Thanks for the Suggestions

Buen dia! I received some very interesting suggestions in response to my last post and the difficulty I am having moving pictures around in the post. I then went and messed around with a pretend post and discovered that I can actually move pictures by moving the ones I want to reposition to the far right, all others to the far left and slowly drag the ones on the right to their new positions. Headache! No wonder a few folks suggested switching to Wordpress. But, for all I know I will have some other silly roadblock there, so we will move along and see how things evolve here.

Imagine my surprise when I returned home yesterday to see both water jugs empty......hmmm, and Senor off having lunch and playing bridge with the ladies........when he got home he suggested that we might need water............might? might need water? 

Senor has played bridge three times this week. Like I said, I do not mind as long as he gets work done on the casa in the mornings. However, when he has done three days in a week before, after day three he has told me, Never, never, never again. I think this is only the third time he has done it, again.

He and Umberto did work non stop this morning and I really liked that. I was gone most of the morning, but I saw changes when I returned. They were working away on all this electrical stuff and pouring concrete. The electrical wires will go through all of those orange tubes. I think we will have a lot of electrical outlets.

 

 

 There are a bunch of them right there. I can't imagine what kind of switch plate cover will take care of all that mess. I have already decided a big bushy palm tree will go there, or a pretty carved and hinged box to cover all of it up. We will be opening, shutting, opening, shutting. I think a palm will be easier.

 Below they are putting the wood form against the ladrillo wall and will fill it with concrete.

 They put wires through holes in the wood, attach triangle pieces of rebar which they twist tightly to keep the boards secure and in place.

 

I am just happy to see stuff happen, it tells me SOMEDAY, this might be done.

New old bike and I have been hanging around town a lot lately. We went to the clinic on Wednesday where I learned the results of the urine test and started a whole new round of antibiotics, so you can guess the results of that test. Again, I saw way too many Mexicanos I know there, I am sure I am supplying them with plenty of gossip.

Yesterday we were off to History Club which will soon wind down for the summer with so many people leaving town. New old bike took a little topple when the tequila delivery truck got a little too close. By the way, tequila is delivered to the restaurant there, and not to History Club.The conversation was very relaxed and casual, with people just remembering wonderful old things about Alamos, things like ghost sightings.

New old bike and I left the house at dawn this morning for a ride out to the new sports complex and a long walk around the soccer track. After a fruit snack and people watch at the Alameda, we went out to La Capilla to the little bazaar there. I bought a lace curtain and a swirly long wood thing that you hang outside. It rotates when the wind blows. Riding back to town I tried braking and holding onto it and it fell out of new old bike's basket. A few wood pieces flew off but I was able to retrieve them all while traffic stopped.

Then we were off to my friend Dolores's home where her maid, Armida and I toasted her with a Starbucks bottled frappuccino. Dolores, who was in her mid eighties and had lived year round in her beautiful casa in the historic district for over twenty years, passed away at Christmas. She and I enjoyed many coffees at her table

under her lovely, flowery portal. For our little party Armida served banana bread and arranged a shrine for Dolores. We raised our glasses and said......Salud, Senora!

I am happy to say Armida and I sat and talked in Spanish for almost an hour and I am pretty sure we understood each other. It was nice to share that time with her.  

There are definitely some strange things going on with blogger. I am now unable to move any text. I am a fairly flexible person, but when it comes to the computer, I do not like change. I can't handle it, it causes me too many problems. You can laugh but I don't even know what a tab is. I don't even know how to make a file. It is a wonder that I can even post to this blog and keep four online glass shops operating.

I guess it is a real good thing I went on the blood pressure medicine.

Well, sweet Cookies has something brown in his mouth. The screen door is closed so he can't come in with it, but definitely time for me to investigate. 

Que le vaya bien! linda lou

A Real Update

Buenos Tardes! What a gorgeous day here in Alamos. It is very quiet, a light breeze is blowing from the east, the sun is not too startling as it peers down on us from a soft blue sky. Blip is neighing in the field, Cookies is napping alongside Senor on the bed behind me, Senor's book had fallen by his side and he is snoring away. Yes, a very nice day in Alamos.


Remember, I want to show you something. We are going to walk out the gate and just look down our adobe wall. Now you will notice the colorful bouganvillia mingling with the orange trumpet vine and spilling over the wall.


And here we are, below, at the passenger gate, or what will be the gate one day. Someone said.....why do you keep calling that the passenger gate? I do not have a clue. Maybe when the gate is done and you enter, you should expect to be taken to a world unknown. I have no idea, maybe it comes from having been a flight attendant long ago, gates are just passenger gates.


Now, you will notice as you look at the passenger gate, there is cute little round circle to the right. What is it..............you want to know.

It is the plaque I made in clay class at the Museum. Remember that post? If I had time to learn how to do links, I could take you right back to it, but sorry........

