Trueno y relampago

Domingo 22 - Sábado 28 Septiembre

A slow week of happenings. The big thing was the cutting down of the banana trees to our east. They have not all been cut down, but the ones directly across the street from our house are now gone, the depth of a lot. All the basal stalks were carted away to be planted in another field. It is sad to see the vegetation cut down, but we knew there were lots platted there when we bought here. We do enjoy watching as a house grows up from the ground, and we have always wandered thru buildings under construction whenever we've had the opportunity. Wonder what will be built there? Hopefully a magnificent one story house, for nice new neighbors.

Our two kitties, ages 9 and 11, visited their new vet for the first time. Dr. Vargas' clinic is only five blocks from here. He speaks some english, good since probably the kitties have not learned spanish yet. However, Smij seems to know some, so we think her first owners could have been spanish speakers. Turns out that the vaccines here cost about the same as in the US. However, here the vet did not charge an office or physical exam fee. Gardi has to go back, since the vet had only one vaccine for feline leukemia in his fridge. The doctor said that over 95% of his business is dogs. He works long hours, and is out nearly all day making house calls! The office aide opens up at 7am and there is someone there til 9pm. The doctor was there at 7pm with patients when we walked over with the fecal samples for cats the next day. We were very pleased with him.

Not so much rain there his week, but the country is still reeling from the tormentas that hit both coasts. The governor of the state of Guerrero reported on one of the newscasts we watched that 50 highways were badly damaged, 500 communities still not accessible, and 5,000 homes were lost. And that is in only one of the 26 states with substantial storm damage, and now over 100 deaths have been verified. Some coastal rivers in Veracruz are still over their banks.  The "back road" from Fortín into Orizaba is partially blocked with earth deslaves (slides)..

We had started the week with a Sunday afternoon visit from our friends Ania and Frank. A nice meal together followed by some table-game play is always a good time. During the meal Ania surprised us with some remarkably good almost-operatic song. As it was later in the day, we did not have this meal from our rooftop deck, but we have been spending more time up there on the mirador. We have joked in the past about being able to string a zipline between our two houses (over the Tec de Monterrey university grounds), and this week during one of our times up on the mirador we had along our binoculars for bird-watching. Turns out we CAN see just their house roof, and should they stand up on the bungalow's flat roof, we could signal (using a bright flag) back and forth easily.

We often do spanish flashcard practice up there, and one day we had a couple of the yellow-breasted chat flying about and chattering during the study session. One just can not call the sound they make a birdsong; perhaps that's why they're called “chats?” One morning we were lucky to see a huge Blue Morpho butterfly fluttering down the calle around the corner of the house and down the avenida a ways. What a sight this was—it almost matched the color of the house! Never thought we would live in an area where we would be seeing dozens of butterflies a day – and so many different ones. Later in the week we saw the Waiter Daggerwing over by the vet's office. A most unusual large butterfly with solid white near the body and solid brown-black for the outer half of wing.

We had some homemade chile rellenos for the first time, mode with some fresh poblano peppers . These must be in season now since there were huge bins of these very dark green long peppers in the supermarkets. Carmen stuffed them with manchego cheese and bits of pork—que sabroso!. We also bought some yellow pear-shaped guayabas (guavas) to try. Very delicate flavor in the front of the mouth, and a developing stronger flavor when it got to the back of the mouth. 100% edible, but we chose to not eat the seeds since they were a bit hard to chew. The fleshy center, inside the ring of seeds, where an apple core would be, was very soft and ultra-sweet. Yes, the white flesh tasted like guava juice pressed from the commercial pink guavas you may be used to.

Our trip into the city enabled Dan to get to a plumbing supply store. His earlier replacements of the faucet washers for the upstairs sink and shower did not work out. This was evidenced by NO water flowing from the hot side of the sink When he pulled the stem out of the valve, he discovered that the soft-rubber conical-shaped washer that he had purchased in town and used to stop a drip, had stuck in the valve below the stem. When he got it out with needle-nosed pliers, it proved to be already compressed, distorted and chewed up so much that it jammed in the orifice. The washers Dan found at the specialty store (flat, harder material) should work so much better. Later in the week he pulled out the toilet fill valve, which had plugged up with a tiny amount of silt carried in water lines.

Our fresh flower salesman was a day earlier this week. The carnations we purchased last week are still beautiful, so Carmen told Dan – who had gone to the door, that we did not need more until next week. Then she looked out the window as the man passed by and spied some bright yellow roses with orange edged petals. She had to have them! By the time Carmen located the front gate keys and got to the sidewalk the seller was a block away and hustling along. Apparently he only stops at the gates where his known buyers are. Down the street Carmen ran hollering “señor, señor”. What gorgeous flowers! And such good exercise!

One early evening while watching tv, we realized that we had not seen our timid Smij cat for a while. Went looking for her and could not find her. Called to her and there was this quiet meow sound coming from the upstairs deck. Poor frightened little cat had gotten closed outside. Bet she will come in next time she is called. She spent a short time being freaked out, and then we would swear that she started strutting around like she was very proud of her little adventure. This one would not understand, unless one is very familiar with their animals.

