Keith And Leigh

We started North Wilson Mountain trail from the Encinoso Picnic Area in late August but were short on water and a couple degrees too warm. In mid-November, the temperatures were much more suitable.

2016-11-08 Courthouse Butte loop

We hiked the Courthouse Butte Loop starting at the Bell Rock Vista parking area and circling counter-clockwise.

2016-10-27 Baldwin to Templeton with Barb and Bill

Barb and Bill came all the way from NH to visit us in Sedona. Yay!

2016-09-04 Bonus - Schultz Creek Trail in Flagstaff

We drove up to Flagstaff for an approximate 12 F temperature drop and tried the Schultz Creek Trail.

2016-08-30 North Wilson Mountain

The deck was stacked against us this morning.

2016-08-29 Verde Valley School Rd V

It was clear and pleasant, not too hot (finally!).

2016-05-22 Sterling Pass

Sterling Pass was a challenging hike for us but we sure loved the scenery.

2016-05-09 Long Canyon

It was a beautiful Spring day for our first time on the Long Canyon trail.

2016-05-03 Bell Rock Pathway to Big Park Loop

Bell Rock Pathway is only a three minute drive from home.

2016-04-28 Carroll Canyon

We enjoyed hiking the Carroll Canyon trail, starting at the Old Post trailhead.

2016-04-17 Doe Mountain Trail

This is a short but steep climb to the top of Doe Mountain.

2016-04-05 Anaconda to Snake loop

We set out to repeat a hike, including parts of the Girdner Trail, that Leigh had done with her friend Maya several months before.

2016-03-25 Baldwin to Templeton

We repeated Baldwin to Templeton to our favorite picnic spot along the creek.

2016-03-27 Turkey Creek Trail to Turkey Tank

We enjoyed a new hike, the Turkey Creek Trail, on Easter Sunday.

2016-03-15 BONUS: Canyon de Chelly

For a surprise anniversary overnight, Leigh took me to the Canyon de Chelly National Monument.

2016-03-12 Broken Arrow to Submarine Rock view

It was unusually windy and chilly when our friends Erin and Kevin visited Sedona.

2016-03-11 Verde Valley School Road Lookout

Our friends Erin and Kevin visited Sedona in early March.

2016-03-04 Old Post Trail via Carroll Canyon

This was our first time to the Carroll Canyon trail system.

2016-02-29 Jim Thompson

We chose the Jim Thompson trail for our leap-day hike.

2016-02-25 Bell Rock “Birthday” Climb

We celebrated Leigh’s birthday with a hike around the Bell Rock “vortex” site.

2016-02-07 Broken Arrow to Chicken Point

Broken Arrow to Chicken Point is our go-to hike for visitors - great bang for the buck.

2016-01-30 Airport Mesa

We checked out Airport Mesa with the idea of bringing visitors for an easy hike.

2016-01-26 Brins Mesa to Mormon Canyon Overlook

We hit the jackpot on this one!

2016-01-21 Adobe Jack Trail

It was a beautiful sunny day so we decided to check out the Adobe Jack Trail for the first time.

2016-01-09 Little Horse to Chicken Point

This was a great hike - about 4.4 miles with little elevation change.

2016-01-01 Mystic to Hogwash, Peccary, and Pig Tail

A great New Year’s Day hike.

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2015

2015-12-10 Jack’s Canyon to Big Park Loop

A super day to get out and get a quick fix of fresh air and Sedona red rock scenery.

2015-11-29 Hot Loop Trail toward Horse Mesa

We got out fairly early and drove to the parking area off Jacks Canyon Rd.

2015-11-27A - Cool Caves

Thanksgiving Day we headed out for Cathedral Rock but the parking lot was full.

2015-11-25 Verde Valley School Rd IV

Another trail close to home off of Verde Valley School Rd.

2015-11-22 The Hike That Wasn’t

We went in search of a trail known as the Mayan Maiden but couldn’t find it.

2015-11-19 Crescent Moon Ranch

Great creek access at Crescent Moon Ranch.

2015-11-13 Bell Rock Pathway / Llama loop

A bit long for the payoff and several mountain bikers.

2015-11-06 Broken Arrow to Chicken Point

Great hike with Sharon and Jim.

2015-11-05 Baldwin Loop to Templeton

Overall a nice hike (loop plus extension).

2015-11-01 Turkey Creek Trailhead

A rather boring loop from the first Turkey Creek Trailhead parking area.

