The new aljibe

Hola, buen dia.

I am sure you have been keeping track of the weather here in Sonora.

We have been in a severe drought and it has been miserable around here.

Back in February, Alamos was put on a water restriction program. Supposedly, you would receive water from the city every other day.

Because we live on a slight hill, that schedule really meant no water for us because there is not enough pressure in the system to bring the water uphill from the well that services our street.

 We have received water through the city lines maybe 3 or 4 times since February.

 However, when this happens the city is obligated to send what is called a PIPA, a water truck, to your home 2 times a week to fill your aljibe or tinaco or whatever you collect water in. We usually get the PIPA once a week and are grateful for that.

We have a small aljibe and a large tinaco on the roof. The roof tinaco supplies the house and the aljibe supplies water for the laundry and the yard.

They each hold around 3,500 litres of water.

We quickly realized that they don't hold enough water so Senor decided to build a big aljibe.

It is our intention to have it fill from rain water only. But Senor put in a pipe system that can be accessed by the PIPA if we have to go that route.

Our roof is slanted and the columns in the photo below have big pvc tubes in them. The rain water will run down the roof, through the columns and in to the aljibe.

In this photo below, a pump house is being built. A rock wall will go around the edges.

The aljibe is 8x20 feet and 8 feet deep. It holds 40,000 litres of water.

In the photo below the aljibe is ready for concrete arches and supports and wooden beams were then placed on top. Once the concrete cured the beams were removed through that square hole you see in the top of the aljibe, a hole just big enough for a man to get in and out of. In the photo above, the wood beams are right below the cement board.

We have had rain for 3 nights, giving us 3.7" of rain.

Our new aljibe has 6 feet of rain water in it.

I think Senor is pretty pleased with himself. 

I am trying to convince him we need a fireplace and some bancos

on top, a nice little outdoor party spot.

 I think it will happen.

Okay, gotta go.

Que le vaya bien!

Linda Lou

 

The 'Thanksgiving Cabin'

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am going to tell you a story. I may have told you a little about this a long time ago.

However, some stories are worth telling a hundred times and this is just one of those.

When our children were growing up we took them to a different 'Thanksgiving Cabin' every Thanksgiving.

These cabins were always in Washington State and chosen with loving care for our needs.

No phones, no televisions

rustic and remote.

We chose cabins with fireplaces or woodstoves to warm us, and an oven large enough to cook our turkey.

We were very adventurous, we hiked, we identified trees, our children learned to play chess when they were very young at these cabins, they learned their favorite card games, learned to bake apple and pumpkin pies and Christmas cookies.

They learned to take a stack of coloring books and when they were older, they learned to take a stack of books to read.

This easily became everyone's favorite four day holiday.

We made memories.

The photo above is of one of our favorite cabins, The Longhorn Cabin in Twisp, Washington.

Below is a very remote cabin in Wenatchee, hidden in the trees, with a rushing creek beside it.

A cabin near Mt. Rainier, where we drove up to the base of the mountain and the kids spent the day building jumps and snowboarding.

Another cabin, below, along the roaring Nooksak River

There isn't much more to say. These were wonderful times.

Then our daughter, the oldest, went away to college.

Still we chose the 'Thanksgiving Cabin' and flew her home and we had a wonderful family time at a very remote cabin.

Heading back to the airport, both kids in the back seat, cleared their throats and one piped up..........

mom and dad, we have loved these 'Thanksgiving Cabins', but we don't want to do them anymore.

I was crushed, but we still had our youngest in the car on the way home, after dropping off our daughter for her flight, so I tried to hold it together, but it was not easy.

And then the following year, off to college went our son.

Thanksgiving disappeared, just like that, with the blink of an eye.

Senor and I did not find any more cabins, we sometimes cooked a turkey, sometimes something else.

In 2007, while both kids were still in college, we began our Mexico search and flew both kids to Guadalajara and spent Thanksgiving in Sayulita. Other than that wonderful holiday, we were all separate, doing our own busy thing.

Senor and I came to Alamos.

Our son began his own career, our daughter left her career to marry and have two children.

We tried restaurants for Thanksgiving, visiting friends, and finally decided the best thing for us would be to put the turkey on a spit and just eat when it's ready.

The 'Thanksgiving Cabin' drifted away, but  became something that was in my heart, memories and feelings, a scrapbook to hold.

