Category: Initial post

Never, in my living memory, have I ever lived in a place where we can have all of the windows open any time we want.

This apartment is a cool sixty eight to seventy degrees Fahrenheit, (twenty to twenty one degrees Celsius), throughout the day, dropping into the lower sixties, upper fifties Fahrenheit, (mid teens Celsius), at night. This is the twenty third of July!

Yesterday, when we went to the store, (you know which one), it got up to seventy eight degrees outside, and was even warmer when we stopped by our cousin Juan’s house. But, when we got home, here, it was so cool, in comparison, we had to put on a sweater.

Speaking of Juan, my father in law that is, we talked with him yesterday, and explained that he is going to come live with us, again, in the apartment here. I am sure you cannot imagine what he said. He said he was ready. We told him that we would be walking around the park most days, that as long as we were careful, we will all be safe from the worsening virus invading this world.

The latest virus is being called Delta, and it is the most deadly adaptation, thus far, of the original CoVid 19 virus. PLEASE, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. WASH YOUR HANDS, COVER YOUR MOUTH, AND PROTECT YOUR LOVED ONES. PLEASE.

Not really a writers block per se, just not much to tell you.

This last week we have been rearranging all of the totes that we still have in the apartment. We are not finished with the remodel yet, as there is still one queen Murphy bed to come, plus at least two more dressers. We are also going to add a few small shelves, just on the right side of the closet, which will allow us to put the small felt “bins” I bought, to hold our clothes; well, mine, really.

I have tons of Lula Roe bottoms, and a ton of Pico bamboo tops, to go with the bottoms. They all fold/roll up to fit into probably two of the aforementioned bins. I do not really need a dresser as I have decreased the amount of clothes I have exponentially since moving.

I believe I had so many clothes in defense of having to go two flights down, and up, to wash all of them. Since the laundry area is a few feet from any room here, it seemed senseless to have all of those clothes. I have given away quite a bit, but have quite a bit more to go through, and “share”.

Liz has started coming downstairs to help us with the cleaning. She, and Jesús, are cleaning wizards. Personally, it is a combination of youth, and vigor; neither of which we still possess.

Not only does she clean like a crazy woman, she helps me with my Spanish. I still have to refer to my Google Translate app, but not as much as I used to. Even Gaby, their four year old, helps me. We help each other, actually. Though, it is difficult for me to understand adult spoken Spanish at times, it is even more difficult to understand it when spoken by a four year old. Trust me.

We have gone through all of the bedding I bought, and used, from up North, and have given quite a bit of that away. It is embarrassing to have so much when others have so little.

We found, too, that quite a bit needs laundering, so, while I do that, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

Post script: thank you to those that remembered my sixty sixth birthday the other day! It was a productive day.

Your choice.

I have been keeping the grow lights fully directed on the plants, from about seven thirty am, until ten o’clock pm; everyday. I noticed this evening, that most of the herbs are all drying up. What?

Ok. Simple. Check the soil with the water meter. No movement on the gauge! NOTHING! Not even a budge. So, duh! Ivan mentioned that he thought they were getting too much sunshine, so, I reprogrammed the timers to come on with the brighter sun in the morning, about eight am, and go off about six thirty pm. More like the real sun. We shall see what happens over the next few days. Hopefully, I have not killed everything.

It is affecting the herbs, for the most part. It is always something; too much water, now, not enough water. Good thing we do not have to depend on the herbs to feed us, or we would be dead. Humbling, definitely; let me just put that out there, right now.

Every time I start to think I have some control over what is happening around me, I am reminded that, nope, I sure do not. So, once again, I am going to do my best to learn from yet another lesson being shown to me.

Should have been common sense, really, but not when I am trying to guide things. I thought longer sunlight would help everything grow even better. Just dried every fragile thing up. Live, and learn. I intend to continue to learn.

For your part, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

I have not had much to tell you about these last few days, hence the absence of posts.

Today, still not much.

We have lost a few family members recently, due to one thing, or, another; my heart goes out to all of them. Two others, have had surgeries; one is recovering well, the other, I am unsure of.