The first and second cold fronts of the season, moving down from the US southeast states, are bringing us clear sunny days with highs above 80F and nights nearer 60. Our perfect weather, with snow-capped Citlaltépetl (about 18,500') out bright and clear in the mornings. Yea for cold fronts – at least until they get too chilly later on in the winter. Fortunately, the mass of house moderates things inside, and warm days and cool nights mean for pretty even temperatures over the course of 24 hours. The fronts chased away the nighttime rains and thunderstorms. Early in the week, one particularly close electrical storm had Dan downstairs unplugging electrical appliances and computers, and a huge, close, sudden, loud crack of thunder practically bounced Carmen out of bed in startled surprise. This storm was a rarity, in that most of the tormentas de trueno y relampago seem to center a dozen or more miles away, measured by the time between lightening strikes and the resultant thunder claps.

Dan started setting up a new blog intended to document the seven months of work on our “Casa Azuledos“ with more information than appeared here, for those of you who like building construction as much as he does. The plan is to progress thru the various phases of the renovation, with more attention to details and additional images for each part of the undertaking. There will eventually also be a glossary of (mexican) spanish building & construction terms, accessible from the main page of the blog, which could help those who contemplate their own building project.

Fiestas Patrias

Domingo 15 - Sábado 21 Septiembre   Started out for a walk into town sunday about noon to see when/if the city would be having any celebrations, commemorating the 1810 cry for independence from Spain. We got as far as our front gate and the rain commenced. At this point a discussion ensued about the benefits of not getting wet. We retreated back inside.

We had purchased some totopos (tortilla chips) a while ago at the Soriana store . The bag said that they were sazonado (seasoned). Yum! More like yikes! They were hot hot hot! Also a bit less than crispy. We found a hole in the bag, which had caused the softness. Being who we are, not liking to waste food, Dan made a suggestion of cooking a dish with the chips, and Carmen proceeded to do so. The dish was done totally on the stove top in a skillet. Fried some ground beef with onion. Added a can of black beans including the juice, plus some water, sour cream, then the hot chips broken up and stirred well until most wetness was gone. Heated well. Topped off with cheddar cheese and covered the pan until cheese was melted, then left it sit for ten more minutes while she had a bit of a spanish lesson. Being that the chips were already spiced, no other seasoning was needed and it was most scrumptious!

She would have baked it in a small rectangular pan in the toaster oven, except for the fact that she had earlier made a pie in that pan. We had a few bananas of just the right ripeness for banana cream pie. Actually she took a third of the filling before bananas were to be added and turned it into chocolate pie filling. We pigged out for our three pm meal.

Dairy products here are just not the same as in the US. It is Carmen's belief that the dairy cattle here are grazed on grass instead of grain fed. What else would make such a difference? Dan has spent time at his computer with Google Earth, and reading, and Carmen finally started a jigsaw puzzle.  Gardi spends a lot of his time on the terraza, when there's no liquid sunshine happening.

We were still looking forward to some celebrations for las Fiestas Patrias. Dan had read in the online edition of the local paper (El Mundo de Cordoba) that the annual parade was canceled in Fortin because of fear that the teachers (out on strike, protesting education reform) would gather here and disrupt the celebrations. We heard nothing thruout the gray, misty day. A bit after 10pm, we turned on the tv in our bedroom to see what was happening around and about. One channel was covering the events in Mexico City, another those in Xalapa, the capital of Veracruz state, another in Veracruz city and a fourth channel covered the festivities in Orizaba, the city to the west of us. At each location, a politician would ring a big bell in the tower above, followed by numerous Viva's (“long live”) honoring Mexican independence, the heroes of that struggle, and ending with three Viva Mexico shouts. The new president Enrique Pena Nieto did the honors in DF, while the governor held forth in Xalapa and the mayors of Veracruz and Orizaba in those cities.

It was raining steadily in Mexico City and Orizaba, but the other two cities were more or less dry at the moment. Huge crowds filled all the public squares where things took place. Following up the cry (el grito) and flag-waving, the national anthem was sung by all, capped off with a fuegos artificales (aerial fireworks) display. Here is a link to a video of this event (on Youtube) at the zocalo in Mexico City.. About this time we heard fireworks in the direction of downtown Fortin. We dashed up to the top of our rooftop mirador and watched. Fireworks in a cloudy sky appear different from what we were used to. With the heavy low fog, when each rocket was fired off, a bright spreading glow appeared close to the ground, then nothing 'til the rocket got above the cloud bank and sparkled the sky. Colors were all in red, white and green, the flag colors. An exciting night, and all was quiet again by midnight.

Monday morning was supposed to be the driest day for awhile, so Carmen quickly hopped out of bed and got the laundry going and hung it outside. Dan took the opportunity to paint/seal the spot behind the chimney where he had patched in some stucco. Sometime after breakfast we heard a band downtown. Time to hustle into town – we do love parades! By the time we got there, the band had disassembled and was leaving the park. Guess is was an impromptu appearance by a group that was disappointed not to have been allowed to march in an official parade; bummer. We did a wee bit of grocery shopping and walked on home. The rain, which was not predicted to start until afternoon, started as we were a couple blocks from home. Yep, the laundry got put back into the washer on spin cycle and then into the dryer. This is only the second time we have used the dryer since it was installed last spring. And yes, the quick-drying red Acriton sealant had time to harden up before the few drops of rain.

We have found that the radio station XHFTI-FM here in Fortin has a great news coverage from 7-9 in the morning, and the commentators speak very clearly. Dan can follow almost all of the reports. This supplements national news from the tv we watch in the evenings.

