Hola! Well, nothing really exciting and or interesting to report to you this week, which is not necessarily a bad thing....I got two new ceiling fans, had them put in, so I have a lovely breeze/wind blowing even when its calm outside. now, this may sound like a simple enough thing, but it took several steps. First, my friend who fixes up houses sent one of her workers to get the fans- he knows the cheap place...then I had to pick them up from her during one of my weekly merida junkets. Next step, go over to marcies ( where Marsial works ) and ask him to call his brother in law Lucio to see if he can come install them. Lucio shows up on a Saturday to look at the job and Monday he returned and installed them...Two weeks later......Then there is the crack in the front of the house that needed to be fixed. This happens ALL THE TIME at the beach. That simple repair took about a month. My concrete guy didnt have minutes on his phone, then the phone wasnt working so he couldnt read the texts...finally he brought the family over for a visit, their little boy Didier swam in the pool and the next day the crack was fixed. Of course, all of this work involves concrete and concrete involves POLVO!! Anyone who has ever spent anytime here and had work done knows what an incredible mess polve ( concrete dust) makes. it gets into every nook and cranny and takes at least 3 days to clean up. So, thats what I've been up to.

My grinning co-pilot on one of our hot trips into Merida. They say people look like their dogs and i am beginning to notice a smiling resemblance......

Here is the tree at the hotel ( I see I have inadvertantly shown it to you twice) There was a mini hurricane a week or so ago and unfortunately, this very old tree lost its life. The little mayan man who's probably in his 50's who works here, has been slowly hacking away at it with a machete! Talk about job security....It changes the whole look of the place. The back courtyard used to be a shady oasis. Speaking of hurricanes, its supposed to be a big hurricane season here because it got so hot so early. Evidently the gulf heating up contributes to hurricane formation. i must confess, Im not much of a meteorologist, so i'll take their word for it. With that in mind i set out yesterday after i checked into the hotel, to renew our hurricane insurance. I found the bank that we went through ( this is common with insurance here) , went in , figured out the system ( you get a number from a somewhat secret location-by the front door! Maybe if they didn't hide it in an obvious spot...) and wait your turn. Now, with the help of Irma at the hotel, I found out that the insurance is automatically renewed- yes! That makes it easier-BUT- that means i need to find out how much money i have in there and make a deposit. Of course the teller , all the tellers, spoke only spanish. there was one young lady at the door who spoke a bit of english and we finally got it all figured out. With her assisstance, I used the ATM card they had given us last year when we opened the account ( which has been tucked away in my files since then) to check the balance. the teller couldn't do this as , evidently, the account is in my husbands name. They couldnt give me any info so had to use the card...Long story short, all is well. We are covered, the fans are in, the crack is fixed. So it took a little doing to accomplish these tasks...What else have i got to do right? It's these challenges that drive some people nuts and they get crazy or they leave.You just need to ask for help, start doing it long before it needs to get done,and remain open to learning how to do things a different way. And aren't those great lessons to learn and be reminded of? I've been working on letting go of control for years and I ended up in the perfect place to work on that.

I do occasionally have to exert my will though. The other night as I was walking out the back door, Lucky darted out ahead of me and latched onto something. Not knowing what it was, i didnt say anything to him. It could have been a very large spider or a humongous cockroach. What it was though, was a sweet little gecko. " No Lucky!!" I shouted in my stearnest dog command voice. He looked at me like really? "Give Lucky"...again the 'do i have to?' as the squirming back half of the little creature tried to break free. He must have been holding it carefully because when he dropped it, it scampered away with all legs and tail intact. So, there's your weekly update. Nothing big, just enough to keep me out of trouble...Oh, I'll leave you with this mystery item.

