My first hibiscus in a few weeks. The plants have not been happy. I love this shade of yellow with the white center. Colin had to hold the stem steady because of the wind. Taken with my iPhone. But I am still having trouble seeing to focus properly.
Finally the weather is ever so slowly warming up. I walked the beach ( second walk this week ) to Letty’s this morning and back. My back was sore with every step but I did do it. Sat for a bit at the computer doing some online research for a new project for the RV. Trying to figure out if my back issue is the computer and chair I am using. So I added an outdoor patio cushion for height and another cushion for my back. Seems we always have something on the go. After a lovely shower I sat in a sheltered corner of my garden with my back to the sun and nursed a glass of wine. Of course I fell asleep and had the loveliest wee nap. As I recall I was composing a blog in my mind. Can’t remember the details 😎
Hmm I just downloaded some photos from my iPhone so now I have about 90 photos to share…..I guess I will get to them when I do. They all have a story attached to them.
So this is one of the two fancy chairs that come with the RV. That large hole between the wood and the actual chair cushion hits me in the back and is not comfortable.
I really would like these two cushions to make my ‘desk’ chair more comfy.
This is now known as the feral cat watch perch.
Just hanging around. Our resident heron fishing from the rocks with the pelicans keeping an eye on what he might be catching.
Colin prefers not to use lists. Last week while in Centro he did purchase two plant pots for me. However they were 2 -3 times larger than what I needed. The very next day, Katia was offering up some papaya trees that she had grown from seeds 😀 She even delivered them but the the roots were bare and dry. We put them into water immediately and the next Colin carefully planted them in the large pots. Now we had papaya trees that would grow for years.
Sadly between the dry roots and the cold wind the plants grown with love did not do well and shriveled up.
The next day Colin had to go get fuel near the airport and I asked him to go a bit further and to pick up a new bougainvillea for me from the vivero on Hwy 15. He also came back with two new papaya tree seedlings.
Colin simply added the new papaya babies to the existing ‘large’ pots just in case the first ones survive. The new plants are doing well, not so much the original ones.
So on his last visit to Centro, a few days ago, despite passing the maceta store ( he said he even glanced inside as he walked past ) he neglected to actually go in the store to pick up the two smaller plant pots that I had requested – because it was not on a list! Oh well, one day I will get that project completed.
This lovely colored purple bougainvillea has given me grief for that past two winters. I pampered it and tried everything I know but life is short………
It has now been replaced by a slightly colored plant. Please live long dear plant. 180 MXN, about $12.00 CAD.
Dang, today my computer changed over to Espagnol – so everything you see on your computer is now on Spanish for me. Happens every year and impossible to change back. Just makes my mind work harder 😳
So fortunate to have a washing machine ( as wells a dryer ) but I prefer to do use this latest technology to dry my laundry.
Newest activity from El Faro!
Wedding tonight at Carmelita’s. There is a startled bird on the right flying into the photo. Special thank you to Genie for sharing her video. Now we get to listen to the music all night long……hope it is good.
Two bands at the same time, one on the beach and the other on the boat.
Oh and a banana boat as well….
It was a great day today, despite the cooler weather. I had a wonderful afternoon reading my book. I even forgot to go to to El Velero to listen to Los Cryps. Definitely a relaxing few hours 😎
No matter how much you plan your day for tomorrow, it will change! So now I just get up when I do ( was about 9ish earlier in the week but today it was 10:30 ). Somedays we have one or two people drop by, other days more and on some days no one. So enjoying our few but very special visits. I am learning to go with the flow. We have had the opportunity to be active but we both have chosen to live quieter. Heck, Colin even had a nap today, I was just waking up from mine when I found him asleep on the bed. Nice to see. We have slowed the pace of our day to day. However he is finding time to play his guitar which means all the world to him and I am happy to have him playing again. Today he played, napped and then played again. Just as it should be.
Our January calendar photo, taken sometime last season.
So happy that Canada has sent men and equipment.
And of course Mexico has sent help as well.
