What do the kids think?

A recent four-day visit by an adult son, started me wondering what our kids think about us? What do they say about us to each other when they talk? I guess I started wondering about this because it occurred to me that I was about their ages when I lost my parents. First my Mother and then about three or four years later, my Father. I'm almost two years older than my Mother when she died.

For the last ten years of their lives, they seemed so old, so alone. The events in their lives seemed to be going to the grocery store and for doctors appointments. I hated to go to their house because it was closed and dark. If they cooked, the food was bland and boring. I was seeing their deteriorating physical conditions....less steady on their feet, more sedentary. It was difficult to talk to them because they had no outside interests. It was difficult to take the children over there because there was nothing for them to do but sit on the couch and drink a coke. So I asked them to come see us for dinners and for holidays. Actually, I don't think my Mother could have pulled off a Thanksgiving dinner during the last 10 years of her life. But everytime I asked them to come see us, I worried about them driving across Houston in the traffic and then home again at night.

I think our sons and daughter-in-laws think....

• We're a little crazy for living part of the time in Mexico
• That we get around pretty good for our age
• That we can still set some pretty good food on the table
• That they don't have to worry too much about us because we are busy with friends, my photography, and keeping up two houses.

Still I'm beginning to hear hints that they see us as needing some help.

"Mom, I'll come help you get the Christmas decorations down from the attic."

"Tell Dad, I'll help him dig up that tree."

Okay, sometimes we could use a little help. But you wonder how do they really "see" the "old folks."

Border Crossings

Crossing the Texas/Mexico border at Nuevo Laredo has, until recently, just been an aggravation. When you are returning to the USA, the line at the bridge might be long and slow moving or you might get through the border agent to the Texas side in five or 10 minutes.

When you are going into Mexico, you need to stop for visas and car permits unless you have an FM-3. It could take from 15 minutes to two hours, depending on the time and the day that you cross. The biggest danger we have faced are bottomless potholes, getting cut off by a truck and getting stopped for speeding whether we are speeding or not. That has changed. This month in Texas Monthly was an article about the drug wars going on in Nuevo Laredo and how some citizens from the USA have been caught in them when they are across the border. Unfortunately this link to Texas Monthly only gives you a teaser about the article but it tells several stories about people who have been across the border in bars in the early morning hours and have had very serious problems and about two women from Laredo who have not been found since they disappeared earlier this year.

The situation in Nuevo Laredo has continued to escalate even though the Mexican Federal Government has tried to intervene. But it has not seemed to be able to clean up the local police force or stop the drug wars. The US Government has issued travel warnings but after the latest battle with assault weapons and hand grenades between rival drug organizations on the streets of Nuevo Laredo, the US Ambassador in Mexico City is closing the Nuevo Laredo consulate for at least a week.

Some people are suggesting that instead of going through Nuevo Laredo, you should use the Columbia Bridge that is about 25 miles to the West of Nuevo Laredo. We have used that bridge a time or two but you leave the highway outside of Nuevo Laredo and go on a two lane road through the countryside. You know how sometimes you just have an uneasy feeling about where you are. I've felt that way on that road. It is like in the middle of nowhere with some big warehouse/truck terminals scattered along the road. They seem to be almost abandoned but it has been my feeling that they could be places for moving illegal immigrants or drugs. So I'm not so sure that I would feel any safer crossing at the Columbia bridge.

Our world is a very strange and dangerous place these days. You can decided to stay in the USA but since 911 or the recent bombings in London are we truly safe there.

Cool and Clear

Early this morning, cuddled under a sheet and cotton blanket, I felt a little chilled, drifting in and out of sleep, thinking maybe I should pull the spread up for some more warmth. I moved a little closer to Ned and went back to sleep. When we got out of bed to start the day, the patio was very cool and even in the house my denim shirt felt good.

It has been a beautiful day. Clear skies, sunny and a cool breeze. The view across the town is gorgeous.....crisp color of the buildings against the blue, blue sky. Now that the sun is dropping lower, I think I'll put the denim shirt on again. I don't know what the temperature is in San Miguel de Allende today but it isn't anywhere close to Houston's 95 degrees with 52% humidity.

Public Works

Our street in San Miguel de Allende is cobblestone. It has been developing more and more potholes but yesterday Public Works came to make repairs. They started down the hill from us and to stop the traffic from our direction they put up a sign about 3 feet tall by 1 foot wide with red and white diagonal stripes. Rocks are piled around the bottom of it to keep it in place. But the sign doesn't work because if a driver wants to go down the street, he just stops and moves the sign and continues his travels down the street and around the pothole that is being repaired.

When I walked down the street this morning I saw where they had worked yesterday and thought that the repair wasn't holding at all. It was already starting to sink again. So when I came back to the house they were working on that pothole again as well as some of the others.