The other night I was at Carols house ( she lives on the beach). She was telling me about how the night before she got up to go to the bathroom and saw a string of lights out on the water stretching all across the horizon. at first in her sleepy delirium, she thought maybe she was somehow seeing the pier in Progresso ( its the worlds longest pier but we are an hour away...come on...) Then she thought a cruise ship but again, even the Titanic or the QE2 wouldn't stretch that far. She said all of the lights were evenly spaced and it kind of freaked her out because she thought maybe it was some sort of invasion. We pondered possibilities and came up with nothing. as I got up to leave, what did i see out on the water?...lights. The longer we stood there, the more the little open spaces filled in until almost the entire horizon was filled with evenly spaced lights....

Road trip to Cuzaman

OK, so this is going to be a bit annoying..im afraid I cant figure out why the underlining is happening so we are just going to forge ahead...Lucky and i are sitting in the now wide open( due to the recent loss of the bougainvilla) eating area at the hotel and I want to get rolling before it gets blasting hot.

I told you , when last we spoke, that my friend maggi was arriving. Well, the airport pickup went off without a hitch. Im such a local now.( Oh! There goes the line....) The day after her arrival we went, in air conditioned comfort courtesy of Marcies air conditioned land yacht, to Yoxcopuil, (and im probably not spelling that right..guess Im not totally a local yet), on the way to Uxmal. Yoxcopuil is a hacienda that is somewhat intact. It is still owned by the same family and some of the original pictures and furnishings remain. there was a great little guy there that showed us around then let us wander on our own. you can see how glorious it all was at one time but knowing some of the hacienda history ( the mayans were basically indentured servants..one step up from slaves) I couldnt help but ask the guy if the people were nice or "malo"-bad. ' malo" came the reply. We left there and went to another refurbished hacienda for a lovely lunch and finally made it to Uxmal for a brief visit as the temperatures were soaring by then. We returned to merida where we lazed about for a couple of days before heading out to casa de Kahnerts. The difference between merida and Santa Clara is like night and day but it took maggi no time to adjust to a very slow pace...like a crawl really...like a snails crawl...Reading, napping, hammock time, Yahtzee, gin...when we really got fired up we went to the beach. Pretty busy schedule. After a few days at that non stop pace, we hooked up with my friend peggy and took a road trip to the cenotes of Cuzama. Peggy drove since she has air conditioning, Maggi was navigator and i relaxed in the back. There was no direct route to this place and getting there involved passing through very small towns and villages with no real idea of where we were going other then a southern heading. The map we were using gave no description of the quality of the roads and at one point we found ourselves creeping over pavement that looked like a war had been fought in the area and it involved a lot of road bombing. Potholes like caverns awaited a false turn. peggys little car would have been sucked in head first. we seemed to leave civilization behind from time to time and i wondered about the gas situation but pushed it out of my mind.

As we rounded a bend, in the distance we saw some sort of wall or building. ' Whats that?" we all leaned forward ( as if that would help) and as we got closer we realized it was the remnants of a hacienda. here we were in the middle of nowhere....( sidenote- Im told there were over 900 hacindas here in the henequen heyday. It was sort of like the french revolution when the mayans revolted and overthrew the rich. many of the haciendas were damaged, others abandoned)

This particular building was the machine house. The huge wheels and cogs were still in place. I realized this as I looked up and saw that I was standing under some rotting timbers that were supporting..oh, a few tons of metal. Needless to say i moved. There was another building across the street and around the bend 4 or 5 more. There was also a tiny ramshackle structure where the caretakers currently live. In the end, the Mayans ended up the overseers of this hacienda...too bad they didnt get to live in grand style.

Wow, I must apologize....this posting is very problematic today....I selected several other photos that are somehow gone...i will have to post them seperately.....

From here we passed through several little villages, took a picture of a lovely little lady with gold earrings and a beautifully embroidered huipil (sp?-traditional dress)...