Then, in 2018, our daughter called with a surprise request.

mom..........could you find us a 'Thanksgiving Cabin' and could we all go?

My heart soared and I found us a cabin in Colorado. Senor and I would fly into Denver, where our daughter lives and our son would fly down from Seattle.

Below is that cabin, at 9,000 feet.

Our children, and one little baby,, in the photo below.

Baking the apple pie again.

Two munchkins in 2018

Then, of course, 2019, there would be another 'Thanksgiving Cabin'.

Below, our son is making his pumpkin pie in the cabin which was at 12,000 feet.

Above Senor checks the high altitude cooking temperature on the turkey.

Below, L-R our son, our daughter and her husband and their two little ones.

And today, the turkey in the asador, on the spit.

Before the Pandemic became such serious business, I was of course,

 looking for the 'Thanksgiving Cabin'.

Like so many people we have not seen our family in some time,  not since the last cabin. 

Hopefully we will not need to wait until the next 'Thanksgiving Cabin' to see them.

It's difficult to not be with your family for this holiday, but you probably have some wonderful memories of last Thanksgiving, or the one before that.

 

I'd like to wish that everyone can find their own 'Thanksgiving Cabin.'

It doesn't have to really be a cabin.

It can be a restaurant, your own kitchen, a place in the woods, a walk along the river.

But it's a place where you can make some good memories. 

This is a Happy Thanksgiving wish to all of  you from Senor and me and here's hoping you can find inside your heart today a 'Thanksgiving Cabin'.

The Bookie

Hola!

How's everyone?

Have you bought your turkey?

We bought one and even though we will be at the hospital in Navojoa that day hopefully getting this cast removed we are going to come back home and put that turkey on the spit over the asador.

If they don't remove this cast I really don't know what I will do.

I know I'll go mad.

Although I cannot go

much madder than I am over this online bookie called Good2go2Mexico.

When I tell people about the blog I often say ......just google Good2go2Mexico and it will pop right up.

And someone did just that and contacted me and asked me if I was now taking bets online.

So, naturally, I googled us.

There's a bookie there, by the name of Good2go2Mexico.

 I mean I guess he is taking bets, but it could be debatable what he's doing.

Or maybe it's a woman and I wouldn't know what she is doing either.

Scrolling down, I can see who likes to place bets and their profile photos, women with their bosoms hanging half out of their blouses, women with their underwear pulled way down.

THAT'S NOT US!!!

That is some other person who only thinks they are Good2go2Mexico

and maybe got halfway there on a bus and ran out of money

I really am not one to talk about people behind their backs when they are not around to defend themselves, but what's wrong with Been2Mexico2TimesBefore or Good2SeeMexico2Day or how about Good2SeeMexico2Morrow.

I can think of all kinds of good2 phrases that would not copycat us.

Okay, I am through venting.

 I had to vent to someone and Senor does not have on his listening ears right now.

If you lose track of us and have to google Good2go2Mexico and see THE BOOKIE, which is how the person shall be referred to from now on, just know that we have nothing to do with it.

I'll leave you with a few beautiful September summer photos of Alamos.

Que le vaya bien!

Linda Lou

this is what I was doing with my friend and horse guide, Leon, a few days before I fractured my wrist.

That's Leon, above, and me, in the photo below. 

The Fountain, The Coin Fireplace and The Game Room

Buenos dias!!!! Como estas????

IT'S PHOTO TIME!!!

We have completed a couple of major things. I am only going to show you three for now,

I don't want to overwhelm you with all these speedy transitions.

THE FOUNTAIN

Senor was not too sure about the blue grout, but I overruled him.

It's like a jewel. I love it.

And it works, too.

I could've moved that electrical cord for the photo but I did not want you thinking we aren't working on something else.

THE MEXICAN COIN FIREPLACE

I have been collecting Mexican coins for years and now they are on the fireplace.

I think the oldest coin is 1914

THE GAME ROOM

Now, Senor thinks this is his room. The room where he and all his girl friends are going to get together for bridge games. In fact, almost every afternoon, they do get together, online and play. He sets up his computer here on the table and closes the doors. 

Of course, when he is playing, I am not allowed in there, NOT FOR ANY REASON.

He owed someone some money and they came to collect while he was in that room.

First, I knocked politely.

WHAT, he screamed at me, okay, I am going to change that to yelled at me, it sounds nicer.