I think this is just awesome. The plaque has been laying on a chair in the bedroom to be and each time I saw it, I thought, well just how long before that gets something set upon it and it gets cracked. I am not pessimistic at all, but well, you know.

A lady came to visit. Why on earth do you have that plaque way down there and not by your gate.....................because there is going to be a passenger gate down there and that is where you would want to see the plaque....................a what kind of gate...............a passenger gate, i said...............
Now, let's go back on the otra lado, or other side.

Senor and Umberto put up the beam that will eventually connect the whole length of the house down to the kitchen corner.
Umberto started the wall here.
And here he is beginning the wall that will extend over the kitchen and the kitchen windows.
Here is a somewhat longer view of the area.
So, there you have it. A real update with real updated things.

And now, as much as I would like to lay down and have a lazy nap, I have to go and cut glass.
Que tengas una buena vida!!!! linda lou

Drip, drip, drip.............

Buenos dias! Wow, what gorgeous weather here, very breezy, layered clouds floating gently across the sky. Not too hot because of the breeze, just perfect.

I am enjoying being home alone, listening to the windchimes. Senor is away at bridge. How nice!

Before he left, a young friend of ours came by the house with his collection of wine bottles. It was a morning planned for getting out the bottle cutter to make some drink glasses for his home. My bottle cutter is a new one and so, I read all the instructions before he came and hoped that I could easily recall that set of drink glasses I made out of beer bottles back in the seventies. It took us about five tries, during which we split the glass and had vertical cuts up and down the bottles, but we finally got four decent glasses and a few candle holders.

A pair of pretty green glassses.

One beautiful blue glass for a candle.

Below, Raphael is grinding the rim of the glass into a powder that will smooth out the edge.

He is now on a mission, saving more types of bottle, so we can continue cutting sometime in the future for a set of six glasses.

After he and Senor both left, I walked around the yard, checking out Senor's recent project.

Since receiving about sixty bouganvilla starts from a friend, he has been working on the drip irrigation system.

I suggested to Senor that I should not be the water girl for all these new little plants because the ground is rough and hilly, there are so many holes and trenches, and big piles of dirt that Umberto has laying around.

He agreed I would probably hurt myself.

And right away, all work on the casa came to a screeching halt and the water drip system began to go in.

It all starts here in this little box at the edge of the stable.

He did not like the direction of the old trench, so Umberto filled that one in and dug several new ones. Now they traverse all across the back yard and along the fence and up to the north side of the house. A second pipe is right along the fence to the right and then along the fence as it continues above. There is a lot of pipe.
There were 3 lines of pipe in this area, all covered up now, that go out to each little plant with a little drip. Senor has a lot of experience with drips.
So it probably won't be long before this system is all hooked up and working. The bouganvillas cannot go long without water. Until it is turned on, Senor has been watering with hose and bucket.

When the bouganvilla are larger and in full bloom, this will be such a pretty yard.

But, while I am accepting of the drip system's importance, I want things to happen on the house. I am quietly waiting for the system timer to be turned on and for us to get back to working on the house. I guess I should have agreed to just water the bouganvillas.

And this is what happens when I get out my Sunsets and Traditional Homes and Verandas and Mi Casa Viejo magazines and start thinking about decorating and getting ideas and thoughts and feeling colors and textures and making designs and notes on paper...............I tend to get impatient. OMG, gotta go. Cookies just waltzed in here with a little iguana looking thing hanging out of the side of his mouth and dropped it, have to find the broom, get the cat out, iguana out...........

que le vaya bien!

linda lou

Rain Storms for Six Days and Nights

Buen Dia! Woooohoooo! We have had some huge storms. Beginning last Wednesday night, with the one exception of this Monday, we have had rain and thunder and lightning every day or night.

I am attempting to show you my first video. I just discovered that I can actually make little videos with sound on my camera. This is a camera I have had for about seven years.
I love little surprises like that.........



Isn't that great? They are really ringing the church bells because it is still important to attend mass even in a huge rain storm.



The photo below is out of focus, but ignore that because it is critical to the information.

This is the hole that Senor and Umberto were working on in one of the last posts. They then installed a pipe that connects the sewer line to what will be the new fixtures in the new bathroom. Now you can see the hole as it is on the inside of what will be our bedroom. The pipe has already been laid and covered up.

In the photo below, the pipe leads from the bedroom into the bathroom. Now the little pipe goes to what will become the sink..............

and to the shower.................................(see cookies, just like Senor, he likes to get in the photos)............

and to the toilet..............................

Isn't all that interesting?

Even more interesting is the mess this is after last night's rain.

I had planned to show you more, but senor is ready to go.

We are going to Navajoa to stay overnight at the Rio just so we can watch the US vs MX soccer match in Mexico City at Azteca Stadium.

