Beverly Donofrio Writes About the Rapist

All of the women who have been raped in San Miguel have spoken out in their own way about what happened to them. The fifth woman, Beverly Donofrio is a writer and so her way is to write about what happened. Her story was published in the San Miguel weekly newspaper, Atencion today.

I am in Houston now and everyday on the TV the first 20 minutes of the local news are taken up with drive-by shootings, random car jackings with 4 people murdered, home invasions and other violent acts. These rapes are bad news for San Miguel but as we head back for San Miguel soon, the local news helps me keep this issue in perspective.

Mary and the Rapist

Carol Schmidt reports in her San Miguel news blog that A Hail Mary seems to have encouraged the San Miguel rapist to shorten his visit.

I think we will read a lot more about the San Miguel rapist. Beverly Donofrio is a strong woman like the other women who were raped but the difference is she is an author with books and movies on her resume. She is going to write about her experience. Some people will think the publicity in the USA will be bad for San Miguel and then others of us think it is what it is. There is much to lose for both the Mexicans and the ex-pats if law enforcement can not step up to the challenges that it faces. News of what is happening in San Miguel certainly keeps the investigation on the forefront for the State of Guanajuato.

Restaurant Spree

You might be surprised to know that Houston has some great restaurants. From fine cuisine to taco stands. I'm not sure many Houstonians cook at home any more because they spend more per capita than any other American city. The Food and Wine writer, John Mariani, regularly visits Houston to check out and write about the restaurant scene.

While I can't write like Mr. Mariani, I have been checking out new restaurants this weekend.

El Patio Mexican Restaurant Midtown - This was a Friday night scene, a place to be for singles, mixing and mingling. It was a reminder of how FAR, far away we are from the single scene. Young men in sloppy casual, young women in strapless sun dresses or tank tops with flirty skirts and spikey heels. Are girls growing bigger breasts than my generation? Is it the result of the hormones that cows are fed? Or are the plastic surgeons enhancing their pocketbooks and these breasts. It was an amazing scene to watch as we sat with Pat and Susan on the patio sipping margaritas and rolling melted queso with chorizo into flour tacos. We followed the tacos with enchiladas. I'm kind of fussy about my Margaritas. These didn't earn but about a 2 or 3 on a scale of 10. The food was okay but in a city with lots of choices for Mexican food, it doesn't make the "rave list."

Bamboo House - I met Pam Richards and Carol Doak for lunch on Saturday at the Bamboo House on Waugh Drive. With all our talking it is hard to believe that we also paid attention to the food or the decor, but believe me I was taking it all in. The place is a very contemporary and elegant setting with just enough of an Asian touch. The menu seems to be a fusion of Chinese, Japanese, Thai and Vietnamese. Beautifully presented on unique dishes. We shared dishes.....steamed pork dumplings, crispy crab dumplings and a great shrimp dish. All were perfectly prepared. The Bamboo House is highly recommended.

Annabelle's Diner - After meeting Guy and Debbie Leflar and checking out the floats for the Gay Pride Parade, we headed over to Taft for Annabelle's Diner. The diner doesn't have a license to sell wine or beer but they can uncork your wine. We took along a bottle of red and a bottle of white. The menu is eclectic, burgers, pizza, pasta and entrees like my chicken with portabello mushroom, spinach and topped with a melted cheese. All our dinners were served with a crispy mixed green salad. Our waiter was very personable and while we talked to him we found out that he was from San Miguel de Allende and what was even more remarkable he was from the Colonia where we live in San Miguel. His father is a iron worker and he gave us his address so when we get back we'll be sure to go see him and let him know that his son is doing fine. Annabelle's is a neighborhood place that will be on our "go to" list.

After dinner, Guy and Debbie came back to the condo with us to enjoy the view. I had been to Spec's Liquor store this week and bought a couple of tiny boxes of Brown Paper Chocolates. One box, Dark Chocolate with pistachios, cointreau, dried cherries and orange peel and another box, White Chocolate with pistachios, Starbucks coffee liqueur, caramel and citrus peel. While we looked out over the city, we munched on tiny slivers of chocolate and sipped a marvelous Zinfandel Port, from MonteVina vineyards in Amador County.

