Posts
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.
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!
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!
Kitchen update
Now’s a good time for a comprehensive update on our kitchen rework.
The hike to the cross
I have a new favorite hike.
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!
Butterfly Birthday
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.
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.
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.
Cobre - the wonder dog
Cobre (Spanish for “Copper”), our new dog, has been a joy, but also a bit of a challenge…
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.
November update
It’s been a long time since I’ve updated the blog. Here’s what’s happening:
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.
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.
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.
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).
January’s news
Greetings!
La Casa de Don Manuel
Thursday was the big day. We bought a house.
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.
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!
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.”