Cut to the Quick

Buenas tardes! I am going through some boxes that I plan to move into one of the soon to be locked and secured rooms. OMG! Look what I found. It is only a year out dated. It smells just a little stale. But who cares!!!!! And it happens to be my favorite and even though I have pretty much stopped drinking regular coffee because of high blood pressure.............WHO CARES!

So, I had a cup.Here is one of the lovely doors. It cost about sixty dollars. I would ask Senor what kind of wood it is but he is snoozing on the bed behind me. He has worked very hard all morning, ever since we discovered the doors do not really fit in either of the places we want them. He just woke up..................pine, he says.One will go in here........the closet of the master bedroom.One will go here....................the laundry room and where I cut and fire glass.Senor cut seven inches off each door, still a steal, don't you think................ sixty bucks?
He also had to drill holes for the locks. Yesterday we ordered the stain and he picked it up this morning. Sometime after my siesta, I will stain the door jams.



You must be wondering. why are we doing this? Why all of a sudden?


Let me cut to the quick...........we were robbed.

Among the missing:
two of Senor's favorite drills, the new tent I bought at the WalMart in Obregon which cost much more than one pine door, two bottles of white wine, five cartons of Breton's crackers, and one large potted palm.

I think there is more, but I just have not discovered it yet.

We are not always as smart as we think we are. Often, when we go to the Tiangus on Sunday, we only lock the screen doors. At night we have been sleeping in an air conditioned bedroom while fifteen feet away, the screen door to the kitchen tool room is locked, but the heavy metal door is not. Sometime, who really knows..................day or night, someone punched a hole through the screen, unlocked the door and walked in and then, walked out with our stuff.

We always lock the doors now. We have learned a valuable lesson. Only now, several days after the event can we talk sanely about it. So, now you know.

Speaking of events, not that the one above really qualifies as one, I went to a remarkable event up on Loma Guadalupe at the Casa de la Cultura. I have told you about the building and you have seen pictures. The building was built around 1886 and was once the carcel, or jail. Now it is the culture center. It still has its crumbling adobe walls in places and some roofs are missing, but it can be a destination for exciting attractions.

The director of our museum, with the help of some local school children, recently created a sculpture out of toy guns that were donated to this project by children throughout Sonora. The project, called La Paloma, the dove, coincided with a week long celebration of Mexico's famous actress, Maria Felix, and the publications of several books written by local Mexican authors. The celebration took place at the culture center below.


Senor, on the bench below, and behind him to the left of the trees, you can just barely see the church.................this is an older photo and now, the benches and walkways have been reconstructed and are very charming.views from the center are magnificent................ Inside the center is La Paloma.................

Around two hundred people attended the unveiling of La Paloma........................

Many dignitaries from the state of Sonora were there and school children who worked on the project received certificates.........................Procedure and recognition are extremely important in Mexico. Each dignitary presented his or her own speech. Each child was also given the opportunity to make a speech. It was very evident who in the crowd was a proud wife, husband, father or mother, aunt or uncle, grandmother or grandfather, sister or brother. Clearly, most of the speeches focused on the importance of the continued teaching to children of Sonora that everyone should live in peace, without guns or violence.
Afterward, Las Estudiantinas performed for us and an endless feast was served...............



Among the other events that week, were nightly films in which Maria Felix starred, musical shops, film making classes, dances and my favorite, a paper flower making class.

Below, we are getting ready to make the flowers.

I made three...................... two of them fell apart and I had to have help putting them back together........................... below, I am confident I can make more...................some other day.




Senor likes the three I brought home.

Okay, siesta time! A large dark cloud is hovering over Mt. Alamos.

While I siesta, you can listen to a song by Las Estudiantinas de Alamos.............adios! linda lou

My To Do List

Buen Dia.

I cannot believe that my last post was in June. That is ridiculous. Sorry mom, I will not let it happen again. I am not kidding you when I say I have been busy.

We finished off the World Cup without the computer crashing or losing connection. I am saving my pesos now for the 2014 World Cup games that I am planning to attend. I don't even know where they are. I have not even talked to Senor about it. I just know we are going.