First they dig out the cobblestones, put in some dirt and then replace the cobblestones, tapping them in very carefully. Today, they had to build a small dam to divert water from a water line break further up the street so that they could fix the pothole right under our window. This is hard work. I hope it lasts a little longer this time.

Mac or PC?

To be or not to be
Mac or PC
That is the question.

We are headed back to Houston soon and it is time to try to figure out what I'm going to do about bringing down a computer. In San Miguel de Allende, I've been sharing a laptop with Ned. It is a fairly powerful PC laptop and has worked fine for downloading images from the camera, scanning film and working on small size images for the net. But I need a dedicated computer for imaging.

I've always been a PC person because I used PC's in the business world. But I'm not in that world any longer. Should I move to a Mac? So many fine photographers swear by Macs. Am I missing something? The interface for Photoshop for the PC and Mac are almost identical....I can't justify the change because of that. And there are so many technical issues that are in flux right now that I'm really not sure what to do about buying a new machine. And I'm a photographer, not a techie.

My options are:
Bring down my 4 year old Dell workstation.
Buy a new PC to bring to Mexico
Buy a new Mac to bring to Mexico

If I'm going to get a new computer I want to get 64-bit dual processor capability.
When will Microsoft release their new operating system "Longhorn?" Will Longhorn enable the full power of the 64-bit dual processor capability?
If I get a Mac, what issues will I face as Mac moves to Intel processors? Should I wait for the Intel processor Mac?
What will the cost be to migrate PC software programs to Mac programs if I go with the Mac?
Will I have problems finding someone who can service the cutting edge choices of either system?
Can the Mac read my external firewire drives loaded with images from the PC?
Should I get RAID or no RAID?
How much RAM? 2G, 4G, more?
What is a sufficient graphics card?

These are just a few of the questions off the top of my head and it makes my head spin. I'm not sure if I'm asking the right questions and this is a lot of money for my pocket book.

To Mac or not to Mac.....
That is the question.

A Short Visit

Middle son, Gary, has been here to visit us in San Miguel de Allende. First time visit to our Mexican house or to San Miguel. Gary has a catering business in Houston and can't just "take" a vacation. It has to be scheduled around clients. Last year he was scheduled to come see us but ended up sick the day he was suppose to come and then was unable to reschedule until now. Even this visit was precarious for a few hours. On the way to the airport his fairly new leased car died on the freeway. By the time a wrecker delivered him and the car to the dealership and his staff was able to reschedule a flight, he was on the 5 something flight. Then because of bad weather that flight didn't leave Houston until after 7:00 PM. We have always said we wouldn't go to the Leon airport for a late flight but for Gary....we did it. The drive through the mountains from Leon to San Miguel wasn't too bad and we arrived back to the house about 11:30 PM. I quickly sauteed some flattened chicken breasts and we had sandwiches then off to bed.

Saturday we showed him around town, had lunch at the fish taco place behind Espinos, and that night we went to a cocktail party at Tom Robinson's then dinner at El Correo Cafe. Sunday we went to the market for supplies for a cocktail party at our house. Since Gary is in the food business he enjoyed seeing how we shop here and what is available. We had lunch at ChaChaCha which Gary really liked. He enjoyed a walk around town. The cocktail party was fun and it was the first time we have been able to do any entertaining since construction began.

Monday was a rainy day or as one of Ned's friends calls it, a tequila day. We got the car and drove to La Aurora to see the galleries and interior design shops. Then on a tour of the town which accidently ended up on a home tour. We stopped to leave a jacket with Jean and got to see her house, their casita, and another house they are building. Then Aaron saw us and said come see his projects. So we got to see his house, the garden that is underway as well as his casita that is almost finished. It was nice for Gary to see these houses because one of his interests is architecture. A comida at Mariscolandia and then Gary treated us to dinner at L'Invito.

Today we took him back to Leon for the 12:30 flight back to Houston. A good visit even if it was a short one. I think Gary will be back....if he can ever schedule around "events."

Cocktail Party Menu

This party for about 30 people turned out very well because when it was over, most of the food was gone. This makes me very happy because I hate leftover party food. We had Mina come in to help us so not only was most of the food gone but the house was back in order and the dishes put away.

Menu for the Cocktail Party
Pescado Pico de Gallo
Cocktail Sausages with Raspberry Chipolte Sauce and Homemade Hot Mustard sauce
Mango Salsa with Tostados
Blue Cheese spread with apples and pears
Camembert cheese with crackers
Melon and figs wrapped with prosciutto
Shrimp remoulade (thanks to Phil)
Strudel (thanks to Joan)
Brownies
Margaritas, wine and beer

Buttery Blue Cheese Spread With Pecans

8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons of butter, softened
2-3 ounces of blue cheese
½ -1 cup diced pecans (toast if you have time)
½ cup chopped shallots
1 tablespoon Presidente Brandy

Stir together ingredients and form a ball. Cover and chill mixture 8 hours, Let stand at room temperature to soften. Serve with sliced apples and pears or with toasted French baguette slices.

