La primavera

Domingo 30 - Sábado 12 Abr 2014  Close followers will note that this post actually covers two weeks. What can we say—life goes on here, not too much different from week to week, so we're thinking we'll spare you the daily details from now on. Newcomers interested in learning what life for recent expats in Mexico is all about are welcomed to browse thru this blog's archived earlier posts, accessible from the navigation column on the right. From now en adelante (going forward) we'll attempt to just fill you in on the new stuff that transpires.

The daily range of temperatures is creeping steadily toward perfect, as it seems the frentes frios (cold fronts) sweeping down from the US are over for the season, and it's really la primavera (Spring). The thermometer rarely dips below 50ºF and the nights usually are in the mid-60's. Some sunny days flirt with the lows 90's, but are mostly comfortable, hitting between 75º and the low 80's in the midday hours. The house stays pretty evenly in the 70's almost all the time, and the outside swings of mercury don't bother us in the least. An occasional light rain in the evening (except for one heavy downpour a couple of weeks ago at night) keeps things green..

We are still waiting for the cabinetmaker who we had here last year to bring back the one kitchen cabinet door that had warped, and which he took back to the shop to fix. Unfortunately, we do not know exactly just where the shop is, and we have been unable to get to him by phone. We do know the shop is in Colonia San José, a residential area of Fortín north of the autopista. So one day when we had the car out we decided to try and find him, figuring we might happen to see his shop sign or distinctive little blue car We had no luck, but then again we (mostly) stuck to the paved streets. The main street north out of downtown Fortín is paved but many side streets are not..We reached the northern end of the street where it too lost it's pavement, and turned around in a muddy cul de sac outside of the Metro bus lot there. The following weekend, passing the Jehovah's Witness hall (where we heard he attends church), we spotted his car, and tucked a note under his limpiaparabrisas (windshield wiper), with the message that he should get in touch. Fingers crossed...

On the way back we decided to visit the Parque de Floricultura, a large municipal flower market out by the fairgrounds north of town. It's a large facility, full of plants and flowers sold by many vendors, but located beyond walking distance from town, so buyers have to get there by car. Not good planning by the city when its was built several years ago (last year we were back in the US during the May festival). It is the site for the week-long annual Feria de la Flor which we hope to attend this year. On this visit we bought two plants, a cheerful yellow rose and a baby Davallia (rabbit's foot) fern, for only MX$20 each. These prices are ridiculously low, for gallon-sized plants, and are clearly a result of the low customer traffic these stalls see, located outside of town.  Next time we'll take the camera.

The next week, we were invited over for a meal at Ania and Frank's, which was to be enjoyed under their new carport, located in the middle of their beautiful yard. The local radio station had been announcing a tourism fair (local foods, handicrafts, etc) in central park, so we left early hoping to take a turn thru the large tented area set up in front of city hall. No such luck, the day before had been the last day and there was a crew taking down the venue. We used the extra time we had before lunch to stroll the smaller floral market. One stall owner gave us a tour thru the far back end of his stall, where he was raising orchids. He explained that he had recently obtained a license to propagate native Mexican orquideas, but he couldn't work with any of the non-native species. He is working with a local agronomist to perfect his procedures. This fellow had recognized Carmen from passing our house and seeing her working in the front yard lower garden.  The meal was a great treat, with oven-roasted fish, stuffed avocados, and as alway, great company.

When we had been out and about, we stopped in at the local water commission office to remind them about the city water line leak near our back gate. Having dealt with them before, and it taking almost a year to get our new bathroom hooked up to the city sewer line, Dan expected this would be the first of many reminder visits he'd have to make to get this taken care of. (He had pointed out the waterline leak to the engineer at the time our sewer connection was made, to be told to wait until the dry season to report the leak. No great rush to fix these things at that time, it seemed.) To our great surprise, several days later, two guys worked one morning to fix the problem. When we next have to do some concrete work we will probably put a hard cap over that spot, as they only refilled the hole with soil and some rock, a recipe for a future pothole right off the edge of our driveway apron. We have noticed, after several weekend experiencing city water shut-offs, that the pressure in the system is now better than it ever has been. We assume the newly elected city hall crew is fulfilling a promise to patch up the water system, and maybe that's why we were lucky to get prompt action after reporting the leak.