The clouds continue to build and we know it will really let loose soon. We had around fifty drops last night, and with each one, we could feel the temperature drop slightly. The lightning was far off in the north, but with every day, it gets a little closer. Last Friday we did have a good storm, with a lot of silver streaked skies and one quarter of an inch of rain, but we have not seen much more. Senor photo shot this beautiful quail yesterday as it sat in the tree near the asador where we feed the birds. Eventually he made his way to some cracked corn and we hope to see more of him.
We have decided we need a little more security here at our new old casa . And I am not talking about getting a dog.

We went to Home Depot in Obregon and bought several more outdoor sensor lights and two doors, one for the closet in the bedroom to be and one for the laundry room. Now we will be able to lock and secure four rooms. Here is the fun part: I get to sand and stain the doors. If you recall I did that back in Washington and I believe I swore I would never do it again. Well, here we go again.

If I can, I want to take the time to jot down my 'to do' list. I want to really see what I am working on.

I am painting the wooden cupboards with a flowery german stencil design.

I am on the first block of embroidery for a bedspread.

I am repairing four pillows that I bought at a sale while in Texas.

I am putting up temporary wooden shelves in the closet.

I am organizing all of the tools and crafty things we use to go on the shelves.

I am sanding and staining two doors.

I am making a large glass paperweight for a friend's 90th birthday.

I have four jewelry orders for glass bracelets.

I have two jewelry orders for six pairs of earrings.

So, that is good to see it on paper. The nice news is that none of this really has to be done quickly. I can go as slowly or quickly as I want to.

And if you really think about it, it only looks like a lot. And I do not see things like........be at work by 5am, quick lunch for 15 minutes around 11am, paperwork must be completed by 2 or you have to stay late, fight the traffic from 3-4 and stand in line at the grocery store for 20 minutes, fight traffic again to get home................
I know how lucky I am............

For around two weeks now the most important thing on my daily list is a friend's cat and dog and mango orchard while he is in Chiapas.

Mango orchard below.

Aren't these beautiful? The mango is a very pretty tree and the fruit is so colorful. I walk down every day to feed the animals and collect the fallen fruit, most of which I bring back home.

I should not wonder so much where the time goes.................below Randy and I are up on his roof, looking up the street towards my casa. It is our routine now, to go up and just watch the street. Is there a better way to spend time?

Adios! Senor is back with the wood for my shelves, I am about to get busy, but I plan to work slowly today, and I will enjoy every moment of it................linda lou

Who Knows Where the Time Goes?

Buenas tardes.

Since my last post a week ago, we have had ten drops of rain. That is it.

It was most exciting a few days ago when the clouds were dark and thick and there was thunder in the distance and suddenly Senor stood and ran for cover...................only to discover it was Cookies clawing the rug. Well....................said Senor....................it sounded like rain.
Most of our cloudy days have been like the photo below. Nothing more, but with Hurricane Alex about to make landfall on the eastern coast of Mexico, we may just get some rain soon.


As I mentioned in the last post, we discovered we truly can get live soccer on the internet. We have watched soccer daily now since June 14th. What a life!
You are either a fan or not a fan, but we could run the fan club for any of the teams, those eliminated and those still in the rounds.

Soccer is not too importante in Sonora. Baseball and boxing are more important, however soccer is big in many other states and Mexico produced a game booklet which also is a lottery of sorts, but I have not figured out how one would play it. So, I use it for score keeping. Mostly it is full of glossy photos of skimpily clad girls who look like they have been run over by wild animals. But it is a fun little score keeping tool.

When we have had breaks from watching soccer we have actually run outside and done a little work.

Senor suggested, after seeing me painting the cupboards, that it might be time for me to paint the portal vigas. So, in between yesterday's two games, I did that. Then while we watched the afternoon game, Umberto and Chuey began placing the placas.

We are pretty sure we are the only people in town with white-washed herringbone placas.

Also, while we have been watching soccer, Umberto and Chuey have finished the concrete columns in the north wall. Senor is always out there, working with them, pouring the concrete, troweling it down. So, I am sure they wonder what we are doing in here. Umberto is deaf, so he would not hear us yelling and screaming as a goal is scored. Chuey listens to ranchero music on his cell phone and totally ignores us unless we are communicating with him verbally.

