Category: Initial post

As I sit here, listening to the sound of the dental drill that is shaping the new front teeth for my father in law, it reminds me how much I dislike going to the dentist. This dentist, however, Dr. Priscila Solis, is the exception to the rule.

She is young, thoughtful, and very personable. She puts her patients at ease by her gentle touch, and how she shows them her concern for their comfort and wellbeing. Every few minutes she stops whatever she is doing, and asks if you are alright, do you have any pain, or discomfort? Do you need to rinse your mouth? If you are okay, she resumes her work. She does a wonderful job but charges so very little for it-by US standards, that is. That is why we do not mind coming back to the dentist.

Update- today I am here with Ivan as she starts working on a couple of crowns for him.

Wow! Ivan and I were driving to Home Depot earlier today, (actually, it was Monday), and took a wrong turn. Have you ever been in a city you are not quite familiar with, and, somehow, you find you are in the wrong lane, going straight, when you needed to be in the right, or middle, lane, and you just missed the turnoff to the right? Now where the hell are we, and how do we get back to where we were supposed to turn?

Listen up folks. There is this really neat app. on my Apple XR, you probably have it too, called Google Maps, which works, so I have been told, all over the world. The most important thing is to, at times, listen to her directions. Having said that, we made our way around, and through, some dicey neighborhoods for a while. But as my pilot has a very keen sense of direction, unlike his copilot, ahem, we made it back to the beginning of our route, and progressed from there, without delay, to Home Depot- safe and sound. However, the lanes were so narrow, with cars parked here, and there, very haphazardly, I was sure we would hit one of them. But, fortunate for us, we did not. Kudos to my pilot, and his amazing driving skills. He, and his built-ins keep us driving around. 😉

Next week you can expect to read:

Back to the Dentist

El Metro

El Salon Berlin

The Art of Window Film Application

Shopping

Different Languages

Breathtaking Bougainvillea

Hope you stop by, read, and leave me a comment, if you want. Thanks.

I learned, recently, from my comadre, Paty, how to make a very simple, and very tasty, dish for a quick dinner, and am passing it on to anyone that is tired of eating the same old same old. It is a simple chicken patty. Our Paty cooked a whole chicken, in her new Instant Pot, under pressure, for about 20 minutes. She manually released the steam, let it cool enough to handle, then shredded it. To the bowl of shredded chicken, she added 2 tbs. of AP flour, 3 eggs, a couple of turns of the pepper grinder, and mixed it all together, quite thoroughly. Meanwhile, she heated about 2 tbs. of oil in a frying pan, and when it was hot enough, she used a largish soup spoon, and placed a spoonful of said chicken mixture into the frying pan. After about a minute and a half, she flipped them over, and cooked them for another minute or two. When they were set completely, she slipped them into a bath of fresh, homemade salsa verde! (I am quite sure they are enjoying the salsa verde bath as much as we will enjoy eating it later this afternoon). As a side dish, she made a simple white rice with diced carrots added, not only for color, and nutrition, but also flavor. A very colorful dinner is in our immediate future. Thank you Paty, for teaching me this simple dish. P.S.- Paty just called us to the table to eat. Nirvana!

Simple dish, quick, and very tasty.

Fifteen years ago today, my father, Robert Alan Lee Nelson, died of the results of, yet, another stroke. It had very little to do with what he ate, or drank; it was in his biology, in his genetics. His biological father, Albert Alan Lee, died of a massive heart attack when he, AAL, was 45 years old, leaving my dad, and my Gramma Manda to fend for themselves.

Not awfully long after his passing, (AAL), Gramma Manda married Earnest Nelson, the grandpa I remember. Very few people know that he was a buyer for John Deere and Company, and traveled the world, mostly in Europe, buying products for the company, under the direction of Mr. Hewitt, the owner of the company. When he was abroad, he bought us presents that, unfortunately, we, I think, no longer have. There were many things, mostly from Germany, and mainly clothes for little children, because that is what we were then, children. My father spoke of him often, sometimes relaying the expeditions he had, and the people that he met, but mostly how proud he was to have been associated with this man- his step father.

My father was a minister to the Methodist church in Green River, Illinois, for almost 40 years, and I know that they remember him fondly, as I do!

No one is perfect, not even my parents. They did the best they could with what they had, and with all of us. We made our own ways, all 4 of us, and are the best of what we became. I have only love for my dad, with little, or no, feelings of malice, or regret, towards him. He was what he was, or what he became after the strokes. I have only love in my heart for the memories I have of the wonderful times we had together. I know he is at peace, and this is, as I have said, only a small dedication to the man that helped make me the woman that I am.

There are so many different types of flowers that grow here that you do not have in the States. I think you have these though. They are called Peruvian lilies. I absolutely adore them. They last, easily, 1-2 weeks and really, the only way you know they are going bad is by the leaves- they start to turn yellow. These I bought these 5 days ago for Ivan’s birthday, and they still look fresh.

We plan to by a new bunch each week, once we get to the apartment. We should be in by mid October, barring anything unforeseen happening. Bonus- there is a flower vendor on the street, just down from our apartment, so I doubt they will be very expensive. When they sell things “on the street”, there is no rent to be paid to a shop owner, so they can charge whatever they want for there goods. I will show more flowers as we buy them. More tomorrow.