2015-10-26 Turkey Creek Area

Cobre and I explored the Turkey Creek area for his morning walk.

2015-10-16 Verde Valley School Rd III

Keith and Cobre (Leigh was away) got a very early start on an overcast day and went to the “V” then around to the left.

2015-10-11 Verde Valley School Rd II

Up the ridge to the “V” and around to the right to Castle Rock saddle.

2015-10-10 Valley Verde School Rd I

This has become one of our favorite quick and easy walks.

2015-10-07 Big Park Loop

This is a great easy hike only minutes away - a nice step-up from a morning’s walk around the neighborhood.

2015-09-03 Wilson Canyon

I don’t remember this hike well [writing in Jan 2016] except for meeting a nice couple from Norway who come to Sedona every year for hiking.

2015-09-01 Harding Springs

This hike was “up canyon” where it is a bit cooler in early September.

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2012

Who moved the cheese?

I’ve been reminded recently of the tiny book/pamphlet, Who Moved My Cheese?, that I read before moving from my pleasant little town in the USA to the Lake Chapala area in Mexico.

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2011

Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon

In late May and early June we enjoyed ten days exploring the Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon national parks. We had great weather and a terrific time!

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2010

Kitchen wrap-up

It’s time to conclude the kitchen renovation story so we can move on to new adventures. This is old news to most of our readers, but it’s important to me to write the final chapter anyway.

Kitchen update II

Here we are… eagerly awaiting the arrival of our kitchen cabinets, and we’re stuck in the middle of a week of rain. The carpenter’s pickup truck is loaded. But no one wants our cabinets getting wet!

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2009

Kitchen, pre-cabinets

Here is the kitchen after finally getting all the appliances working, the electricity turned on, and all the wiring completed, but before moving all our stuff back in.

Kitchen update

Now’s a good time for a comprehensive update on our kitchen rework.

Amaryllis

Here’s a nice photo of our amaryllis in bloom.

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2008

Zoológico y Safari Guadalajara

Well, we rather outdid ourselves with Butterfly Birthday - with narration, photos, slide show, video, and even links to more information. Wow!

This year I had the best birthday celebration! We took a trip to see where 120 million monarch butterflies over-winter in the fir trees high in the mountains of Mexico, 10,000 ft. above sea level, in Michoacán, the state neighboring Jalisco to the East. It so happens that the end of February is an excellent time to visit their wintering grounds! El Rosario is the most accessible reserve open to the public, so we started there.

Santa María del Oro

Late in January, we went for an overnight to La Laguna (aka Crater Lake) just outside of Santa María del Oro, about three and a half hour’s drive from Chapala.

Tenacatita

In our continuing search for the closest best beach we traveled to Tenacatita (about half-way between Puerto Vallarta and Manzanillo) the week before Christmas.

Cobre’s Anniversary

The best dog in the whole wide world has been sharing our home for a year as of January 1st.

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2007

The go-to guy

A classic photo of our no job too big, too small, or too dirty, go-to guy, Chuy:

One-hundred percent beach

We finally took an opportunity to get away to the beach over the weekend.

Morning’s walk up the mountain

Most mornings, whenever possible, Cobre and I take a walk up the mountain behind our home. I find it to be very enjoyable and today decided to share a few photos.

The Galapagos story

We enjoyed our brief visit to the Galapagos Islands. We’re glad we went. For us though, it wasn’t money well spent.

Best of Galapagos

It’s been cloudy and rainy in sunny Mexico the last couple of weeks - ever since we returned home from our visit to Quito, Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. So I’m blaming the weather for my lack of energy and for not blogging about the trip yet.

Enough for now

Yesterday was Chuy’s last day.

Living room fireplace

What started as a small job to fix some grout between some decorative bricks on the fireplace turned into a job to remove them entirely and cement over it.

French drain

We had some water problems in the lower level. So we had Chuy put in a French drain around the TV room. He did one heck of a job! Indeed, we haven’t had any problems since.

New sofa and loveseat

Here’s a photo of our new sofa and loveseat.

Water main rework

Here’s where the main water comes toward the house, branches toward the fountain, and used to connect to the storage tank.

Leigh goes wild with color

The walls of our last house were cream and beige, with off-white colored carpets. Not this time!

Shelves in the bodega

Chuy’s team built some sturdy cement shelves in the bodega. Then painted it all white with some left-over paint.

Fountain - Part II

I got the pros to work on the fountain this time!