Laurier - Today I was invited to a birthday brunch with a group of women who regularly celebrate their birthdays together. Today was Vanita Smithey's Day. The brunch at Laurier was fabulous. Some had egg dishes but I went for a vegetable tart with eggplant and artichoke. Everyone was happy with their choices. The restaurant has an outdoor patio but in the heat and humidity we chose to stay inside with the contemporary/almost mid-century decor and bright primary colored walls. Energy colors but it was still a soothing atmosphere. We were served with attention but at just the right pace to enjoy the conversation and the opening of presents. I have read that their dinner menu is as interesting and as well executed as the brunch menu. Another keeper.

Carrabba's Italian Grill - Carrabba's isn't one of the new kids on the block. It has been around for a while but it is one of the places that can make the adults and kids happy. Mike and his family and Gary took us out to eat. The grandsons enjoyed the calamari and chicken fingers while the rest of us tried pizzas, or steaks or, for me, quail. The noise level is a little high but the service and the food makes it worthwhile.

This has definitely been a restaurant weekend and I've contributed to Houston's award winning per capita restaurant spending. Now it is time for some home cooking.

The San Miguel Rapist Strikes Again

It has been a little more than two months since the San Miguel rapist has been heard from but it appears he has not gone away. This morning at 1:00 AM another American woman was raped. I have not heard confirmation that it was the same MO but everyone seems to be assuming that it is the same man.

Again he stalked a mature woman who has been living alone in San Miguel for a while, is vibrant and involved in the community. Again he made an entry through an interior door. He came in the night, he raped her and slipped away in the darkness.

The State Police have been working on the rape cases. Several leads have been followed but the suspects' DNA did not match. This is a very clever rapist and while he leaves his DNA, the Mexican judicial system does not have systems in place to run the DNA profile though a data base. The rapist will have to be found then the identity confirmed though DNA.

The View From the 18th Floor

More thunderstorms in Houston....not unusual for this time of the year....as long as it doesn't drop three to five inches of water in an hour.....as long as it doesn't develop tornados.....as long as it doesn't develop hailstones. But those things are always possible in Houston.

This view is to the North of downtown Houston. I don't know how many inches of rain they had but the Freeway accesss roads and underpasses flooded as did some neighborhoods. Monday the floods were in the South and East. Thursday they were to the North.

A New Lens - Part 2

I've had a blip with my cataract eye surgery and the replacement lens, ReZoom.

The expected outcome with the ReZoom lens is I should be able to see at all distances without glasses except if I am going to be reading for extended periods of time. For those times I was told I might need reading glasses. I was told to expect halos on car lights at night that would diminish over time. Halos I can deal with but I wasn't able to read at all at almost two weeks after the surgery. Not the computer and certainly not a newspaper.

I had called the doctor's office the first week after surgery and reported the problem but they seemed to think it might be a little early. When I went in for my scheduled appointment this week, they were surprised I couldn't read. I had already told them that so why were they surprised? But they got busy investigating the situation taking me from diagnostic machine to diagnostic machine. Drops to desensitize the eye, drops to lubricate the eye, drops to dilate the eye and drops to reverse the dilation.

The doctor feels that the lens is in place correctly and that the problem was probably because the stitch that closed the incision had not dissolved and it was causing astigmatism. But she also had some concern that maybe my brain was not adjusting to the halos which are a side effect of the lens for some people. She also commented that the eye with the new lens was not the dominant eye and that could have some effect on being able to see. She took the stitch out and by that afternoon I could read the computer screen although not well enough to work at it for extended periods of time or if the type was small. I could also read a newspaper in a good light. Most of the ghosting and flare from a highlighted area had disappeared. Halos around headlights have diminished somewhat. The distance vision is wonderful.

At any rate I have another appointment next week and we'll evaluate the situation again. But I'm much encouraged that it is all going to work out fine.

Father's Day Weekend

It was a double celebration with Doug and Susan in Austin this past weekend. Doug's birthday and Father's Day! The first time in a long time that we have been with Doug on his birthday. Of course, Ned and I enjoyed their boys, Maxwell who will tell you that he is now 6 and 1/4 years old and Dexter who is almost 15 months old. To celebrate Doug's birthday, we all went out to eat at a near-by restaurant. We sat at the outside tables and had a wonderful dinner.

Dexter, like all the grandsons, has connected with Pawpaw. This was a game of handing fluffy dog to Pawpaw with a "he, he" grunt that we all take to mean "here" then Pawpaw hands it back only to get it again. It seems like he can do this for a long time without getting bored so I don't think we will have to be concerned about his attention span when he is interacting with someone. He is so funny. He talks to you in some baby language all the while looking right at your eyes, nodding his head and gesturing with his hands. He seems to know exactly what he is saying. Once he stood in the hallway and "talked" to his Dad who was sitting at the counter in the kitchen. I said, "Doug, I think he wants you to come to his room." Dexter started down the hallway looked back at his father, then came back and shouted, "Da, Da" and more baby language in a louder voice but this time he pointed toward his room. We all cracked up laughing. Whether he speaks our language or not, he can communicate!