At last we reached Cuzaman. We stopped in a restaraunt with the tallest palapas roof Ive ever seen, had some wonderful fresh coconut and mango ice cream, then headed out to find our ride. They have taken the old rail cars that were used to transport the henequin and converted them to people movers. A little horse pulls you along the rails as you sway and bump along, you realize how huge the hacienda was. our time is running out so we tell our guy we can only visit one cenote. The cart stops, they detach our pony for a little break and we approach the mouth on the centote. Its an opening in the ground. A hole the size of a 57 chevy. God forbid you were drunk and staggering around in the dark because youd fall to your death. We clung to the handrail as we made our descent straight down concrete stairs. The temperature dropped dramatically as we headed into the darkness and once our eyes adjusted we saw a beautiful, blue, crystaline pool. The ceiling was adorned with stalagtites and swallows darted about.I was wishing id have brought my swimming suit as I watched a family diving in and swimming around.

I later found out that all three of the cenotes at Cuzama are underground and that the one we stopped at was , in fact, the least spectacular of the three. well, i know where im going back one day.....

So, things are heating up....gonna wrap this up for now. I hope i dont end up with doubles of the pics but if thats what happens so be it...till next time!

vehicular distress

A couple of weeks ago, the day before my friend Maggi was due to arrive, my friend Peggy and i were hanging out at her place down the road in San Crisanto. We sat around her place for a while then decided to drive into progresso and go to Aurora Bodega soIi could tap the ATM ( i needed to get enough money together to pay cash for the car insurance and you can only get out so much at a time and once a day) and pick up some groceries. On the way back, i hear..what is it?..the fan belt. we are only a few miles out of Progresso so we are on a two lane highway. Where am i going to get this fixed? I'm thinking..oh I know! The place i had the muffler done. OK, no sweat....noise getting louder..please let me make it to San Crisanto I silently ask. We approach a slow moving car and about this time i realize that the temp gauge is showing a bit of warming...nothing hot mind you but headed in that direction. I stay put behind the slow car and see that the truck likes this..the temp gauge lowers. Ohhhhhh....thats all she wrote. The gauges STOP and so does the engine. Game over...on the side of the hiway. Okayyyy..." I think this is the house my friend Kevin is working at" Peggy says so we head up the driveway and introduce ourselves to a lovely couple- both professors somewhere in maine- who have the house for 20 years. the first 6 of which they had no power or water. nice house...well, Kevin isn't there, the husband has the flu and excuses himself to the bed and i call our friend Babakar who dons his cape and heads out to get us. he lives in San Crisanto as well so we know it'll be a good 20 min before he gets there so the lady of the house takes us on a tour, we thank her for her hospitality and walk back up the driveway to await our heroes arrival. As we approach the car there is some discussion of stories involving people who are sitting in their broken down cars when-WHAM!! they are smashed from behind by a speeding car. We opt to stand by the car...We also notice that it will soon be dusk...
Like a ship at full sail heading to a drifting raft, Babakars white farm truck appears on the horizon. Babakar is a tall ,lanky, African man who is as black as this keyboard. he is also one of the most laid back people I've ever met. After exchanging greetings, taking a cursory look under the hood and making a plan to tow the truck to a mechanic he knows in san Crisanto, he tied a thick rope securely from my bumper to his. Peggy and i climb in my truck and belt up...we're in for a bumpy ride I think to myself. Now, I hate being towed. Even under the best of circumstances it is really nerve racking to me and these are NOT the best of circumstances...Babakars truck has boards on the side of the bed so i can NOT see around it at all, his break lights dont work and as we pull out onto the road, i notice there are two plastic gas tanks in the back of his truck..directly in front of me...so as i realize the rope we are using is so short I dont see how I could possibly stop in time, I also realize I dont really need to worry about it because we will probably burst into a red hot fireball before I break any bones...