Cecilia who lives a block from us, and sells StanHome products, stopped by today and invited us to her home to see this really gorgeous plant, which had bloomed the night before: She called it dama de noche (lady of the night). We later looked it up to learn it's Hylocereus undatus, also known as Red Pitaya, Dragon Fruit, Strawberry Pear, Night-blooming Cereus, Queen of the Night, or Honolulu Queen.  Read more here.  She will start a plant of this for us, so now we must figure out where we can put it, since it likes to climb into the upper story of trees! Probably the back fence where we can manage it—might even get some tasty fruits, which Dan remembers fondly from Guatemala. She also gave us two other plant starts. Later in the week smiling Cosme stopped by with another new plant that we had to have. So far we have not found its likeness on the internet and the name he gave us is definitely not correct. If Ania can't identify it we'll try Dave's Garden forum again.  Here's a picture of it:

Much of this day has been a lovely light rain. We did not expect a garbage pick up on monday, since it's a long holiday weekend, but we saw the truck, so quickly hung our bags on the outside of our fence. We noticed a whole large bag of garbage spilled along the road a ways from us, probably fallen from a vehicle, and sure enough, the collectors gathered it all up too. Never saw that happen in the US.

Not much happening here this week. Only a couple days with sun. Friday while walking in town, we discovered the folks with flower pots for sale, next to the super market We bought four large brightly painted ceramic pots for US$4.25 each. What a deal! Walked home to get our car. Returned to pick up the pots and then shop for groceries. The store had fresh beef and chicken liver today. The chicken liver always has the heart attached. We also bought a variety of fresh fruits and veggies. And the purchase was topped off with chocolate ice cream.

We had walked past the Telcel store earlier and it was still closed, so Dan drove past there to see if by chance it was open. We're trying to get accustomed to the lateness that folks here arrive for everything, but still get it wrong sometimes. Dan parked the car and Carmen sat and waited. Almost immediately, a policeman came and stood behind our car, which was at a corner but clear of the don't park here area. A truck parked ahead of us. The policeman looked the truck over and talked to the couple who was unloading snack foods for a store there. When they were ready to leave, he had them come back and talk to him. They were given a paper to read and afterwards, it seemed that money was paid to the policeman. Perhaps they did not have the proper sticker in their windshield for the deliveries they were making? We have heard that can be a problem. Meanwhile, Dan was taking a really long time. Then another policeman arrived. Carmen was getting most worried that we were in trouble. One just never knows for sure. Dan arrived and all was well. He had our dead cell phone checked out, thinking we needed a new battery, but the clerk said that it just needed a jump start, which Dan then thought would take but moments, but took maybe twenty minutes. We arrived home with our ice cream melting a bit.

The news reports here are full of the flooding situation in Guerrero, where the community of La Pintada, near Atoyac above Acapulco, had a hill slide right thru the center of town. Many were lost, and the death toll keeps rising. Plus there are towns that no one has even been able to get to, with all the landslides, big and small, blocking the roads. We are happy to be on the mostly flat top of a ridge, with paved roads draining away past us and downhill.

We found a few ants (different than the usual ants) on a long stretch of kitchen counter where they had not been seen before. Carmen did an extreme cleaning there and put ant bit killer all along the back edge of this counter, cleverly thinking this would surely take care of the problem. The next morning, there were hundreds of ants there. They had found a ziplock bag with bread and some how got inside and had told all their relatives! After watching them carefully, there was a tiny hole found at the end of the counter for their entry. We remembered that we had some of those plastic ant baits. Put them out and two days later the ants finally started indulging in the yummy filling to take back to their homes and hopefully never to return again?

Más y más lluvia

(Domingo 08 - Sábado 14 Septiembre)  

Just another surprise! Our safe place for pastries has been in the microwave oven, which sits up on a shelf above a kitchen counter. Not so any more! Carmen opened the door to the oven, and there to greet her were many of her little hormiga helper friends. No matter how much ant poison we use, they keep coming back. Usually the teeny, very light colored, hard to see ones. Even after using the microwave for a minute, an ant was still walking around inside the oven. Yes, Carmen put it out of it's presumed misery. Seemingly, at present, the only food safe place is in the refrigerator. Bet the ants could even learn to enjoy the cold. They really do clean up any spills, so they do help – but...

Even though the week started with a gray, cloudy sky, we went for our walk into town and only a few sprinkles fell upon us. Stopped by a new store a few blocks from home, El Borrego, which does it's own smoked cured ham. A free sample from the clerk proved that it was most delicious, so we bought a kilo. Will be good with the homemade mac and cheese planned for the meal today. We had actually hoped to buy some of their swiss cheese, (the best we have ever had) but they are not carrying that item yet. The parent store is in downtown Córdoba., where we have purchased this before.

Closer to home, we passed a fenced yard with some of its ginger plant (probably Hedychium coronarium, Ginger lily) having spread outside of the fence, encroaching into the sidewalk. Dan said he would like some ginger plants, so of course being that we are now turning into mexicans (anything outside the fence is free for the taking – one person's usable household discards often are appreciated by others, and what is considered usable is a much larger selection than we're used to in the US), Carmen pulled one stalk out by the roots, carried it home and planted it. Then we read that it can be invasive, so after going to Home Depot the next day and buying some more flower pots, this plant got re-potted. Also we later got a Blue ginger (Dichorisandra thyrsiflora) stalk from Ania, which got planted in the same pot. Very different shaped flowers, and one is white and one purple-ish. Hope they enjoy their closeness.