Maxwell is studying KukSoolWan and although you can't see it on his belt, he has won a yellow stripe. We took him to his class that was cancelled so of course, we then had to go to Dairy Queen for ice cream and french fries. I know, I know....not the best combination of foods but he is a vegetarian and we are his grandparents. His parents are the ones who have to worry about him getting a healthy diet. As grandparents we are allowed to buy him junk food.....and besides we only see him a few times a year. He has also started guitar lessons this summer. I can't believe that he will start first grade in the Fall.

This is Doug and his boys on Father's Day. Doug and Susan keep working on their new house. They are not new-house-neutral-color people so gradually they are painting the inside and getting it furnished. Susan put in a garden this Spring and they still have radishes, watermelon, and tomatoes growing. Maxwell is very proud of the watermelons.

I think being with Doug and his family made Father's Day special for both Ned and me.

Flooding in Houston

Houston is flat.....flat terrain. Oh there are a few little bumps in the landscape and they become neighborhoods named The Heights or Woodland Heights. We get really excited when some part of the ground sticks up several feet above the surrounding landscape and so we give it a name to call attention to its elevated status. But being flat means that when it rains the water doesn't run off quickly and the only place to go is into the bayous that eventually head for the Gulf of Mexico. We've worked on those bayous.....widening them, concreting their sides....some of them bare little resemblance to the meandering tree-lined stream it once was but the engineers are trying to make them move the runoff out to the Gulf faster. Sometimes it isn't enough.

Monday was one of those days when it wasn't enough. A band of thunder storms rolled though some parts of the city and dumped lots of rain in a short period of time. The bayous filled up, the water couldn't get through the storm sewers fast enough and soon we had flooded roads and highways. It continued to rain and soon the water was flooding some homes in the South and East of the city.

The rain started during the night. Being along the Gulf Coast in a kind of sub-tropical weather zone, we are use to rain so we can sleep through it. But imagine the surprise of putting your feet on the floor in the morning and finding that there is water in your house. That happened to some people. Houstonians are finding that more and more areas are flooding.....areas that never flooded before. Subsidence and continuing development of areas that use to be low and swampy is taking its toll.

The TV stations went into a reporting frenzy. They sent reporters out to stand in water up to their knees in the flood, rain running down their faces and slickers, holding a microphone attached to the truck by a cable that is under water, while telling you how dangerous the streets were. Power lines could be down in the water, storm sewer covers off and the water could rise quickly. Every helicopter in Houston must have been hired by the TV stations so their crews could fly up and down the freeways where cars were stuck for miles and zoom in on the hapless cars that were stranded in the street partially submerged in the flood waters. One station got really lucky. One of their trucks was stranded in a parking lot where a family was also stranded. The Mother was in labor so the TV reporter was able to keep the camera focused on the car from a discrete 20 feet away and stay on the air reporting on this monumental event in the middle of the great storm of June 19, 2006.

Houstonians are forever optimistic. There are those of us who never believe that their vehicle can be overcome by water in the streets or that areas that are near the bayous and have flooded before with quickly rising water might, just might, do that again. So they will drive into the water, even drive around barriers that have been set up.

Monday was a terrible day for some in Houston. Losing a car is one thing but having your house flooded and knowing that it could happen again if another storm comes along and dumps five or eight inches of water in a relatively short period of time. So while I may have seem to take the flood lightly, I recognize the personal tragedy for some and our vulnerability. Some of the Hurricane preparedness plans indicate that everything from Galveston on the Gulf of Mexico to about 15 miles South of downtown Houston could be under water if a category 4 or 5 storm comes in around Galveston.

I know that the news of the floods were carried on the TV networks nationwide because some of my readers have written to see if we were okay during the floods. Yes, we were fine sitting on the 18th floor of a hi-rise condo watching the bands of rain roll in and seeing the news reports continue all through the day....even after most of the streets were dry.

Photography Friendships

Friendships are so important in my life. Especially friendships where I share a passion for photography. These friends are kindred souls who understand the highs and lows of trying over and over again to find the groove, of the struggle with materials and equipment and experiments that sometimes don't work as well as the joys of where it all comes together.

