Home Sweet Home

Buenos Tardes!

We are finally home and so happy to be here. Cookies is elated to have us here after nine days of sleeping out in the wild back yard and probably hours of fending off wild cats and skunks and possums and iguanas. He is sleeping and snoring on the bed behind me.

Tonight is Gala Noche for FAOT. If you did not catch the you tube connection I gave you in my last post, you can get it here. My Alamos friend, Emily, who originally posted it says it gives her goose bumps to watch it. Be sure to have your volume up. It WILL give you goosebumps.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKYFYNDvCxs



I hear the governor is in town and that in general, many, many people are in town. When we stopped at WAL MART in Obregon, I spoke with a man from Arizona who, with his wife, was meeting three other couples in Alamos, for FAOT. They have rented a house and of course,were very excited to get here.

Tonight's gala will be very dressy and after many speeches, FAOT will kick off with mezzosoprano Maria Luisa Tamez.
Below is a link to the program, if you are interested in knowing more.

http://www.festivalortiztirado.gob.mx/programageneral2011.htm

We will be staying home tonight. The nice thing is we will be able to hear Tamez' voice as the breeze lifts it up and out of the Palacio and magically, right up the hill to us. It should be beautiful.

As soon as we unloaded new old car, Senor said he was off to the hardware store. First I made him pose with the car. He said I was really wasting his time now. In fact he came back only to say the hardware store was out of cement, probably sold the last bag while I was making him pose.

While we were gone, Umberto finished clearing away the old sidewalk on this side of the casa.

The nasturtiums exploded.

Everything has been watered and the dirt has been raked.

Umberto even filled the bird bath with water.

So after such a long day of driving, it was nice to see things neat, tidy, clean and green, and the trumpet vines covered with orange blossoms and the bouganvilla coming over the wall.

New old car drove well down the highway for Senor. It's a little bouncy and I almost lost my cookies a couple of times, but it could also be the medicine I am taking.

The dealer ordered parts for repairing the driver's window and inside door lock, neither of which work. The parts were due to arrive today or tomorrow, but we were so eager to get out of town we told them they can repair it next time we are town.

It was rather comical to see the looks on the toll booth operator's faces as Senor pulled up to the booth and opened his door and got out to pay. At the first booth he missjudged the distance to the booth and as he opened the door he dropped all of his toll money. He almost hit the second toll booth. But by the third one, he was able to stop at a good distance, open the door and hand out the money without getting out of the car, and say Buen Dia and Gracias, too.

It was not so comical when we had to open the door to federales. They expect you to roll down your window. they are serious guys. I made Senor practice how to say.............i am so sorry, my window is broken..........or....the switch is broken, the window will not roll down........or malo, malo switch, bad, bad switch, but he could not remember any of the words when we got to the federales.

By Toll Booth Three I was feeling better and threw into the back seat the plastic bag Senor had insisted I keep in my lap.

Believe me, it is critical to turn in your car permit at the border if you want to bring down another car. At Empalme, they double checked all that on the computer and made certain we had turned it in. Each person is only allowed to have one car to his name in Mexico. We were not sure they really keep track of it, but evidently they do.

Window washers seem less concerned about us and rarely did one approach us on our way down.

That leads me to believe it is true, big truck, big money. Little new old car, forget about it.

One fellow did walk towards us at a Pemex and when Senor waved him off, he smiled and walked away. Before getting back in the car, Senor gave him five pesos for just being kind and considerate and not getting all gripey because we would not let him wash the window. The guy smiled and said, gracias. They could start a new business, you know, approach a foreign car to wash it and after getting waved off, smile and walk away. I bet there are more Senors out there and see, the washers would not have to lift a finger. Smile, be happy, get five pesos, easy.

So, the Tracker does not hold much, yet we managed to pack it tighter than a jar of anchovies. Below is one of our new Pier One chairs with new old love seat. The two pillows on the far left are ones I made out of Goodwill fabric while we were stuck in the hotel. It will take some coordinating, but I think all these colors can be made to work in the main sala.

We will pick up the second Pier One chair sometime when we are back in the states. They said they will hold it forever, and we could only get one in new old car.................funny, isn't it? And, I have no plans to buy anything else, believe me. If it does not fit, we do not need it.

Senor is out walking around the yard and casa. Now that we are home he has big construction plans. He says we are going into Phase Two. So there will be a lot going on here in the morning, providing he gets his concrete.

Then around two in the afternoon, we will go to the church to hear the flute and cello concert. Then, most likely a short siesta and some more music in the evening.

I will keep you posted on Phase Two. In the meantime, I hope you will visit the you tube, then close your eyes and listen to the wind and pretend you are here in Alamos.

Que le vaya bien!
linda lou