Author: iagardener55

There is a small river, more like a large creek, at the “end” of our colony, called Rio Churubusco. When we first moved here, the water was a neon green, presumably with algae.

Since the end of January, the government has been reconstructing the banks on both sides, as well as constructing concrete walkways. The water has been diverted, somewhere, while they work.

They have completely redone the small walking bridges that cross over the river, as well. And what a nice job they have done, too. I am anxious to see what it looks like when they are finished.

There are six lanes of traffic, three in each direction, that separate one side of the river from the other. I was unaware of the path the river took until we drove on the other side of thee road the other day.

I will attempt a photo of it in the next few days. I am not holding my breath. Nor should you.

I took a walk today- from our condo to Juan’s house. It turned out to be one, and, one tenth of a kilometer, and took me about fifteen minutes to walk there.

The sun was shining, there was a beautiful breeze blowing, plus, there were several others walking, as well. Of course, they were not going to Juan’s house, but they were walking all the same.

As my father in law is still residing at Juan’s house, while we finish unpacking, and putting things away, I needed to refill his medication container, but forgot to go yesterday. So, this morning, about ten thirty, I started out, eventually having to finalize the walk, going through the “maraneras”. (The squatters). Not a very safe place to go, but the walk around the area would have taken me several extra blocks out of the way. I was not interested in that much walking this morning.

I did have my collapsible baton with me, however, and, yes, I do know how to use it. Fortunately, everyone along the way minded their own business, and not mine. I, unlike them, mind everyone’s business, mindful of where I am, and who is around me, in my vicinity, so as not to be taken unawares. That does not interest me in the slightest.

Now, I am back home, cleaning up the kitchen from the breakfast of machacado con huevo that we had. Yummy. However, it is time for lunch, so, I think we will each have a chicken taco, with homemade salsa, and avocado. Delicious.

We were sitting in the median, on the edge of a large planter, (see photo) between oncoming, and going, traffic on one of the main streets in our area of the city the other day.

We were having the car washed. The temperature was twenty eight degrees Celsius, (eighty two degrees Fahrenheit) and there was a lovely breeze blowing. It felt like late spring up North.

Today it is in the upper seventies, low eighties. With a breeze that is directly from Heaven, which makes the heat, dare I say it, lovely? Ok, I said it. One could not, nor should not, ask for a more beautiful day. I do not think it possible.

The trees and flowers are blooming again, the breeze is blowing, and the sun is shining. We are blessed. .

Ivan was unpacking, still, a tote the other day, that had, as we both like to say, “more kitchen stuff”. We have enough “kitchen stuff”, for two or three kitchens.

The pan and lid on the right were hand hammered in Italy, and have brass handles, while the other two are from France, and have cast iron handles. This photo was taken after a quick cleaning with a powder called Bar Tenders Friend.

I had forgotten how much I enjoyed cooking with the copper. They are so easy to heat, cook with, and clean. The small fry pan, in front, in the above photo, has a small area of exposed copper so we are trying to find someone that can re-tin the surface. There are places in the US that re-tin, so there must be someone here that can do it, as well.

Between these, and my cast iron pans, I am set for life.

PS: we have decided we are going to redo them ourselves. We can get the supplies we need right around the corner from the condo. I will let you know how they turn out.

We inherited the best shower heads ever! I have discovered, after a bit of work, that they are Helvex, with, I believe, seventy some little silicone schnozzles to drench us in a torrential downpour every morning!

When we first got here, we had every intention of changing out the heads because there was very little water coming through them. The mineral buildup was intense.

On Sunday evening, I placed the shower head from our bathroom into a reusable (of course) silicone “ziplock” bag, and let it rest until Monday morning. This is how it turned out.

With the best water pressure in the whole condo, we have a torrential down pour every morning. The perfect shower.

There are some parts of the city where you cannot go two blocks without some kind of “wings” restaurant. “Alita’s”, (wings), “Wing Stop”, “Pollo Felix”. You get the idea.

Every time we drive by one I tease Ivan that “one of these days we need to stop, and see what all of the fuss is about”. Usually does not get much response, not very often anyway. He could not possibly respond each time, as there are so many of these, we would not be able to talk about anything else! (LOL)

Wings are very popular in southern Texas as well. Within the few blocks surrounding our hotel, there were at least five chicken restaurants, most of them featuring wings as the top sellers.

Not sure why wings are such an attraction though. They are mostly bone, and skin. I do suppose that they are small enough that you could have several different flavors without having to eat half a chicken. Not a bad idea. That is my thought on the subject.

Why do you think wings are so popular. I would like to know your thoughts.

My gosh. Recently, when we had gone to the Office of Immigration, we decided, because it was so late getting out of there, to take a taxi back home, well, to the Metro, close to our condo.

