Our Art Opening

Matt finally finished the last of his murals in our terrace and everyone wanted to see.  On Saturday, August 16th we hosted an open house to view his work....but really just sounds like an excuse to have a party.  We had lots of fun with our friends and Matt received a lot of compliments....but unfortunately no commissions....such is the life of an artist.  Our friends Joe and Sharon presented Matt with a beret...every artist should wear a beret, right?  It was personalized with his name "MattVan Gough" so he's got a new nick name.  Much better than what this group calls me "vaquetona". We were playing Mexican train one day and I was kicking some butt.  Couldn't seem to loose.  Two of my Mexican friends, Ceci and Ana, started calling me vaquetona.  They said it sort of meant brat, but others I've asked said it's somewhere between a scoundrel or a cheat....hmmmm.  But I guess it's all in the delivery.  They usually say when they greet me "me preciosa vaqui", so it sounds nice, right?

Here's a mural I saw in San Miguel Allende.  I was hoping Matt was use this as an inspiration for his next work!`

Every September in Ajijic, one of the biggest events is the Globo Fest.  A globo is a balloon and for this fest it refers to miniature, homemade hot air balloons.  They are made from tissue paper, the heat comes from a basket under the balloon where a tee shirt soaked in kerosene is lit.  If all goes well, this contraption actually launches and drifts off before it falls somewhere in the mountains...and hopefully doesn't start a fire.  If all doesn't go well, it burns up at launch.  I understand there are hundreds of these globos and they are all launched from the soccer field.  The kids all love when a globo burns up during launch as they run and stomp out the fire.  No one ever said safety was a high priority in Mexico.  Mostly it's Mexicans that build globos, but Matt plans to build and launch one this year.  His friend Vern always has a globo in the fesitval so he's teaching Matt.  The past week or so they've been building a prototype and I was there for the test launch.  Kathleen and I of course celebrated the launch with jalapeno jamaica margaritas.

Sad news here.  On Monday, August 18th, Lola suddenly refused to eat.  Very unusual for this sweet girl.  On Thursday, after four days not eating, I took her to the vet and she ran blood work.  All Lola's liver function tests came back with terrible results.  The vet said her liver was so damaged there wasno treatment, and to just take her home and keep her comfortable.  Matt and I moped and cried for the rest of the week (OK I cried, Matt moped).  We tried to coax her to eat anything we could think of; occasionally she'd take a few bites but couldn't keep anything down.  Then miraculously Sunday she seemed a bit better.  I got her to eat some pieces of beef and she kept them down.  Monday I fixed her a stew of hamburger and rice and she actually ate a meal.  Right now she's eating chicken and rice.  Her jaundice is much better and she seems to be regaining her energy.  So we are cautiously hopeful.  The vet says to wait another week or so and we'll repeat the blood work.  If her results are improved we can maybe consider some treatment options.  So please, need prayers and good thoughts for our sweet Lola.

Our Chapala Summer!

Summer is beautiful Lakeside.  The rains started a bit early this year and by mid-June everything was starting to green up nicely.  A good rainy season is much appreciated here as the water level in the lake has been very low for several years.

Cara, Me, Kathleen & Louracia

For the fourth of July weekend I went to San Miguel de Allende for a two night girls trip.  What a beautiful city!  Kathleen, always the adventurer, was the driver and she did a great job.  The trip was about 4 1/2 hours each way and we saw some beautiful parts of Mexico.  We stayed at a wonderful B&B that served some of the best Chiliquiles ever for breakfast.  Each room had a fireplace and the room Louracia and I shared had a beautiful view of the cathedral and each morning we'd watch hot air balloons drift over the city.  The town of SMA is shaped like a bowl with the main shopping

The Square in San Miguel

area at the bottom surrounded by hills.  We trekked down the street every day to shop, eat and sightsee.....and then back up the street each night to our hotel.  Well, at least Kathleen and Cara did.  Sometimes Louracia and I grabbed a cab!  We actually closed down the bars both nights....or actually I think we closed down two different bars in the same night.  But whatever, we had a great time.  On the way back, we went through Dolores Hidalgo to shop for pottery and briefly saw Guanajuato....which will definitely be out next trip!