This game is so huge. I have been waiting months to see it. I even checked into going to Mexico City to watch it, but we could not get tickets.

The cantina here, across from the mercado is showing it and a friend of mine whose relative owns the cantina said it would be fine for us to come there. Somehow, it just does not seem like the place to go. First of all, women are not supposed to even go into the cantina and secondly, I know who everyone in there will be rooting for. So, I told my friend thanks, but we are going to the hotel in Navajoa.......
adios!

Subtitled Blog........

GATE RAISING........



Today we had a gate raising. Our new gate went up between the new brick wall and now we will have more privacy...the only problem is I do not have a photo to show you because I did not know I was coming to the internet cafe today. And I didn't bring my camera adapter to be able to upload the gate raising photos.



We are in Navajoa and I have been practically shoved out of the truck and into the internet cafe because I was making things difficult in the hardware store.

Hardware stores here are not like home depot or even small Ace hardwares. The main room is very small and you have to know what you want because all of the tools and things are either hidden in the back room or hanging on the walls upstairs....where the customers don't get to go.



Now in Alamos, the hardware senors already know Bill very well, they just let him roam around all over the place. They know him in Navajoa also, but their rules are stricter.

So, after watching the guys work behind the counter and the little bugs on the concrete floor go one way and then another, and appearing terribly bored, I have been dropped off to blog...

I have so much more to tell you before he comes back to pick me up!



Our new gate was made by the local iron worker, Daniel. It is made of chino wood (sort of like mesquite) and beautiful iron. It has two open iron grill windows in it and a big latch to keep people and things out. Lots of senors came up the street to watch our gate being raised.



You will never know how much it means to have this gate up.

because.....all kinds of things have been coming into our yard. For instance, Dumb Dog. He lives across the road out in the agave ranchland. But he loves our cat food and since day one he has been coming to try and get it. He will do anything to try and get that food. And we throw everything but the kitchen sink at him to try and get him to go away. If we had a kitchen sink we would throw that too.

We aren't inhumane, we don't throw on him, just at him. And he LOVES it, he rolls over, he wags his tail and tongue. One of our workers said he is ours. Over my dead body is he ours.....so now, the gate will hopefully keep out dumb dog.



And it should keep out people as well. One afternoon I was in the back bedroom napping and I woke up to an elderly senor sitting at the foot of my bed. He started taking woven baskets out of his burlap sack. He was a basket vendor...that was very startling for me.....no problemo for him...no gate, just walk right on in.

Another time I was cutting vegies in the back and a whole family showed up to try and sell me their wooden carved birds.....And before the wall went up a man saw me in the window and wanted me to buy his used mexican cookbooks. He kept trying to shove them through the iron grill window. I just kept pushing them right back through again.

I am thrilled to have this gate.



This should also keep out little girls who are scared of Dumb Dog. One afternoon we came home and our neightbor told us she saw a little girl up on our roof. Dumb dog chased her up there. Do not ask us how she got on the roof or how she got down. Our neighbor went to call for help for her and when she came back, both dumb dog and the little girl were gone........



BEDROOM

This is the before photo of one of the two livable rooms of our casa. Here is the after photo. It took me two days to hand sew the curtains....(Bill just came back from the hardware store and I told him to go away). We bought the bed and base here in Navajoa and they delivered it one afternoon right before the rains came. Sheets are from the local grocery store.......A few added things that we brought across the border and voila!

very cozy.......not long after this Bill got alot of our electricity up and running and we now have ceiling fans going in both rooms.
Now in the photo below you can see where we spend alot our time. It's where we go to get out of the sun, where I have coffee in the mornings, where Senor Bill works on his architectural drawings of what he is doing to the house, where we eat our lunch or dinner, where we sit and throw things at Dumb Dog.....note there is a fan above, which Bill installed. It is great and really helps to keep out the gnats.......




GNATS...
are terrible here right now.

We have been told they are worse in August when the no seeums arrive to help them feast on all of us who are here in Alamos. We also understand that the gnats and no seeums, along with the scorching days and high humidity, are the main reasons foreignors return to their homelands for the summer. Well, see, we were told there was very little humidity here, up in the mountains of the sonoran desert, in the fact the guide books will tell you that. They could be talking about a different desert. We also thought the rains rolled in every afternoon, with thunder and lightning and cooled everything down and made it very pleasant.....
The exciting thing about that statement being wrong, is the rains come any time they very well please and thunder and lightning are sooo exciting here, it is beautiful. Often there is lightning all night and no rain.....When it rains, it absolutely pours. And it makes everything very humid.......
and makes lots of new baby gnats be born......
So what I have quickly learned is that you have to have rags...you can see my current assortment below.

I have have some pretty pink and purple ones that aren't shown in this photo..