We are saddened by the fires in the LA area and as well we have a handful of close friends directly affected. I got your messages Julie, sorry we are not there to help you directly. Hopefully you will have electricity soon. Another friend’s home is only 2 miles for the encroaching fire 😥
We have had a cold front come through. Love burrowing under our duvet ( with the twins of course ) with the open window at night. woke up to 57F yesterday and today. Two nights a go we had major rain – we both slept thru it – the road still has puddles. This RV is quite sound proof. Back to sunshine but with cooler temps for the next week.
Friends ( Tom & Mandy ) from Venice Beach are here for the winter and once again are bringing in blues musicians to perform in Mazatlan. January 10th Eugene Hideaway Bridges performed a few homes over from us for an informal concert. Our very own Joe DeLauro ( the other RV here in our compound ) on the drums and Rick Reed, on break from Canned Heat, played bass. The band also played gigs at Water’s Edge in centro.
We had to dress for the weather as we were sitting outside.
Back in January of 2020, Tom and Mandy started having Monday afternoons at our place at Tres Amigos RV Park as a fun day at the beach for the various musicians. The first one was just a few weeks after my knee surgery. Below Colin is jamming with Benito ( aka Santana ), Eugene and on the right Rick.
Click here for a link to a post I did January 23rd 2020. I totally recall how hot it was that January, we all needed to sit in the shade. In that post you will also see James Anderson who just played here last week. I blogged about each event at our RV. Here is the link to another great afternoon with photos of Mitch Woods who will be playing here in March during Carnaval. Back in those days the performances were at La Bohemia in the Plazuela Machado. Everything changed in early March of 2020 when Covid came into all of our lives. Sadly La Bohemia closed down to lack of business and now is a fast food restaurant.
So we have been busy – well actually Colin more so, immersed back in the world of music. Colin is now also filming each event for Tom. I have only been to the one event, just next door to see Eugene. I just could not miss seeing him again.
Continued today, January 19th…..
Poco a poco. I wish there were more hours in each day. Still cool at 62F today. No matter we still love being here and for certain the sun and heat will return. The girls are dealing with the best they can with the constant feral cat appearances. Bark and bark and bark, I guess it’s their job.
So many changes in our world on a daily basis. Not all so good. Best to live each day to the fullest. Special thanks to Cindy and Sonny who have been dealing with a constant blaring smoke alarm. The new batteries and reset did not help so they will replace the unit for us. Meanwhile we are working on find the right realtor to sell our home. Hope to get this sorted out and listed in few weeks. I don’t know if this is true but I have heard that we actually have to go back to sign the papers despite so many legal things being signed online. Maybe I will fly someone here to deliver the papers to us 😎
Lots of tuna activity. The helicopters are spotting them and flying personal back and forth constantly. The boats are leaving and returning full of tuna 24 hours per day. So nice for the economy. Over the years we have had shortages and tuna, of dorado and of shrimp – that was the worst for us. Fortunately this season there is lots of fresh fish available. Yeah, we finally just got some fresh off the boat tuna, best ever. And we have a good source to get fresh crab. We will not starve.
…and now today, January 31st we will get the rest of this post written – I hope!
What excuse can I give this time…..tick, tock, time is passing faster and faster.
But I do have a very unique reason to complete the final push to publish this post. Readers from way back (possibly from day 1 in 2010 when I started to write this blog) stopped to say hola to me just outside our open gate today. Robbin lives in Hawaii. He gives the best hugs ( next to you Alan, my Chilliwack friend ). He has a home about 3 minutes from us here on the isthmus when he is not in Maui or elsewhere in the world. Robbin reminded me how much he enjoys reading my posts so here I am.
Continued yet again today, February 1st……
Perhaps this post was never meant to be. It seems that everyday we have something that happens that interrupts plans. No complaints as most of them are interesting or fun and certainly enjoyable at the moment, yet this post never gets completed. How did it get to be February? Still dealing with yet another cold front, down to 57F last night. During the day the sun is shining and if you can sit out of the wind the weather is perfect.