Despairing of being able to id some of the plants we have acquired, as local common spanish names seem to often be no help in determining the scientific name, Carmen joined Dave's Garden (www.davesgarden.com), a wonderfully helpful site hosting a forum where gardeners around the world chime in with identification, propagation and plant care info. Within three hours of our postings gardeners from Hawaii & England replied to id the plants for which we had queries.  One of those id'd is the pictured plant here, locally known as a Raya de lapiz.  It is a Calathea ornata, or Pin-stripe plant.

It finally happened. Gardi cat brought a (tail-less) gecko into the house. We put it back outside for him to play with, twice, and he finally ate it. The tail, which was still out on the porch, became a later cat snack.Don't mind the cats chasing after and “playing” with the geckos, but we like these besuconas alive for catching spiders and other insects.  Another day, he notified us of a strange bug crawling about out in the front garden & patio.  Turns out it was a walking-stick (Phasmatodea), an order of insects that include the world's longest.  We let it stroll off (quite rapidly), and later learned that people somestimes keep these for pets.  This particular specimen's body

was about 5½" long

We bought a fifty pound bag of oranges from a vender on a corner. First of the season. It's a marketing trick to pack oranges in orange colored net bags. They looked riper than they were. We can now attest to the fact that though green oranges can be sweet (the orange color often added artificially for US consumers), the dark green ones are still bitter. Hereafter, we shall wait a few weeks before buying more juice oranges. They are ripening fairly quickly and a bit of sugar takes the pucker power away.

Dan did some concrete patching, making up two small batches of stucco mix using our leftover cement & sand, which are stored in buckets in the shop. He fixed up the new stair steps at the west end of our sidewalk and the”cricket” area above the chimney where the tiles collect a bit of persistent water in their corrugations

Venders this week were hawking: coconuts, a naproxen gel (like bengay), homemade tamales, pastries, and celebration breads for independence day coming up this weekend, one man asking for money or food (he got a juice box from us), two different religious groups, Telmex, and Cosme, who sold us a couple bromeliads. Plus we always have some men asking for work of any sort. Dan hung the Vaso de plata bromeliads (Aechmea fasciata, aka Silver vase plant) out front on the concrete porch columns. They do look good there.

Ania and Frank emailed us wednesday, and told us that neither of our phones were working. Also our skype setup doesn't allow us to answer calls. Always something that needs repaired. Dan had been trying to install a phone in our bedroom and did not realize the wiring was messed up. (Phones had problems of old batteries, faulty cables, broken lines.) Finally found another phone junction box behind our downstairs audio-video setup and had to take much apart to do a wiring repair there, before straightening out all the phone lines. Also, for some reason our cell phone will not take a charge.

This has been a week of entwined events. Ania and Frank had planned to go to their avocado-farm cottage and do some work, however the road up to Coscomatepec was closed due to flooding, and their crew was attending a local funeral. That evening we saw footage of the funeral procession on the national news. The rains had brought down two houses earlier this week in the small community right down the hill from where our workers live. Eight children and five adults died in the landslide. The governor of the state attended the services there.

Lot's of flooding along both coasts of the country this week. We learned that 35% of the rain that falls in Mexico drains thru Veracruz state, and swollen rivers and streams often overflow their banks. The historic district of the city of Veracruz, where we drove thru a few weeks ago, had several feet of water in it. Also north of the city is a lake which filled, with no overflow outlet, so all the area around the homes have water half way up the lower levels, being rather flat land out by the coast. On and on the stories go. Much has been shown on CNN. The west coast of the country is getting different tropical storms, with flooding and deaths there too. From storm systems on both sides of the country, the whole country seems to be under water. Streets are also flooded in Mexico City. There was a flooded area near here, but we did not see it. Luckily, Fortín has missed most of the downpours. When looking at weather maps, one could see the storms swirling all around Fortín. Thankful we are to have little risk here of our home being flooded, as our home is situated at the top of a ridge, so all the excess rainfall flows past us down paved streets.

Now, back to the phone call from Ania and Frank – they invited us for dinner, since they were staying home. Ania had made Frank some gumbo. Being from Louisiana, this is one of his favorite meals. The gumbo, seasoned with filé, but no okra, was outstanding. For dessert, Ania made some pumpkin seed (pepita) brittle. Most delicious meal. As usual, Ania won the game of rummikube. Before leaving, we walked, in the light rain, around their property to see all the landscaping changes they have done. On the tour, we of course ended up with several more plants and starts to bring home, which Carmen immediately planted.

On friday the 13^th Carmen woke up saying that this is always a lucky day for her. Well, it seems that luck is not always as it seems. Before getting out of bed, she rolled over and was struck with a sudden, overwhelming dizziness, transitioning soon into a general swirling numbness, which took awhile to go away. Dan stood by to lend a steadying hand in the shower, and helped her downstairs to recline in a propped up position for the rest of the day, which she spent mostly sleeping. She gave Dan instructions for preparing their breakfast oatmeal the way she likes it. It was a quiet day and all was well by saturday.