We have both had brief head colds and congestion, but seem to be well on the mend. Recently we met a woman from around the other side of the block who is just getting over a long convalescence which kept her at home in a wheelchair for two years. Caroline moved here from Santa Rosa,CA and was married about 25 years ago to a mexicano., when they built their house here in Fortín long before our house was built. She said back then it was all solid sugar cane fields here. She has two grown sons which she raised as a single mom, one of them still lives at home. She has been a school teacher here (teaching english), and most recently retired from being an office person in the local police department. We loaned her some books to read and will probably see her more often, and trade visits, now that she is up and around again. It is always interesting to talk to somebody who decided to leave the US many years ago, and has some work history here, and a long term view of things. Most of the folks posting on the forums (fora) we follow are more recent expats, having moved after their working days were finished. So, in retrospect, we could have made this move a lot earlier in our lives, little did we know at the time. We're just glad we are still healthy and mobile enough to enjoy tropical abundance that surrounds us, the cultural differences and the friendly people we encountered each day.  Here's a couple images of one of our Stapelia plants, which like most of the the other succulents, is growing well this spring.  The bloom is about 9" across.

Examen ocular

Domingo 23 - Sábado 29 Mar 2014   Carmen wanted to go to the Lebanese restaurant in Orizaba to celebrate her cumpleaños (birthday), but for one reason or another we never did it until today, 4½ months later.  Sunday is the day when they have their full buffet, and since we had talked about our positive experience there, Ania and Frank decided to dine with us. Oh so scrumptious! Authentic ethnic restaurants here are few and far between. After overstuffing ourselves from the buffet, the owner gave us some Lebanese special desserts that were not part of the dessert table. On the way out, Ania spied some items to buy. The one was a kilo-sized bag of semolina, which is rarely found in stores here. She shared with us. Carmen had been longing for the taste of cream of wheat for a long time...

We received an email from a friend who has been involved in rescue/recovery efforts, about the devastating mud slide very close to where we lived for many years in the US. Since then, we have been following the local news on the NWCN website.  The landslide, a mile wide and pushing mud & debris about a mile from the hillside that gave way, covered 59 lots and about two dozen houses, and has blocked the state highway and clogged the Stillaguamish river betwen Oso & Darrington, in the state of Washington. The rain-soaked hillside north of the river, perhaps undercut by the flowing water, came down as a rush of mud, rocks, trees and undergrowth, crossing the river and covering the little group of houses that had been built in a flat ox-bow loop on the south side of the river.  Rescure efforts were hampered as the mud was like quicksand, and due to constant rain it was feared that the hillside had not yet stabilzed. As of saturday 18 bodies have been recovered and 30 are still missing and may never be found..

Another jigsaw puzzle was started and finished. Only 1000 pieces, but harder than the last. It is a golfing "Where's Waldo"-type scene, with hundreds of tiny people golfing in the most unlikely situations. In trees, cars, trains, planes, canoes, and over cliff edges.

Tuesday Dan finally had his examen ocular (eye exam). His experience was the opposite of Carmen's.  Dan had Dr Ferrón, a male doctor instead of the woman Carmen had. This fellow enjoyed talking with us and opinioned that Obama should take over Mexico and make it part of the US.  He could not imagine any one leaving the US and moving here. He said he would gladly trade our US house today for his. Dan's eyes are in good shape, no changes since his last exam two years ago, and he was given some eyedrops in case he ever had need of them.

Mangoes, guayabas, apples (at US$0.60 cents a pound), pepitas (pumpkin seeds), spinach (two large bunches for US$0.14) and good looking pork chops were our buy today. Strawberries fresh on a corner in downtown Fortín for US$0.35 a pound. These are easily as good as the berries grown in northwest Washington, and are not the huge, watery, weak-flavored berries that are shipped around the US from California. Yes, another shortcake! Apple pie soon too, with MaryLou's recipe. Often our evening cena (dinner) is a half apple and piece of cheese each.