Here we go! We are cruisin now..." you're doin' great" Peggy assures me as i grip the wheel like the last life vest on the Titanic. I feel like Im all over the road. The truck has power steering so without the engine running both the steering and brakes leave a bit to be desired. Ok..we approach Telchac Puerto- the first town- topes! ( speed bumps)-'he's braking!" Peggy says ( she can evidently see a lite on the back of his truck that I can't)..ohhhhh..just when I think Im gonna test that fireball theory he pulls away and takes the front end of my truck over the bump but..oh..a little lag on the back and SNAP! there goes the rope...babakr stops, gets out, backs up and casually reties the rope " maybe it would be better if you put your arm out when you are going to stop babakra. Jill cant see your brake lites". oh, ok..Now, the rope was short to begin with..with this latest re-tying it is now even shorter..round two ' Im turning my lights on" click..." youre doin great" comes more reassurance..." As we pass parked cars, kids on bikes, pedestrians, on coming cars, I see NONE of it before its there..."theres a curve in the road coming up" my co-pilot informs me..At times I am reminded of going roller skating as a kid and having your friend "whip" you..this is what i picture my truck doing as we round a bend. There is water on both sides of us a we go over a small bridge. i feel like he is going to whip me to the left and as the rope snaps Peggy and i will launch over the guard rail and into the water below. " Doesnt it seem like he's going really fast?!" I ask...' yes, it does" she concurs.."Im going to flash the lights"...nothing " maybe you should honk the horn" she suggests..' hes braking" she tells me." I thought he was going to put his arm out?" Its too dark- his arm is too dark I cant see it. So several topes and three rope brakes later, we are almost there. it is totally dark now and i swear the rope is a foot long and im riding the brake for fear ill never be able to stop. At last we make it to san Crisanto and I pry my fingers off the wheel. " you did a great job' peggy tells me once again. " who needs drugs?!" I giddily yell to no one in particular as i relish once again feeling solid ground beneath my feet.
Now, remember the part about maggi flying into merida tomorrow? That leaves the slight problem of getting into town to get her..Luckily, well, for me, Marcie is having knee surgery and lets me borrow her truck for three days. Perfect! I am able to go to town, get Maggi, we drive in air conditioned luxury to Uxmal and a couple of haciends over the next two days before stopping in dzidzantun for groceries on the way home and returning marcies truck. For the next several days we are without a vehicle but Carol takes us to check on the ruck...it needs a new battwry...off to merida we go. Spent a nice day shopping around and eating at Costco! Ooh! Big day in the big city...at last we return to San Crisanto and the truck which has been partially rebuiltt. One pulley went out causing a chin reaction of problems including water pump, fan, alternator...anyway, $500 dollars later, new battery in place, Im on the road again. Oh, amd that car insurance i needed? babakar told me about a cheaper place when he took me home that fist night so all the money I had taken out to pay for that went to pay for the truck repair. After it was all said and done, i was $40.00 to the good....
So maggi is winding down her visit, it was a good one but all good things must come to an end, or so they say. She will fly out in the morning and Lucky and I will drive home, newly rebuilt and with a fresh new insurance policy....next week?- hurricane insurance...I'm told we are due for one this year due to the warm spring we've had. Looks like another bumpy ride!

