sunny skies, the first we had seen for days. We had been cooped up, so we decided on a shopping trip thru town – on foot – looking for a flower pot or two for a couple of the plants we purchased this week. There is a sizable shop with large ceramics near where the railroad track crosses the Fortin-Cordoba boulevard, but we feel they are costly there. When we visited it a year ago, the lady tending shop apparently thought us to be dumb tourists who would pay outrageous prices. At any rate, we walked around Fortín, from the southeast corner where we live, around and about to the northwest corner just short of the autopista, and back of course, in search of large ceramic flower pots. Did not find any. We did stop at the gate of the nursery again, but it was closed. Also strolled all the passageways thru the public market, the small and large stalls stocked many things, but no garden items. We saw and spoke to our welder, who was having a chat with friends on the other side of town. Our only purchase this day was at a coffee roasting company that we found NW of downtown. One the way home we chanced by a lot where some trees had been cut down.  Here we found some branches from a bougainvillea that we lugged home and wired up to one of the concrete porch columns.  We tied many of our small epiphytes here, a good home for these blooming air plants.  Was perfect weather for such a stroll and a bit of garden work! But, the leftovers from tropical storm Barry poured down again in the late afternoon and off and on into the night.

Dan has been making a list of plants on this small piece of property (family, latin/english/spanish name, characteristics, location, link to webpage). It will be interesting to see how many we can squeeze in!

Casi un año como residentes

(Domingo 09 - Sábado 15 Junio ) 

Another week has come and gone so quickly! So many things to see and do. Will we ever have time for it all? Sunday we spent at Ania and Frank's for his third birthday dinner, another delightful meal, and good company. Frank's daughter, husband and two children were visiting from New Orleans. The grandson, Rio, will stay on for a couple of weeks, and Frank intends to keep him busy with all the various projects he's got going, including some landscaping at the new rental house. We also met Jean at the dinner. At present she is staying at an estate that has been in her family for years, about nine blocks north of here. Both she and her husband were anthropology professors at the University of Pittsburgh, and her two children live in Pennsylvania. Her father was the first to bring anthurium plants to Fortín from Hawaii.

Carmen patched and painted the edge between the ceiling and wall in the upstairs bathroom, which the workers had not done to her satisfaction. Not having the work crew here means our days could be a bit less busy, but at least for this week we went to bed tired every evening, having accomplished a lot of things we had been putting off while the house was a construction site.

Cosme came to spray a semi-annual fertilization for our plants. We gave him a ride home – or rather to his garden area which is considerably south of his home in Chocaman. It is a lot just north of Fortín which he is developing into a nursery and a future homesite We ended up buying a couple more plants and told him that we would not be buying any more, but would trade some in the future for leftover plywood, when we are done with what we need for our projects.

Carmen cleaned floors and happily they are not covered with gray dusty construction soot immediately. While doing so in the living room, we turned all the furniture upside down and festermicided the bases of all the wood as protection from termites. She also cleaned all the windows and the sills are staying clean. So refreshing to have a cleaner abode!

Dan hung the porch chair hammock. He also built and put the shelves in the bodega and happily filled them with tools, including gardening supplies, finally emptying out our dining area which has served as a temporary shop for these past nine months.

We spent one half day making a visit to the INM office in Córdoba to start our yearly visa process. Doesn't seem like a whole year has passed since we became official Residentes of Méxíco.  We were given a list of the items we needed for the visa, and got our tiny pictures that are needed. We go back next week. We took a bus for the first time in quite a while since it is really more convenient than a car for downtown city stuff. We walked around downtown Córdoba doing a variety of shopping. We popped into El Borrego, a store there that is known for its cured ham. We bought some and later found it too dry, though the flavor was good. We also bought some olive loaf which Carmen loves, except that she insists that this was like eating sawdust. Dan thought it tasted a bit like liverwurst. We also bought some swiss cheese that was fantastic, well worth another stop at this store.