Cement everywhere

Here’s Ricardo cementing over one of the two powder-room doorways:

Terrace roof

I don’t have to worry about the terrace roof falling down any more. Chuy’s team dismantled it and used some of the tiles to replace broken ones on the main roof.

Chuy is back!

This month’s big news is that Chuy and his team are back doing projects around the house. Chuy and Ricardo did the work in the guest bedroom after hours last time. This time they’re back during the day, along with the third member of the team, Nicolas.

Constuction in Mexico

The classic construction site in Mexico - dirt being sifted, then mixed with cement and water, all out on the street.

Cobre’s prison break

I wasn’t real happy when Cobre broke through the back wall.

Propane conversion

After being on my to-do list for an eternity, this documents the gas dryer’s conversion to propane. Hooray! It’s finally off the list. We’re still using the clothesline but it’s nice to have this as a backup.

Cobre - the wonder dog

Cobre (Spanish for “Copper”), our new dog, has been a joy, but also a bit of a challenge…

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2006

Christmas in Mexico City

We had a fun trip to Mexico City over Christmas this year. The city was decorated quite nicely for the holidays with lots of lights and nativities. We stayed in a hotel right on Avenida Reforma, possibly the main avenue of the city. We could walk in one direction to the expansive Chapultepec Park, and in the other, to the historic downtown. Nearby, there were plenty of moderate priced restaurants, so it was really a great location.

Pátzcuaro slideshow

We really enjoyed our visit to Pátzcuaro. It was especially fun to go with our friends Barb, from North of the border, and Debbie and Brad, from Lakeside.

Barb visits Mexico!

We had a delightful visit with Barb before and over the week of American Thanksgiving.

Kitchen tile

The old stove used to sit on a platform in an awkward location in the middle of the kitchen. We had the platform removed and the gas pipe relocated to one of the walls.

The guest room is ready!

We’re happy to soon be receiving our first visitor at the new house.

On-demand water heater

Here is the on-demand water heater that I managed to install myself.

November update

It’s been a long time since I’ve updated the blog. Here’s what’s happening:

Camp kitchen

Here are photos of the original “camp kitchen”.

Guest room carpentry

Here are some photos from our guest room rework.

Wishing well

I’ve started working, ever so slightly, on the landscaping. The main landscaping feature of the back yard is the wishing well.

Rattlesnakes & Bears - Oh My!

On our recent trip to the US we visited Shenandoah National Park.

The Henry / Frey affair

I’d been so preoccupied with my projects around the house that I almost missed the biggest Henry family social event in decades - The Henry / Frey affair!

Our goods arrive!

Our household goods have finally arrived. It had been just about four weeks since we packed them up in a freight truck heading to Mexico.

Floors

The floors on the main level have been a real roller-coaster ride.

Three and half weeks in New Hampshire

We’ve been back in Vista del Lago for a week now after a very productive three and a half weeks in New Hampshire.

Toilets

I just had to take a picture to remind myself of the hours and hours I spent repairing and cleaning toilets.

Telephone wiring

We requested a new telephone line from Telmex in early February.

Tree cutting

Early in January my gardener Martin and I went back and forth to the municipal building in Chapala about five times to secure a permit to remove and prune some trees. (All trees are the property of the national goverment here.) Once obtained, he and some friends went to work on a ficus and a palm that were both threatening to uproot the wall near the entrance.

Kathy and Peanuts visit Mexico!

We had a great visit with my sister Kathy and step-mother Florence (Peanuts) in early March. We held to a slower pace with these two compared to Holly and Andy’s visit.

Scraping

Leigh spends hours and hours scraping drips of paint from a previous poor paint job that splattered over everything. Although it’s tedious, it reminds her of her work as an electrologist.

Fountain - Part I

Martin has a special interest in repairing the fountain near our front door.

February’s visitors

I’m writing this in the middle of May but want to recap February (and later March) and our great visits with friends and family from NOB (North of the Border).

Tearing up the kitchen

The kitchen counter tops, sink, and stove were in such bad condition that we tore them out as soon as possible.

January’s news

Greetings!

Electrical wiring

Keith spends hours and hours tracing each wire from the electrical panel to see where it goes. Like most of the houses that haven’t been updated, the electrical wiring leaves a lot to be desired.

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2005

La Casa de Don Manuel

Thursday was the big day. We bought a house.

Front and back

These were taken two days after closing.

Vista del Lago

Welcome to our neighborhood of Vista del Lago. This is the turn-in about four miles east of Chapala off the road to Mezcala.