Hmmmmm....

Well dear readers...I know I have been remiss. It's hard for me to drum up a topic sometimes. I've talked about the blue skies, the birds, the beach, Lucky, the locals, the gossipy gringos, the multitude of catholic holidays and festivities, Carnival, Semana Santa ( which is coming in 3 weeks or so..) when the vacationers flood Santa Clara....I've discussed all of these things with you. I've tried to share the challenges of accomplishing things that, at home, are as simple as a phone call or two like getting internet, car insurance ( which i have to renew next week...took me two people who spoke spanish to call last years agent, get an address- which i'll take a cab to because it's too difficult for me to find in 95 degree heat, no air conditioning and crazy drivers), hurricane insurance and paying the electric bill ( its like playing the lottery trying to find out when the office in Dzidzantun is open). Its all an incredible adventure and every day is different. Like today, i picked up a couple of guys in Cansahcab with four crates and a hand truck. and gave them a ride to santa clara. They had to stop in Dzidzantun with me while i picked up my laundry and bought a phone card. I bought them cokes and in exchange, at the end of the ride they gave me 4 ears of corn and two fresh mangos. Just like the beach is different every time i go on it. some days its covered with beautiful shells, some days stinky seaweed. At times its completely devoid of anything other then pristine sand. Low waves, the glasslike surface when its calm and the heat hangs on you like a warm, wet sweater...
Whats missing from this grand adventure are my friends and family. The ability to create and share a common experience. Now, luckily, I have had my true blue people visit me. As a result, they know what im talking about and can visualize the orange municipal building in Dzidzantun, the little tienda where i buy my fruits and vegies, the hotel i stay at, the english libray where the meeting is held, the road to Merida, the topes ( speed bumps) that are ever present through all the villages, the tricycles, the little village ladies in their embroidered dresses. All the things that make up my day to day life. But the little mundane things like what I'm having for dinner or where I found a new place to buy a chicken breast go unspoken, unshared. The " oh my gosh! look at that flower that opened up!" only gets voiced to Lucky, who i must say wags his tail and is very interested in my obvious excitement. Am I sad about this? I wouldn't say sad...melancholy. I don't miss the cold, the grey, the wet,the high cost of everything. I enjoy living a simple, basic, toasty, existence. I guess everything comes with a price.
As the sun sets in a blaze of orange, the pelicans fly down the coastline like a ribbon in the wind, the palm leaves rustle, a fishing boat motors its way in for the night and the grackles call to each other, there is no one to turn to and say " pretty cool isn't it?" with a satisfied smile. So everybody- close your eyes and picture it..feel the warm wind, smell the salt, check out that orange globe as it flares and turns purple........pretty cool isn't it?

I know , I know....." but Jill, you showed us this on Facebook..?" Since when can you get too much of a good thing huh? I ask you...This picture of the fabulous Mr. Lucky ( in this shot, Lynda referred to him as Slum Dog Millionaire and i believe that perfectly encapsulates it). I actually tried to post 5 new pics last night from the hotel but for some reason it didn't work. This picture was taken at my friend Deborahs' stunning home in Merida. notice the old, original tiles? lovely... I've been staying at Debs and , though she said i could stay in her absence, and i do have a key, I don't feel right about it so Lucky and i stayed at the hotel last night.

After a quick cup of coffee, toast, a little fresh melon and a skype call to my pal Lynda, Lucky and I hit the road. it gets hot pretty early and i really had no other business in town so by 9:30 all that remained of us was some dog hair and a chewed up coke bottle...

Once we got through the traffic of the city and hit the open road, we were cruisin'. All the windows were down, Lucky had his head sticking out of his, the i pod played a variety of tunes from India Aries ' Mr. Wonderful" to Eric Clapton still wailing his plaintive "layla" decades later, M.I. A. cockin' her gun and blastin' off a few rounds, Roy Rogers' crowd pleasin', toe tappin' " Josephines" ( had to play that one twice..) , Ella Fitzgerald, morroccon music, african music, greek music, ten years after,...you get the picture...a wide variety of tunes in my I Pod..So, while all of this is playing, picture me with a black bandana tied around my head, a sundress on, Lucky alternating between his head out of the window and a three foot length of orange tubing resembling a bendy straw sticking out of his mouth ( he likes to chew on it) going about 65 passing dump trucks from the 50's, tricycles full of grass, guys working on the side of the road clearing brush with machetes, new SUV's passing me, the remains of dogs that didnt make it that now only look like bones wrapped in a frayed rug, and all the while i'm dancing in my seat and belting out the tunes and thinking about Lynda telling me she was standing by her heater while we were talking this morning.

We turned off the highway and wound our way through Cansacab. I'm telling Lucky it won't be long now even though it seems like we've only been in the truck for 15 minutes ( time flies when you're having fun...). We had to stop briefly in Dzidzantun to pick up yogurt, butter, vinegar ( Peggy turned me on to the fact that it TOTALLY cleans the rust off of all the faucets and the shower head) and thought I'd see if they had any cheese. The girl had no idea about the Mennonite cheese so picked out something else, sliced it up and gave it to me. What the hell, Ill try it.. Its hard to find cheese that has any taste here. Most of it is similar to a mouth full of Silly Putty...thats right, Ive had Silly Putty in my mouth....Much to my delight, the cheese is killer! What a great surprise. It really is the little things I took for granted at home, where there is an enormous selection of anything you could possibly think you might want, that ive come to appreciate here.