Pescado pico de gallo

This is something I've been making for parties for a year or two. It is another one of those "recipes" that just kind of goes together and may require "adjustments."

1 pound of talapia fish cut in 1/2 chunks
3 Roma tomatoes seeded and cut in a small dice
1 large onion diced
2 or 3 garlic cloves chopped fine
2 to 4 Serranos chopped fine
Olive oil
small jar of small capers
salt and pepper to taste

Saute fish in a bit of olive oil until it loses its pink. Remove from skillet. Add onion and cook for several minutes until softened, add tomato, garlic and serranos and cook for 4 or 5 minutes. Add fish back into skillet and cook for another minute or two. Most of the fish chunks should break up and be flakey. Add some salt and pepper but don't over salt because you will be adding the capers when it is cool. Put in bowl, cover and refrigerate until cool, add capers and return to refrigerator for an hour or two for the flavors to meld. Before serving with tostados taste and adjust seasonings. Garnish with a bit of chopped cilantro leaves.

Gardening tip

Yesterday I learned a new trick. The gardeners who worked on my patio said that the leaves of the clivia and shefflera needed to be cleaned. They were right. The concrete dust from the construction was stuck to them.

They said they needed some beer.
Beer?
Yes, it makes the leaves shine.

I got them some beer (Negro Modelo-nothing but first class beer for my plants,) a bucket with some water and a rag.
An hour later every leaf was clean and shiny

I'm sure the clivia and shefflera were feeling very good and very happy as their leaves were just "weaving" with the breeze.

Patio Power

When we found this house, I fell in love with it because you walk into this little patio and the house extends off each end of it. Although it isn't a big house or wasn't until the recent addition, the patio extended the feeling of space from every room. During construction the patio was a storehouse with materials everywhere and the pot plants all shoved together. The big bouganvilla that covers one end had blown loose from the wall and was hanging over into the tree. The vine along the long wall had grown out of control and was not letting in light.

Finally today the patio got put back together as best as we can since building materials for the cover over the terrace are still being stored on it and also knowing that in September we are going to change the fountain and redo the patio. The vine along the long wall has been taken out, the bouganvilla is again pinned to the wall and the plants are back in place. And once again we can use the table and chairs for a nice intimate dinner or a casual breakfast.

The first picture was taken from the sala end of the patio and this is from the downstairs bedroom end of the patio. We love the deep portico and have a couple of comfortable wicker chairs there just to sit down and rest for a minute during the day and listen to the fountain. From the upstairs bedroom you are looking into the crown of the tree and you feel like you are in a tree house.

The old tree is a privet or something from the lugustrum family. It has been here a long, long time. It must be about 20 feet high and if you look carefully at its bark you can find nails and twine embedded. Some child must have gotten a new knife or hatchet at some time during its life because it has scars. I wasn't so sure it would be okay when we bought the house but we had it pruned. We fertilized and watered. The tree is a survivor! It was so happy it was growing into the bedroom window and we have had to have it pruned several times since the first one. It is currently putting on lots of new leaves and dropping the old ones. A bit messy on the patio but I'm so thankful to have it, I won't complain.

Patricia Robinson 1936-2003

Today is my dear friend, Patricia Robinson's birthday. But she isn't here to celebrate it with us.

For 30 years, Pat and Tom were traveling buddies....in Europe, Australia, Mexico, New Zealand. They shared their homes with us in Cancun and in Floresville, Texas, Friday night pizzas and movies, laughing about our kids, crying about our kids, birth of grandchildren and loss of parents. We shared our lives with each other. So today I'm laughing and crying as I think about Pat.

Pat was a beautiful, small slender woman with deepset brown eyes that could be so full of mischief or cold as ice. She had self-confidence, strength and a will of steel that ran everything around her, although sometimes people didn't know that because Pat handled things so well but I can assure that it was going to be done her way. Pat had an understated but flashy elegance in the way she dressed, the way she decorated their home, the way she landscaped her gardens. Not flashy like "Dynasty" but with a real style.

And Pat was competitive. She couldn't just play golf. Never! She always played to win and win she did in tournament after tournament. She was competitive and if her friends were doing it, she would do it too. Usually she could it better but one or two things got her down. Didn't stop her. She would hang in there confident she could master that too. I remember a time when all of us "girls" were knitting sweaters. Pat bought yarn and started knitting too. I think Helen and I spent as much time unraveling her mistakes as she did knitting on it but she finished that sweater and several others with a little help from her friends. The thing that amazed me about it was that when she finished it, it looked really good on her.