Tuesday thru wednesday we received a light steady rain. Posies perked up! Our gorgeous hibiscus suddenly showed us that it is suffering with root wilt. We followed survival info from the internet. Took it out of the pot. Threw the dirt away. Rinsed the roots in chlorinated water. Put it in new soil which we then watered with an anti-fungal solution. Wondering if we have saved it. Probably not, but Ania says they are pretty resiliant. We also have a couple other plants with a fungal problem. We have sprayed and watered them with a sulfer-based fungicide. Apparently this fungal wilt was the cruel killer of our goats foot pink orchid tree.  We saved some pods from this tree, planted them after losing the tree, and so far eight have germinated. Also the piece of our vanilla orchid which was accidentally broken off a year ago, has started to grow again. Yea!

Gardi spotted a butterfly (black with orange triangle and white spots around the edge) on it's last legs. At least it was unable to fly. He did not touch it, until it crawled upon his tail, at which time he gently removed it and sat watching it, the last we saw. Smij is becoming less fearful of her world. She even occasionally lets someone passing outside the fence actually see her, the least scary people it seems are mostly men with soft voices. She will study them before dashing inside.

We presently have copper-colored chrysanthemums on our dining table and red carnations of cream & deep red petals in the living room. Our  miniature roses are blooming: red, white, peach and yellow. Think they will be small bushes. More orchids blooming. Speaking of copper – the back portion of Carmen's hair is rather copper-like – the front being light gray. Weird for some one who formally lived with ash blonde.

Friday was not as expected. We went to IMSS hospital to do a quick pick-up of papers at the clinic head's office to get Carmen's next eye appointment. The tonometer (machine for testing internal eye pressure) had been broken when Dr Vera had examined Carmen, so the doctora had written up an order to send her to another hospital for the test.  This is the same machine that tested Dan earlier in this week!  Now, it seems that the clinic chief, understanding that the machine was fixed, wanted to avoid sending folks elsewhere for the testing. Apparently they had to wait for Dr Vera to personally check and OK the machine. Two other ladies were there waiting for the same issue. Turns out that the doctora never showed up  for her shift and we are to return monday. This next time we will not forget a book. We were there for four hours!   While waiting, Dan's sore throat got to the point where he was barely able to squeak sounds. Since we are to take in a fecal occult test monday, we can take no vitamin C – which is our favorite “get rid of colds and sore throat” treatment.

Mid-day temperatures went above 90ºF. Used our car airconditioner driving home from IMSS, for the first time since arriving in Mexico. This evening a gray-haired lady rang our doorbell. She carried an old five gallon bucket, and asked for some food. She gave us so many blessings of thanks after we handed her a container of milk, that we felt we should have given more. We are not the only house she will stop at however. Some folks specifically ask for tortillas, which we have only frozen. The younger folks get a juice box, and one really starving elderly man also gets cookies or part of our recent meal.

A favorite tv show at the moment is “The Renovators” from 4:30 til 6pm, five days a week. Takes place in Australia and was filmed in 2011. We had missed the first few shows, but luckily after the last show, the series started again. It starts with 26 people and ends up with one, renovating six rundown houses around Sydney. Friday evening a strong wind storm, with giant rain drops, blew in from the northwest. Carmen had to fight with the strong rachas (gusts), to get the windows closed. The floors and chairs on the north and west were soaked with driven rain. We have never before had forceful winds from the west, and we had not had rain blow inside since we put the plexiglas panels part way up outside our windows. The storm was relatively short – but soaking. 

Our breakfast bananas have gone squishy – banana muffin time. The neighborhood gray sleek female cat can get thru our narrow barred gates. Yesterday she was found sitting with Gardi under our car. No fighting – merely enjoying the companionship! Probably Gardi will invite her into our house some day. Then what?

No specific pictures illustrating the week's activities, so we have selected some images of our cactus & succulent collection to place here.