We checked out tire stores on the bus trip into the city, and later in the week got four new tires on our car. We were told before driving here from the US that we needed new tires, but we waited. This set should last us a long time, as we don't put very many miles on the vehicle.

We spent a few hours wandering the flower and plant areas in town, trying to decide what plants we wanted here. So amazing to have all the tropicals and subtropicals as options that were just dreams when we lived back in the north of the US. However, we simply do not have room for one of everything, so decisions have to be made.  Some of the orchids we purchased earlier are blooming, and we just couldn;t resist buying a passiona fruit to vine up over the walls above the new terraza.

Our new clothes dryer has needed the fuel orifice changed over from natural gas to propane, so we had not yet installed it in the laundry room. A call to the Electrolux parts department on Thursday, to order the conversion kit, turned up the welcome news that the company would do this free of charge—we should expect a call within 48 hours to arrange for the service visit. Saturday three men showed up unannounced to do the change and they were here an hour and a half working on it, disassembling the dryer to access the gas jet down inside the bottom of the machine. Dan had to do some rewiring for the dryer, since the neutral line was the hot one (so hard to tell as Mexican electricians ignore any semblance of color coding of the conductors), and also make a ferreteria run for some gas pipe fittings. We were also thankful that they hoisted the dryer up in place on top of the washer, into the bracket that Dan had crafted for the stacking. The planned connection for the exhaust vent, snaking up the back of the dryer, over to and around the corner of the laundry behind the appliances and out the wall, all made up of rigid 4” sheet metal tubing which we cut and crimped to fit, worked out just as conceived. The installers asked if Dan was an engineer, seeing how compactly the laundry installation was planned.

The bananas Ania and Frank cut from one of their many trees and gave to us sunday are still thinking about ripening. Actually they are plantains so they can be cooked or eaten raw.

Desorden a orden

(Domingo 02 - Sábado 08 Junio )  Since the crew is all finished except for a few remaining small jobs, the whole crew including the foreman, Luís, will not be back. Was most sad seeing our friends leave yesterday. Do hope they will stop by occasionally. Two of the crew, the second in charge, Heri, and helper, Alfonso, are to return thursday.

Spent a long day sunday, just sorting thru leftover supplies and storing them when possible. Figured a new place for surplus building materials – hidden in the corner just where we enter the parking area. Dan plans to build a shelter wall out of leftover liftvan plywood on a masonry base. Just beyond this spot is the trunk of a tall bougainvillea. Where this plant meets our west wall, our welder is building a fencing unit to keep cats from going from the wall onto the roof above where the cars drive in, or they could jump down into the neighbor's yard, by way of ledges, and then the whole neighborhood would be reachable by a wandering feline.

There was a huge pile of rubbish outside the car gate for the garbage collectors to pick up monday, by the time we finished the post-construction cleanup. Dan took a last garbage bag out from the kitchen on monday morning and discovered a man going thru the stuff that was still there. He said that he checks every monday at that time, before the refuse truck comes by, picking thru for useable and recyclable materials. Already taken was one of the boxes that had wrapped the washer and dryer, and all the cans from small to five gallons. It is great that people actively recycle here, something we had not expected. What locals do not claim, the garbage truck crew separate, if visible. The next two days Dan put shelving in the laundry shop room and made a good start on moving his tools from inside the house to the new “shop.” As soon as the bodega (storage closet) is completed, he can build shelves there. So it seems as if we can have our dining room back.

Wednesday the carpenter and welder were supposed to be here. Neither showed up. Carmen spent much time gardening. She cut back all the bigger bushes. Weeded along the road edge where the sedges are planted. We bought five geraniums and planted them along the inside of the south-east wall of our front yard. Soon they will be peeking above the wall edge – a couple feet high. Put one geranium along the south and west wall of that yard, along with a new red and green variegated leaf small plant. These are near to one of the plants we planted earlier there, which we think is a Caladium bicolor, with largish light green lance-like leaves spotted irregularly with many shades of pink and white. Then dug up the area between the two plants and planted foxglove and hollyhock seeds –just to see if they'll grow here. An impatience is now just inside the front gate to the north and a lovely peach colored double begonia is filling in a planter. The potted plants suffered some while we were gone, but they are coning back to health.