This past week has been rich with these friendships. I had long lunch at the Empire Cafe with Ellie Brown. I've told you before about Ellie one of the most prolific photographers I know, not just quantity but quality too. She has just put some new work on her website.

On Thursday we headed out to Austin. I have work in an exhibit called "The Image Wrought" at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas. On Thursday night Dr. Mike Ware was to lecture about gold alternative processes. I used Dr. Ware's formula for the Argyrotype alternative process when I produced a body of work called Pears. We corresponded via email and when we were in England, I was able to travel to visit with him. I definitely wanted to see him while he was in Austin, Texas.

Before the lecture I had drinks with Laura Calfee and Dennis Fagan. What fun to find out what projects they are working on and to hear about their families and other photography friends in and around Austin.

Friday morning I met up with Kay Denton and Pat Brown (sorry I wasn't able to find a website for Pat but I assure you she is another amazing photographer.) We met at Stephen Clark's Gallery on 6th Street. We had a great time looking at the work of several photographers besides the exhibition that was on the walls. The time passed quickly and suddenly it was time for lunch. Across the street to Z-Tejas for a great lunch and more talk.

Oh, how these visits with my photography friends stirred my creativity, challenged my commitment and refreshed my photographic soul.

Blue Bayou

Buffalo Bayou meanders into Houston from the West and it curls around the downtown. It starts somewhere from a small spring and gathers itself together as a drainage ditch for the coastal plains that gradually sink into the Gulf of Mexico. The Allen Brothers who laid out the town and sold property in what is now Houston had high praise for the "waterway" passage to the Gulf of Mexico but actually any passage on Buffalo Bayou from the Gulf of Mexico to the new town was difficult even for boats with a shallow draft. Texans think big and so started the "Houston Ship Channel Project." Just to the East of downtown Buffalo Bayou was dredged, and dredged some more and the Bayou became The Houston Ship Channel and we now have the Port of Houston which is the second or third largest port in the USA depending on what you count as tonnage.

Although there are early accounts of people fishing and picnicing on the banks of Buffalo Bayou, in recent years it has been polluted even above the ship channel and it has been widened and dredged to control flooding and bridges have been built across it. Still it has managed to survive and in most places to the West of Houston, trees and vines grow along its edge. But at times after a flood the trees are festuned with plastic bags and debris. As it curled around town it was overgrown and the homeless set up camps under the bridges.

A group of Houstonians wanted more from Buffalo Bayou. Maybe because they saw the attraction that a River has been made into in San Antonio and so a 20 year project has been underway to "beautify" the bayou. I have mixed feelings about this project. I'd like to see the debris kept out of the trees but for me the wilderness aspect of this waterway has always been charming. I photographed along its banks just West of downtown from the Sabine Street Bridge to the Waugh Street Bridge. I liked walking along its banks tangled with vines and into tunnels under the bridges or through trees. I never stopped being astonished by suddenly seeing the city skyline as I came around a thicket of trees.
The first phase of this project was opened last weekend with a celebration called Blue Bayou. From the Sabine Street Bridge to Bagby, the waterway has been landscaped, lighted, walks improved and a pedestrian bridge has been added. The lighting will change colors with the phases of the moon. It is all very nice but I hope that the next phase going West doesn't change the wilderness character of Buffalo Bayou too much.
I don't know if these photographs are too dark or not. It was dusk but I'm working on a laptop and the slightest tilt of the screen changes the density.

A New Lens

I do have a new lens....not for the camera but for my left eye. I mentioned in the blog that I had cataract surgery and several readers have asked me how I'm doing.

I've known I had cataracts for several years and kept changing lenses on my glasses to compensate for them. Over a year ago the doctor said she could do the surgery but I wasn't ready mentally and since it takes about 4 or 5 weeks to go through the whole procedure with both eyes, I didn't have enough time in Houston to get it all done.

I realized just before we came back to Houston that my vision had deteriorated to the point that once again I was having trouble seeing even with my glasses. My photography friend, Frank has had cataract surgery and he told me that I would have trouble with color balancing my images if I didn't take care of the cataracts. I didn't think that was happening yet but I decided to do the surgery while we are here in Houston.

Before you are scheduled for surgery you have to look at a couple of videos about cataract surgery and sign forms and more forms about your health and that you realize that there could be complications. It is enough to spook any intelligent person away from a surgery that isn't totally necessary in order to keep breathing. I signed them but the night before the surgery I almost backed out. I knew what my vision was although getting worse all the time but didn't know how it would end up after surgery. Could I be one of the 2% whose surgery isn't successful? I was scared. After writing about my fears in my journal and a little talk with God, I decided to go ahead and have the surgery.