Tomorrow, they will begin adding the cap to the wall. It will be like the one below. Senor will work with them, as there are game breaks today and tomorrow.

With the game break on, I have also finished a few things. And I have started a few new things.


I completed painting and glossing the candlestick holder. Senor still thinks it is a kindergarten craft project. I like it, but it will need a different candle someday.

A wonderful lady offered me the use of her 'how to paint wood furniture' books. They are full of design stencils. Unfortunately, all of the directions for painting are in German. I went and bought carbon paper at the Mercado and will copy the designs onto the cupboards and just cross my fingers and paint.

Below are the some of the designs I plan to use. It is going to be very busy. I think that lots and lots of different designs will help hide my mistakes.

While I was at the Mercado, I decided to make a bedspread for the bed. Now, this is a very long term project. But I think it will work, don't you? Below is the first embroidery attempt since 1970, when my sister and I removed the leather tops of our Dr. Scholl's and replaced them with these cute strips of muslin that we embroidered.

So, tomorrow is another FREE day and I should stay out of the Mercado. Who knows what other project I might come up with.......

I'll leave you with this. On June 18th, we celebrated two years of living permanently in Mexico. As I have said many times, I don't know where the time goes here.

We Have a Winner!

Buenas Tardes!

Below are a few photos Senor took of the last four evenings. We could see the clouds building and feel the wind picking up speed each of the first three nights, but then, it would all come to a swift halt, the crickets would begin to chirp, the birds came back to feed, our excitement waned and Cookies yawned with boredom.

Then BINGO! Last night we hit the jackpot. The wind beat the clouds into a frenzy, the rain fell as Zeus cracked his whip and the horses thundered across the sky.

The cat scurried in under the bed, the towels went down at the doors and we hid in the kitchen tool room after being caught off guard.

When we are not waiting for rain, we are busy with our new discovery.

World Cup on the computer, Live.

So we are getting in two of the morning games and we are thrilled. For a few days we were reading it on Fan House, play by play.

Then a friend sent us a link and we are so surprised that it has worked for four days now.
I am always paranoid about these things, especially since my Playlist was taken away and then, did I tell you AOL took away my free radio? I just about lost it when that happened. I was in the middle of listening to Dallas Master Gardener, Neil Sperry and waiting for Delila, the food goddess of Houston. Then poof, it was all gone with the blink of an eye.

So, we hope this good live soccer connection stays with us through the finals.

Of course, it means very little is being done on the casa......................but, World Cup only comes once every four years.

If I were to ask Senor to take a photo of today's late afternoon sky, you would see the same thing as in the picture above, but the sky is even darker. So, on this, the first official day of the rainy season, Dia de San Juan, we expect to see more rain.

Glenn Ian, you guessed the 25th for the day the rain would begin and as they began on the 23rd, You are the Winner of the Contest!

adios! linda lou

Bridge Day!

Buenas tardes. Here is the morning's sunrise. Believe me, it was breathtaking. But they are all breathtaking in this brilliant colorful way.

And I see everyone of them. Early.

I am up every morning by 4:30am. Sunrise comes a little after 6, I think. I tend to lose track of time. And we do not have a clock that works properly. In the middle of the night it changes time, on its own. I actually think maybe Senor does something to it as it is on his side of the bed. Maybe he does this in order to get more sleep. When it is 6am, the clock might read 3:10am.

We are not getting any World Cup and it has me over the edge, so I am trying to stay busy.

And since I do not have a tv full of soccer channels, I am trying to be creatively busy.

So I have put myself in paint mode, fast forward, do not stop.

Painting the cupboards in the bedroom and in the kitchen tool room is my first plan. The cupboards look exactly alike. I am just painting them with a flat latex white........that will be a lot of coats of paint.

Later I will get very creative and add a bunch of color. Maybe they will become a brilliant morning sunrise.

These cupboards will be sawed in two and moved to the closet. Senor has measured and it will be a perfect fit.

Brown cupboards.

White cupboards.

So, this afternoon, while I waited for the second coat of white paint to dry, I made some boxes.

These are just old brown boxes I probably bought at Michael's ten years ago. Sometimes I just amaze myself when I think of what I sold, or gave away or threw away in order to make a clean move to Mexico. So I try not to think about that. Then, I see what I kept and I get all warm and fuzzy. I know that sounds mushy but then, this post today is about ME. So I get to write whatever I want. And when I found these old boxes in another bigger old dusty box, I got very excited.