Beautiful San Miguel

The beautiful breakfast table at our B&B

Shortly after I returned from SMA, Matt had a family emergency and needed to return to Kansas City.  He was very much missed here, but this is an easy town to be alone in.  The dogs and I kept up our daily routine and the only thing that really suffered in Matt's absence was his beautiful garden.

I do think Matt has finally finished with the murals in the garden.  Originally, he was going to paint one...but he enjoyed it so much now there are five.  It's been a great project for him and they look great!  We're very happy with our beautiful terrace!  Everything is growing so fast - this is the perfect climate for plants.  Not too hot, not too cold.

Our best surprise was that Ryan and Brandee came to see us.  They arrived last week for a six day visit and man did we pack in the activities!  We went to the markets here in Ajijic, Tequila (yes there is a pueblo named tequila...and they makes lots of tequila there), Guadalajara, Talaquepaque, Tequila Fest in Chapala and we had some incredible meals and lots of fun.  Ryan took most of the pics, and has promised to send them to me soon, but for now here's a pic of Ryan, Brandee and I tase testing the tequila at Herraderra distillery.

My one bit of sad news is that Buster, the pup I'm fostering that I talked about in last blog entry, had to have more surgery.  He had nerve damage in his right rear leg and it became apparent he would never be able to use it.  Vet said best to amputate.  Buster did pretty well with this surgery although he did have an infection but recovered quickly.  And yes, he's still staying with us.  Originally it was going to be a short foster for a week or two - now two months later he's still here.  But I'm taking him to the next adoption day and hopefully he'll charm someone like he has me.  He is a sweet heart and has so much spirit.  Hermann actually loves to play with him....and Herm never plays with anyone.  Lola, she'd rather he just leave her alone.  

Vino Blanco.....in Ajijic that ain't just white wine!

I guess it's not surprising that Ajijic has it's share of quirky characters.  I'm sure this is true of any haven in Mexico that attracts Americans and Canadians.  I will say that the Chapala area seems to attract ex-pats that are mostly on the "normal"side, even a few that are way too high strung, but we have a few that really wouldn't blend in back in Kansas City, but here seem to have found their perfect place to be.

One of these was Pedro Loco.  Matt and I never met him, he passed away just before Matt and I first came to Ajijic in May 2013.  From what I under stand, Pedro (formerly known as Peter) was a retired Canadian attorney.  He loved to dress in colorful Mexican garb, and adorn the outfit with a flowered straw hat.  Legend has it that Pedro loved to drink, and sometimes it was a long trip home from whatever bar he was at that night.  But luckily Pedro had a great little donkey named Vino Blanco that he took almost everywhere he went.  Vino Blanco always knew her way home, even when Pedro didn't, so he could just climb on and she'd deliver him to his doorstep.

We met Vino Blanco when we arrived in May 2013 as she was being cared for by Yve, the owner of a local restaurant.  The old Yves restaurant was lakeside and one of our favorite places for dinner, and an easy walk from our village house.  Yve kept Vino Blanco in front of his restaurant and she attracted her fair share of attention, not that she really cared.  She roamed the beach area, but it was eroded and not much to munch on, but Yve always tried to find her a bit of green grass to munch on.

So here we are a year later and back in Ajijic.  This time we rented a house just west of the village.  It's still within walking distance, but a longer walk.  I usually walk the dogs around the neighboring housing developments rather than through the village.  So I do miss seeing the village every day.  But one thing I do get to see everyday is Vino Blanco!  Last winter Yve moved his restaurant from the old lakeside location to the west end of town.  It's in a beautiful property, an older home and the outside tables surround a swimming pool. And it's directly across the careterra from our new house!  We love walking across the street for breakfast, lunch and dinner at Yve's.  And every day we can see Vino Blanco munching grass around her beautiful new home.  We can even here her bray when the mood takes her.  So, we have a piece of the village right her on the west side!