These days you have several choices for a replacement of the natural lens. I chose the ReZoom lens replacement. The surgery was painless.....as all surgery should be! I was "out" for a few minutes while they did an eye block. I don't know what that is and I don't want to know, but I was awake and very relaxed while they did the surgery. I talked to the surgeon while she poked the new lens in my eye. Afterward, I felt a little wobbly but walked in to the condo with just a hand on Ned's arm. I had a patch on my eye that was to stay on there until 5 PM. I took a nap....actually several very nice naps.

When the patch came off I could see though the new lens but things were blurry and I could see flashes from the rings of the ReZoom lens. The next morning we walked over to the doctor's offices which are just a few blocks away so that they could check out the eye for any post surgery problems. They said that I was progressing normally but the blurring was from swelling and inflammation from the surgery. The blurring is gone now and so are the flashes of light from the rings of the lens. I still notice some evidence of the edge of the lens in my peripheral vision but they tell me that my brain will adjust for that in a few days. The middle and distance vision is very good but I can't read small print yet. One of the side effects of the lens are halos at night but these halos are suppose to diminish over time. Already there isn't much difference between the halos from the "new" eye and the "old" eye.

Frank was right and I didn't realize it. Now that I have a new clear lens, I can see a huge difference in looking at white with the new lens as opposed to looking at white with the old lens. With the old lens, white is yellow and dingy which carries over to other colors too but I couldn't see that when I was looking through the cataracted lenses. And the lens which hasn't been replaced isn't as bad as the lens that has been replaced so I'm going to have to go back and take a real serious work at the color balance of the images I printed over the last year or so. They may very well be dingy too.

One new lens and one to go......scheduled for June 21.

San Miguel Update

Carol Schmidt has a wonderful website .....Falling in Love With San Miguel. I love reading her website....all the links.....because she is a great reporter and I get the NEWS. I have a link to "Carol's blog" on the side panel but in her San Miguel News on June 7 (which is different than her blog), she posted the answers to lots of the questions we are asked about San Miguel.

Want to know about the population in San Miguel, what is happening with the investigation of the rapes in San Miguel, or even the "dogs in restaurants debate" that is currently raging among the ex-pat community.....read all about it on Carol's website.

Unknown Connections

I know a few of the people who read my blog with some regularity but there are lots of readers who I don't know. From SiteMeter I know how many people and which city their internet connect went through. I know a few people because they have made comments on the blog.....the rest a mystery.

You can imagine my consternation when Carol Doak of Avid Estate Sales told me that someone who reads my blog called her about doing an estate sale because they had read about her on my blog. The name wasn't familiar and I don't have a clue who it might be. I'm glad if it throws some more business to Carol but it brought home once again the power of the internet to connect people. The problem is a blog is a very one sided connection.

It Is Not That Easy

"Oh, it will be a lot easier now."

That is what I've been told several times when I say I've sold my darkroom equipment. I take a deep breath and answer, "Easier? No not easier. Just different." There is nothing easier about producing a fine art print via digital methods. But I'm not the only one who has had this experience.

My friend Eleanor Brown, who is one of the most creative, hard working photographers I know has heard it too and she finally wrote a commentary on her website about the misunderstanding people seem to have that you can just click a button or mouse and out comes a fine art print. With her permission, here is what she had to say.

Digital, Image Making and Printing....”It ain't just pushin' a button"
by Eleanor Brown

First I’d like to clarify that I’ve printed both black and white and color in my darkroom for many years and loved working in the dark…even the smell of the chemicals. However six years ago I converted completely to digital shooting and printing. In my experience I’ve found that there seems to be some misconceptions about those of us who do digital photography, or more specifically those of us who do Digital Fine Art image making and printing. I’ve heard the phrase all too many times, “oh you just push a button…right”…or maybe “click your mouse and viola! A print! Quick and easy, I mean after all, it’s digital, right?…..Wrong!

With the proliferation of hundreds of digicams and new “photo printers” popping up seemingly every week, seems everyone is getting into the act and it needs to be said that a some of those folks are making good prints.

But for those photographers/artists whose image making is a Passion, a way of life, its not “just pushin’ a button”. We spend countless hours traveling and “in the field”, many times in “challenging” conditions and situations “to get the shot”. Equipment is chosen carefully with image quality in mind.