Pat was fun to be with. She was a great guest because she always came dressed for the party and ready to party. She also knew how to give a party. She always said that if you set a good "party scene" then the guests would think the food was good too. For a while we were paired in a gourmet dinner group. We cooked about once a year and when we did it was a three day "event" for us. We always pulled off a stunning table and really, really good food. But I'm thinking of one of the dinners where we were quite ambitious and had a disaster with a recipe or two. We never tried out anything a head of time. So we were running a bit late with our preparations. As usual we had Ned and Tommy helping us. One of their tasks was to hollow out some acorn squash to make a bowl for a zucchini soup. They wanted to watch the football game and moved some TV trays into the den to do it while we were working in the kitchen. You would not believe the mess. Squash and seeds everywhere. Now we are down to finishing up so we can get dressed but we had to "re-do" the den. Guests were coming in an hour. We were like a whirling dervish, then we rushed off to dress and dress we did for the gourmet dinners. When the guest came, Pat and I were in cocktail dresses and full make-up and we looked cool as cucumbers but everytime anyone gave a compliment or when we looked at each other across the room, it was hard not to giggle.

I always think of Pat as a Steel Magnolia.....she was a warm charming woman but when she combined that with her strong will, she could get what she wanted. One time Pat, Helen and I had gone to Mexico on a "shopping trip." We accomplished our objective and when we arrived at the airport to depart for Houston, we had not only our extra suitcases full but other boxes and bags. The ticket agent tells us that we will have to pay extra because we can only have two pieces of luggage each. Pat speaks Spanish very well so she is the talking with the agent. I've seen her go into this routine before so between the words that I can understand and her fluttering eye lashes, I know she is telling him, "Oh, my goodness, what am I going to do. My husband is going to be so upset with me, etc, etc, etc." Scarlet O'Hara couldn't have done it better. Fortunately the ticket agent was a man so her "persuasion" worked. He disappeared, came back with some twine and tied our luggage pieces together until we only had two pieces each. As we walked away from the ticket counter, I said, "Paaatrica..." She just looked at me with this mischievous grin and said, "Shush, it worked didn't it."

Pat was diagnosed with lung cancer that had metastasized to her brain in April of 2003 and she died that Christmas Eve. I still don't know how that disease could take such a vibrant life-force so fast. I think of her most days. I miss so many things about her but I guess that most of all I miss being able to pick up the telephone and talk.

Lots of Little Happenings

Have you ever noticed how days are made up of lots of little pieces. Sometimes the pieces seem to go from one piece to the next piece connecting like a jigsaw puzzle. Today hasn't been that way. But that doesn't mean it hasn't been a good day.

Ned got up and walked the dog, then he made breakfast for me. We checked out our emails, and he checked the Houston Chronicle. We get ready for the day.

We have two places where we can connect a TV in our new room. The wire had been pulled and was in the wall but we needed the little "connector thingy" that goes on the end of the cable to attached to the TV. The architect had looked for it all over town. The electrician had looked for it all over town and in Ceyala. Couldn't find one of the right size. So after several talks with the Cable company they scheduled an appointment between 11 and 12 today to install these little "thingies." At 10 AM they were here, 2 men to install the "thingies." The architect had told Ned to call him when they came. Ned called and the electrician shows up to see what they were doing. The electrician needs to finish installing the phone but he leaves saying he will be back in an hour. The cable guys leave. The architect shows up to see the "thingies." Are you confused? Me, too but I'm just reporting on what happened.

An hour passes. The electrician isn't back. We needed to fill our tank with propane so earlier Ned had called Gas Express to come. They said that they would call "the pipe" in Colonia San Antonio and they would be here shortly to fill the tank. We look across the street and Gas Express is at our neighbors, so we think they are coming here next. They drove off somewhere else. About an hour later they come back to deliver our gas. No, I don't know why they didn't deliver to us when they were across the street. Ned goes across the street to buy some shoe polish from the neighbor who has set up a very nice little stand in front of her garage with a variety of small merchandise items.

I needed to leave to go into town. We had an iron worker make some wall lamps for beside the bed. I take one to buy two lampshades. I get the lampshades and then go to Sazon to spend a gift certificate. I choose some more Gorky Gonzales pottery. Now I'm carrying two bulky lampshades, two big pottery platters and a water jug. Me and packages are so wide I can't get down the narrow sidewalks in San Miguel de Allende so I want to get a cab but all I have are $200 peso bills. The cab ride will be 20 pesos and the cabbies never have change. I decide to stop at ten-ten-pie and have something to drink so I can get change. I have a lemonade. Now I have change and I get a cab to the house. Ned has washed the breakfast dishes and walked the dog again.

I put the stuff in the house and go to meet Darlene for comida at ChaChaCha. While I'm gone the electrician comes back to the house. It is now about 1:30 or 2. He tells Ned he is a little late. He does something to the telephone connection. Ned brings the local phone over to the new room and it works. I go back to the house, Ned is making a tuna sandwich. We try the new shades. They are too deep and one of the wrought iron lamps doesn't quite stay at 90 degrees but somehow that is funny. It is Mexico. Ned leaves to get some touch up paint and something else he needs to install the lamps. Comes back and installs them even though one is a bit "off."