Budding Artist, Mexican Healthcare and a Pup on the Mend

Matt needed a project....and he found one.  We cleared out some dead bouganvillas from our terrace when we first moved into this house - and this left a large space of garden wall very exposed and very empty.  We planted some young bouganvillas but it will take a while for them to come of age.  What to do about this wall?  We talked about buying some wall art that would do well outside, or a tile mosaic, or possibly having a local artist paint a mural.  Whatever we did, it needed to be fairly inexpensive as we are renting and not sure where we'll go after the year's lease expires.

Then Matt came up with a solution - he would paint a mural.  Now everyone says upon hearing this "I didn't know Matt is an artist!"  And I say - "he's not".  But he planned a geometrical design, plotted it out on paper, ran plumb lines on the wall so everything would be in order, cut templates, and then got to work.  I've got to say he did an amazing job.  I soon found out that he wanted very little input from me.  This was his project and he took full ownership of it.  When the design was all plotted out on the wall and we went to buy paints, I thought he'd really need my help then.  Not so much!  He had a clear idea of what he wanted and he found it.  We came to one major disagreement about the design - he wanted to outline all the shapes with blue and I thought it was better to leave just the wall color peaking through each shape.  Well, we compromised; he outlined one area in blue to make a circle and left the rest as is for me.  Well, here is his completed design.  I think it looks really nice!  We had this crazy vine pop up on the side of the mural and over the last three weeks it's grown from nothing to about 12 feet long.  Matt's training it so it will circle around his mural.  And this turned out so well, he's already got two other designs plotted out.  Updates to follow!

Matt's first mural

Seems like since we've been back in Ajijic we've done catch up with our health care needs.  I've seen a GP and a opthamologist.  Matt has seen an orthopedist for his sore knee.  We've been very happy with the health care available here, and the affordability.  The one thing our friends and family usually wonder about is the quality of health care here and affordability.  We continue to just pay out of pocket for what we need (doctor visits ad prescriptions) and have a high deductible health insurance plan with very reasonable rates in the US.  When Matt was dealing with a lot of knee pain, we felt this might be the first tough call we needed to make.  Should he have it repaired here and we foot the entire bill or go back NOB and have it done with our insurance?  Luckily the knee is doing much better right how, so no need to make a decision,  One thing we especially like about doctors here is that they tend to be much more holistic.  Before offering a prescription, they'll have a serious talk with you about diet and exercise.

Part of the charm of living in a village is that almost everything is within walking distance.  The medical doctors we chose to use are a bit too far to walk, but there are a couple options for health care within a 15 minute walk.  There is a dentist across the street from us that does an amazing job of cleaning your teeth for only $150 pesos. And all work is done by the dentist.  At her clinic, extractions are $350 pesos, fillings $400 peso and crowns $2500 pesos.  And there is a vet for Hermann and Lola that is only a five minute walk away.  So lots of good options for all of our family very near our house.

For the past week I've been wearing my Nurse Syd hat.  A four month old pup was brought to the ranch with two broken rear legs.  Gudrun and I took him to a vet in Guadalajara and Drl Barron felt he could repair his legs but it would be two tough surgeries.  Since this little guy was so loving and friendly, despite all the pain, we decided to give him a shot at recovery.  He was at Dr. Barron's for 10 days recovering from the surgery.  Last Saturday we picked him up and he obviously needed a lot of special care so he's at our house for a bit.  I can't say Matt, Hermann or Lola are especially happy about this development.  He's not doing as well as I had hoped, and seems he has some nerve damage in his right leg and he won't use it at all.  I'm taking him to the vet twice a week for a vitamin B12 shot which may help repair this damage.  He's also still in a lot of pain at times as well.  So the jury is still out; not sure if he'll recover enough usage of this leg that he'll be OK, or if we'll need to consider another very sad option.  Have my fingers crossed for sweet little Buster.  Matt calls him thumper because he's always wagging his tail...despite all his troubles.

