Livingthedreamwithdiana.com

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.

The plants are thriving; I am sure it is because of the warmer weather, and the grow lights! Not to mention the new plant app. Here are some cuttings I have had in water for about two months.

You cannot see it, but there are about ten spikes from the original mother in laws tongue, or snake plant, (Sansevieria trifaciata) that I cut, and placed in a yogurt container with water. They have all developed roots, and will be planted in a container, like their parent plants. We now have ten new plants, that will, one day, make more plants. The cycle continues.

Here is what the parent plants look like now. They normally grow with a arrow shaped top edge, so when I cut them back to root for new pants, that was how I cut them. It is hard to tell which ones I trimmed, and which are untouched. Fascinating.

Coming home from Los Altos, I was able to bring back a treasure trove of veg. Just look at this. All of them are fresh from someone’s garden, or farm. Yum.

You probably know what all of the vegetables are, except, possibly, the curly green chilies, top left. Those are called chile de árbol, but these are fresh. Normally, chile de árbol is used in the dried form, so most people recognize them as a dried red chile. These, however, are fresh, so they are green. Still have the spiciness of the árbol chile, definitely, but with a difference that is inherent in its being fresh.

The yellow chile, that looks like the habanero, is a form of habanero, but a bit less killer on the Scoville scale of chile heat index. I do not remember, at the moment, what Liz called it, but we are going to try it, and see what happens.

I was able to procure some cuttings from a plant called a String-of-Pearls, (Senecio rowleyanus), which I placed in a small jar of water, just before we left for Los Altos. They already had roots about one inch in length when we returned home. Happy day. Right now, there are only two small strands, about three inches long. If I am able to acquire more cuttings, I will add them to the container. This is when I must use a bit of patience. Here is what it will look like sometime later in the year.

I am not sure what I am going to make with all of the fresh veg, though I am considering a version of ratatouille. We shall see. Until then, please, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

It is an absolutely beautiful day, and we are traveling, to LA.

This weekend is the annual fair, and we are hoping to be able to see some of it. I say hoping because it has been raining for about a week! I, personally, could care less if it is raining or not. We are out of isolation, even if it is only a temporary reprieve. I will take what I can get.

It recharges my internal batteries, when we get out of the apartment! The sun is shining, the temperature is a mild seventy two degrees Fahrenheit, twenty two degrees Celsius. There is a cool breeze, and the sky is a beautiful light blue, with puffy, swirling white clouds. An amazing day; another reason to live here.

We are actually taking some things to LA, to be left there; we can stop lugging clothes, makeup, toiletries, etc. back, and forth. Win, win. Not a big deal when we take the BMW, but with the Mercedes, even with its good sized trunk, there never seems to be enough room, especially sitting room.

We are going to celebrate my father in law’s birthday when we get home, on Sunday. He will turn ninety three tomorrow, the twenty sixth of June. Here he was, two days ago. Excellent shape for his age.

We are working diligently to get the apartment cleaned up enough to bring Juan over to live with us. We miss having him with us, to get us outside, walking, sitting at the table, talking. I used to make him coffee at night, before he went to bed. I miss that. I will pick up more Spanish with him living with us, as well.

This post is taking forever, with all of the bumping around in the backseat! So, please, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones. We are going to the fair.

Post script: we have been “on the road “ one hour and are still in town!!!

Every day, I get up, and do, basically, the same things. I like to have a routine, of sorts.

Today, we went to the store, briefly, and bought a few things, for our two families, that we will take to LA (Los Altos), with us this weekend. As we were driving home, a feeling of complete comfort, and tranquility washed over me, like a wave. It feels so “right”, to be here, in this place, at this time.

It brought me a moment of contentment, and a profound peace to my soul.

A week, or so, ago, I had a similar feeling, but this time, it was much more pronounced, and affected me more strongly than before. I am not sure, really, if I have described it accurately, but that is the best I can do, in either language. Someone pinch me.

Just coming out of the store, it started raining a bit; nothing too serious. Then, about five minutes later, it was a downpour. The drops were huge, which, for those of us growing up in the North, usually means it will not last long. Not so here! It rained like that for about fifteen minutes.

The rain does not run into the drains in the streets, as it does up North, so there are large areas of collected water everywhere. There are drains, just not like in the States. One needs to look forward, on the ground, to make a path that keeps ones vehicle, and ones feet the driest.

Whilst we were driving around, however, I happened to remember that I had left all of the windows open, and I do mean all of them. When we got home, however, not a single drop of rain was anywhere in the house. Thank you Jesus! Lesson learned.

Leaving the apartment, shut the windows.

I hope your week is going well, and that you are happy, healthy, and safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones, while you are at it.

It was fast, this past weekend; too fast for our liking! One cannot have everything, however, now can one?!

We spent a quick Saturday evening, into Sunday afternoon at Los Altos again. This coming weekend is their annual fair, and, it looks like it should be fun. Some of the rides were already setting up, on a street we needed to pass through, no less. No big deal. There are several streets through which we can pass. And, we did.

We brought home some lovely veg from the family “shop”. Raymund, and his wife, Maria, Jesús’s parents, sell veg from a small store on the top floor, in the front part of their house. We brought carrots, (zanahorias), zucchini, (calabaza), spinach, (espinaca), limes, (limones), and, tomatillos, (the small green tomatoes, used for salsa verde). I am going to make a cream of veg soup today, or tomorrow. But, first, I am going to wait to see how much energy I have today. Truth to tell, it is overcast, and I can definitely see myself tumbling back into bed sometime later this morning. As you already know, sleep is an illusion for some of us, so we take it when we can get it, however long it lasts.

So, while I am napping, please, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

Post script: the plants are loving the electric sunshine. Everything is looking happy, and healthy. We hope you are, too.

We now have four of them. They are making all the difference in our plants.

Two of the lights have bulbs in the blue spectrum, and are helping my herb seeds sprout. The other two have bulbs in the red spectrum, and are giving “sunlight” to the established plants.

I wish I could show you the difference forty eight hours has made in the more mature plants; the spider plant, for example, is a vibrant green now, instead of the incipient pale green it has become since living in our apartment.

When the plants started drooping, I thought they wanted water, when all they really wanted was some loving sunshine. Now, I can learn, and will recognize the difference between thirst, and hunger.

The blue in the photo above is from the blue spectrum bulbs, concentrating on the seeds.

Here is a photo of the red spectrum bulbs, on either side of the open windows, giving much needed sunlight to the rest of the plants. Once the seeds sprout, I will move those two lamps to the back bedroom, and use two more red spectrum bulbs for all of the larger plants. The poor things need more light; soon.

We are on our way to Los Altos again; we are dropping off Liz and Gaby, and will return home tomorrow; unfortunately. It is so peaceful there, it is hard to leave. We are returning next weekend for the annual fair, however. We have been told that the whole village turns out. We are anxious to see it ourselves.

Please, until we talk again, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.