I am feeling so much stronger. No longer dizzy. No longer sleeping for hours and hours. I don’t think I have had a nap for a week now. Two days ago I even walked down to the beach on my own to meet Colin returning from his longer walk with the twins and we walked back together. I am going to now push myself ( hopefully that is more successful than blog writing ) to walk every second day. I read my first book since before Christmas so things are much better in my world. So great to have more energy and it will get better yet. Also have been working on my eyes, I can see a bit better. Trying a few different things for more improvement.
I have lots to share with you – especially in photos. So I am going to wrap this loco post up pronto. Just have to add some photos. FYI that took just over an hour to add the photos, links and captions.
My photo taken from our compound January 25th.
Stunning sunset photo taken January 26th, by Mary-Ann Knight from her perfectly located condo on the Malecon. Thanks for allowing me to share.
The only complaint I have, apart from the feral cats driving the girls crazy, is my inability to see the sunset nightly. We had a great view location back at the RV park but honestly I had to keep darting in and out of our RV in order to not get bitten by the no-see-ums. Here the berm bordering on the shipping channel blocks the view. But now that I am stronger I really only have to walk a very short distance to get a better vista. Going to start working on that now. Plus we have no bitting bugs, not a one, here on the isthmus.
…our twins were born, right about this time – midday.
Carlie ( 90 minutes older ) and Ciela have become the highlight of our lives. They enjoy traveling in the RV and certainly love Mexico. Enjoy your day girls, many treats and cuddles coming your way today – well actually forever 😎
The video was taken just after dawn a few weeks before Christmas. The music was live, from an all night quinceanera!
So happy to say adios to 2024. Let the good times roll….
The Princess was the last cruise ship of 2024. I ran out to get a quick snap shot and listen to her song. Always warms my heart.
Colin had left about 5PM with Genie to attend the first of two New Years Eve performances at Waters Edge featuring Eugene Hideaway Bridges. I simply was not up to an evening out but I will see Eugene play over the next few weeks here and there. Colin said that Joe was really rocking it 😎
The girls snuggled on the bed at the window waiting for them to return. Later they joined me on the sofa and we all cuddled until Colin came home about 10PM. We skipped the midnight celebrations and fireworks and were in bed by about 11PM.
I borrowed this lovely photo from Joe and Genie. Their RV is in the foreground. Our compound is so very festive.
Finally making our first Christmas dinner ( yes on January 1st ) in our new home. So happy to be feeling a bit better.
We are so looking forward to our new life here in Mexico.
May 2025 bring you all new adventures and special moments and most important of all good health.
***I am certain that many of you recall that back in the day we had access to the use of Coles Notes. Per Dr. Google: What are Coles Notes? They are little books students use to help them with a variety of subjects. Coles Notes are written to help students and others to gather information quickly without having to read a whole book. Coles Notes have been written on a number of different topics. Coles Notes are student guides to literature, published in Canada. The Coles bookstore first published Coles Notes in 1948. So I have decided to publish my own version of Coles Notes as I have the energy. Bits of this and that as they come to mind.
Cruise ship leaving Christmas evening. Taken from RV1.
Friday, December 27th
Poor Colin, he has had no phone since Monday as I neglected to remind him it was running out of data! Thing is he uses it so seldom that he had no idea it wasn’t working. I had 3 to 4 good normal hours today. We mostly sat outside and talked about our future a bit. We love it here and at this point plan to stay till the end of June. Had a few cat sightings resulting in barking. All good and normal. Later saw that that B&W cat had 3 kittens, not so good 😮 Have not watched TV since the 21st, will try to see if I can tonight. Still working on where the TV will be.
About $14.00 CAD. So fresh and tastes like real veggies.
Lots of RV repairs/upgrades happening. Good to find out that the smoke alarms were archaic. Many thanks for the various suggestions re my fatigue, for certain carbon monoxide is not one of them, great thinking though.
Thank you Colin for my unique necklace holder. So easy to find what I want now.
Unique privately owned cruise ship called ” The World ” has been in port for 3 days. Yes it looks fabulous, costs more than any of us will ever have but would I really want to limit myself to being at sea? Not at all. But do Goggle the ship, interesting reading and glimpses of some wowser private on board homes.