Now that I have painted them and put the lids on (yes, after the paint dried), I can't get the lids off. I think they will make a nice little focal point on some shelf someday, don't you?

So now I will get back to the white cupboards and add a little yellow in the middle panels, then while that dries, who knows where the paint brush will take me?

Hey, it's a 'Bridge Day'! So, maybe I will paint the tree trunks white, Senor would probably never notice. Or I will paint a big flower on the wall of the West Wing. Or I could paint the white ceiling fans bright fuchsia or cover the bathroom wall with big yellow dots!!!!!!

There will most likely be a follow up to this! adios, linda lou!

One Point for Mexico!

Buen dia. I cannot tell you how glad we are to be back in Alamos. We have decided that Hermosillo is off our to do list, tomorrow, next year, the year after. Of course, one has to drive through it to get to the states. We will put the truck in drive and close our eyes.



Below is the much dreaded Immigation building there. We arrived at 8 sharp, when the doors are supposed to open and there were already 4 people ahead of us. Below, the felow, on the right sitting down, has been told he has to fill out an application online. His Mexican girlfriend stormed out of the building and drove off. We have no idea what that was about. The man at the counter, in the picture below, left as well.



Okay by us, we were that much closer to standing at the counter ourselves.

Once we did get to the counter, we thought things were going well. There is another new form to fill out there and the attendant does it online.



There are alot of questions on this new form. They include your height and weight and where you work and the number of children you have.



Then, place of birth, place of residency (OMG WE HAVE ALREADY GIVEN ALL THAT TO THEM). I could see we were actually going to get our cards, so I made no complaints.



Fingerprints, signatures here, signatures there, they do not make it easy.



There are some errors on Senor's form, but we did not catch it until after the attendant had clicked the save button. One line states that he moved to Mexico from Minnesota, which is not the case. When it came to my form, it was printed that I moved to Mexico from Germany. I started my ranting about then and spent several minutes explaining I was only born in Germany and never lived there. This appeared to be very confusing to all 3 people who by now were helping us. The 3 included Nurse Ratchet whom we had hoped would be on sick day. Finally I got them to get Germany off the form and Washington State on. But I do not think they like to change anything once they have typed it in.

This application was attached to the old FM3, put in a big stack of other papers and we did not see it again.


I am going to try not to go into any more details over this. But after 2 hours we left with our new cards. Parting words from immigration were that we must show this card upon leaving and re entering Mexico. We waved and smiled and left the building.



Below is the link to the new online application should you need it and front and back photos of the new little card. Under the juicy fruit wrapper is a photo of Senor and then, dates of birth and card numbers and signatures hidden under the other areas.




http://setram.inami.gob.mx:8080/solicitudes-web/estancia.html



We drove straight to the hotel and crashed.

Later, after watching the delayed broadcast of the 3 World Cup games of the day, we made a quick jaunt to the Plaza and the church. I think we were each secretly looking for something to rekindle our feelings about Hermosillo, looking for something that would make us want to come back again.

We were surprised to find the church locked up, that never happens to any of the churches we visit in Sonora. The Plaza was as non descript as we remembered it, no water fountains flowing, hot and dusty sidewalks, very few vendors, old women begging for pesos. So, a few more reasons to not go back.

Only the church and a beautiful iron gazebo were worthy of a photograph.

We spent another day watching World Cup Soccer, which is the only reason we decided to turn this trip into a 4 day, 3 night stay. The 3rd night we drove to San Carlos. Eager to watch more soccer, we had the television on for the early Sunday game at 4:30am, only to find that the sports stations being broadcast in that area were more interested in rollerblade boxing, car racing, tennis, baseball and the americas cup. We packed up and left.

At the Wal Mart in Obregon, we watched Germany play Australia. Senor wanted to go to the camping section and get 2 chairs, but I convinced him that might look wierd.



I would say the highlight of this trip was eating in the taco stand below, on Saturday in Hermosillo. The 2 brothers are watching a re run of the Mexico SudAfrica game. Their faces and their creative game sign tell the rest of the story.

One point for Mexico!