As i headed out of town, i gave lucky a pat on the head and cranked the music back up. Just as we closed in on santa Clara, right before the mangroves, I was stretching my neck from side to side as it was pretty tight. I told myself even though there was not another car in sight, front or back, it might not be a good idea. Better pay attention. Well! My spidey senses must have been on high alert because no sooner had that thought passed through my music addled mind then- BOOM! Out of the brush on the left side of the road came something out of Mutual of Omahas Wild Kingdom but the white haired guy wasnt there to tell me all about it...... I slammed on the brakes and quickly geared down launching Lucky to the floor. In a flash he had gotten back up because he too had seen the creature and wanted another look. I swear, it was the size of Lucky, had a face kind of like a racoon, a long, ringed tail like a lemur and its back legs were longer then the front. Looking directly at us, it scampered across the road and was swallowed up by the foliage of the manglar. Wow! who gets to see something like that on their way home from the store?!

I'll tell you what, i miss my kids, my friends, meetings and the ability to easily access just about anything ( including mail) but oooeee baby! what an amazing adventure this is. I can't tell you, well, yes i can and i will, how many times I find I am just grinning. Isn't that what life is supposed to be like? a sense of wonder? excitement? adventure? That awe that seems to fade away as we get older and the daily grind of responsibilities sets in? And even though i know this, sometimes i still get lazy and pass up a chance to do something out of the ordinary. It just seems like it takes too much energy, its too complicated, i'm not sure how to do it...After years sitting in dark, dirty, ugly places thinking those same thoughts, thank you baby jesus ( sorry...) that i have the ability to kick my own ass and get out there and LIVE life. As Jackie Gleason would say " How sweet it is!"

Auto repair and drag queens

Whew! Lucky and I have been on the go! We drove into Merida and spent the night at my friends ( I took pictures but am not posting them yet..), on the return trip, we stopped in Motul to get the muffler fixed. The man I had scheduled the work with who spoke english -Arahel- wasn't in but the woman behind the counter remembered me and gave instructions to a leathery fellow. He was to show me where the welder lived/worked. We approached the truck and he hopped in back (Lucky had already called shotgun). After a very ciruitous path, we arrived and after a bit of rearranging of cars, I parked in front. My "guide" walked back to the shop ( about 2 blocks away). The welders shop was filled with various automobile shells, fenders, unidentifiable parts and a couple of dogs that roamed around. There was a tin roofed awning sheltering his collection of relics and he motioned for Lucky and I to seek shelter from the sun amidst the metal. We carefully entered and stood between two vehicles. One was an a big truck that looked like it might still be in use, the other was something I'm sure my husband would have excitedly told you what year and model it was. I , however, can only tell you it was- or had once been- a '50 something Ford, two tone red and white convertable. Two of the tires were flat, the back seat was gone and the roof hung in tatters like a broken unbrella. Amazingly, I saw no rust. A few minutes later, an ancient looking man that would have weighed in wet at about 85 pounds arrived teetering through on a bicycle. " Buenos tardes'" were exchanged and he shortly returned with a kitchen chair, kindly motioning for me to sit. It only took about half an hour for the welder to remove the old muffler and attach the new. I asked him if I was to pay him or the shop. The gist i got was, the shop, so after thanking him and wishing him a good day i left. Now, i could have been an unscrupulous person who giggled to myself about what suckers they were as i drove silently home with my new muffler, but we know thats not how the story goes...I of course returned to the shop, reminded him I wanted undercoating (diesel) sprayed on the truck to keep it from rusting out. Again, someone brought out a chair for me, this time a very young man, and a few minutes later, they were done. All of this, parts and labor, cost me $450 pesos- about $34.
The next day, i was businly painting the inside of the casita a brilliant sky blue when i remembered I needed rto pick up my laundry. I needed a break anyway so I grabbed my keys and called to lucky who ran to the truck with an excited grin and off we went to dzidzantun. As we passed a farm, a man who appeared to be the smaller brother to the tiny man from the auto shop, waved me down for a ride. I was going about 45 so had to slow down before I could stop. i looked in the rearview mirror and saw that he had a bad leg so i reversed it. He started to open the door to get in when he saw Lucky in the passenger seat. Now, folks around here treat dogs very differently then we do in the states. I'm sure he was dumbfounded by a dog riding in the front of the truck and, though he didnt say anything, probably wasnt happy about having to ride his skinny behind in the back of the truck while the dog rode in comfort...I let him out by the town square and he thanked me and toddled off. I rode the three blocks or so to the lavenderia and picked up my clean, folded laundry that cost me about $3 to have done. I also dropped off two throw rugs that will cost me about $1.50 to have washed.....
Lucky and i stopped at the tienda at the edge of town, some of you may know it, the "Santa Clara tortilliaria" where I got us a coka lite and some Cheetos ( they had no Chiwis torchiditos, my favorites..). As we rolled out of town, a truck that is normally used to haul livestock came towards me with a gaggle of sequined gals practicing their parade waves. It almost carnival you see.People everywhere are creating costumes and practicing dance steps for the big parades. These babes were wearing matching black sequined outfits that looked like something the Rockettes would wear, with fish nets, garters, feathers in their hair...and they were all men! I love it!! This is a very small town in southern mexico that, like most of the places Ive been here, have no problem at all supporting not just gay people but transgender, cross dressing people as well. What do you think the response would be to this truck load of hot mamas in say...Estacada?! I happily smiled and waved to them and they vigorously returned my greeting. Lucky and I opened the chips and coke as we passed and headed out of town to get back to our painting duties. "Did you see those fancy girls?" I asked him. He just smiled and watched an iguana cross the road....