Slugs are back! Two in the house this week. As soon as it stops raining part of every day, we will put out some slug bait. In between storms one day (during the six clear hours), we spray fertilized plants and sprayed insecticide about the house and a different mix for plants. We don't like to use sprays, but we've come to the conclusion that gardening "naturally" is very difficult in a moist, tropical environment.  Hard to keep up with these items when the rain washes all the effort away.

Saturday we rearranged storage in the two smaller bedrooms, and seating in the living room. All the extra clothes are now out of the small bedroom, which is where the cat litter boxes are located. The drawers under the single bed are now empty except for heavy towels for kitties to sleep on. The new arrangement of furniture in the sala makes it look more spacious and when we have extra quests overnight we can pull out both double futons at the same time. Probably unlikely – this would mean sleeping seven people besides ourselves. The new furniture setup also made room for another aralia plant to come inside. Perhaps a celery aralia? Not sure of the id yet; it's a plant that Ania started for us.

Dan updated our 100 or so blog posts here with searchable labels or tags, added some additional links, and rearranged the blog page layout. Carmen caught up on many little tasks:  sewing a tassel back on the pillow cover we bought in Turkey, filling a tiny mouthed glass container with pumpkin seeds for Dan to nibble on, finding (this took hours ) and changing cat box filters– (still not absolutely sure where we have stashed some items we brought down with us), cutting back the long-dead flowering branches of our heliconias, and cutting off & potting, to hopefully root, a stalk of our umbrella plant (which is losing leaves for some unknown reason). Amazing how long it can take to get to the little jobs!   

El mas lluvioso mes del año

(Domingo 01 - Sábado 07 Septiembre)  Now that our medium sized bedroom has a bed in it, it is time to move the stored wood out of this room. But where shall we store it? Next problem, the hose hanger that Dan installed in the front of the house has got to be moved to a more accessible location. He had put it where it looked best, right over the hose bibb, but too many plants got crushed when doing the watering with it. Much time was spent on cleaning up our backyard area.

It was our understanding that on the first and fifteenth of the month, the Similares (generics) drugstores in town had a twenty-five per cent discount, so we walked into Fortín center to stock up on the meds that Carmen cannot get dispensed from IMSS. She is allergic to the brand IMSS carries, and they stock only one of each formulation. Turns out that this month, since the 1^st falls on a sunday, that the deal is on the second, monday. Since our hands are empty, we wandered thru the flower market shops. Carmen unfortunately wants one of everything. Luckily our property will not hold that many plants. We came home with only six. We are still looking for a hen & chicks plant.

A man came to our back gate, selling plant stands made from black enameled rebar, and we bought one which holds five plants. Carmen spent time transplanting her herbs into the colorful little pots we bought to fit the stand. The pots are too small for all the herbs that she started from seed, so we now find these herbs here and there throughout other pots. The two long planters that had the herbs now sit empty, waiting for...?

Early in the day we did some skype “video messages” of the panoramic views from our mirador, to send to some friends. Thought we would be able to copy and resend to others, but have not figured out yet how to send a video to more than that one person. We are still waiting to do more videoing, when we're home in the morning, and not otherwise occupied, when Mt Orizaba is not hiding behind clouds, as it does by 10am, or earlier, at this time of year. The radio station we listen to in the mornings reminded us that September is the mas lluvioso mes del año (the rainiest month of the year) here.

Monday morning we were at IMSS by eight am for Carmen's monthly appointment to get her prescriptions reauthorized and filled. Our time was for 9am and we were taken at 10 am. Seems that one has a two hour wait, no matter what time one arrives, because people are taken in order of their arrival, not according to appointment time. Just take a book to read, enjoy people watching, or napping,

Next stop was grocery shopping. (Carmen got a surprise when sorting thru the carrot bin. A fellow, dressed as an employee, looked her in the eye and said buenos dias, with a great big smile! The surprise was that he is our next door neighbor, Valentin. So now we know he works here at Walmart.) We had invited Ania and Frank for dinner wednesday, so we needed to stock us on some foods for the planned menu. Today's new item that we found at the store is smoked tuna, at half the price of un-smoked tuna steaks right next to them in the case. Always interesting to see what new foods will be here each time we shop. Could be anything from canned goods, meats, fresh veggies or fruits we are unaccustomed to. Adds to our excitement of being here. Hmm, a fresh spinach bread too. Carmen used to bake bread frequently, but the stores we shop at have such a good variety, that she rarely has this task, though her bread is a different sort than what bakeries produce here. Yep – this was likely written before, but breads deserve lots of mentions!

Got our 25% discount Monday at the Similares drugstores. Thankfully we did our bank stop the day before, as there was a block-long line waiting for the ATM, being the first monday of the month. Stopped by the grocery store in town to buy some beets for a salad. They usually have good fresh ones, and there were none at Walmart today. Found a fresh pineapple at a fruit stand. And lastly we went to the electric company to pay our two month bill of less than US$25. Electricity is expensive here, but we are in the lowest bracket that still gives a special discount to small consumers, as our only electric usage comes from lights and outlets (TV, computers, refrigerator, and a rarely used fan, which we used only twice this past year).

Since we installed the wide eaves trough along the edge of part of our back roof, we now have a deluge in one spot at then end of the gutter, instead of all along this ten foot area. We wanted to keep the water from falling onto the terraza just outside our bedroom door. That part is working great. Now we have a waterfall effect hitting the ground level patio. We bought some white largish decorative rocks from Home Depot, and put them in a large tray, so that the water falling from the roof now drops into there and more slowly leaves the area and flows out of the slightly slanted parking area to the street, instead of drowning the planting area which it is adjacent to. Unfortunately, the harder it rains the farther out the water falls, missing the landing spot we made for it. Back to the drawing board!