Printing…well that’s another story. For those of us who demand the highest print quality, it’s not “just pushin’ a button”, or “clickin’ a mouse”. We spend countless hours at the computer fine tuning and editing each image file in Photoshop, then more time (not to mention materials) is spent printing test prints and proofing. In a nutshell, we spend time and money (lots of it) to “get it right”. In some cases, after many hours spent “getting it right”, decide it’s not good enough and trash the file.

We need fast computers, top-notch professional printers with archival pigment inks, and the software to drive those printers. We use the best image editing software and use the finest archival heavyweight rag and fiber based fine art printing materials.

So please…. next time you think digital image making is “just pushin’ a button”….well think again …and thanks! :-)

Busy

We have been busy, busy since the last entry on June 3. On Sunday we finished getting stuff out of the house after the Estate Sale, Monday the charity came to pick up stuff that was left and Avid Estate Sales made arrangement to take some pieces that had not sold to a consignment shop. Tuesday we had people in to clean the house and on Wednesday turned the house over to the new owners.

My life was so busy that I almost cancelled out of cataract surgery on Wednesday morning. Not only were we running at top speed but I was worried about having surgery on my eye. After a sleepless night, I went ahead and had the surgery. Everyone was very nice at the surgical center and they took good care of me. Other than eye drops that stung, I really didn't feel anything. Ned brought me home and I took a nap. I had a big patch on my eye. When I woke up from the nap I had a bit of discomfort. They told me not to take aspirin...take advil or tyenol instead. Ned was out running errands and we didn't have either of those. Fortunately I had some vicoden left over from bunion surgery a couple of years ago. I took one of them and went back to sleep. Haven't had a bit of discomfort since then.

For the lens replacement I choose the ReZoom lens. One of the side effects of the lens is starburst and halos that diminish over time. This morning when I woke up I was wondering if I had made a mistake. By this afternoon the problems had resolved themselves a lot. Still having some blurring and double vision but at my follow up visit this morning they told me I still have inflammation and swelling and as that subsides, I should see better. Seems like it is getting better hour by hour.

We are buying another lot in the inner city in Houston and after the doctor's visit we went to check on the lot to see where the survey lines were located since we were concerned about possible encroachment. The survey said that "rods" had been set but we couldn't find the rods. We called Janice Jamail our real estate agent. She had the survey company come back to stake and set the rods. We went over again this afternoon. The rods were there and if they are right we have problems with the boundaries of the lot. All parties have agreed to extensions to give everyone time to resolve the problems.

Will we ever get to just relax and enjoy Houston?

Estate Sale

The two-day Estate Sale is done. It was amazing how much "stuff" we had even after we took what we wanted to keep to storage. There were lots of people at the sale and they bought. They bought things that I never thought would sell. Carol Doak of Avid Estate Sales did a great job and had a really good crew with her.

We went over for a while yesterday and again today and had so much fun. We saw some friends who had stopped in for the sale and we met some wonderful people who had lots of questions for us about visiting or moving to Mexico. It was fun to tell some of the stories about the pieces they were buying. I think that they liked the piece for itself but knowing the story of the artist or place it came from was a nice addition for the new owner.

Unfortunately some of the large pieces didn't sell. People were interested in them but they would measure and try to figure out how to get it into their small townhouse but for a number of the pieces, there just wasn't a fit. So we will try to find a consignment shop for them. It is just another little hitch to getting out of the house by Friday. Actually we were hoping to be out by Wednesday and if all the pieces fall into place we will be out then.

This has to be the right move for us because the more stuff that goes, the better I feel. Not a twinge about seeing our things being loaded into someone's car or truck. I did have the thought a couple of times, "Does the buyer know what a deal he is getting?" Of course, it also means that I know where to get deals if we move back to Houston at some point......Estate Sales.

SOLD!

Signed, sealed and almost delivered.................the Houston house is sold!

The new owners are giving us another week to get all our stuff out of the house but the papers are signed. Our Realtor, Janice, thought I would cry at the closing but I didn't. We made the decision and we are ready to move on. I'm excited for the new owners because they love the house. And we ready to be back in our house in San Miguel de Allende without worrying about another house in the USA. It is a win-win situation.

For the next couple of weeks we are staying in a friend's high-rise condo. This will give us a chance to try out high-rise living. Last night was very nice. The condo was so quiet. The staff is very friendly. I might be able to adjust to this.