Sweet Buster

Buster Giving Herm some Loving - Herm is not Happy!

Lakeside Life is Busy!

Wow.....after six months of lazing near the ocean, I had forgotten how busy we are here!  Busy in a fun, doing what you love kind of way, but still busy!

Our routine is for Matt to play golf Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and then he works on our little garden on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings.  I work at the ranch (my dog rescue) Monday, Wednesday and Friday....but sometimes help with special events or run dogs to the vet on other days.  Our housekeeper comes on Friday afternoons, so that's our afternoon to go out for lunch and do a bit of grocery shopping.  Add in yoga five times a week and Spanish class twice a week and we have our routine.  But still leaves us plenty of time in the evenings for fun stuff.

On Mothers Day we help an open house brunch for some friends and neighbors.  Was a really good time....but a lot of work.  We're all mothers with kids far away, so celebrating with friends makes the day special.   Special shout out to Matt - he surprised me with a certificate for ten massages.  He set the bar pretty high!

I bet they're talking golf!

Matt enjoyed showing off his garden

Notice Lola hanging with Jan and Ron who fostered her while we were away this winter.  She was glad to see them!

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\Kitchen talk!

We had another great dinner at Molcajetes, which is our every other Saturday night usual....home of the bottomless, free Margaritas!  Yumm!  We like to save room for gelatto; you know...kids and old folks all love their ice cream.

Note the Mexican sound system on this car.....you just strap a huge speaker to the roof of the car, connect it to the radio and are able to piss off a whole bunch of gringos,

After much deliberating, Matt and I have a new ride!  With our schedules the way they are, it was obvious that we needed to add a vehicle.  I wanted a small motorcycle since I felt I could ride it on the highway to the ranch.  Matt wanted a scooter, since he HATES motorcycles.  Matt won - we bought a 2008 Honda scooter.  I don't think it has enough power to carry both of us, but it's good for one person.  I ride it to yoga and Matt will use it to run errands when I'm at the ranch with the car.

There is a great bus system here, they run constantly.  I've often thought we were foolish not to use them more often, especially when we go into Chapala where parking can be hard to find even in low season but even more so in the winter when all the snow birds are in town.  My neighbors Isabelle and Donnie don't have a car here and were taking the bus into Guadalajara one day this past week and asked me to join them.  Was a fun trip.  There are local buses into Guad and express buses.  The express buses are much nicer with reclining seats and leg rests.  We took a local bus into Guad (a two hour trip) and an express bus home (one hour trip).  Note to self....wait for the express.  Very little difference in price - 42 pesos for the local bus and 50 for the express.  Once in Guad we took a cab ($40 pesos) to a mercado -- and what an experience!  The mercado took up an entire large city block and was three levels.  You name it and I'm sure you could find it at the mercado.  There were fruits, vegetables, nuts, candy, clothing, shoes (and more shoes), saddles, boots,  belts, watches, jewelery, lotions, herbs, meats, fish, electronics,  baskets,  blankets....you get the idea.  The difficult part was finding what shop you needed.  They also had a huge food court area where you could choose everything from sushi to goat stew.  We ended up having some ceviche tostados and a beer!  Was fun and I think a good alternative to driving.

Lakeside Living

We've been in our new home for just over three weeks and love it!  It seems to be just the right size for us and the layout is perfect.  The Ajijic house we lived in last summer was newer and more up-to-date, but this one just seems to fit our lifestyle perfectly.

Back Terrace

We have a little terrace just off our bedroom so this is our view every morning when we wake up.  Matt and David, the handyman, hung a clothesline out there for me.  I love taking the clothes fresh off the line, folding them on our bed, and then having our closet right there to put them away.