I get a phone call from Mel. He tells me that Phyllis is picking me up tonight between 5:45 and 6 to go to Girl's Night Out. Ned walks the dog again. I get a shower and I'm waiting for Phyllis to come but instead I get a phone call from her and she is at Joan's. Mel was suppose to tell me that I should walk to Joan's and ride over with them. I say I'll meet them at Michelle's house where we are having Girl's Night Out. Girl's Night Out is always fun and I met several new women including Barbara who is building/remodeling a house down the street from me. Phyllis brings me home because she wants to get some of our Kirkland Lamb and Rice dogfood for her Scrappy who is allergic to what he has been eating. We give her a bag of food, and just as she gets in her car, the sky's open up.

The hard driving rain from the West shows us which windows on the West leak. We use a towel to soak up the rain. Leaking windows and doors are a common problem in San Miguel de Allende. Metal on concrete and they haven't figured out how to flash the windows so it doesn't happen occasionally. Ned heats up some gorditas for dinner that our neighbor gave us. The rain is letting up. Thankgoodness, the dog needs another walk but I don't know if he will put his tootsies in the puddles in the street.

Some would say that all these little happenings, little events seem like a boring day. No, I don't agree. It is a wonderful life.

Name this Orchid

I love orchids and Bromeliads. They are so exotic. Most of them last a long time and have tropical colors. In February, 2004, I bought an orchid at Candeleria flower exhibition here in San Miguel de Allende. It didn't have a bloom at the time but it was in with a couple of other orchids and bromeliads. The others died off and this one lived. I had it on the terrace but with the construction I moved it down to the patio. It must really like the new location because I noticed it was putting out a few new leaves. Up until now, it had been quite dormant.

Several times on Friday I caught a whiff of something sweet. I couldn't imagine what might be blooming in the patio. By Saturday morning the smell was stronger....much stronger and a sweet that wasn't so nice. Then I spied the spike on the orchid with one blossom that was opening just a crack. But I wasn't the only one that was smelling that smell, there were a couple of bee body insects with metallic coloring that were trying their best to get into the orchid. Through the day the blossom opened, heavy and hanging toward the ground.

It is an interesting orchid but I don't have a clue as to what it might be other than I know it isn't a phalaenopsis. Can you name this orchid?

Construction - Week 15

We are 90% finished but for the next six to eight weeks.....

WE ARE DONE!

What still needs to be done is to build the cover over a part of the new terrace and re-landscape the patio but we can't take anymore....not right now. The noise, the dust, the loss of privacy...people in your home all day, everyday for 15 weeks. We have been here since March 15 and this project started about 2 weeks after we arrived. Enough already! Besides one of our sons is coming to see us at the end of next week. He hasn't been here before so we want him to have an enjoyable experience...without dust and noise.

Alright....enough complaining. We love our addition and how all the pieces of it turned out. This week there were a couple of big issues. First was getting the iron banisters installed on the stairs. You may recall that I sent the first set of banisters away because I wanted them to match what we had on the first floor. Well, now they do and they are a wonderful example of an iron craftsman making things the old-fashioned way....by hand and hammer. They are simple but I think so very elegant.

The second big accomplishment for the week was painting the outside of the house. The house is about 8+ meters tall. Scaffolding? NO! Ladders. Can you imagine standing on a ladder for 5 days that high up and painting and painting and painting. That is what the men did. I could hear them talking with each other and while I didn't understand the conversation, I knew from the soft tones and the chuckles that they were having some pleasant conversations.



The house had been a pumpkin color with a skyblue trim around the windows and door. I changed the color from pumpkin to a soft terracotta with the idea that I would still use the blue trim. The combination looked okay from the paint swatches we put on the walls. But after the house was painted terracotta, I changed my mind and started looking at a dark, dark brown. I liked it. I asked my friend Joan Freeman to come and help me decide. She is amazing with putting together colors. I love, love, love the colors in her house. You just have to be happy when you walk into it. When Joan came, there was a black car parked in front of the house and Joan said that black around the windows and door would be smashing. Very sophisticated. She was right. It would be smashing. Mmmmm..... It seemed a little too smashing and sophisticated for my neighborhood. We are in a working-class neighborhood where extended families live in houses, where the women cook in the evenings and sell tamales or tacos out the front door, where some people live and have warehouses for their buinesses. Because we are on a corner we already "stick out" I can't hide that I'm a Gringa but I don't have to look sophisticated. I decided to go with my original plan of the dark-brown around the windows. I'm not sure that anyone else would walk by and say, "This gringa isn't very sophisticated because she didn't use black." But I FELT the difference and thought some of my neighbors would too. I'm pleased with the colors outside. Raphael and Juan headed up our painting team. Raphael had been on another job but on Friday, Raphael came to the house. He was so kind and told me that he really liked the way the colors worked and especially in the bathroom and the outside. That made me feel really good about my choices.