A bit of a rare event…Dec 25, three cruise ships, left to right in the photo, The World, Norwegian Joy, and the Carnival Panorama docked Mazatlan. The N Joy and C Pan are regular visitors to Maz, whereas The World, is a rare visitant. The World is a condominium style cruise ship owned by mega rich people and is constantly sailing around the world, with an average of 150-200 passengers in 165 private suites. (Photo courtesy of Dolores Swanson Callfas)
The girls love resting with me.
Just a bit of indoor Christmas decor as compared to years past.
Saturday, December 28th
One phone call and the plans for the day change. Had trouble sleeping last night, perhaps I am getting better.
Who has room to hang king sheets in their bedroom? It was a bit too damp out to complete dry at the end of the day.
Erik, our local RV tech continues to make things happen for us.
Our water tinaco is too far away from the RV that even with our pump ( green one ) we have had to keep filling it almost daily. I think we used more water with the newer rv. The original tinaco location is behind the black post mid photo on Erik’s truck. Today was the day to make the big change.
So the tinaco was moved much closer to our new home.
We also upgraded to a much larger pump. Now we no longer have to use the rv water pump. Perfecto. It took a while to find the perfect PSI point but is now working perfectly.
Another photo has surfaced from Christmas dinner. I believe that I was making a wee speech that included Spanish words, French words and English words all in the same sentence. I have fun when I can.
Watch out for those grapes!!!!
Funny face!
…….forgot to finish this post……right now it is December 30th….yesterday was a good day and a good night.
We had our palapa builder Alex extend our wind screen once we arrived here in the new RV. He built it right to the top of the older post on the left. It wasn’t until we went inside that we realized that this window was our escape hatch from the bedroom. So we immediately had the new extension cut down to what you see here. If we had to get out we could.
While Erik was here sorting out the tinaco and new water pump we had one of his guys build us a proper escape ladder. Not sure if I could mange it but hey, at least it is a working option. Very clever mi amore.
First off I just wanted to mention that the photo of Colin and I dancing on our Christmas card, was taken on December 15th by Fred Wicks. Los Cpys ( my very favorite band here in Mazataln ) was playing at El Velero and are scheduled to play every Sunday afternoon. I think we danced only 2 short dances. I am still working on getting my energy up. Despite the lack of vitality I found myself lining up a few social events.
Sunday, December 22nd Colin and I once again went to listen to Los Cryps at El Velero. It was wonderful to see a variety of friends but most especially Darwin and Audrey. We had no idea that they were here for the winter this season. Looking forward to future visits and checking out their new posh digs.
Monday was a very full day of cooking and preparing for a later afternoon visit with year another special friend. She had asked if she could bring a visitor from the US to meet Colin and to play music with him. Fortunately we found out late afternoon Sunday that instead of 6 or 7 we were going to be a group of 12. So we cleaned, cooked and prepared most of Monday. We were looking forward to a very fun time together. Needless to say they were close to 90 minutes late but we were not upset. That is part of the Mexican culture, time and things just happen when they happen 😎 We are used to it and just sat and waited. Heck I even had arranged for a cruise ship to depart at dark, fortunately they were there to see that. Somehow the evening just did not quite work out and things ended unexpectedly early and somewhat awkwardly. I was just serving some sweets to everyone 🙁 Sadly everyone left. We truly did enjoy their company and the music was just getting going. I cleaned up inside while Colin put the yard together. As the day progressed I was getting more and more tired. This last amount of stress pushed me over the edge.
I went to bed as soon as I could but did not sleep well. I was in great pain, my muscles were aching and I felt like my nerves were literately trying to jump out of my skin. A difficult feeling to describe. I slept the entire day of the 24th. Colin had to cancel our Christmas Eve dinner. I said to someone that had it been my wedding day that there was no way I could have gone. It was as if my brain had shut down and my body was mush. All I could do was sleep and have sips of water. I had a few spoons of canned mushroom soup but nothing more. I woke up Christmas morning about 10AM and felt a wee bit stronger. I stumbled to the bathroom and then found Colin napping in the living room.
