Month: November 2024

….like wine and friends like you all.

Started this post Monday afternoon…..

I have been trying to write a post for at least five days but life just keeps happening.

Thank you all for your many many comments. They were much appreciated. Gene, overjoyed to know you are still hanging in. Hey you know my life is always full of drama so stick around as it won’t be boring. I might even do a synopsis on what happened to the Rexhall generator a few years back 😉  I did promise you…..

Shirley you were one of my first readers back in 2010. And here we are 14 years later. Moving back to Tsawwassen, eh!  Good luck with that. But having family near is also important.

Special thanks to those who explained how to sign up for each of my new blog posts – directly deposited to your inbox. No muss nor fuss, not having to check back day after day.

We did get out a week ago to pick up some flower plants to replenish those that died over the summer. We went to two nurseries but potted hibiscus plants are in short supply. I have a friend here on the Isla who loves flowers and between us I have an order for ten hibiscus of varying colors including double and single incoming by weeks end. That will certainly complete my flowers for this season.

I had my third – most wonderful massage by Katia last Thursday. She has really helped thaw my tense body nerve by nerve, muscle by muscle, poco a poco. My pain levels have begun to decrease. A few days ago I thought I would surprise Colin and the girls and meet them on the beach on their hour long walk. Somehow something always interrupted me – usually computer related. Well today I actually met them on the beach. I walked on my own all the way to El Velero before I caught up to them on their way back. Very slowly and carefully of course because of my eyesight. It felt liberating. And not too much pain. I actually ( with Colin’s help dragging the hose for me ) watered all the flowers and then did a load of laundry and hung it myself.  And here I am now working on blog post. Colin is making dinner for us.  Oh and yesterday I made ( always with Colins help doing the chopping ) a huge pot of Thai curry fish chowder. It was yummy 😎

I am working the best I can with my eyesight. Trying to decrease my computer time and to increase just sitting and looking out at the vista and the Isla beach and trying to discern details. Some days my eye are sore using the readers with the computer. I am hoping that means I need less eyeglass help. At this point I have decided to wait till mid January before going to have my yes rechecked. We had some special friends over the other day and she mentioned that it took her a full year before she could see in one of her operated eyes.

…stopped for dinner and to reorganize the kitchen for the third time. Each time it had helped make it better to work in.

….resuming this post about noonish Tuesday the 26th. Had a busy morning, Colin went into Mazatlan to pick up a few items at the bakery and some veggies and of course my must have Chihuahua ‘Santa Rita’ cheese – cut fresh off the big wheel. Meanwhile I yelled at the girls a few times who were barking at the feral cats and also got a few loads of laundry done and hung outside in the sunshine.

We have had folks over about 3 times, just one couple at a time for some low key visiting. I am not ready for social events right now.  I even did a home delivery of a shrimp dinner special being offered last Friday. Great food and so much of it for 80 MXN each. Just read that a local restaurant ( local as in less than four blocks from here ) is offering a dinner special of coconut shrimp for 150 MXN. We just might do that tomorrow.

My biggest accomplishment was walking down to the beach the other morning. It did not happen today but hopefully tomorrow.

 

During the last week I received the following comment on my last blog post. That post along with the many comments can be found here.  On November 12th I received this comment……..

I started following Contessas blog 4-5 years ago and have found it quite interesting, reading about their nomad life in MX and their Canadian Summers in BC.

Unfortunately it appears that she is in the process of shutting the site down. She can”t be oblivious to the fact that people are not going to log in every day; because they care and are interested, only not to see one word. Quite disrespectful. Recently there was a long time follower who was checking in and then advised he will be unsubscribing. That got an immediate response from Contessa, so we know she’s logging in herself!

I realize she does not owe us a daily blog but a lot of us may travel vicariously through her and Colin’s adventures and enjoy her adventures and respect the time it takes to do a proper blog…..perhaps a short blurb rather than a book??? She needs to decide if she’s a blogger …. Or not!

I was appalled. Thank you to my readers who added their own thoughts to this offensive comment. I can honestly say Paul,  that I appreciate that you have followed me for 4 -5 years, yet to call me disrespectful is shattering. I have been blogging since May of 2010. For most of that time I did write daily however our lives changed over the past year. Previously there had been a change in format in October of 2022 due to technical blog issues. It was a huge learning step for me but I kept on.