horse play..tom foolery and noise

Ok thats enough...Lucky and I were just wrestling around playing our usual game where I try to hold his muzzle and he tries to bite me. I surprised him by laying on him and he surprised me by rearing up and crashing into my glasses thereby smashing them into my nose.I was hoping it wasnt going to be a re-enactment of when my friend in high school smashed me across the nose with a broom stick thereby breaking said beak....ahh, fun times.
"So Jill, what have you been up to?" you may ask..Remember when last we " talked" i told you about the bees stinging me? Those pesky devils tried to relocate their home ..on my back porch!! I have my inflatable kayak hanging upside down out there and some teeny tiny bee realtor must have told them it would be a great new location. Well, after dispatching them with my trusty bug spray, i took my husbands advice and took it down. it needed to be wiped down anyway. When I had finished, i decided it would be foolish to put it back in its oh so tempting position so I launched it into the pool! Hah! take that pesky bees. So while my kayak has been vacationing poolside, i've been quite busy. Besides walking the beach and doing lots of yardwork, Ive driven the hip survivor into the doctor ( after which she took me out to eat), spent the night at my friends house in Merida which is really, really lovely. A huge, hacienda style place she has completely redone. Ill be staying there again so ill take some pics and show you. Actually, Ill be staying there every Thursday from now until March 20th when my friend comes to visit...so, where was I..oh yes, I went to Telcel and paid my internet bill, stopped at Barro y Barro ( some of you know it). Its a tile store that has almost as many cats in it as boxes of tiles. The whole place is the size of a large closet. The floors are covered with small cardboard boxes filled with beautiful tiles and, occasionally, a cat. They are lurking where youd least expect them. Even if you were blind, you'd know they were there from the smell. Seriously, there are usually 12 or so cats of various sizes in there. I bought a few tolovara tiles for the casita, and went to wal mart and got new curtain rods. Now, there haven't been any curtains on the living room windows and im fine with that but while John is away, i decided Id feel more comfortable if i had a bit more privacy. You know, that one car an hour that goes by doesn't need to be able to look in my window..On the way home from merida, i stopped in dzidzantun and bought a hot water heater for the casita. I placed a call to my buddy Lucio who came out over the weekend and installed it. now, i was going to have him put up my new curtain rods then thought..why cant I do it? No reason, thats why! so i got the drill out, found the concrete bit and let 'er rip. you know, you have to drill the hole then put thoses plastic things in..anyway,my new curtain rods are swell...Today I went to Progresso with my neighbor ( the doc said she could drive but i had to man the helm on the return trip as she was hurtin'). Oh a good time was has by all! there must have been a cruise ship in port because there were a lot of gringos with fanny packs, straw hats and sensible shoes strolling around. There was also a tour bus careening through the streets . We laughed about what in the world the tour guide was showing them. Progresso is home to the worlds longest pier and has a lovely beach but beyond that, there isnt really anything scenic about it. Then we heard the tour guide over his loudspeaker tell them " and here is where