The point of having a rag is to swat gnats. And swatting gnats takes talent. I have spent alot of time watching Mexican women swat gnats. Some swat very slowly and some very quickly. I have actually developed a gnat swatting rhythm to different songs. If it is a fast gnat day, I flip my rag to the tune of Clapton's Layla, a medium gnat swatting day might be Hotel California, a very slow day could be Nat Cole's Unforgettable. You just really have to get a song.

Once we began sleeping at our casa, I started getting up and walking to the soccer field track about 5am, 3 mornings a week. Alot of Mexicans are there, walking the track and swatting gnats with their rags. It is there, on the track, that I really leaned the art of gnat swatting and as I watched the people, especially the women, I realized how important it is to have an assortment of rags. Now when I am shopping I always am looking for new rags and styles.

well, you know who has pulled up in the parking lot and I think it's time to go. I have blogged myself out. BUT, still have alot to tell you about, so next time..hasta luego.....

Streets, Rain, Wall and Sunset

Today we are getting the leftovers of the Texas gulf hurricane. Heavy, heavy rains are pelting the outside. The thunder and lightning have subsided for awhile and I think I am safe on the second floor of the internet cafe down near the Alamos alameda.

I also think I am safe in here because for some reason the cafe is full of federales, with their big guns and all that other stuff they have..... They are standing around eating grilled chicken and a few are using the internet. They don't seem too concerned about anything but their chicken and whatever they are viewing on the computer screens....downstairs is a video store and Monsters, INC, is playing in Espanol. That is one of my favorite movies and I know alot of the lines by heart, so between the movie and the federales I am somewhat DISTRACTED!

Here is a photo of the rain rushing down our street toward the alameda. That water is about 6 inches deep. Our street, Calle Durango, was only paved last year and it actually has fairly nice even pavers. But that is rare here. The norm is cobblestone..everywhere. It is not real easy to walk on. I have to watch every footstep I make..which is hard to do sometimes, because there is soooo much to see here. Especially in the evening, when people open their windows and like any small town, they sit outside and watch people walk by and call hello, buenes tardes, com esta....walking here is great fun....
the pavers below are on our street and only a few others......
most of the streets are like the one above......
I took the above photo from the truck, but if you don't watch where you walk, you will walk right into one of these......

There has been alot of activity at our casa over the last three weeks. In the photo below, we have begun our grill area.
We are laying the concrete below....we will not have a kitchen for quite awhile, but we'll be grilling....now we are grilling on top of three bricks...the two photos above show the wall is almost done and the photos below are across the street and the sunset across the street from the house....

PHOTOS

Laying the foundation for our BBQ in the photo below....

Running of the bulls through our yard.....
Laying the foundation of cement and rocks for the brick wall....
more later....

There's alot to do before we head to Mexico! Just sit back and enjoy the ride!

Hello to all of our old friends and new ones as well.

Bienvienedos!

You are about to enter an adventure that we hope will be as exciting for you as it will be for us.
We plan to share the adventure with you as we leave the Cascade Mountains in the Pacific Northwest and make our new home in the Sierra Madres Mountains in Alamos, Sonora, Mexico.
This is a photo of the beautiful central Plaza in Alamos.

But we want to start by showing you a little of the beauty of where we have lived for over 30 years and then, take you with us as we pack our belongings and travel south to Mexico.

We have purchased an old little casa up on a hill where there are nice breezes and beautiful mountain views.
In case you are wondering, yes, that's our casa in the photos above.... and it's all a matter of perspective..

okay, it needs alot of work, but no worries,
we plan to do all the work and you can just sit back
and watch it happen.......


Have you ever wondered what it would be like to do something like this? well, we are wondering, too, so we'll find out........now, use your imagination, is this just a room with a caved in roof, or is it an outdoor room with a sweeping view of the mountains? maybe it will have a palapa roof and saltillo tile foors and a cat lounging on a pillow in the sun?

stay tuned and we'll find out.

this is the view from our house where we live now, about 900 feet in elevation, in the foothills of the Cascades, over the Snoqualmie Valley, and the Tolt and Snoqualmie Rivers. We have lived here for a long time or sometimes, it seems like a really short piece of time. We've been here over the valley, for 22 years........

this cute little casa is my warm glass studio in the

woods behind our house, the little pond is outside its door and unfortunately, it has to stay behind.........................

It's New Years' Eve, 2007.


It's also the first sunny day since Christmas Eve, you may have heard the rumors about rain in the Pacific Northwest, well, they are all true, every one of them, but when the sun is out, it doesn't get any prettier anywhere than here.

Tomorrow I will take you on a quick little tour through the Snoqualmie Valley. We are about an hour east of Seattle, don't worry, I'm not going to take you to Seattle, just keep you in the country where you can relax and enjoy the scenery................