Never, ever, under any circumstances, do we plan on going to Home Depot, Sam’s, or Soriana on Saturday or Sunday. First off, during the week it takes about 20 minutes to get there, (if it is before 1:00pm). On the weekend, it is easily 45 minutes to an hour, regardless of the time. If you forgot something during the week that you need for the weekend, call a relative that is coming over, and have them pick it up. You know how crowded the Christmas shopping is on the 24th of December? That is how it is here on the weekends- a major shopping spree for those that work!!! Not only does everyone go shopping, but all along the major routes, there are small Mercado’s that have balloons, pop, popcorn, candy, clothes, etc., and families make a “day out” where everyone can have fun. Shopping, for some, does not have to be all drudgery. So, those of us that no longer have to work, go during the week. Sometimes a couple of times a week. Just never on the weekends!

I am going to try to insert some photos for you, showing what the apartment looked like when we bought it. It is a 3 BR., 3 BA, LR, DR, laundry room, elevator, covered storage on the roof, 2 parking spaces (side by side, very important), and is 120 m2. Here everything is metric so these are square meters. Let me see if I can download a few before photos. I will also attempt to separate the before and start of demolition. You should be able to notice the changes without any explanation. Here goes.

September 1st, and I do not have much to report on this morning. The weather here is a bit warmer than I would expect, however, it is only warm to Ivan and me! Everyone else is fully clad, as I said before, mostly with a down vest, but everyone has long pants and long sleeves. Maybe, someday, we too, will be cold. Who can say?!

It makes me chuckle, when we are driving around town, to see all of the popular logos from the US- McDonald’s, Coke and Pepsi, Pizza Hut, Dominos Pizza, etc. You cannot go 1/2 KM. without seeing a sign like the aforementioned, or one similar. As visual porn goes, CDMX is full to brimming over with visual stimuli. Once you move your eyes away from the signage, and refocus on the landscape around you, all of that, sort of, dies away. The lush greenery on every street is constantly surprising. As we had a luscious lawn, with beautiful trees up North, it is rare to see a “yard” with the same. Most homes have a small green space in the front, some even have a bit in the back, but, as most neighborhoods have a common wall between homes, there are very few “side” spaces. Unless you have a corner lot- then there might be room.

Before you envision homes, one on top of the next, and everyone’s house looking the same, first envision a subdivision locally, or, worse yet, those additions in major cities, where a contractor builds 2 or 3 versions of the same house. With all of the millions of homes here, it is actually difficult to find 2 even similar, much less identical. Now, mind you, we have not driven to every neighborhood here, but of the routes we normally take on a day, or when we want to “explore”, (read took the wrong turn), each house is completely different. Who, and how, I have not discovered yet. But I will try.

It is good to have goals. 😉

Today, August 30th., my husband, and best friend, Ivan, turned 66 years old. We (11 of us) had 2” rib eyes, grilled outside, (with only the slightest hint of rain), mashed potatoes, tossed salad, and Stella Artois!! For dessert, we had Gelatina Mosaico, ice cream, and coffee. Amazing!

Starting out the day we had to take the BMW to have it “certified”, and registered with the government. Because it is in such excellent condition, we were given the certification of “zero”, which allows us to drive it every day of the week. Down here, if you are given a number from 1-7, that is the day of the week you have to leave your car at home, potentially cutting down on the amount of pollution emitted into the air. As there are many, very affordable, alternate means of transportation available, it is really no big deal. For example, we took the Metro, the train, about 50 minutes, from the house here, to downtown and it cost us 10 pesos each, about $.50. We also took a taxi from the house to downtown, different day, same purpose, and that cost us $5.00 each direction. Gas is a bit more expensive here compared to up North, but to calculate how much you need, and how much it will cost is a bit taxing to my feeble brain. And when you see on the pump that you have filled the car with 66 liters of 92 octane, and it is going to cost you $1956.70, it takes you back a bit. Then you convert all of that from pesos to dollars, and, yes, it is expensive, but it probably will not happen like that again. Since we have been unable to drive the BMW until today, after it got certified, the tank was almost empty. We plan to keep it always above half a tank. The fill up cost us almost $100!! Live and learn.

We had a wonderful surprise this morning as well. We stopped by the apartment to see what progress has been made, and, as soon as we walked in, everything was so bright, and white!! The dark brown tile that was on the wall as you come in is all gone; the “stage” is gone, except for the actual webbing that made up the base. But, the surprise is under the wooden base- beautiful white tile, with a very pretty gold and brown patterned tile, inset in a pattern we cannot quite make out yet, but it is going to save us tons of money not having to purchase the tile we thought we had to buy!!! The closets are gone in our bedroom, and by the third bathroom; soon the entire kitchen will be gone too. It is really starting to come into shape, and they have only been working 2 or 3 days. I will keep you posted.

My comadre Paty’s brother, Sergio, passed away recently of pancreatic cancer, a physician himself. A wonderful anesthesiologist I used to work with, Dr. Brent Ohl, died of this same horrific cancer just a few years ago. It broke our hearts to see him leave us, little by little, his skin changing color, his weight dropping, his inability to breathe without auxiliary oxygen, his pain, as he passed into the end stages. I will tell you though, he fought every step of the way, and never lost his beautiful smile. He was a passionate man, mostly about his wonderful family – all of them, but next was BBQ, how he loved BBQ, then medicine and the people he worked with in the past, and those he worked with towards the end.

I  did not know Paty’s brother, but Paty, her husband Pepe, their children, and her entire family, were devastated by this disease process. It took the man in their lives that they all loved. This cancer knows no bounds- no ethnicity, no race, no creed, no social status. It happens to whomever, whenever, and it can take them so very quickly. I can only suppose that the speed is a blessing. Sergio had been in terrible pain for several weeks, but it has come to an end. He had requested, and received, a brunch with his family, not to cry, or be sad, but to celebrate the wonderful life he led, and the blessings he had with his family and friends.

I just want to say that we are all sorry for your loss.