Christmas Eve sunset by Colin.
He had a great sleep but woke up extremely tired. I went back to bed. What a pair we were. The girls seemed to sense that something was off and stayed quiet on their own. The thing was I had no physical symptoms at all. Well other than exhaustion. We dosed most of the day. We made the decision to permanently cancel our own personal Christmas meal which we had moved to the 26th but well Christmas is now over.
The Princess Love Boat leaving port the 24th. I remember hearing the captain playing the “Love Boat” theme not once but twice that night.
For the first time ever we had been invited to celebrate Christmas dinner with Fred & Kelly but I truly had no idea if we could make it or not. I was feeling a bit stronger but Colin remained sleeping. Finally about 3:30PM on Christmas Day Colin said we would go. I checked with our hosts as to the actual meal time and we went for that. Meanwhile we both napped again. It was a lovely meal and it was nice to meet some new people. But it wasn’t long before we both begin to fade. Colin was dizzy and I am not driving because of my eyes. So we left just a few hours after arriving. Thank you my friends for being such wonderful hosts and for putting up with us.
Extra special Christmas Dinner. That is me on the left under the bright light.
Colin is on the right, next to Joe in the black hat. Kelly & Fred took over our site this season. I figured some of you will recognize the layout. We are looking forward to checking out all the changes they will make in the years to come. It was an honor being at your first Christmas Dinner.
We were both in bed by 8:30PM ( a first for us ). I slept until 10AM this morning – a full 13.5 hours of deep deep sleep and woke up tired! I sat around and glanced around the computer for a bit, had a much needed shower and went outside to water my flowers. We had already agreed that today was going to be a quiet day, just the two of us so we could regain our strength.
I still had to go out to the street side to water my flowers there. Colin helped me set up and went back to doing things in the yard and feeding the girls, so it must have been about 2:15 or so. New to us neighbours/friends stopped to chat, then a new couple from Christmas Dinner stopped while biking past and then another couple walked past. No watering had been done yet but I was feeling detached from everyone around me and my mind was not taking anything in. Then I felt dizzy. I dropped the hose, grabbed onto a bike to stop from falling and somehow got moved two feet to lean on the fence. Someone went and found Colin and I got escorted to a chair under the palapa. I was trying to stop hyperventilating and work on deep breathing. Everyone left, I laid back and the girls came and sat on me.
Colin made me something to eat and then I went inside to nap. Heading off to bed any moment now. I have decided to stay confined to home until the New Year. Then I will see how I am. Am I just really that worn out or is something wrong? No matter, my plan is to rest as long as I need to and then come 2025, we will see how I am.
Perhaps I will do a short post or two. I have no idea. Right now I need to sleep. Don’t worry about me, Colin will let you know if there is a problem.
….I pretty much planned to do a new post most days – but I guess I really am living life to the fullest each day. And often at the end of the day I little energy left. I have no energy left to sit at the computer for a few hours. However I have written untold posts in my mind. Happy to say that I am mostly content and all is well in my life. And if it is not – I simply sleep till 10AM.
Early morning walk.
The photos with comments below are from here and there with no particular dates.
Special friends from Holiday Park, Cindy and Sonny, on a much needed and deserved visit to Mazatlan early December. They certainly made the best of each day and created hundreds of new memories while they were here.
We have had so much happening. Unlike past years I have no inclination to capture every moment which I know that I will soon regret. Almost daily I go back into my blog to capture what we were doing on such and such a day in the past. I am hoping to change all that so I can stay current with my “diary”.
So much activity on the shipping channel behind us. Huge car carrier.
Only 2 weeks left in this year…..I definitely need a fresh start in 2025. Over all we are doing well. Ciela has developed an ear infection. Colin took her to the vet a few days ago and she was treated. However none of us including Ciela are happy with the treatment. Currently looking for a new vet much closer to us. Colin spent 300 MXN on Didi and the vet was an extraordinary 500 MXN for a 10 minute appointment. The ear liquid treatment was beyond stinky and did not help. I am on it…..