Thursday two of the crew returned. Also the welder, Mauricio, and helper, showed up and installed the doors for the bodega. They came back friday to finish the brackets for the interior shelves, and Dan had them cut off and re-weld the latch on the big backyard gate which had been originally installed on the wrong side—now it works like it should. Heri and Alfonso have done much final painting and repairing of cement, plus cutting out the hole for our clothes dryer vent. Then they moved on to painting the bodega doors.

We happened to be looking out the kitchen window when we saw Cosme, the gardener who keeps bringing more plants to us, get out of a cab lugging two giant plants in clay pots, which proved to be Oncidium sphacelatum, aka Sweet Sugar or Burnt Spot orchid, in full bloom with hundreds of yellow flowers. We bought both of them and one now sits behind the roof stairway on the terraza, and the other outside the living rooms window in the backyard. He is to return monday to spray the whole house, inside and out to rid us of insects for awhile. That would be some sort of miracle! He also assured us that he has the perfect plant to climb up the south side of our front gate entry. A Cabeza de negro vine, which grows out of a woody “yam” which sits above the ground and looks like a brown tortoise shell. He also has some Heliconia plants, which we have admired as we walk along wooded areas.

Before Cosme left, Dan walked with him three blocks from here to show him a plant that we have been wanting. The flowering vine is on a sidewalk fence in front of a yellow house. While two little girls and a kitten were cavorting about near this plant, Dan waited to take a picture of the plant. A fellow came out of the house and spoke english – he had lived in Kansas City for ten years! He had noticed us looking at this plant before and told Dan that he had some starts and he would give us one in two weeks when it was ready for transplant. The plant is a passion flower vine, but fruitless. It will look good up on the south west corner of our terrace, climbing about on the cyclone fencing.

A lady who works next door asked Dan for a $200 peso loan for a birthday party for a fifteen year old. Dan assured her that, as foreign residents, we were not allowed to loan money. (Not the truth actually, but a good excuse.)  In other local news, Collin, from Santa Cruz, CA, a Seventh Day Adventist, is moving in three houses from here.  We see her walking around Fortín almost daily, spreading her word.

Dan has attached three hanging bracket sets to the terraza railing, to hold flower baskets. Carmen has planted nasturtiums in one. The sweet corn she planted has one sprout, and yes we will keep the sprouts covered for awhile so that the birds do not pull it. The pineapple top that we stuck into a pot with some calendula flowers is growing. The papaya seeds put in a pot are growing. Finally we have found something that gets rid of those nasty white flies, which are a relative to aphids. Mix 2 parts rubbing alcohol with 5 parts water and 1 tablespoon of liquid soap and spray on the plant's leaves.  Cosme showed up the next day with a huge Heliconia and some of the Dioscorea, the Mexican yams, with vines starting to come out of the top.  The guys continued painting, now finishing up some of the inside rooms.

Saturday was the last day for our crew, and all the final painting was done. Things look good around here. Sure wish the carpenter would show up and finish his work here (mostly door and window frames). He is also going to paint the laundry room's new steel door. We hooked up and used our new washing machine for the first time, including putting in a booster pump to get the incoming water pressure up to specs demanded by the washer manufacturer (Electrolux/Frigidaire). Worked just like it was supposed to. Our clothes dryer is not in place yet. We are still waiting for a reply from the manufacturer concerning whether the machine needs to be converted for propane or if it is set up for that already – instead of natural gas, as indicated on the machine's label. Can't imagine they are actually selling a natural gas dryer in an area without natural gas services, but we don't want to ruin the machine if it was equipped with the wrong orifice for the propane gas we have here.