During construction, we had taken out a wall between the stairs and the hall that went into the new studio. This decision made a great gallery space but I didn't realized that the area under the stairs on this landing didn't have good lighting for a gallery space. It was a perfect wall for art. We asked the architect if there was a way at this point to put in a tracklight. As usual he said "No problem." Eight hours later of chip, chip, chip,and we had wiring in the landing ready for the tracklight. Oh, and while they were doing this they were also drilling thru the thick metal of the railing of the banister in order to anchor the banister better. This was another time that I thought about putting my head in my hands and crying.

Yesterday, we went to Queretaro and bought a 6-foot folding table to put the computer and equipment on until I decide how I'll do the workstation. We've moved some of the equipment upstairs today. And we worked on the portico. It has been the warehouse for paint, cement and other building materials. It took a lot of work to get it cleaned up and some of the furniture back in place. We have a mesquite front door and during all the construction it took a beating. I spent a long time, rubbing it down with linseed oil. It is gleaming again. Mesquite is a wonderful wood for a door.

It is beginning to look like home again. And if anyone wonders what home looks like, here is a set of pictures of what the rest of the house looks like.

Walking on Cobblestones

I've been thinking about writing an entry about walking on the cobblestone streets here in San Miguel de Allende. I know that it has strengthened my ankles and feet. Sometimes when I'm walking along on the rough surfaces that just three years ago made me teeter and totter, I feel strong as I keep my pace and move along in a good balanced stride. I think to myself, this is pretty good for an old woman!

Today my friend Christina Hager sent me an article from the Oregon Research Institute about the benefits of walking on cobblestones. Not only does it improve balance but it also lowers blood pressure. Well I haven't had my blood pressure checked but I can testify to the balance benefit.

Living without canned tomatoes

Have you ever thought about how often you open a can of tomatoes to put into a recipe or use a canned pasta sauce....maybe not straight out of the can or jar but using it as the base for what you are making. When I'm in Houston, I always have several cans of tomatoes and a jar or two of pasta sauce....a staple in my pantry. Recently we've been able to get canned tomatoes in some stores in San Miguel de Allende but they are terrible. And the jars of pasta sauce are not your premium brands...they are more like the sauce for spaghetti-O's.

So I've been experimenting with quick pasta sauces. Tonight I guess you would call our dinner......

Fettucini with shrimp and tomatoes.

Parboiled and peeled 4 roma tomatoes, cut in small pieces
Chopped an onion
3 or 4 cloves of garlic chopped
salt
crushed red pepper
olive oil
white wine
3/4 to 1 pound of shelled shrimp...I like the medium ones
2 tablespoons of butter and a bit more olive oil.

Sauteed the onion in oil until limp and transparent, added the tomato, salt and red pepper and cooked until the tomato is softened. Add wine and continue cooking. I can't tell you how much wine. I added some more several times as it cooked down.

Cook the fettucini as per directions

Saute the shrimp in butter and a bit of olive oil. Just a bit but not fully done. Add shrimp (but not any juices) to the tomato mixture and cook on low heat while you reduce the juice from the shrimp. Add to the mixture and serve over the pasta. Serve with a good bread and a crisp salad. Oops...I should have photographed it!

Ned said this was pretty good....that is a compliment.

Construction - Week 14

Last week the inside painting was finished and the floors were sealed. We moved our wicker chairs up to the new studio just to have some furniture in there and last evening we sat there having a drink and looking out the windows. A very pleasant space. The floors are a different color than the saltillo tile in the rest of the house but then what is up in the bedroom is different than what is in the sala area and now the studio is different than either of them. It is a little Mexican cottage and I actually like the differences.

The electrical wiring and light fixtures are in except for the internet connection. Well actually the internet cable is in but the company hasn't come to connect it yet. Hopefully in the next day or two they will show up and we can move the equipment up to the studio. The cable TV technicians were scheduled for Friday morning but they showed up on Thursday afternoon. We told them that we were not expecting them until tomorrow and they said, "Yes, but we are here."

I am going to buy a folding table to put the computer, scanner, printer, etc. on until I decide how I'm going to lay out the workstation. Then we will have the furniture made. I have a carpenter who is going to give me a quote on how I think I want to set up the tables so it will give me some idea of whether I will let him do it with a better wood or if I'll have it done in a factory in Dolores Hidalgo with pine which is problematic here. Everyone says they use kiln-dried pine but it shrinks and splits in this dry climate.