Last January we made a decision to change our path in life. Hence the past eleven months have been in preparation for that. Long story short my body could not quite keep up. But I kept pushing myself. Colin did the brunt of the physical work but I was the one who was constantly sitting at the computer researching, sending out emails, exploring possibilities and it never seemed to stop not to mention the constant marketplace selling and garage sales. We returned from Mexico April 30th and on May 1st began preparing to move out of our home. And neither of us stopped. The house did not sell so we sold the RV and rented a U Haul to transport what was left of our life ( stored in bins and boxes and plastic bags ) to California where we purchased a new to us RV – our home for the foreseeable future.

Towing the U-Haul was not quite as much fun as we thought it would be. Certainly not like the Beverly Hillbillies! Plus the roads were more mountainous than expected while the motels were lesser than expected especially at the prices we were paying. But on the plus side we were able to plug in the freezers overnight and park outside our room. On the last night we ordered a pizza for delivery, $56.00USD!! We ate and went to bed. The sheets and bed were clean but the rest of the place was best looked at with little to no lighting.

Over the past six weeks we left our home country of Canada and crossed not one but two international borders. We worked at fitting our “stuff” into an RV and some unhappy decisions were made. I already regret a few things given away in the US but we have no extra space. Then learning the ins and outs and of course unexpected breakdowns from day 1 ( just 4 hours away from the dealership ). No guarantees with a used RV 🙁   But we do have insurance for the next 5 years on major RV parts which of course was an unforeseen expense. The RV now has Montana plates which decreased the amount of taxes we had to pay. But we did have to hire a lawyer and an accountant for our LLC and an insurance agent to cover us for full-time travel in the RV. Health insurance was covered from Canada to the end of October. We are now on our own as in pay as you go in that department.

There were a myriad of todo’s such as closing down our incorporated company. switching banks, closing down the house in Kelowna for the next while. Finding out that the owner of our compound here on there Isla died a few weeks before we left Canada.  How long could we continue to stay here? We still are not certain. I could go on and on. Many nights I went to bed without dinner as I was too busy.

I came back the end of April 2024 with a worn out body. My fall in July ( broken nose ) was literally a pain. Then with less than a week to leaving Canada I had a major fall in the bathtub and could not walk for three days. I was beyond drained. Of course my “unsuccessful” eye surgery was debilitating. I consider myself unable to walk on my own and certainly I will never drive again. Every step is in slow motion so I don’t fall but simply not seeing cleary is crushing. Not seeing the ocean and the beach distinctly is well……think about it – if it was you.

It is only in the past few days that my physical pain ( thanks to my masseuse Katia ) is starting to diminish. I have been sleeping 10 – 12 hours per night with one or two naps per day. One of the few highlights in my life has been writing my blog for the past 14 years. It hurts me more than you when I don’t publish but I finally realized I had to choose myself as the most important thing in order to keep living. Living a good and happy life that is. I am number one 😎  La première 😀 El primero  😉

Paul I apologize for upsetting your reading and enjoyment of my blog. But I am simply a human who has experienced copious adjustments in the past six weeks 😥 Personally that fact that my body energy is ever so slowly returning as the physical pain level decreases delights me. What you don’t know is that in the past 12 months I have not been on a walk more than 24 times – never mind an honest to goodness beach walk.

Right now my priority is to get out there and be happy with no pain nor anguish. Sorry this is a “book” but that is how I roll these days. Taking photos and editing them and fitting them into a post takes energy that I simply do not have. I have taken photos and am eager to share them but please give me time.

Some may recall that the reason I started to blog was that I wanted certain photos in my emails re our travels. That will come back but if it takes too long for you Paul, I wish you good reading elsewhere.

In real life today, we planted some new flowers here in the compound. I am going to make pizza from scratch for dinner. Life is good, we are a happy team with some wonderful ( if only they would stop barking at feral cats ) doxies. Our future lies ahead whatever direction down the road we choose.

We are so enjoying our new home ( at least while I am awake ). We each have our own toilet 😆  So far we have no complaints except for the various breakdowns ( mostly because the RV has sat for many years with little use – it only had 23,000 miles on it so basically is like new ) Have to say that the macerator breaking down was a huge issue/problem! But having windows that have never been opened ( clean screens ) nor a stovetop that has ever been used are huge plusses. The enormous residential fridge and washer/dryer are wonderful bonus items.  And then there is the king bed. The girls are now officially sleeping full-time in our bed. Well we are full-timers.

Most difficult thing is trying to find where I put everything such as the pizza dough for dinner………