you might want to buy batteries for your cameras, and over there is a good place to buy alcohol". As my neighbor and I strolled around ( well in truth she wasnt really strolling...she was sort of shuffling along with the aid of one of those four pronged canes that always remind me of Carol Burnette for some reason), we remarked on how noisy and chaotic it was. One thing thats real big is for a store to place a very large speaker in the doorway that blasts out some reggaeton music. There could be three of these all playing on the same block. Add in some blaring horns, whistle blowing from the traffic cops and the pipes from various rusted out motorcycles and you get an idea of the sound. The sidewalks are narrow and my friends footing is far from sure but we managed to navigate to and from the fabric store where i bought material for curtains. We also passed a hardware store where I was able to buy hooks for a coatrack Ive been making. We stopped for lunch so she could sit down and rest. We walked between the fruits and vegetables, hanging slabs of meat , beautiful buckets full of flowers,and found a row of taco stands. Two chicken tacos each topped with lettuce, onion, and avacado and a soda-total bill around $3.50. After lunch we headed back to her truck then stopped at Aurora Bodega ( Wal Mart) so she could pick up a few things. Wasnt long before we were headed home. I commandeered the land yacht on the voyage home ( its one of those huge double seat, extended cab, so high i have to climb into it, trucks) and an hour later we were pulling into my yard. After unloading my bags, I waved her goodbye and went in to a very happy to see me Lucky dog. I had left at around 8:30 and it was around 3 when i got home. We went out back for a bit to water and play then I said to Lucky " its cold out here, im going in". Not one to be left out-literally-he followed..made some coffee, brought out the sewing machine and, yep, whipped out those curtains.
Last week i had to buy a new refrigerator and haul it home in the back of the truck. My muffler is either rusting out or something has come loose so its quite loud. As the fridge precariously teetered its way home, held in place only by a piece of twine and a rubber bungee cord, the muffler roaring and the plastic around the fridge whipping in the wind, I couldnt help but sing to Lucky as he looked at me with his ears back and a " what the hell is all this noise?" look on his face.." so the next thing ya know 'ol Jeds a nillionaire..." we jostled our way out of Merida between Mercedes SUVs and well dressed high heeled woman going to the mall, down the highway, through Cansahcab and Dzidzantun passing a guy on a bicycle pulling a horse, countless mangy dogs, vultures on road kill, three wheeled bicyclists cutting wood for cooking fires, little old ladies in brightly embroidered dresses and a couple of half lit guys coming out of cantinas. At last we were safely home in santa Clara. I was exhausted from the stress. I was so afraid the thing was going to tip over. Marcial came over and helped get the old one out, the new one in then road with me to the dump where we pushed it out ( the next day, it was gone..).
Today when i was at Wal Mart i bought a new stick of butter ( the old one having slowly withered away in the ever warming broken fridge). Its resting in the door of my shiny new, cold, well lit fridge. After I take Lucky on best two outta three, we're gonna close our new curtains and put that butter to good use on some popcorn and settle in for a movie. This being retired can really wear a person out!