Yesterday, we went to the store, and replenished our staples, so, today, I get to finish putting them away. I do not mind, really, as it allows me to see some of the many things for which we are thankful.

When I have time, usually at night, when I am not sleeping, giving myself time to think about the above, it, at times, overwhelms me. When that happens, I give yet another thanks to my Maker, and relax; knowing it as the blessing it is.

Not much else to tell you today. I am cleaning up all of the tote tops that have bits of dead plant pieces on them, as well as the dirt that has come from the pots of the plants that have not survived. At this rate, I will not have to buy dirt for quite some time. 😉

I absolutely can not keep rosemary, or, thyme alive to save me. Not good with dill, either. I do not know if it is still too cool in the morning when I open the living room window, or what; they are certainly not drowning anymore. But I am done trying for this season. If that changes, you will know.

I am, however, enjoying the few days I have had with the newly sprouted Genovese basil, as well as the dill, oregano, sage, and cilantro . We shall see what happens with all of them. Here is what they look like just now.

Amazing how, even as tiny as these are right now, if you know your herbs, you can tell, by the leaves, which is which.

That is enough for today. Stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones, will you?

Yesterday, my husband gave me his thirteen inch iPad Pro, complete with his portable keyboard.

He was not using it so he was kind enough to pass it along. Then, I passed along my iPad mini to a friend who needed a computer, so all is well.

Of course, his, (now my) iPad works so much better than the one I had been using, it feels brand new. Oh, wait! It is brand new. He got it a year, or two, ago, but has never used it. His loss, my gain. Gracias, mi amor.

It is smaller than a laptop, as it is only the thirteen inches, but is quite a bit bigger than my iPad Pro, which is eleven inches big. It may not seem like much, but to type on a normal sized keyboard is actually taking me a bit of getting used to. The other keyboards are quite a bit smaller in comparison, and I have been using them for quite a while now.

Enough about that! We are off, again, to LA, however, this is only a sleep over. We have to come back twenty four hours after leaving here. What a shame. We do so enjoy it there. Everything is so peaceful, and serene, as I have indicated dozens of times. It brings us joy to just know we are going; even if just overnight. The four hour drive, each direction, is well worth it.

We have a few more things to do before company comes, and we settle down for the night. Everyone, please, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

We received a photo today, of a letter that my s-i-l received from the folks at the Social Security Administration, stating that they are not going to pay my father in law his monthly benefits. That will start this month, unless we contact them within thirty days. Fascinating.

Mayra, my sister in law, (our much used and abused, much loved and appreciated, liaison in the States), my favorite in law, is going to intervene for us to try and get to the bottom of this.

It is so much harder to deal with things like this when we are so far away.

To us, this is a sign that we definitely have to finish our remodeling, get the apartment habitable, and bring Juan home. As it stands, with this latest kerfuffle. we cannot afford to have him stay with his nephews any longer.

That is fine with us. As I indicated in a recent post, we miss having him here, talking, laughing, reminiscing about his past. This is just further impetus for quick action.

While we struggle with this episode in the continuing saga of our dream life, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash those hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

The apartment is slowly coming together. It should not be long before we can call it finished.

By the end of this month, we hope to have Juan back with us; that has been a long time coming. We have said that while the apartment was being remodeled, it would be too confusing for him to live here.

The constant moving of totes from this part of the apartment to that part; the constant upheaval of things, is confusing enough for us, much less for a man in his nineties! Anyway, we look forward to the reunion. We have several things planned for him, and cannot wait to see him enjoying them.

Here are a few photos of the living room, as it was this morning, at two o’clock. It is actually starting to resemble a living/dining room! It is, still, quite a ways from being finished, but, at least, it is becoming live able.

We still have a dozen, or more, totes that we need to decide what to do with the contents. When we do, we will store them in our storage unit, up on the roof. We just have too much stuff! It is not like up North; have too much stuff? Have a garage sale! They do not have garage sales here; none that we have seen anyway.

And, it is not like anyone has any money to buy things, even if we could find a way to sell it. Most of our excess will be given away, as usual. No big deal. We are not out to make money on these things. We are just understanding that there are many things we do not need down here, that we did up North.