Tuesday the young lady at DIF called us, to come in to their office in Fortín to finalize the paper work and receive our senior INAPAM id cards. These will give discounts on public transportation, admissions, and some stores. We feel almost guilty for taking advantage of this program, but we are gray haired now. This gobbled up a couple hours of time. As we walked home, we saw the grader just finishing scraping up the escombro (dirt & debris) the city had left on the road, from doing our sewer connection.  Now, aside from some little patching of the steps which Dan will do, our construction job is at an end.

We unpacked our pictures and together we got those hung on the walls. The hardest part was of course, deciding where to put each one. Also we hung some of our fabric hangings, like Dan's Yale rug in the stairwell. This was a tricky job, on top of a ladder and stretching to reach high on the wall over the open stairwell, to set the anchors. Also put one of Dan's mom's quilts over the new bed, and a colorful batik we purchased when on a cruise in the Caribbean – from Caribelle Batik at Romney Manor on the island of St Kitts (http://www.caribellebatikstkitts.com/caribelle_batik.asp). Still have a lovely piece from Italy that Dan's daughter, Harmony, gave us from when she was in school there for a semester. We are looking for just the right pieces of local color for a couple spots of wall yet.

Dan spent a couple hours cleaning while Carmen did some cooking for the next days meal, both of which continued the next day. Finally there was a day when Ania & Frank could get together with us for a meal on our rooftop! We four have had many past weeks of sore backs or bad weather or house guests which have prevented this meal from happening high up on the mirador. Wanting a nice meal, but easy to carry up all those steps, was a dilemma.

Carmen went the route of appetizers, with nothing hot. Carrying items up the steep stairway is not too difficult, but bringing them back down is a feat! So – in a five gallon bucket, were stacked, all the plates, soup cups, silverware and water and wine glasses. Next came the smoked tuna, deviled eggs and stuffed mushrooms. Then the biscuits made with some cornmeal, chorizo sausage and cheese to the usual dough, topped and covered with and table cloth and napkins. Dan carried the bucket, just like a picnic basket! Carmen carried the room temperature carrot soup in a pitcher. Ania took the bottle of wine and water pitcher, and Frank carted the large bowl of a salad of cooked beets, apple, garbanzo beans, broccoli, and grapes with a fat free caesar dressing, on a bed of butter crunch lettuce. Most elegant looking and oh so delicious! Earlier Dan had carried a card table and chairs up.

The view is so very gorgeous from the top of our house. There was a wee breeze and no flies until a moment after Carmen foolishly remarked about no bugs! Frank suggested that we install a zip line between our houses. Wow! Wouldn't that be something, going over town and cane fields from our mirador to the hill they live on! While packing up to carry all back down the stairs, Dan managed to flip the wine cork and opener off the deck onto the roof top. He retrieved it, which gave us all a bit of excitement. After carrying our items back down, we played a game of rummy cube. Ania won, as usual. Then we had our dessert. Carmen made a cheesecake, and it was the worst she had ever made – extremely dense. Why? Who knows, maybe the cream cheese brand, over baking it, or not whipping long enough? It was sad, and a challenge for the next time she attempts it.

Ania brought a plant for Carmen that she had started, and Carmen sent her home with several starts she had been hoping for. Unlike us, they have a huge piece of property, so lots of room for more plants, which is good since they have almost one of everything. They also have room for trees, shrubs, and tall and sprawling plants. Lucky them – or maybe not – all that yard area requires a lot of upkeep, and we have purposely left that part of our lives behind us.

Needless to say, the next day for breakfast we had party left overs – in the form of an omelet stuffed to falling apart with fresh mushrooms, smoked tuna, broccoli and tomato, with a good local gouda cheese And there were two biscuits left to be freshened in the toaster oven. Oh yum. Yogurt on the side of course.

Dan has been going over tax returns for some northern folks. Carmen fluttered through the day with the plants. Amazing how time consuming they can be. Before these fun things, though, we had a lonnnng spanish lesson while sitting up on the mirador. Most difficult for Carmen to concentrate up there. Too many things to keep track of – birds, butterflies, Gardi cat who joined us, cars on the street below, people walking by, and even a plane flew over. In Anacortes we had frequent overflights, but here they are rare and this was probably only a business jet, unlike the frequent fighter jets in the US from the Whidbey Island Naval Air Station. We're glad to be missing the sometimes annoying “sounds of freedom.”

A tropical storm was predicted for the afternoon, so laundry was hung out early and dried. The rainy weather was later than predicted and never did get really bad here. Carmen made some ginger cookies to help us thru the evening. She makes and freezes dough in small batches, then bakes them off in the toaster oven, just enough to eat up right away.

We always take in about an hour or so of evening TV news on ForoTV (and sometimes a little CÑÑ), with Dan translating the highlights for Carmen. After only two weeks of school, the big news is the teachers are on strike, protesting the federal government's education reform program which will have teachers take competency tests, with possible firings for those that fail three evaluations. A big manifestación outside the international airport in Mexico City slowed things down there for the day. There seems to be a general willingness on the part of citizens here to let aggrieved groups have their say with actions like this, but it's getting to the point that parents are becoming angry that classes are on hold.