For those who visited us in La Cruz or La Paz,  you know what it's like to work in a small, Mexican kitchen.  Well here we have a nice, full sized kitchen and I love it!  We're working on getting it stocked with what we need, but it will be perfect for us.  We're within walking distance to some of our favorite restaurants in Ajijic, but we've been out to dinner ONE time.  We loving fixing dinner in our new home.


This covered terrace is right out side our living room and we spend a lot of our days here.  Matt and I found the perfect hammock chair for me in La Paz and I think this is the perfect spot for it!

 Our living room is very comfortable....and colorful.  And Matt finally has his recliner!

 When we first arrived, our terrace was terribly overgrown.  Matt and our gardener, Leo, worked very hard to get it thinned out.  This day they filled ten bags of yard waste!  Clearing out all this old stuff, gave us plenty of room to add plants of our own.

Terrace Work in Progress

Cleared out and ready for "our" plants to grow!

One thing we were missing was a barbeque grill.  Kathleen took me on a shopping trip to
Tonala, which is a great little town to pick up some incredible bargains on hand-made Mexican wares.  I bought some beautiful pottery, hand blown wine glasses, pots for the garden and this great barbeque grill.

We had just been settled into our new home for one week, and I left for a few days in Cancun to meet my sisters, niece Niki and here very cute little boy Gunner.  Was a good trip for sure although the timing wasn't perfect since we were still in a bit of a turmoil from our relocation.  Love my sister time....and so good to spend time with that sweet Gunner and his mom.

A lady walking the beach asked if we were twins - must be our lovely hair

Karol enjoying the back porch

Niki and Gunner

Gunner playing with the toys Uncle Matt sent him

My last beach sunrise....for a bit

The lovely Lola has fit in perfectly.  She craves affection and petting, but goes about getting it in a very subdued mellow way.  From the first day we picked her up, she has worked very hard at winning Matt's heart - and I think she has succeeded.  Herm does really well with her, although probably just a bit jealous.  They both love their morning and afternoon walks!  Both get very excited, do a little dance and try to crowd their way to the front door so they can be first out the door!

We also are very happy with the location of our new house.  We have a great little tienda within walking distance where we can buy household staples.  There is also a pescadoria selling fresh seafood and a carnaceria where we can buy meat.  We also walk to the Tuesday organic market where we buy most of our produce.  There is a great panaderia nearby selling sourdough breads, and a French bakery when we want to indulge.  Very seldom do we need to visit the local Wal-mart!  There is a salon just a block away for me; and next door to the salon is a vet for the dogs.  There is also a dentist across the street.  Also within a few blocks is a ferreteria (hardward store) and vivera (garden center).  We feel like we are just where we need to be!

Was good to reunite with our old friends from this area.  We've enjoyed reconnecting.  Were able to join one group of our friends for our every other Saturday night at Molcajetes in Chapala and last weekend we had a Derby Day party.  Here's a photo of the winners of the best derby hats contests.

Syd, Joe & Sharon

Matt is back on the golf course in full swing, playing three times a week.  I've got a schedule worked out where I can get to yoga class four or five times a week.  I spend every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at the ranch with my dogs....and then an occasional Saturday and Sunday.  I'm set up for Skype Spanish classes with my La Paz instructor and that has been going very well.  Wasn't sure I'd feel comfortable Skype-ing my lessons, but is great to be able to do this from my own home.

An update about my La Paz mamma dog that I shared pics of her and her NINE babies on our last post.  She and all nine babies are doing well......and now she has a TENTH baby.  Evidently someone found a very small puppy that had been dumped in La Paz.  Shawn, my friend and dog rescuer, ended up with the baby and tried putting her with mamma dog as she was just a bit smaller than mamma's puppies.  Incredible mamma let her nurse and she is fitting in with the other babies.  Shawn has made arrangements for all ten babies to go to San Diego to be adopted at the end of June; and mamma will be spayed and be one of the first residents of the new dog shelter in El Centenario.

So that's our life as it stands now.  We're very happy to be back in Chapala.