Day Trip to Tapalpa

We finally got off the computers, out of the house, and onto the open road for a day trip to Tapalpa yesterday.

Reflections on our first year

It has now been a year since our friend Joe helped empty our garage of huge final loads of trash and recyclables, took the box of fireworks I couldn’t get rid of, slept overnight on the floor in our empty house, and drove Leigh and I and the kitties to the airport at four in the morning. So began our new adventure in Mexico.

View of the Lake

We love the view from our terrace. It is one of the very best in the area. With a cool little feature of our digital camera and software I stitched together the panorama below.

Our first walk-through

These are the photos from our first walk-through. I was attempting to take photos of both the good and the bad - a little of everything to help us remember.

Home, Sweet Home

We are settling back into a daily routine again after oh so long traveling and dealing with pressing issues both here and in New England. It is so great to be back home and looking forward to a time of relative tranquility.

Blog??

We are doing very well, but having a difficult time keeping up with all our friends and family in the States. We are currently working on an internet “Blog” which will tell some of our tales of the last seven months. We found we have written emails to a few people consistently and that a lot of the information could be shared with a larger circle of friends and that could save a lot of time.

Is Spring springing?

We are starting to understand why April and May are considered the worst months here.

It’s hot!

We are pretty settled into our new house now. Only the first week or two were irritating. We felt then that “everything we touched was either broken or very dirty”. That was a huge exaggeration though, and it’s all forgotten now.

Springtime “novella”

We are heating up here and we hear that it will start to cool off in June, around the time that the rains come. We are looking forward to that. The mornings here are lovely, but the afternoons get a bit warm for us - high 80’s right now and usually sunny. It’s fine if you pursue indoor activities, but being active outside is a bit uncomfortable. People who have lived here longer are just now starting to be comfortable temperature-wise. In fact, sometimes we see Mexican people wearing black sweatshirts and walking or jogging in the middle of the day when the car thermometer reads 90+ - I’m amazed by their heat-tolerance! We’re not there yet…still have that northern Yankee blood!

Driving to Guadalajara

We have driven to Guadalajara twice recently. The second trip was easier than the first, but both went well. I pray before going and won’t consider going into the city without doing so!

Scorpion sting - update

We did have one mishap last week…I was stung by a scorpion in our new house. I’m o.k. but it’s not an experience I would like to repeat! It’s got me just a little jumpy and paranoid about my surroundings. The gardener sprayed outside around the house on Saturday and hopefully that will keep them out. I’m not so sure though…

Scorpions - Ouch!

Today my day didn’t start off too well. I got my first scorpion sting. Not a pleasant experience, but I’m o.k. and I’m pretty sure I’m going to live! We only had one at our other house, and it didn’t cause much consternation.

Car trouble

Our days have been spent settling in. As I’m sure you can imagine, there are many details involved with an international move. Keith has done a super job seeing to all the details!

We found a house to rent!

We found a great house to rent yesterday!!! We stumbled upon a wonderful house that is nearing completion of major renovations and the “Se Renta” sign went up just hours before we meandered by. Signs had been placed on a few bulletin boards yesterday, but I had looked and jotted down numbers on Monday, so I wouldn’t have found it that way…

House Hunting

Our days have recently been spent looking for housing. We are still unsure if we will buy or rent. Our minds change daily! At this very moment, we are more actively seeking a nice rental that will accept our pets. The problem has been that the really nice places don’t want (or have to because the market is tight) to accept pets. Can’t say as I blame them, but it makes it more difficult for us. We were networking at church today and I have a couple leads. We’ll see. We don’t have to leave this place, but we’d like to! We need to give notice by the end of this month if we’d like to leave at the end of March, so we’re heating up the search.

Why Mexico? Leigh’s version

Our Christmas was indeed different than any other thus far! We are in such a time-warp because of the move, lack of weather-cues, decorations, traditions, etc. that we felt rather unprepared for the holiday. We enjoyed learning some of the traditions of the Mexican people and found some Christmas concerts to be quite lovely, but all in all, the holiday passed without too much fanfare. We went for a long hike with two other couples on Christmas morning. It was really nice. There are several small mountains to explore in the area and the views can be quite stunning. We are still adjusting to the altitude (5000+ feet above sea level), so although we were the youngest in the group, we were often pulling up the rear!

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2004

Mammoth Caves National Park

Greetings of the season! Wanted to let you know that we arrived back in Mexico safely and without any problems whatsoever. We had a super trip and despite our nervousness of the unknowns with the border crossing, car importation, driving in Mexico (all signs in Spanish, of course!) etc. everything went very smoothly. Good weather, easy driving and some time for a little exploring.