I wish you could see this carpenter and the next time I met with him I'll see if he will let me take his picture. He is young. He looks 18 or 19 but he might be a little older. He has several tattoos, the sides of his head are shaved but he has several long thin ponytails down his back. He is a very handsome man with beautiful soft eyes and a very shy manner. He speaks some English and tells me that for a while he lived in Austin, Texas. He has a shop with several people working for him and he is making some wonderful carved furniture. I've seen several pieces he did for friends and they are very, very nice. Some of the furniture carving in San Miguel is over the top, very elaborate but what he has done for them is restrained and elegant. Besides the tables for the workstation, I've asked him to quote on the cabinet for under the new bathroom sink and also a large carved china cabinet for the dining room.

This is the wall of the patio. It has had Anartica vine on it. I've never liked that vine. But it was here when we bought the house and it was green. It isn't a clinging vine and you have to keep having it tied to the wall. It is a heavy vine and sticks out about 2-1/2 feet from the wall. In this little patio it takes out a lot of light. The wall will be painted and I want to redo some things in the patio so this is the perfect opportunity to get it taken out. It is gone! Maybe Virginia Creeper.....it does well here and it clings or maybe fig ivy which stays very tight to the wall. I'd prefer the fig ivy but it takes about a year to get established and start to really grow.

The outside painting got underway. It is really amazing how they paint these houses without scaffolding. They hang over the terraces and use a long roller brush to go down as far as they can and then they stand on ladders with the paint can tied to the ladder to come up from the ground. We are changing colors on the house. The old color is on the right and the new is....well you can see the guy on the ladder.

The end is in sight.

Landscape Compatibility

I mentioned yesterday that I wanted to "re-landscape" the patio. When we bought the house there was a fountain on the patio but it was shoved into one end of the patio and had no relationship to any space....it was just there. In addition the back of the fountain was white tile which of course over time has been etched with deposits from our heavy mineral water. It really isn't very attractive anymore. Although we do a lot of our own gardening in Houston, we getting too old to bring in bricks and cement to make the beds and the dirt to fill them. So we need help.

I've had a couple of landscape people come to look at the patio but they didn't have any suggestions or ideas that seemed to be more than some new plants but even the plants were ordinary...no pizazz. Or, they looked down their nose at such a "small" job. Yesterday, I had a new guy come in, Alfonso Alarcon and right away I knew that we were compatible and I've heard that his prices are reasonable. Although he saw the problem with the existing fountain, he said let's take out the fountain but leave the structure around it and use it to add architectural interest to the patio. I like that way of thinking. He will be back next week with several preliminary sketches to talk about. I can't wait.

Also in conjunction with the patio, we have found a stone mason in Colonia San Antonio just a few blocks from us. I found out that he did a fountain for a neighbor and it was very nice. We asked him to come look at our patio and give us some idea of what a new cantera fountain would cost.....$250 USA for a fountain that is approximately 3 feet across for the water area. Can you believe it?

What started as a quiet morning.....

This morning we started our day with huevos Mexicanos, guacamole, fresh tortillas, and coffee. At 9:00 AM we were wondering if any of our workers were coming. The sky was clear. No rain in the last 36 hours so they should be able to paint on the outside and the floors need to be sealed. There was work to do.

I tried to call the landscaper. He was suppose to come yesterday to take out a vine that keeps trying to overwhelm the patio. It will make it easier to paint the wall and besides I want to re-landscape the patio. He wasn't able to come because of the rain and had said he would come today. No answer when I call. More work to do.

We were hoping that the iron worker would install the new stair banisters early this week so that any touch up painting could be done while the painters are still around....and there will surely be some. More work to do.

Within about 30 minutes all of these teams arrive and suddenly the place is like a beehive.

Surprises - Good and Bad

I've been using the internet for years, Genie, Prodigy, Compuserve, AOL. Then along came search engines......WOW. What Google could do! Or Anywho.com! You could find the most amazing things and connect with people from everywhere....all on the internet. I thought I was a "user" but the last six or seven months, I've branched out. First I started putting images on PBase and Flickr and then in March I started this blog.

Stepping out into cyberspace has it's pluses and minuses. On the plus side, I've been "discovered" and noted in some other blogs.

Several times Steve Bridger has referenced my photographs in MexicanWave. Rosana Hart, in her excellent blog about living in Mexico, Mexico-With-Heart referenced one of my blog entries as did John who also writes a blog about living in Mexico, Calypso MX. And today Tommy Williams whose blog Tommy Blogs was really my inspiration to start my own blog used my blog on Listening as an idea for his daily blog. And recently, I was contacted by Nancy Waldman for permission to use some of my photographs in her webzine Practically Creative.

Also on the plus side is finding a reference to your own blog when you run a word search through Technorati or you see from your Site Meter that someone found your blog through Technorati. It leaves you amazed at the vast connected world of the internet.