I told him what I wanted......MONEY..........and I waited and I waited.

I went and told the person to return in two hours.

Senor takes his bridge very seriously.

I have made soldered fused glass lights for this room and once we get them up I will show you a photo of them. 

But the best thing is this room is the mobile.

 See it?

Senor made that for our daughter when she was a little baby and it hung in her nursery.

Now, it's in the Game Room, where I love to sit and read.

The room to the back is our old original bedroom, where we lived for most of these years, during construction, until moving to the new bedroom two years ago.

It needs some finishing decor touches and then I will show it to you.

Here is the mobile.

We are doing good.

 The weather has changed a little, last week we went to colder days and now this week we are back to hotter days.

I was finally able to change my top photo and it leads one to think it looks pretty festive around here.

 However we are not having any large organized fiestas. 

We have missed everything since Semana Santa, everything since Alamos went into lockdown and curfew last Spring. During lockdown one could not leave or enter town without a government issued pass. You could get a pass for a visit to a hospital or doctor and that was about it. There were no alcohol sales, no postal service, no restaurants or fondas were open. And at 10pm, when the loud siren, up at the Mirador went off, you'd better be in side your yard or house. It was hard, many people did not see their out of town families for almost seven months. The day the Tecate trucks rolled into town in October, people lined the streets and cheered.

We have now been open for about a month and it's a little scary. 

Tour buses are here, and that means tourists are everywhere.

People are free to come into town  now and some are good about following the rules they receive at the tent as they drive in, for example, handwashing, mask wearing and social distancing.

 Many restaurants remain closed, while more and more fondas  (food stands) seem to be opening.

Like many people I am heartbroken to not be with our kids and two little grandchildren for Thanksgiving. But I am eager for Thanksgiving because it is the day I might get this cast off.

I have just about hit the wall.

Okay, time to go.

Senor says he is playing bridge soon and I have piles of magazines on the bridge table.

BAD GIRL.

Que le vaya bien!!!

Linda Lou

 

Hola, que dice?

Blogger has changed a little since I last posted, WAY back when. I see there are things I used to get to do and can no longer do....no problem.

I have a story to tell.

 Oh, first, the house is almost completed. That will be the next post, I hope. I recently lost all my photos on this new old computer that I purchased from my daughter. MISERY.

 So I have been trying to rebuild my photos and figure out how to save them from being lost ever again. But I know you want to see the house.

First, the story.

I am still taking my walk, early in the mornings and three weeks ago I went out to the arches. These are huge double arches on the highway that mark the entrance into Alamos, you've seen them before in my posts. I would show you a photo, but I  don't have one.

On  my return trip, I started talking to an older hombre I know who pushes a peddle cart. This is a 4 wheel contraption that would hold drinks, or snacks, or garafons of water, or people. His was empty and as I was walking toward him, my shoe caught a divot in the highway and I took a nose dive. He came to help me up, he's so frail I pulled him over. He fell on top of me and was just fine. I had a few scrapes, but my biggest concern was the quick swelling of the palm of my left hand, and I could not open my fingers by the time I got home.

Once home, I told Senor it was hospital time, so off we went. I discovered that my visit was free, but only this visit, no others. So, we learned free care does not exist at the general hospital in Alamos. I believe our health care is supposed to be free to residents of Alamos, but I was not going to argue.

 The Doctor jabbed and pulled my palm and thumb, and of course, made me feel much worse, and had me in an emergency bed with an inflammatory IV and a pain medication that I later learned was ibuprofen.

The X ray machine was not working, so I was told that at the blood clinic down the street there was an X ray machine and I could go there and get a free X ray, which was not free after all, but I did get it.

By the time I got back to the hospital, the doctor I had seen was gone and I was told I would have to start the entire process over again, new sign in, new doctor, new  (free) X ray and since this was my second visit, well, of course I would have to pay.

I decided to go home and suffer for 2 days before asking Senor to drive me to the Emergency Room at the San Jose Hospital in Navojoa. AND let me tell you I did suffer. I have a pretty high pain tolerance, but this was awful. Remember when I fell off the curb and broke my foot? No pain comparison. I actually cried.

So the X ray at San Jose showed a fracture below my left thumb and as soon as the cast went on and it stabilized, the pain subsided.

I am not a happy camper at all.    