When we went out in the other RV the girls could sit in this corner and watch and wait for us to return. Earlier in December we were away for just about 90 minutes having a shrimp dinner at Chivas. Apparently the girls cried and even howled a bit. This RV does not have such an area for the but we figured something out in the bedroom which just might be the solution. A comfy area for them to watch for us. Also Colin finally got the nanny cam connected.
We are pretty much settled in. Today Colin took in 11 totes to be stored and 5 empty ones. The bodega was closed. We later discovered that the owner was ill. We will rehire a truck another day to bring the bins in. Most of them contain books and photos albums that go back 50 -70 years to current time. We are working cleaning up our site today so hope to get these containers in storage soon. 2025 will give us lots of time to go thru the contents. I spent several hours today once again discarding recipe after recipe. Some went back to 2002.They were all great recipes but for the rest of our lives we can only add so many new ones. We are more inclined to live in the moment day by day for now. We have months/years ahead of us to sort through these items. There is no way that I will likely cook what I have already saved but there just might be an extra special recipe lurking in my piles of paper. I found a few yesterday. Will get to them when I get to them.
A new recipe with fresh shrimp and fresh crab topped with 20 year old grated parmesan from Italy. Fresh as in never frozen. So very rich. Yummy.
I have not been reading books for several weeks but happy to say that Colin has been back to his guitar, 1 -2 hours per day. I am still getting massages every two weeks which have helped with my mobility. When I am outside I usually just sit and enjoy our unique vista, which also helps my eyes – which remain problematic but I am trying to be hopeful. I did fairly get a good pair of regular sunglasses which have helped. I will check with an eye specialist here in Mazatlan in the New Year. Recommendations welcomed.
On an almost daily basis we get to watch the locals being in their catch the day.
The net was was out to just past us on the right. The pelicans were happen to nibble.
Totally enjoying our onboard washing machine. Except last week when we discovered late in the day that the water pipes from Mazatlan required repair and that we had had no water input for many days. Our tinaco as well as the RV tank were either on low or empty 😳 We did mange to get thru those few waterless days. Our plants were ever so happy to get full water once again. Not sure if I shared earlier but we now have our full complement of potted plants ( 34 ) and our garden is looking happier.
I saw the notice of the water shut off after the fact!
This was another day.
I am thinking of starting to use my ‘real’ camera once again. The iPhone doesn’t give me what I want. However on the other hand I can’t really see what I am taking a photo of because of my eyes.
We are set up for Christmas outside as usual but the inside is laid back which works for us this year. This is our first Christmas in this home and we are creating some new traditions. We both are preferring to be rather quiet and to not have many folks over.
Sadly I have had to spend numerous hours online with both Telus and Shaw since we cancelled our accounts October 3rd. Just yesterday I got yet another charge for $66.64CAD. The account has been closed since October 3rd. So much wasted time online. An average of 3 hours per day. At least I am mostly winning the war of the not valid charges but oh such a waste of my life.
Overall we love being here and can’t think of anywhere else we would like to be. We have only been in the RV for about ten weeks and still can’t believe that this is our home. We were so fortunate picking this one especially as we needed to purchase it before seeing in person. Huge decision based on a one time FaceTime Video Tour. We have made a few changes and have plans for more, probably next summer after we sell our home. I miss having a recliner.
This was a few weekends ago.
Watersport’s Cars? An extraordinary fusion of jet ski dynamism and the refined luxury of a classic sports car. Who knew? Might be fun to try.
I am simply enjoying the beauty of where we are, watching the dolphins, the jumping fish and the hundreds of pelicans and the birds. Then there are the sail boats, catamarans and a rather large cabin cruiser that hang around our bay of late. The other morning we had ten vessels all lined up facing us. The weather is perfect. We had a few foggy days which simply added to the ambience of this area.
A full day of cruisers in port.
We suddenly realized that it is Christmas week already. I don’t plan to entertain too much due to lack of stamina but we certainly will be enjoying a few social activities. More on that later.
This is happening December 31st and we are going to the early show at 6PM. We should be home by 9:15PM at the latest. Eugene is a great artist. Seats are still available for both shows.