It had been overcast all day, no rain, however. We got about two kilometers away from the office and, all of a sudden, the skies above opened up with a downpour unlike we have seen in a long time. It rained so hard the cars in front of us were either driving very slowly or pulling over altogether.

The taxi driver’s front passenger window was leaking water on Enrique, and the front and backs windows were fogging up. He turned on the AC briefly, which helped some, and had E stuff a cloth, of some sort, in the window to stop the leak. Comical really.

Then came the hail. Small chunks of ice, to start with, which, fairly quickly, turned to sheets of ice. Amazing, to be in a new city, in completely different surroundings, and not be able to see out the car windows.

Of course I panicked. I expected nothing less, dis you? I have such a limited vocabulary and ability to know where I am in the city, especially when we are in places in which we are not familiar.

We survived, obviously. Plus, the taxi ride was only two hundred pesos. (We gave him three hundred for his excellent driving skills.

We collected E’s car from the Metro, and went to an Argentinian restaurant and had dinner. It was seven o’clock and we had not eaten all day. It was manna from Heaven.

Last week was one long week, ending with Ivan, Enrique, and me, going to the Office of Immigration, and FINALLY getting my two year residency card. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. I did not think it was ever going to be done.

Since the last time we were at the office, sometime in September, they have completely remodeled the inside of the building. I mean everything, except the pillars, holding up the structure. The offices have all become visible to the public, all glassed in instead of solid walls, and everyone’s offices have been moved to different parts of the building itself.

Interesting thing happened, however. My passport got misplaced in their move. It was in my “file” when we left the building in September, but when we went last week, it was no where to be found. So, now I have an appointment with the (ugh) Embassy to start the process of getting a new passport. This should be another fabulously wasted appointment. (I hate doing to the Embassy). Again, I will let you know what happens. Should be amusing.

I am able to travel anywhere, here, in México without being detained anywhere. I am not sure about going South, to Chile, or there abouts. I will have to do some more research. That is for another time, though. And another post.

PS: here are photos of Juan’s new bed.

We have been walking, now, for the past three days. Yesterday, and today, we walked twice- two times during the day, and twice around the park. Twice around turns out to be about one point four three kilometers- more than we have walked in almost twelve months.

And, guess what? The cold weather is gone already. What is up with that, I ask you? it is in the low eighties by about two in the afternoon. Fortunately, after our afternoon walk, when we get in to the condo, it is only about seventy degrees, almost like air conditioning. Hahaha!

It will be a few more weeks, more than likely, before I will be able to fit into my shorts, so until then, it is leggings for me. Too bad I cannot lose more weight by sweating. (I do not sweat that much.)

Walking around the park, the air is so fresh. We take a deep breath, and it smells like Springtime. it is scattered with little dogs, all running around, yipping, and playing around with each other- none of them on a leash, and, none seem to be the least bit aggressive, or mean to each other. It is so much fun to watch them. It looks like they have all arrived on their play date, and are making the most of every minute, before their humans take them away from the group.

There are three different areas with brightly colored exercise equipment, almost always being used by someone, old, young, male, female. One of these areas, however, is strictly for children, which, again, is usually occupied with several families, swinging, sliding down the slides, and others, playing on the castle. (It looks like a small castle anyway).

There is an area that appears to be sunken, like an area for skateboarding, or some other similar activity. We have not, yet, left the path to investigate. When I looked up the park on Google Maps, the pictures showed a small area filled with water, and some fowl- I do not remember if they were ducks, or geese, as both reside in Mexico. I will let you know when I find out, though.

Laughter, and smiles, and sometimes, some little one, crying, all abound in the Park.

The beds will be arriving this week. We got a photo of one of them, I think it was the queen sized one, for the spare bedroom. (We call it the office, because that will be the room we use for our computers, bill paying, correspondence, etc.)

In one of the next posts, I will try to upload some photos for you so you can see how things have progressed. After we get everything put away, the next challenge will be to start displaying our artwork, sculptures, pretties, etc. All of the walls are concrete, so it will present its own challenges. Ivan has been researching drilling into concrete so he should have a handle on it by the time we are ready to drill.

This are still some projects that need to be done- we would like Martín to build us some shelves for the living room wall, a couple of bedside tables, some shelves for our closet, things like that. We have tons of storage under the bed, thankfully. And, we will be getting rid of lots more “stuff”, as I have said in a prior post. Less to keep track of- works for me.

To finish, we will be collecting my F-I-L from Juan’s house this coming weekend, after his Murphy bed gets installed. He has been staying there until we could get the bulk of the clutter here organized. Neither of us felt this chaos would be good for him, mentally, so he has been “vacationing” with his sister, and her family.

We cannot wait to have him back here, and get him back in his routine. His routine helps keep him grounded, less confused. We think he will fit right in here- especially with the park, right outside. He loves to walk. And so do we. Ivan and I have both lost about seven kilos to date. More coming off each day. Talk about getting back to a routine.