I had just received around 30 pounds of new sparkling glass and had a million projects running through my mind. Now I am just trying to get through each day without overusing my hand.

I can still take my walks in the morning. The San Jose doctor suggested I only walk in the daylight and that I take a cane. I conceded to the daylight business, but no way to the cane.

This morning it was 44 degrees when I left the house, in the daylight, at 6:10am, wearing my new hat. It took a year for it to arrive from China. I figure by now it should be virus free.

Okie dokie, some outdoor photo updates.

 I thought we were through building outside and one day I went out and this monstrous thing was going up, fast. You can see Senor is on the ladder and Rosario is to the left. Well, it is a combination garage and weaving space. Senor was gifted a couple of lovely 7 harness looms and he happens to be very knowledgeable regarding weaving and so I guess he will be using part of this space to learn to weave. Very cool, don't you think?

This is now the long line of bodegas in back. The ladrillos on the right are the left edge of the garage/ weaving space. The next bodega is firewood and paint, the next is Senor's tool shop and lastly and MOST important, is my shop.

See the photo below.

When I had my glass studio in the Pacific Northwest, it was a nice rustic little thing in the woods with 2 ponds right outside, very classy.

But now I have a SHOP.

It's awesome.

I don't have to sweep it everyday, well I have a broken hand, I can't sweep anyway.

But I don't have to worry about the looks of it.

My Gosh, it's a  *^#+*#* SHOP!

I LOVE IT

Gotta go feed the birds. If I don't get to them in time, they just walk right inside the sala.

Que le vaya bien!!!

Linda Lou

Some Signifigance

 BUENAS DIAS!

bajajajaja

Did you think we left town?

Believe it or not we have been right here in Alamos, still working on the casa.

YEAR ELEVEN.

Everything is going very good.

No, the casa is still not finished, but we are getting down to the last 2 rooms.

Why aren't we finished?

Why has it taken eleven years?

I think you know the answer.

Senor likes to do too much himself.

Yes, I can still put up with it.

Right now we are taking a break from the casa and building me a glass working shop.

 How about that!

It is very exciting. 

I am cutting glass on the portal now and have been there for about five years.

If you recall, before that I was in many different locations, including the yard one summer.

Each time we entertain I have to pick it all up and move it.

It is so frustrating, so when I move into the shop/studio, I can leave out all of my projects and I can be as messy as I wanna be.

Thrilling!

I know you want to see photos of the casa.

Not today!

I have a story to tell you.

 Interesting things always happen to me, well, I think they are interesting.

But this one especially has me wondering.

When I was on my walk the other morning I found half a bead.

I am surprised I even saw it.

You can see in the photo, it is very tiny, pale blue in color.

 I know why I chose to pick it up.

My father picked up all kinds of things in the streets when we four kids were growing up.

He had a name for it.

Shepherding.

We each had a big stick and we walked around the streets, and in the fields and along the railroad tracks and ditches, and we looked for stuff.

My father was a well educated man, head of the history department at a college, well loved by his students and faculty, a musician, and an artist among many other talents.

And he was a huge shepherder.

Most of our treasures ended up in our home, on shelves, or in the yard, or once, when my sister found a baby doll, in loving arms.

To this day, when I take my early morning walk I am shepherding. I no longer carry a stick and I don't actively look for things, but when something catches my eye, into a pocket it will go.

So, the blue bead went into my pocket and I continued walking.

Below are a few of the things I have found  on my walks. Starbucks stickers here in Alamos! The edge of a burned 50 peso note! A chuckie cheese token! A marble! Lots of pellet gun balls. And these are only a few of the things. I have quite a collection. This batch I keep in the German mug you can see in the photo below. My parents bought it in Berlin when they took me to get my passport.

After finding the bead, I continued walking for about half an hour more, through the arroyo, past the Alameda and the Plaza, and near the old original Black Cat Market, which was the first food mercado in Alamos many, many years ago, something in the street caught my eye. I walked over to it and picked it up. 

It was the other half of the bead.
 On the complete opposite side of town.
 It was barely visible in a crack in the concrete, but I saw it.
Or maybe it saw me. 
It matched the other half exactly.


Now what is the significance of that?

okay, gotta run, Semana Santa, whoowheee, lots of people in town and I want to go buy shrimp soup for dinner before all the tourists eat it up.
Que le vaya bien!
Linda Lou