But there is a negative side too. A couple of weeks ago I was just googling around and found a link to my album on PBase.com about the Old Sixth Ward. I clicked on it and low and behold I see all 40 images from that album come up in a message from "Texasboy" on a forum in SkyscraperCity.com. I'm shocked! He didn't ask to post my images. I read the comments posted after the 40 pictures. People are complimenting Texasboy on HIS photographs. Finally after about 8 or 9 such messages, Texasboy says that the images are from Billie Mercer's gallery but doesn't give any reference back to PBase.com.

By this time I'm angry. I tell some friends. They jump in on the forum and announce that the images were stolen. One friend writes the site's owner about the situation. I also write the owner and request that the images be deleted from the site. The owner has done that with a nice email back to me and a statement on the forum that the images were removed due to copyright infringement. I appreciate that but I doubt that Texasboy has learned his lesson.

There is definitely a negative side to the internet.

Listen

Do you ever just sit still and listen to the sounds around you? I do, especially here in our house in San Miguel de Allende.

This afternoon........

The next-door roosters are crowing. These Mexican roosters love to crow, 4:00 AM, 6:00 AM, 3:30 PM, anytime.

Oh.....there is the turkey on the other side of us with his gobble, gobble.

The sparrows in the vines of the patio chirp and chip. A big gabfest, with lots of company arriving and finding a place in the vine.

Clank, clank, clank....the iron worker across the way is hammering out a new chair or table or maybe a door.

A truck with a ancient muffler lumbers down the street.

The almost teenager next door is playing some Mexican music.

Distant rumbles of thunder.

The pitter patter of rain on the tile roof....splat on the leaves......ta ta ta ta on the bricks now wet on the patio

The birds have fallen silent.

No cars or trucks on the street
Quiet....just the rain.

Fourth of July - 2005

In my neighborhood in Houston, many of my neighbors fly the United States of America flag everyday. This evening the city fireworks will be along the Buffalo Bayou just a couple of blocks from our Houston house.

This Fourth of July, I'm in Mexico and it feels like a "foreign" country today.

This image is from a series I'm doing on the Old Sixth Ward, my Houston neighborhood. You can see more of the images on my PBase website.

Thunder, Lightning, Wind and RAIN

About three weeks ago I wrote that it was the rainy season but we didn't have any rain, just clouds and wind. Finally, Rain! It started Thursday night about 11:00 PM. A hard rain with thunder and lightning. It didn't last too long but during the night I awoke to a soft steady rain....jut the kind we need. Friday was warm and sultry, a little cloudy at times. Late in the afternoon clouds kept rolling across the city. This is from our new terrace back toward town. But we didn't have rain until about 11:00 PM. Great lightning show and rolling thunder. Taylor couldn't take it. He was hanging on the side of our bed begging to get close to someone to protect him. Well of course, he got to cuddle at my feet.

Along with all the farmers around here, we hope that it is now officially the rainy season. Still I find it interesting that the rains started just as we started painting the outside of the house. Maybe outside painting works as well as prayers.

Construction - Week 13

This project may have an end in sight. Although on Monday, I was in doubt. Monday the albanils came to clean-up. I thought they were just going to wash the stairs but they applied an acid that left the old stairs from the first floor to the second floor looking horrible. The only way to fix it was to come back and chip off the surface. Sooo......we had another two days with two people constantly chip, chip, chip all day long. In the end, it turned out okay. Now we can finally have an entry into the living area and the Virgen of Guadalupe can have roses again.



Probably the most important thing that was accomplished this week was the sewer connection.



I suggested that the plumber listen to our bedroom toilet flush because it sounds like it comes down the wall in the corner of the patio. They dug around and found the line. We were very grateful because there had been some concern that the line might run under the portico. Much easier to dig up the bricks of the patio to put it in. Still there was a lot of conversation between the architect and the plumber about how to do it.



I know that I keep showing this landing and stairs but now we have paint...last week it was just some small paint samples on the wall. I'm pleased with the colors.



This is the new terrace and the new outside paint color. Yes, I do like red! You can see the old paint color on the tower in the background. The plants have been down on the patio are not in very good shape so we will have a lot of work to do to get the terrace garden looking good. At some point, we will add a cover over the terrace similar to the one you see on the back terrace. It will be a nice size space, about 12x12 covered area. That will still leave about a 9x20 open area on the front of the terrace. We have great views.

The electrician will be here again tomorrow to work some more on the wiring and installing the light fixtures that I have ready. I'm not in a rush to put up just anything so it may be a few more weeks before we have all of them in place.

The iron worker will have the banisters ready in about a week. The whole outside of the house has to be painted and the new floors finished but it looks like the end is in sight and we'll be ready for guests soon.

Happy Birthday to Michael

Forty-seven years ago today, our first son, Michael Edward Mercer was born. Seems like yesterday in many ways. I looked for a current picture of Michael for today but I couldn't find one where he wasn't being "Dad."

As I've mentioned before Michael is a wonderful father and a good man. What more could parents ask for from their grown children.

Happy Birthday, Michael from Mom and Dad