Dan spent more hours out back on saturday, sorting wood left over from the renovation project, and building shelves for inside the bodega.. He has figured out how to build the structure for storage of long stuff, separated stacks of various sizes of lumber and stored some scraps pieces for firewood.  He is thinking about out how to construct a shelf under the roofed area as we enter the parking area, for ladders etc. Nothing Dan likes better than a construction puzzle, and Carmen likes nothing better than Dan putting something together to make some orden (order) out of the (temporary) desorden (disorder) of getting our lives together here.  

Una fiesta de cumpleaños

(Domingo 26 - Sábado 01 Junio )   Sunday Ania had a 73^rd fiesta de cumpleaños (birthday party) for Frank at their new house, which we were invited to. Total of fourteen people and we had met all of them before. Attending were Ania's daughter and her family of four, from Veracruz (Kalina, with Yamil, plus Marifer & Natalia), plus her in-laws, being a doctor and wife (Yamil & Ingrid) from Córdoba. Also were the new renters (Ron & Annie) who had lived in San Jose, Calif. and the married architects (Memo & Sylvia) who had drawn up the plans for the new house. Half of the folks spoke some english along with spanish. Ania made a lovely and delicious meal. Carmen had taken a lime meringue pie for Frank's present and to her surprise it got a candle stuck into it and was cut into fourteen pieces. The weather was interesting this day. Rained excessively hard for much of the afternoon, but a good time was had by all. The party included a tour of the house, which is Ania's design. The new renters move in friday and they could hardly wait.

Tuesday was Frank's actual birthday. We were invited there for another delicious meal – and yes, this time we took Frank a lemon meringue pie just for him – which he shared with us, but still had half left.

Thankfully the debris at the edge of the road was picked up last saturday, because shortly before we left for the party, a parade about a block long walked up Avenida 21, on it's way to the church. The first people were carrying a tall structure of flowers, next a group of musicians, then the rest of the people were all singing. We will never tire of hearing and seeing the music and happiness of this part of the world.

Monday the crew had a problem at home and did not come in to work. We shopped at Home Depot for lumber for the closet area in the master bedroom, where Dan will build a seat and storage area. The area is inset in the wall about two+ feet deep and seven feet long. What else, but a storage area should go there. The floor of this area is cement and raised a few inches from the bedroom tiled floor. Full height of ten feet. At about seven feet off the floor there will be an open shelf for large storage and we will have a very open weave curtain covering this area.

Carmen finished the colorful Guatemalan curtains for the new door in the master bedroom and Dan caught our accounting up to date.

Our crew has finished the outdoors three coats of paint. Well, there is a wee bit next to the ground level left. They finished prepping the bodega (storage unit between laundry and fireplace) walls, ready for sealing and painting next week. The two smaller bedrooms had their walls scraped, skim-coated with white cement, sealed and two coats of paint applied. The roof edges are complete. The many chipped cement areas are repaired. Laundry room is completed except around window edge. All is looking good.

Heri and one of the helpers will return a couple days next week to finish odds and ends, such as the dining room walls. Dan must first finish building shelving in the laundry room and bodega so that he can move all his tools from the dining room.

The water and sewer commission has told us many times this week that they would be here “in the afternoon” or “for sure tomorrow” to dig up along the road edge and lay the new sewer line, and NO they have still not shown up. It has only been six months since we submitted a written request for this to be done.

Saturday was most hectic around here! Mauricio, our welder, was here adding steel tube framing for our new bodega doors. He also welded in additional bars on the patio and terraza doors, so we can leave those open and the cats cannot exit. Meanwhile our crew was flying about getting many last minute jobs as completed as possible, so that they could leave by 1:30pm. Luis did some final wiring, including closing up the box in the new bathroom where all the lines pass thru. This involved powering up the circuit the feeds the water pump, and a new line into the bath and laundry room. When Dan closed the breaker, it appeared that something was not right. It seemed that the pump for the underground cisterna would stay on, which of course could cause our roof tinaco to constantly overflow (and perhaps burn out the pump). What an expensive waste that would turn into! They went up to the roof and discovered the float switch was sticking. Using a little spring Dan had stashed in his parts trays, Luis jury-rigged a fix for the old switch. Eventually it should be replaced with a new one.