Take comforters, for an example. I purchased, and we used, several while living in Iowa! Here, the need is much less. We still use a comforter most of the year, so far, but we certainly do not need six of them. Plus, they take up two totes worth of space that we need to get rid of! Someone will benefit, just not sure who at the moment.

Please, wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved one, while you remain happy, healthy, and safe.

Post script: in six months I have to start my residency renewal, as we have been here almost two years! I am breathless with anticipation! Time flies!

We are out this afternoon, going for coffee and lunch, with Enrique, and are stopped in the middle of a, normally, quite busy street. Up ahead, on the main street, is a huge sinkhole.

I have no idea when it happened, as we have not been outside for the week we have been home from Los Altos. However, as most sinkholes go, it is usually due to an excess of water. The Lord knows, we have had that recently.

More, and more, sinkholes are showing up all over the globe. There is even one on a small street in Los Altos! What is going on?

I have to mention the condominium that collapsed in Miami last week. Pay attention to the rubble that was left; it is, for the most part, powder. Where are the large chunks of concrete, attached to long lengths of rebar? You do not see them because they are not there. The entire building, and the ones close to it, have been allowed to “pass inspection”, how?

Enough of that. I am getting all worked up, with no place to expend the energy. I am going to remain happy, healthy, and, safe. I will continue to wash my hands, cover my mouth, and help protect my loved ones. I trust you will do the same.

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The rain started, again, just about two hours ago, and is showing little signs of stopping.

You all know how much I enjoy listening to, and watching the rainfall, so, to have the living room windows open, wide, without the rain coming in, is truly a blessing.

This will be a short post as I am sure you have other things to do, but I just wanted to share that little gem with you. The humidity, which you would think should be high, is not noticeable. My guess is it is because of the cool weather. It is 11am, and, even with the rain, the temperature is a cool 63°F/17°C. Heavenly. (I suspect the plants are all taking in the humidity, even with the coolness of the air. I sure am!)

I hope your day is going well, and, that you are happy, healthy, and safe. Continue to wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones. You will be have a better chance of surviving this plague.

That is altitudes, not attitudes 😉

I am here to tell you that we thought Mexico City was way up there, in the proverbial clouds, however, Los Altos, (hence the name), is even higher! Read on.

Mexico City is 2250 meters high, or, a mere 7382 feet; whereas, Los Altos is 2920 meters, or, an impressive 9580 feet. That is almost 10,000 feet high, for gosh sakes. No wonder they have veggies sitting out, and eggs, etc. Who needs refrigeration at that height?

No one. Exactly. The families have refrigerators, of course, but really do not use them, much. Most food items are grown, or purchased fresh, and eaten the same day, or, soon thereafter.

(Caution: impending flight of idea!)

I was just reminded of the landscape there. There are not a lot of trees in Los Altos, per se, but there are tons of trees on the journey “up”. During the ride to Los Altos, we drive for at least an hour through a virtual forest of pine, and I do not know what all. Once we get closer to the village, however, the landscape changes to a more Tuscan look; every where around you there are green, and brown geometrically shaped fields. Most of those fields, this time of year, are a vivid green, each growing a different vegetable; mostly fava beans, and corn. (Personally, not a fava bean fan, but can eat my fair share of corn! We are from the Midwest, remember. Sweet corn growers?)

I have discovered that, once we bring home the veggies, if I leave them out, on the counter, they last quite a bit longer than if I rush to put them in the fridge. I have placed, as I think I wrote in an earlier post, carrots in the crisper drawer, only to have them completely shriveled, and quite inedible the next morning. No more of that practice.

The last batch of veggies I brought home was instantly made into a luscious cream soup. I have to tell you that cream of any vegetable soup is delicious, even if I make it. This time, however, most of what we brought will go to making at least two different salsas; one with the chile de árbol, and one with the serranos. I am going to ease into the habanero cousin later in the week! I do not want to regret bring that home with us.

Well, I just slopped a couple of drops of coffee down my top so, it must be time to do something else, like work on one of my 440 piece puzzles. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones. Stay happy, stay healthy, and stay safe.