Friday was a chilly 70 degrees. Time to have the oven on and make a lime meringue pie. Our carpenter came by to tell us that he will be delivering the repaired kitchen cabinet door tomorrow. He had been working on a big job in Córdoba, but he hadn't forgotten us. The original door warped badly after he had installed it. He was trying to straighten it, and if that was not possible, he will have made us a new one. Carpenters must have a hard time here, with little kiln-dried wood available for purchase.

We barely had our eyes open saturday morning before a woodpecker ratta-tat-tatted on a wood en beam above the bedroom window. Up near the roof, we were unable to actually see it. Hope he comes back sometime we're outside, as we like to identify and tally the fauna and flora around us here. We then enjoyed listening to the radio (classic hits on XHSIC “La Poderosa” in Cordoba) music for awhile before the kitties could talk us into getting up.

A flower seller stopped at our gate. His fresh flowers are lonnnnng stemmed and so beautiful! Today we bought a bunch containing Alstroemeria and another of large gerber daisies . Hope they last two weeks as the last ones we purchased from him did. Carmen put one branch of the alstroemeria into a pot of soil – hoping to root it. We had one of these Peruvian lilies growing in Anacortes. Dan has spent the day pecking way at his computer on financial stuff. Carmen spent the day with our plants. Actually sewing the straw like coconut fiber on to the mesh form we made to hold our staghorn fern.

We have a banana every morning for breakfast and they have gotten a bit ahead of us. Since we had recently purchased a six hole muffin pan that nicely fits into our toaster oven, Carmen made banana muffins for our 10:30am snack. The kitties seem tired out today, so they must have worked hard protecting us last night. Dan had suggested that the wine left over from dinner with Ania & Frank wednesday, be used in cooking. The result was our mid-day meal: chicken thighs roasted in our toaster oven, with veggies (carrots, shallots, chayote and garlic cloves, thyme) and red wine. Many children about today. In fact, lots of folks walking into town today. An old red pickup truck with large cans or raw milk also drove by. It actually had a tin cup attached to one of the milk cans. Our carpenter never arrived, so for sure he had something pressing come up. We had wanted to go for a walk, but did not for fear of missing him. Tomorrow for sure a walk.

Mueble nuevo

(Domingo 25 - Sábado 31 Agosto) 

Dan started the week putting up the wood shelves all along the perimeter of the railing around the mirador. He drilled 72+ holes thru the steel tubing, and had very sore hands and one broken drill bit when he finished Carmen worked on mending, or more accurately, she finished hand sewing a backing onto one of Dan's mom's pillows, using the last piece of the purple fabric we had for chair seats. She then hemmed three pairs of Dan's jeans. They were too long since he's lost weight. Also she made and sewed a piece of material that he attaches to an inner safety pocket for his cash and ID, into many pairs of his slacks. Carmen carries her money in a wallet in a pants pocket secured with a safety pin.

A monday morning with sprinkles. So much so that Carmen had to use an umbrella (a first since living here) when she walked to the dentist for a teeth whitening. So nice to have a dentist who speaks enough english that Carmen does not need Dan along to communicate for her. There is a beautiful large mimosa tree in front of the dental office. In the tree was the yellow-breasted chat, a bird we've spotted before in the neighborhood. Carmen also saw a woodpecker, which we think was a pico mexicano (Picoides scalaris, or ladder backed woodpecker) with red on the back of the head, while she was walking up the street.

Our mueble nuevo (new furniture) was supposed to arrive from the carpentry shop in Peñuela today. And it did, at 7pm, on a pickup truck with six fellows! Couldn't figure out why so many helpers were needed until they started to carry in the queen size bed frame, and then the head board! It was quite a feat going up and around our staircase. The six natural finish dining room chairs look really great with our marble-topped table. The bed however was somewhat disappointing in that the color is much darker than we had ordered. The color we showed the company on a table they had in the shop for a sample, was stained “chocolate,” however what we got looks like black. Also, the boards that the mattress sits on were so rough that Dan had to sand them down so that the mattress would not get torn up. Plus, the lower shelf on the head board is really rough, such that Dan will have to sand it and refinish it. Oh well, the price was very good and structurally the items are sound and the wood strong. Bed and chairs were built for us from xochicuahuitl (Cordia megalantha, tropical black laurel) a local wood that is resistant to termites, and used here for the best furniture.

Since the city now has their part of the sewer connection finished (a mere eight months after we requested it to be done), Dan called our crew in for tuesday. They all four arrived at eight am the next morning. Before they arrived, Carmen was bustling about getting a laundry hung outside and watering plants, hoping not to be in their way. In her hurry, she forgot that she is no longer as agile as years gone by. She hopped up, or tried to hop up on top of a couple milk carts to water some plants near the ceiling. She fell backwards and landed on her head, right hip and rght elbow. She immediately put a bag of frozen cut nopal on the big bump on the back of the head. Nothing broken. Thankfully she has very strong bones. Pretty sore for over a week though.

Dan gave Jose Luís the list of things to do. They worked right along, but needed more cement and sand. Dan ordered it first thing and it was promised to be here by noon. By 2pm they were out of cement, having finished the registro (sewer connection box), built forms for the steps at the end of our sidewalk (where the city had destroyed them) and a few other areas we wanted repaired, so they had to finish the day with some painting. The cement and sand arrived well after they left at 6pm, with no real explanation about the delay.