Merry Christmas and the Big Road Trip

Things are going well! I’m not too in tune with the magic and romance of Mexico yet but I’m trying. We do love the weather. Right now, the nights are a bit chilly. So we open the windows during the day to let the heat in and close them at night. We’ve run a electric space heater once or twice. We’ve heard that it could easily start warming up again from here on or perhaps starting early next month. The days are still nice and warm. We climbed a nearby mountain yesterday with short sleeve shirts.

Time-warp

We had a good trip, fairly uneventful and smooth going. We made a few stops for some fun along the way to break up the drive; we were on the road for 9 days. It’s good to be back! Lakeside feels like home after being gone for 3 weeks and on the road for such a long time. Things are more familiar than when we first came - getting around is now easier with the car and we kind of know where we are going.

Border crossing story

We arrived safely with no incidents. We were on the road a total of nine days - but spent a whole day at Mammoth Caves in Kentucky, another day in Memphis, and about six hours in San Antonio, TX.

Why Mexico? Keith’s rant…

Thanks for your note and interest in what we are doing. We miss Eliot Church too.

Feng Shui, fresh chicken, and other stuff

My mood fluctuates a bit. This is a new morning, fresh air, fresh coffee, things are good! I started to write last night but was too introspective and a bit down perhaps.

How about them Red Sox?

We watched the first couple SOX games (Leigh is the sport fan these days) and then she left for Vegas. The next thing I hear is that they won the last four. I missed them. Did I hear that the world series starts tonight? We can get the games (sometimes the Patriots too) but the commentary is in Spanish so it’s not quite as fun. We have a solution for the NFL games (an Internet subscription at NFL.com) that we are going to try.

Hola de Mexico

I feel badly that I haven’t called yet after saying I would. Things were totally hectic at home trying to get the stuff packed up and out of the house. We were still packing both at home and at Leigh’s office while the movers were loading the truck. But it all got done and the house closing went through on schedule.

DSL and car-less

We are online at home now! We have DSL (high speed Internet over the phone line). It is about four times faster then we had in Tyngsboro. Well, to be fair, it costs more than four times as much too. I think it’s funny that I have to go to Mexico to get high speed Internet :)

Getting the basics figured out

Two long weeks without Internet access at home has finally came to an end (on Friday actually). Hurray!!! I’m glad Holly kept you informed by forwarding our emails. Now that we are back on the notebook computer we have access to our email address book, sent emails, and English keyboards!

(Yet another) We’re here !

Thank you for the nice greeting.

Day-to-day stuff

I have my DSL modem in hand! It will be a couple days until the system is turned on. I did have to wait at Telmex another two hours, but considering they only had one wireless modem available that day and I got it I feel it was a major success.

Another short note

Yes we are fine. We probably won’t have Internet service at home for another week so our ability to communicate is limited. We’re meeting up for haircuts in 15 minutes so we’ll see how that goes. We have been busy just getting settled in. The rental house needed a lot of cleaning, maintenance, etc. It hadn’t been rented for quite a while. We’re able to make breakfast and warm up left-overs but not much else yet. Eating out is great but not every night.

We are here!!

Just a quick note to let you know we arrived safely and are settling in nicely. Kitties did really well and are nearly back to normal. Our plan for immediate internet access did not work, hence the delay in touching base. We found an internet cafe and wanted to let you know all is well. Our house is very nice but we have been busy cleaning it. It has been closed up for many months. Sorry we could not visit very well when we last saw you, we were really under the gun. We did not finish up totally until 11:30ish the night before we had to be at the airport at 4:30 am! Our pace is much more leisurely now!

We made it!

Hey guys. We all made it fine. We are mostly in the process of trying to make our rental place into a home. I{m on a foreign keyboard and can{t find half the keys. Will write more soon.

New Adventure

This is a huge step, but one which we feel drawn to make for many reasons, some as yet unknown. First and foremost as you stated there has been a shift in my consciousness and an awakening of my spirituality over the last several years. A questioning of “What is my life’s purpose path? And am I on the right track?” I have some very strong beliefs about why we are here and what lies beyond. I am more in tune with my intuition, with God’s voice, and with His messengers, the angels and archangels. The answers are available to us, if we just ask and then take the time to pay attention and to listen. Time is such a precious commodity in this hectic, crazy “have more, do more world.”

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