This is the first day, in a week plus, that it has not been raining by the middle of the afternoon and it did not rain until late at night, so the paint had a good drying day. They finished the painting and left at 4pm. The painting was to put another coat of blue where some of the walls were turning partly white for some unknown reason.. They had been painted earlier, but perhaps the last coat had been skipped in these few areas.

Dan sanded the new bed mattress support boards and then cleaned up the mess and we made the bed up. Gardi cat has decided that this is his bed. The quilt Dan's mom had made for him (she did a lot of quilting) was put on the new bed. Not wanting kitty foot prints and fur all over it, we put a large sheet over it and then a big towel in his favorite spot, which is up against the pillows. When he is not there, we find Smij cat happily stretched out there. Cats do love new things. The termómetro only climbed to 79ºF today. We find that we get chilly at about 72ºF now. Our blood seems to have thinned.

The next day our crew was here before 7am. Yesterday they had to walk thru knee deep water (near their village) to get here, but today the flooding had gone down. The concrete work this second day for the crew included a new area where Dan has constructed a curtain-wall to conceal some wood storage and a pad below the water faucet in the backyard, filling the stairstep forms and paving the street gutter area above where our sewer pipe was connected, plus a gallon paintpail of cement with a rebar piece sticking up to provide a base for the bambu pole that will support the growing vanilla orchid vine. They worked fast and finished by midday. It was good to have them here for a bit, we miss them. We left our car outside the fence for the night since there was new concrete at the entry to our parking area.

Thursday was a shopping day, at Home Depot and Walmart. We saw for the first time around here, a concrete pumper. Usually the concrete is either made by hand at the edge of the road, or in a cement mixer, and then carried by five gallon bucket, rarely by wheelbarrow, to the needed location. The nearest readi-mix plant is in Veracruz city, 90 minutes from here, so we assume the pumper unit also had to come from that distance. On the drive home, we saw a traffic accident, actually it occurred in a parking area just off the road. A pickup truck ran into the rear end of a taxi and then sped away – the driver at fault didn't want to get involved, and probably be hauled off to jail. Lots of glass flying about. Thankfully we did not see the whole happening, because we surely did not want to get involved. We believe the taxi was backing out as the truck swung into the area, and they collided.

Next day, while Dan was removing the forms around the cured concrete, Carmen saw Josefina, who is probably about our age, walking up the street after her young dog, leash in hand. This dog likes to slip out their gate when it opens, and he tends to run up the hill towards our location. Doggie ran into the new roadway next to the church contraesquina from us. Josefina was looking exhausted and every time the dog got almost close enough to be grabbed, he of course dashed away again. He thought it was a little game for him, it seems. After watching this for a few minutes, Carmen took a tiny piece of carne (meat) across the street, showed it to Josefina and held her hand out to the dog. Poor puppy fell for it. He was caught and the leash was attached. Dan came out and talked to Josefina, knowing that she and Carmen could not really communicate much. Josefina liked the herbs growing inside our fence and asked if she could have a start of the salvia (sage). She is the lady who gave us our piquin pepper plant, which is growing well. So now we finally gave her something back, which felt good. She also told us that the big tree next door to us in Valentin's yard is a guanabana (soursop), which grows huge spikey fruits the size of bowling balls, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soursop  Later in the day we put up the little curtain wall near the back gate, giving us a spot to store lumber for projects in an out-of-sight corner.

Wherever we have lived before, the nuts in many desserts are walnuts. Not so here. If ice cream or other item says nuez (nut), there will be pecans in it. (If they're peanuts, it will say cacahuates). We have thus far not found walnuts anywhere, although one can also find avellanas (hazelnuts/filberts)and almendras (almonds) in the stores. Another confusing thing:  look up walnut OR pecan in a Mexican dictionary, and they both translate to nuez.  Look up pecan tree and it translates nogal, which is also the word for walnut.  Just another item to add to out “Can't Find Here” list, and perhaps stock up on next trip NoB.

Saturday was a day of many door bell ringings. Or just voices raised in a Buenos Dias, trying for our attention. Today we had at the backyard gate – Dan was out there working away – Artemio asking about possibly more plywood, a person with a car asking directions, and the mailman, delivering two magazines. The cartero rides a motorcycle with side bags, and he nearly always hand-delivers rather than putting the mail in our box, and takes the opportunity to chat. Most days we have one or two people at the front gate, and this day we had: a man selling fresh-dug potatoes, a woman selling homemade foods, a man selling cut flowers, and a man asking for mexican money or food, (he must have been from south of the border). It's rarely this many. Well of course Gardi had his friend, Mayra, give him some pets thru the fence, usually once a day or so.

We read on the MexConnect forum today that Rolly Brook, at 82 years old, has retired from moderating the posts there. We, along with many others, will miss his inputs. His website, www.rollybrook.com, is one of the most valuable for information about how to move to Mexico, and was a real resource for us in our planning to live here. Dan would like to get more involved on the web, sharing information that others might find useful. At this time, Dan really does not do much more than monitoring his favorite forums, and occasionally posting. This blog is all we seem to be able to manage now. Maybe it would be good for him to take the time to become more involved – we really have nothing pressing here that can not be put off for a few days. But, it seems our tasks will never end. Not complaining - we enjoy the keeping busy.